During the Steel Work days there were little rows of houses for employees dotted around the Steel works. They looked like miners rows, each with a street name.
They were known as “the rows” but with a heavy accent “the raws” and that’s exactly what they looked like ..raw ..with no frills ..not even a toilet.
In the photos you can see a wall where “Brandy Row” was ..known as Brandy Raws…it was a simple row…The Duffel or Duffle family lived there along with my Grandparents as neighbours. There were a handful of houses next to the Railway line. I’m guess the name was actually something else like Para handy Row and over the years was known simply as Brandy Row. In much the same way as the Lambert became Lamber and then Longbar thanks to Northern Irishmen with very strong accents.
The women used to take shovels to get hot coal from the trains as they passed slowly for the house fire to save money.
As a child I played there too and remember the old entrance to a mine shaft there which was closed off by metal railings.
Nothing is left of the rows…they were all demolished as the Council built housing schemes were built.
