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TOWER ROAD ASTON B6

Hi, My Great Great Grandparents Oliver Edwin Ward and Elizabeth Ward's last address before emigrating to Australia was 155 Tower Road Aston Birmingham. They had seven children two were very small when they left in 1923. Is there any chance there names sound familiar to anyone? I will attach a picture to see if anyone would recognise them. I know its a bit of a stretch but i thought i'd try. Oliver was a Bricklayer and Elizabeth was a housewife. 8f25b856-44a8-4bc5-a947-21b9cd79e0a5.jpgElizabeth Ward (Parsonage) 1.jpg
 
Hi, My Great Great Grandparents Oliver Edwin Ward and Elizabeth Ward's last address before emigrating to Australia was 155 Tower Road Aston Birmingham. They had seven children two were very small when they left in 1923. Is there any chance there names sound familiar to anyone? I will attach a picture to see if anyone would recognise them. I know its a bit of a stretch but i thought i'd try. Oliver was a Bricklayer and Elizabeth was a housewife. View attachment 142513View attachment 142514
I was born back of 155 Tower Road in 1939
 
Does anyone have a map of the area from then? My grandfather lived at 4 back of 75 Tower Road and I'd love to learn a bit more about where he grew up.
 
Below is a map c1950 of Tower Road Aston, showing 4 back 75 in red. If you click and save, then you will be able to view it at a larger magnification
Below is a map c1950 of Tower Road Aston, showing 4 back 75 in red. If you click and save, then you will be able to view it at a larger magnification

View attachment 144843
thanks for the map,it shows the location of my aunt and uncle may and howard hilton greengrocers shop on the left hand side corner of upper sutton st'and tower road
 
hi brian..i have posted quite a few old photos before demo of tower road and upper sutton st...if memory serves me right there could be on taken on the corner of upper sutton and tower road but not sure if its the corner that your aunts shop was on

lyn
 
Hi Larry Byrne i was born and bred in Clifton Road and went to Upper Thomas Street School they were hard times but we all made good you are in Perth Australia and so is my daughter Jenny she is in Clarkson been there for 7 years she loves it there myself and the wife have been there 3 times its smashing All the Best Raz x
 
hi brian..i have posted quite a few old photos before demo of tower road and upper sutton st...if memory serves me right there could be on taken on the corner of upper sutton and tower road but not sure if its the corner that your aunts shop was on

lyn
How do i view the photos please,
 
I lived at number 5 Tower Road, at the top end near Potters Hill. If my memory serves me correctly, at No.3 lived the Webb's and No.7 an old lady called Mrs Ford. This was between 1960 and 1967/8. I was around 9 years old when we left. I had a 'best mate' at the time name of Tommy Sheargold. Around the corner, down Potters Hill on the left, there was a sweet shop, run by an old couple. You mainly only saw the man, maybe because the lady had one eye/glass eye, which unfortunately freaked some kids out. In fact their back garden backed onto ours. Across from Tower Road on Potters Hill, was a family surname Cole. Their daughter Christine, would take my brother and I down to the ABC picture house on Six Ways on Saturday mornings. Just up the road from the Coles on Potters Hill on the left hand side, was a green-grocers run by a large man named Henry, and a bit further up, a bakery/cake shop on the corner (might have been a Wimbush), possibly run by a lady name Elsie? Also, not too sure about this, but I saw a photo on another site, of 'Austin's of Aston' car dealers, which was on Potter's Hill, but it didn't say what the name of the other road it was on the corner of. I think it may have been Tower Road, because a shop/business, that looked similar to the photo, was on the corner, but it was empty, and all the large windows had been 'white-washed'. Anyway, my mom's name was Mary, in case anyone on here may have known us. Cheers, I'm a new member living in Perth, Australia now, so it's great to have discovered this site.
The Austin dealership was on the corner of Bartons Bank and Potters Hill. Later it became a Printing business.
 
I lived at number 5 Tower Road, at the top end near Potters Hill. If my memory serves me correctly, at No.3 lived the Webb's and No.7 an old lady called Mrs Ford. This was between 1960 and 1967/8. I was around 9 years old when we left. I had a 'best mate' at the time name of Tommy Sheargold. Around the corner, down Potters Hill on the left, there was a sweet shop, run by an old couple. You mainly only saw the man, maybe because the lady had one eye/glass eye, which unfortunately freaked some kids out. In fact their back garden backed onto ours. Across from Tower Road on Potters Hill, was a family surname Cole. Their daughter Christine, would take my brother and I down to the ABC picture house on Six Ways on Saturday mornings. Just up the road from the Coles on Potters Hill on the left hand side, was a green-grocers run by a large man named Henry, and a bit further up, a bakery/cake shop on the corner (might have been a Wimbush), possibly run by a lady name Elsie? Also, not too sure about this, but I saw a photo on another site, of 'Austin's of Aston' car dealers, which was on Potter's Hill, but it didn't say what the name of the other road it was on the corner of. I think it may have been Tower Road, because a shop/business, that looked similar to the photo, was on the corner, but it was empty, and all the large windows had been 'white-washed'. Anyway, my mom's name was Mary, in case anyone on here may have known us. Cheers, I'm a new member living in Perth, Australia now, so it's great to have discovered this site.
Hi Larry

I knew the Webb's; they were Irish. My sister lived with them for a while. The car showroom was on the corner of Potters Hill and Bartons Bank. I lived further down the street at 4/67.
 
Below is a map c1950 of Tower Road Aston, showing 4 back 75 in red. If you click and save, then you will be able to view it at a larger magnification

View attachment 144843
Hi Mikejee

I did what you said; saved the file. Did you by any chance reduce the file in order to post it?
What I'm really asking is... Is this the best quality available?

I lived at 4/67 which is so close to the red house it's not funny.
There is also the map on the Leroux website which is better quality although doesn't have the house numbers.
And it also has the Mission Hall and school behind it (65 Tower Road).
 

Attachments

  • Tower Road www.leroux.co.uk.JPG
    Tower Road www.leroux.co.uk.JPG
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Hi Mikejee

I did what you said; saved the file. Did you by any chance reduce the file in order to post it?
What I'm really asking is... Is this the best quality available?

I lived at 4/67 which is so close to the red house it's not funny.
There is also the map on the Leroux website which is better quality although doesn't have the house numbers.
And it also has the Mission Hall and school behind it (65 Tower Road).
As you rightly surmised, I wanted to show the position on the whole road, but did not want to put too large a file on. Here is a slightly better quality version of the area around the house

map c1950 Tower road aston showing 4 back 75A.jpg
 
Here is the same map with 2 back 39 in green
If you click on the map it will show it in greater detail

View attachment 151793
Hi

I have been comparing the above map with an older one from the Leroux website (not sure how old it is). I noticed that the Castle Engineering Works is much bigger than the previous Cycle Chain Works on the same site... So I knocked up a drawing to scale (don't ask me what that is!). On the drawing you can also see 2/39, 4/75 and 4/67 where I grew up.

Well there are no photos of this part of the street so... I also did a schematic picture of what it was like where I lived.
 

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  • Plan_02.JPG
    Plan_02.JPG
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  • Schematic Drawing at back of 67.JPG
    Schematic Drawing at back of 67.JPG
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Just a couple of things about the the sketches. The school house is shown in the exact location in which it was built; this differs from the map(s).
There were two entries street side. The one to the back houses was covered in part by the bedrooms of No.67; it had three concrete slabs and then the remainder of the path was blue brick all the way through.
The other entry had a padlocked door and was completely open to the elements. This blue brick path was higher above ground than the other entry by two red bricks.
Part of the dividing wall between the two collapsed into the lower entry one day; and to make it safe we removed the bricks next likely to go. The Egg Grading Station had long been abandoned by this time; so the fallen bricks were dumped in the higher entry.
This now allowed us kids to explore and is the reason why I know the school house was much further away from the Mission Hall that was.

The second thing is that we used to play football a lot in the street and were occasionally chased away by discerning neighbours. We used either the doors of the Egg Grading Station or the Castle Engineering works as our goal area.
In my time in Tower Road there was no business operating from the Engineering works; it had been boarded up for as long as I could remember (in the 60s).
One day, for some inexplicable reason it was demolished and cleared. This was long before people started leaving the street. High wire net fences were not a real barrier to anyone. We now had the perfect football pitch with two goal areas instead of one and we preferred the concrete surface too.
 
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i have just found this photo in my files...sorry no numbering but can anyone identify the factory at the back of the houses....dated 1954

lyn

View attachment 155756
Hi Lyn

That is the lower part of Tower Road because of the gradient (notice the dark bricks of the wall in the foreground - higher above the pavement). The building you are referring to, I take it, is the one in the background to the left of the photo? If so... That would be on Park Lane.

If you are referring to the one in the foreground... I believe it is Tower Works Metal Components; although I don't remember it.
 
Here is a map of tower road c1950. the only factory that I can see, that fits the photo, is in blue no 141 which the 1955 Kellys lists as
Paper Fasteners, Eyelets & Metal Smallwares Ltd:- metal smallwares mfrs. (works)

map c1950 Tower road aston showing 4 back 75 and tower works.jpg
 
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i have just found this photo in my files...sorry no numbering but can anyone identify the factory at the back of the houses....dated 1954

lyn

View attachment 155756
A little useless information here...
When we played Hide and Seek, I guess I was 10 or 11, I used to climb the telegraph pole and sit on the top. No-one ever thought to look up. I could have stayed up there forever (at that age); the 360 degrees view was amazing.
It was either the last pole in the photo or the next one just out of view.

:)
 
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