• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Canals of Birmingham

A40FD848-430A-4746-9E2E-75E4663712A0.jpeg

Trying to date the picture of Old Wharf.

The last mention of Garbett and Young is around September 1885. By 1890 Garbett was a coal merchant with an address of 58, New Street, while Thomas Young is still at Old Wharf. Young is also listed in 1915, but by around 1927 Old Wharf had gone.
 
Last edited:
Pedrocut said:
View attachment 161785

Trying to date the picture of Old Wharf.

The last mention of Garbett and Young is around September 1885. By 1890 Garbett was a coal merchant with an address of 58, New Street, while Thomas Young is still at Old Wharf. Young is also listed in 1915, but by around 1927 Old Wharf had gone.
Click to expand...
1913 apparently, from another thread on this page. Birmingham Mail Archive pic
 
The date for the Old Wharf image is 1913/4 when the formers offices had been demolished and new buildings were erected on their site.

At this time coal could have come from a variety of pits including Sandwell Park and Hampstead. There was important traffic from the various pits on the Wyrley & Essington Canal, the Cannock Chase Extension Canal and the Anglesey Branch
 
Pedrocut said:
Bill Dargue tells us that “Broad St was a field track until the end of the 1700s. From around 1780 building began on the high class Islington estate, around what would become Islington Row.” (Islington Row mentioned from at least 1814).

We can see from post 1318 that the extent of the area “Islington” could include Bishopgate Street and the towpath of the canal. There is a reference to a William Mitchell, Steel Pen and Pen-holder manufacturer moving to Washington Works, Cumberland Street, Islington, Birmingham in 1852. This may suggest that the area was loosely defined and extended down towards Gas Street. Maybe to have an address that could be tied to Islington could be considered upmarket.

The upmarket development in Fleet Street is called Islington Gates…

“Leaseholders of Islington Gates have been told to replace the cladding which covers their building. Residents of a Birmingham apartment block feel “trapped” after being slapped with bills for up to £100,000 to replace flammable cladding.”
Click to expand...

More info on the situation at Islington Gates...

www.bbc.co.uk

The Birmingham flats covered in plastic as cladding removed

Amid repairs in the wake of Grenfell, apartment block residents talk of life behind plastic sheets.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Something to keep an eye on in the future, highlighted in the Blackcountryman magazine. Waterways Theatre Company, Alarum Productions, is a theatre company telling the stories of ordinary women doing extraordinary things.

A grant has been obtained to enable them to capture the stories of women who have contributed to preserving Birmingham’s unique canal network. Many of the stories will be available via a series of podcasts.

They will work with BCNS to record oral history interviews. Stories include iconic well-known spaces such as Gas Street Basin, Brindley Place and hidden gems like Hockley Port and Minerva Wharf.
 
I agree. A great idea. I just hope some "entrepreneur" does not do what happens in areas with unusual edible mushrooms and strip them for sale to others
 
The detachable engine for canal craft was detailed on page 78 and 79 of my book Birmingham Canal Navigations published by Tempus in 2002. This was a scheme proposed by Arthur Hook for the Watercraft Installation Ltd in 1917.
 
Heartland said:
The detachable engine for canal craft was detailed on page 78 and 79 of my book Birmingham Canal Navigations published by Tempus in 2002. This was a scheme proposed by Arthur Hook for the Watercraft Installation Ltd in 1917.
Click to expand...
Can you PM me title and ISBN No of your book please, seem to be three or four of a similar name, I may already have it. Had six happy holidays doing the four rings and the Stratford canal
Bob
 
That one was the Birmingham Canal Navigations at the Heart of the British Canal System
ISBN 7524 2767 9

The latest BCN book will be launched by author Phil Clayton at the Titford Pump House in May- That new book is the publishers Crowood. I did a book for them on the Trent & Mersey Canal last year, but because of Lock Down could not have a launch. Such is life!
 
Heartland said:
That one was the Birmingham Canal Navigations at the Heart of the British Canal System
ISBN 7524 2767 9

The latest BCN book will be launched by author Phil Clayton at the Titford Pump House in May- That new book is the publishers Crowood. I did a book for them on the Trent & Mersey Canal last year, but because of Lock Down could not have a launch. Such is life!
Click to expand...
Thanks
Bob
 
Years ago on the Stratford On Avon Canal at Yardley Wood the old boat house had been abandoned for years. Two youths decided to get in through the doors which had rotted they pulled two boats out and put them on the water. One youth got in started rowing and the boat started to disintegrate around him, he ended up standing in the canal as the boat just fell apart.
 
Not Birmingham canals, but Birmingham related.

Latest YouTube episode of Cruising the Cut shows a great range of "barges" going to the Elsmere Port celebration. Including Clematis that featured in Peaky Blinders.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top