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Perry Village

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
Perry Village is a place that's now absorbed into the general Perry Barr area. But only 100 years ago it would still have been a rural hamlet. According to this 1904 OS map Perry seems to have clustered along Church Road (although I did wonder if it's exact spread might have included Little Perry and Great Perry shown on the 1834 map at the end of this post).

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1904 OS map of Perry


St. John the Evangelist Church on Church Road would have been a key feature of the Village as would Perry Villa. The 1838 Villa, built from the stones of a former Roman camp, was once a rectory, but in later years was used as a residential nursery in the 1940s. After the nursery closed it was used as a Civil Defence training centre for dealing with unexplored bombs. It has since been demolished.


Perry Village also once had a police station, a Village Farm and a number of cottages. Images of the Village, the police station, Perry Villa and Ye Olde Oak Stores (corner of Church Road and Aldridge Road) are in the next post. Viv.
 

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Here are several images of Perry Village.The first is of Ye Old Oak Stores (still there on the corner of Church Road and Aldridge Road). The second is of Perry Villa. The third is of Perry Village police station. And below are two views of the Village, one a painting (unknown artist). Viv.
 

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thanks viv thats very interesting...i did not know that perry villa was built from roman stones but not surprising as the roman road from icknield st ran very close to perry village...strange to see soho hill on the same map as perry..its miles away from it yet on the map it looks very close..just goes to show how distance can look different on these old maps must study more when i have time...i go past st johns church quite often and the other day as i went past the bells were ringing..it was lovely to hear them.just noticed you have 2 threads for perry village let us know if you want the other one deleted viv..

lyn
 
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Morning Lyn. Don't know how I managed to duplicate the thread, but yes please, delete the other one!

Just read this about St. John's Church in Perry Village on Bill Dargue's History of Birmingham site: "The bells that now hang here were originally cast in 1776 as a ring of eight and hung in St John's Deritend. When that church was demolished in 1947 they were used as part of the casting of bells for the Bishop Latimer Church in Winson Green in 1958, and only rehung at Perry in 1972".


And here's a BHF link to St John's Church in Perry Village. https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=9348&page=3&highlight=St+Johns

viv.
 
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morning viv...deleted other thread...will take some pics of st johns church and post them

lyn
 
Wow, that's really interesting!

I was born in a house on the Walsall Road which would have been built on what I can see were fields then and I was christened at St Johns Church.
I think I can remember a corner stores and, I seem to recollect there were some old cottages in Church Lane? I've not been down there for years so I don't know what it's like now.
 
Me too, christened at St.John's in 1954. I still have my christening certificate from the Church. Church Road must still have pretty much been a village even until then.

On the 1904 map there's a .label ''post' at the junction of Church Rd and Aldridge Rd. Wonder if the Stores on the corner was also a Post Office at one time. Or would this label simply indicate a pillar box? On the first photo of post #2 you can see some weighing scales outside the Stores. Maybe these were postal related. Viv.
 
Slightly baffled about these cottages next to the Church Tavern on Church Road. Not sure where they are on the 1904 map. I can't seem to see them in relation to the Church Tavern. In fact I can't see the Church Tavern marked on the map. Any ideas when it was built? First two pics are of Church Tavern today, with cottages to the right. Second pic of Church Tavern c1900. I notice there's another cottage to the left of the Tavern in the top picture.

Is the entrance to the Tavern off Church Lane, not parallel to it? That would place it on the same orientation as the cottages next to the present day Tavern. Viv.
 

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Viv
Very often smaller pubs are not marked. Usually, though not always, it is because they have a beerhouse licence. It is shown as a P.H on the 1937 map, and this corresponds to the building marked with the same red arow on the 1904 map. They seem to be different shapes though, and it looks like they may be different buildings. church Lane Perry barr is not listed in the 1904 birmingham Kellys, presumably because it was outside the arae covered,so i do not know whether there was a pub there then.

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Thanks Mike. So the pub is pre-1904 and I wondered if was built in mock Tudor style to make it look much older. It was extended, in the 1930s. I've tried to place the cottages next door using the river. Do you think they're the green dot then? The red dots are the river and the blue dots the Church Tavern.Viv.
 

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viv the church tavern we see today is clearly not the original one.. well it does not look like it to me....i was using the pub in the early 70s and cant remember the front extention being there then...i will make some enquires at the pub when i go down there on saturday...they may even have some old photos dotted about the place..

lyn
 
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Yes Lyn it certainly seems so. I've been trying to work out if the building (whether it was pub/beer house/residential) was there in the 1830s. I think the 1830s map catches just this glimpse right at the edge. Or am I imagining it? But not sure about the cottages next door as I think the map falls short of that area. Whatever the answer, the cottages must still be a remnant of the old Perry Village. Viv.
 

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think you are right viv...looks like i will have to go knocking on cottages doors then to see if they know the age of them but am not climbing over walls lol..
 
Had a look at the 1895 map and I can see the cottages (red dot) and I think there's a building (blue dot) between the river and a lane/access road in front if the cottages. This looks like where the Church Tavern now stands. So a building of some sort has been there at least since 1895. Again on this map it's not marked as an PH or Inn (as is the Boar's Head further north). Viv.
 

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Lyn your mission this time is to avoid broken limbs, scrapes and grazes and to come back in one piece. Your alternative strategy sounds like a good one I.e. ask the locals! Viv.
 
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This photo from the St. John's Church website shows the Church with the 'old school rooms' to the right. Be interesting to find out if these buildings are still there. (Perhaps they're near Walsall Road?). It also points to the possibility that Perry had at one time a fair number of inhabitants if it had a school, albeit a small village school.

Also , the photo shows the Church still with its pinnacles. A pity they had to be removed. Viv.
 

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My Sister and I were also christened at St. John's, we lived from 1941 until 1970 at Dewsbury grove off Perry Avenue. Very interesting info many thanks.
 
Lyn your mission this time is to avoid broken limbs, scrapes and grazes and to come back in one piece. Your alternative strategy sounds like a good one I.e. ask the locals! Viv.

viv after the weekend before last i had in wales i shall be sending out scouts to sus out the info for me lol
 
I can't see the photo of St John's very well on my phone but I know there was a fairly modern church hall building to the right of it in the late 50s as I belonged to St John's Brownies and we used to meet in there.
 
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