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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...
- Thread starter oldMohawk
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Were you referring to this pic Nico from the "Old street pics.." thread posted by Astoness? I asked what the semi-circular structure was ? Never seen one before. Was it for coal or a maybe dog? Viv.
Curly
master brummie
I'd guess it was to prevent the ingress of rainwater to the cellar (coal cellar?). If you look closely at the houses to the left, in both cases there is something at ground level between the door and the window! A grating? A cover? dunno! <shrugs shoulders>
Well that's much more interesting Curley than a kennel or coal 'ole! Would never have worked that out. Thanks. Viv.
brummie nick
master brummie
They were built when cellars had been made into shelters in war time, it was so that if the building collapsed the emergency exit wasn't blocked. we had one on our house.
Nick
Nick
Thanks Nick. Would all the houses have had one of these exits then? Viv.
brummie nick
master brummie
No Viv,they only had them if the cellar had been converted into an air raid shelter, people with a garden would have had an Anderson shelter, and there was also one called a Morrison shelter, it was what you might call a reinforced table , if you do a Google search for ‘Morrison Shelter you will see pictures of them.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I've always liked this pic even though the buildings are very run down.
Neighbours meeting in a court off Hanley Street maybe they have heard about new housing on the way.
The dog has decided to walk off and just look at all those washing lines and miskins !
Neighbours meeting in a court off Hanley Street maybe they have heard about new housing on the way.
The dog has decided to walk off and just look at all those washing lines and miskins !
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brummie nick
master brummie
I think the rota was decided by the time you'd been in the terrace, ie The last in had the day the other didn't want.
Nick
Stephen0002002
master brummie
wonder why the dustbins were on tother side o road ?
the roof on the LHS looks a bit worse for wear.
the roof on the LHS looks a bit worse for wear.
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
I've been pondering over brew house procedures !
Was there a communual coal house or did you bring your own coal on your day ?
Maybe it was 'bad form' to not clean out the ashes after a session.
Or perhaps you had to clean out the ashes before you started and left them in after finishing.
Were the tubs, poshes, and mangles in with the rent ?
I suppose it was different in each court or terrace - you could be in with good neighbours or maybe not.
Looking at the brew house on the left of the photo, it looks out of use and the photo looks late 1950s early 1960s so many of them may have bought 'John Bloom' washing machines - remember them ?
Also Launderettes could have started up ....
hi oldmowhawk and curly ;
they was strictly for a cover of the coal or if you like blunder wood for the fire ;as i recall seeing one when i was young i was curious
when went up a particular court one day when i was a nipper with a inquizzing mind and looked under the arch and there was no dor or grating
just a pile of coal and bits of blunder as you say not many people had them especialy up the courts around aston ; as also on victoria rd astonwe lived on the main victoria rd and some houe had the cellar on the front some never did ; we never had a celler on victoria rd no did we at upper thomas street
where i seen this funny shape you are on about was up a big terrace and it was only one up there at this house there was alot of houses up this terace just next to the old victoria rd post office just passed upper sutton street the douglas and the fisher family lived up there as i recall in the fortys and early fifties
also i would presune seeing all that thrown out blunder i would imagine it would have been in the october or november close to bon fire night or the weeks with the run up to bonfire night as kids we done the same around aston we had the biggest yard up our terrace and we started weeks and weks to collect from the neibours of lichfield rd to make sure we had the biggest and the best bonfire on lichfield rd and it burnt all night and look at the misbins if you can recall we all has two bins
one for the general waste and the other we called the pig swill bin which we beleived it went to a farm and on that subject it could have gone to the prison
farm over at frankley which was acres and acres of farm land across there i notice the other day the prison farm is now an animal sanction ;
best ishes Astonian;;
they was strictly for a cover of the coal or if you like blunder wood for the fire ;as i recall seeing one when i was young i was curious
when went up a particular court one day when i was a nipper with a inquizzing mind and looked under the arch and there was no dor or grating
just a pile of coal and bits of blunder as you say not many people had them especialy up the courts around aston ; as also on victoria rd astonwe lived on the main victoria rd and some houe had the cellar on the front some never did ; we never had a celler on victoria rd no did we at upper thomas street
where i seen this funny shape you are on about was up a big terrace and it was only one up there at this house there was alot of houses up this terace just next to the old victoria rd post office just passed upper sutton street the douglas and the fisher family lived up there as i recall in the fortys and early fifties
also i would presune seeing all that thrown out blunder i would imagine it would have been in the october or november close to bon fire night or the weeks with the run up to bonfire night as kids we done the same around aston we had the biggest yard up our terrace and we started weeks and weks to collect from the neibours of lichfield rd to make sure we had the biggest and the best bonfire on lichfield rd and it burnt all night and look at the misbins if you can recall we all has two bins
one for the general waste and the other we called the pig swill bin which we beleived it went to a farm and on that subject it could have gone to the prison
farm over at frankley which was acres and acres of farm land across there i notice the other day the prison farm is now an animal sanction ;
best ishes Astonian;;
hi oldmowhawk
where we lived in the big terrace of cromwell terrace twenty house had to share four looes i brew house
with one big berta mangle and one wooden dolly maid to beat the washining up and down in the boiler tub;
and we had to make fire lighters or buy them to burn under the boiler and it was first come first servervedbut you had to leave it clean and tidy
and leave the dolly maid in view so your neibour could see it and find it to use other wise the other neibours would scorn you;
with there sharp tongues believe me and we had to take our enamuel buckets of waste from during the night up to the top of the yard and que upto slop
out and we all had to walk past mrs seabournes house whom was the house at the top of the terrace she had it fencened off and if you did not close the gate when passing through to get to the brew house or toilets she would come out and shout closed that gate
the sheldon family was her neibour they was posh as well; best wishes ASTONIAN;;
where we lived in the big terrace of cromwell terrace twenty house had to share four looes i brew house
with one big berta mangle and one wooden dolly maid to beat the washining up and down in the boiler tub;
and we had to make fire lighters or buy them to burn under the boiler and it was first come first servervedbut you had to leave it clean and tidy
and leave the dolly maid in view so your neibour could see it and find it to use other wise the other neibours would scorn you;
with there sharp tongues believe me and we had to take our enamuel buckets of waste from during the night up to the top of the yard and que upto slop
out and we all had to walk past mrs seabournes house whom was the house at the top of the terrace she had it fencened off and if you did not close the gate when passing through to get to the brew house or toilets she would come out and shout closed that gate
the sheldon family was her neibour they was posh as well; best wishes ASTONIAN;;
hi phil i first posted the hanley st over 2 years back now and im stretching my memory now but i think you are right.. i think the rest of the caption read that it was a meeting of residents with councillors over living conditions....cracking photo though and so typical of the times....lyn
layful:That's not a road, it's the other side of the court. Yeah the washing facilities look abandoned by this time. The houses would probably have been 'modernised'...a cold water tap and single electric outlet. Possibly the old fireplaces with cooking stove attached would have been removed by this time and a rudimentary gas stove and boiler installed. Arghhh...does'nt bear thinking about...not much better than camping. How much effort would it have taken to fix up the sheds or just demolish them. Landlords...
brummie nick
master brummie
[FONT="]In Small Heath where I lived the council bought the houses off private Landlords, spent loads of money ‘modernising’ them, and then knocked them down about two years later.[/FONT]
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
A nice photo of Westley Rd Acocks Green in 1975 and caught in the photo a teenage girl and a youngster seem amused as they look at a dog. The telegraph pole hides the dog's head, but we can see most of the dog and everything looks ok ... but we will never know !
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