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The retreat...aston

Astoness

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
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hi folks just had a request from a member asking if i have any photos of the reatreat in aston..she wants to surprise her mom on her 80th birthday...must admit im stumped on this one as i have not heard of the retreat so if anyone can help glen13 with any pics of it this would be great...

cheers

lyn
 
Couldn't find a pic Lyn, but here is a short history for you - I hadn't heard of it either.
[h=2]Dowell's Retreat.[/h]The almshouses known as Dowell's Retreat were built by James Dowell and, by deed of 1831, endowed by his widow Elizabeth with property in Bordesley and elsewhere. There were 21 almshouses and a chapel in Warner Street, Bordesley, for the use of poor, aged women, preferably from Bordesley and Deritend. The income of the charity in 1952 was about £400 from rents and stock, which was expended on the maintenance of the almshouses and the provision of stipends and fuel for the almspeople.(9, 6)
Taken from charities for the poor website via google.
Sue
 
the retreat map.jpgthanks sue but im not sure that this is same retreat that i am talking about...it was off high st newtown..here is a map..green dot shows THE RETREAT ..
 
This has been on the forum, but probably lost. it is of The Retreat off Sutton St

retreat_off_sutton_st.jpg
 
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When I first started work at Dowding and Mills their office for the contracts branch was on the corner of Warner Street and Warwick Street .Immediatly next door in Warner Street was a terrace of houses which I seem to remember were occupied by elderly women they were demolished probably before 1970. I'm pretty sure that terrace was called the retreat . I think you may need the road they were on to locate them if they were the same set up
 
mike thats a great pic...thanks for posting it...

hi bernie i thought at first that it must be in a road or street but that was the address...if you look at the map ive posted it was off wilkinson st...

lyn
 
The Retreat was located between Sutton Street and Wilkinson Street Aston, about a minute walk from where I was born, I have never seen any photo's of the Retreat, the closest one I have ever seen is was post a few years back, and at this moment in time I have forgotten the persons name, he posted quite a few from around that area, somewhere on my computer I have the photo's in question, and will post them later,
 
thanks aston lad it would be great if you could locate and post that pic if it was posted pre hacking of the forum we wont be able to view it..

cheers

lyn
 
The photo on post 4 is not of The Retreat, Aston, which ran from Wilkinson Street and then joined Sutton Street, leading to Park Lane. The houses on the one side of The Retreat had very long gardens, no bay windows, and the other side which backed on to Clarendon Street had a long brick wall which ran the length of the road, and you couldn't see the houses from the road.
 
Sutton 1.jpgSutton 2.jpgView attachment 82152View attachment 82153View attachment 82154The photo's were posted by Ray Griffiths, sorry for forgetting his name.....the one photo you can see a garage on the left, that is where the Reteat began, another is the view you had when you walked down Sutton Street to Aston Cross, and the other photo is looking along Sutton Street from the Reteat towards Park Lane, and Upper Sutton Street.....

For some unknown reason I cannot upload the photo's

View attachment 82152View attachment 82153View attachment 82154
 
hi aston lad...i saved most of rays pics but this one must have passed me by...i will contact ray and ask him to send it to me...

lyn
 
The Reteat3.jpg The Retreat starts at the end of the row of houses.....




Sylvia ....No its not the Retreat....nor Sutton Street .....but it could be William st, Clifford st, Bell Barn Road or Auckland st
 
Sylvia, l agree with you post no 4, is not astons retreat, at least not as l remember it...but does anyone remember it being bombed in the war....l do remember going up the retreat on the righthand side there was some open land that us kids would slide down when its snowed,.....Brenda
 
Brenda that was Wilkinson Street bomb peck, the Retreat join Wilkinson Street with Sutton St, most people thought that Wilkinson St and the Retreat were one of the same.....there was some bomb damage in the Retreat on your left hand side walking towards Sutton Street, it always remind me of the country side, it was always quiet, the houses had front gardens bigger than our back one......
 
Aston lad....you may be right l remember the houses with the long front gardens seemed out of place in our part of aston,but l still remember sliding down a hill in the snow ending up in phillips street....a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then so who knows....Brenda
 
Brenda....that was the main bomb peck....using old metal advertisement as sledges, the amount of times I ripped the skin off my knees being stopped by a house brick sticking up out of the ground, health and safety would have kittens these day if the kids did what we did.....the peck was an adventue park for us, we could and did build whatever we wanted to, we had old cars to play in, or just sit and talk to get out of the rain, magical days we were allowed to live in, just love to turn the clock back and have another slid down that hill....
 
I would just like to add my 2 pence worth to the memories of the Retreat. I lived in Parliament Street and would go with friends to play on the bomb peck, I would be about 6 at the time. One day I was there with a friend and there was a gang of older boys gathered around a bonfire, we found ourselves being held by our arms and legs over the fire...no harm done I should add. Nothing was ever said to mum and dad of course, I would have had a good telling off for going there.

One of the gang was Roy Holder (of Whistle Down The Wind fame), I often wonder if he remembers this incident.
 
Brenda and John, the big bomb site was on the right hand side of Wilkinson Street, when you went up the hill from Upper Webster Street, we used to play up there a lot, I have think perhaps there was a little factory on the site before the bombing, I have posted elsewhere that we found a lot of what I think were the front of cuff links, on the back was printed gilt, someone said the police would find us guilty of stealing them, so we buried them again.

John, loved the photo you posted No.14, during the war my older sister (by 10 years) used to collect money for Saving Certificates to help the war effort and she sometimes took me with her, and we used to call at those houses amongst others.

I also remember going to the first house next to the petrol pumps to get mint when we had lamb for Sunday dinner.
 
s Retreat 21 houses and a chapel built by James Dowell.jpgDowell's Retreat Warner Street 21 houses and a chapel built by James Dowell in 1842 for old poor women demolished mid 1960s
 
aston lad said:
View attachment 82157View attachment 82158View attachment 82152View attachment 82153View attachment 82154The photo's were posted by Ray Griffiths, sorry for forgetting his name.....the one photo you can see a garage on the left, that is where the Reteat began, another is the view you had when you walked down Sutton Street to Aston Cross, and the other photo is looking along Sutton Street from the Reteat towards Park Lane, and Upper Sutton Street.....

For some unknown reason I cannot upload the photo's

View attachment 82152View attachment 82153View attachment 82154
Click to expand...

The second picture is one of sutton street? it looks like somewhere else to me I just can't think where, and that tower is familiar. Are we sure it is sutton street?
 
Aston village was around the church. the almshouses were on the opposite side of the road a little to the east as is shown below, church on top left

map_c_1889_showing_Holte_almshouses.jpg
 
Just to say neither of the photos are of the reteat.....shame, I would have like to have seen it again.....it was only a very short street/road, about the length of half a football pitch if that....!!
 
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