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Sheldon

I can't remember Mr Wimpory mentioning Rye Eddish but Spargone may recall it, he always paid better attention than I did in class :D Ha Ha.
 
I can't remember Mr Wimpory mentioning Rye Eddish but Spargone may recall it, he always paid better attention than I did in class :D Ha Ha.
Sorry to digress slightly on this thread but I wish I'd paid more attention too. It was just another lesson in those days but as I've always had a keen interest in history I wonder if my failing memory is due to the way it was taught! I had a real fear of Mr Wimpory, particularly when he wanted to make a point if I hadn't quite understood something. He would crouch down low to my desk, face to face, I can see his gold fillings and feel the spittle on my face now. He'd go off into a rant and hammer the back of my chair with his fist. On one occasion he told me I was so stupid I'd end up sweeping the roads! All those destined for greater things were sat in the row immediately in front of his desk. I was in a row near the door so that that says it all lol.
 
There were three areas in what was the open field system. Rye-Eddish, Elder and Ridding. These were situated about where Mackadown Road is. Each field had arable, common pasture and meadow (to provide winter hay.) The arable area operated on a rotation of crops and a fallow period to maintain fertility. There were three (some say four) Manor Courts in Sheldon. Machitone being one of them.
 
I can't remember Mr Wimpory mentioning Rye Eddish but Spargone may recall it, he always paid better attention than I did in class :D Ha Ha.
Actually I don't remember that at all so mbenne is one up on us both! Perhaps we remembered the local, local history, in my case the Rectory Park area. Northern Sheldon was a foreign land to us! I was hoping mbenne was going to tell us that he did become a road sweeper but as the top boss of Birmingham sanitation department! I always thought of Mr Wimpory as being mild-mannered and don't recall him ever losing his temper, (Mrs Best was something else). Must be one of those 'sun always shone during the summer holidays' things unless one experienced a really bad summer!
 
Actually I don't remember that at all so mbenne is one up on us both! Perhaps we remembered the local, local history, in my case the Rectory Park area. Northern Sheldon was a foreign land to us! I was hoping mbenne was going to tell us that he did become a road sweeper but as the top boss of Birmingham sanitation department! I always thought of Mr Wimpory as being mild-mannered and don't recall him ever losing his temper, (Mrs Best was something else). Must be one of those 'sun always shone during the summer holidays' things unless one experienced a really bad summer!
Mr Wimpory wasn't far off the mark. Almost 40 years in water and sewerage , mainly in .....IT so I never got my hands dirty lol. Reading about rateable values again reminded me of my early working life gathering Penny Rate Products to calculate regional tarrifs - happy days! I think my foot is nailed to Sheldon having worked for 4 differnt employers there, either side and at each end of the A45. At one location I was able to see the oak tree at the end of my mom and dads back garden and looking from the other side I could tell when my wife was home from the light in our living room. I just didnt get to work on a farm Ha Ha!
 
Off topic, but at university there was a lad a year above me who just about got a degree by the skin of his teeth. The prof. had said he would never amount to much. A few months into the new year he popped in to see us and the prof.
"I expect you are still looking for work then?", the prof. had asked. "No, I had a client in the area so I thought I would stop by, in my company car and tell you about how IBM pays me three times as much as you!" A legend of the department!
 
This extract from the Charity Commissioners report of 1835 might help those interested in tracking down the various parcels of land mentioned above.
I must admit that I had never thought of Croft as a road name being related to Croft as in Scottish Crofter. Perhaps we can learn more from the modern road names than we might at first expect? Is it possible that Tile Cross is really derived from Tyler's Croft (Crofft)? That might apply to any other Cross we might find. As I understand it a 'sellion' is a furrow and a 'loughton' is a settlement on a hill. Would 'lee/lea' be the sheltered side of the hill?
 

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And a bit below the 'D' in Sheldon you can see The Elms on the map. This is a photograph of The Elms at the Radley's, about 1890, with members of the Cattell family, related to the Cattells of Sheldon Hall.

Ann
The house is still there-facinating
 
Over the years there has been some speculation as to where the 'Sheldona' cafe, shown on page 36 of Margaret Green's book Around Sheldon might have been located. The book says it was near The Wheatsheaf and the picture was taken around 1920.

I note that Crofton Collections is selling a used post card with the same picture, date stamped 10 July 1904. Clearly the photo must be older than that.

While many people remember various Cafes in Sheldon I don't think anyone has been able to say that they were at one time the 'Sheldona'.

I find it intriguing that the Sheldon is in quotes wherever it appears on the property, that is similar to the way that products were often described, i.e. buy the "Acme" washing machine. Indeed on the wall under the big sign it says 'THE recognized public COMMODITY' as if 'Sheldona' was a drink in its own right, like 'Camp' coffee.

The postcard is captioned SHELDONA CAFE, SHELDON but that might have been an assumption by the postcard maker, or might even refer to a non-Birmingham 'Sheldon'.
 
Jim, have a look at this link, the Sheldona and The Ship cafe are mentioned http://205004.homepagemodules.de/t260138f54-Photos-of-Sheldon-1.html

There is also a thread on this forum regarding The Sheldona
The link is interesting but doesn't answer the question. I went through all the 'Sheldona' references that I could find on this forum last night and concluded that no-one had the answer and I don't think anyone had queried the 1920s date, (which your link does). I'm not spending £22 to see if there are any clues on the actual card! The slogan on the wall hadn't been picked up before, I don't think.
[PS What has happened to your Mapledene pictures?]
 
When I posted these pictures originally In order to get them to the right size for the forum I used Tinypics. Unfortunately they went to whoever knows where. I presume that all the pictures I have posted using this have suffered a similar fate. I will sort them out again and repost where I can. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
 
I was in Cornwall this week and visited the Tolgus Tin Mill in Redruth. I came across the letter below which was pinned to one of the panning shed walls. It was written a few years before the company ceased commercial trading and was sent to Priestman Bros Ltd, 2111 Coventry Road, requesting spares for an excavator. The building number and post code still exists but is now the home of the Police Benevolent fund. I can only vaguely recall the telephone exchange in this area? Priestman's were based in Hull but I don't remember them being in Sheldon?
 

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I was in Cornwall this week and visited the Tolgus Tin Mill in Redruth. I came across the letter below which was pinned to one of the panning shed walls. It was written a few years before the company ceased commercial trading and was sent to Priestman Bros Ltd, 2111 Coventry Road, requesting spares for an excavator. The building number and post code still exists but is now the home of the Police Benevolent fund. I can only vaguely recall the telephone exchange in this area? Priestman's were based in Hull but I don't remember them being in Sheldon?
Priestmans had an office and showroom more or less where the extension to Sheldon telephone exchange is now. No. 2111 is now Guardians House and would be where I remember the showroom being, i.e. not quite on the corner which is the BT site.
The building was perhaps put up in the 1970s? and had a large glass-fronted ground floor, being high enough to accommodate a single excavator.
 
Priestmans had an office and showroom more or less where the extension to Sheldon telephone exchange is now. No. 2111 is now Guardians House and would be where I remember the showroom being, i.e. not quite on the corner which is the BT site.
The building was perhaps put up in the 1970s? and had a large glass-fronted ground floor, being high enough to accommodate a single excavator.
now you describe it I can vaguely recall the showroom
 
Sunday trading!!! Not a good day for getting ammo for your cap gun but for Mom the shopl on Greenvale Avenue was a god send for late shopping! Was it legal?????
 
The shop was run by a family named Nash. I remember it being built and yes it was very handy for Sunday shopping.
 
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