Myrddin
master brummie
Birmingham & Aston Chronicle | Saturday 12 August 1882
This clip shows a letter which complains about W Graham having paved a portion of the footpath opposite [in front of] his premises with expensive red granite (at the tax payers' expense). On the ENTIRE photo, I suggest, this paving shows up clearly at the Barker Street entrance to his premises. The date of the letter is 1882. As this is one, of a total of five historical complaints made against Mr Graham, it does not necessarily mean that the paving was laid in 1882. But it was there in 1882, and it's on the photo. (I suggest then that the photo can now be dated 1974-1882.) What!? Can't believe I wrote that! I should have said that it suggests the photo can now be dated not later that 1885 (tramway lines) and not before the red granite was laid, which could be as late as 1882, but could be years earlier.
In the photo we can see the pavement on Heathfield Road, where 'the lamp' is, has not yet been paved with stone.
It is noticeable that the road itself looks in a terrible state. I suppose that when the tramway was laid in 1874 the macadam would have been pristine; well, as pristine as macadam could ever be. (How many years it took to deteriorate to the state shown I can't really guess. But it's an observation worth noting). Macadam was repaired often. Filling and rolling. It was big news when the first steam rollers were purchased to roll the macadam hard and smooth.
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