A rare example of city’s industrial heritage which avoided demolition wrecking ball – ‘tiny cottages date back to 1820s’ – are featured in the Leicester Mercury.
Leicester Mercury writes:
This great photo from our archive shows a tiny slice of Leicester’s industrial history pictured in the 1980s.
Tucked away in the heart of the city, we imagine some people do not even realise they are there.
These are Cramant Cottages, off King Street, in 1986, looking in a rather sorry state before the grade II-listed buildings were restored a couple of years later.
The cottages were originally built to house industrial workers between 1820 and 1830.
They were named after Hannah Cramant, a schoolmistress who lived in one of the properties with her five children.
The census of 1841 showed there were 22 people living in the tiny homes.
The terrace, which managed to avoid being demolished during the wholesale slum clearance that took place in the city in the 1950s and 60s, is a rare example of back-to-back housing in Leicester.
The cottages backed onto a wall with no rear windows or doors.
The terrace is located behind No. 54, close to the King Street junction with Princess Road West.
According to Historic England, the terrace comprised “six cottages of identical design red brick, slate roofs, tall chimney stacks.
“Two storey, single aspect fronting the former rear garden of No 54 King Street.
“One room to each floor, the upper room reached from a staircase at one side of the ground floor room.”
