New unseen photos with no locations

[Phil]

Mike

Anything to narrow it down like other photos on the roll, did you get as far as Aston Church Rd, or could it be around Saltley, Windsor St or The Avenue or even in Adderley St in Bordesley. I can't think of any other gas works in Birmingham, Any chance of it being outside Birmingham at say Swan Village?

 

[Astonian]

Hi Phil what about Watson road viewing the other side
Watson road of Aston church rd and along the cut tow paths ( Canal paths) After all there was building further along
I recall the Divis building contractor from wrentham street of the bristol road moved down there as I worked for them
Division later became big player in the road engineering around brum after moving there Astonian,,,,

 

[oldMohawk]

I've had look on britainfromabove and there are plenty of gasholder views mainly 1930s but I haven't seen a roof like the one on that white house. In fact much of the housing near gas works seems mostly uniform terraces but the three buildings in the pic are all different. Could that building in the middle be a pub?

Gasholders near Saltley Viaduct.
They were there in 2003


They were demolished after 2003 and before 2005


Windsor St gasholders still there in 2014


Watson Rd gasholders still there in 2014


So none of these gasholders were demolished in the 1960s/1970s

 

[mikejee]

Phil
As I said, the later photos were of the area around Moseley st , cheapside area, and all the earler ones were of a wedding. and I certainly did not go taking photos after that- too much alcohol. I suppose it could be outside Birmingham, but I wou;d have thought that i would have taken more photos in that case. Another film does have some of Walsall, but that was a different time.

 

[oldMohawk]

The gasholder in the pic has two data Tx/Rx aerials on top and the horizontal ties look solid rather that the usual lattice ties on most gasholders. You notice things like that after looking at lots of gasholder pics ....

When I first saw the pic it seemed to have a 'semi rural look' about it and this set me thinking about towns such as Stratford, Warwick, Worcester and such, in the days before North Sea gas, did they have local gasworks ?

ps. Well Stratford did apparently https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrsa1537.htm

 

[devonjim]

I don't know where these two pictures were taken but to me the wall in the foreground of the pictures looks like a canal side structure, the house is lower than the photographer so Mike could you have been on a towpath of a raised stretch of canal? ie canal behind you.

 

[Phil]

Mike

Interestingly Alan mentions Watson Road, which if you remember is the area around Aston Church Rd that I thought was a possibility when we first looked at these photos. The other thing I cannot remember any gas storage containers being dismantled in Birmingham around the time you were taking photographs except possibly Adderley St in Bordesley. Moseley Street is not a million miles from Adderley St.

 

[Radiorails]

The wall, mentioned previously, I also believe to be canal related. The building with the unusual roof I feel is more likely to be a building with a design for a specific purpose - not sure what at this point - rather than a house.

Most towns, even small ones, had their own gas works, for instance Torquay, Paignton, Brixham, Totnes and Newton Abbot all had their own and most became a target of the Luftwaffe during WW2. None of those mentioned were damaged but surrounding buildings often were.

Another line of thought here would be railway lines. All gas works were supplied with coal for the gas manufacture and outgoing traffic would be coke and tar which were by products of the gas production. In Birmingham, coal and particularly tar would be cargoes of the canal narrow boats.

 

[Speedwing]

I thought perhaps our experts at searching Britain from Above might find the site

Solihull Gas works perhaps



Canal nearby NW/SE, thus half round blue bricks in foreground, house has old Band 1/2 TV aerial pointing north toward Sutton Coldfield, sun on south face of chimney

 

[oldMohawk]

Solihull Gas works perhaps

Looks a possibility, I suppose we will have to wait to see if Mike was ever in Solihull.

I decided to have a look at gasholders on 'britainfromabove' and typed 'Gas Works' into the search box and 1073 aerial views from all over Britain became available on my screen. Looked through them all and saw many very good images of gasholders in small towns around Birmingham but unfortunately not the gasholder and buildings in Mike's photo.

 

[Speedwing]

Looks a possibility, I suppose we will have to wait to see if Mike was ever in Solihull.

I decided to have a look at gasholders on 'britainfromabove' and typed 'Gas Works' into the search box and 1073 aerial views from all over Britain became available on my screen. Looked through them all and saw many very good images of gasholders in small towns around Birmingham but unfortunately not the gasholder and buildings in Mike's photo.

If this is the case, the following reference may help in dating:

Clipped from Ray Shill’s Workshop of the World: Birmingham’s Industrial Heritage

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...EwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Solihull Gas works&f=false

The Solihull Gas Works had been established by Solihull Gas Co. in 1869 and came to supply the local area.

They had absorbed Knowle and District Gas Co. in 1935, and during the mid-1950s had taken over the supply to Henley-in-Arden. The demands of supplying the nearby Shadow Aircraft Factory had resulted in complete reconstruction of the gas works with vertical retorts.

Solihull Gas Works were closed in 1962, the year before a new gas-making plant at Coleshill was commissioned.

 

[mikejee]

I'm pretty sure, as far as I remember, I never went to Solihull with a camera. All the photos would have been 1069 at the earliest

 

[oldMohawk]

After a few days I've revisited this thread. It appears that gasholders were not always sited at gasworks. They were sometimes used to balance supplies in case of a sudden local demand exceeding the capacity of mains supply pipes. Also the gas holder in Mike's pic in post#508 shows solid horizontal ties when almost all gasholder in many pics I have seen have lattice ties.

The gas holder in the the pics below has solid horizontal ties and was originally one of a pair reportedly built in 1900, but one gasholder has long been demolished. Unfortunately I cannot get closer in the first pic view. The second pic faintly shows ariels on top left side probably for remote control or reporting. There has been a lot of demolition around the site with modern warehouses and stores erected.



The big problem is the gas holder is not in Birmingham, it is in Crossgates, Leeds, Yorkshire, and can be seen from the northern ring road which I have driven along many times.

It was a nice theory while it lasted ... but at least I found a gasholder with solid horizontal ties !

 

[mikejee]

I guess we will have to give up on this one. It must be outside Birmingham somewhere. Actually, after I left Brum in 1973 i was in Leeds for 4 years, but that was definitely after these were taken.
The next on is probably in the jewellery quarter. It was on the roll immediately before oen showing the side of a building in Caroline St

 

[Vivienne14]

It's still there in Caroline Street Mike. Viv.

 

[Viewfinder]

Great research as always, Viv. Strange that in Mike's photo there were no steps up to the entrance.

 

[Phil]

Well done Vivienne,


Viewfinder. perhaps in the time that Mike took the photo it was mainly used as a loading bay, and the employees had to hop up that large step, but that would be frowned upon by todays Health & Safety Executive.

 

[Vivienne14]

It's #66 Caroline Street. There's now a reception desk behind the large entrance and there are offices above. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

View attachment 98970

It's still there in Caroline Street Mike. Viv.

well done you super snooper viv lol....great to see the building still there..being used and looking so much nicer than it it when mike took his photo

lyn

 

[mikejee]

Thanks Viv. Guess I just never believed it would still be there. The next one was probably taken the same day. Its on the same roll of film, but taken just after on of 67-69 Spencer St.

 

[oldMohawk]

It looks like it is Taylor & Hodgetts Diamond Mounters building Branston Street.

 

[Phil]

Just beat me to it Phil

 

[mikejee]

You've done it again !! Thank you.
The next one on the roll, immediately after that is the one below. There is an emblem on thw wall , which I have tried to enlarge and sharpen, in case it is familiar,

 

[mikejee]

Actually I've just answered my own question. Again, the building is still here, and has on the front "The Frank Carpathian Silver Co" at 52 Spencer st. Apparently I sort od turned 180 degrees from the last picture , and possibly moved a few feet

 

[mikejee]

And so another one. this is again in the jewellery quarter, taken between one of the railway bridge in Vyse St and the corner of Vittoria st and Warstone lane

 

[oldMohawk]

Looks a difficult one but as a first go I'm looking at this 1937 aerial view of Northampton St.

(1) Possibly a round metal extractor to the right of my number 1, there is one in Mike's pic.

(2) A flat roof building with a mock gable end - there appears to be a hint of this in Mike's pic.

(3) A house built right next to the flat roof building.

(4) An entry door similar to the one to the right of the front window in Mike's pic.

Half of today's Northampton St has disappeared under a large building and the building in Mike's pic might have been demolished.

If I am correct I have no idea what business was using the large building, maybe an old map would give information.

 

[mikejee]

I think you have solved it again. Now you suggest Northampton st I have the picture below (not taken by me) which fits well with your air view and my shot of B J Round & Sons. 7-10 Northampton St

 

[oldMohawk]

Not much left of Northampton Street as a look on Google Earth will show so it thanks to britainfromabove helping to find some of the locations in the thread. The general view shown in the link below.
https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw053098?search=warstone&ref=1

 

[Phil]

Mike,

It was next door to B J Round & Sons Electroplaters on Northampton Street, as has been said there is nothing there left that would identify your photo, but I think without a doubt that this photo is the building next door that you have just caught the edge of on the photo. By the way is this photo one of yours because it's unnamed in my collection and it has all the hallmarks of one of yours.



Sorry mike I got called away halfway through typing this when I returned I just finished typing and hit the post button only see it had already been solved.

 

[mikejee]

Done that myself on occasion Phil