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Marston Green & Tile Cross

podgery said:
Hi all I worked at Griffins garage 1960 -1963 I thought Marston Green was a lovely village. Three brothers owned the garage George Eddy and Frank (I think that was there names) and I loved working there. I was only a kid so it was my job to fetch the sandwiches from the little cottage shop almost next to the garage, there was a little old lady who served me and we got to know each other and would have a good chit chat together. I remember my lunch breaks I would ride my bike into the blue bell woods and sit by the stream and eat my lunch. At the time I thought Marston Green was a little heaven on earth.
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The Griffin Brothers were George, Jack and Eddie, J.
 
We lived in Saltley and used to go to Marston Green (out to the country) on Sunday afternoon in the Summer. We would get the number 14 bus to the terminus. There used to be a Mynah Bird in a cage on the other side of the road and it used to screech and shout if anyone passed the house. We then walked passed the Bell Pub (used to get a bottle of pop from the shop opposite) and mom and dad always admired the houses and bungalows along the way. I was fascinated by a sign in one garden saying BRYDOR. Mom told me that the people who lived there were probably called Brian and Doreen! Then there was a garden with an ornament with the inscription about every dog having it's day. Can't remember it now. On we would walk, take a left then we would almost be "in the country". On the right we could see across the fields to what I think may have been a children's home and also Marston Green hospital, but I am not sure, someone on this forum will know. There was also a sign in a tree that told us it was Private Land and Trespassers Will Be Shot. That used to worry me. We would walk through the Bluebell Woods and sit on a tree trunk to eat our sandwich lunch. Happy and innocent days for us children.
 
suemalings said:
We lived in Saltley and used to go to Marston Green (out to the country) on Sunday afternoon in the Summer. We would get the number 14 bus to the terminus. There used to be a Mynah Bird in a cage on the other side of the road and it used to screech and shout if anyone passed the house. We then walked passed the Bell Pub (used to get a bottle of pop from the shop opposite) and mom and dad always admired the houses and bungalows along the way. I was fascinated by a sign in one garden saying BRYDOR. Mom told me that the people who lived there were probably called Brian and Doreen! Then there was a garden with an ornament with the inscription about every dog having it's day. Can't remember it now. On we would walk, take a left then we would almost be "in the country". On the right we could see across the fields to what I think may have been a children's home and also Marston Green hospital, but I am not sure, someone on this forum will know. There was also a sign in a tree that told us it was Private Land and Trespassers Will Be Shot. That used to worry me. We would walk through the Bluebell Woods and sit on a tree trunk to eat our sandwich lunch. Happy and innocent days for us children.
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My Mom an Dad used to take me to Chelmsley Wood too. We traveled from Sheldon via the Radleys, under the Railway bridge and doing a right turn onto Bell Lane, up the hill and then turn off left into Chelmsley Lane.This must have been the same route as you describe. In those days Chelmsley really was a wood and densely populated with purple flowering rhododendron bushes. We would make our way as far as Alcott Hall, on the junction of Berwicks Lane and what is now Moor End Avenue - I believe it was a farm then. There was a boundary fence with a style nearby with a footpath leading to more woodland.

When I was older my friends and I would walk or cycle there, across King George V playing fields to Marston Green Station. Along Chelmsley Lane there was a hospital or maybe a care home for children - I say this because there was a tall fence and we couldn't see inside but could often hear children playing on the other side. I used to feel sorry for them knowing that we had complete freedom to go wherever we pleased.

Around 1963 everything had changed, on reaching Alcott Hall all I could see were rows on rows of tree stumps, in preparation for building work, revealing distant traffic on what must have been the Chester Road. The Farm was now derelict and we took time to explore the many empty rooms.

I'm glad to see that the farm survived. Its now a Grade II listed building and has been recently converted to private living accommodation. See past and present pictures and location maps below. Ps the black and white picture shows the front elevation that that now faces Moor End Avenue.

1567448735900.png

1567448782921.png
 
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The route you describe is the one taken by myself and family and friends on many occasions. After walking or cycling through the park and then ascending the path up the hill to Marston Green do you remember passing this farm house which became the clubhouse for the golf club.
P1000221.JPG

In the small enclosure on the right just behind the stone wall there used to be two or three wooden huts used by the T.A.
 
We saw Baldie!!! He was surveying his land with his rifle over his left arm!! We were peering through the hedge and when we saw him we nearly died! Story was, if he saw you, you were dead!!! We ran all the way home!!
 
lencops said:
Sheldon Hall 1953 and 2008.
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Sheldon Hall in 1919 as it appears in Sale catalogue.
P1000236.JPG

There was an amendment regarding the staircase and panelling within the hall
P1000235.JPG P1000237.JPG P1000238.JPG

In another thread "Fifield Farm" mention is made to Seymour Smith and his wife May Florence (Bartlett). My brother-in-law whose mother was May, says that she was living at Sheldon Hall as a young girl prior to marrying Seymour as her family farmed the land there.
 
ragga said:
Another beauty of marston green crossing :)
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Looks as though that was taken from the signal box. I longed to be in that box when I was a young lad trainspotting there. I just wanted to turn that huge wheel that opened and closed the crossing gates!
 
jmadone said:
The route you describe is the one taken by myself and family and friends on many occasions. After walking or cycling through the park and then ascending the path up the hill to Marston Green do you remember passing this farm house which became the clubhouse for the golf club.
View attachment 137087

In the small enclosure on the right just behind the stone wall there used to be two or three wooden huts used by the T.A.
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I do remember the club house. We used to get the path from Greenvale Avenue / Parkdale Road up to the station. In those days the club house was more like the picture below. There was also a pool nearby. Having only ever seen minnows and sticklebacks in the brook I couldn't believe it when I saw a very large carp wallowing near the pool edge. The pool was rather deep and at the top of a big hill?

I actually went inside the club house but have no recollection of doing so. One evening my friend and I cycled to Chelmsley to see my aunt and uncle who lived just off Berwicks lane. We returned early evening just at it was getting dark. For some unknown reason we deviated from the path at the station and descended the steep grass bank in front of the clubhouse. I must have hit something on the way down and apparently somersaulted onto my back, knocking myself unconscious. My friend went for help and I was carried to the clubhouse. Rather than call an ambulance my friend cycled home to tell my Mom and Dad who eventually decided I needed to go to hospital.. All I remember of the incident is closing the garden gate at my uncles house, a vague recollection of a bright light and a voice saying I'd been in an accident. Hadn't a clue where I was when I woke up the next morning in Solihull hospital, where I stayed for the next week!

My bike was badly damaged and had a large kink in the crossbar but, on the upside, as my Mom worked at the CWS bike factory I got a new one. The accident happened where the hashed lines appear on the map in front of the clubhouse.

1567584278810.png
 
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jmadone said:
Sheldon Hall in 1919 as it appears in Sale catalogue.
View attachment 137090

There was an amendment regarding the staircase and panelling within the hall
View attachment 137091 View attachment 137092 View attachment 137093

In another thread "Fifield Farm" mention is made to Seymour Smith and his wife May Florence (Bartlett). My brother-in-law whose mother was May, says that she was living at Sheldon Hall as a young girl prior to marrying Seymour as her family farmed the land there.
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I wonder what happened to the staircase. In recent years, before it was turned into a restaurant, it was acquired by developers who went bust and after remaining empty for some time a lot of the interior was stripped by opportunists!
 
mbenne said:
I wonder what happened to the staircase. In recent years, before it was turned into a restaurant, it was acquired by developers who went bust and after remaining empty for some time a lot of the interior was stripped by opportunists!
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My sister in law recalls visiting her husband's family in the late 50s early 60s and seeing the staircase still intact. She said that on a subsequent visit, date not known, it had been removed.
 
mbenne said:
I do remember the club house. We used to get the path from Greenvale Avenue / Parkdale Road up to the station. In those days the club house was more like the picture below. There was also a pool nearby. Having only ever seen minnows and sticklebacks in the brook I couldn't believe it when I saw a very large carp wallowing near the pool edge. The pool was rather deep and at the top of a big hill?

I actually went inside the club house but have no recollection of doing so. One evening my friend and I cycled to Chelmsley to see my aunt and uncle who lived just off Berwicks lane. We returned early evening just at it was getting dark. For some unknown reason we deviated from the path at the station and descended the steep grass bank in front of the clubhouse. I must have hit something on the way down and apparently somersaulted onto my back, knocking myself unconscious. My friend went for help and I was carried to the clubhouse. Rather than call an ambulance my friend cycled home to tell my Mom and Dad who eventually decided I needed to go to hospital.. All I remember of the incident is closing the garden gate at my uncles house, a vague recollection of a bright light and a voice saying I'd been in an accident. Hadn't a clue where I was when I woke up the next morning in Solihull hospital, where I stayed for the next week!

My bike was badly damaged and had a large kink in the crossbar but, on the upside, as my Mom worked at the CWS bike factory I got a new one. The accident happened where the hashed lines appear on the map in front of the clubhouse.

View attachment 137133
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I used to live in Greenvale Avenue from the age of 3 until I married 1970.
 
Elmdon Boy said:
I seem to recall tales of a murder in the bluebell woods, Marston Green- Chemsley around late 50s or early 60s, seemed to remember it putting me off going there.
Am I correct, or is my imagination and memory playing up.
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Hi Elmdon boy, I lived in MG for 25 yrs from 1961 age 5 so swag all the changes through that time. Oddly I worked at a solicitors on Coleshill around 1976 and they had the murder file of a young woman from the 1960s. Was murdered just off Coleshill Heath Road.
I knew Griffins and Hettie’s by the station and the Cafe and Jo the barber etc.
 
Station Road - this parade of shops looks about 1930s to me, providing a butchers, newsagents and outfitters. Doubtless there was a bakers shop too. Viv.

8F84CF23-F40C-4BE9-B5D0-B59450D8E0BA.jpeg
 
Elmdon Boy said:
Thanks Lyn for highlighting this thread for me.
Lovely photos Gary, you were a very good photographer, impressively sharp.
Because I lived on the other side of the airport by the Wheatsheaf I tended to do my aircraft spotting from the Coventry road, the airport terminal and the public enclosure.
I never ventured over to Elmdon Lane side. Wish I had done now, would have seen the airport from a different perspective. I would have been further away from the aircraft though.
I do have memories of Marston Green station though as I tried train spotting before aircraft. I walked there through King Georges park from Sheldon, through the golf course, and up the hill to the station. I guess some of your photos are along that way.
I remember standing on the footbridge as the steam trains passed by underneath, with your head hanging over the side, making sure to keep your eyes firmly shut to prevent soot and clinkers entering. I'm sure our faces looked a mess. Great fun.
Distinctly remember the City of London roaring through whilst on the platform, going on to New Street know doubt. Looking south from the bridge was some sidings with a water tower for the steam engines wasn't there? This would have been around 1959-60.
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I lived in Leycroft Avenue, off Gressel Lane, so we used our bikes to go train spotting at Marston Green. We loved it and met lots of pals. We also met "fudgers" These were lads who underlined locomotives that would never have come through M. Green, and, of course, they were on their own when a special loco came through. No witnesses--funny! But great times. I left Central Grammar in Gressel Lane in 1963.Still got my loco-spotters books.
 
mariew said:
Carl do you remember the place down the road from the white hart I remember being terrified walking past because my friend used to say it was haunted, it's a pub now but at the time I think it was a house 30 odd years ago, it looked empty but my friend used to say there was an old man living in it, which frightened me even more, someone said it was called bauldies mansion.
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Yes I remember the old mansion, yes I too were terrified of this house, me & my friends we thought it was haunted. I lived in Mulwych Road in the 50s when the houses were being built and were new. Chelmsley Wood had not been built then. We used to play for hours in the wood and in May it was full of bluebells. There was a stream we used to cross be hanging a rope on a tree and swinging across it. I was 11 or 12 yrs old, now 83. I got married in Saint Peter’s church. I worked in the offices at the BSA. I remember the White Hart pub. The shops in Cook’s Lane. Happy carefree days.
 
welder said:
Mr Lawley-Harrard was Old Baldy, he frequently chased us off his land. He owned the little dell over the other side of Gressel Lane too. He used to chase us off there as well.
After he died a family called Bradley(?) lived there briefly. They had a carpet/furniture shop by Tesco in Castle Bromwich, which used to be the site of the Castle Cinema.....
As has been said, Sheldon Hall is now a Pub/Carvery. The food's quite good, I'm told, I've yet to try it.

Ian
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Hey Welder,did you live in Tile Cross? I lived at the farm opposite the White Hart for many years, up to 62. I knew of old Harrard but only saw him once or twice.He was a mystery man to us kids and we were all a bit scared of him.He lived at this(to us) spooky hall or mansion and nobody seemed to know much about him.I did know that he was often chasing kids off his property,but,fair do's,wouldn't we do the same if invaded by young herberts? It was however,an irresistible challenge to some of the kids and became a bit of a Tom and Jerry situation.Many memories.
Tojo.
 
mizzyjo said:
We saw Baldie!!! He was surveying his land with his rifle over his left arm!! We were peering through the hedge and when we saw him we nearly died! Story was, if he saw you, you were dead!!! We ran all the way home!!
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Glad I wasn't with you when you saw him--I think new pants would have been required !
I think he was only a little bloke but he sure was scary.
Tojo.
 
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