The Custard House Blake Lane

[deb kiely]

I have mentioned my Ancestor John Tonks a farmer in connection with custard house farm i recently managed to find this, i only posted a small part of the full size as the writing is hard going i think the date said 1807.

 

[shirleymay]

Hello Deb, This is last Will & Testament of John Tonks. I found the writing easy to read, have been researching my Tree for over 50yrs. Who are David & John Hopkins?

 

[deb kiely]

Hello Deb, This is last Will & Testament of John Tonks. I found the writing easy to read, have been researching my Tree for over 50yrs. Who are David & John Hopkins?

Hello Shirleymay.from what i can make out David and James Hopkins were his executors.i dont know how he knew them.this was another part that names them.

 

[bordesley bob]

These 1890 maps confuse me, my ancestors great great grandad and tribe lived at number two Brighton Place, Blake Lane in 1881 per that census, the sign for Brighton Place, dated 1874 still exists on the house which is number 5 Blake lane, almost opposite number 2 Blake Lane where I believe they used to live. There were no houses on that side of the road according to the maps. I wonder if there were houses going right to the junction of Blake Lane and Yardley Green Lane, where the church is now. It must have been a big building as they had so many people living there and working there too making mattresses, bed steads etc.

At the same time my great grandad was living on what is now Bordesley Green up the other end of Blake Lane, I have a photo of the family in their garden and behind them is a lot of leaves, maybe even the orchard? That would have been before the end of 1900 as he died that year, after moving to Handsworth.

 

[mikejee]

could you tell us the name of your ancestor in Blake lane? On the 1881 census, for all the ones I can find in Blake St do not seem to have numbers attached

 

[pjmburns]

2 Brighton Place would not have been the same as 2 Blake Lane. It looks as if there were 4 cottages built as Brighton Place. One of which has the sign on it. They would, I think have been 1, 2, 3 and 4 Brighton Place. From the map the house which is currently number 2 Blake Lane would not have existed. (The only reason I know this is because I live in a house which was once number 3 of a row of named cottages).
I have ringed in red the houses I think were called Brighton Place on the 1887 map

 

[bordesley bob]

could you tell us the name of your ancestor in Blake lane? On the 1881 census, for all the ones I can find in Blake St do not seem to have numbers attached

There was Richard Pitt head of the house, his wife Lydia Pitt, Richard's father and mother William and Elizabeth Pitt, brother and sister in law Harry and Nancy Humpage from new Jersey, a cousin Benjamin Pitt from London and Richard's kids, George William, Nelly and Lydia Pitt. Old Bill Pitt was born in 1819. There were very many William Pitts in the West Midlands in those days, and I think many were related too.

Richard was living in Blake lane with his parents and his twin brother, Thomas. was living round the corner what is now Bordesley green.

I do often wonder if the Humpages had anything to do with the street of the same name. By the way Nelly was the lady on the right of the picture in my post above with curly hair. Richard died in 1900 aged 39 and the grandparents around 1895 Lydia and kids and Nelly Humpage went to Northumberland and then left for the land down under in 1914. George William Pitt wrote to my granddad years later recalling the houses in Belcher's lane, the water pump and midden and referred to the area as Allum Rock. It was probably mostly countryside then, Yew tree farm was next door, hard to imagine now looking at Bordesley green. Jack Pitt, my granddad was the cheeky little kid with the oversized beret next to his dad in the photo.

 

[bordesley bob]

2 Brighton Place would not have been the same as 2 Blake Lane. It looks as if there were 4 cottages built as Brighton Place. One of which has the sign on it. They would, I think have been 1, 2, 3 and 4 Brighton Place. From the map the house which is currently number 2 Blake Lane would not have existed. (The only reason I know this is because I live in a house which was once number 3 of a row of named cottages).
I have ringed in red the houses I think were called Brighton Place on the 1887 map
View attachment 184765

Thanks, yes that makes sense!

 

[pjmburns]

In the 1879 PO diectory the houses are listed like this - only 3 occupants listed for Brighton Place. Blake Cottage is marked onthe map.

 

[Tinpot]

In the 1879 PO diectory the houses are listed like this - only 3 occupants listed for Brighton Place. Blake Cottage is marked onthe map.
View attachment 184766

When I was a child my parents had friends who lived in Blake Place. A terrace row of old houses. I don’t recall anywhere called Blake Street just Blakeland st running parallel to Blake Lane. On the photo you can see the footprint (green arrow) of the former methodist church. The top right extended oblong used to be where there was a Sunday School Hut behind the row of terraced houses and at the rear of the church.

 

[pjmburns]

These 1890 maps confuse me, my ancestors great great grandad and tribe lived at number two Brighton Place, Blake Lane in 1881 per that census,

By the way, I would just like to point out that it is the 1891 census which has them living at Brighton Place not the 1881. Took me quite a while to find the entry.

 

[bordesley bob]

By the way, I would just like to point out that it is the 1891 census which has them living at Brighton Place not the 1881. Took me quite a while to find the entry.

Thanks for your trouble, sorry I had the wrong year. I think you're right and in the 1881 census they were all in Denbigh street.