Tipton Magistrates Court ?

[borofred]

Hi All
Today i received my G Grandfathers Death cert and it has turned up a bit of a mystery the cert says [ When and where died] 11th June 1876 No 1 Court, Sanders Building, Sheepwash Lane, Tipton   [Name and surname] William O'BOYLE   [Cause of Death] Natural Causes [Age]76.
So it seems my G Grandfather died whilst attending court [ Either as a Defendant or Witness i presume ]
Would anyone know where i might find more information from.
Regards
Fred O'Boyle

[Your Tree Searcher]

The British Newspaper Archive website is a great site. May be a clue there for you

Your Tree Searcher

[DudleyWinchurch]

Have you checked that there was ever a legal building on that site?

Court was a popular name for a cluster of buildings between the bigger houses fronting onto the street.  I imagine these were small, perhaps more temporary buildings built in each back-yard.  In nearby Bilston there were many courts, each with anything up to about a dozen separate dwellings, listed on the main streets, of each census in the latter half of the 19th century.

[added: if you track this address on the preceding and following censuses, it may make it clear which usage of the term was meant]

[heywood]

I would agree with Dudley Winchurch.

1871 street index shows that there were Sheepwash Lane Courts.

regards
heywood

[borofred]

Hi
Thanks for your help i at first thought it was a house address but when i Googled it  it came up as a Magistrates court

[heywood]

 Oh dear poor chap-  you were right and he must have died in court.

You may get some help here: http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/search/?cb_ipp=50&q=tipton&cb_submit=Search

regards
heywood

[heywood]

In 1871 William is living at 14, Number 9 Court, Horseley Heath which is the continuation of Sheepwash Lane.

[bagpuss1971]

  Hello Fred,

The Magistrates' Court in Tipton was held at the police station until sometime in the 1960s. The original police station was built in 1864 in Lower Church Lane,the station is still in the same place but they have to spoil everything and it has now been replaced with a new building.

bagpuss 

[giraffe]

Please correct me if I am wrong. I understand that 'Court' is the term given to a group of houses also known as 'back to back'  houses. This was because they were built behind a street of terraced houses, and had a communal yard. In the yard was the water pump from where all the houses obtained all their drinking and washing water, and at some part of the yard there were also shared toilets, which I imagine were chemical rather than flush toilets.
I have noticed on the Census returns the street name is given, then a house number, then 'Number 1 Court', with the families next door in 'Number 2 Court' and so on. They were very small houses, sometimes with large families housed in them.
giraffe