Passages, Alleyways Gulletts and Snickets of Old Brum

[Dennis Williams]

Another new find of an old chestnut....and a revived story....Anyone feeling a bit grubby? Well the Shoothill Hoard contained this marvelous old photo of the Gateway to Ladywell Baths in Ladywell Walk…and I was reminded of conversations regarding same some four of five years ago with Aidan and Peter on the BHF Forum....

OUR LADY'S WELL

O GLADLY men go on Our Lady's Day,
Through Our Lady's wood to Our Lady's well.
Her shrine is decked with trophies. Way
For the cripple's crutch and the blind man's bell.
The blind, the lame, and the sick, they tread
The path of the wood, nor ask for alms ;
The eager cripple, the blind man led,
Singing Our Lady's praise and psalms.

Who bows at Our Lady's shrine the morn,
And drinks of Our Lady's well ; for him,
The healing hand and the joy newborn.
Gladness and wholeness of life and limb.
O priests, who stand at Our Lady's shrine,
And pray at Her well ; men bring me these -
Hearts that leap at the name divine.
And stricken bodies and bended knees,

The lame, the blind, and the sick, they kneel
At Our Lady's well, and drink and call
On Our Lady's name, that shall haply heal,
And lo ! Her hand hath mended them all.
They throw their crutches ; they freely roam ;
They see, are whole. There are trophiesnew
At Our Lady's shrine, and they haste them home.
And lo ! the wood is a-blossom through.

by Brummie bard Ernest Marston Rudland ... who apparently came into this vale of tears in 1875 ... ... here is an extended edition of Ballads of Old Birmingham


Note —Mention is made in a document dated 1347 of a dwelling in Egebaston Strete leading towards "God well field," and there can be no doubt that this alluded to the Lady Well, possessed of wonderful healing virtues, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and close to the Priest's House, afterwards called the Rectory or Parsonage of St. Martin. The overflow from the well helped to sustain the moat round the Parsonage, and joined by other waters from the neighbourhood of Holloway Plead and the hill above Pinfold Street, passed into the Manor House moat. The Lady Well Baths were historically famous. Hutton says they were the finest in the kingdom. The Holy Well of the Blessed Virgin, towards which mediaeval pilgrims wended their way through the Hurst and Lady Wood, still exists, covered over, its miraculous waters turned into the drains, Lady Well Walk being the only reminder left to us of the name. Exhibit 'A' M'lud...

 

[Dennis Williams]

Of course there were quite a few follow up posts from mike and Shortie and others...some of which are reprised here....and some old pics for any newcomers to this site....

From the directories, and West’s Warwickshire
1815 Brunner Paul, brush maker, and keeper of Lady Well Baths
1818 Brunner Paul, brush maker, and keeper of the hot, cold pleasure, and" (shower baths, Lady Well
1823 Monro and Co. fumigating and vapour baths, together with hot, cold, shower, and pleasure baths, Lady well-walk
1833 and 1833 Monro George, proprietor of Lady-well Baths, Lady-well walk.

Also listed as Birmingham Baths
1839 Munroe, George, Ladywell Baths
1841-49 Monroe. Prop.of Ladywell Baths


West’s Warwickshire directory states:
Of BATHS, &c. Mr. Hutton, our best informant, says,

"At Lady-Well, so called from the Virgin Mary, are the most complete baths in the whole island; they are seven in number, erected at the expense of £2000. Accommodation is ever ready for hot or cold bathing; for immersion or amusement, with conveniency for sweating. The bath appropriated to swimming, is 18 yards by 30, situated in the centre of a garden, in which there are twenty-four private undressing houses ; the whole surrounded by a wall 10 feet high.

And later:
While on the spot, we cannot omit giving a description of the present state of Lady-well, and the important improvements that have been connected with that never failing source of purity. Strangers can have no idea of the advantages which Birmingham possesses with regard to its Baths, and we really believe that thousands of its inhabitants, that have arrived at the meridian of life, are not acquainted with their arrangement and extent. In Mr. Hutton's day, they were seven in number, and cost nearly £2000. There are now ten, the additions of the new, and the improvements of the old. Baths have, since they came into the possession of Mr. Monro, cost upwards of £2000 in addition. They are upon an extensive plan of comfort and accommodation, and bountifully supplied with the purest water.

The 1st. or Ladies Bath, laid with marble,has an excellent dressing room adjoining it, and over the fountain the following lines are inscribed :—

" O'er this cool stream the goddess health presides.
And through the silent wave perpetual glides ;
Plunge then, ye fair, with fortitude descend.
The indulgent goddess will her influence lend :
By her kind aid the faded cheek resumes
The rouge celestial, and with beauty blooms;
Seize then her offer, try the lucid spring.
And, with returning health, its virtues sing."
O V E R T H E S E A T .
"The sparkling eyes grow languid,—faintly gleam.
When baneful sickness shakes the tender stream :
Bath'd in the flood transparent, health returns,—
The eye re-sparkles and the bosom burns.
With ncw-rais'd vigour: briskly through the veins
The blood meanders,—and the fair complains
No more of pulse too rapid, or too slow.
Of aching head, weak nerves, or spirits low ;
But, all alive, the animated form
Beams forth fresh charms, the coldest heart to warm."

The 2nd. or Gentlemen's Cold Bath, is neatly fitted up, with dressing room, &c. for Non-subscribers.

Tbe 3rd. is also a Cold Bath for Gentlemen, and is upon a good scale, being fifteen feet and a half square, and nearly four feet and a half deep, receiving a supply, from an abundant spring within itself, of twelve hogsheads per hour. It has private boxes fronting the water, and a convenient dressing room.. The following' appropriate lines appear under a good painting opposite the boxes :—

" Whoe'er thou art, approach'. has med'cine fail'd ?
Have balns aud herbs assay'd their powers in vain ?
Nor the free air, nor fostering sun prevail'd.
To raise thy drooping strength, or sooth thy pain ?
" Yet enter here, nor doubt to trust thy frame.
To the cold bosom of this lucid lake;
Here health may greet thee, and life's languid flame.
E'en from its icy grasp, new fire may take.
" What soft Ansonia's genial shores deny,
Zembia may give; then boldly trust the wave !
, So shall thy grateful tablet hang on high.
And frequent votaries bless this healing cave.
" Is rosy health the subject of thy boast?
Thy wish that active strength may long endure ?
Lest active strength and rosy health be lost.
Plunge in this limpid tide—thy bliss secure."

The 4th or large Swimming Bath is upwards of one hundred feet long and fifty feet wide; the gradual depth from three to five feet. This delightful bath, which is supplied with about one thousand hogsheads of water per hour from Lady-well and the surrounding springs, is in the centre of a neatly-laid out garden, well planted with high trees, and enclosed with high walls, and is, perhaps, unequalled in any inland town in tbe kingdom.—The platform, flights of steps, and conveniencies for bathing and dressing are well constructed.

The 5th or Temperate Bath, by an equal mixture of hot and cold water, produces in two or three minutes a bath of 82 degrees by Fahrenheit—being about the heat of Buxton.
The 6th or Hot Bath is made of fine veined marble, and is supplied from a large furnace with hot, and from a reservoir adjoining with cold, water. The heat is increased or decreased at pleasure, in a few minutes, to the temperature of Bath, Bristol, Buxton, Matlock, &c. The following lines, from Thomson, are inscribed upon a tablet, surmounted by a stone vase, fronting the dressing boxes :—

" When sun's enlivening genial warmth diffuse.
Cheerful to this salubrious stream repair ;
And through the waves, at each short breath repel,
As humour leads, an easy winding path.
This is the purest exercise of Health,
The kind refresher of the summer's heats;
Thus life redoubles, and is oft preserv'd
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs
Knit into force; and the same Roman arm
That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth.
First learn'd, while tender, to subdue the wave.
Even from the body's purity, the MIND
Receives a secret sympathetic aid."

This bath has been considered by the faculty as a great acquisition to the town of Birmingham. The Ladies' cold baths and dressingrooms are in a distinct building. There is also a distinct bath for the Jews, conducted upon the plan laid down by the High Priest, and the shower baths throughout the establishment are regulated upon
a new and improved principle. The dwelling house of the proprietorhas been newly erected, and fitted up in a handsome style; it extends upwards of sixty feet from east to west, and the whole establishment is not only highly creditable to tbe proprietor, but invaluable to the town of Birmingham.

The other Baths consist of the artificial waters of Harrowgate, Leamington, and Cheltenham; also sulphurous, aromatic, and topical fumigating or vapour Baths; these are upon an admirable and improved construction for invalids, the water being brought to a level with the dressing and bed-rooms. Invalids can also be accommodated with apartments.

However it looks as if other trades were on occasion at the baths. In 1830 there is listed;
Blundell Joseph, dyer, Lady Well Baths.


View attachment 94412View attachment 94414View attachment 94415View attachment 94416

 

[paul stacey]

I found this profoundly interesting, and have now downloaded the book to read at my leisure, thanks Dennis. Paul

 

[Dennis Williams]

I found this profoundly interesting, and have now downloaded the book to read at my leisure, thanks Dennis. Paul

You made my day Paul...it's what you always hope...that trawling through documents and books and websites to find something that demands your attention, is appreciated by at least one other...it somehow lightens the load and makes the hard work seem a little bit more worthwhile...it's what makes this Forum so interesting to me anyway...thanks again....

 

[Charlie]

You made my day Paul...it's what you always hope...that trawling through documents and books and websites to find something that demands your attention, is appreciated by at least one other...it somehow lightens the load and makes the hard work seem a little bit more worthwhile...it's what makes this Forum so interesting to me anyway...thanks again....

I reckon it's appreciated by a lot of folk on here Dennis.
I always find your posts informative and interesting, as do many others I'm sure.
Many, many thanks for all the research and hard work!

 

[Dennis Williams]

Why thanks Charlie...most appreciated.

And this is a cracker photo of the Unitarian Meeting House, in Old Meeting Street ..or what was left of it.....eventually succumbing to the Bus Depot next to Dudley Street....fascinating history of these various religious chapels (especially the Cannon Street one) and meeting houses in Brum's old historic fabric....which me and Wendy have alluded to a couple of times on here! Sorry for that !

I've included the street map of 1889, and an old page from Thornton's Lost Buildings of Birmingham......and some Links

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...1892&page=2&highlight=Unitarian+Meeting+House

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...&highlight=Unitarian Meeting House#post462689

https://www.meargreen.co.uk/Priestleycentenary/page10.htm

It was quite an old Street, shown here on Bradford's Map of 1750 (the other thing marked on there is the old Eagle and Ball Pub in Colmore Street)...well before New Street Station largely replaced that area in the mid 1800s...

 

[Dennis Williams]

Little side Street off Gt Lister Street in Nechells...the only photo I've seen of a bungalow from that old period...BULLOCK STREET...front and back....do you think they were circus folk from the stuff out back?

 

[Dennis Williams]

Then.... Now.... BJ and William Morris

Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born at 11 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, on August 28 1833. Within days his mother, Elizabeth, died and the child was raised by his father, also Edward, a gilder and frame maker. While birth certificates were not introduced until three years later, a record of his baptism at St Philip's Church (now Birmingham Cathedral) on 1 January 1834 is stored in the Birmingham Archives and Heritage Service. He later designed the magnificent stained glass windows for St Philip's.

Burne-Jones spent the first 20 years of his life in Birmingham, then a grimy industrial town. His earliest memories are said to have been of the city's celebrations for Queen Victoria's coronation.

At the age of 11, the young Edward Burne-Jones was admitted to King Edward VI School, then situated in New Street. Demolished in 1936, the building was designed by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin, the architects responsible for the Houses of Parliament.
According to King Edward's School's archives, Burne-Jones was regularly at the top of his class and won many prizes, particularly for mathematics. He also showed a talent for drawing - including caricatures of his teachers. Some years ago, the school's archivists discovered a series of small portraits and caricatures of masters and pupils which many believe to be the work of the young Burne-Jones, although experts have failed to reach a firm conclusion.
King Edward's School chapel; moved from the New Street school where it was the Upper Corridor.

In 1853, he went up to Exeter College, Oxford, and it was here he met William Morris. At that time, both men intended to go into the Church but, after a tour of northern France in 1855, Burne-Jones decided to become a painter and Morris to train as an architect. Both left Oxford without graduating. From November 1856 he and Morris shared rooms in London at 17 Red Lion Square, which previously had been occupied by Rossetti and Walter Deverell. Known to early friends simply as Jones, he adopted the name of Burne-Jones at about this time.


Apart from a few informal lessons from Rossetti, whom he met in 1856, Burne-Jones was largely self-taught, his early work consisting of pen and ink drawings and watercolours - all of romantic or literary subjects. He took part in the Oxford Union mural campaign in 1857, joined the Hogarth Club in 1858, and in the following year made the first of four lengthy trips to Italy. In 1860 Burne-Jones married Georgiana Macdonald, the sister of an old school friend. Their first home was at Great Russell Street, in rooms vacated by Henry Wallis, and they were regular guests of William and Jane Morris at Red House, which Burne-Jones helped to decorate. He designed stained glass for several manufacturers before becoming the principal designer for Morris' firm, especially after its reconstitution in 1875.

Enjoying the patronage of John Ruskin, who accompanied him and Georgiana on a second trip to Italy in 1862, Burne-Jones began to develop a personal style in which elements of Rossettian Pre-Raphaelitism were fused with the influence of classical art and Old Master painting. The discipline of drawing, preferably from the live model, was central to his art, and became a daily practice after he settled in The Grange, Fulham, in 1867. He had been elected an Associate of the Old Water Colour Society in 1864 - The Merciful Knight was one of his first exhibits - but he resigned in 1870 after criticism of Phyllis and Demopho, with its large nude male and female figures. In the same year he narrowly survived the scandal of an affair with one of his models, Maria Zambaco.

Concentrating increasingly on oil painting, Burne-Jones was a major contributor to the first exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877, at which he achieved sensational popular acclaim. This was echoed in France with works shown at the Exposition Universelle in 1878. An appearance later that year as a witness for Ruskin in the notorious libel case with James McNeill Whistler was a less happy event.

His later work included many large oils, such as The Golden Stairs (1880) and King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid (1884) both in the Tate Gallery, London and several series of paintings, notably Pygmalion and the Image, Perseus (1875-1885) and The Briar Rose. In bringing these works to fruition, he was greatly aided from 1869 by his studio assistant Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842-1942).

Burne-Jones habitually reused preparatory drawings and designs for projects in different media, from decorated tiles and pianos to jewellery and theatrical costume, many of which are in Birmingham's collection. Two final collaborations with Morris led to outstanding designs for tapestries, dating from the late 1880s - the finest being the Holy Grail series now in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where they are exhibited occasionally - and a plethora of illustrations for the Kelmscott Press, whose greatest achievement was the folio Chaucer of 1896. Reluctantly, Burne-Jones accepted an Associateship of the Royal Academy in 1885, but exhibited only once and resigned in 1893. In 1894, Prime Minister Gladstone offered him a baronetcy.

Sir Edward Burne-Jones died in Fulham on 16 June 1898 and was buried in the churchyard at Rottingdean, Sussex, where he had a country home.

 

[Phil]

Little side Street off Gt Lister Street in Nechells...the only photo I've seen of a bungalow from that old period...BULLOCK STREET...front and back....do you think they were circus folk from the stuff out back?

View attachment 94445 View attachment 94446

Dennis

24 Bullock St as shown was thought to be a converted railway carriage and the land at the back was used as gypsy encampment back when they had the traditional horse drawn caravans.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Dennis

24 Bullock St as shown was thought to be a converted railway carriage and the land at the back was used as gypsy encampment back when they had the traditional horse drawn caravans.

Cheers Maestro...knew you would know summat..!

...and whilst I am here...remember a time ago when we discussed Castle Street and the Golden Elephant Pub at length on here?....well another pic turned up on Shoothill...a cracker I think...




...and a few reminders...

 

[mikejee]

The first photo , on enlargement, seems to show Charles Caswell, hairdresser (from 1912 Kellys). Then on the opposite side of the junction the pub was called the Lord Henry, not the Aquarium

 

[Dennis Williams]

The first photo , on enlargement, seems to show Charles Caswell, hairdresser (from 1912 Kellys). Then on the opposite side of the junction the pub was called the Lord Henry, not the Aquarium

OK mike. I'm not going to argue with you!!... even though Mckenna might...page 66, Central Birmingham Pubs Book, mentions an Aquarium in Moor Street "run by Jabez White, a well known bare-knuckle fighter, it closed in 1924...and specialised in Sea Food as well as ale...").

And what was the name of the pub (I think you can see "Ales" just out of shot on the left) in the 'new' corner of Castle Street pic...it would be in Moor Street too..? I bet Phil has a photo of that AND the Lord Henry? yumyum if he or anyone has....?

 

[Dennis Williams]

This "pub" is not shown on the 1889 map....am I wrong again?


View attachment 94460

 

[Dennis Williams]

These three lovely shots of these buildings in THE CRESCENT were also in Shoothill collection....and had a lot of resonance with my old Alma Mater, the Women's Hospital...



In 1868 and 1869 Mr Ross Jordan and three friends - Drs George Jones, James Neale, and the delightfully named Lumbley Earle – became convinced of the necessity for a hospital to be entirely devoted to the alleviation of conditions and ailments peculiar to women. The effort was at first unsuccessful but undaunted, Mr Ross Jordan successfully enlisted the interest of Mr Arthur Chamberlain, who undertook the duties of Honorable Secretary. With the aid and support of a number of his friends, among others being Mr Joseph Chamberlain (naturally), Dr Heslop, George Dawson (of course), Arthur Ryland, Charles Vince, Dr Samuel Berry, and Joseph Nettlefold (inevitably) in 1871 the Birmingham and Midland Hospital for Women became an accomplished fact.

No 8, The Crescent, a large House near the municipal centre of Birmingham, was bought and adapted to accommodate out-patients, and an in-patient department of eight beds. It was next door to the recently opened Training School for Nurses. In the following year, No 7 The Crescent was also bought and in 1876, three small wards were built in the garden at the rear...and after that it transferred in bits and bobs to Upper Priory, Showell Green Lane, and finally the QE Site, when it joined with the Maternity Hospital in Edgbaston....



Great find for me......

 

[Dennis Williams]

...and as an addition to the above....the Toll House in the Crescent...what? Never heard of that either...! Magical shot...

 

[mikejee]

Dennis
I wasn't intending to imply the pub had not been called the Aquarium. Just that in 1912 it was listed as the Lord Henry. In earlier times in the 1880s and 1890s it seems to have been described as a "refreshment house" with various owners, and in 1921 & 1924 as a beer retailer. Seems to have had quite a few owners. The place next to the hairdresser does, I agree, say "ales", but I think it was a grocer which was licensed to sell alcohol. In 1924, 1921 and 1912 it was listed as a provision merchant. This would be different to a "beer retailer" , which could be an off licence, which also sold cigarettes. sweets etc, or a beerhouse. A provision merchant would have beer, wine etc as only a small part of its sales.

 

[Astoness]

dennis that shoothill collection site is great..ive saved a load of photos from it but they are are saving in the PNG format and wont post on here..need to change them to jpeg as i would like to post a few on the brum courtyards thread..will ask my son to show me what to do...

lyn

 

[Dennis Williams]

Dennis
I wasn't intending to imply the pub had not been called the Aquarium. Just that in 1912 it was listed as the Lord Henry. In earlier times in the 1880s and 1890s it seems to have been described as a "refreshment house" with various owners, and in 1921 & 1924 as a beer retailer. Seems to have had quite a few owners. The place next to the hairdresser does, I agree, say "ales", but I think it was a grocer which was licensed to sell alcohol. In 1924, 1921 and 1912 it was listed as a provision merchant. This would be different to a "beer retailer" , which could be an off licence, which also sold cigarettes. sweets etc, or a beerhouse. A provision merchant would have beer, wine etc as only a small part of its sales.

Quod erat demonstrandum...thanks for clearing that up, although I misunderstood and never doubted you! Sounds perfectly reasonable...cheers again mike...

 

[paul stacey]

#1088, I like the converted 1860's train carriage Dennis, and is that an early travellers site.Paul

 

[Dennis Williams]

dennis that shoothill collection site is great..ive saved a load of photos from it but they are are saving in the PNG format and wont post on here..need to change them to jpeg as i would like to post a few on the brum courtyards thread..will ask my son to show me what to do...

lyn

On Apples...you duplicate it, then save this as a jpeg file...I have to do that too, as all my steals are saved as tiff files.....it's a royal pain in the ass...but worth it! Good luck Lyn...look forward to your input, as per..there are lots of new shots of our shared end of the century backstreet family dwellings in the New Town Row, Blews Street, Manchester Street, and Brewery Street rectangle!!! Go girl!

 

[Dennis Williams]

#1088, I like the converted 1860's train carriage Dennis, and is that an early travellers site.Paul

Seems like it Paul, according to Phil, and he's almost never wrong..!!

 

[Phil]

Dennis

The Aquarium was on the corner of Carrs Lane, the site later taken by The Corner Public House (see photo) your photo is of the bottom of Castle St looking toward the Bull Ring at the time of the photo there was no pub there but some good few years later there was The Great Western I believe. In the photo of The Corner the site of your photo would have ben down by the hoardings & bus stop. I don't have a photo of the Aquarium but I have a drawing of the interior.

 

[mikejee]

Phil
In your picture of The Corner, just past the hoarding is the single story bit that had "Ales" on, and the white building behind it is the same as on the earlier photo also

Dennis
The little toll house, or whatever it is,must be the small unnamed building in red on the map below. I reckon it was a gatehouse to the wcanal wharves, which were down to the right of it

 

[Dennis Williams]

Thanks lads...most useful and informative...now another puzzler...this was from Shoothill and captioned Great Queen Street and Old Meeting Street junction.....now I really enlarged the Street sign on the Ash and Newbold Wall there, and it does look like Great Queen Street....but I thought this was a real oldie thorougfare, and disappeared well before photography of this quality...and as far as I can see on old maps...these two never met! HELP mike!!!

 

[Dennis Williams]

Wow...I just found this in my collection....it shows an 1852 painting of Great Queen Street...and the very Ash and Newbold corner in the photograph! And the street going in the distance seems to be Station Street?

 

[Phil]

Dennis

I don't think Old Meeting St ever met with Great Queen St either, I think at that end of the street it would have met with Worcester Street as did Queens Drive later. A photo would be entirely possible as the half of New Street Station that would have seen the demolition of the Ash& Newbold corner opened in 1885 there are loads of photos around from the 1880's. As seen in this map c1850 before the completion of the second half of New Street Station Old Meeting St can be seen running from Worcester St to Dudley St.

 

[Dennis Williams]

So Old Meeting Street is the opening down the on the right of Worcester Street on the 'new' Photo...?

 

[Phil]

Dennis

If you compare this map with the other one you will see that when the second half of the station was built and they formed Station Street the top right angle length of Old Meeting Street was lost and they were left with the part that had the Old Meeting House only. This photo looks as it might have been taken about the same time as your Ash & Newbold photo.

 

[Dennis Williams]

Superb Phil...cheers for that ...I'm sure you are right....

 

[Dennis Williams]

A couple of years ago. we featured the fascinating COURT HOUSE YARD in High Street....where the Pallasades Shopping Mall is now....and a new pic just surfaced of Pearsall's Silversmith's shopfront, and you can see the rear Court Yard down the alley quite nicely....and what a gruesome history...first propounded by Jenni Dixon on her blog, and reproduced in 2012....here....

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...=45&p=461866&highlight=Court House#post461866

Here is the 'new' photo (to me)....