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California Inn Northfield

thats ok lyn, I just posted on another thread and called the old chewing gum beechwood, should have been beechnut. age slows us.
regards
paul
 
Hi guys ;
if you go to that spot now you will find a big garage forecourt there
because thats what has been replaced by it a petrol station and the servive is lousy
especialy of a night he closes down at around 10 30 and will not open untill 11-30 or midnight
people queing up for cigs and sweets and gas and electic tokens
cars queing for petrol and they are filling sheleing and drinking tea - coffee or what the people are standing in the rain and banging on the windows and shouting abuse but the staff take no notice ; uintil they think the are ready
it is notoriuos there late of a night if i am unfortuneately passing i make sure i am aready topped before heading back to worcestshire
best wishes astonian
 
The original California was further along at the side of the canal and was indeed built by a rich returing gold prospector from California hence the Cali..name and at one time Weoley Castle at that spot was known as California. This surved the canal and the brick works . At a later date the New California was indeed built opposite the shops on Barns Hill. It has a very high stone pillor which was topped with a bowl of carved fruit full to overflowing. It has sadly been demolished and indeed a petrol station is now I belive on this site. I will try to find and post a link showing the brick works and the old california pub by the canal.
 
stonehouse brick works.jpgbrick works and origianal California pub was along side the canel.. still looking for picture and will post when I find it
 
Re: California Gold Rush
Being something of a romantic myself, I would love such a tale of adventure to be true. However, the name is not unique - another local example being in Blackheath where, ironically, the same local legend pervades. Secondly, it is thought that Isaac Flavell acquired Stonehouse Farm in 1842 whereas the Californian gold rush only really went into full swing after James Marshall discovered deposits at Sutter's Mill in 1848.
 
It's sad to see the California name falling out of use now, not even mentioned on modern maps. Good to see locals still use it as it's part of the history of the area. California is at least still used on the bus timetables and destinations.

Simon
 
Anyone know if the California Inn still survives? Any pictures available?
A distant rely George Hughes and his wife Harriet lived there from about 1860 to 1890, and adopted a Kate Fellows b 1880 (thus my interest) she went on to live at Shendley Court Farm, Northfield. Thanks
It's a Garage now
 
I remember the California pub well - It was built in the "Roadhouse" style popular in the 20s and 30s, although technically too small to be a proper roadhouse. It had plenty of parking places (for the time) and originally had a large beer garden at the back. When it was built the area was still semi-rural so it would have attracted folk taking their cars out for a spin in the country. I remember it had an off-licence entrance on the Alwold Road side of the Pub. The tall brick pillar outside it was topped by a big plaster "cornucopia" of fruit - grapes the size of footballs, oranges the size of beach balls. The Pillar came tumbling down on the afternoon of Friday 28th June 1968 when a tornado swept through. It took the roofs off two of the shops in the parade opposite (to this day you can still see the different style of roof tiles used to replace them). The tornado went down Alwold Road, bending street lamps and doing more damage. It swept over the Castle ruins and Paganal junior school thankfully doing no damage - the kids (I was one of them) had just come in from the playground after our afternoon break. The tornado then followed the Bourne Brook and touched down again briefly in one of the car parks at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, doing some damage to cars. I got a good look at the remains of the pillar and its fruit strewn along the road on my way back from school. The tornado only got a passing reference in the local paper and a brief mention on the local TV news the following day. At the time I don't remember anyone calling it a "Tornado", it was called a "Whirlwind" by us kids. As someone has already mentioned, the pub was later rebranded as "Whispers" (I seem to remember it had a rather garish neon sign) before being pulled down and replaced by the current BP filling station. A KFC is opposite it.
 

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Aerial view from about 1945. You can see that the area to the West was still mostly fields. There used to be a small cinema on Barnes Hill then, the building is still there, now it's a Kwik-Fit tyre outlet.
 

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    Barnes Hill circa 1945.jpg
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