Originally published in soft cover by the St Peters Historical Group in January 1993.
Reprinted by Irthlingborough Historical Society in February 2018.
Revised and reprinted by the society in October 2022.
This booklet sets out to try and give you a general glimpse of life in the “Yards” of Irthlingborough, which didn’t change much over the years.
Although times were hard and despite the conditions, you could always depend on your neighbours.
To put it simply, “The Yard” was a family of families…
When one considers that “one up, one down” was common and that a second bedroom or a kitchen was a luxury, it is impossible to imagine the difficulties that must have been encountered by large families who inhabited the cottages in the yards. Some families did, in fact, extend into an adjoining property, but this was the exception rather than the rule, and many parents must have resorted to ingenious methods of providing adequate sleeping and eating accommodation.
| Houses in the Yard | Total No of Occupants | Highest number in any House | Houses with 6 or more | |
| Bull Yard | 13 | 61 | 10 | 3 |
| Crispin Place | 3 | 10 | 7 | 1 |
| Rooksbys Row | 4 | 29 | 9 | 3 |
| Fosters Cott | 12 | 76 | 10 | 7 |
| Maddisons Yard | 5 | 36 | 9 | 5 |
| Meadow Lane (incl Gosholme) | 16 | 94 | 10 | 10 |
| Clarkes Yard | 8 | 28 | 6 | 1 |
| Pit Yard | 18 | 96 | 9 | 7 |
| Hay Lane | 9 | 38 | 7 | 3 |