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Barr Beacon

:) Big Gee. My aunt Phyl from Leyton close used to be a nurse there. She used to come home black and blue some days. There were a lot of people in there who had become institutionalised. She would have some of them for Sunday lunch. An old photo of her I've just sorted out.
 
GG Jean,

My Aunt Edie, dear old soul, used to visit St Margaret's out of Christian charity, and sometimes regretted it...same reasons as your aunt. Aunt Edie was totally convinced that insanity was caused by evil spirits, and used to hand out religious texts to the inmates who, I think, were not quite convinced.... But she was a lovely old dear, all the same.

Big Gee
 
:( My aunt told me when I was older that some people were in St Margarets for being epeleptic. They had been in there for so long that they would not be able to cope in the outside world. What a shame.:(
 
Hi Nursesue,

The man made pathway you mention would be the one that goes from Pinfold Lane, about opposite where the caravan park is now, up past the old quarry, and out onto Beacon Road opposite the road that takes you up onto Barr Beacon.
 
thanks for your replies to my post. St Margarets Hosptal was intended for the Mentally Subnormal and I had a friend who trained there and qualified as an RNMS. There were single unwed mothers put in there as it wasn't politically correct to be unwed mums in those days. They became institutionalised and discharge was a long difficult process. How times have changed. Many of the long term psychiatric and subnormal hospitals have been closed along with other NHS hospitals. Many are left to the local vandals or have become Tescos or housing estates. SO sad....:(
 
Hi All first time here:) have some photo`s taken on the Great Barr Hall site, from last year, will sort them out Dave M
 
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hi ya,Dave m. is that a mosque,to the right of that chimney?
it can't the photo i mean be a million miles away from the beacon it,would,nt be the lea village area would it (James Boothe's)factory,
we could see it from our back bedroom window on a clear day,
in kelynmead rd south Yardley.
we my wife and i spent time up there in our early days as we did when we were young,it was a treat when we were kids that's when fuel was a little well a lot cheaper. regards dereklcg.
 
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Had a look at a Ordnance Survey map looking from the Perrett`s Folly towards the Beacon, on the way is Perry Barr and Birchfield area`s
Dave
 
Barr Beacon this is the plinth which held the brass plaque in the past, with all the surrounding sights indicated with compass markings
Dave
 
Part of the old wards, on the site of St Margarets,
photo taken from the Hotel on Chapel Lane June 2006
 
The Mosque is in fact, a Sikh temple..a Guru Nanak Gudwara I believe.
 
Flip me Kandor your posts are becoming very informative!:shocked::D
 
great photo of st margarets hospital -so sad to see such destruction. Was it taken from the Post House hotel on the corner of chapel lane?? or is there a new hotel there?? I used to live not far in Merrions Close. I left in the 1980s and rarely get back. My brother still lives close by
 
Nursesue yes from the Post House, unless it`s changed it`s name,
have more in time of the Great Barr Hall Dave M
 
now I really am giving my age away. I remember the post house being built along with junction 7 of the motorway!!! We used to go to primary school with a girl called Mandy Spooner whose dad was the boss building said junction and section of the motorway.We used to play on the carriageway befoer it was opened!!!lol
 
The Post House now called The Holiday Inn, was that the original site of The Beacon INN many years ago thanks Dave
 
Close to Barr Beacon, Great Barr Hall, born on the Pheasey, this was my first sight of the Great Barr Hall May 2006 after 64 years, have more photo`s :)
 
Dave,

I can't remember the Beacon Inn you refer to; my play area as a child covered the sand quarry where the motorway interchange is now, There were a couple of Police houses close by above the Holy Name.
St. Margarets Hospital you refer to was a scary place and who's grounds I visited once, never to be repeated again. I got as far as the pool through the tangled rhodendruns and was almost run over by an inmate with a huge deformed head. As a child there were rumours about dangerous inmates and the chilling sound of the siren they used to test. I've followed with interest the redevelopment of the grounds for many years and last month drove up the driveway. Several houses have been built and although the setting is beautiful it's very close to the motorway and it's associated noise. I still felt most uneasy, it's a spooky feeling which I hope the new residents never experience.
Google shows me that most of the buildings have been flattened and cleared
but memories linger on. I'd be interested if anyone else has memories of the place.
Please post other pictures you may have
 
Langstraat and all, As I said my first visit to the Great Barr Hall site, 31st May 2006, Born less than a mile away 64 years this year, as youngsters we new about the site, to us it was the Lunatic asylum, from the Pheasey side before the houses were built on the other side of the Beacon road, we would venture near the fence with caution, Access on the 31st May 2006 was via the Gothic Bridge, have returned a few times but to different area`s of the site, there`s still a feeling in the air about the place, one time some of the trusties used to be let out, to carry out various jobs, one incident happened at a house on Queslett Road, I believe a lady who lived at the Property was murdered
Dave

The Gothic Bridge
 
Langstraat - were you resident in Great Barr area during 1960s-70s?? Which schools did you attend?? Sounds like we were in the same neighbourhood and am just wandering if we possibly know each other?? I'll understand if you don't wish to give personnal info. I went to St Margarets school and the Dartmouth High (Wilderness lane) from 1965ish -1977. I was in Elgar house !!! I remember Holy Name church andthe Saturday club in the old Beacon Cinema to watch banana splits and the double-deckers:D We used to cut threw St Mags hosital to avoid a police speed camera spot. The hospital did have a fearsome and scary personna but all they had were learning difficulties and some were just unmarried mums shunned by society. Wasn't the hospital originally a stately home for the Scott family - hence the Scott Arms precinct and pub??
 
Nursesue yes the Scott family lived there, last time I was there the Hall in a bad state Dave
 
thanks for the info - its been a long time since I went that way. We used to use the park and Merrions woods as they were just across the road from us. There used to be a golf course near the park. (I just haven't been able to face visiting the area since my mom died - the memories are still too painful. No sadness please!!! ) I just love this site as it brings me many a happy memory. Many of our old buildings are being destroyed or left in ruins for the local vandals to continue destroying. Its not unique to Brum and I am a member of the derelict places website/forum and you see many a sad photo there including some of St Mags hosp....
 
Next one of the Old Great Barr Hall

the area is now called Nether Hall Park:(



to me it will always be Great Barr Hall :)
 
re: Nether Hall.

They have probably reverted the name to Nether Hall to try to disassociate it from the the Lunatic asylum which we knew it as.

Great Barr Hall was the home of the Scott family and favourite venue for the lunar Society who used to meet for regular diner parties. The carriage drive to the hall lead across the park land and followed the lake's edge before crossing over the bridge to the hall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Society

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barr_Hall

Up until recently on older versions of Google you could see the various blocks set in the wooded grounds. I understand that these block were graded to reflect the serious condition of their inmates to highest grade which required care. Many stories of hideously deformed people were common knowledge when I was a child and like previously mentioned it was a place which attracted inquisitive kids like me but fear of the unknown kept many away.
I will return as the grounds are opened up and built on but doubt whether I will ever see it without remembering the shadows of the people I once spied on from the tangled cover of the undergrowth. Even though it was a summer evening when I went there there was a coldness that chilled to the bone. My recent drive into the site was unseasonably cold. Sinister.
 
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