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Witton Square

Yes Jean I remember some big wooden fences and one was the bookies my dad went in and what was in the one next to it? they were just down from the houses that lay back quite a way from the road, Trevor Bagshaw and Johnie somebody cant just think of his name lived there. Johnie Jordan that's it remembered
 
Patty I too remember the big fences and waste land next to the bookies. As for the boys names I would not have a clue.;) From Jean.
 
May be useful for anyone with an interest in Witton around 1870.

Details of the casualties from an explosion at Ludlow’s Ammunition Works…

https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/WAR/deloyde/explosion1870.html

From the History of Kynock...

1870 Whilst the safety record in percussion cap manufacturing, run by the redoubtable Mrs. McNab, is excellent, that of cartridge manufacture is not. The fourth explosion at the factory in two years is reported, this one on November 17th killing eight and injuring twenty, including children. On December 9th an even more appalling accident occurs in the neighbouring cartridge factory of Ludlow & Co - possibly a Kynoch licensee - when 17 people are killed instantly and 34 more will die later from their injuries; a national outcry ensues.

Regards Peter
 
Hi all , My parents used to have a shop for a while on the corner of Witton rd some time in the mid to late 50's , not sure what sort possibly a newsagents ? but i do remember them saying that when matches were on at the Villa , the police would regularly come in for cups of tea,
There names were :- Bf Mclean , known as Ben , and Pauline who i think did most of the running as my dad was probably working at Atkinsons or G.E.C Witton at the time.
I am also looking for any memories of Esther ( Tess ) and Frank Sterenberg , who apparantly ran a cafe somewhere by Miller st Newtown some time in the 50's.

Kind regards Ian
 
Ian what part of Witton road? only my husband lived there at that time and for some time after. Jean.
 
Hi There Jean, All i was told is that it was on the corner of Witton Rd by the Villa ground , and that my dad Ben Mclean or possibly my grandmother
Rose Mclean owned it ? at some point they sold it , possibly due to my Brothers impending birth ( 1958 ) and my dad and my uncle Frank went into a window cleaning partnership that covered parts of Perry Barr , Birchfield , ,Handsworth and Hockley.which they did for more than 15 yrs.

Ian
 
Does anyone remember that before the Co-Op it was called The Home and Colonial. It had a cash office connected by overhead wires to the tills and the assistant would put your payment into a little basket, pull a lever and the basket would go whizzing accross the store along the wire and your change returned a few moments later
I think the butcher's was owned by the Windle family, I was aquainted with the son Clive. The shoe shop
I recall was called Meanley's.
 
#91. Patty there was a Johny Lawrence too and his sister lives round the corner from us now. Chris I think the show shop sounded something like that but I can't quite remember. Jean.
 
Not exactly Witton Square more five ways but witton Rd never the less i,m sure all the members from this area will recognise this building. i ,ve been inside today it,s having a referb. What was this building used for when built can someone enlighten me.Thank you Dek
 
Thanks Jean it looked like an old dance hall from the inside. Talking to one of the builders he implied to me that it was used for a local court with a jail at the back in its early days i have my doubts though Albert Hall hardly rings of the assizes does it. Dek
 
My Mother used to go dancing at the Albert Hall regularly in the late l920's. She had a lot of great times dancing there. I am always glad to see that it is still standing. I am not sure what's in there these days. Thanks for posting Dek.
 
Dek Pete said he has never heard that and he lived just up the road. If it had been in those days him and his brothers might have ended up in there:D:D. Jean.
 
dek carr said:
Thanks Jean it looked like an old dance hall from the inside. Talking to one of the builders he implied to me that it was used for a local court with a jail at the back in its early days i have my doubts though Albert Hall hardly rings of the assizes does it. Dek
Click to expand...
Hi Dek,

I was a police constable in Aston in the 1950s. Albert Hall was a very popular dance venue but it never caused us any trouble such as experienced in the Broad Street area nowadays. It was never a court. The local court was in Victoria Road Police Station and in my day was held once a week. It dealt with the local summonses and minor offences.

Old Boy
 
Old Boy on another thread it was mentioned that there was the figure of a man outside dressed in black and Pete recollects a woman stature at one time would this be correct?. Jean.
 
Jean, as far as I can remember it was a wooden cut out of a couple dancing, gent in dinner suit and the lady in a long yellow? dress. I used to go to Christchurch on the point between Victoria Road and Witton Road, also to the Girls Life Brigade, and also to the library corner of Witton Road and Albert Road.

Dek it is possible that the building which I note was opened in 1899 could have been a court in the early years before Aston was incorporated into Birmingham in 1911. The library was previously Aston Council House. Perhaps some of our sleuths can find out more. I would be most interested to know.
 
Thanks Sylvia Pete thinks she had a red polka dot scarf too. He used the library too but not very often though. Jean.
 
Jean I lived and died at the library when I was young, used to read everything I could get my hands on. If I found more books than I was allowed to take out, I used to hide them flat at the back of other books and hope they would still be there when I went back later in the week. It was a long walk from Copeley Street but Albert Road Library had better stocks of books than Aston Cross Library which was nearer.
 
Old Boy said:
Hi Dek,

I was a police constable in Aston in the 1950s. Albert Hall was a very popular dance venue but it never caused us any trouble such as experienced in the Broad Street area nowadays. It was never a court. The local court was in Victoria Road Police Station and in my day was held once a week. It dealt with the local summonses and minor offences.

Old Boy
Click to expand...

Old Bill hey:D

Mau-reece
 
Dek it is possible that the building which I note was opened in 1899 could have been a court in the early years before Aston was incorporated into Birmingham in 1911. The library was previously Aston Council House. Perhaps some of our sleuths can find out more. I would be most interested to know.[/QUOTE]

I am not certain when Victoria Road Police Station was opened but prior to 1911 it was part of the Staffs Police and had the Staffordshire Knot in the brickwork over the main entrance. The court was purpose built and the steps from the dock led directly to the cells. I cannot be sure but I do not think that the Albert Hall was ever a court..

Old Boy
 
Does anyone remember Patricia Cullen in Witton she had a lot of children... she worked at Kynocks in the war years. Maybe it was called the square in Victoria times ... putting an island in there would change that. Fond memories of Witton my Gran May Tipping lived not far from there.
 
Thanks to Ragga for posting this picture on another thread.So it was reffered to as Witton Square at some time in the not too distant past.moss
 

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Regarding the circle there was not a island in the middle until the fifts ;
the picture taken on google was years after the island was put in ;the white traffic bollard you see at the side of the pub
was also later it was called witton square until the island was put in becvause there was also tram lines until the early fifty
years thats whenit started to call the circle and yes there was an old fire station ;and on the corner there was a mans club
or a society ; at the moment i just cannot think of the name it closed down at some point in the late forty or the early fifts ;
and never openend up again ;i will have to get my brain into gear ;and go back in time ;
there was a very old and big shoe shop just yards from the central gate of the imi kynox imperial
our kid used to man it with a couple of other security guys there ;
best wishes astonian;;
 
Hi guys its me again
as you mentioned the post office next to the post office was lovells sweet wholesalers
with his little vans and his ware housing ; he supplied alot of shops around brum in those early years ;
i think my brain is slowly wakeing up now ; but any way yes it was a square ragga is correct
and i recall all those keep left signs going in ; and the first ones was the one at the witton lane side
the one you see in the picture and a year or two later was the roundabout ;
ll the best to every body astonian;;
 
Astonian my dad used to be works police at IMI used to be in the little building by the side of the gates his number was WP 49 and it was in about the 50's his name was Tommy Jones I have a picture somewhere I will try to find it, I have put it on here before under Kynochs as it was called then
 
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