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Passages, Alleyways Gulletts and Snickets of Old Brum

Dennis

Could this be the entrance to your elusive passageway on Suffolk Street, which I actually think they built the College over.
 

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Dennis

It comes from Shoothill and though there is no date with it I would think it entirely possible that it dates pre the Birmingham Municipal Technical School. Though it was the two metal bollards that drew my attention to it as I could not think of any other place in Suffolk St that that may have been used.
 
Dennis,

Here an interesting photo of a little alley that ran from Park Street to Shaw Passage that must have disappeared when work began on Moor Street Station in 1909. New Vale Court in all it's glory.
 

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The map shows New Vale Court. I suspect the picture is taken from underneath the railway

map_c_1889_showing_new_vale_court_park_st.jpg
 
Mike

Do you really think so, I think it makes more sense that it was taken from the Park Street access where the alley was wider. In fact the doorway where the children are sitting could be the large building in the opening of the alley as shown on your map.
 
I'm inclined to agree with Mike that the photo's taken from under the bridge. Firstly the photographer was in pretty deep shade. The wall/building to the left has little sunlight on it nearest the photographer. And building and road to the right fit the angle of that building and the road direction on the map - see above the 'u' in 'U.K.' on map. Viv.
 
But Vivienne if that were so all the left hand side of the photo would show would be the rivet works and not those hovels that it does.
 
Had another look Phil. Think you're probably right. There are about 6 or 7 dwellings on the left which fit the map view from Park Street. Just at the end of the road as it bears off to the left in the photo you can see a building/wall which wouldn't be visible if you were looking from Park Street. The deep shade is probably accounted for by tall buildings blocking out the light.

Love exploring these photos. You just get a glimpse of a pulley (?) system at the top of the building where the children are sitting. They're sitting on a very wide sill too, so it must be industrial. Viv.
 
Actually i agree with Phil, though for a rather embarrassing reason. I saved the photo and then looked at the saved photo (I thought). Unfortunately i looked at the wrong photo . as i have another of the court. I attach it so you can see what I mean. This one is, I think from under the bridge.

Bordesley_Park_St_New_Vale_Court_1910_28129.JPG
 
Good map showing New Vale Court, and I have no opinion as to where the photo could have been taken from - could even have been from the slight bend in the road! But I did like seeing Shut Lane on the map, Mike. Any chance of seeing a little bit further to the left of it? I've never seen it before and I do have connections with people living there in my family history. Would anyone have a photo of Shut Lane at all?

Judy
 
Much appreciated Mike, although my family connection with Shut Lane is around 1815 or so, i'ts good to see the position of the Lane near Moor Street. I always thought it was just a small alley but it appears longer.

Judy
 
Jayel

Another photo of Shut Lane by Michael Westley on Geograph UK.
 

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Thanks for taking the trouble to look for a photo Phil. I wonder what it looked like a couple of hundred years earlier? Still pretty dismal I would think.

Judy
 
Thanks Speedwing. Shut Lane looks like something out of a Dickens' novel in that shot. I doesn't look as though it would have been an inviting place to live at any time.

Judy
 
I think I must have walked down Shut Lane at some time in my youth exploring the railway stations of Birmingham. The Snow Hill line on the left where you see a steam train. Moor Street Station on the right. Now all part of the extended station to take in the platforms on .the Snow Hill lines.
 
Astoness said:
cracking photo speedwing.....is that a steam train i can see heading towards??

lyn
Click to expand...

Yes Lyn, according to the caption a Hall class

For those with a memory the building on the immediate right of Shaw's Passage was the Moor Street Warehouse where as a toddler I would spend a happy hour stood on a stool peeking out an upstairs back window looking down on the trains heading for and emerging from the Snow Hill tunnel whilst my mum would buy haberdashery type stuff. Circa 1947-9

Shut_Lane_2.jpg

Another of Colin Walker's views of Shut Lane running alongside the Warehouse and the Snow Hill line

Shut_Lane_GWR_drawing.jpg

Clipped from an old GWR station plan Circa 1918

The Passage was still extant up until about fifteen years ago when it was swallowed up by the pedestrian access to the Snow Hill line platforms and the glass box adjacent to the original Station frontage.

There was a plan during Chiltern's station modernisation to move the old early 20th C Goods office frontage from the Selfridge's side of the site and re-erect it on the Warehouse site so as to visually "balance" the frontage. The plans indicated it as a wine bar.

The plan was scuppered due to concerns about overloading the tunnel crown beneath thus today's lightweight glass box of no real purpose.
 
Interesting to see the 1785 map Dennis. The family members that I have found lived there around 1800, and yes, I do wonder what it was like then!

Judy
 
Hi all.
I remember working on Moor Street Warehouse from about 1956 to the early 1960s and then the huge horses that used to pull the railway delivery carts would travel up Shut Lane morning and evening with showers of sparks off their hoofs as they tried to get a grip on the wet cobble stones that went from top to bottom, when working off scaffolds in the lane the old type steam trains used to cover us in black smoke and leave us coughing and spluttering, you can get an idea of the set up from photo 1195.
Regards Acklam 19.
 
Here is the fire insurance plan of 1889 - very similar to the c 1889 OS map, which is not surprising

Shut_lane__fire_insurance_plan_1889.jpg
 
Those insurance maps are great Mike. Lots of little details such as the urinal at the bottom of Shut Lane and 'Brick Wall' running alongside the Lane. I notice the use of different abbreviations such as LMTD for Limited instead of the usual Ltd. and ASSCE for what I assume is Assurance. Wonder what "None" means? No access maybe, or no water or non-flammable, given it's an insurance map. Viv
 
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