With thanks to Daran Little’s Coronation Street: Around the Houses for all the info on the history of the odd side of the street prior to 1960 and thanks to Corriepedia for the info after 1960.
The original street was built between 1900 and 1902, and was named after King Edward VII’s coronation that occurred when the street was finished in 1902. Daran Little has a detailed history of Weatherfield harking back to Roman times. Don’t worry, I won’t go that far! The street was opened in August 1902 and residents immediately moved in. The terraced street consisted of seven houses with a public house at one end and a corner shop at the other. Since then, hundreds of people have lived in these houses and they’ve seen dramas, births, marriages and death but has always been an ordinary street inhabited by ordinary people.
There will be a separate post at a later date on the Rovers Return Inn and you can read about the history of the Corner Shop here and here.
The first owner of the houses on the street was Mabel Grimshaw, who’d inherited them from Humphrey Swinton who had died before their completion. Mabel married Charles Hardcastle (who had asked for the street to be built for his factory’s workforce) in 1904 and added the properties on the street to his empire. Hardcastle died in 1926 and it’s unknown if Mabel inherited the houses back or his son Matthew. Anyway, Edward Wormold bought the houses sometime and would remain an authoritative figure until he sold his last house, which was Nº5, in 1976.
Nº1’s occupants between 1902 and 1919 included the Grimshaws (Percy, Aggie and Daniel), the Osbournes (Thomas and Mary), the Marshes (Alfie and Moe) and the Lows (Dinky and Madge). In 1919, war veteran Albert Tatlock moved in with new wife Bessie. They were later joined by daughter Beattie. For me, Beattie’s DOB is a point of debate. While some sources state she was born in 1933, in a 1976 episode Albert claimed that she was “nearly sixty”. Also, Gabrielle Daye (who played her) was born in 1911. So I say she was born in 1920. During WWII, Beattie was sent to Blackpool and returned a snob and she had a strained relationship with her parents. She married Norman Pearson in 1953 and moved someplace else in Weatherfield. Bessie died in 1959 leaving Albert to soldier on (pardon the pun!) at Nº1 alone. Between 1960 and 1971 many stayed with Albert like Valerie Tatlock, David Barlow, Minnie Caldwell and Ena Sharples. Albert briefly lived in Bury in 1969 and the house was kept by Effie Spicer and Alice Pickens. In 1971, Ken Barlow moved in and lived with Albert until 1974 when he moved with second wife Janet to Nº11. The marriage soon failed but Ken stayed on at Nº11 until 1976 before returning to Nº1.
Albert and Ken lived together until they were joined by Ken’s third wife Deirdre and her daughter Tracy in 1981. Albert died in 1984 after 65 years at Nº1. A tenant until 1974/5, he owned the house until 1983 when he sold it to the Barlows. Ken remained at Nº1 until 1990 after he had an affair with Wendy Crozier that ended his marriage to Deirdre and she got the house. Deirdre remained at Nº1 until 1994 when she moved to Morocco with third husband Samir Rachid while Tracy had left a year earlier. Mike Baldwin bought the house from Deirdre and rent it out to Tricia Armstrong and her son Jamie. But Mike soon sold the house back to Ken and he moved back in with partner Denise Osbourne and their son Daniel. By 1996, both Denise and Daniel had left the street and Ken lived alone until he was joined in 1999 by Deirdre (they’d reconciled) and her mother Blanche Hunt. Tracy returned in 2002 and her daughter Amy was born in 2004. Ken and Deirdre remarried in 2005. Blanche died in 2010 leaving the current set-up of Ken, Deirdre, Tracy (despite a hiatus between 2007 and 2010) and Amy. Various Barlow family members have stayed at Nº1 as well.
To be continued… (The histories of Nºs 3 and 5).
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