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Sheldon Bombing

I

Ian Leggett

master brummie
Is there any information of the bombs that fell on Parkdale Road.This was a new road having been built in 1938/9. Apparently a German Bomber was being chased off Elmdon Airpaort and it dropped it's bomb load to gain speed as it flew off. The bombs dropped in Parkdale Road damaging several houses and killing a policeman. There was also a large bomb crater behind the houses alongside the brook backing onto King George V playing fields. This was an allotment and my father used to tell me that his vegetables were blown up here. This was a popular place for us to play hide and seek and coboys and indians. Many houses which had their roofs repaired were done in a different colour slate which is still clearly visible today. On a different tack,most of the houses on the other side of the playing fields were built by German POW's. These houses are in roads running off Church Road but cannot remember the names (ending with "dale" I think)
Regards Ian.
 
Ian Leggett said:
Is there any information of the bombs that fell on Parkdale Road.This was a new road having been built in 1938/9. Apparently a German Bomber was being chased off Elmdon Airpaort and it dropped it's bomb load to gain speed as it flew off. The bombs dropped in Parkdale Road damaging several houses and killing a policeman. There was also a large bomb crater behind the houses alongside the brook backing onto King George V playing fields. This was an allotment and my father used to tell me that his vegetables were blown up here. This was a popular place for us to play hide and seek and coboys and indians. Many houses which had their roofs repaired were done in a different colour slate which is still clearly visible today. On a different tack,most of the houses on the other side of the playing fields were built by German POW's. These houses are in roads running off Church Road but cannot remember the names (ending with "dale" I think)
Regards Ian.
Click to expand...
Ian, German Pow`s building council houses is not on, only established building companies worked for the city council most of the houses in the area were privatly built pre-WW2, the Elms Farm Estate of council housing and Elms Farm School was built in 1954 as Infants & Junior and amalgamated in 1984 as a Community school & was built after the Pow`s had long gone, Regards Len.
 
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There are a lot of flat roof houses in Common Lane of Church road , they are known as the Jerry built houses.
 
Robert, The Common Lane "flat tops" were occupied as i remember them from 1935 when our Insurance Agent would take me & my older Brother on his round and he collected from some of the houses, the roofs leaked and some years ago they were covered with a leakproof covering, i think they were council houses when built, a lot have been bought. Len.
 
I used to live in Silvermere Road and can confirm that the former Silvermere secondary school received bomb damage.

I don't believe that there was any housing yet built in the road at that time only the school...
 
I seem to think that Silvermere/Mapledene and Berryfield Road had very few houses and that Parkdale Road was the first to have houses off Cranes Park Road. The bombing of the school may well have been the same string of bombs that hit Parkdale as the plane would have come from the airport that way. On the houses built by German POW I am pretty sure that was correct as they were known as the Jerry built houses.They were not council as far as I am aware,I think one road was called Beechdale Road and it ran paralel with the playing field. I thought there may have been a thread already but it did not come up in the search so thought to open it up again. Regards Ian.
 
I think the term Jerry Built means cobbled together rather than built by the Jerries.

Dunno if Lencops is right about in Birmingham, but I once worked on some flats in Coventry which were supposed to have been built by POWs. Possibly Italians, with materials that had been taken from a ship. I dont remember the full story, but I do remember that the internal bricks were like terracotta airbricks, sort of honeycomb inside, the sort that you often see in Spain and Portugal. If you tried to use a hammer drill they just shattered.
 
I think the houses in Parkdale Rd were built just pre war, and the German POW's were used in the making of the roads, the only bombing I know of in the area was Ivydale Avenue. there is a picture of the damage in Alton Douglas's 'Birmingham At War' book.

Nick
 
fatfingers said:
I think the term Jerry Built means cobbled together rather than built by the Jerries.

Dunno if Lencops is right about in Birmingham, but I once worked on some flats in Coventry which were supposed to have been built by POWs. Possibly Italians, with materials that had been taken from a ship. I dont remember the full story, but I do remember that the internal bricks were like terracotta airbricks, sort of honeycomb inside, the sort that you often see in Spain and Portugal. If you tried to use a hammer drill they just shattered.
Click to expand...

Don,t know these houses but there was a time in the middle 60s that these terracotta brick were in common use didn,t last long thank goodness. Dek
 
Hi All,

This thread interested me so I have done a little research into POWs and whether they worked. They were categorised into 3 groups - White, Grey and Black.

The whites were considered trustworthy as they had never been Nazis. The Greys were those who had an interest in Naziism but had never joined the party.. The Blacks were members of the party SS etc. In addition all Luiftwaffe and U boat personnel were categorised Black.

The whites were allowed to work. The greys could work but only on farms etc.. The blacks were not allowed to work on any account.

No one could be made to work but whites and greys could if they wished. The whites worked on farms, roads and construction. Before D Day there were very few German POWs who had served in the army so not too many working. They were not all finally repatriated until 1948.

After the Italian surrender in 1943 Italian POWs could more or less do as they pleased but the majority worked on farms.

Old Boy
 
Thanks, OLD BOY, that reply is very interesting. I wonder if there is a record of the houses being built by POW's in the Sheldon area. Regards Ian.
 
Hi Nick,Yes the houses were built just pre war,my father bought one new in late 1938. It was not these that were involved in POW building but on the opposite side of the playing fields. REgards Ian.
 
fatfingers said:
I think the term Jerry Built means cobbled together rather than built by the Jerries.

Dunno if Lencops is right about in Birmingham, but I once worked on some flats in Coventry which were supposed to have been built by POWs. Possibly Italians, with materials that had been taken from a ship. I dont remember the full story, but I do remember that the internal bricks were like terracotta airbricks, sort of honeycomb inside, the sort that you often see in Spain and Portugal. If you tried to use a hammer drill they just shattered.
Click to expand...
Ah,but which came first,the term,or the POW houses. Could the term have followed the
POW building. Regards Ian.
 
From Dictionary.com :

jer·ry-built

   /ˈdʒɛr
thinsp.png
iˌbɪlt/ Show Spelled[jer-ee-bilt] Show IPA
–adjective 1. built cheaply and flimsily.

2. contrived or developed in a haphazard, unsubstantial fashion, as a project or organization.

Origin:
1865–70; jerry (as in jerry-build) + built


Jer·ry

   /ˈdʒɛr
thinsp.png
i/ Show Spelled[jer-ee] organisationShow IPA
–noun,plural-ries. Chiefly British Informal. 1. a German.

2. Germans collectively.

Origin:
1910–15; Ger(man) + -y

The expression jerry-built existed at least forty years before a German was known as a Jerry.
Hope this helps, db84124
 
This is clipped from; https://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxjerryb.html

Jerry-built", which the OED defines as "built unsubstantially of
bad materials; built to sell but not last" is attested since 1869,
and is said to have arisen in Liverpool. It has been fancifully
derived from the Biblical city of Jericho, whose walls came tumbling
down; from the prophet Jeremiah, because he foretold decay; from the
name of a building firm on the Mersey; from "jelly", signifying
instability; from French jour="day" (workers paid day-by-day
considered less likely to do a good job); and from the Romany
gerry="excrement". More likely, it is linked to earlier
pejorative uses of the name Jerry ("jerrymumble", to knock about,
1721; "Jerry Sneak", a henpecked husband, 1764; "jerry", a cheap
 
dek carr said:
Don,t know these houses but there was a time in the middle 60s that these terracotta brick were in common use didn,t last long thank goodness. Dek
Click to expand...

These were older than that, looked about late 40s to me. But I'm not in the building trade, just fitted the door entry system.
 
Thanks for clearing the subject of "Jerry builders" up. You really are very informative forum members.
I am still fairly sure the houses were POW built though.Interestlingly one forum thread mentioned the Italians who were given a lot lore freedom to move around.After the war many hundreds stayed in the UK and they had a very large community in Bedford working in the brick works. So perhaps there is a link there in that they were the builders. Regards Ian.
 
Greetings one and all. Came acroos this Thread via a contact at Staffs Home Guard.
I lived in Lyndon Road, Sheldon, just up from the Sheldon Cinema. Houses on our side followed the road all the way but on t'other side, stopped at the point where access was provided to the Rover Sports Fields (oposite our house) and then, a dairy farm, up to the shops (Garner's Fruit and Veg was the first).
We had bombs dropped within 200 yards of our house and if the current owners havent made any changes, there would still be shrapnel embedded in one of the upper window frames.

My reason for writing here is to seek some help. My Father was an ARP Warden and I am trying to find any available information related to his Section and his "beat". I had believed the ARP and Home Guard were connected but was wrong.

So my question is, does anyone know where I might find information on the ARP.

Regards, OldBrummie.
 
It just goes to show how some words in common parlance can go so quickly out of fashion / use. The term Jerry Built was common when I was a kid but now realise I have not heard it for quite a while. It was often applied to the new estates built quickly after the two World Wars. New and cheaper building techniques were used and I wonder if the term was warrented on these new buildings.Most of these estates are still standing. Buy a new house today you will only get a 25 year building guarantee.
I thought the term jerry built was used to describe many of the Georgian Facades in places such as Bath, Cheltenham and Brighton. They were thrown up quickly to supply the fashion needs of the day but perhaps the jerry built term was applied later.
 
Len, Very many thanks. I will follow it up. Much appreciated.

On the topic of Jerry-Built, I always ascociated it with the Pre-Fabs that were built up Lode Lane, on the way to Solihull and opposite the Pub (Olton Hall I think).
Re POW's, I remember them clearing out the stream that ran along the back of Thurston Avenue.
My Grandmother provided them with cups of tea. But I can't recall if they were German or Italian.

OldBrummie.
 
Len. I've just been onto the link (and the web site itself). A great deal of very interesting information and another link I have followed up seeking further data.

Many, many thanks again.

OldBrummie.
 
Defence Medal £23.50

Click for Larger View
The 1939-45 Defence Medal was a campaign medal of the British Commonwealth, awarded for service in WW2. It was instituted to recognise both military and some types of civilian service.

This type of service in the UK includes those civilian personnel who worked as members of:
Home Guard, Royal Observer Corps, Fire Brigades, including the National Fire Service (NFS), Civil Defence, Messenger Service, Police and Coast Guard
The qualifying time required depending on the area served is: UK - 1080 days, Overseas non-operational - 360 days, Overseas non-operational in an area deemed to be closely threatened or subject to air attack -180 days, Did your Dad have this medal?. if not you may be able to get it as next of kin. Len.
 
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Hi Len. Re the medal, I have absolutely no idea. It is possible as I'm sure he served for the duration. I really have no idea where or how I could check.
However imediately after the war he became very closely involved with the National Savings Movement and was honoured with an invitation to Buckingham Palace to attend (which he did) a Royal Garden Party. He didn't actually meet The King and Queen as there where hundreds if not thousands attending.

OldBrummie.
 
OldBrummie, The Sheldon Cinema on its opening night. Type in search "Sheldon" lots of pics and info. Len.
 
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Len, thanks for the web address and also for "The Sheldon". I have had a quick look at the "Sheldon" Thread but have to race out to see the doc but I will go back to it and will also follow up on the 'veterans' link.

OldBrummie.
 
Ian Leggett said:
Is there any information of the bombs that fell on Parkdale Road.This was a new road having been built in 1938/9. Apparently a German Bomber was being chased off Elmdon Airpaort and it dropped it's bomb load to gain speed as it flew off. The bombs dropped in Parkdale Road damaging several houses and killing a policeman. There was also a large bomb crater behind the houses alongside the brook backing onto King George V playing fields. This was an allotment and my father used to tell me that his vegetables were blown up here. This was a popular place for us to play hide and seek and coboys and indians. Many houses which had their roofs repaired were done in a different colour slate which is still clearly visible today. On a different tack,most of the houses on the other side of the playing fields were built by German POW's. These houses are in roads running off Church Road but cannot remember the names (ending with "dale" I think)
Regards Ian.
Click to expand...
Hi Ian, I watched Silvermere Rd. School burn from my bedroom window in Normanton Avenue, I was about five and it was my school. Almost all of the upper floor and roof was destroyed by fire caused by inscendary bombs and after temporary repairs the school continued to operate with just the ground floor and a couple of rooms upstairs. I know for sure that number 77 Parkdale Road received a landmine which blew up later and destroyed the house, the occupants were the Pearson family and they all escaped unhurt. I know this to be true because I am still in touch with Catherine Pearson, we class mates for fifteen years. I think that the school, parkdale Road and Ivydale Road damage was all done in the same raid as you say. I don't ever remember seeing POW's in Sheldon and as for the flat roofed houses in Common Lane, they were pre-war, I think they were called Jerry build simply because they had flat roofs and that was unusual in those days.
I have a Silvermere Road School facebook page if you would like to see some pictures and perhaps you would like to contribute!
Best wishes, Brian Mann
 
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