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Old street pics..

Actongrumpy said:
Hi David
Do you have any knowledge of an island just off the Hagley Road, in the middle of the junction of two roads opposite the Ivy Bush?
My father claimed that his father was the first taxi driver in Birmingham and that his ‘pitch’ was opposite the Ivy Bush. I found an old map that shows an area marked out for a cab stand in that position - no doubt for a horsedrawn cab. The story my father told was that his father parked his motor cab there but one day the council asked him to move because they needed to build a traffic island. He refused, saying he was there first, and they agreed a compromise. He parked at one end of the area while the council built half an island at the other end with a gap through it wide enough for a taxi. When that was completed, he moved his taxi in to it and the council built the other half behind him, again with a gap for his taxi. He continued to use this space as a cab stand for some years after but I don't know when it was demolished. I have searched for photographs of this island without any luck and the taxi archive records went up in smoke some years ago. I'm hoping someone has information about it.
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Played on that in the 60s.old derilict site.was told it was a hospital for infectious diseases?
 
Tinpot said:
I always knew the later building as Yardley Green Methodist chapel and attended Sunday School there in the late 50’s. I don’t know what date the replacement was built but I recollect there were 2 foundation stones, laid each side of the doorway, as can just about be seen in photo. We used to go down the side passage on the right of the building to another building at the back for Sunday School.
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This chuch has now been sold and has been demolished, sad really. I was Christened there in 1953, became a Church Member during the 1960s and also married there 1979.
Tinpot said:
I always knew the later building as Yardley Green Methodist chapel and attended Sunday School there in the late 50’s. I don’t know what date the replacement was built but I recollect there were 2 foundation stones, laid each side of the doorway, as can just about be seen in photo. We used to go down the side passage on the right of the building to another building at the back for Sunday School.
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mikejee said:
Not a particularly good one, of junction Kent St North and Devonshire St

Family_advice_centere_devonshire_st__kent_st_north_1972A~0.jpg
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No. I think that’s Lees st with Devonshire st. Go up the hill and turn right, that’s Kent st north, there was a pub at the corner called the Alex I think. I lived on Kent St, 4 backa 16. From 67 -73. We used this hill for our bogeys and other hand made wheeled devices in the 60s and 70s. Great fun, lots of scrapes. We didn’t use that shop much if at all because there were 2 shops, one sweet and one grocery on Kent St. Amazing to think you couldn’t go more that 200yds without encountering a shop. Or pub!
 
Radiorails said:
It appears to be a Hansom cab and yes, it is fodder for the horse. I believe that taxis, until fairly recent times, were supposed to carry straw in the boot as the original law had not yet been rescinded.
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The 1831 London Hackney Carriage Act made it an offence for drivers to feed their horse unless it was from a bag of corn or with hay from their hands. The law was repealed in 1976.
 
Astoness said:
five ways edgbaston 1909...looks like a large bag of something on the back i was wondering if it could have been hay for the horse especially as there is snow on the ground

lyn

View attachment 195830
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Fabulous picture thank you, growing up I lived on Elvetham road, with Bell Barn road just at the bottom, so not far from Five Ways, I remember passing a large and long shop, with big windows, I think sold coats possible clothes, why it stands out is they had a huge bear in the window, definitely museum quality, I was often was found at the museum, or the old library, I was just fascinated with that bear, it still sticks in my mind. Still at school, St Thomas's, no Idea the name off the shop, but it did look upmarket. Happy days.
 
I Am Nico said:
How hard life was then. Hard on horses. I think they worked till they dropped for many. People too. I wonder when work houses ceased to be.
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Hi in 1824, William Wilberforce and other men in high places, with Arther Broom a London vicar, sat at "The old Slaughter coffee house" to discuss what they could do about cruelty to animals, in particular horses who they saw being beaten daily and worked to death. They formed a society called SPCA, to protect animals against cruelty the first in the world, who thought about the welfare and care of animals. I think they have lost that calling today.
 
Country Road said:
Hi in 1824, William Wilberforce and other men in high places, with Arther Broom a London vicar, sat at "The old Slaughter coffee house" to discuss what they could do about cruelty to animals, in particular horses who they saw being beaten daily and worked to death. They formed a society called SPCA, to protect animals against cruelty the first in the world, who thought about the welfare and care of animals. I think they have lost that calling today.
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I posted before somewhere but Nan remembers a horse collapsing and dieing in the street. It stayed with her. she was a little girl and cried all the way home. If she saw a white horse she would spit on her foot for luck as they were a rare site. She remembers the pony having a good job he pulled the mower for the greens the rest of the time was left to graze.Coventry gran said if the hill was steep in the chart you had to get out and walk. They told me they put nails or segs in the horse shoes so they could grip as they often had to walk on ice pulling carriages. They remember them slithering. also putting straw down for them to get a grip.
 
I Am Nico said:
I posted before somewhere but Nan remembers a horse collapsing and dieing in the street. It stayed with her. she was a little girl and cried all the way home. If she saw a white horse she would spit on her foot for luck as they were a rare site. She remembers the pony having a good job he pulled the mower for the greens the rest of the time was left to graze.Coventry gran said if the hill was steep in the chart you had to get out and walk. They told me they put nails or segs in the horse shoes so they could grip as they often had to walk on ice pulling carriages. They remember them slithering. also putting straw down for them to get a grip.
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I feel for your nan, for a child to see the death of a horse must have been harrowing for her, as she never forgot it, when I was growing up I saw my fair share of animal cruelty, that stays with you, and today we have a rise in cruelty to all animals, a lot is lack of education on how to treat animals, and others have them for the wrong reasons. As an animal lover all my life it's upsetting that a slap on the wrist is about all people get who are cruel to animals, like many things today no deterents doesn't help animal cruelty.
 
I have a photo I will try and post later, how old is old? This would be probably 1973 in Dublin, my friend's granny with who I used to stay had the vegetables delivered. They were expensive but she felt sorry for the vegetable man! She would buy 2 stone of potatoes he put them in her bucket. His name was Dougie, I thought that was the horse's name! Dougie was dour. The horse moved up house by house without being told. He was a piebald. Or Dougie would whistle. I sent the photo to an old. neighbour of theirs and she was pleased to see it. She told me it was an old milk float turned in to a vegetable cart.
 
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