Hockley Brook floods

[mw0njm.]

Some photos and information here:
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/a-bit-of-the-hockley-brook-birmingham-january-2018.112398/
https://www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk/astonbrookdrainage.html

great pics thanks.

 

[Radiorails]

Hockley Brook - no date given with this one. Viv.

View attachment 129718

Maybe some of the photo wizards here could put a little definition to the photo. It might, then, be possible to get an approximate date from the corner shops. One thing is certain as it is pre 1939 - trams are running. However, it seems much older than that, possibly around the end of WW1 - give or take a couple of years.

 

[Morturn]

I have cranked this one up as far as it will go short of looking over processed.

 

[Vivienne14]

A little further down the street than the previous post. Looks about 1910/20 to me. Viv.

 

[Radiorails]

This photo also appears on the Cable Tram thread.
The cable channels are still visible as the cable trams still ran until 1911 and were replaced by the corporations own electric trams. However they terminated a little way past the approaching tram. Maybe the cable conduit was not removed until after WW1?

 

[Astoness]

yes ive seen it before alan...think that is the ickneild st turning on the left

lyn

 

[carolina]

I have a couple of write ups on the floods, the first one definitely related to PC Bell but the other one is saying July. So presume there was more than one flood?

 

[Vivienne14]

Yes Carolina. I think there were several floods there. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

yes viv 1920 and 23 i think

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

Another in 1925 too. It had been a problem for a very long time. Efforts to solve the problem seem to have been long and drawn out; in 1905 there was a public enquiry involving Smethwick Council to contribute to the work, The work obviously failed as shown by the later collapse of the surrounding structures. Below are some clippings from the British Newspaper Archives - sorry, images not too good. Viv.

 

[carolina]

Flood at Hockley Brook 1923

 

[Astoness]

and this dated 1866 the stagnant brook (not to be confused with hockley brook further down) referred to that was at the back of hockley brewery nursery road was the mill race which fed the nearby aston furnance...

 

[mw0njm.]

yes lyn it did pong at times. people empty'd the rubbish over the wall into the brook. The man who lived next door to us told us about a man coming down the brook in a flood holding onto a car wheel. shouting.

 

[Elmo]

My memory of the Brook was climbing in to get our ball back when we used to play football in Newton Place by the old bottle exchange, which I'm sure I've seen mentioned on here too!

 

[jwgyoungbrummie]

Another in 1925 too. It had been a problem for a very long time. Efforts to solve the problem seem to have been long and drawn out; in 1905 there was a public enquiry involving Smethwick Council to contribute to the work, The work obviously failed as shown by the later collapse of the surrounding structures. Below are some clippings from the British Newspaper Archives - sorry, images not too good. Viv.

View attachment 149196View attachment 149197

Thank you for sharing the 1925 flood. My great great grandfather was awarded certificate etc from the Royal Humane society for his actions during that particular flood seems he saved 29 people that day.

 

[Vivienne14]

A brave man. The conditions would have been terrible and very risky. Was he in the Fire Brigade ? Viv.

 

[Pedrocut]

Hockley Brook or Hockley Sewer ?

Post 17 by Radiorails…

“An act of 1861 authorised the improvement of Hockley/aston Brook: it had long been a dump for refuse and a drain for the untreated sewage of Smethwick and Handsworth as well as of Aston. Millworks and heedless building prevented free flow, and floods spread pestilence in a wide swathe along the banks.”

aston Brook Through aston Manor - Preserving the History of aston

community website for aston history and nostalgia. containing digital pictures of old aston, aston people and aston Industry

www.astonbrook-through-astonmanor.co.uk

Rivers Trust sewage discharge figures for 2021 showing at least the readings below of discharge into Hockley Brook. Number of discharges/ hours of discharge.

Lionel St. 3/0
Long Acre. 6/6
Plume St. 8/1
Chester St. 2/0
Elkington St 6/4
Milton St. 101/ 280
Smith St 9/4
Hunters Vale. 27/34
Francis Rd 3/2
All Saints Hospital 28/571
Piers Rd 12/12
Barons Rd 20/11
Perrott St 3/1
Booth St. 5/2
Cornwall St 1/1
Downing St 1/1

(FIGURES FOR WHEN MONIORING WAS WORKING)

 

[mw0njm.]

Photographed in May 1907. Children play outside the old cottages by the Hockley Brook where Factory Road joins Piers Road.



Photographer: F Holloway