Can anyone tell me please where Wilton Street is or was? I have a birth certificate with the address 84 Wilton Street in the sub-district of Aston this was in 1914. I have another birth certificate showing the address 2 back 33 Wilton Street in the sub-district of All Saints. this was in 1916.
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Wilton Street Lozells
- Thread starter Jules65
- Start date
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
Wilton Street was in Lozells. Here are a couple of maps
- Wilton St 1904 marked
- 1904 without mark
- 1940's map
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
Wilton St 1966
Thank you Michael for the maps and of the photograph. I have just worked out how to enlarge the maps sufficiently to be able to read them properly.
I was born in 1965 in Lozells and my memories of the area are all after the re-development had taken place. Were the houses so bad that they had to be demolished? I lived in Burbury Street for 25 years and when I went back recently the houses seemed in pretty good condition. Some of them looked lovely actually - though I have got a soft spot them. I live in a modern house now but do miss the character and space of a Victorian house. Were the houses and streets that were left untouched considered better than those that were demolished? Or did the City Council just run out of money? Obviously living conditions would have to be improved but it just seems so sad.
I was born in 1965 in Lozells and my memories of the area are all after the re-development had taken place. Were the houses so bad that they had to be demolished? I lived in Burbury Street for 25 years and when I went back recently the houses seemed in pretty good condition. Some of them looked lovely actually - though I have got a soft spot them. I live in a modern house now but do miss the character and space of a Victorian house. Were the houses and streets that were left untouched considered better than those that were demolished? Or did the City Council just run out of money? Obviously living conditions would have to be improved but it just seems so sad.
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
I don't think the houses were so bad, but I was born in one and my perception is mainly that of a child. Also, we had a 'through' house rather than a back to back. That is, at the front there was an old shop room, then a front room, then a living room and then a kitchen. There was no hot water, of course and we had our own back yard. We were considered posh. Most of the friends I grew up with lived in back-to-backs. Behind our house there was a court with fourteen back to backs.
Our house was clean and sound in the fifties. In the forties, I know that my mom had to complain to the council as a piece of ceiling fell near my head on my bed one night. Once we had a chimney fire due to faulty brickwork at the side of the fireplace. The house was draughty and had gas and electricity; gas for light and for cooking. Of course, there was and outside lav. Electricity was put in before the war but the houses down the back didn’t get it until the late forties, early fifties.
Some friends lived in what seemed to me even then, squalor, but that wasn’t necessarily to do with the housing. People were poor, low paid or out of work, and living in overcrowded conditions. The back to backs generally had one bedroom and an attic room. Parents would use the bedroom and the children, the attic. As the children became older the bedroom may be subdivided with a sheet to separate boys from girls. Often, once they were at work, older children would move out to rent somewhere of there own. For the boys, national service would play a part.
Sometime in the fifties the council carried out a big renovation scheme. Roofs were repaired or replaced wooden floors were replace masonry repaired and walls replastered. All the houses were given a new lease of life. No hot water or bathrooms though. Then in the sixties, slum clearance and rebuilding started and people were moved into the high-rise warrens.
Before this happened, when my father died in the early sixties, we moved to a relatively new council house in West Heath. I had a taste of the new Birmingham before it hit Aston and Lozells.
Looking back I am relieved that I had my childhood before the redevelopment and before we moves. It was a rich area of covered entries to run down and hide in, courtyards to play in, walls to climb over with back gardens to run across, waste ground and recreation grounds for adventures and racing your bikes, Sunday schools to get sent home from, the pictures to smoke and meet girls, parks for fishing, libraries for reading, the swimming baths for splashing and diving, lampposts you could swing on and streets where you could play football and cricket.
Our house was clean and sound in the fifties. In the forties, I know that my mom had to complain to the council as a piece of ceiling fell near my head on my bed one night. Once we had a chimney fire due to faulty brickwork at the side of the fireplace. The house was draughty and had gas and electricity; gas for light and for cooking. Of course, there was and outside lav. Electricity was put in before the war but the houses down the back didn’t get it until the late forties, early fifties.
Some friends lived in what seemed to me even then, squalor, but that wasn’t necessarily to do with the housing. People were poor, low paid or out of work, and living in overcrowded conditions. The back to backs generally had one bedroom and an attic room. Parents would use the bedroom and the children, the attic. As the children became older the bedroom may be subdivided with a sheet to separate boys from girls. Often, once they were at work, older children would move out to rent somewhere of there own. For the boys, national service would play a part.
Sometime in the fifties the council carried out a big renovation scheme. Roofs were repaired or replaced wooden floors were replace masonry repaired and walls replastered. All the houses were given a new lease of life. No hot water or bathrooms though. Then in the sixties, slum clearance and rebuilding started and people were moved into the high-rise warrens.
Before this happened, when my father died in the early sixties, we moved to a relatively new council house in West Heath. I had a taste of the new Birmingham before it hit Aston and Lozells.
Looking back I am relieved that I had my childhood before the redevelopment and before we moves. It was a rich area of covered entries to run down and hide in, courtyards to play in, walls to climb over with back gardens to run across, waste ground and recreation grounds for adventures and racing your bikes, Sunday schools to get sent home from, the pictures to smoke and meet girls, parks for fishing, libraries for reading, the swimming baths for splashing and diving, lampposts you could swing on and streets where you could play football and cricket.
Thanks Michael for memories. I think my parents were lucky and lived in the "posh" part of the street. They lived and my grandparents lived in Lozells since the late 1890's. Before they lived in Burbury Street, they lived in Defford Road. Our house in Burbury Street was large and had a front garden and large back garden. You went in through the front door into the vestibule. Through a half glazed door and were in the hall. A door to the left was the bay fronted livingroom, a little further down the hall was another door which was our middle room or sitting room. Originally this had french windows which opened onto the back yard. At the bottom of the hall were stairs. If you turned the corner there was a door to your left which opened onto the back yard. A door on your right led down into the cellar. In front of you was a door into what we called our kitchen, though I suppose it was more like a dining room as there were no appliances in it, just a table and chairs. There was a fireplace which in my youth still had an open fire. There was a door leading to the scullery, which was tiny but held the cooker and sink, washing machine and later a fridge. I can remember when I was very young that milk was stored on the cellar steps (sterilised milk of course) and if we had a jelly to set, it was put in a container on a slab of marble in the cellar. In the scullery was the back door into the garden. Of course we had an outside loo (although one of back bedrooms had been converted into a bathroom before I was born) then the coal house.
My sister was born just after the war and my brothers not too long after. I'm sure they enjoyed the type of childhood you described.
My sister was born just after the war and my brothers not too long after. I'm sure they enjoyed the type of childhood you described.
Michael_Ingram
gone but not forgotten
I remember going into posh houses like that Jules. perhaps even in Burbury Street. I knew it well as I went to Burbury Street school
I have heard about Burbury Street School. Was this also known as Harry Lucas? or even Farm Street School or were they all separate schools in their own right.
My brothers went firstly to St. Silas and then onto Harry Lucas.
I don't think we thought of our house in Burbury Street as posh. When my parents first lived there, they shared the house with my mom's sister and her husband. My nan lived next door and she and my grandad shared the house with her sister. In fact it was my Aunty Lily's house and my grandparents lived with her.
I think it was common when my parents married in 1945 to rent part of a house. I know once they lived in the Burbury Street house alone they took in a lodger. This was all way before my time.
I think it was common when my parents married in 1945 to rent part of a house. I know once they lived in the Burbury Street house alone they took in a lodger. This was all way before my time.
Mayfield
Burbury Brummie
Burbury Street school and Harry lucas are the same Jules whereas Farm Street Primary & Infant was a different school.
During the war years however, the children from Farm Street were transferred to Burbury Street/Harry Lucas.
keith
Thanks for clearing that up Keith.
Hi Lyn. Wish you did have photo's of this school. I have some photos of my brothers and some old family photos. I will keep searching but haven't come across any yet. I have worked out that my family have lived in Lozells for about 120 odd years (possibly longer). I am trying to find out as much information about them and the area as possible.
Have a good day tomorrow - I will wait with baited breath to see your and Keith's photos.
Jules
dipseydiva
knowlegable brummie
Hi, I am looking for any information/memories/photos of Wilton Street. My husbands mother [whom he never knew] grew up in Wilton Street. The family name was Smith and they lived at number 2 back of 181 from at least 1911 until at least 1955. There were at least 12 children. Many thanks.
Barr_Beacon
The Prodigal Brummie
Wilton Street. Apologies no date, except looking at the cars (Ford Anglia and Ford Prefect 107E), I'd say the early 1960s.
Radiorails
master brummie
The top photo is interesting. There are new lintels and brickwork around the windows suggesting an extension of life to the places at some time but what has happened to make the centre one unsafe?
The nearer car (Prefect?) does not look new so maybe the photo is more mid 1960's
The nearer car (Prefect?) does not look new so maybe the photo is more mid 1960's
aston lad
master brummie
wonderful photos BB...lovely to see some new ones
Its a pity Lyn that you are not on Facebook...you would have seen these before Barr- Beacon copies them from the AstonBrook-through-Aston Manor facebook page.....We don't mind if he gave credit to where he gets them from....because we do....You have been mentioned a few times on there by myself , I also inform members about Birmingham History Forum and advice them to join if they want to learn more about the city.....We will be posting some more soon which are copy right.....Sorry Lyn to sound so negative ....but like yourself John Houghton and myself have put many hours in trying to find new material to post...a bit of credit would help.....
Its a pity Lyn that you are not on Facebook...you would have seen these before Barr- Beacon copies them from the AstonBrook-through-Aston Manor facebook page.....We don't mind if he gave credit to where he gets them from....because we do....You have been mentioned a few times on there by myself , I also inform members about Birmingham History Forum and advice them to join if they want to learn more about the city.....We will be posting some more soon which are copy right.....Sorry Lyn to sound so negative ....but like yourself John Houghton and myself have put many hours in trying to find new material to post...a bit of credit would help.....
Interesting tower with a lot of ornamentation in the second photo. Any ideas what it was ? Viv.
hi john totally understand your views as you said they are much along the same lines as mine about acknowledging where we find photos when we can....this could have been an oversight on BBs part ...history and photos are for sharing so thanks for mentioning this forum to others also thanks for sharing the wilton street pics oh by the way john without looking at my maps is that part of lozells school in pic 2...
lyn
oh by the way john without looking at my maps is that part of lozells school in pic 2...lyn
aston lad
master brummie
Not too sure about the school Lyn...John Houghton posted that photo I will ask him ....mine were of the Walmers Recreation Ground / Blews Street Park, which were edited from the originals...like you have said we are not in competition with each other and never will be....or John and myself want is the acknowledgement....not medals, nor stars...or even pat on the back...just say Astonbrook facebook page....moan over
lol john same here just a thanks to BHF will surfice..in fact i think its time i posted another reminder on here about the acknowledgement of where we find photos...it costs nowt to say thank you...so thank you for the walmers rec photos...i was made up seeing those
back to what looks like a school in photo 2...i went to lozells girls school..there was another part which i think was the infants and juniors with the entrance in clifford st...i would need to look at a map to try to work out if we could see the school from where that photo is taken from memory i think we could..may not even be a school but i cant think what else it could be but if JH knows that would be great as i am intrigued to know
all the best
lyn
back to what looks like a school in photo 2...i went to lozells girls school..there was another part which i think was the infants and juniors with the entrance in clifford st...i would need to look at a map to try to work out if we could see the school from where that photo is taken from memory i think we could..may not even be a school but i cant think what else it could be but if JH knows that would be great as i am intrigued to know
all the best
lyn
Just looked at Cowper Street school on the Aston Brook through Aston Manor site and the interesting tower belongs to the school. What a lovely little tower. Well I mean very tall and thin tower. Viv.
In the 1950s 179 houses in the Street were declared unfit, although there seems to have been a debate about exactly how unfit they were. Viv.
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