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Dear Genmac, the job of a seal-stone engraver is an elite job from the elite's of the lapidary ranks and lapidaries were rare (and still are) even back then: we are talking about something like ten/twenty men for the whole of the Birmingham Jewellery quarter in the 1920s and less than five...

John, In 1960 the only lapidary's in Birmingham at that time were Shipston in Spencer Street and Ben Clay in Vyse Street. Both were capable of producing quality cabuchon's from the rough; with Ben Clay the much finer artisan for such work. Given the (ugly) aesthetics of the bracelet I would...

A terraced house located 'up an alley' (situated in a courtyard) could fetch £800 to £1000 in the early 1960s. A terraced house located on a road: as in, the front door opens onto a road or street £1000 to £1200 in the same period. A terrace (town or semi-detached) (era) house with a front...

I only have some hearsay anecdotes from that time and one little tit-bit of an anecdote: I was just a kid of 14 years-old at the time working part-time in the Jewellery Quarter. The club (I think) was financed by a well liked Greek Cypriot fella and his friends with no 'gangster' links by all...

A trivial anecdote. Sometime about Christmas 1965 I was working late into the evening at my (after school) part-time job in the Jewellery Quarter: working late because of the Christmas rush to get orders processed. On my way home to catch the No8 (inner circle) bus that traversed Icknield...

I/we also sourced a dog from The Birmingham Dogs home: a Staffie/Border collie mongrel crossed with godknowswhat. He died aged 16 a year ago. His last three years were beset with health problems: cataracts, diabetes requiring twice daily injections of insulin and arthritis, and on most of the...

A link to above and below ground images of Hockley Brook: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/baptiser-moonwalker-birmingham-feb-2010.t47296

If the statute is not a 'labour-of-love', just pre-coat it with any type of PVC (even wood glue by diluting with water) to seal the surface and prevent flaking of the existing paint coat, and then paint with a water/emulsified external paint: not an oil-based paint. Using an oil-based paint...

I have a pair of (bashed/battered) seahorse lamps. The manufacturer is/was Bocock & Co, Mott Street Birmingham. The #9065 must be the pattern/style number for that particular lamp you are researching. Can't be of any further assistance.

Pamela, it would certainly narrow down your search if you mentioned the religion of your family: Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist or other... In 1953 peoples' living arrangements were varied: a residue of the war. Some newly formed families lived with other relatives...

Dear Lynn In the lead-up to the film's half-century, the previous free-view has been changed by BBC Worldwide to a pay-per-view. You'll just have to pay or wait till next year when it will be repeated ad nauseam. There are some Dark-Net Sites that have free full versions of this film but it's...

A short video introduction By Ken Loach: https://vimeo.com/13105600 This social explosion of a seminal film was released in the year of 1966. The following trivial anecdote occurred the year before in 1965 and thus, a valid excuse for posting as such in this film’s penultimate half century...

Dr John Clendinning from Westport County Mayo and Wimpole Street London. He was the first member of the Royal College of Physicians to report and record as to the beneficial effects from the consumption of cannabis, or as he called it: Indian Hemp. He died 1848 in a blissful...

The building is a Grade 2 with star (Grade 2*) making it very difficult for the current owners to obtain a 'listed building consent' to demolish it. The building's Grade 2 with the added star status is perhaps more 'fanciful' than a mere Grade 2 which is what it should be, but there it is. It...

In a previous life I did building maintenance work on both the St Luke's as mentioned in this thread. The one in Kingstanding is very pleasing architecturally for a modern church...and practical. The then vicar of the Bristol Street St Luke's told me the tower was never finished as they had...

The following link is to a website that has a comprehensive list, and in most cases photographs/artists impressions/etching prints, of historic buildings and country mansions that have been demolished over the years. With what information you have to hand, you should be able to plough through...

That looks like (it is) a 'Baroque-style' house and at the time of that photographic plate being taken, was probably 150 years old. The chances of that building still standing is extremely slim, given the popular rise (and easier to maintain) of the later 'Georgian-style' architecture. I've had...

Stuart, I think the fact you can't locate the foundry 'hallmark' on these cast beams would suggest they were perhaps not made by a pukka foundry: one proud enough to put their names on works of architectural significance; Birmingham in its day was just as notorious as Japan and now China for...

Weoley Castle or perhaps here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metchley_Fort. A good fortification for a Celt is a good a fortification for a Roman, a Saxon, an Angle, a Viking-Dane or a Norman, one supposes. (◣_◢)

The overwhelming majority of clubs, as mentioned ibid, had colour-bars: whites only and Irish at a push! That is, until the government outlawed that vile practice, BUT, even then, the Barn Social held out and on one particular occasion refused to admit a black-man engineer/electrician that paid...