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Soho Hill

oh crikey john you are right...all the 3 milages are on this stone are 1 mile out on the one that was on soho hill...thanks mrpastry its just the sort of thing we would do as kids ..so now its back to square one...where is the soho hill milestone??..i am just going to bang my head against a brick wall lol..

lyn
 
Yes Viv I have seen those photos before. Denbro Works was Dennisons Watch Case Co and I went to school opposite here (Soho College). The milestone was always there when I was growing up.

Your point about the heath and the warrener's hut was also known to me. I grew up at Soho House which I was always told had been built on the site of the Warrener's Cottage on the heath. In the kitchen, under the flagstone floor, was a well which I was always told was called Warrener's well. However when I visited Soho at the time it was undergoing renovation for the museum I was taken down into the cellars as part of my tour and directly under the kitchen was a room (where was found remnants of the time when Soho House was a school) and it was in this room that the well was positioned.

Judy
 
Hello Old Plumber - Coincidence! I also live in South Devon and not far from you either. I'm in Torquay. I try to go back to Brum at least once a year if I can, and find that lot of the areas I knew have changed beyond all recognition. I like to remember them as they were when I lived there.

Judy
 
Katie - I don't remember the dentist named Cheffins. My dentist was on Soho Road at the junction with Villa Road, just a few houses from the photo Viv posted. Sorry I don't remember his name - it was a long time ago.

Judy
 
Hi Judy, I am pretty sure Cheffins was between St. Michaels Road and Soho Avenue, but there again it could have been between Soho Avenue and Park Avenue, I think I have said before I went to HKPS. After moving to Sutton Coldfield we still went to Cheffins for some time until I found a dentists in Aldridge, where I worked, and I still go there, a few teeth less!
 
Astoness said:
oh crikey john you are right...all the 3 milages are on this stone are 1 mile out on the one that was on soho hill....... i am just going to bang my head against a brick wall lol..

lyn
Click to expand...

Hi Lyn, like buses, you're waiting for one and two come along together! Two theories: maybe two stones were made at the same time OR the original stone was altered when it was moved. (Don't know if that's possible for a stonemason to do). Viv
 
Hi Judy. That's brilliant info, thanks. How incredible that those features are still there at Soho House. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Hi Lyn, like buses, you're waiting for one and two come along together! Two theories: maybe two stones were made at the same time OR the original stone was altered when it was moved. (Don't know if that's possible for a stonemason to do). Viv
Click to expand...

viv i thought that but then reading mrpastrys earlier post he remembers that milestone being near the post office on holyhead road near to the post office when he was young so it looks like there were two of them...

lyn
 
Vivienne14 said:
Right, got it Lyn. Now my turn to go and bang my head on a brick wall! Viv.
Click to expand...

or maybe on a milestone viv lol... i am now thinking that if our stone had been saved and placed elsewhere it would have been not far from its original spot and what better place to put it than in the grounds of soho house but a bit too easy i fear..anyhow when i have time and its a good day i will be taking a good walk around just in case i do bump into it..never say never..
 
For info, just found this photo of the '111 miles' stone on the Digital Handsworth site. Looks to me that it's against a wall, although it could just be the photo. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1389307352.236433.jpg
 
On this 1832 map extract from the Boundary Commission Report it shows 2 Milestones (MS) and and a Tollgate (TG - think Hamstead/Villa Rd Tollgate) around the Soho Hill area. Against both MS's it has a #2. Don't know what the '2' represents. Can anyone help here? Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1389436463.270429.jpg
 
Hi Katie . Cheffins was 129 Soho Hill ... Btw Soho Ave & St Michaels Rd ... premises are still standing but look a little tired now ... also it was approx; 30yrd away from the milestone that has been the subject of several messages as to its present location.
Regard Rich ... Keep smiling
 
Re. the milestones:
I grew up just off Soho Road, and regularly passed the milestone near to Milestone Lane - logical that the lane was so named because the milestone was there? Presumably, this is the stone reported to be at Holyhead School.
I also passed the milestone outside Dennison's at the top of Soho Hill, when on the bus into town. The last time I remember both of them was, I think, around 1970.
The concept of milestones is that there was one placed every mile along a route (hence one shows 111 miles, and the other, 110 miles), so not only were there the two mentioned in this thread, but there must have been others!! Working towards the city from the top of Soho Hill, a mile away is Great Hampton Street -does anyone remember if there was a stone along there?
Similarly, there should have been one near the Birmingham/West Bromwich boundary.
 
Hi Judy,
It sure is a small world?.Yes Birmingham has changed so much since I left,the house I was born in [Gt Brook St]has gone,the school I went to [Birchfield Rd] has gone & even the church where we got married in in 1955[St Agnes,Cotteridge] has gone,do's that mean our marriage is now null & void !!!!.The Beacon cinema,Gone,The old "Scott Arms",Gone,The old "Horns of Queslett" Gone.But I do have all the memories of these places.
Best wishes Brian
 
The c 1889 maps show the milestones at soho Avenue and Milestone road, but none (unless I have missed it) , nearer the centre. They were probably removed when the area became
milestone_near_Hawthorns_map_c_1890.jpg
more built up. the one near the Hawthornes is shown below.
 
Bryn Meurig said:
Re. the milestones:
I grew up just off Soho Road, and regularly passed the milestone near to Milestone Lane - logical that the lane was so named because the milestone was there? Presumably, this is the stone reported to be at Holyhead School.
I also passed the milestone outside Dennison's at the top of Soho Hill, when on the bus into town. The last time I remember both of them was, I think, around 1970.
The concept of milestones is that there was one placed every mile along a route (hence one shows 111 miles, and the other, 110 miles), so not only were there the two mentioned in this thread, but there must have been others!! Working towards the city from the top of Soho Hill, a mile away is Great Hampton Street -does anyone remember if there was a stone along there?
Similarly, there should have been one near the Birmingham/West Bromwich boundary.
Click to expand...


yes bryn you are correct the stone that was near to milestone lane is just inside the gates of the school so we know that one is safe..thanks for letting us know when you last saw the one outside dennisons..my ideal place to put it when it was removed would have have in the grounds of soho house..i cant think of a better place for it..be great if it was there but ive not heard of anyone saying that it is..next time i am that way i will just have a quick look around the grounds of the house..

lyn
 
Astoness said:
yes bryn you are correct the stone that was near to milestone lane is just inside the gates of the school so we know that one is safe..thanks for letting us know when you last saw the one outside dennisons..my ideal place to put it when it was removed would have have in the grounds of soho house..i cant think of a better place for it..be great if it was there but ive not heard of anyone saying that it is..next time i am that way i will just have a quick look around the grounds of the house..

lyn
Click to expand...

Am I correct but is the West Bromwich boundary with Birmingham-at Island Road- only a relatively 'new' border (early 1900's) since Handsworth at one time (and everywhere west) was in Staffordshire. However the route is the famous A41 road from London to Holyhead so one would expect a milestone at that location coincidentally.
 
hi richie and mr respectful
you also had the well known boundry cafe for truckers and travellers as a land mark
it was well known and popular just like the M1 cafe was for travelers and of course bikers i used to go there quite often
It was known as the BOUNDRY CAFE right through until about mid sixties if i am correct possible thou seventys
i know there was members whom also recall it best wishes Astonian;;
 
Richie
Earlier I showed a map giving the 4 mile milestone marked near the Hawthorns. The othwer two mentioned would presumably be the 3 & 2 mile ones, leaving only the 1 mile stone, which seems to have disappeared before 1889
 
Mike. So does the '2' alongside the 'MS' on here mean 2 miles from B'ham? If so would there have been two milestones with the same inscription? Viv.
 
I don't know Viv. It does not say where to , so it could be to another place, though I am doubtful if that is likely. Incidentally, for completeness here are the maps showing the other two stones
map_c_1889__milestone_near_milestone_lane.jpg



map_c_1889_milestone_near_soho_Avenue.jpg
 
Your second map is interesting Mike. The milestone which was pictured outside Denbro's in the 1960s used to be on the other side of the road. Your map shows it to have once been about here, near the bus stop, just up from Soho Avenue :

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1389693341.696618.jpg

These things seem to have moved about quite a bit! Viv.
 
This looks very much like the second milestone in 1973 on the corner of Milestone Lane in between the upholsterers and the estate agent shops. It doesn't look like that one has moved much at all.
 

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The one on the right of the map says 2 miles to Birmingham does it not. I have no idea of the age of the stones, but the measurement used to be from the Market Cross in the Bull Ring. That stone also gives 111 miles to London I think.
So the one on the left of the road would be 2 miles to somewhere else. As Mike says, the Baggies ground is just 2 miles from it...so maybe 2 miles to West Brom. (maybe a market cross there at one time).
Perhaps the one outside the West Brom ground said 4 miles to Birmingham and was on the driving side of the road.
 
great pic phil nice to see the milestone in its originally place..actually i say that but the school is built on the ground where those shops were so it has not really moved much..maybe a few feet..here is a pic i took of it last week just inside the school grounds of holyhead school.

MILESTONE HOLYHEAD RD 002.JPG
 
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