Formans Road Sparkhill

[caggyken]

HI ALL
I have just sent a photo of the shop to a friend. He used to live in FORMANS RD,and is still in touch with a guy
who is 87, and has lived all his life in FORMANS RD. He will take the photo over to him in the near future to see
if he can throw any light on the matter. He would not have been born when the picture was taken ,but the
shop would have been there all his life.
Watch this space.
KEN

 

[Siouxhealer]

Ken honey, did you miss the previous posts?

Phil solved it. It's in Ward End! on the corners of Asquith Rd & Morley Rd (Hence Morley Stores) they were listed in the 1913 Directory.

So we think the Oaklands Stores, Formans rd, were previous to the photo, as that's the details they gave on the 1911 census.

xxx Sioux

 

[SandraE]

My mother was born in normans road in 1927. She remembers the house having a very long front garden (it backed onto the brickworks). Her father used to grow rhubarb and passersby would knock the front door for 2penny worth of rhubarb. The family moved to bromyard road in the 1930s when there were cows in the fields in runneymede road

 

[Partype]

Amazing pics. Very happy to see this forum. Thank you for share here. Those days are golden days we can't get it back now. I feel very to see such images or any memorable moments like this. thank u so much.

 

[Peter1]

HI ALL
Sorry i am unable to help on this one.The last person that would been able to help passed away 6 weeks ago.It was my aunt IDA.
She was born at 109 FORMANS RD in 1910.
KEN

Ken, it becomes clearer and clearer to me (as I grow older with time to reflect perhaps, and as I scan info, stories, pictures in BHF) that with the death of older people we all lose sooo much! Their experiences, and how they viewed the time in context is irreplaceable.

 

[BrummieGeoff]

Here are a few more old Formans Road photos that have appeared on the local history sites over the past few years.

 

[Deems]

Hi,

I'm not sure anyone is active on this forum atm.
I moved to Formans Rd in 2016 across where Amazon is now. Was wondering if anyone has any pics on this side of the road. I'd love to share them woth my children.

Regards

Nadeem

 

[BrummieGeoff]

Nadeem ....
Here are a couple of aerial photos of the top of Formans Road (Credit: britainfromabove.org.uk).
I assume you've also seen the other thread on this site "Formans Rd Sparkhill" that has discussion about different parts of the road ?

1920:


1950:

 

[BrummieGeoff]

Interesting to see on the attached c1887 map that an area adjacent to Formans Road is annotated "Magazines". I assume this means storage for explosives/ammunition .... maybe used in extracting materials for the nearby Burbury Brickworks ?

 

[mikejee]

Not sure of the source of the map, but the OS. 1887 1:2500 map does not mark it as a magazine, though does have a series of square markings similar to those used where buildings housing explosives are housed.



On the similar 1903 map these markings have disappeared, but similar ones are on the area south of Forman's road and this is shown as a fireworks factory. Might I suggest that originally the fireworks factory was north of the bridge/ford , but, for some reason was later moved to the south

 

[BrummieGeoff]

That sounds credible Mike .... possibly linked to the Wilders fireworks factory in Greet.
FYI the map I posted is also an OS map (from the NLS site).

 

[BrummieGeoff]

In Tom Golding's book "96 Years A Brummie" he mentions the Wilders fireworks factory by the River Cole on the south side of Formans Road. His mother and aunt worked there. Apparently two women workers were burned to death in a "powder room" at that time.

 

[canokes]

Thank you for those photo's Me and my wife used to live in Percy Road, and you can just make out the off licence on the corner. Happy days.

Barrie.

Looking at old posts tonight. I lived in the off licence corner of Formans Road and Percy Road in the 60’s. Lots of nice independent shops then, happy days.