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Gothic Cottages Hunters Vale

hello rita my dad also lived in hunters vale during ww2 ..i think i may have a photo of the damaged gothic cottages but i will need to check my files later on as i could be wrong ...also if you type in hunters vale in the search box i think we have a thread for hunters vale

lyn
 
hi rita the first photo i posted is definately gothic cottages..i thought it was

lyn
 
hi rita as said in my earlier post the location given for the first photo i posted is gothic cottages so i can only go on that....our dad was a lad when this happened and he said the noise was awful...your mom was very lucky to escape

lyn
 
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Photos in post #6 are terribly moving. So sad seeing people salvinging what they can from their wrecked homes. The first one shows the remains of an Anderson shelter. Hope no-one was using it as it looks like a direct hit. Awful. Viv.
 
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Two adverts which mention Gothic Cottages. The first advert appeared in newspapers across the country from 1904 to 1906. The second shows the resident of #1 looking for work in November 1883 Viv.
 

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I was born in Hunters Vale in January 1943. I played out on all the bombed sites as a kid but I don't remember any access to the cottages you are talking about, were they demolished before 1948 ? the year I started school. I wondered if when Rex Nicholls was built they would have been demolished ? the factory was also the land lord of our house until the council took over in the 1950's. I lived there until 1956 when the houses were due for demolition and we moved to Burbury St. Pat
 
Hello Lyn, Thanks for the photos. I remember that end of the Vale so well, I was so scared of that post and wire fence after dark, if I had to do an errand I would cross the road and run like hell until I was in Villa Street. I was quite relieved when the hoardings started to go up. The second picture shows part of a yard and shop, do you remember the O'Neils ? that was their yard ( they did some scrap metal ) and second hand shop, directly opposite was a small grocers shop owned by my dads step sister Nellie (Ellen) Parton where we used to buy penny vantus etc his step mother lived just a little further up the road her name was Lill Ensor she had a big black and white dog called Mick who used to chase the no 8 buses until one hit him.Thanks again for sharing the photos. Pat
 
pat i was born in 53 and did not move to 118 villa st until 58 left in 72 so you would have a better memory than i have of the earlier years but yes o neils rings bell..i am sure there was a roy o neils scrap yard in church st...would the phot below be nellie partons shop or was it further up towards the post office...i used to buy sweets from a shop on that side of villa st..could well have been nellies shop but thinking about it now i think the shop i used had two steps up to it and was further up past the gap you see in the photo


villa st looking towards nursery road.jpg
 
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Those hoardings certainly tidied up that corner. The metal works (Westmid) seems to be their No.3 works. I wonder where the other two? were? I get the impression that the main entrance was in Villa Street.
 
Hello Lyn, what a smashing photo of Villa St, yes that is the shop I see that the photo was dated 1964 what a difference a few years makes to places, she never had outside displays so had possibly retired (?) or sold by then. She had a grown up family of five boys who were all working when I was a child and then a surprise late arrival of a little girl who must by now be in her late 60's. If it helps I can talk you through the buildings in the photo, tell me to stop if this is boring.
Out of shot is Firmins then an entry, there were houses and a small engineering type works down there also two / three houses, the next building was the back of the little works from down the yard the next was a house that was turned into a florists shop by Mrs Evans her husband had died when The Hood was sunk , then came a yard with a large shed owned by Mr and Mrs Wood their business seemed to be something to do with wood but not new wood so perhaps they did something with reclaimed wood ? The next small house I'm not too sure about it may have been a family home or maybe used for stock for the shop ? The long wall was the gardens that belonged to the transverse houses the first house belonged to the Mullis family . Then there were two houses Mr and Mrs Moore and Mr and Mrs Hilton lived there. Then there was a small iron mongers called Murphys they also sold paraffin Mr Murphy had a hair lip and cleft palate making it very difficult to understand him he was also a jeweller (he made my wedding ring) they retired about 1963 to Oxhill Road Handsworth Singletons came next then what was known when I was a child as the new post office. This is a photo full of nostalgia for me , so many memories. I think the shop you were thinking about may have been O'Brians on the opposite side of the road they went up two steps. Also about the O'Neils, they had three sons Roy was the oldest, he was driving the van when I was just a child then Peter he must have been about seventeen and Terry who was my age, so the yard you talked about in Church St might have been Roy branching out (?) So very grateful to have seen this photo. Thank you very much. Pat.
 
Pat Prestleton said:
Hello Lyn, what a smashing photo of Villa St, yes that is the shop I see that the photo was dated 1964 what a difference a few years makes to places, she never had outside displays so had possibly retired (?) or sold by then. She had a grown up family of five boys who were all working when I was a child and then a surprise late arrival of a little girl who must by now be in her late 60's. If it helps I can talk you through the buildings in the photo, tell me to stop if this is boring.
Out of shot is Firmins then an entry, there were houses and a small engineering type works down there also two / three houses, the next building was the back of the little works from down the yard the next was a house that was turned into a florists shop by Mrs Evans her husband had died when The Hood was sunk , then came a yard with a large shed owned by Mr and Mrs Wood their business seemed to be something to do with wood but not new wood so perhaps they did something with reclaimed wood ? The next small house I'm not too sure about it may have been a family home or maybe used for stock for the shop ? The long wall was the gardens that belonged to the transverse houses the first house belonged to the Mullis family . Then there were two houses Mr and Mrs Moore and Mr and Mrs Hilton lived there. Then there was a small iron mongers called Murphys they also sold paraffin Mr Murphy had a hair lip and cleft palate making it very difficult to understand him he was also a jeweller (he made my wedding ring) they retired about 1963 to Oxhill Road Handsworth Singletons came next then what was known when I was a child as the new post office. This is a photo full of nostalgia for me , so many memories. I think the shop you were thinking about may have been O'Brians on the opposite side of the road they went up two steps. Also about the O'Neils, they had three sons Roy was the oldest, he was driving the van when I was just a child then Peter he must have been about seventeen and Terry who was my age, so the yard you talked about in Church St might have been Roy branching out (?) So very grateful to have seen this photo. Thank you very much. Pat.
Click to expand...

hello pat your memories are a joy to read please keep them coming...as this thread is about hunters vale i think i will now steer you to the villa street thread as we can continue chatting about villa st on there..on that thread i have posted more photos of villa st leading up to the post office on both sides ..in fact if you put them all together they show most of that section of the street...click on the link below but please start reading the thread from post 1...if you cant view some of the photos dont worry as the forum was hacked some years ago and we lost all of our images but most have now been reposted later in the thread...chat later on the villa street thread...lovely to meet someone else from the old end :)

Villa Street Lozells

hi all. i used to live in villa street hockley between 1958 till 1971 and i am desprately looking for any photos of the old vine pub or photos of the houses ect in villa street. can anyone out there help.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
I remember Mr Beech the chimney sweep was that around the late 1950's, because he had always been a chimney sweep since I was a little girl in the 1940' s
 
There is a lot about the area and Beech family in the Villa Street thread, posted by a family member. The sweep, it appears, was the posters father.
 
yes thanks for that alan i am still in touch with the beech family...

pat as i said in an earlier post if you go onto the villa street thread perhaps you could add some of your memories on there and i hope you find the photos of interest....

lyn
 
does any one remember the little newsagents shop owned by Mr Moon and his son in Villa St ( Farm st end ) in the 1940's /50s Pat
 
hi pat i dont recall the shop but i must have passed it many times...have you checked the villa street thread as i have posted photos of that end of villa st...

all the best

lyn
 
hi pat if you go back post 21 on this thread i posted you the link to the villa st thread but dont worry if you missed it i know you are just finding your way around the forum...here it is again...just click on the link below

Villa Street Lozells

hi all. i used to live in villa street hockley between 1958 till 1971 and i am desprately looking for any photos of the old vine pub or photos of the houses ect in villa street. can anyone out there help.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Pat Prestleton said:
does any one remember the little newsagents shop owned by Mr Moon and his son in Villa St ( Farm st end ) in the 1940's /50s Pat
Click to expand...
Hi Pat,

That brought back memories. I just about remember Moon's newsagents as I lived at the top end of Villa Street right next door to St Saviours church in Bridge St West. My dad would sometimes trust me to go and buy his Sunday paper from there. We left Hockley when I was 8 years old so memories tend to fade a bit.
 
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