Birchfield Road Perry Barr

[Vivienne14]

hi viv thanks for posting that pic of the little crown and cushion...(your 2nd pic) i did have that one but cant seem to find it..not sure if ive posted this one before but it really is unique as it shows both the first and second crown and cushion pub on the same photo...obvious that they built the 2nd one before demolishing the first one..i wont bother posting a pic of the one thats there now as its not really worth it..

Just for comparison with Lyn's (Astoness's) photo of the C&C Inn with the big Old C&C being built in the background. There seems to be an extension to the C&C Inn in the foreground which isn't on Lyn's photo Not a great quality photo, but one for the record. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

great photo viv..dont think i have that one

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

Morning Lyn. Don't think this particular scene of Birchfield Rd, showing the Crown & Cushion Inn, has been on here before. A lovely view of Perry Barr, still as a village. Not too much traffic but lots going on. I like this especially as it's how my relations would have known it.

Hi Oldmohawk, note a cyclist FOLLOWING the tram this time, maybe he was trying to catch the jet stream! Viv.

 

[Astoness]

morning viv...cant say as i have seen that one either..wonderful photo and looking at that same spot now its hard to believe it once looked like this...

thanks viv another little gem

lyn

 

[Astonian]

good mornin viv
hope you are well; do you know what year this picture was taken like the rest of our guys i have not seen this before
i presume it as to be before the 1950 era loking in the thirty or fortys i would say
i would dearly love to know the years as i do have abit of intrest in this pub of its early years especialy during the fortys [ early fort years ]
have a nice day viv ; best wishes alan ; astonian;;

 

[oldMohawk]

Hi Oldmohawk, note a cyclist FOLLOWING the tram this time, maybe he was trying to catch the jet stream! Viv.

Highly technical comment here Viv. When I altered the contrast/brightness of your pic I could see that the tram pole was connected to the overhead line going towards town, so the cyclist overtaking that cart is living dangerously going towards an oncoming tram !
From memory I think trams did not have 'horns', the driver operated a bell with his foot, but maybe a tram expert can advise about this.
Super old pic ....
Phil

 

[Vivienne14]

Hi Alan, hope you're well too. Sorry don't know the date but looks about 1930/40s to me, definitely before the 1950s.

Hi Phil, thanks for the techie stuff. Would never have dreamed for one minute the tram was coming towards us. But just shows you what a risky business it would have been even on relatively less congested roads.

For any footie fans, the Crown & Cushion Inn was used as changing rooms for AVFC in their early days and a meadow at the back of the Inn was used for football matches. I expect these must have been some of the earliest matches, but maybe an expert can advise. Viv.

 

[Wendy]

Billy Smarts Circus Birchfield Road Perry Barr 1959

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks for posting Wendy. Earlier on this thread I think I mentioned queuing for tickets for the circus at Birchfield Harriers stadium - the old stadium. (Think it's a dog track now). As it turned out we didn't go to the circus because we either gave up waiting or they ran out of seats. But I wonder if it was the circus in the photo you've posted. Datewise it would have been about 1958/9/1960ish. If so the circus must have been held in the stadium. Viv.

 

[nickcc101]

Billy Smarts Circus Birchfield Road Perry Barr 1959



View attachment 95150

My Sister remembers Billy Smarts Daughter attending Canterbury road girls School back in the late fifties, must have just been for the duration of the circuses visit.

 

[Banjo]

I'm sure the Birchfield Road underpass opened on my 16th birthday, 27th March 1962. Nowadays I prefer it the way it was on Astoness's photo No 2

 

[G G Jean]

Great Photo Wendy.

 

[Vivienne14]

A seasonal view of Holy Trinity Church looking towards Birchfield Road. Sorry no date, but a lovely scene. Viv.

 

[A Sparks]

My Sister remembers Billy Smarts Daughter attending Canterbury road girls School back in the late fifties, must have just been for the duration of the circuses visit.

Billy Smart's Circus always came to the old Dog Track land (the site of what's now One Stop) before the Lynton Square shopping precinct was built.
I went to Birchfield Road Juniors (late 50s/ early 60's) and we used to have the circus performer's children attending classes with us for the two weeks they were in Perry Barr.

 

[masie]

Am I correct in thinking that the Girls School was a secondary school? My memory's a bit misty after all these years.

Big Gee

yes it was,there was an infants,juniors and all girls senior,the headmistress was miss fairhead,deputy was mrs irish,i think there was a mrs Benson for art,she never liked anything i did as hard as i tried i couldnt draw a straight line with a ruler.i was in the netball team and lived around the corner at 75,Stoneleigh rd,this was in 1959/1963.I loved my school and my class teacher was miss jones,i think there was a mrs West and her feared daughter miss west,we had a miss grace come to teach occasionally as she was retired,she threw a blackboard rubber at my head and skimmed a parting in the middle of my hair,she also thumped me so hard in the back i thought my lungs had collapsed,evil woman.i wasnt the only pupil she did this tverall i loved the school and spent many hours after school practising netball shooting,always around there during school holidays playing kick the can,cricket,football etc with some of the lads from Birchfield boys school.Great times,I wish i could have a look round that school before i meet my maker.my name then was May Clarke.

 

[Banjo]

In 1959 I lived 28 Birchfield Road right opposite Mansfield Rd (marked red). It was a big Georgian type house and must have belonged to someone of note back in the day.
Does anyone remember Harry Bastable's shop? He was a speedway rider in the 40s/50s? and owned the motorcycle shop on Birchfield Rd. I bought a BSA A7 & Sidecar from him in 1963, for £55. Apologies regarding photo position as I can't get the hang of inserting them.

 

[Vivienne14]

This junction changed dramatically when the underpass was put through Perry Barr. Today there's still a glimpse of the old Birchfield Road in the Barclay's Bank building (to the right on the postcard view). But the left-hand side has changed several times. The Crown and Cushion pub (left) was replaced with the large C&C, built behind the C&C seen in the postcard image. I wonder if Birchfiekd Road widening was planned way back in the 1930s when the large C&C was built.


In more modern times, the large C&C was replaced with another C&C as seen in the modern Streetview image. The yellow dot is roughly where the original Birchfield Road would have run. So over time, Birchfield Road must have almost doubled the width at this point Viv.

 

[Astoness]

viv thats a cracking photo showing the first of the 3 crown and cushions....cant say as ive seen that one before...as you say just good old barclays bank left now...i have mentioned this before but the latest crown and cushion has been closed for several months now because of trouble with drug use etc....cant see it every re opening but to be honest its no great loss

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

Takes a bit of imagination to visualise Perry Barr having a traditional High Street. But yes, it once did. This section of Birchfield Road, near the original Crown and Cushion was the High Street. You can just make out the C&C set back on the left by the parked vehicle. The church spire in the distance is Christ Church, since demolished.




The building with the turret is roughly where Aston Lane joins the roundabout today.
And here's a comparison with the image I posted in post #395. The lower building next to the turreted building is the later Barclays Bank building. Surprisingly, the shops beyond the Barclays building are still there. But nowadays, the view to the left has largely been taken up with the wider Birchfield Road/underpass system.


Viv.

 

[oldMohawk]

This photo of the Perry Barr library disappeared from this thread (before the upgrade) and my search across the BHF does not find it so I'm placing a copy here. The signs on the building read as 'Handsworth Public Library' - 'Birchfield Branch 1897' and overhead tram cables can be seen so the photo must have been taken after the introduction of the No 6 trams. An interesting car and motorbike are parked outside the library.

This image from https://www.search.birminghamimages.org.uk/search.aspx?SearchType=2&PageIndex=1&ThemeID=163

 

[Big Gee]

Great old shot of Birchfield Library, Mohawk. I knew that place like the back of my hand from when I was about 7 until I left the area when I was 25. Most of the staff were ladies, who never hesitated to "shush" anyone they thought was talking too loudly - just like a library should be. There was an upper gallery, and you had to ask permission to ascend there - I never really knew why, but that's how it was. I also remember a pair of very scruffy old geezers who read and re-read newspapers until closing time, doubtless because they'd got nowhere else to go. I'm not sure if it's still a library in 2016. The last time I looked it seemed to be some kind of neighbourhood centre.

G

 

[Astoness]

phil the library has been gone for some years now still got the boards around where it stood but nothing done with the ground......wished i had taken some photos of it before it was demolished but to be honest it really did look like it would be there for years to come...i just cant understand why it had to go..

 

[Pete Ex Pat]

I walked through Perry Barr hundreds of times well before the underpass was even thought of, in fact so long ago I caught the No 6 tram there. I must have seen that passageway and never knew it was called Crown Avenue. It just behind the car.
View attachment 105079
Photo date 1959

Hi Mohawk, Just come across this photo of yours !!! Boy did it bring back some old Memories of when I used to work for a company called A,R, Hancox Ltd in Heathfield Road as a Pipefitter welder and allways got a lot of there Tools from Dodds in Perry Barr an pipe and fittings from Astbury and Madley around the corner from the office this was back before the underpass was built back in the 1960's Happy Days Ex Pat Pete

 

[Vivienne14]

Just a glimpse of the library between the two trams. Also the Birchfield Picture House behind the first tram and, to the left, the edge of the old Crown & Cushion Inn. Viv.

 

[Di.Poppitt]

I have just spent a couple of hours re-reading this post, another bit of the city lost for ever. I went to Canterbury Road School, danced at Enid Goodwins' lived in Stoneleigh Road when we got married and shopped in Brichfield Road. So many very happy memories.
Regards to the land in Wellhead Lane, my father used to talk about Villa playing there, it was their first ground. The land in Witton Lane was called Aston Lower Ground and used for entertainment, but I'm sure you all know
that.

 

[Astoness]

hi di..here is a map showing where villas ground used to be...not quite in wellhead lane di but just to the left of birchfield road with wellington road running alongside of it...what fascinates me about this map is that it shows a roman kiln..a fountain..antwerp house and anglesley house..just as an update birmingham city university (opened 1971) which was on the site of birchfield road school has now closed and i have heard will be demolished also the underpass ajacent to it has now been filled in..the area back then must have been quite lovely but if you remember how it looked in your day dont go back there it will reduce you to tears...just hang onto your memories..they wont change

lyn

 

[oldMohawk]

Two aerial views of Birchfield Road and surroundings, one from 1920, and one from 2015
May 1920 and Canterbury Rd school and the Police Station in the centre. Above the school in the view a cricket match is in progress adjoining Normandy Rd. The old Birchfield Picture House is visible on the left with the library next to it and a large large house to the right. The Odeon had not yet been built. Trinity Road Church in the top of the view and Westminster Road prominent on the right.

2015 and Canterbury Rd school still prominent in this modern view. The Birchfield Picture House and the Library have gone but the Odeon can be seen. The cricket field has gone but a field next to it is still there. Calthorpe Rd, bottom right in the view off Westminster Rd follows the road seen in the old pic but now with houses instead of small plots. A sizable plot of open land (possibly allotments) seen in the centre of the old pic with a track running through is mostly unchanged apart from what appears to be a school on the right.

A close up of Canterbury Rd school (complete with bike sheds) and that Normandy Rd cricket match.

A 1905 map shows what we would call a 'sports complex' these days, cricket, tennis, bowling, and football, fronted by 'Hanover House' which must have been slightly important to show named on a map. Can't find any mention of it on the BHF.
The Birchfield Rd connection ... if I had been around in those days I would have travelled along Birchfield Rd to get there ...

 

[A Sparks]

hi di..here is a map showing where villas ground used to be...not quite in wellhead lane di but just to the left of birchfield road with wellington road running alongside of it...what fascinates me about this map is that it shows a roman kiln..a fountain..antwerp house and anglesley house..just as an update birmingham city university (opened 1971) which was on the site of birchfield road school has now closed and i have heard will be demolished also the underpass ajacent to it has now been filled in..the area back then must have been quite lovely but if you remember how it looked in your day dont go back there it will reduce you to tears...just hang onto your memories..they wont change

lyn

View attachment 107461

Interesting that the University site is to be demolished (I went to Birchfield Road Junior School) so know what it was like before.

What year is the map from?
I knew there were Roman remains on the site which is owned by Hiron's Nurseries

 

[Astoness]

i have only heard that the uni is to be demolished sparks...this remains to be seen...we all know hows rumours can be wrong as only yesterday i was told a different story that it was to be turned into a school

lyn

 

[Astoness]

Looking at the GE aerial view at the rear of Willmore Rd houses (red pin is supposed to be roughly about #75) there's what looks like a gravelled/slabbed area between the end of the domestic gardens and the allotments (or garden centre land). Wonder if it's underneath that or a little further along?There looks like there's access to that area through the garden centre. Another opportunity for you to use your fine-tuned powers of persuasion Lyn if you get over there! Viv.

hi viv we can forget the allotments now..the kiln is on hirons land as sparks has already said....went down there yesterday and walked through hirons garden centre..carried on walking towards the back of it until i hit dense undergrowth at the back of wilmore st gardens...this is where i believe the kiln is/was...somewhere ajacent to nos 57 to 65 wilmore st...closest i can pin it down to but need to go back for a better look because the area is covered in those stinging nettles etc so need better footwear