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Birmingham streets named after people

barryjohn

proper brummie kid
Following the thread, Road and Street names:
I am interested in finding the people who gave their names to roads in the Saltley/Bordesley Green areas. I can understand Charles, Bowyer and Adderley from reading the history of the area but I need help with the following:
George Arthur Burbidge
Reginald Cobham and
Ralph Ronald
Ellesmere and
Edmund

Thanks in anticipation of any help.

Barryjohn
 
Charles Adderley was a land owner in the 1800s,he gave Birmingham council Adderley Park because he wanted people to enjoy open spaces.
George Arthur,Reginald and Ralph were all members of the Adderley family.
 
Thanks for that info Alberta. I didn't know about the roads named after his sons.
 
Charles Adderley and his son Ralph had the second name Bowyer and Reginald was Reginald Edmund.

In 1861 living at Hams Hall,Lea marston
Charles Bowyer Adderley age 45.b. Coleshill,Magistrate and MP.
Julia age 37 and
Ann 17,Charles Leigh 15,Caroline 13,Frances 12,Evelyn 9,Isabel 8,Henry Arden 6,George arthur 5
Reginald 3

so there are some more for you Hams Road,Leigh road,Arden road.
 
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Thanks Alberta. It makes sense. I'd got as far as Charles, Bowyer and Adderley but not the extended family. I wonder if there was an Edmund in there somewhere?
Barryjohn
 
My apologies Alberta. I really must learn to read.
Any ideas on Cobham and Burbidge?
There were Cobham politicians but the only Burbidge I can find was a poet!
Barryjohn
 
I was born in Brum and moved here to Wrentham in Suffolk 30 years ago.

Locally we have a family called Gooch who have been wealthy Landowners in these parts for generations, now sometime in the distant past, one of the Gooch males married a Brummie girl (he clearly had good taste!) her father was also a landowner.

So that is why we have a Gooch Street in Brum and close by a Wrentham Street, also Benacre Drive and Henstead Street are also local place names from here in Sunny Suffolk!
 
Well Bernie, your old man likely cleaned me moms windows! I lived between both the shops.

I remember the Billesley pub as we used to play in the grounds as lads with the then gaffers son, who was called Clough I think. There is a picture of one of those little shops in Coldbath Road if you scroll down to the bottom of this list.

https://www.photobydjnorton.com/GTC/KingsHeath.html
 
I was born in Brum and moved here to Wrentham in Suffolk 30 years ago.

So that is why we have a Gooch Street in Brum and close by a Wrentham Street, also Benacre Drive and Henstead Street are also local place names from here in Sunny Suffolk!

Hi Coldbathkid,

I went the other way. We moved from Southwold to Birmingham in the
early 1950s! I seem to remember that Wrentham St was usually pronounced as if it didn't have an h in the middle, and Benacre St
as 'Benayker' rather than 'Benakker'. Wrentham is a lovely spot, -
I wonder if you saw Charlie on his visit last year (or was it the year before). Although widely publicised as being at Southwold, I believe
he stayed at Benacre Hall.

Kind regards

Dave
 
Hi Dave, Southwold likely hasn't changed much since your day, except that most houses are now second homes for wealthy Londoners.

It was Gordon Brown who holidayed this way , not Charlie. The press kept saying he was in Southwold but he wasn't.

How would Brummies get on with the names Bylthburgh and Happisburgh?
 
Hi Dave, Southwold likely hasn't changed much since your day, except that most houses are now second homes for wealthy Londoners.

It was Gordon Brown who holidayed this way , not Charlie. The press kept saying he was in Southwold but he wasn't.

How would Brummies get on with the names Bylthburgh and Happisburgh?

Hi Coldbathkid

Yes, I have heard a lot about the depopulation of Southwold and its effect on local businesses. My cousin Ronnie Carter used to run the family
shop which had been in Victoria Street for 150 years, but finally shut down a year or two back. It's just occurred to me that Ronnie may
live in Wrentham, so if you know him please say Hi for me ( Dave, Renee Limmer's grandson). I haven't been in touch for many years.

Turning to the town names you could include Wymondham, Dickleburgh,
Haverhill and Leiston but all areas have their peculiarities , don't they.

Kind regards

Dave
 
I don't know where Icknield was but Icknield St was a Roman Road and stretches through to Alvechurch if I recall correctly but by then it is a single track road. Just discovered I am incorrect and Icknield Street of which there are a few pre-date Roman times.
 
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I don't know where Icknield was but it was a Roman Road and stretches through to Alvechurch if I recall correctly but by then it is a single track road. Just discovered I am incorrect and Icknield Street of which there are a few pre-date Roman times.
Thank you Bernie & Carolina. Mine is in Bell Green. I wonder who says what Street is to be called what? I have had many spooky coincidences in my life coming to light of late which would be a different thread if at all. One concerns Long Mynd Road, Northfield. I wonder who named that.
 
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I think at one time roads would be named after an event, where they went to or a local VIP or character. Near to me is a 'Cut Throat Lane' and down in Sussex I photographed a street sign for 'Dumb Woman's Lane'. More recently they seem to be named by local councils.
 
I think at one time roads would be named after an event, where they went to or a local VIP or character. Near to me is a 'Cut Throat Lane' and down in Sussex I photographed a street sign for 'Dumb Woman's Lane'. More recently they seem to be named by local councils.
I photograph them too as in Upton on Severn by the new fire station is Minge Lane, am unsure of the pronunciation. In Malvern - Horneyold Road and in Howthe Co. Dublin, off a very steep hill is The Haggard.
I wonder could the house builders have any say of the road names?
 
'Icknield' as in Icknield Street is not a place. It means a road that traversed the country of the Iceni, a British tribe centred in East Anglia of which Boudicca was a member. The 'c' in Iceni is pronounced hard, like a 'k'. The best-known stretch of Icknield Street in these parts is the bit that runs through Sutton Park. I think originally it ran from Cirencester to York, or more or less. I never quite understood how an ancient road that ran south to north in the Midlands could be named after a tribe that populated East Anglia. Maybe someone can explain.

Big Gee
 
I always thought that "Icknield way, or Street" was the oldest known human highway in Britain dating from Neolithic times, starting just south of "Chinnor, Oxon", and ending just south of Thetford. It then joins the Pedders Way, to the east coast. In Henry of Huntingdon's "Historia Anglorum", He mentions the 4 main roads of Britain, Ermine Street, Fosse Way, Watling Street, Icknield Street. These were supposed to be 'Roman Roads', but in reality they probably dated from either, Bronze or Iron age times and were just improved and used by the Roman Military/Commerce, during there occupation.
paul
 
I don't know where Icknield was but it was a Roman Road and stretches through to Alvechurch if I recall correctly but by then it is a single track road. Just discovered I am incorrect and Icknield Street of which there are a few pre-date Roman times.

I now live in Cambridge, but when I first came to live here, the village I lived in had a road running at the back of the cottage called 'The Icknield Way', which ran from Royston in Herts, This was also single track. I thought all these 'Icknield's' were an original Roman road, that ran almost the length of Britain. So is this not true Bernie?
 
Not from what I read Maggs and as Big G and Paul Stacey say. When I think about it the one through Birmingham that passes to the south around the Weatheroak Hill area does not conform to what we usually understand them. It is narrow and meanders more than I would expect.
 
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My understanding is that there is an Icknield Way in East Anglia or more or less, and an Icknield (or Ryknield) Street that runs approx. south to north up the centre of country, and this is the one that runs through Sutton Park. Confusing, or what?



Big Gee
 
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WE have a small lane around here called 'The Dole'. I wonder, does the dole have another meaning other than the obvious one? I did know a builder who built an estate, and he had to put forward his suggestion for the name of the main road in, and then wait for approval and acceptance. Don't know if this is always the case though.
 
WE have a small lane around here called 'The Dole'. I wonder, does the dole have another meaning other than the obvious one? I did know a builder who built an estate, and he had to put forward his suggestion for the name of the main road in, and then wait for approval and acceptance. Don't know if this is always the case though.
Bernie says it can be Maggs. In West Malvern there is a narrow lane called The Quabbs. And Peatling Parva in Leicestershire, makes me smile. We have Blind Lane in Berkswell which might belong to you and Featherbed Lane.
 
Same as Bell End??
There is Belvoir Bank in Malvern, I am told it is pronounced beaver, Windy Arbour in Kenilworth. I had a pint in the Cock Tavern in Howthe, Co. Dublin, and read about Titty Bottle Park in Kathleen Dayus's Her People, set in Brum. Dad used to talk about a Mashin Street but I can't find it now or how to spell it, in Cov. He liked Street names too. We have a Catherine Street, he and granny pronounced it Cath er ryne Street. Ever heard Catherine pronounced like that? I have heard of Maria called Ma Ryah. Also a village called Cathiron. Pronounced Cath eye ron.
 
Hi,
Does anyone know if Carl Chinn has written a book on Birmingham Street Names?

Regards

Steve
 
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