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Booths Farm

hi viv just spoke to my brother..confirms the farm was in booths lane so your red dot is spot on..he reckons the foundations can not be touched as they are protected....also said he found nothing apart from an old telly lol

lyn
 
Thanks Lyn. Be great if Mike can offer any info. I've also read that it was less than 500 yards from the Boar's Head (junction of Aldridge Rd and College Rd, Perry Barr). This was quoted in the context of the constabulary stopping off at the Boar's Head before going to arrest Booth at Booth's Farm. I'm also interested to know the farm's name before Booth lived there, but so far not found anything. Viv.


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Viv
The ruins are certainly called Booths Farm on early maps, though not within 500 yards of the junction .The maps below show Booths Farn in c 1888 and c1903 , with enlargement of 1903 to show layout. Booths Lane is named on one map and what will become Queslett Road is shaded in blue




map_c_1884_showing_booths_farm_2C_Booths_lane.jpg


map_c_1903_showing_booths_farm_2C_Booths_lane.jpg





map_c_1903_showing_booths_farm.jpg
 
hi mike many thanks for those great maps....i know where i will be taking my metal detector lol
 
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Many thanks Mike. I've tried to line up Mike's c1930s map with the 2014 Google aerial view. Would this be the farmhouse? There may have further adaptations to the farmhouse after the 1930s map. And I think Booth's Lane might have been re-directed (to pass closer by the farmhouse) and widened at some point after 1930. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1415048748.213159.jpg




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When I was little in the 1940's I went inside Booths Farmhouse. It was derelict but I seem to remember traces of wall paper still on some walls. We were told it was haunted, probably to keep us away from it. I used to love riding my bike along the narrow Booths Lane, all up hill and down dale just like the 1928 pic which is amongst some nice pics of the area in the Kingstanding Thread
img583.jpg
 
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Sorry viv
I mislead you (and myself), the earthworks you first showed were not Booths Farm, which is further down booths Lane. I was getting confused with the relative scale of the map and google earth. Below are three overlays of the c1963 map, with varying transparency, which show that the farm was where , on google at the time the view was taken, builders are building more houses on the lower left of the map/view.

booths_farm_overlay_with_map_c_1963_3.jpg


booths_farm_overlay_with_map_c_1963_2.jpg


booths_farm_overlay_with_map_c_1963_1.jpg
 
hi mike..im confused now lol...so vivs post 58 showing foundations is not booths farm then? or have i completely got myself confused as usual..

lyn
 
Thanks Mike. That's a pity if it's not the farm. I found this site map for new houses being built at Booth's Farm on the Persimmon Homes site which suggests the site might not have been built on. It marks the remains of Booth's Farm next to the village green. Wonder if there's any evidence of the remains, or has it in fact now been built upon. Viv.


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The Booth's Farm Persimmon Homes site plan. V.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1415090709.335836.jpg


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On this 1945 aerial view the old Booths Lane can be seen and the route of the new Booths Lane which is a featureless concrete straight road nothing like a lane. The old Booths Lane disappeared because they wanted to quarry the sand which was underneath it. Booths Farm was down the first left turn seen on the lane going from Sandy Lane.
BoothsLane1945.JPG
 
That's very helpful Phil. It gives me hope that some of the building remains. Also pinched this from the 'Some great men and women of Birmingham' thread posted by Dennis Williams (see post #69 of
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=40423&page=5. )

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1415097373.157384.jpg

To go to the effort of re-pointing the remains seems to suggest a serious intent to keep it visible (it was posted by Dennis in 2010).

Also 'borrowed' this pic from the thread; a great view of the very old farm house. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1415097458.721382.jpg




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When I was little in the 1940's I went inside Booths Farmhouse. It was derelict but I seem to remember traces of wall paper still on some walls. We were told it was haunted, probably to keep us away from it. I used to love riding my bike along the narrow Booths Lane, all up hill and down dale just like the 1928 pic which is amongst some nice pics of the area in the Kingstanding Thread click/here.

img583.jpg

The photo set me off imagining Booth's Farm in this setting; very few other buildings for miles except other farm buildings, vast fields, few roads. You get a real sense of a remote location for Booth to carry out his forgery shenanigans. But all that said, the farmhouse is good size and can hardly have been inconspicuous in the landscape. Viv.


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thanks from me too phil as that confirms what my brother said about the footings are protected and still on site and i have a feeling that vivs red dot post 58 is bang on but as always i stand to be corrected..will try and get over there asap unless someone else can take a look first..in the meantime has anyone else tried to do a street walk as i am having problems..

lyn
 
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I'm having problem with street walking too Lyn. Think there's either a problem or they've change it again! Viv.


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viv the start of booths lane is first right off malthouse lane from the aldridge road end..its blocked off with a dangerous site warning so cant get to it that way...will keep looking for a way in lol poss from caddick road..
lyn
 
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Lyn - the reason Google did not go along Booths Lane, it has a sign at the Malthouse Lane which says 'Private Road'.
Phil
 
thanks phil..there is also a footpath in caddick road which looks like it leads to booths lane but it says footpath closed although it could well be open by now..my memory is coming back now i had friends in either caddick or bowman road and im quite sure that when visiting them i passed booths farm before demo..its looking to me as though hiking boots are called for

lyn
 
right im into booths lane now via street walk...will see where it takes me
 
Lyn

As Phil says, the location of Booths Farm was as he has explained, here are a 1963 map and a photo and a map locating the site today.
 

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