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Location wanted for this bus if possible

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In this digitally manipulated picture what do you all make of what appears to be a large building in the background. Or is it seam or smoke?
It looks to me a large domed building, similar to the Oratory on Hagley Road. Too large for St.Philips I think.
 
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It does faintly look like a domed building but I think it is a digital artifact in my image. Looking at John Knight's darkened pic in #73 there appears to be nothing there.
 
There is nothing near the Oratory that fits the bill. (the nearest 'Gothic' place is the Plough and Harrow :D ) However, there is a Vicarage Road - but I don't see a church and there were convents in the area.. Maybe they are no longer there and can only be identified by old photos?
 
And right where that bus is standing the road surface has switched from cobbles to tarmac. .............?

Maurice
 
Just a thought, could the architecture in front of the bus be a separate building to the tower?
 
Looking behind the bus, the road appears to sweep around to the left slightly with a building (shop?) protruding into the image (behind the bus shelter).
Could the building be St. Margarets Church (Ledsam Street) ? the road configuration looks correct but unfortunately I can find no picture of the church (shown in yellow) which was demolished in the 50s. Not sure why the bus would be on this road but I'm sure other people could advise on this. John
 

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brummy-lad said:
Looking behind the bus, the road appears to sweep around to the left slightly with a building (shop?) protruding into the image (behind the bus shelter).
Could the building be St. Margarets Church (Ledsam Street) ? the road configuration looks correct but unfortunately I can find no picture of the church (shown in yellow) which was demolished in the 50s. Not sure why the bus would be on this road but I'm sure other people could advise on this. John
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An aerial view dated 1948 shows the church on the corner of Alston St and Ledsam St.
Great Tindal St runs diagonally across the view from left to right. Most churches I've looked at seem to stand back from roads ... :)
Ledsam1948.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
An aerial view dated 1948 shows the church on the corner of Alston St and Ledsam St.
Great Tindal St runs diagonally across the view from left to right. Most churches I've looked at seem to stand back from roads ... :)
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Thanks for that, I hadn't thought of looking at the aerial view, another one eliminated then. It would be great to identify the building, I imagine it has long since gone else somebody would have known the answer by now. John
 
as said on earlier post i think the pic of the no 8 was taken going past spring hill library..pic on post 1 not very good but ive noted an air brick on the building and the road surface that the bus is on looks to be cobbled

pic on post 6 the same photo but clearer

pic on post 12 different photo where there is no doubt the location is outside the library.. again the air brick is visible and the road surface is the same...in the distance i think i can see a bollard in the middle of the road i think this is is where camden st crosses over icknield st and continues on dont forget in pic 2 the bus has travelled a few feet further than on pic 3 therefore we get to see the very end of the library next to walter smiths on pic 3...just my thoughts but a bit of a coincidence if i am wrong

bus pic 1.jpegbus pic 2.jpgbus pic 3.jpg
 
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why did i know you would say that john:) we shall have to agree to disagree until some other location may turn up..it just seemed strange that the air brick and the road surface are in the same location in photo 2 and 3 so i will follow this thread with interest now...

lyn
 
well i for one will not continue to add any miseries to myself i was a kid on the block in those years and i know that was springhill so for these guys whom say diffent i will awaint in antisebastion to see whom will convince me different
So i will await on the side lines to see what comes out of if , failing that i would put it back in the box Astonian;;;;;
 
I don't think there can be any arguement that the third picture is Ikneild Street and to the Driver's right is the Library. The air brick and drainpipe correspond to the present day picture. Also at the bottom of the windows there is the sloping ledge. Further the spire would be in front of the driver.

On the second picture the spire appears behind the bus. There is no slope on the window ledge, and the windows seem further forward.


8AAE060C-681B-47F9-A156-780E95BF2884.jpeg
 
point taken about the spire peter...think i will take a break now and come back to it:rolleyes:

lyn
 
oldMohawk said:
I’ve done a search through a large number of aerial photos over dates from 1934 to 1947 covering districts from Hagley Rd to Hockley, from Icknield Port Rd to Roseberry Rd and seen no buildings like the one in the bus pic. Maybe the location is on the eastern or southern side of the Inner Circle route.
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How can I do an aerial search for the whole route
 
I mentioned in an earlier post that the renovated buses (of the type in the photo) were principally rush hour and short working. This bus is either on the full route, just joining or leaving it as short workings usually mentioned district names.
The only other structure in Icknield Street with any resemblance to Spring Hill library is, in fact, Icknield Street school. (now part used as a religious place).
All photo of the school I have seen show only a three quarter view and the same view in every case. I have not seen a photo of the other side to that usually found on the web.
The late Robert F. Mack, who is credited with the photo in post 6 and probably was the photographer in the original post (taken probably from the book at some point), took photographs of many buses and trams in Glasgow, he also was active with his camera in Yorkshire; there are a couple or so books by him.
Many of the photos in the book Inner Circle 8 are credited to him.
He seems to have been around at the end of the 1950's and later in the later part of the 60's.
I get the impression that whilst he was the photographer the descriptions of each photo in the book are by those who wrote the book. Maybe they fell into the same trap most of us have on this thread! :weary_face:
 
In pic 3 in post#99 the back of bus JOJ 714 has passed the traffic light and the bus is partially in Spring Hill/Summer Hill BUT the library face does yet not appear behind the bus, some of the butchers shop can still be seen and the corner of the Summer Hill pavement on the right can also be seen. The bus in the original pic post#1 would have to be half way across Spring Hill Rd to show that much of the library. A diagram plan could show this.

Finally ... Where is this window masonry feature from the original pic on the library pic below ?
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I cannot see it anywhere ...:)
 
What about Five Ways the bus stop could be on the Hagley Road there was a church on the other side of the road and the dip at the back could be leading onto Islington Row?
 
Astoness said:
why did i know you would say that john:) we shall have to agree to disagree until some other location may turn up..it just seemed strange that the air brick and the road surface are in the same location in photo 2 and 3 so i will follow this thread with interest now...

lyn
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Morning Lyn, The original photo, even if the bus was an 8a,(ie in modern vernacular anticlockwise) there is no way that the building behind is the library, the spire is wrong for a start, this is driving me nuts ha,ha, there was a theatre called the Palace opposite the library, but I cannot find photo of it anywhere.
 
john there are quite a few pics of the palace on the forum but here it is as you say on the opposite corner to the library...

palace theatre.jpg
 
lol john i shall have a break but i am not yet convinced that the building is not the library...keeps us out of trouble...2 photos here of when a no 8 heading towards hockley crashed into the library killing 10 people date 1949 palace theatre showing in pic 2....would think the library needed repairs to the lower half of it

bus crash 1949 spring hill.jpgbus crash spring hill 1949 2.jpg
 
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Astoness said:
lol john i shall have a break but i am not yet convinced that the building is not the library...keeps us out of trouble...2 photos here of when a no 8 heading towards hockley crashed into the library killing 10 people date 1949 palace theatre showing in pic 2....would think the library needed repairs to the lower half of it

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This obviously answers the question, the library is to the left of the bus from the rear, from the front of the bus the library would be on the right.
 
yes john i knew that... coming up icknield st from hockley the library is on the right of the bus

lyn
 
As usual not a good picture from the Birmingham papers, lightened to show detail from another angle. March 1949.

CA4EB8E7-D09F-4DE0-8308-9E78FE4793C7.jpeg
 


i agree john it does look that way...its the only thing that bothers me...more research needed...dont worry some of these mysteries can last us for weeks:rolleyes:
 
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