Villa Road Handsworth

[Nigelhls]

Good morning, All.
We used to live at No.129A Villa Road, Handsworth, a few shops away from the Villa Cross Cinema.
Our shop's name was Hulse Milliners, and I have been trying to find a photo of it for some years.
Looking at the shop, there was Wilkinson's Hardware, and to the right very large double doors.
We lived there until 1956, when we emigrated to South Africa.
Diagonally across from the shop, was (is) the Villa Cross pub.

If anyone can assist with a photo that includes the old shop, I would be very grateful

Many thanks

 

[Eric Gibson]

Can't help with a photo but my cousin Victor and his wife Sheila would have been your neighbours, Biddle the chemist.

 

[BrumMack]

I wonder if anyone can help me with information on Villa Road please.
Some of my Ancestors lived and worked in the area through the census years 1841 to 1891 but some of the roads don't appear to exist anymore.
1841 John Pedlingham, Aston Villa, (next to Hunters Lane?)
1851 John Pedlingham, Villa Road, Number in schedule 57
1861 John Pedlingham, Aston Villa Road, Number in schedule 126
1871 John's father William in Little Hunters Lane.....John in Villa Road,129 in schedule
1881 John Pedlingham, 100 Villa Road
1891 John Pedlingham, 100 Villa Road.

Queries...
1 Where would Little Hunters Lane have been in relation to Villa Road ?
2 Where would Aston Villa/ Aston Villa Road have been in relation to Villa Road ?
3 Have the house/building numbers remained the same to present day ?
4 On one of the Census, there was a pub called The Bulls Head at 104 Villa Road...is this the same as the pub that is now called "Head" (strange name for a pub !!)
5 Is the Timoor Kebab House of today, the same building as 100 Villa Road of 1881/91?
and finally
6...with fingers crossed...are there any old photographs available, showing perhaps The Bulls Head with number 100 in it ?? (long shot I know) and maybe a map of the area for about 1881.

I have to add that on looking at the location on Google Maps, I was amused by the shop at 102, the "West Miland (no d) Jerk Shop"...seems very fitting...did they run out of room for the "d" ???? lol
Any help with my queries will be most appreciated..

Just spotted this post from several years ago. Here's what we know about the name 'Aston Villa' being used in the Villa Cross area. Initially it was the name for a house, later used as a boarding school, that stood on the junction of Heathfield Road and Lozells Road. i.e on the site the Villa Cross Inn would later stand. The first use we know of the name 'Aston Villa' for this house dates to a map drawn in 1818.
By the time of the first Ordnance Survey in 1834, the junction was named 'Aston Villa.' Then in Robson's 1839 directory of Birmingham, the section of road running from the Heathfield Road - Lozells Road junction to Nursery Lane (now Nursery Road) was called 'Aston Villa.'
Next in 1865, a Wesleyan chapel was built nearby (in George Street) and was known as the 'Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel.' The chapel had a cricket team: the 'Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel Cricket Team.' Then in 1874 some members of the cricket team, wanting to play a sport in the winter months, established the 'Aston Villa Football Club.'

 

[Astoness]

yes spot on richard...i was bought up in villa st and for many years have wondered what it was named after...ruled out the football club as villa st was cut many years before the football team was formed...there was a villa cottage (maybe named after the area of aston villa) at the top of villa st but was that built on land before villa st was cut then the street named after the cottage it or was as i suspect villa st named after the area of aston villa...

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

Aston Villa School seems to have been at the house until 1832. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

thanks viv thats is very interesting..i will print that off and put it in my ever bulging folder that i have which contains 10 years of research (still ongoing) i have done on the area where i grew up..

so that snippet was dated 1832 and as richard said in post 31 the aston villa school was there in 1818 so it looks like the area of aston villa was named after the school of the same name...

richard would you be able to post that old 1818 map please...thanks

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

This is an interesting thread. The early photos are missing (due to the site being hacked some years ago). If anyone can offer replacements please post them. If they fut th3 earlier posts, I’m happy to reinsert them. Thanks. Viv.

 

[Astoness]

i have replaced missing images from posts 10 and 21 although they may not be the original photos...

 

[mikejee]

Have replaced old postcard images in post 1, but they may not all be the original ones

 

[BrumMack]

yes spot on richard...i was bought up in villa st and for many years have wondered what it was named after...ruled out the football club as villa st was cut many years before the football team was formed...there was a villa cottage (maybe named after the area of aston villa) at the top of villa st but was that built on land before villa st was cut then the street named after the cottage it or was as i suspect villa st named after the area of aston villa...

lyn

My understanding was that around the late 18th and/or early 19th century it had become fashionable for well-off people to want to name their houses 'Villas.' If so might be that Villa Cottage and Aston Villa (the house/school) were not necessarily named one after the other, but rather both named after the fashion of the time.

thanks viv thats is very interesting..i will print that off and put it in my ever bulging folder that i have which contains 10 years of research (still ongoing) i have done on the area where i grew up..

so that snippet was dated 1832 and as richard said in post 31 the aston villa school was there in 1818 so it looks like the area of aston villa was named after the school of the same name...

richard would you be able to post that old 1818 map please...thanks

lyn

 

[BrumMack]

thanks viv thats is very interesting..i will print that off and put it in my ever bulging folder that i have which contains 10 years of research (still ongoing) i have done on the area where i grew up..

so that snippet was dated 1832 and as richard said in post 31 the aston villa school was there in 1818 so it looks like the area of aston villa was named after the school of the same name...

richard would you be able to post that old 1818 map please...thanks

lyn

The 1818 map is included in this blog on the origin of the name Aston Villa on the Birmingham Library Archives and Collections website by Don Abbott: https://theironroom.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/guest-blogger-the-original-aston-villa/
I also attach the map:

 

[BrumMack]

My understanding was that around the late 18th and/or early 19th century it had become fashionable for well-off people to want to name their houses 'Villas.' If so might be that Villa Cottage and Aston Villa (the house/school) were not necessarily named one after the other, but rather both named after the fashion of the time.

I think the sources are not clear on whether the building named 'Aston Villa' by 1818 was a school at that time. The earliest reference to the building as a school I have seen is in 'Don Abbott's blog where Don refers to John Skally moving his school to Aston Villa in 1825. Whether it was a school between 1818 and 1825 I am unclear.

 

[mikejee]

As a matter of interest, the oldest references to Aston villa in the online newspaper archives are all july 1824, and refer to building land "on the road from Soho to Aston Villa" Of course those papers online are not complete

 

[Radiorails]

Villa, as a residence, dates back to Roman times, where it was a summer residence. In Britain, somewhat later, it became a farm enclosure. Its style has evolved over the centuries and - as mentioned in a previous post - often became the description of a large house or building that we are familiar with.

 

[Astoness]

thanks for the map and info richard...i have seen that map before but could not find it... ...here is an 1848 map (although maybe a little earlier) showing the area of aston villa oh and thanks for providing me with mr skalleys first name as all of the newspaper snippets i have just call him mr skally..

lyn

 

[Vivienne14]

I have raided the online newspapers for info about the school and this is what I found:


28/12/1853 Birmingham Journal records Mr Howse conducting Aston Villa School
26/2/1855 Mr Howse still running Aston Villa School

5/7/1856 Mr M Smith announces the opening of Aston Villa School
19/12/1857 Mr M Smith of Aston Villa School sold two magic lanterns and slides (Birmingham Journal)

26/9/1858 Mr M Smith announced the move of his school to larger and more convenient premises - within 10 minutes walk of Hockley and Soho Stations. It was described as a healthy location and would open on 5/10/1858. Address given as Heathfield Road, Handsworth.

16/10/1858 Mr Smith of Aston Villa School marries Ann Best at Aston Parish Church (Staffordshire Advertiser)
In 1860 the address given for Aston Villa School is Heathfield Road
Throughout 1864 and 1865 Mr Smith M R C P is frequently advertising the school in local newspapers as well as the London Evening Standard. They take a small number of boarders.

31/3/1866 Mr Smith’s infant child dies - notice in the Birmingham Journal 7/3/1866
18/7/1868 Mr Smith thanks his supporters of the school for the last 16 years (Aris’s Gazette)
2/7/1870 the school is conducted by Mrs Smith supported by a staff of efficient teachers (Leicester Mercury)




Looks to me that the earlier Aston Villa School was until the late-1850s in a different location to the later school run by Mr Smith on Heathfield Road. So the use of ‘Villa’ must have referred to the location for, at least, the later school. Perhaps the earlier school was located at Aston Villa (the house) rather than Aston Villa (the place).
Confusing.


Viv.

 

[Astoness]

thanks viv very interesting...you could well be right about mr smiths school being in a different location although aston villa school was on v shaped land as shown on my map..so on one side of the school was heathfield road and on the other side was lozells road so im not sure...confused?? you will be

 

[Vivienne14]

And Richard’s post #39 with the Iron Room link suggests the Villa Cross Inn was, at one time, Aston Villa School. The Inn it further suggests, might possibly have started out as the Villa. Very confused now. Viv.

 

[BrumMack]

Villa, as a residence, dates back to Roman times, where it was a summer residence. In Britain, somewhat later, it became a farm enclosure. Its style has evolved over the centuries and - as mentioned in a previous post - often became the description of a large house or building that we are familiar with.

Here's an excerpt form the Oxford English Dictionary definition for 'Villa' to give a bit of philological context

"Etymology: Partly < Latin villa country-house, farm, etc., perhaps a diminutive from the stem of vīcus village, hamlet, country-seat; partly < Italian villa (whence also French villa, Spanish villa, and Portuguese vila) from the same source.(Show Less)



"1. Originally: a country mansion or residence, together with a farm, farm-buildings, or other houses attached, built or occupied by a person of some position and wealth; a country seat or estate. In later and more general use: a residence in the country, or in the neighbourhood of a town, usually of some size and architectural elegance and standing in its own grounds.



"d. Hence, any residence of a superior or handsome type, or of some architectural pretension, in the suburbs of a town or in a residential district; also, any small better-class dwelling-house, usually one which is detached or semi-detached.The word is frequently employed in the names given to particular houses of this type, as Windsor Villa.
1755 Connoisseur (1756) No. 81. 483 I cannot help observing, that persons polite enough to be fond of such exquisite refinements, are partly in the same case with the mechanic at his dusty villa.

"1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 481 Suburban villas, highway-side retreats, That dread th' encroachment of our growing streets.

"1788 A. Young Jrnl. 15 Aug. in Trav. France (1792) i. 114 To Havre de Grace,..the hills..almost covered with little new built villas.

"1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 318 Incongruous edificies called villas.

"1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii. 349 No long avenues of villas, embowered in lilacs and laburnums, extended from the great centre of wealth.

"1852 R. S. Surtees Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour i. ii. 6 The farm-houses are dotted about as thickly,..as to look like inferior ‘villas’ falling out of rank.

"1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. ix. 167 I wish you would let me build you a villa at Torquay or Dartmouth."

 

[NoelleO 64]

yes spot on richard...i was bought up in villa st and for many years have wondered what it was named after...ruled out the football club as villa st was cut many years before the football team was formed...there was a villa cottage (maybe named after the area of aston villa) at the top of villa st but was that built on land before villa st was cut then the street named after the cottage it or was as i suspect villa st named after the area of aston villa...

lyn

I came from Ireland in 1960s and lived in hall rd, no8. Went to St Frances school a walk down hunters rd the made to go to a new school for the last 2 years this was the new st clairs . On the first day we were sent home as the school was not yet finished. Worked at will it's no villa rd /hunters road while still at St John wall . The school swoped places the year I left with William murder to for hampsted hall school. Have many good memories 1960 to 1980.

 

[Michael_Ingram]

There is a postcard of Villa Road in post #1. Well what do you know; while tidying up a dressing table at home I found the attached postcard. I cannot remember where I bought it, possibly an antique market at Builth Wells in Wales.
The date is 2nd February 1904 and the message translates something like:
'My dear Mary, many thanks for the pretty cards, my dear I am so angry that you had to pay to receive my letter. I suppose it was too heavy. I am very angry I will have to correct myself. I hope you will forgive me. Tell me when you write to me what you have paid. Lots of kisses. Yours, Dorothy'
ps probably pen friends as the address is to a school

 

[Astoness]

thanks mike...i dont think i have seen that shot of villa road before

lyn

 

[Richard Dye]

There is a postcard of Villa Road in post #1. Well what do you know; while tidying up a dressing table at home I found the attached postcard. I cannot remember where I bought it, possibly an antique market at Builth Wells in Wales.
The date is 2nd February 1904 and the message translates something like:
'My dear Mary, many thanks for the pretty cards, my dear I am so angry that you had to pay to receive my letter. I suppose it was too heavy. I am very angry I will have to correct myself. I hope you will forgive me. Tell me when you write to me what you have paid. Lots of kisses. Yours, Dorothy'
ps probably pen friends as the address is to a school
View attachment 148166View attachment 148167

Mike, that's a wonderful piece of history, thank you! What is especially interesting to me is that I lived about a quarter mile from that intersection and that I had an aunt that owned Carneddau Farm just outside of Builth Wells where I spent many school Holidays!

 

[Myrddin]

Lindyloo
3 & 5. The timoor Kebab house is certainly in the same place as John Pedlingham's butchers. There has been no renumbering since about 1880 and before directories di not number villa road. It certainly looks to be of the right period to be there in 1881.
4. The Head is in the same position as the Bulls Head, but the building looks a lot newer to me.
2. John Pedlingham is listed in the 1862 directory as being in villa Road, with no number given. so I think Aston Villa Road, and villa Road are the same.
1. I can only find one mention of Little hunters lane in directories, in white 1873 directory. At that time much of the area came under handsworth, and not all directories included this. however by comparing names listed with the 1878 PO directory, it would seem likely that Little Hunters lane was the upper part of Hunters lane , which was in Handsworth, which later was just called Hunters lane, Handsworth, and then became Hunters Road

Mike

Little Hunters lane. I suspected that it might be, Thanks for doing the research. One of AVFC's four founders lived in Little Hunters Lane and I could never find it anywhere.

 

[Vivienne14]

There are plenty of images of this spot but this is a postcard I don’t think I’ve seen before showing a busy scene in Villa Road at the junction with Hamstead Road. I like the milkman on the corner of Hamstead Road. That’s the very model of vehicle that delivered milk to us in Kingstanding in the 1950s, exactly as I remember it.

There’s a substantial Bywaters shop on the corner, not seen that on
any images of one of their shops there before. Viv

 

[Vivienne14]

I notice there’s another (short) Villa Road thread here https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/villa-road-handsworth.49956/

Viv.

 

[mikejee]

This has now been incorporated into this thread

 

[Jayell]

There are plenty of images of this spot but this is a postcard I don’t think I’ve seen before showing a busy scene in Villa Road at the junction with Hamstead Road. I like the milkman on the corner of Hamstead Road. That’s the very model of vehicle that delivered milk to us in Kingstanding in the 1950s, exactly as I remember it.

There’s a substantial Bywaters shop on the corner, not seen that on
any images of one of their shops there before. Viv
View attachment 168848

I remember Bywaters being on that corner. As a teenager I was up and down Villa Road regularly, although in those days it was the No.6 tram that went up and down the road to Lozells, rather than buses!

 

[Radiorails]

Actually it was the 5 trams that traversed Villa Road and Lozells Road, the 6 went to Perry Barr.
But after all this time, they ceased tram operation in September 1950, memories are fragile.

 

[Jayell]

Actually it was the 5 trams that traversed Villa Road and Lozells Road, the 6 went to Perry Barr.
But after all this time, they ceased tram operation in September 1950, memories are fragile.

Correct Radiorails - it was the No.5!
It was a long time ago that I used this tram which used to stop outside Mrs Payne's sweet shop at the top of Villa Road which was the terminus. I can remember running along the tram pushing the seat backs to face the other way for the return journey.