Peter Walker
gone but not forgotten
While the "What if?" style of history programme is quite popular on TV, some historians argue that there is no point in studying what didn't actually happen. But several things very nearly did happen, and I think it's quite useful to imagine how things might have turned out.
A case in point was the railway to Liverpool, which was being planned in the early 1830s to connect with the proposed London and Birmingham Railway. When first proposed, the Liverpool line was not taken very seriously by Birmingham industrialists, who must have felt that the canals were good enough for them, and indeed very little of the cost of the Liverpool line was funded by Birmingham people. Ironically, a major opponent of the original proposal was James Watt, junior, proprietor of the highly important firm of Boulton, Watt & Co, and son of the inventor of the steam engine. He had taken a lease of Aston Hall, and although he was not Lord of the manor like the Holtes were, he was able to use his influence to veto the original railway proposal, and to insist on the new line avoiding Aston Park and the land extending to Aston Villa or Lozells, as we know call it. As a result the line passed through Aston and Duddeston stations before reaching central Birmingham.
A map of Birmingham drawn by J Dower in the early 1830s shows the two proposed railways, the London railway terminating in the Curzon St area, and the Liverpool line which terminated on the east side of High St Aston, just north of New John St.This was the line that Watt was able to stop, so that it ran through Nechells to meet the London line near Curzon St station. One can imagine that if Watt had not had his way, the line originally proposed would have been extended to make a head-on junction with the London line near Curzon St, roughly following the line of Legge St or Moland St. I know of no record of any such proposal however.
Less guesswork is involved in speculating where the proposed Liverpool line would have run to leave Birmingham. On the 1916 map below I have superimposed the published proposed line near New John St, and have extended it to meet the line as built just north of Perry Barr. Is it a coincidence that this is almost a straight line?
The line would roughly have followed the line of the later Westminster Road, and would have run close to Six Ways Aston - in a deep cutting or perhaps in as tunnel.
This may not be making history, but I think it's an interesting piece of research even so.
Peter
A case in point was the railway to Liverpool, which was being planned in the early 1830s to connect with the proposed London and Birmingham Railway. When first proposed, the Liverpool line was not taken very seriously by Birmingham industrialists, who must have felt that the canals were good enough for them, and indeed very little of the cost of the Liverpool line was funded by Birmingham people. Ironically, a major opponent of the original proposal was James Watt, junior, proprietor of the highly important firm of Boulton, Watt & Co, and son of the inventor of the steam engine. He had taken a lease of Aston Hall, and although he was not Lord of the manor like the Holtes were, he was able to use his influence to veto the original railway proposal, and to insist on the new line avoiding Aston Park and the land extending to Aston Villa or Lozells, as we know call it. As a result the line passed through Aston and Duddeston stations before reaching central Birmingham.
A map of Birmingham drawn by J Dower in the early 1830s shows the two proposed railways, the London railway terminating in the Curzon St area, and the Liverpool line which terminated on the east side of High St Aston, just north of New John St.This was the line that Watt was able to stop, so that it ran through Nechells to meet the London line near Curzon St station. One can imagine that if Watt had not had his way, the line originally proposed would have been extended to make a head-on junction with the London line near Curzon St, roughly following the line of Legge St or Moland St. I know of no record of any such proposal however.
Less guesswork is involved in speculating where the proposed Liverpool line would have run to leave Birmingham. On the 1916 map below I have superimposed the published proposed line near New John St, and have extended it to meet the line as built just north of Perry Barr. Is it a coincidence that this is almost a straight line?
The line would roughly have followed the line of the later Westminster Road, and would have run close to Six Ways Aston - in a deep cutting or perhaps in as tunnel.
This may not be making history, but I think it's an interesting piece of research even so.
Peter
