• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Tile cross/ marston green / dorridge

changinman1

changinman1

master brummie
Hi has anyone got any old photos of tile cross / marston green or dorridge please or know where there are any on this site please.

Thanks in advance
 
This one is taken fom the Signal Box Marston Green Station 1950s

 
My grandad has a book about Marston Green, with pics in it, just asked him where he got it from and he got it from the centre he used to go to, at St Leonards church hall in Marston Green. You could try Bickenhill Parish Council, as they are responsible for stuff relating to Marston Green, they might be able to help.

Wendy.xxx
 
Hi Pam,
my grandads name is Mann, i have managed to search quite a bit, if the name Naasson Jesse Mann born 1860/1 greater comberton, rings a bell, he is my gt gt grandfather, we may well be related somehwhere along the line lol
Wendy.xxx
 
Hi Pam, my grandad lived around the Alum rock/Small Heath area, he grew up Bolton Road and Bolton Street, then moved to Herrick Road Alum Rock in the 1950's with my nan and mom, from what i gather just recently its a very popular name.
 
hi all. although i never lived in tile cross i used to visit my aunt and uncle a lot when i was a child. they lived in bell lane and i have very fond memories of my visits. they owned a caravan at fradley and most fridays i would catch the no 8 bus and meet my aunt outside where she worked at tubes aston cross then i would stop at their house on the night and on sat we would all catch the midland red bus (think it was the 112 to fradley) and spend the weekend at the caravan. such happy times. wales.:) iv seen a pic somewhere of the shops at the top of bell lane. if i can locate it i will post it. wales.
 
Hi guys and gals, for ages we have been trying to find a photo of the old Marston Green Maternity Hospital, some of us had our babies there in the 50's. If you come across one please will you post it here. Originally it was the hospital for Canadians, it had Nissen huts all centred around a grass circle.:)
 
Holly Lane Marston Green and the island from the railway station. The cafe on the corner was a regular haunt for the Midland Red crews!

(Replacement)
 

Attachments

  • Marston%20Green%20Holly%20Lane.jpg
    Marston%20Green%20Holly%20Lane.jpg
    132.4 KB · Views: 15
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm almost certain that I used to stand on the corner of the road behind the island waiting for the bus to arrive from the maternity hospital. Probably got off a bus from town where the Midland Red stands. Gosh it taks me back, young, very pregnant with my 2 year old in tow, doing his best to be as naughty as only he could :)
 
My husband grew up in Marston Green, Elmdon Lane. His parents still live there. Hubby went to Whitesmore school, but when it was partly burnt down (30 years ago) he had to go to Silvermere School for a while.

I live not far from Silvermere now, it was a community centre for quite a time after being a school, but it's now offices. It still has the playing field behind which is used for local football clubs.

Hubby and I often walk across Sheldon Country Park (which was known as King George V park), watch the planes from the end of the runway and then see his Mum in Elmdon Lane.

Marston Green has changed such a lot- everywhere you look there's new houses. :(

Helen
 
I grew up on Silvermere Road and used to go across the 'park' to Marston
Green most days after school. Either chasing train numbers or girls can't
really remember now. Got plenty of train numbers though.

Incidentally if you look at the photograph closely, at the right hand side
of the road is a moped parked up.

The rider obviously felt quite confident in leaving it unattended, in fact
he can be seen over the fence in the field next to James's shop taking
a call of nature...
 
The original village centre was focused around the area of the Memory Garden. This was originally a gravel pit, which later became a pond. It was developed into the gardens we know today in 1949 Some of the oldest buildings in Marston Green are to be found in this area. The area was a farming community from its earliest beginnings up until the end of the First World War. Housing development then began and rapidly changed the character of the area. Development slowed in the 1960's due to the Green Belt policy. Marston Green was still a village close to the city. Len.
 
Can anyone who knows Marston Green help me please?
I've been looking for a house in Chelmsley Lane, number 220. When I went there the other day, I found the highest number was 94, at Station Road junction. Was Elmdon Road once part of (and named) Chelmsley Lane, as it is opposite the Station Road end of it? That seems the only way higher numbers could have been reached.
The address is on several legal documents from the 30s and 40s, so I doubt if they are all wrong. The person who lived there at the time was a Richard Redman Huddleston.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&...2.467371,-1.751375&spn=0.006327,0.013819&z=16
 
Di.Poppit, This is my post about Marston Green Maternity Hospital in the search option. Len. My memories of Marston Green Maternity hospital are that it was built by Canadian Soldiers circa 1940, the timber sections were shipped from Canada and erected at Marston Green, they had a covered walkway by the side of the wards which were named after trees for example Rowan etc, in WW2 the military patients wore a blue jacket & trousers, wih a red tie on their shirt a lot of them visited The Swan pub at Yardley the Army ruled that Civilians must not buy them lots of drink as they were having medical treatment, the site is now a housing estate, i think there is a sign telling that it was the site of a Canadian hospital, Marston Green Mental hospital was not on the same site.
 
Well, I sorted my problem with Chelmsley Lane, Marston Green. A misprint on a document gave the wrong number! The house I wanted, no 20, has gone now, replaced by a doctor's surgery.
Now, does anyone remember the area back in the 30s? (yes I know it's a long time ago, but I'm clutching at straws here!).
Two brothers married two sisters, Richard Huddleston married Frances Edenborough in 1930, and David Huddleston married Nora Edenborough in 1937. The marriges were registered in Meriden, which probably included Marston Green then.
The Huddlestons lived in Chelmsley Lane, and the Edenboroughs lived in Elmdon Lane, just over the (former) level crossing at the southern end of the station, where a footbridge now carries the right of way.
Does this stir any memories? Two brothers marrying two sisters is a bit rare, and may have been a newsworthy item then, even though the weddings were seven years apart.
 
Lloyd,are you interested in the genealogy of the family
Richard Greening Huddleston (b.1900 Hunslet Leeds)who married in 1930 meriden was the son of Richard Redman Huddleston and Nellie Gertrude Greening,they had another son David in Hunslet 1909.
1901
13 Hardy Grove,hunslet,yorks
Richard Huddleston age 27 b. Burwall,Cambs, Mechanical engineer
Nellie age 26 b. Ogden ,Lancs
Richard age 5 months b. Leeds.
 
Yes, the query is following on from tracing the family back to Hunslet - and further.
Pilot Officer David Huddleston was killed on 22nd March 1944 when the Wellington bomber he was radio operator on crashed following engine failure on a factory in Mill Lane, Digbeth. After the reading of press coverage and the official report of the crash, myself and a couple of colleagues from Wythall museum decided to research the families of the three crew members, David Huddleston being the most local. It is believed that his (now adult) grandchildren live in the Lichfield area.
Our feelings are that these three men, lost in a non-combatant accident so near the end of the war, should not have their memory lost as time passes - they gave their lives for this country just as those fighting at the front did.
I just wondered if anyone remembered the unusual occurrence of the two Huddleson brothers, Richard and David, marrying the two Edenborough sisters, Frances and Nora.
 
elly said:
My husband grew up in Marston Green, Elmdon Lane. His parents still live there. Hubby went to Whitesmore school, but when it was partly burnt down (30 years ago) he had to go to Silvermere School for a while.

I live not far from Silvermere now, it was a community centre for quite a time after being a school, but it's now offices. It still has the playing field behind which is used for local football clubs.

Hubby and I often walk across Sheldon Country Park (which was known as King George V park), watch the planes from the end of the runway and then see his Mum in Elmdon Lane.

Marston Green has changed such a lot- everywhere you look there's new houses. :(

Helen
Click to expand...

Hi Helen, I was born in the downstairs front room of 200 Elmdon Lane, as were my brother and two sisters.
Bit of a coincidence, there were only two Whitakers (with one T) listed in the phone book when I was a younger man, and both were in Elmdon Lane, Marston Green. Both had sons called Ian which caused some confusion for people using the phone book to call one or the other, I was about 14 years older than the other one and a colleague once rang and asked if Ian was coming to the pub? The reply was "Doubtful, he's just gone off to the Cubs". Wrong Whitaker!
Your husband may remember me or my brother Alan or sisters Mavis and Peggy.

Ian
 
I used to live in the prefabs in Mackadown Lane, No.88, backed onto the field with the railway embankment right behind us. It was great living there as a kid. I was a train spotter and a plane spotter...good old days. We then moved to Chelmsley/Tile Cross by the White Hart pub near Crossroads Shop.... Noel Gordon opened it.

Terry
 
terry carter said:
I used to live in the prefabs in Mackadown Lane, No.88, backed onto the field with the railway embankment right behind us. It was great living there as a kid. I was a train spotter and a plane spotter...good old days. We then moved to Chelmsley/Tile Cross by the White Hart pub near Crossroads Shop.... Noel Gordon opened it.

Terry
Click to expand...

Hi Terry, not difficult to be a plane spotter at 88 Mackadown Lane.....they barely cleared the roof when landing!

Regarding Noel Gordon opening the Crossroads Store, there is/was a link with her or some member of her family or other cast member from the Croosroads programme and the large ,then new, house right on that corner. Was it Denny Laine, the musician, and one of the blonde girls from the Crossroads show married and living there? Maybe....? Or was it Ann Aston from The Golden Shot? Seems more likely in the back of my memory.
There's no point wracking my brain...there ain't a lot left to wrack:(

Ian
 
I know what you mean. The story was it was Carl Wayne and "Miss Diane" as Benny used to call her. But, I do not know any person who actually saw them. I bet someone out there in Forum land knows the answer.

Terry
 
There you are Ian & Terry:)

She was Carl Wayne's wife

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Hanson

We played Crossroads at the opeing of the Wolverampton Bowl ( Tenpin) all I remember her for was her swearing

By the way I lived at Marson Green from 1961
 
Last edited:
Thanks Alf.

Getting back to Mackadown Lane. With my Mom & Dad we used to visit the social club further down the lane. It seemed to be a collection of sheds joined together.
Forgot to mention, apart from Train/Plane spotter, me and some mates also got the 14 Bus to Lea Hall bus depot to do Bus spotting aswell!!

In the fields behind the prefabs there was a little stream and a long narrow tunnel that ran through the bottom of the railway embankment. It was possible to jump from side to side in the tunnel and make your way through to the other side and emerge the Bell Lane side. :grin2:

Can also remember when the Railway tracks were converted to use concrete sleepers. The old wooden sleepers were discarded and left down the embankment. I remember one year we made a massive bonfire using these wooden railway sleepers and they were still smoldering away for days afterwards.

Terry
 
Alf, thank you for that, I was almost right.....ish:) Where in Marston Green did you live?

Terry, that would have been Hatchford Brook you were leaping over. I did much the same....it's what kids are best at:D

Ian
 
Terry, Do you remember the brook flooding circa 1956 and cars & the Midland Red 165 bus could not go down Mackadown Lane, (locals called it Knickersdown Lane ha!, ha!.) in later years it was made into a culvert so there was no flooding. i worked at the BSA Tools factory and used M/Red 165 to get work some of the factory is still in use behind the Bingo Casino, Kitts Green Rd
 
Malthouse Lane in one of 5 Cottages, just before the shops past the Tavern Pub the old one with sawdust in the Bar welder.:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top