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  1. #1
    deskhermit
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    Question Clipstone street Leicester

    Clipstone St was in the Highfields district but in 1966 the whole area was demolished to make way for new housing estates. Parts of these estates were themselves refurbished in the 80s. My problem is I cannot relate the old maps of the area to the latest maps on Google. The only maps I can find at oldmaps.uk do not help as they contain few street names.
    I located an old thread here 'help in finding Leicester street names' begun in 06.
    Can anyone (maybe Tony Vines) help locate Clipstone street on a modern map?

  2. #2
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
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    I didn't find that thread deskhermit, but you may find something ueful Here
    Happy Families
    Wendy
    Count your Blessings, they'll all add up in the end.

  3. #3
    malcolm99
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    Hello deskhermit

    I think I may have something for you but it’s rather complicated and will take a little time to set down clearly. In the meantime have you seen this rather splendid site about the Highfields area https://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/index.html ?
    If you click on the ‘Photographs’ link you’ll find some lovely old photos of Clipstone Street and the surrounding area.
    If you put Pluto Close, Leicester into Google maps and zoom in a couple of times, I have a feeling that Clipstone Street is/was round about the ‘dog leg’ in Pluto Close – but I’m still working on this and will get back to you a bit later on.

    malcolm99

  4. #4
    malcolm99
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    Hello again deskhermit

    I’ve finally unfuddled my brain and can pinpoint Clipstone Street for you. First go to this site https://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/maps/map...s_html/b3.html (it helps if you can copy this and then enlarge it, but it’s not the end of the world if you can’t).

    In the lower half of the map there’s a single purple blob, the top of which is on Clipstone Street. The road beneath the blob is Oxendon Street which still exists. The ‘red’ road to the right is Melbourne Road.

    On this map you can see that Clipstone Street runs parallel to Oxendon Street and so if you search for Oxendon Street in Google Maps you can trace where Clipstone Street would have run before it was demolished (the eastern end of Clipstone Street was directly opposite Donnington Street).
    It’s just slightly off-putting that the ‘Highfields Remembered’ map is in two sections and the edges don’t meet up perfectly but I’m sure you can trace the street fairly easily.

    At the western end of Clipstone Street you can just make out the junction with Upper Conduit Street and it’s just possible that Clipstone Street ended opposite Hutchinson Street (see this map https://highfields.dmu.ac.uk/maps/map...s_html/a3.html ) but I can’t be absolutely sure. If this was the case then you could draw a line from the end of Donnington Street to Hutchinson Street (both of which still exist) and that would give you the exact site and position of Clipstone Street. See what you think.

    Just two little gems I’ve found about the area. There is a map here https://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/leicester/...ldsbombs3.html showing where bombs dropped in the area (I‘ll leave you to name all the streets!) – and apparently the singer Engelbert Humperdinck grew up in Stoughton Street which crossed Clipstone Street!

    Hope this is of some help.

    malcolm99

  5. #5
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Hi deskhermit

    malcolm99 has it pretty much spot on and I can confirm that the western end of Clipstone St came out onto what was then called Upper Kent St (but is now called Maidstone Rd for some inexplicable reason) opposite the end of Hutchinson St. which you can still see on Google Map.

    It isn't however correct that Highfields was demolished in 1966. I worked on and off in that area at that time and it was still very much in existance. True, lots of it has since been redeveloped over the years but have a virtual drive round using Street View on Google Maps and you will see lots of Victorian and Edwardian houses and terraces still intact.
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  6. #6
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    PS

    I am really grateful to malcolm99 for pointing me to the DMU site on Highfields. I shall be contacting them to contribute my own memories.
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  7. #7
    deskhermit
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    Default Highfields Remembered

    Malcolm,
    Where to start perhaps with a simple thank you but I cannot tell you what this means to me. I was born in my grandparents house on Clipstone street and spent my boyhood there. My parents first house was around the corner on Melbourne Road. Two of my daughters have visited home but could not find Clipstone so this is quite a revelation.
    The key, of course, is knowing Oxendon St was not demolished after that it all becomes clear. I was aware of the DeMontfort Uni site one of its photos shows Clipstone from the shop at 115 back and you can just see 91 where I was born.
    The western end of Clipstone did run into Hutchinson which lead to the Birdcage Walk a lane over the railway goods yard that took you into the city, if you wanted to walk and did not have enough pocket money for the bus!
    I know all the bomb sites we played in them as kids because we specifically told not to or risk a spanking. The germans where trying to hit the railway yards and got close to my house but not close enough. My grandparents had an anderson shelter in the backyard. Nothing grew there after it was removed and my grandmother always claimed the germans killed her garden.
    I knew about engelbert too he went to school with my cousin but we never met. He lived across the otherside of Spinney Hill Park.
    A final heartfelt thank you - its just like coming home.

  8. #8
    deskhermit
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    Tony,
    I recommend the Demontfort site to you I am certain you will find it fascinating. Thanks for the update on Highfields I have assumed until today that it was largely demolished. Now I'll take the google tour!

  9. #9
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    Serendipity strikes again!

    Firstly deskhermit your personal recollections of the area rang bells. My maternal great-grandfather was a railwayman who rose to the highly regarded rank of express train driver in the late 1800s. He lived until 1912. He was born in Nuneaton but moved to Leicester where I first found him living at 68 Upper Conduit St followed by 6 Hutchinson St. He and his family later moved to 3 Clipstone St before moving finally to 7 Buxton St. So their ghosts would have been all around you when you lived there!

    I have a feeling that either my grandfather or my grandmother (or both) taught at Melbourne Rd School in the late 19th and early 20th century. I'm guessing that my grandfather, who became a much feared headmaster, would have taught until the 1930s.

    I had already started on the Highfields website when I thanked Malcolm99 for the link and I entirely agree with you about its worth. So much so that while realising that it was created in the 1990s and may well be a dead project now I spent some time last night contributing my own memories of Highfields which I visited regularly as a trainee surveyor in the mid 1960s. My tale was about slum housing, mass immigration, racism and red light districts as you can imagine!

    However having done that and emailed it to DMU I started reading a contribution by a lady who recalled going to music lessons in Guthlaxton St. given by "Miss Vines". That fairly uncommon surname is my paternal family and I did indeed have an aunt who taught piano and who may have lived in the area in the late 1920s before she changed her name on getting married. Her mother certainly lived in Evington Park Rd. So I got back onto email to ask DMU whether they still had contact details for the lady in question so that I can contact her to see whether she recalls any more detail. A long shot to be sure because she was obviously elderly when she made the contribution. Neverthless it's that kind of information that can add flesh to the bones of your research and make it so much more interesting.

    If I strike gold I'll let you know. In the meantime thanks for your memories.
    "People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.” Edmund Burke

  10. #10
    Loves to help with queries Nightryder's Avatar
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    Tony,
    Do you know what years your Ggrandparents lived in Upper Conduit Street, my GG grandparents Henry Lee & Jemima Adelaide Quilter were living at 62 Upper Conduit Street in the 1871 census, they were still there in 1872 when Henry Lee wrote his will, Henry Lee died in 1876 & by the 1881 census Jemima & the children are living in Waring Street so im not sure how many years the family lived their.

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