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Dingley's Passage

Dennis Williams

Gone but not forgotten
Can anyone help with this mystery please……Dingley’s Passage…..which oddly enough, is still with us, albeit in a very truncated and almost meaningless form….!

It has puzzled me for years….if it’s there now, how old is it…I cannot find it on any old maps at all….which I find odd….maybe, of course, it is a remnant of something associated in some way with the old Dingley’s Hotel ?....but again…nothing seems to fit, apart from guesswork…. I know it matters little in the larger story of Brum, but I would just like to know…mikejee? Pedro? Lyn?....anyone?....help…!

I’ve got this far with maps and old photos that might help or at least concentrate any thinking….and there is an article by someone else looking at this conundrum….but the language is so esoteric and complex, it is beyond my humble skills to make owt of it!

http://houndofhecate.blogspot.com/2014/04/hidden-city-dingleys-passage-city-under.html


124859092_1087920678314362_7279015563878370706_n.jpgScreenshot 2020-11-12 at 11.11.46 copy.jpgMoor St Map.jpgScreenshot 2020-11-12 at 11.26.58 copy.jpg1832 Map Moor St.jpgdingleys1.jpgdingleys2.jpgMoor Street  Dingleys Hotel  1932.jpgMoor Street - 19-9-1962.jpgScreenshot 2020-11-12 at 13.04.16 copy.jpgScreenshot 2020-11-12 at 11.07.48 copy.jpg
 
Dennis, from the site you highlight...
“You see there's a particular difficulty in the exploration, history, & psychogeography of Birmingham, which is caused by the spirit of place itself.”

When we find out about Dingley’s Passage then it’s your turn to find out just what Psychogeography is.
 
There are two mentions of the passage in the local press, neither encouraging one to visit it, though curiously only in the Sandwell Evening Mail
From one of them it would seem that the name might just have been given to an access r to a car park when the building was constructed

Sandwell Ev mail.14.1.1993.jpgSandwell evening mail.13.3.1991.jpg
 
I think Mike's post may hold the key. In 1930 Dingley's Commercial Boarding House was said to be over 200 years old. In 1963 it was lamented that the best example of unspoilt mid-Georgian frontage was to be demolished.

It could be that Dingley’s Passage was named to lead to the Car Park ?

If this is right, then it’s over to you for Psychogeography.
 
As an aside, the Black Country Society magazine had a new Editor for the winter 2019 issue, Kerry Hadley-Price. In her introduction she says she is a PhD candidate researching Psychogeography in Black County Writing. However she does not go on to explain.
 
Dennis,

Wiki says that Psychogeography is an exploration of urban environments that emphasizes playfulness and "drifting". It has links to the Lettrist and Situationist Internationals, revolutionary groups influenced by Marxist and anarchist theory, and the attitudes and methods of Dadaists and Surrealists.

I bet you're glad I told you that! Probably best well left alone! You might start a revolution. :)

Maurice :cool:
 
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