Street furniture

[Radiorails]

I just reviewed the post 257 showing the tramcars in Martineau Street and buses in Corporation Street, Noticeably the buses are travelling 'down' the street which suggests the pic is possibly pre the 1933 re-organization. I only recall them (late 40's, early 50's) going 'up' i.e. in the other direction to the photo.
What I did miss, which goes to show you should always take a second look, :biggrin: is the destination blind of the leading bus being on the upper deck due to the staircase 'It was usually on the lower deck on pre-war BCT buses.

 

[Vivienne14]

When English Heritage consider street furniture for grade listing obviously they look at the merits of individual pieces. But they also consider clusters of furniture for grade listing, which could mean a group of items from different eras, with different functions, and contrasting designs etc. So I've had a nose around go see if I can find any interesting 'clusters' on B'ham streets.

Here are 3 photos. In the first we have a Midland Red bus stop with bin attached (1940s?) a weighing scale (1950s?) and some advertising posts (1930s?) which look more like gibbets ! In the second photo there's a good cluster of PO paraphernalia; a pillar box (with enamel PO sign attached), a stamp machine, a 'K' series telephone box as well as an advertising board and bus stop with bin attached. Finally the third view has a 'K' series telephone box, plus some nice street lighting and a wonderful signpost with a round top. This was obviously taken outside the General PO (sorry can't remember where the other two are taken, maybe Washwood Heath, but not sure).

Viv.

 

[roly]

Great photographs Viv'. The first pic is definately 50's. The style of midland "red" plate on a BCT column/bracket together with a "tin front" bus in the background dates it. The second is again 50's. A pre-war BCT request stop on a post war bracket complete with cylindrical yellow litter bin (with PWD embossed on it). These little items of street furniture really make a photograph and more often than not help to give a date to them. wonderful

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks Roly. They certainly do add interest. Was just thinking that post boxes are probably one of the few features that rarely change. They've changed a little over time, but the ones we have on our streets now have generally been there a long time. Only occasionally do they disappear altogether. I've found it's one feature that can really help to pinpoint a position in a modern day view of a street. And they add such vibrant colour of course.

But having said all that, this Birmingham post box ended up in a salvage dealers yard in Leominster. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

On this day in 1935 the speed limit in built up areas was restricted to 30 mph. Not a Birmingham photo I'm afraid but I like the sign and presume this single post sign would once have been commonplace in the city centre. Viv.

 

[roly]

There are still quite a few of the old 30M.P.H signs in Birmingham with a "flat top" Three. These became "illegal" on the 1st Jan 1965! There are quite strict laws on signage and I wonder how many motorists have been proscecuted or fined because they did not know that the road signs were no longer legal and could contest their penalty because the council have failed to change them.

 

[Stephen0002002]

Now thats interesting. Heirloom street-furniture obviously gets removed because its actually illegitimate (and may be confusing).
Logical - but sometimes we forget that I guess.

 

[Vivienne14]

Thought I'd take a look at the volume of street furniture now vs the past. Well on this corner (Temple Row/Bull St outside Ye Olde Nelson pub) there's certainly a lot more; more bollards, more signage, a newspaper vendor, a litter bin, more street lamps, an advertising board ... Viv.

 

[horsencart]

There was a time on most of the city center concrete bollards that were normally near to the street corner the bollards main aim was to stop Lorry's or Buses hitting the weary public if they were near to the corner (sorry if I teaching my granny to suck eggs) my point is that they (the concrete Bollards ) are as rare as rocking horse droppings in today's Brum , there are plenty of metal ones about,

The other day I saw a photo of one on Flickr and asked the person who took the photo where the Bollard was in Brum, it appears that it could? be in Edgbaston, I have scoured Google Earth but I cannot find it, at the time of typing this missive I aint had a reply to my request sooooooo does any one know where this is please, pretty please with knobs on, the master plan is when I find it I will take my box brownie and add it to my collection of stuff https://www.flickr.com/photos/co-op...J3H-dYDXXV-5YPEqD-bS8MoX-bC5pBA-cb3WR1-bQYQNM


To be honest the road does look familiar but as yet I know not where

 

[Mickymoo]

Is this it ?

 

[oldMohawk]

The forum thread, Street furniture, wasn't short of a bollard or two. As we looked at them we assumed that the bollards protected the footpath corners and people from the wheels of large carts, because maybe horse drawn carts could not be driven with precision. But being observant we noted that there were spherical looking objects in the gutters and concluded they were there to protect the usually very substantial bollards. Although I would think if a cart was driven into a bollard, the bollard would come off best. Three forum pics below from the Street furniture thread show these 'objects'.
There are more in various forum pics but they are not easy things to search for .....

White things, well that's what a forum member called them !

Over by that super lamp post

A grey thing in Corporation St

 

[horsencart]

I think it may be although it looks different to me? none the less I will be there with my box camera

Is this it ?View attachment 95625

 

[horsencart]

I was about to board the 23 bus to go to Edgbaston and take a photo of the bollard there, when I saw a rare thing indeed it was another Bollard in the center of Brum and in a reasonable condition (in need of a repaint) I would say that this may be the last one in the City Center? it is on the corner of Colmore Row and Church St, next to the former Grand Hotel, this is what it looks like https://www.flickr.com/photos/dofartshavelumps/15996489380/ sadly the one in Edgbaston has a hairline crack in it but I now know two more in the suburb of Brum I must get a shot of them their history must go back to the days of the horse and cart?

 

[mossg]

There is a still a bollard on the corner of Newhall St and Cornwall St in the city centre.

 

[horsencart]

Many thanks I will in due course nip into town with my Box Brownie (and my camera) this bring the total of Two bollards in the City (excluding the metal ones ) to be honest I did think that that there may have been others in the city and started to walk about the area but as it was piddling with rain the walk was called of

There is a still a bollard on the corner of Newhall St and Cornwall St in the city centre.

 

[horsencart]

Before anyone tells me there are two more in Caroline St if my Bladder will let me I will in due course take photos of the same https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1swcqXHWFLhueg7ZkfxbdKVA!2e0

 

[Vivienne14]

Two nice telephone boxes (white?) outside the Town Hall. But look closer, there's a few of those mini bollards around the foot of the statue. Viv.

 

[oldMohawk]

In the pic below which is on the forum server, the lady with the 'invisible' leg first caught my eye but some interesting street furniture on the island. There looks to be a bollard by the people on the right, a very decorative gas lamp, and a nice sign post.

 

[Vivienne14]

I think those signposts should be brought back in use, so decorative and clear! I especially like the place name in a circle on top. Don't see many telegraph poles these days. There are occasionally telegraph poles even in urban areas today, but never found out why they can't be run underground. Viv.

 

[cookie273uk]

Vivienne, the reason they ran telephone lines on overhead wires instead of underground cable is simply because its cheaper. Worked for PO Telephones (now BT) from 1956 to 1987, wouldn't mind a £ for every pole I've climbed. Eric

 

[oldMohawk]

Hi Eric, I notice that telegraph pole seems unusual. It seems very high and looks as if it made from concrete.

 

[Vivienne14]

You don't often see this type of lantern on today's streets. The lantern is on Steelhouse Lane police station. Viv.

 

[Richie]

You don't often see this type of lantern on today's streets. The lantern is on Steelhouse Lane police station. Viv.

Is it the famous one from outside Dock Green police station after the BBC TV series came to an end? It would be quite an embarrassment if the BBC props dept said it had michievously slipped out of their hands in 1975 and they wanted it back for their BCLM-type theme park!

 

[Vivienne14]

Well it could be Richie .... Viv.

 

[tim eborn]

Think it's just a general police issue. Seem to remember one the same at Digbeth Police Station that you could see when the bus pulled up outside, especially from the upper deck.
Mind you as a kid I thought it was The Gold Storage Co. not Cold storage because the sign was gilt painted!!

 

[Vivienne14]

Yes Tim it's similar - Digbeth has two of them, one each side of the Station entrance. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

This is a nice example of the lantern mounted on top of a pillar at Hatborne Police Station.



And this one once adorned Kings Heath Police Station, is now safely in the Police Museum at Sparkhill -
but it's had a shaky past. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Some unusual bollards on the traffic control island at Sutton and Chester Roads, Erdington. Yenton pub to the right, next to the garage. Viv.

 

[Richie]

Would these bollards have been lit up at night and in bad weather to prevent pedestrians coming a cropper,Viv?

 

[oldMohawk]

Some info about them and an explanation from Lloyd

I put this street view in the 'Old street pics' thread - I remember the trams, but wonder what was the purpose of the post in the left foreground and similar posts near the tracks on the far side of the junction ?

[/URL]

They were cast iron posts with red lenses, lit by a bulb - to tell motorists there was no entry here. Used where trams entered a central reservation, or went through a traffic island. This view shows both uses, the photographer is standing on the start of a central reservation in the dual carriageway, and the far bollard is for the island at Holly Lane / Tyburn Rd junction.

Another view of tram posts mentioned in #200. This photo shows the Bristol Road South c1931.