Street furniture

[mw0njm.]

V iv
I'm afraid I have no idea
Nico. they were to help hold the walls up. A metal bar was run therough the building and heated, and then the ends, which were usually crosses of S shapes were attached and the bar allowed to cool. It contracted and pulled the walls together and helped hold them up. Or at least that was what I was taught at school, though can't seem to find anything on the internet after a short search

Anchor plate - Wikipedia

 

[Radiorails]

 

[A Sparks]

An interesting article on punctuation marks used on some of the older cast iron street signs in Birmingham.

Miscellany № 88: a tale of two signs – Shady Characters

shadycharacters.co.uk

 

[Eric Gibson]

I've seen a couple of those cast iron Brum road nameplates offered in auctions recently, they seem to be popular with collectors.

 

[superdad3]

What an interesting post. Had a walk around our road [Moseley] to check local signs out using info in attachment:

1. Cast iron signs without post code may be victorian - sadly none in our area.
2. Cast iron signs attached to cast iron pedestal with post code are original and early. This one is at the top of our road.
3. Next one is a modern replacement - metal sheet with painted letters.
4. This one is a later modern one with coat of arms
5. After our area became a conservation area BCC came up with this improvement. An aluminium pressing with plastic stick on letters - looks surprisingly good. Cast iron would have been 4 or 5(?) times more expensive. Pity the cast iron pedestal was long gone.

I'm amazed at the variety just in our road. Walk past them every day and never really looked at them closely!

And the final one, just for interest, used to be on Wake Green Road not far from us. White letters on a green background. Was replaced a few years ago. Never seen any other green road signs in Birmingham - perhaps they got mixed up with Solihull! Sorry for poor pic - copied off Google.

 

[A Sparks]

That's great @superdad3
Thanks for taking the trouble to investigate the variety of road signs. I can't say I had ever noticed the punctuation on some signs before either.

 

[Richard Dye]

An interesting article on punctuation marks used on some of the older cast iron street signs in Birmingham.

Miscellany № 88: a tale of two signs – Shady Characters

shadycharacters.co.uk

A sparks, a very interesting article indeed! Thank you for sharing.......

 

[Pedrocut]

Jan 1939, Postal Districts...

 

[Vivienne14]

More lampposts than you can shake a stick at. Viv.

 

[Bob Davis]

More lampposts than you can shake a stick at. Viv.

I remember No 2 and the man with his small ladder that came to an arc at the top who went around and cleaned them etc
Bob

 

[pjmburns]

We had these in our road until 2012 (at least they are on streetview in 2011 and gone by 2012). This image is from 2008.

 

[Vivienne14]

In 1779 Birmingham was lit by 700 lamps, lit on only 160 nights per year for 8 hours per night. Why Commissioners of Lamps and ‘Scavengers’ ? Viv.

 

[Morturn]

Nice find Viv. I am thinking that Scavengers may be what we now call recycling? I know the younger generation think they invented recycling, but the Victorians went on to develop it to a fine art.

 

[Vivienne14]

Thanks Mort. Have tracked down some info and posted on the Lost Occupations thread here https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/occupations-disappeared.44916/page-3

Viv.

 

[superdad3]

Street furniture [well almost!]:
A few years ago O2 installed this mini phone mast and associated cabinets on the pavement in our road. Never mind that it is in a conservation area [phot 1]. O2 are now applying for planning permission to erect a 20 metre high mast in the public car park in Moseley Village for 5G. [phot 2].
Progress?

 

[sospiri]

What with phone masts and all those masts going up for automatic meter reading, the country is going to look like a massive purcupine soon.

Maurice

 

[Radiorails]

Virgin Mobile have been digging up pavements and laying fibre optic cables in many towns of South Devon, for a year or more. Now every street has at least one silver metal cabinet to obstruct pushchairs and the partially sighted. They have been canvassing for custom since although I do not think all this is solely for their use otherwise streets would be continually fill of excavations.
Twice they left cards saying 'sorry we missed you', despite the fact that we were home. Maybe too tired to find the front door? Anyway they are the last people we would want to supply internet of phones.

 

[pjmburns]

Why Commissioners of Lamps and ‘Scavengers’ ? Viv.

Scavenger appears as an occupation in the 1911 Census of England and Wales. This job title was used to describe someone who cleans the streets, removes refuse, generally a workman (a modern-day garbage collector, janitor, or street cleaner) employed by the local public health authority.
So presumably they were responsible for the streets which includes lighting.

 

[mw0njm.]

Virgin Mobile have been digging up pavements and laying fibre optic cables in many towns of South Devon, for a year or more. Now every street has at least one silver metal cabinet to obstruct pushchairs and the partially sighted. They have been canvassing for custom since although I do not think all this is solely for their use otherwise streets would be continually fill of excavations.
Twice they left cards saying 'sorry we missed you', despite the fact that we were home. Maybe too tired to find the front door? Anyway they are the last people we would want to supply internet of phones.

they are always diggin up the road and pavement here. and putting junk on them. then a few weeks later dig it up again to lay more cables for some other co. and more junk on the pavement.

 

[Vivienne14]

Where was this 1932 street sign ? Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Not sure I know how to drive ‘quietly’ ! Viv.

 

[sospiri]

Today it would be aimed at vehicles with dodgy or no silencers, though I doubt if the offenders would take any notice of it.

Maurice

 

[mw0njm.]

Not sure I know how to drive ‘quietly’ ! Viv.

buy a all electric car Viv

 

[pjmburns]

Does it refer to the use of car horns?

 

[sospiri]

Maybe, Janice, it's not very specific.

Maurice

 

[mw0njm.]

Does it refer to the use of car horns?

yes i suppose it does Janice, along with banging doors and the squealing of tyres.

 

[superdad3]

Well folks, it's the 140th anniversary [thank you google] of the birth of Sir Giles Scott. If you were a scouser like me you would know that he designed Liverpool Cathedral - a truly incredible building reflecting civic pride at its' best.

More popular he designed the K2 Telephone Box in 1924: the iconic bright red GPO phone box. Somthing I grew up with but most now removed possibly because of cheap [& not so cheap!] wide spread use of mobile phones. Can't think of one still in Birmingham?

This is the later version the K6.

 

[Vivienne14]

There’s weren’t many K2’s installed outside London, so I doubt there are any examples left in Birmingham. Viv.

 

[RobT]

The Telephone Box | Kiosk No 2

The K2 kiosk was Britain's first red Telephone Box. It was the winning design from a 1924 competition to find the design for a national kiosk. Designed by British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the K2 was introduced in 1926 and over the next nine years some 1,700 examples were installed...

www.the-telephone-box.co.uk

.

 

[mw0njm.]

If i remember right there was one in the cross pub aston cross.