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Courtyards and yards of brum

I spent some time in a back house in Vicarage Rd Aston (1/128) when I left the RAF in '56 till we bought our own house in Erdington in '61, but at least we all had gardens albeit small. Eric
 
steveo3 said:
These are great photos of Brum. I was born in the Sorrento Hospital and1of my brothers in Dudley Road hospital we now live in Hereford.
We lived at 6/177 Ickneiled Port Rd off Dudley road which was 6 houses either side a path 3 box outside toilets each side which you shared with your neighbour & 2 wash houses to share. Mom use to get up at 6 to put boiler on for washing when it was her turn to use.
Tin Bath in front of fire, water heated on tiny stove in poky kitchen. We left there about 1958 to move into flat, which was luxury, on the Firs Estate Castle Bromwich.
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After Dad left the army after 22 years, we stayed briefly with an aunt in Saltley (Devon St) handily next to the coking plant of the gas works. When maisonettes on Blossom Grove, Firs Estate became available, we moved there. At that time the Bham racecourse was operational, so we could see Lester Piggott if we had binoculars. From the grime of Saltley to clean air!
 
Astoness said:
yard in digbeth..circa 1910...ive looked closely and on the right it looks like there is a pile of the steel bands that were around the large barrels...could be they made them here...

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court no 7 william st..circa..1905

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berniew said:
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not a court but I bet they all lived in one
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They might have been poor children but they look happy nowadays children have sour looking faces because the mobile phones glued to their heads are doing something to their brains.
 
Tena powell said:
Hi my grandma grandad my Dad they lived in Thomas street my dad was born there 1back 29 Thomas street in 1922 they lived there up in till 1930s Family is Routley .
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Hi Tena, I suspect it was probably as shown on the map but not numbered. Was your dad/granddad called John? listed as 1, Court 3 Thomas Street in 1920
 

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my late mother, lived in william st. her mother my grandmother , was educated , neighbors used to bring letters ,for her to read , because they could not read and write my self i am 80
 
patricia NASH said:
my late mother, lived in william st. her mother my grandmother , was educated , neighbors used to bring letters ,for her to read , because they could not read and write my self i am 80
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Hi Patricia, was your mother's name Alice? if so, the address was 3 back of 124 William Street, I can show it on a map but no photographs I'm afraid.
 
Hi brummie lad , i dont know which part of william st they live it was along street they lived in house with the court yard at the back there name was gwilliam
 
On the 1939 register there was an Ellen Gwilliam living at 7 back 95 in William Street (the one near to Broad Street though) could that be the one?
 

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brummy-lad said:
On the 1939 register there was an Ellen Gwilliam living at 7 back 95 in William Street (the one near to Broad Street though) could that be the one?
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thanks for coming back to me, its not a common name , and yes they, did live close to broad st so its got to be her, she came from Droitwich , a farmers daughter ,she passed away in 1943 age 74 that was good age then ,when she started school they had to pay a penny a week, she is buried at wychbold in the village church yard . thank you very much kind regards pat
 
I remember it, I lived at 3 back of 228 Icknield street as a kid.We moved out to Geach Tower Newtown in 1966.The owner of the newsagent was Dennis, also the second hand shop owned by the Busby's.
 
I was born in a back to back at the bottom of Potters Hill. Four houses with an entry running between them. The two houses on the front had two doors, one on the street and one in the entry and the houses on the back had just one door. The front door we never used it was always the one in the entry which made sense because of the lavatories being in the back yard A lav for each house but only two wash houses we called the brew houses. Each house had an allocated day to do the washing and the remaining days were there if your day had been rained off or wanted to do extra.
I cant say they were particularly happy days with 8 of us living in just 3 rooms.
I was always told you should never be ashamed of where you come from just be proud of where end up.
 
Astoness said:
yard in digbeth..circa 1910...ive looked closely and on the right it looks like there is a pile of the steel bands that were around the large barrels...could be they made them here...

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court no 7 william st..circa..1905

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Thank you true brummie for the pics these really highlight the conditions my family members grew up in they lived Aston,Ladywood and Brookfields in the back to backs
 
brummy-lad said:
On the 1939 register there was an Ellen Gwilliam living at 7 back 95 in William Street (the one near to Broad Street though) could that be the one?
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I was born in that area and lived there until I was 12. If you go to pubs of the past thread page 86 post 1705 there is a photo of the pub and shop which was at the bottom of the entry to your grans yard.
 
I have spent a few (and some!) hours trolling thruogh this lead....I never knew things were that dire. I lost touch with my fathers family in 1965, but even by then they were in Dart street (just below thz Blues football ground) and we were on a new housing estate in Quinton.....so imagine how my senses have been shaken to see that these old houses were still in use in the 1960's!! So, any photo's of back of Mott st??? my fmily were there in 1907, and back of Charles Henry st also (1911) - many many thanks!!
 
Great pics - my grandfather was born at no 14 court Vicarage Road in 1901 his dad was Samuel Harris.
I have never been able to find information so it's great to be able to see these pictures.Any old maps of Vicarage rd courts would be fabulous.
 
debs629 said:
Great pics - my grandfather was born at no 14 court Vicarage Road in 1901 his dad was Samuel Harris.
I have never been able to find information so it's great to be able to see these pictures.Any old maps of Vicarage rd courts would be fabulous.
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Not easy to work out but I think the entrance to court 14 would have been somewhere near to the lady with the dog in the fourth picture of the first post here...

VICARAGE ROAD ASTON

few photos here before demo if you hover over them it will give you the dates and in some cases the numbers of the houses lyn
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
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