James Gray: These two cottages were to be found in Dukes Passage, off Ship Street, and were so named after Hyam Lewis, by whom they were built. Mr Lewis started business as a pawnbroker, about 1820, in a low building which adjoined Trinity Chapel and which projected well out into Ship Street. Soon afterwards these cottages were built probably for his employees to occupy. The old building in Ship Street was removed in January 1866 and replaced by the present one, now Robertson Hall, but the Lewis family continued in occupation of 35 and 36 Ship Street, until the 1880s. The photograph was taken in 1939 and the cottages were demolished later that year. jgc_08_027
2019: Duke’s Passage, as the twitten is more correctly named, still exists today and some of the flint walls seen in the original photo still stand. The passageway itself, however, is now covered with graffiti, litter and the ubiquitous wheelie bins and is home to a number of rough sleepers. It opens onto several semi-derelict yards apparently used as unofficial rubbish dumps. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)
James Gray: Looking down the twitten which runs between the back of the buildings in North Street and Duke Street. It gives a glimpse of the dormers of 1 and 2 Lewis’s Buildings empty since 1937. I was wrong in saying that these were demolished in that year. jgc_08_033
2019: See caption for jgc_08_027. (Photographer: Ron Fitton)