• 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

Brookvale Park & Witton Lakes

Hi richardnicole, welcome to Birmingham History Forum. If you start from page 10 of this thread, there are a significant number of images of Witton Lakes and Brookvale Park. Also, you can use the search facility on the top right-hand side of the forum to find related information and pictures too.

Have a go at searching for Birmingham Corporation Waterworks too.

Maybe you could tell us more about your 217 project as we have a number of very knowledgeable members who maybe able to help.
 
I walk through both parks. At the moment there has been so many dead swans due to the bird flu. They have flown from one park to another, Witton, lakes, Brookvale , Sutton park and Cannock park.
That's so sad Jackie. I listen to Dean Robert from Canterbury Cathedral every morning (The Garden Congregation) and he has had to keep all the cathedral birds (chickens, ducks, turkeys, guinea fowl etc.) in large cages due to the avian flu. I wonder how many birds have been lost due to this nationwide. The swans have always been a wonderful sight on the Brookvale lake.
 
694DAB7C-9DB2-4D2D-869B-7968F2B08A2C.jpeg3C3EFB8B-7690-45EB-BF29-7ACFCE1DC5B9.jpeg Dog walkers watch out when walking through the park, watch out for a puppy 7 months Belgian Malinlois, he bit my dog because he wouldn’t play. My dog very placid runs away from a chihuahua. Also people dropping food at the bottom of trees. I know people like to feed the birds, swans and squirrels but not this rubbish. The park is so beautiful.
 
Pedro, I don't know how I missed this map - it's brilliant! I have a Tomlinson map copy but it's nowhere near as detailed as this one. I will be studying this later and I'm sorry for missing it first time round. Thanks. Are they available online?

Can’t remember for sure where this came from, but think it was from the BBC History Mag.
 
Tremendous pages for me moved to live at the top end of George road in 1958 and for the next few years as I was growing up Brookvale Park was my playground. The pictures of the open air swimming pool, l find fascinating because all that was there in my time, were the fenced remains, basically the foundations. I remember the park keepers patrolling on mopeds. In my time there weren’t any amenities for kids swings etc, however we could paddle a lot cycle round it play putting and even chance our arms at bowls. I remember brookvale village being built, the land previously being allotments. Great place to have experienced growing lucky me
 
Tremendous pages for me moved to live at the top end of George road in 1958 and for the next few years as I was growing up Brookvale Park was my playground. The pictures of the open air swimming pool, l find fascinating because all that was there in my time, were the fenced remains, basically the foundations. I remember the park keepers patrolling on mopeds. In my time there weren’t any amenities for kids swings etc, however we could paddle a lot cycle round it play putting and even chance our arms at bowls. I remember brookvale village being built, the land previously being allotments. Great place to have experienced growing lucky me
It was a great place to visit as a youngster. My Nan's cousins lived in one of the houses that overlooked the park in George Road and they had an allotment. There was always a decent game of football (jumpers for goalposts ;) ) to be had on the grass, between the bank and the land on which Brookvale Village was later built, and fishing with nets to be done for sticklebacks. We didn't really need amenities back then, there was always something that we could find to do, when we met up there.
 
An interesting planting arrangement in the foreground. There seems to be a line of poles with climbing plants/vines being trained up them. Would this have been to form a line of arches ?

View attachment 188831
I remember the bowling green, can`t remember those poles. Lovely bandstand with the boatkeepers `office` below. Towards the top left allotments & further up still what we called the `firefields`? probably all house on there now. :(
 
Not heard the name fire fields used before Smudge, perhaps I’m too young. Named probably due to the sandstone. We used to call it the sand pits.
The area doesn’t seem to have developed into allotments, so the picture must precede that date. Don’t remember the poles in the 50s.
 
An interesting planting arrangement in the foreground. There seems to be a line of poles with climbing plants/vines being trained up them. Would this have been to form a line of arches ?

View attachment 188831
A very good question and a really nice interesting postcard Viv. Thinking back, there was always a hedge all around the bowling green in the 60's (maybe this was taken shortly after planting), it didn't seem as tall as that though, but perhaps it was later trimmed to around six feet in height, so that you would still have a view of the rest of the park, as you walked into it.
 
Back
Top