BRUNSWICK TERRACE
After the Gimingham Workhouse was closed in 1850, the buildings were converted into 14 cottages. April Dawn Clarke was born in Number 2 in 1930 and her father Wally had been born in Number 7 in 1901. In 2015 April, whose married name was Smith, told her neighbour in Peterborough about her life in Brunswick Terrace and she wrote this poem -
They are pulling down my childhood home
My eyes are filled with tears
For it's where we spent you must agree
Some of our happiest years.
Fourteen houses in all stood there
I was born at number 2
There was Sally and Cuddy and old Collin Clarke
While at number 10 was Lily and Lew
We certainly didn't have any riches
We knew what it was to be poor
But if ever a helping hand was needed
There was always a knock on the door.
Most who lived there have passed on before
Others on foreign shores now roam
But ask them one question, the answer will be
Old Brunswick will always be home.
They may knock it down off the face of the earth
So we never again shall see;
But its memories are locked deep down in my heart
For it was home sweet home to me.
They are pulling down my childhood home
My eyes are filled with tears
For it's where we spent you must agree
Some of our happiest years.
Fourteen houses in all stood there
I was born at number 2
There was Sally and Cuddy and old Collin Clarke
While at number 10 was Lily and Lew
We certainly didn't have any riches
We knew what it was to be poor
But if ever a helping hand was needed
There was always a knock on the door.
Most who lived there have passed on before
Others on foreign shores now roam
But ask them one question, the answer will be
Old Brunswick will always be home.
They may knock it down off the face of the earth
So we never again shall see;
But its memories are locked deep down in my heart
For it was home sweet home to me.
Some people who lived here post-war include Angie Brighton, Dixie Clark, Julie Ann Davies, Tony and Roslyn Kirk and Roy Pettitt. King and Lottie Cutting ran the small shop there.
The residents of Brunswick Terrace are named on the 1891 and 1901 census for Gimingham and some of them on the 1911 census. Earlier census data is not so clear but some of the same families can be identified. All are named on the 1939 register which has recently been added (2022) Click here for the census data. Please contact me if you have any photos or more information.