Genealogy Chat

Hello all
I have discovered that my great grandmother was running a lodging house for railway workers on 1911 census. However, the address is Little Bytham Station, Bourne, Lincs. We knew she ran one in Croydon area and also in Wales later but Lincs came as a complete surprise.
Would any clever soul out there have an idea of the best way to find more information about this as apart from myself, my 89yr old Mum is curious as none of the family had any idea they went to Lincs.
We are planning a trip to the area for a look-see but I would love to know more about this if we can.

Thanks

Hi Janet,


have a look here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Bytham



Dee x

hello try this a local history site he may be able to help

http://www.bourne-lincs.org.uk/history.htm

sally

hello Batmans daughter and Sally

Thanks for the 2 web links. I'll check them out when I get home tonight.

Another source of information might be the archives held at the National Railway Museum, (Leeman Road, York, YO26 4XJ phone: 08448 153139 or email: [email protected])

Been thinking about this. In steam days drivers and firemen on main line runs would work either an "out-and-back turn" when they would return to their home depot each day, or a "lodging turn" on longer journeys when it was not possible to return the same day. Usually the railway company provided hostels for men on lodging turns. These were usually close to the locomotive depots at large stations. On the Great Northern Railway two important stations were Peterborough and Grantham; Little Bytham is half way between the two. It sounds highly unlikely but I wonder if the GNR was trying to save money by having one hostel there to serve the two stations.

A more likely scenario is that a hostel was provided for labourers working on the widening of the railway from two tracks to four between Little Bytham and Grantham. This was started, I think, around 1900 but would have taken several years as it involved building a new tunnel in one place. When the work was completed the hostel would have closed, which might be why your g-grandmother moved on to Wales.

Incidentally Little Bytham is on the stretch where 'Mallard' achieved its record speed of 126 mph in 1938.
- see http://homepages.which.net/~rex/bourne/lbytham.htm

Hi alan
Thanks for the info - I had thought about maybe trying the NRM in York.

Your comments about track widening could make good sense as GtGrMa was widowed in 1910 back in Croydon area. Her husband was a rail plate layer (which also seems to have run in the family!).
In 1911 her 2 eldest sons were living with her in Lincs and were rail workers/labourers as were the 7 or 8 other guys on the census. My Mum says she was told - "that after Gt Grandad died the railways were good to gt Grandma and helped her set up a hostel for the workers." We were always under the impression it was London, maybe it was and then they moved to Lincs soon after. Lincolnshire has been a real surprise to all of us.

I think I'll get in contact with the NRM and see what they can help me with. Maybe they can also shed some light on the one in Wales too.

Thanks once again
Janet

Hello again Janet

Just been looking into this a bit more about the widening to 4 tracks. The GNR produced plans for widening between Little Bytham and Grantham but as often happened with such schemes it didn't actually happen as planned, probably due to lack of money. So the second tunnel didn't get built. But the hostel at Little Bytham would still have been most likely for track workers. The railways often built accommodation for workers in fairly isolated places as well as close to large stations.

Hi Alan
Sorry, been away for a few days. Thanks for that last little snippet. I've been chatting to my cousin and we are going to arrange a day in Lincs as soon as the weather improves...well its got to sometime!!

Thanks all who replied too

regards
Janet