RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Yorkshire (North Riding) => Topic started by: Eamann on Friday 08 December 17 17:48 GMT (UK)
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Hello!
Has anyone ever heard of a "Levensvale Hut" in Redcar?
My mother, Eileen Magee, was born in Redcar on 5 July 1924. On her birth certificate the place of birth is given as "Levensvale Hut, Brookbank Avenue". The use of the word "Hut" is curious. My grandfather was a bus driver at the time and probably able to pay for decent accommodation for his family.
I did a Google search for "Levensvale Hut" but could not find any leads. Could it have been a temporary hostel which would explain why there is no longer any trace of it?
Am I right in thinking that the nearest Catholic church to Brookbank Avenue would have been the Sacred Heart? I want to get a copy of her baptism lines to see who her godparents were.
Thank you in advance for your help!
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Could you scan in that birth certificate so we could double check the spelling?
Thank-you
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Thanks for trying to help me! Here's the scan. I see that I misspelled "Levenvale" - there is no "s" in the middle.
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It appears to be Brooksbank Avenue, so he was not that accurate:
http://maps.nls.uk/view/100941368#zoom=5&lat=4379&lon=1559&layers=BT
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Search ER's for 1924 for the family?
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Thanks Chempat for sending me that old map of Brookbank Avenue. No mention of Levenvale Hut... I had expected to get the number of the house on the birth certificate. My grandmother never mentioned Levenvale Hut.
Checking the electoral register would be a very good idea, but I will have to ask for a look-up as I live in Belgium.
For what it is worth, here is a brief account of my grandparents stay in Redcar:
Michael Magee and his wife emigrated from Belfast to Redcar in approx. 1920/21. He worked as a bus driver (and later mechanic?) in Dormanstown depot - see attached photo.
They had a first child, Joseph, in 1922. I've asked his son for a copy of his birth certificate but he has not answered so far...
When my mother was born in 1924, my grandparents separated. My grandmother took her children back to Belfast and Mick stayed on in Redcar, became involved in trade unionism and socialist politics until he emigrated to Detroit in 1930, where he became a leading figure in the Ford car factory trade union UAW.
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Try and contact this group?
http://www.redcar.org/
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Just a thought. I know it looks like "Hut". But I do think it might be "Street".
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I would have to agree with Rhododendron that it does look like "Street" to me,not Hut.
Cheers,
Tees
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I disagree.
There is a final 'r' in Mother and Redcar, and a middle 'r' in Brookbank, and no sign of anything like those in Hut.
Eaman,
Could you scan in the rest of the certificate for further comparisons.
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I keep looking at it and am wondering if it's Steel, although the letters don't match the ones in the other words. It just doesn't look like a 'u' to me.
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Thank you Tees, Roobarb and Rhododendron for your contributions, but I agree with Chempat. As can be seen from the 1930 map that he posted, there is no Levenvale Street adjacent to Brookbank Ave., nor anywhere else in Redcar.
Furthermore, if you look at the initial "S" in "September" (second last column) it is clear that the initial letter in "Hut" is not an "S" as in "Street".
On reflection I think that "Levenvale Hut" may have been the name of the house in Brookbank Avenue. Levenvale / Vale of Leven appears to be in Scotland. Could "hut" be a Lallans word for "house"? I am imagining the owner of the house as being someone who either came from Levenvale or had very pleasant memories of (holidays?) spent there.
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The River Leven runs through Yarm which is about 20 miles from Redcar. Levenvale is the area around there. :)
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Sorry, I forgot to add the scan of the (almost) complete birth certificate. (I have great difficult in cutting my images down to below 500Ko).