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Birchfield Road Perry Barr

Holy Trinity Church on the corner of Birchfield Road and Trinity Road. You could not see this view today because a large overpass has been built there. Looking at the shadows I would say the time was early afternoon.
Trinity.jpg
 
will be before winter viv...here is a pic of the area where i think the kiln is situated...must have been standing only feet away from it...i have emailed someone to try and find out if any photos were taken when it was excavated in 1959

ROMAN KILN PERRY BARR 002.JPG
 
cracking photo of trinity church OM i was christened there...any idea of the year

lyn
 
Thanks Lyn. Interesting report. The kiln might not be something we'd recognise as a kiln even if there's any of it left. It might just look like rubble.

I've often wondered if additional sites around Perry Barr Village/Perry Village go that far back too given the rivulets, rivers and streams and its many mills scattered about. Some of the mills have a long history and perhaps these were sites of early furnaces ? All a bit speculative, but I imagine there's more than we think given the proximity to the Icknield Way.

The area was largely agricultural up until 80 years ago and I'd have loved to have had a poke around before all the estates were built. Viv.
 
so would i viv...yes i agree even if the kiln was still there it may not look as it was but i am hoping to get a reply back regarding any photos that were taken in 1959..surely there would have been..fingers crossed
 
just a final map showing where no 224 wellington road was (mentioned in the excavation report) also showing the spot where the roman kiln was found..looking at this map it looks as though no 224 is down a gully but if you look at the map on post 404 is shows that it either had a very long garden or it was a wooded area
 

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In my childhood and youth I must have gone along Birchfield Road at least 3 or 4 times a week. When I bought my first car I often sat in traffic jams there just like in this photo which is from the Library of Birmingham's collection.
Their information with the photo is
Date:1958
Description:Birchfield Road, Perry Barr, looking south before the construction of the Birchfield Road Underpass in the early 1960s. At the top right-hand corner is the inn sign outside the Old Crown & Cushion.

I cannot place where this is on Birchfield Road ... I can see the pub sign but the other side of the road does not look like it should do opposite the pub ... Brooks Opticians and a little shop named Cabin ... anyone got any ideas ?
PerryBarr.jpg
 
Me again ... pondering about my photo in post#418. I don't think it is Birchfield Road, I think it is Wellington Road and the two photos below appear to confirm this.

The photo from post#418. Note the litter bin on the pavement, a bus stop further along, the Atkinsons Pub sign, and the building beyond it with a light colour on its lower wall and darker above.
PerryBarr.jpg

I think the above photo has been taken from an upper floor window of the modern Crown and Cushion Pub (just visible in the photo below) looking down on Wellington Road.

A photo of Toys Chemist which was on the corner of Birchfield Road and Wellington Road. Note on the other side of the road is a litter bin, a bus stop, a pub sign and a building with a light and dark coloured wall.
ToysChemist1959.JPG
 
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phil i agree with you...i did have my doubts about it being birchfield road but didnt like to say anything as i could not be sure...

lyn
 
Phil

Your photo #148 The first building on the left is Harry Brooks Opticians, the next is Gordon Motors 300 & 294 Wellington Rd .
 
A view of Birchfield Road looking north and a road roller turning into Aldridge Road is holding up some buses. On the right next to Wilkins Chemist is Crown Avenue ... which I first learnt about earlier in the thread ... I never even noticed it in the 1950s when I walked past.
1959SteamRoll.JPG
 
Guys, I think you may well be correct about that first photo being Wellington Road....I did say my memory is very vague. I do remember Toy's Chemist - in fact, I was going to ask what was on the corner of Birchfield Rd and Wellington Rd before the 'new'(?) C&C was built, but you've answered it for me.
I definitely remember having an eye-test at Brooks Opticians, and I do remember, slightly more vaguely, walking past the opticians and the car-lot with my Mom as we made our way to the station.
However, thinking about it, I would guess that Mom, who was a very, very cautious person, may well have crossed Birchfield Rd on the library side of the crossroads with Wellington Rd, then walked down Wellington Rd a short distance to where it was easier to cross. This was all nearly 65 years ago, don't forget. What I would say, though, is that the small pub on Birchfield Rd opposite today's C&C (for want of a better description) was definitely called The C&C at one time - my dad used it on Saturday lunch-times in the 1970's and I sometimes went to collect him and have a quick 'un myself. There again, memory does tend to play tricks with one....

Great thread, though. I love seeing old pics of 'my' area when I was a nipper - a good old working-class neighbourhood that was ripped apart.

G
 
A sunny day in Birchfield Rd between Trinity Rd and Six Ways. A No 6 tram with no adverts on it and a Midland Red FEDD following it in the distance.
No6 Tram Birchfield Rd.JPG
 
Hi Lyn, there was no date with the photo but the No 6 Perry Barr tram route closed in 1949 so the photo must have been taken before that date.
Phil
 
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