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Queslett Road Great Barr

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G

gensec

knowlegable brummie
I have received a letter from a lady in New Zealand enclosing the attached picture. It is not very good as it is a photocopy. She would like to know if I can identify where the photo was taken!! She assumes because the name on the side of the house was Queslett it was taken in Queslett Road, Great Barr. Her grandfather James Q. Richards lived at 81 Queslett Road 1938-1949 and then 20 Mildenhall Road Birmingham between 1950-1960. She thinks the lady is one Molly Minchin and the picture was taken sometime in the 1960s.

I moved to near the Scott Arms in the late '60s and can remember that there were some cottages on the right hand side of Queslett Road near Scott Arms. Whether it is one of these I don't know, although to me it looks like a new building which makes me wonder if it is some flats or something like that. Anyway, any help that anybody can give would be appreciated.File0001.jpg
 
The bricks to the right of the doorway look old, but those to the left look newer.Therefore that suggests to me an extended building. But sorry, afraid I have no idea where this is. Viv
 
The bricks are different true but both in what looks like 'English Bond' which means the walls pre-date cavity walls.
 
Hi Gensec: I had a look on the Google earth streetviews for both those addresses that you mention and they are both
semi detached houses that even with the extended porches, changed windows, etc. look nothing like the photo. As Viv says there are some old bricks
in the photo as well as newer ones and also there is some writing on the pillar in the front which is unreadable. It might be the cottages.
 
I have a feeling this is a side entrance to a larger house, possibly converted into flats and maybe this is a main entrance for one of the flats. It looks like there was once two pillars, but I suspect the brickwork to the left might have been altered or added to make larger accommodation. As Jennyann has suggested I can just about make out "PEN........." (may even be PENCA..... but not sure) on the top of the pillar Viv.
 
Does the writing start with Pine....... or maybe Pent.....?
 
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Hi Bernie: It looks like Pine but then it could be pent. It's hard to tell even with magnification as it looks as though
it's an old pillar and the writing has eroded. I think you may be right Viv about it being the entrance to an older property. If all else fails there is this site and the chap who runs it might be able to help. His contact details are at the bottom of the site on the left hand side, "About this site". https://www.b43.co.uk/cms/


 
I have to agree with jennyann, I don't think its on the Queslett Road, unless it was prior to the road becoming a dual carriageway, ?...
 
Yes the sign on The wall could well refer to the building rather than the road.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2
 
There are some old cottage type buildings behind the lorry in the picture below but I can't see a wall in front of them.
queslett_beacon.jpg

I've since become aware that this is not the Queslett Rd ... :rolleyes:
 
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My grandparents lived at 38 Queslet Road in the 40's to 60's there were many different types of houses. My grandparents house was like the ones on the left in oldMohawks picture. After my grandfather died my grandmother moved to Waddington Avenue. It was a shame, the house was next to a garage and even though it was a semi, it was only my Gran's house that was knocked down. It looked very strange the house adjoining looked like it had been cut in half.
 
number 81 would have been and still is on your right hand side as you look from the the Scott Arms....you had to cross Hamble Road....looking at the photo I would say where the photographer was standing would have been almost opposite number 81......That is if the photo is looking at the Scott's..... comparing a google view and the photo, the left side (looking at the photo) hasn't really changed a great deal, ....
 
The photo in #10 is looking at the Scott Arms - the unmistakable shape of the Beacon Cinema can be seen beyond the cottages. There are some photos of the Beacon Cinema in various threads.
 
Wendy said:
My grandparents lived at 38 Queslet Road in the 40's to 60's there were many different types of houses. My grandparents house was like the ones on the left in oldMohawks picture. After my grandfather died my grandmother moved to Waddington Avenue. It was a shame, the house was next to a garage and even though it was a semi, it was only my Gran's house that was knocked down. It looked very strange the house adjoining looked like it had been cut in half.
Click to expand...

I remember the house Wendy next to Sundial Garage which was on the corner of Sundial Lane.Dek
 
Thanks to everybody who took the time to look at the picture. When I moved to Great Barr in the late 60s Queslett Road was already a dual carriageway, and there were very few 'older' type houses left. I will contact the lady and tell her I have exhausted all enquiries via a very knowledgeable group of people and can't really help unless she has any other information.
 
I hope she has some more snippets of info. It is a little confusing as the sign just says "Queslett" no road or number. Keep digging any bit of info can sometimes throw new light on a query.

Yes Dec that was the house a shame really. I wonder if the garage offered my gran a good price for it as she was a widow when she sold it.
 
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I,ve Studied Oldmohawks photo #10 I,m not sure this is Queslett Rd I think it could be the Walsall Rd looking towards Walsall.Dek
 
dek carr said:
I,ve Studied Oldmohawks photo #10 I,m not sure this is Queslett Rd I think it could be the Walsall Rd looking towards Walsall.Dek
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Hi Dek - I tend to agree with you.
After looking at the position of the tower on the Beacon Cinema in the right hand photo and when I zoom in on the road photo I can see an old style 'keep left' which possibly was for Jayshaw Avenue. I will carry on looking at the houses on the left comparing them with recent views.
Beacon Cinema tower position from this Walsall Rd view looks the same as in the other photo
beaconcinema.jpg

Beacon Cinema tower shows same position and the step in the roof level seems to be the same as in the Walsall Rd view.
queslett_beacon.jpg
[/TD]
 
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Trying to picture driving up both roads, as you approach the Scott's on the Queslett there is a slight line to the right, and on the Walsall road the line goes to the left, so looking at the photo again, it looks more like Walsall Road, than the Queslett, the houses all look alike on both roads....just looking for Hampstead Road ....not knowing either road before they were dual carriageways I am at a lost to say which one this is, but if push come to shove, I think I would now plum for Walsall Road......
 
I agree it does look like Walsall Road my gt uncle Thomas Smith lived in Jayshaw Avenue. The shops would have been further down on the right.
 
The houses on the left of the old photo seem to have a resemblence to the houses I see on Google streetview, they appear on the curve towards the Old Walsall Road.
The photographer was probably standing opposite the junction with Old Walsall Road.
 
Looking at the photo again i,m guessing the photo is early 30s on the left in the distance there appears to be a bus type vehicle I very much doubt any public transport used the Queslett Rd then as it would I think have been mostly rural.Dek
 
Yes dek, I know , but for some reason I have always called it Hampstead Road...not important unless someone asks for directions from me....
 
Walsall Road for sure !!

oldMohawk said:
Hi Dek - I tend to agree with you.
After looking at the position of the tower on the Beacon Cinema in the right hand photo and when I zoom in on the road photo I can see an old style 'keep left' which possibly was for Jayshaw Avenue. I will carry on looking at the houses on the left comparing them with recent views.
oldmohawk
Beacon Cinema tower position from this Walsall Rd view looks the same as in the other photo
beaconcinema.jpg
Beacon Cinema tower shows same position and the step in the roof level seems to be the same as in the Walsall Rd view.
queslett_beacon.jpg
Click to expand...

Hi I lived in Scott Road from 1945-1966 and I am firmly of the opinion that this is Walsall Road--The "posh" houses on the right are just past Jayshaw Ave
then you can see the shops on the left in the distance --Queslett Road then runs away to the left before "The Beacon" with its fish shop up the stairs !!!!--in the 60's when I first when to work the Queslett Road was no more than a country lane without a pavement just a grass verge.
The photo of the Beacon isn't as old a the Walsall Road photo because I remember the first traffic light been put up in the mid 50's just after we went to see the Coronation at the pictures as we hadn't a TV then.
Derek
 
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