Market Hall 1835 - 1963

[Stitcher]

Bordesley Exile, I have said on numerous occasions that I am going through all my scraps to do with this graer City and I am now on my last half a carrier bag full. Because they are creased and damaged I am having to do quite a bit of work on them to make them appear presentable. I have found a page with some text on it relating to the Market hall which I assume goes with that picture, the clue is in the date and the style of clothes and I will post it tomorrow.

 

[Stitcher]

I can only assume this paragraph goes with the Market Hall pic. on #73.

 

[tbutlin]

Indeed I would like to know more about Percy's clock --- your url would not play unfortunately.
My Grandfather also used to take me from Romsley (as an evacuee) to the Bullring for visits to my parents in Nechells, B'ham in the 40's
There was a fabulous clock with mannequins on a rotating platform which appeared on the quarter hour I believe.
It could have been the Market hall???
I would be grateful for any deeper info anybody could provide.
Have not been able to find anything on Google.
Best Regards
tbutlin

 

[Phil]

Hi tbutlin

You might want to read this thread dedicated to Percy Shurmer that I started some time back, post #8 deals with Percy's clock. It's a great pity it was never replaced as he wanted. It would be a fitting memorial to a great man.

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=12148&page=2

 

[Don H]

I too would like to know more about Percy's clock. I was told that I used to watch it perform from my pushchair. It was destroyed just before my 2nd birthday.
I can remember visiting the Market Hall with my parents every couple of Saturdays or so through to my late teens . I remember seeing the demolition of brickwork by pneumatic drills that had been built around the statue of Nelson (outside the Bullring entrance) to protect it from blast damage during the war. Also my mom buying fish for tea & on one occasion, coming home with a pair of pet mice.

Here is an article from The Independent about the setting up of the Clock Project charity.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ingham-market-hall-clock-project-1462515.html

I wouldnt hold your breath. according to their accounts, they only have about 20 quid in their coffers towards the £75000 estimate.
https://opencharities.org/charities/1012871

so on the face of it, a donation from me will not help.

Regards, Don

 

[Nick Mc.]

One of my earliest memories of Brum is the Market Hall in the mid 1950's. By then, of course, it was roofless and I remember buying a green and white belt with a snake hook and being fascinated by the stall with dozens of tortoises, "Big 'uns two 'n a tanner,little 'uns one and six".

 

[Vivienne14]

I think this is a stall within Market Hall. The windows look like those of the Hall. Ted Davenport's fish stall, probably stall #16. Viv.

 

[mikejee]

Viv
Edward Davenport was listed in Kellys as a fishmonger in the Market Hall at nos 15,17 & 21 in 1912-1915. He was not there in 1910, and from 1921 he was just at no 21. so that limits the time of the photo

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks Mike, very helpful. So the photo looks like it was of stalls #15 and #16. If they also had #s17-21 Davenports must have been massive. I did wonder why there were a lot of salesman. And there are more boxes of fish (on left) waiting to be laid out on an, already, heaving display. And maybe the two men behind the counter without aprons are Mr Davenport and son.

It wasn't until I looked behind the stall on this photo that I fully realised the Market Hall windows went down to street level. Think they might have been covered in on later photos, but not sure. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Had a browse through this thread and quite a few photos are missing from the 2011 hacking. I'll try and replace the ones I can put my hands on. Meanwhile this 1905 view of the stalls inside the Market seems to be a bit special. Lots of plants, people looking clean and tidy. Perhaps it was preparing for a special visit or special occasion. Viv.

 

[Rupert]

At the time it must have been a fairly large indoor area to be under one roof.

 

[Phil]

At 55m x 111m a total of 6105m2 it was built to accommodate 600 stalls. The reason why it probably never reached that number was because stall holders would rent more than one space for larger stalls.

 

[Vivienne14]

Great set of photos Phil. Interesting to see later photos of the Hall as a thriving and very busy market. Been trying to work out if there were three main aisles. I think so from this photo. No date but looks like another special photo. Everyone seems to be posing, cameraman must have been very high up. I did wonder if it was a record of the installation of the new fountain - 1851 - but clothing looks a bit later than that. Looks like it might have been a summer's day with all the windows thrown open. Viv.

 

[Davenport]

I think this is a stall within Market Hall. The windows look like those of the Hall. Ted Davenport's fish stall, probably stall #16. Viv.View attachment 87077

Vivienne thank you so much for sharing this photograph, it is my Great grandfathers Brother's business and he was Ambrose Edward Davenport known as Ted. He is actually the man in the middle of the front row with the cap. I have forwarded this photo to his (now elderly) Granddaughter who lives in New Zealand, she had never seen this before and was delighted. we wonder where you sourced this from?
Ted was born in 1868 in Brum and died in 1925, the business was then looked after by his Son Edward Ambrose Davenport also known as Ted, unfortunately this only lasted a few years as Ted suffered from T B and bouts of Pneumonia.
Thanks again, Davenport and Ted's Granddaughter

 

[Vivienne14]

Hi Davenport. It's great that you've found your relation in the photo. His business certainly looked prosperous at that time, such a pity that it didn't continue longer. The photo was from a postcard - I think it was for sale on eBay but it would have been some time ago. It's a fascinating photo and certainly gave us something to ponder over. I'm sure Mr Davenport's granddaughter will enjoy seeing it. If she has any memories she'd like to share, you know where we are! Thanks telling us about the family and business. A very nice addition to this thread. Viv.

 

[Phil]

Viv


ref post #87, the date I have for the copy of that photo that I have is 1870. It couldn't be much later than that as the fountain was gone by 1880. This photo of the Market Hall that there were most likely three main aisles one each side and one down the centre. I know other members have raised the possibility that what we knew as the back end of the market opposite Queens drive was in fact built as the front entrance. This entrance was built in a more grander and palladian style than that of the bull ring entrance.

 

[Rupert]

I have a hard time associating the word 'grand' with this building. Even with the roof still intact it seems monstrous to me from any angle and we only knew it as a ruin. That being said it was familiar to us as a land mark and anchor of our lives and so hard to forget. We never seem to notice the fish market immediately down the hill from it. This may have been a more comfortable structure in appearance.

 

[brumgum]

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=36220&p=493709#post493709
The chap on the left of the first picture by the look of his apron he was a stranger to Persil !.:disgust: Post 86

 

[Davenport]

I hope so Viv, it's such a thrill when something like this turns up to a family historian, as it had not been seen before. Thanks Viv and this great forum. Clive

 

[crimble]

Yet again you have woken up many memories. Thank you. The photos are great. Saturday afternoon up to town on the 28 or 58/60, walking around the outside market with my Mom and Dad, always something magical to me as a child - the man in chains escaping from a big old hessian sack, my family laugh but I`m sure I saw a dancing bear held by a chain, these were always by the statue. Lots of chatter and laughing. Past the flower ladies and the "spatchamail " man, Climbing the steps holding Dad`s hand (I was born 1948 ) under that enormous arch into a land of excitement - " Can we see the puppies Dad? Please !!" He`d say "Yes but you`re not having one" I knew exactly where Pimm`s pet shop was and would drag him there while Mom would be looking for other bits of veg. Puppies in the windows, tortoises cats rabbits. Oh how I wished and wished. We`d buy crab paste in a pot for me and Mom would ask " a nice bit of smoked haddock and no bones please" The smells, ooh fish, fruits, chestnuts, flowers, the dampness of the sacks of veggies. The different noises of people shouting their bargains, lots crowds but always seemed good humour to me. The men with crockery in big straw hampers and they were juggling them and shouting their prices - ten bob - comes to mind. Amazing entertainment! Dad would give me a penny to put in the bomb and the big red mine for the seamen`s mission. How lucky are we who remember those places.

 

[crimble]

# 95 Sorry forgot this until now. I was talking mostly about the Market Hall that had been bombed, But I`ve remembered a smaller market where Mom would buy her dress and curtain materials. It was enclosed and quite small inside the aisles but crammed full of different materials of differing textures. Mom always went to the same Indian man who always had a beautiful selection of materials and was willing to cut rolls into all different lengths. I think it was called Kings Hall Market. If I remember it was around the back of the Bull Ring some where. It wasn`t the Rag Alley Market - that was much bigger and had a different smell to it.

 

[carolina]

Crimble very lucky.

 

[crimble]

What a great photo, so many images to home in on. Thanks . Not having been in the centre for a long time I`d forgotten what a slope it was.

 

[Vivienne14]

What a great photo #97 Carolina. Viv.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[mikejee]

Viv
The Market Hall was for the public (retail), whereas Smithfield was wholesale for the trade

 

[Vivienne14]

Right thanks Mike hadn't thought of that. Always thought Smithfield was a meat market. As they say, you learn something new ....... Viv.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[norfolk brummie]

In the 1930's my mother worked on a record stall in the Market. I can remember visiting the Market before the war, and the bomb damage, which destroyed the roof. After the war the market re-opened, but there was no roof, so it was an open market within the old building. The main entrance was from the Bull Ring and the Market Hall was situated on the LEFT side of the road as you climbed the hill from St. Martins church. The old Bull Ring was always full of barrow boys, street performers, masses of traffic, and the Army & Navy store on the corner of the Bull Ring and Moor Street. The Bull Ring always attracted plenty of people. In the 1950's many National Servicemen would catch their return buses to camp from outside the Market Hall, after their week end leave in Brum.

 

[alanfisher202]

What ever happened to the bomb we used to put our pennies in,also, does anybody know the full story with regards where it landed and such.

 

[Vivienne14]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]A glimpse inside the Market Hall in the 1930s.[/FONT]





A few features:

In the Market Hall Rules and Orders brought in soon after 1835, smoking of tobacco wasn't allowed inside the Hall, the penalty being 5 shillings (a bit steep in the 1830s?)
You couldn't take a dog into the Hall
No one could wash or clean vegetables after 9.00 am.
The famous bronze fountain in the centre of the Hall was enjoyed for some 30 years before being removed because it obstructed trade.
Lighted by naked gas-burners and charged for on the basis of the number of burners used, the appearance of the Collector would spark a rush to extinguish some of the burners in the Hall.
Near the Bull Ring entrance a hidden piano played music for the pleasure of shoppers - and perhaps to help extract pennies from pockets!

(Info and photos extracted from: The Birmingham Market Hall, 1835 - 1935, City of Birmingham publication).

Viv.

 

[norfolk brummie]

Viv,

Lovely photos of the old Market Hall. I well remember visiting there with my mother, before the war, I would have been about six at the time, and I can still recall the atmosphere. It was a crowded day, probably a Saturday, and we visited a record stall. When it still had it's roof!

Eddie