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Rocky Lane Perry Barr

I would agree Michael that it did not look much like one , but could not see any other suitable candidate in Rocky lane on the left at the foot of a hill in the late 1800s
 
A lovely painting of the Lane. Have moved the previous 6 posts to the Rocky Lane thread, a nice addition to the thread. Viv
 
It doesn’t look much like a farm to me either. Looking at maps I think Rocky Lane was considerably altered at one time, probably when the 1930s housing was built.

There was once a chapel in Rocky Lane (and in fact there still is, but probably in a different position). Here’s the background from

British History Online.

4AB076F2-DE90-49C9-8FB4-A7BAB7113966.jpeg

Viv.
 
Looking at the British History Online information, have they made a mistake ?

There is much reference to the area of Rocky Lane Aston such as Cattells Grove, Nechells Park Road, and heavy WW2 bombing.

I know the Rocky Lane Perry Barr area and do not remember heavy bomb damage but there was certainly heavy bombing in the Rocky Lane Aston area.

If it was not for the last sentence in their account I would have thought the article was about Rocky Lane Aston.
:)
 
Yes, my Nan's house was on the Walsall Road quite near Rocky Lane and neither she or my mother ever said there was heavy bombing in the area.
There were anti aircraft guns just across the road in Perry Barr Park so I would very much doubt it.
 
it really is a lovely painting but as we all know there is always a chance of a bit of artistic licence added..

lyn
 
Could be Lyn.

Oldmohawk - I think that’s right. It’s just the last para which is the Perry Hall one. Viv
 
An aerial view of the area dated 1937. The Walsall Rd clearly visible on the right. Great Barr Station circled yellow on the left. Rocky Lane marked blue to it's junction with Tower Hill marked green. From the junction down to the station was a rural looking lane at this date. Tower Hill and Walsall Rd canal bridges circled red.
Rocky.jpg
image from 'britainfromabove'
 
With reference to the aerial view in #28 I can see one building on Rocky Lane which looks somewhat like a church or chapel as shaded pink in this enlargement. It is in a position which seems to match the painting but does anything show on maps? Edit addition - it looks to be in the position of Rock Farm.
building.jpg
 
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It doesn’t look much like a farm to me either. Looking at maps I think Rocky Lane was considerably altered at one time, probably when the 1930s housing was built.

There was once a chapel in Rocky Lane (and in fact there still is, but probably in a different position). Here’s the background from

British History Online.

View attachment 146922

Viv.
The Church in Rocky Lane was on the corner of Rocky Lane and Dorrington road, I walked past every School day from Dewsbury Grove to Dorrington road Schools from 1950 to1957.
 
It's possible that there was heavy bombing in both sites mentioned, they tried to bomb all of the industrial areas and the main roads leading in and out of the city.
Bombing was not very accurate and quite a few areas were hit by strays.

I recall walking up Kingstanding Road after one raid and many of the front gardens had large bomb craters where they'd missed the road and fortunately the houses had escaped too.
 
There was certainly bombing in the Great Barr area but bombing maps are hard to get and an accurate one might not exist. I did put one on the forum in 2016 and it does show some bomb events in the Hamstead area. The BARRA website might list serious incidents.
I also wonder how accurate WW2 'bombing maps' are. I lived in Grindleford Rd on Perry Beeches and as a very young child I was in the house (blue circle 1) when it was hit by an incendiary ... we had the fin off it for years but it got lost in a house move. It is not marked on the map.
In (blue circle 2) a high explosive hit and badly damaged 4 houses, the blast from it shook our house. I have chatted (on the forum) with someone who lived in Bradfield Rd. It is on the map.

In (blue circle 3) high explosives dropped in Perry Barr park, I remember looking in the craters.

Also a large unexploded bomb made a hole at the junction of Grindleford Rd and Thornbridge Ave but is not shown on the map.

Map (sorry I cannot get resolution higher)
index.php
 
Yes, my Nan's house was on the Walsall Road quite near Rocky Lane and neither she or my mother ever said there was heavy bombing in the area.
There were anti aircraft guns just across the road in Perry Barr Park so I would very much doubt it.
There were antiaircraft gun sites at Perry Hall as well as Perry Barr parks. My Mother told me about the damage to our house roof in Dewsbury grove which was caused by the guns, presumably due to the falling shrapnel.
 
Hamstead Colliery might have been a reason for enemy bombing (if there was) of the area in WW2. Viv.
 
One of the reasons might have been because the Luftwaffe Cherbourg X-Gerate beam was aimed at Birmingham and crossed the city south to north as shown below. The predicted path ran to the east of the Walsall Road and the bombers followed it as best as they could. I suppose we are getting a bit off topic .... :rolleyes: :cool:
beam.JPG
 
this talk of bombing raids brings to mind a lady who was living in rodwell grove opposite the old cottage in kingstanding during ww2 many years ago she told me that one day the german planes flew overhead on fire attack and she and others had to run for cover..rodwell grove is not a million miles away from rocky lane so the enemy were about around there


 
In the first photo (of post #37) I think there’ssomething going on in the field. That must be why it’s attracting attention. Possibly football ? Think I can see some men in white shirts. Viv.
 
did rocky lane join hamsted? and was there a hardware shop on rocky lane?
 
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