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Allens Yard was on the site of the present day Woolpack Way Car Park. Woolpack Way itself was named for the public house of that name that was near there. A short way west was the Coach & Horses, next to 133 Long St.
Allens yard was one of the last to be cleared, being one of the better ones.
Allens Yard was the home of Samuel Allen 1825 to Mar 1900. His son Thomas b1859 married Henrietta Forest Newey (another famous Atherstone family). Had one son that died age 13. All the rest were all good looking sisters. Atherstone’s version of the Stepford Wives. Hettie married John Stafford (hat factory on Coleshill Rd) Nan married the chauffer of an Earl , Connie married G.H. Gisbourne (Seed Merchant, warehouse on Owen Street) descendants have the pet shop of the same name. Gladys married a property developer. Nel (Ellen) lived near the end of Stafford Street. I was too young to remember what he did, he died while I was young.
GH.Gisbourne was my grandfather. He supplied grain to farmers and the Pepsodent toothpaste factory. (Remember the ad? ” You wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent ! )
My G-G-Grandparents also lived in Allens Yard and from the census records, it appears they lived in the home next to the Allen family. Allen Burchell was a Stone-mason and , together with his wife Annie Barnett, they left their home town of Arundel, Sussex in 1879, to start a new life in Atherstone. Allen already had an older brother Frank living in Atherstone. Frank Burchell married local girl Emma Spencer and they lived on the Coleshill Road opposite the enterance to the golf-club. Frank was also a Stone-mason and I believe the two brothers built, or helped to build the school on the corner of Ratcliffe Road and North Street, their stone-mason mark could be seen until recent renovations removed it.
Allens wife Annie was a skilled seamstress and I wonder if she made any outfits for the attractive Allen girls mentioned, I would think it would be highly likely.
Allen and Annie Burchell had 11 children in their small home, with 2 dying shortly after birth and 1 dying at the age of 6.
In 1898 the Burchell family leave their home in Allens Row to live at number 10 of the newlt-built houses in Erdington Rd. With Allen still working in his trade and older children working at the Stafford Hat Factory and the Baddersley mine, life must have been easier than in earlier times. But on the 8th August 1900, Allen is visited at his home by Inspector Hammond of Atherstone Police, who accuses him of “setting-fire-to-a-haystack” situated on the Sheepy Rd and belonging to Frank Vero, a licensed victualler.
Allen Burchell pleads “not-guilty” but is kept in custody to appear at Nuneaton Petty Sessions on the 16th Aug 1900. Allen plea his heard and he is removed to Warwick County Prison to await trial . This causes extreme stress to the Burchell family and especially affects Allen, bringing to the surface, an illness which was to eventually send him mad. In September 1900, Allen is removed from the Warwick Prison into the care of the Hatton Lunatic Asylum, whilst there, his case is heard in his abscence and the jury decide that Allen burchell had no case to enter and so was not guilty. The verdict did not help Allen, he remained in the asylum until his death 13 months later.
It is highly unlikely that he saw any of his family members again and he remained classed as a “Criminal-Lunatic”, even though the jury passed a not guilty verdict.
I have done extensive research on this family with newspaper reports, records and visits to the Warwick records Office, a sad end for a family from Allens Yard.