Lamp Tavern Handsworth

[Vivienne14]

I’ve been searching for information about the Lamp Tavern and associated buildings to see if these had any connection to Church Hill House/Endwood. The Lamp is so close to Church Hill/Endwood, I thought there was a possibility of it having some connection.

I came across this. It’s a newspaper report of an exhibition by the Handsworth Historical Society at the lodge of the Endwood suggesting there was once a lodge for Church Hill/Endwood House next to the Lamp Tavern. I’ve tried to find references to the lodge but this is the only one so far. Do any maps suggest a lodge at that location ? Are there any references in directories ?

Viv.



Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Tinpot]

I’ve been searching for information about the Lamp Tavern and associated buildings to see if these had any connection to Church Hill House/Endwood. The Lamp is so close to Church Hill/Endwood, I thought there was a possibility of it having some connection.

I came across this. It’s a newspaper report of an exhibition by the Handsworth Historical Society suggesting there was once a lodge for Church Hill/Endwood House next to the Lamp Tavern. I’ve tried to find references to the lodge but this is the only one so far. Do any maps suggest a lodge at that location ? Are there any references in directories ?

aerial photo 30/8/54 from Historic England on left.

 

[MWS]

It's a bit hard to make sense of things. If the maps are correct and the Lamp Hotel and the Lamp Tavern were different buildings then the newspaper clipping would appear to be incorrect. However, the Lamp Tavern label on the 1886 map could refer to more than just the smaller building that it seems to.

 

[Vivienne14]

Yes it’s very confusing. Going back to the 1834 map it shows two distinct buildings on the site (red dot). I’d expect to see a track leading from any lodge or gate house to the main house (blue dot). The left-hand building seems to have a line of track marks (not very defined) leading to Church Hill/Endwood house. That at least shows some sort of access from the (later? Lamp) site to the main house. Viv.

 

[mikejee]

Seeing as the date of the report is 1953,I would have thought that the OS 1950s map would be useful, but that area was not one I saved before oldmaps closed

 

[Vivienne14]

Tinpot’s 1954 aerial view in post #62 is helpful in that I think it shows the former Lamp Tavern in front of another structure (blue dot). The site is quite a jumble of buildings, but I’ve marked those we know about. From the two images also attached below you can see the gabled building behind the Lamp Tavern.

The Tavern building with all its Victorian decorative features appear to be non-existent on the gabled building behind it in the Handsworth Historical Society’s colour photo and looks quite different.

Aerial image below extracted and annotated from Tinpot’s post #62.

 

[Vivienne14]

And I’ve finally found a reference to the Air Training Corps. They still occupied the building in 1951. It was the HQ for the Handsworth Squadron 491 ATC. Sadly 4 members were killed in action in WW2. Hopefully the memorial was moved to somewhere appropriate when the buildings were demolished.

And a photo (poor quality) showing a march past the former Lamp Tavern when occupied by the ATC.

Viv.




Source: British Newspaper Archive

 

[Tinpot]

I think this newer brick wall is where the Lamp was demolished. You can just see the Endwood on the left with the remnant of a boundary wall immediately before the new brickwork. School entrance on the right.

 

[Vivienne14]

Well spotted Tinpot. Definitely a wall with a lot of age to it. Where it joins the new wall looks like a tall pillar to me, the type you’d have at a gated entrance.

The line of the boundary wall must have been where the row of cottages once stood ( where Mr Isaac George, the blacksmith and keeper of the animal pound lived).

Some of those trees must go back a long time too.

Looking at the layered maps on the Library of Scotland site, today the school doesn’t seem to take up much, if any, of the old Lamp site. Did the land belong to the Endwood ?

Two of the trees alongside the roadside wall show up on the layered map too. Viv.

 

[Tinpot]

The inset stone on the left of the blacksmith building says Glebe Land. Then an oval sign for fire hydrant. Then maybe a blacksmith in the shadows?

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks Tinpot. Can’t find any link to ‘Glebe’ yet but shall keep looking. The man to the side of the smithy is wearing an apron, probably a leather one used by blacksmiths.

The wall brickwork looks similar to the old brickwork of the Endwood estate in post #68.

Nice addition to this thread. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Glebe land is a type land. Here’s a definition:

In ecclesiastical law, an area of land within a parish used to support a parish priest. It may be either agricultural land or commercial property.

Could this link with the early Church Hill/Hill House/Endwood? I’ve extracted this from the Church Hill House/Endwood thread

A house, called the Church House, was inhabited by weavers who also for some time discharged some office in the church and may well have held the house by virtue of that duty. From about 1567 until his death in 1581, the house was in the hands of William Wardle, organist and weaver.

Viv.

 

[A Sparks]

I think this newer brick wall is where the Lamp was demolished. You can just see the Endwood on the left with the remnant of a boundary wall immediately before the new brickwork. School entrance on the right.

We lived in Wood Lane which is nearby, I remember that empty plot of land from the late 60's (I see they have put a new wall there) I never really thought about what had been there originally - good to find out so much more about the area!

 

[Vivienne14]

This must be the old pillar that’s still standing shown in Tinpot’s post #68. It was next to the Lamp Tavern with just a regular gate between it and the pillar. As suggested by Tinpot the wall looks like a boundary wall, so to the left would have been Church Hill House/Endwood land. Viv


Source: from Handsworth Historical Society image

 

[Tinpot]

And I’ve finally found a reference to the Air Training Corps. They still occupied the building in 1951. It was the HQ for the Handsworth Squadron 491 ATC. Sadly 4 members were killed in action in WW2. Hopefully the memorial was moved to somewhere appropriate when the buildings were demolished.

And a photo (poor quality) showing a march past the former Lamp Tavern when occupied by the ATC.

Viv.

View attachment 177274

View attachment 177275View attachment 177276
Source: British Newspaper Archive

There is a bell dedicated to an RAF casualty at this ceremony. Sgt William JR Semple. Possibly one of the 4 losses referred to. This was interesting to come across as had not seen bell dedications before as a source of information. This came from warksbells.co.uk.

 

[Qu.Be]

Some more history about the Lamp Tavern. It is also called Handsworth Tavern in newspaper extracts.

In addition to the landlords already identified, a bit more info about some of the landlords with dates:
1883 - Mrs Sarah Hale
1892 - Mrs Mary A Wilkinson ( still there in 1895)
1900 - William Butler & Co Ltd (still there in 1905)-the brewery company ?
1908 - Harry Bushell Church hill, Hamstead road, Handsworth (was he related to Eric Roland Bushell (post #7) ?

Interestingly Janice’s post #4 lists Isaac George as the blacksmith. He must have been the blacksmith at the smithy attached to the Lamp Tavern. Here’s Mr George outside the Pound near St Mary’s Church.

Source: British Newspaper Archive. Also posted in the Hamstead Road Pound thread on BHF

'Mrs. Wilkinson disinfects Lamp'




Thursday, 23/08/1894, Birmingham Gazette

CHURCHWARDENS AND THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES.​

THE HANDSWORTH DIFFICULTY.​

After the inquest on the body of Mary Phillipe, at the
Lamp Tavern, Handsworth, on Tuesday evening, it was
understood that the police would remove the body from
the club room (of the licensed premises to the stable
adjoining. This, however, was not done, and late on
Tuesday evening Mrs. Wilkinson, the landlady of the
house, sent to the parish churchwarden (Mr. F. W.
Barrows, of Deans Court, Handsworth Wood) a
message informing him that the Coroner had stated
that where there was not & public mortuary
the law was that the body should be taken to the
churchwarden's house. Unless, therefore, the corpse
was removed in a short time she would sent it to him.
Mr. F. W. Barrows told the messenger that when he
took upon himself the responsibilities of a churchwarden
he had not the remotest idea that the law stated that he
was liable to receive dead bodies in care there was
no dead house in the parish. It is said that some
men in the Lamp Tavern wanted to remove the
corpse to the house of Mr. Barrows, but Mrs.
Wilkinson, after further reflection, declined to take
such a responsibility upon herself, and, although she had
to put up with the nuisance herself, she considered the
body was in such a state as to make it impossible to
adopt such a course. The corpse was buried by the
parish yesterday, but the body was very badly decom-
posed, and the whole of the licensed premises have had
to be disinfected. Many publicans in Handsworth declare
that after the statement of Mr. Hooper, the Coroner, as
to their non-liability they will in the future refuse to
allow dead bodies to be deposited on their premises.​

Birmingham Gazette​

Birmingham, West Midlands, England · Thursday, August 23, 1894