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Soho Hill

Rupert said:
This milestone is not the same as the one in post #65.
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hello rupert yes we know its not the same one...think we said a few posts back that the mileages on the two stones are different ...the stone on post 65 is the one that was at soho hill (and to date we dont know what happened to it i am making enquires) and the stone on post 102 is the one that was a mile further up the road on the corner of milestone lane and holyhead road..when they demolished the properties you can see in phils photo(you can see the stone inbetween the two shops) they built holyhead school on the ground and that is where this stone is now so its only moved a couple of feet as holyhead school is on the corner of holyhead road and milestone lane..

lyn
 
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Ahh..ok. If you measure the distance from that spot to where the old 'market cross' used to be at the top of the bull ring, you will find that it is exactly (almost anyway) 2 miles. As the crow fly's. Did not try the 11 to Wolverhampton. The two on the map don't seem to be a mile apart.
 
most annoying rupert that we dont know what happened to the soho hill milestone..i have done quite a bit of on foot walking around the area to see if i can see it as my feeling is if it was moved again then it really should be close to its original spot..ive looked in king edward grammar school rose hill road grounds...st michaels church..tried to get into soho house but it was locked..i honestly think its either been removed and broken up by whoever took over dennisons factory where the stone was to make way for parking space..stolen and is in someones back garden or the the council have removed it and hopefully have it stored somewhere...my info is they date back to the 17th century...

lyn
 
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The elusive Denbro building milestone near Soho Avenue apparently dates to when Thomas Telford improved the road in about 1824 (although the turnpike opened much earlier in 1727). The Telford changes I think changed the gradient of the road. Viv.
 
thanks viv..so given its age it should have been looked after..i will get back to thread if i can find anything out..

lyn
 
Someone in the council must know where it is. I am sure I saw a milestone in the science museum a few years back (but thats a long shot). The Milestone Lane one (on the way up to the New Inns) was something I used to pass every day in the early 60's. It was on the inside edge of the pavement and it was then moved back as you say and eventually inside the fence of the school - which probably saved it.

Its another great thread this one and so nice to know we share the same fond memories and places as they were - thank you for the pics and all the foot work too. We will find the "temporarily" missing milestone - of that I am sure.
 
Just for info, the Soho Avenue milestone was still there in 1913 (put a little red dot on map below). There's an arrow showing it located on the edge of the pavement. Wonder why it moved across the road to Denbro's? I'd have thought it would have made sense to leave it on the Soho Av side. Maybe it was moved when the Denbro building was built? But seems a bit odd. Viv.
 
Stephen0002002 said:
Someone in the council must know where it is. I am sure I saw a milestone in the science museum a few years back (but thats a long shot). The Milestone Lane one (on the way up to the New Inns) was something I used to pass every day in the early 60's. It was on the inside edge of the pavement and it was then moved back as you say and eventually inside the fence of the school - which probably saved it.

Its another great thread this one and so nice to know we share the same fond memories and places as they were - thank you for the pics and all the foot work too. We will find the "temporarily" missing milestone - of that I am sure.
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thanks for that great map viv..stephen i am a bit busy all this week but dont worry i shall leave no stone unturned to try and find this one..(sorry about the pun lol)

lyn
 
Hello Everyone,


First post here, but I have to say a I have ploughed through all the posts, and its a damned good read. I myself am an Aston Boy, Bevington Road to be accurate, however I have a question for you folks.


It concerns the parkland sandwiched between Claremont Road and Soho Hill/Hockley Flyover, and latterly known as Hockley Adventure Playground, for various reasons this has become of great interest to me, and whilst my primary concern is looking forward rather than backward, it's in my nature to try and understand the history, I have been and looked at Birmingham Planning and it would appear there has been a park here since the turn of the century and even further back, I have also found the ward minutes that lead to withdraw of support for the site because the Council thought that lack of funding would lead to children getting hurt atthe site in the late 1980's. Since then it has gone to seed, which is a terrible shame because it sits central to a huge community, and one that is quite tightly nit.


The good news is that if it's anything to do with me the site will continue to be used by the community, and that this summer will see the site being regenerated for that purpose.


Any help, information, pictures or stories would be greatly appreciated.
 
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SOHO HILL AND OTHERS 012.JPGSOHO HILL AND OTHERS 011.JPGSOHO HILL AND OTHERS 016.JPGSOHO HILL AND OTHERS 018.JPGhi folks its been a long time coming but i really hope that these photos are what so many of us have been looking for...shots of the demolished left hand side going up towards soho road...

lyn
 
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Oh Lyn - how upsetting those photos were. How many times did I walk up that road? More than I care to mention! OK, I am going back many years now but how sad it is to see how the area has deteriorated. There were some lovely houses on Soho Hill. I think I will just remember Handsworth as it was when I grew up there as I have fabulous memories. Thanks for posting them

Judy
 
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Jayell said:
Oh Lyn - how upsetting those photos were. How many times did I walk up that road? More than I care to mention! OK, I am going back many years now but how sad it is to see how the area has deteriorated. There were some lovely houses on Soho Hill I think I will just remember Handsworth as it was when I grew up there as I have fabulous memories. Thanks for posting them

Judy
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hi judy and our memories are the one thing that cant be taken away from us...
 
Lyn
Great pictures, but in the second lot, aren't the 1st and third the same, with just a slightly different tint to them ?
 
mikejee said:
Lyn
Great pictures, but in the second lot, aren't the 1st and third the same, with just a slightly different tint to them ?
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error on my part mike just tried to delete the one but its gone back on underneath...think i best leave it lol
 
SOHO HILL AND OTHERS 008.JPGhere is one of the beehive pub and to the right of it rusty lees restaurant which i am sure a few of us can remember...both buildings are now derilict..
 
SOHO HILL AND OTHERS 010.JPGthis lovely line of shops which is just up from the beehive pub corner with villa road is now taken up the destiny international christian assembly
 
post 79 pic 1...i have identified that those two buildings and the litte garage in the middle of them are still there..
 
Lyn, as you know I lived very near the Beehive Pub in Soho Avenue when I was growing up, and it was my Dad's local. He was a regular long before your photo and Rusty Lee's Restaurant, and it would have been the late 1940's/early 1950's when he used it. There is a current forum member whose parents were the landlords at that time. At the side of the pub #86 through the large doors on the left was a court of houses with a brewhouse at the end which led through to Terrace Road which was a short cut to the middle of Villa Road.

The row of shops towards the Villa Road corner #87 were comprised of a cafe on the corner, the Dick Pearce's Newsagents, an off license run by two elderly ladies (names which I can't remember), then there was a grocery shop run by a Mrs Babbington (again its a long time ago and I might have the name wrong), and the last shop before the factory was Hills Greengrocers. As a little girl I used to run errands to all these shops, and even did a Saturday job in the Newsagents - Dick Pearce was my Dad's best friend.

The Denbro factory (photo posted by Carolina) was Dennison's Watch Case Co. and I went to school immediately opposite - Soho College - which was a house very similar to the first two houses in #79. I have a photo of the school somewhere. If I can find it I will post it.

Mist's Garage was there when I was little.

I love seeing these photos.

Judy
 
hi judy thanks for all that info its great to hear from folk who knew the area so well..would love to see that photo if you can find it..

lyn x
 
thanks mike...judy was the college on the corner with soho avenue if so its still there and looking rather splendid..if you go back to post 79 and look at pic 2..the buiding on the left is your college..it clearly says no 127 on the pillar outside..

lyn
 
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Thanks for the number of the College Mike, and so letting me know that Lyn's photo showed Soho College.

Lyn - that is so strange! I was going to reply earlier that the house pictured was my old school, and then I was unsure. Looking at it again I can see that it definitely is the same building. It was a mostly all girls school, and we used to enter through the garage doors on the left of the building where there were lockers and pegs for your coats. I cannot find my photo of the house, but I have seen a photo online that shows it in its better days. It was a private school and the headmistress was Dorothy Courbet who lived in the property. Her study was the bay fronted window on the ground floor to the left of the front door. The bay fronted window nearest to the garage was my classroom when I was about 10 years old. Miss Newbury was my teacher. The room looked out on Dennisons Watch Case Co. I remember sitting in there one winter's afternoon watching the snow come down thicker and thicker and couldn't wait for school to finish so that I could get out and play. Isn't it funny the things that stay in your memory? There was no room for our PT classes and we used to march in a crocodile down to Wretham Road to the church hall at the bottom for this once a week.

Miss Courbet invited several of us girls to watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on her television set (a 12" one!!!) as no one else in the school had a television in those days.

You have brought back so many memories with your recent photos Lyn.

Judy
 
Here is a photo of the house which was my school in latter years when it was Amar House (thanks to Digital Handsworth). It was situated on the corner of Soho Hill and Soho Avenue.

Judy

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what clear memories you have of your college judy and thanks for sharing them with us..must say i am the same with my senior school..i could draw you a map of the inside of it and what you said about the head letting you watch the coronation on tv bought to mind that our pe teacher miss wood had a tv bought into our class so that we could watch ann jones win wimbledon..happy days indeed and thanks for the photo..next time i am down that way i will take an up to date one now that i know where it is lyn
 
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