oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
The photo of an archway shown below is on website https://www.winsongreentobrookfields.co.uk/archway-of-tears/
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Archway Of Tears
- Thread starter mfree
- Start date
pjmburns
master brummie
A search of the actual planning application includes the following statement.
Prior to full demolition commencing, some elements of the building are due to be retained. The main archway and two side flanking archways are to be carefully removed by hand. The Trust intend to place these features into storage to be incorporated into future redevelopment of the Hospital site. Once completed the rest of the building is to be demolished via mechanical process.
Prior to full demolition commencing, some elements of the building are due to be retained. The main archway and two side flanking archways are to be carefully removed by hand. The Trust intend to place these features into storage to be incorporated into future redevelopment of the Hospital site. Once completed the rest of the building is to be demolished via mechanical process.
Phil
Gone, but not forgotten.
In the 70's I has a contract to supply skips to the then West Birmingham Health Authority hospitals. Dudley Rd hospital being one of them. From time to time when the porterring staff thought a job was outside their remit and they wanted double time wages within normal working hours I was asked to supply a gang of men.
One of our regular jobs every couple of years was to sweep out the old workhouse buildings that were still standing at that time (photo 1) they were mostly still in good repair. One of our first jobs was to clean out a room in the old workhouse building that was full of old clothes belonging to patients of the infirmary and inmates of the workhouse that had died over the years and never been claimed (photo 2).
Another regular job was to clean out the cell like rooms (photo 3) of the dust dead pigeons and other such things that had amassed over the preceding couple of years.
All in all these places were better cared for when they were looked after by the Health Authority, but I suppose all that ended when they became trusts.
One of our regular jobs every couple of years was to sweep out the old workhouse buildings that were still standing at that time (photo 1) they were mostly still in good repair. One of our first jobs was to clean out a room in the old workhouse building that was full of old clothes belonging to patients of the infirmary and inmates of the workhouse that had died over the years and never been claimed (photo 2).
Another regular job was to clean out the cell like rooms (photo 3) of the dust dead pigeons and other such things that had amassed over the preceding couple of years.
All in all these places were better cared for when they were looked after by the Health Authority, but I suppose all that ended when they became trusts.
Attachments
oldMohawk
gone but not forgotten
The building seen in Alan's pic post#32 is probably the original 'Archway of Tears' and was the gatehouse on Western Rd.
It can be seen (circled) in Pic 1 aerial view date unknown. Note the tall chimney seen in the background of Alan's pic is visible in this view.
Pic 1.
It can also be seen (circled) in Pic 2 aerial view date 1920.
Pic 2.
In this Pic 3 aerial view date 1945, the gatehouse is still there on Western Rd.
Pic 3.
Sometime after 1945 the gatehouse was demolished but I have not been able to find the date of demolition.
The aerial view today
Pic 4.
It can be seen (circled) in Pic 1 aerial view date unknown. Note the tall chimney seen in the background of Alan's pic is visible in this view.
Pic 1.
It can also be seen (circled) in Pic 2 aerial view date 1920.
Pic 2.
In this Pic 3 aerial view date 1945, the gatehouse is still there on Western Rd.
Pic 3.
Sometime after 1945 the gatehouse was demolished but I have not been able to find the date of demolition.
The aerial view today
Pic 4.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
Last mention I can see is the Mail updated Dec 2016...
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/ne...-last-victorian-workhouse-demolished-12248522
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/ne...-last-victorian-workhouse-demolished-12248522
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Online Birmingham papers finish at 1945 - just a few Staffordshire beyond that. Nothing under Archway of Tears or Archway so I checked Dudley Road Hospital and that was nearly all Death Notices or Situations Vacant.
That's a typical PR job Pedrocut, divert onto a different subject a.s.a.p. - However we are excited by the potential for the development of new clinical services on the site.
Maurice
That's a typical PR job Pedrocut, divert onto a different subject a.s.a.p. - However we are excited by the potential for the development of new clinical services on the site.
Maurice
Hi Maurice
I will try and get back on this evening with more story lines and a couple of other photographs
i put my paper work down the other day in fact a night a two but my old dutchess moved it some where so tonight
i am hoping to put my finger on the button
one with a couple of gentlemen haveing dinner sitting in there section having lunch
in the old spike of western road which was part of the old place
also there is a big story of info with them
the arches mentionioned and in view what you have got now wasa not always painted in white wash
i used to pass it daily for years up and down westeren road for work purposes and for lady girl friends
and associating with friendsi used to work for pollard s of coventry when i came out of the forces
brookfield crescent which was about 500 yards passed the old spike they was industreal machine sellers
but cutting that bit out one year they employed a little old felloa for sweeping up the ware house and do some machine cleaning before we had taken them out across the coun try
this little old chap was a resident there at the spike nice old fella sppoke with him every day when i seen him at the warehouse
he told me he was living in the spike and told me his story
and prior to me starting at the machine company i had a friend whom worked at the hospital
whom was also ex military whom i knew as a kid he worked around the hospital as summerfield hospital as a porter
he suggested that i apply at the hospital for a vacant postion of porter
so i went down there and i went into that archway the door on the left and the second door you see was the reception
and on the door directly facing in the archway was the head porters office
and there was a guy from ickneild port road was the city mortary attendant there as well mr ridding
any way maurice got to cut off now but will be back alan;; Astonian,,
I will try and get back on this evening with more story lines and a couple of other photographs
i put my paper work down the other day in fact a night a two but my old dutchess moved it some where so tonight
i am hoping to put my finger on the button
one with a couple of gentlemen haveing dinner sitting in there section having lunch
in the old spike of western road which was part of the old place
also there is a big story of info with them
the arches mentionioned and in view what you have got now wasa not always painted in white wash
i used to pass it daily for years up and down westeren road for work purposes and for lady girl friends
and associating with friendsi used to work for pollard s of coventry when i came out of the forces
brookfield crescent which was about 500 yards passed the old spike they was industreal machine sellers
but cutting that bit out one year they employed a little old felloa for sweeping up the ware house and do some machine cleaning before we had taken them out across the coun try
this little old chap was a resident there at the spike nice old fella sppoke with him every day when i seen him at the warehouse
he told me he was living in the spike and told me his story
and prior to me starting at the machine company i had a friend whom worked at the hospital
whom was also ex military whom i knew as a kid he worked around the hospital as summerfield hospital as a porter
he suggested that i apply at the hospital for a vacant postion of porter
so i went down there and i went into that archway the door on the left and the second door you see was the reception
and on the door directly facing in the archway was the head porters office
and there was a guy from ickneild port road was the city mortary attendant there as well mr ridding
any way maurice got to cut off now but will be back alan;; Astonian,,
HI Maurice
The frontage of the gate house there was no challenge it was done automatic and it was in the early sixties
the picture i have put on in number one and the fencing you see was replaced from an old six feet netted fencing
which had a steel framed gate with a see through netted chicken wire and locked by a steel padlock
which ran down the side of those gates which in some parts had turned rusty and falling down
so they refenced it with the fence you see on the picture but directly behind that fence they left a long series of old building
which was only single high building for the accomadation of homeless men which was turned as the spike for these poor old men
it lasted a couple of years before they demolished that complex of building called the spike
they had to be in before a certain time or they was locked out
the top half of the arch went long before they demoed the spike along western road and added info it was facing R Whites pop maker
but any way after the top half of the arches down they moved further inside the grounds and started on the other building
demowing and rebuilding what was when they introduced summerfield hospital name
but prior to building new wards they used the old one which i think i have put the picture off
and it was excactly as you see it in the picture huge and dingy wards
sadly in the sixtys my grand mother whom was in her late seventy ,eightys years old was sent there very ill indeed
this was 1961 as i recall it i was sixteen years old i have never been in that part they called sunmmer field hospital
i have of course been a patient in my youger years at dudley roadnow the city hospital
but never summerfield,
And i can tell you Maureece i went into the building it was dark and dinghy ans eerie
the ward as you can see is excactly how it was , i commented to my mother about the state of the ward
as we started to walk into the ward it got worse and horrifying to see all these elderly people
in there very late times of there years nearly every bed each if not all was suported by by these hoist by there arms
or legs , and i have never seen nothink like it in my life, just surprizing and shocked to see the human sking
hanging from there arms it was looking at sheeets of linen it was the humam skin and by god
the smell of these bodies was unreal and over powering we eventaly got to grand ma,s bed
i stood there for two minutes mom sat down and i emediatly said to mom i have to wait out side
because i felt sick by seeing what i did and the smell of the place was over powering me
i will never forget that place for as long as i may live
if my memory serves me correct again once you walk through those front gates with the arch as you proceed further into the grounds
possibley another 100 yards in or a little further there is another arch you would be further in if you like the back end of the whole hospital which eventual you willl have come across the laudry rooms the wash house where they done all the hospital washing of blankeys and bed linnens
may i take a moment to mention this person whom was a very careing person and hard working whom beleive in life
and helping theneeded and homeless people and taking kids from the erdinton cottage homes and fostering these kids
and bringing them up in this world she as devoted her life to numerous kids from the erdington foster care
her name was Olive Frisby she worked at this terrible place for years i beleive she got a mention on this forum some many years ago
but during her spare time of rearing these kids she actualy worked in that wash house at the summerfielf hospital
sadly she died many , many years ago so did most of the kids and family
but getting back on track the second arches was where the wash house was big huge old crepped building
you would be around the sides of dudley road hospital and lodge road mental health issues depart ment
and these was apart of the old work house sections and they went on further taking you within the prison walls of winson green prison
there was these big wards what you see , in the seventys the prison department was given back some of these large wings
of the work house which ran down the back of the lodge road hospital along the prisison walls
and converted back to cells extention
i had a frightful experience of seeing first hand on these large rooms with the huge cell doors where they locked the really sick mental health patients in i was involved at one time to take a person below ground level to these places and see first hand of what they was like
i have said i will put a picture of a couplke of guys having dinner at the spike and see inside
so please bear wwith me
the top of the gate house was demolished i hink it was about sixty two or three
you also mentionioned the new departments they built within the grounds yes they built a new nurse accomadation for nurse to live on site and regarding the picture of the gate house where that one time new fencing i mentionion afew later they built a front complex
of departments for the NHS firstly of the new building was for the death people of hard of hearing to attendend
they close the one in little bromwich which i know as yardley and brought it to westeren road
well maureece i had better scamper off now for the time being speak again soon Alan,, Astonian;;;;
The frontage of the gate house there was no challenge it was done automatic and it was in the early sixties
the picture i have put on in number one and the fencing you see was replaced from an old six feet netted fencing
which had a steel framed gate with a see through netted chicken wire and locked by a steel padlock
which ran down the side of those gates which in some parts had turned rusty and falling down
so they refenced it with the fence you see on the picture but directly behind that fence they left a long series of old building
which was only single high building for the accomadation of homeless men which was turned as the spike for these poor old men
it lasted a couple of years before they demolished that complex of building called the spike
they had to be in before a certain time or they was locked out
the top half of the arch went long before they demoed the spike along western road and added info it was facing R Whites pop maker
but any way after the top half of the arches down they moved further inside the grounds and started on the other building
demowing and rebuilding what was when they introduced summerfield hospital name
but prior to building new wards they used the old one which i think i have put the picture off
and it was excactly as you see it in the picture huge and dingy wards
sadly in the sixtys my grand mother whom was in her late seventy ,eightys years old was sent there very ill indeed
this was 1961 as i recall it i was sixteen years old i have never been in that part they called sunmmer field hospital
i have of course been a patient in my youger years at dudley roadnow the city hospital
but never summerfield,
And i can tell you Maureece i went into the building it was dark and dinghy ans eerie
the ward as you can see is excactly how it was , i commented to my mother about the state of the ward
as we started to walk into the ward it got worse and horrifying to see all these elderly people
in there very late times of there years nearly every bed each if not all was suported by by these hoist by there arms
or legs , and i have never seen nothink like it in my life, just surprizing and shocked to see the human sking
hanging from there arms it was looking at sheeets of linen it was the humam skin and by god
the smell of these bodies was unreal and over powering we eventaly got to grand ma,s bed
i stood there for two minutes mom sat down and i emediatly said to mom i have to wait out side
because i felt sick by seeing what i did and the smell of the place was over powering me
i will never forget that place for as long as i may live
if my memory serves me correct again once you walk through those front gates with the arch as you proceed further into the grounds
possibley another 100 yards in or a little further there is another arch you would be further in if you like the back end of the whole hospital which eventual you willl have come across the laudry rooms the wash house where they done all the hospital washing of blankeys and bed linnens
may i take a moment to mention this person whom was a very careing person and hard working whom beleive in life
and helping theneeded and homeless people and taking kids from the erdinton cottage homes and fostering these kids
and bringing them up in this world she as devoted her life to numerous kids from the erdington foster care
her name was Olive Frisby she worked at this terrible place for years i beleive she got a mention on this forum some many years ago
but during her spare time of rearing these kids she actualy worked in that wash house at the summerfielf hospital
sadly she died many , many years ago so did most of the kids and family
but getting back on track the second arches was where the wash house was big huge old crepped building
you would be around the sides of dudley road hospital and lodge road mental health issues depart ment
and these was apart of the old work house sections and they went on further taking you within the prison walls of winson green prison
there was these big wards what you see , in the seventys the prison department was given back some of these large wings
of the work house which ran down the back of the lodge road hospital along the prisison walls
and converted back to cells extention
i had a frightful experience of seeing first hand on these large rooms with the huge cell doors where they locked the really sick mental health patients in i was involved at one time to take a person below ground level to these places and see first hand of what they was like
i have said i will put a picture of a couplke of guys having dinner at the spike and see inside
so please bear wwith me
the top of the gate house was demolished i hink it was about sixty two or three
you also mentionioned the new departments they built within the grounds yes they built a new nurse accomadation for nurse to live on site and regarding the picture of the gate house where that one time new fencing i mentionion afew later they built a front complex
of departments for the NHS firstly of the new building was for the death people of hard of hearing to attendend
they close the one in little bromwich which i know as yardley and brought it to westeren road
well maureece i had better scamper off now for the time being speak again soon Alan,, Astonian;;;;
i am pretty sure the urban explorers have already got into the archway of tears before the boards went round it...sure i have seen their photos.could be on the site 28 days later...shame we have to lose yet another building of social history interest which from what i can tell also includes the demo of the present hospital but we should all know by now that the powers that be very rarely care about preservation...
lyn
lyn
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Hi Lyn,
Hope you had a nice break and good to see you back. 28 Days Later has recently had a big shakeup and all photos and all but recent history has been removed. The photos have been moved to a new site and the access can be be set by whoever posted them to be whatever he or she determines. I rejoined as I haven't been on there since before the reorganisation and I have yet to see what is as available and what isn't. For certain it is not going to be the free-for-all system that they had before.
Maurice
Hope you had a nice break and good to see you back. 28 Days Later has recently had a big shakeup and all photos and all but recent history has been removed. The photos have been moved to a new site and the access can be be set by whoever posted them to be whatever he or she determines. I rejoined as I haven't been on there since before the reorganisation and I have yet to see what is as available and what isn't. For certain it is not going to be the free-for-all system that they had before.
Maurice
morning maurice had a wonderful time thanks...amazing tour...well i did not know that about 28 days later thanks for the heads up...i cant be sure if i saw the photos on there but later on i will have a look around to see what i can find...wished i had saved them now
lyn
lyn
maurice i have just logged onto 28 days later and i am having no trouble viewing photos that were taken as long ago as 2005 when i have time i will go through the hospital and workhouse section to see if i can locate and weston road pics...talking about snow have a look at in the garden today thread and see what my daughter is putting up with in usa
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
That's very strange, Lyn, I couldn't get on with my old username & password and had to re-register. Then I got the message about the photographs. Also I could only go back with about 5 pages of postings. But all the old faces were there and a few new ones. When I can find a spare half hour I will have to investigate again.
Maurice
Maurice
sospiri
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Lyn,
This is the message I got................
Hi *******, This is just a quick note to let you know that we have discontinued image uploads to the server. Nice as it was, the system was a bit hit and miss, complicated to use, and it also put a strain on the forum backups.
The best solution is to use a 3rd party image host. Please use www.ForumImageHosting.com as an alternative. It's free and easy to use. Here's some features: Drag and Drop uploading, Private and Public folders, all the link codes you'll ever need, share directly to Facebook, Twitter and other social media directly from the image or album page. And of course, you can use the images wherever you want.
In the near future there will be guides published, but in the meantime, just make sure your pictures go in an album, the album is private (if you want), and you use the 'Image embed codes -> BBCode full' to display the full size image. As usual we recommend the largest image size is 1024 pixels on the longest edge. Anything larger than that is pointless.
Maurice
This is the message I got................
Hi *******, This is just a quick note to let you know that we have discontinued image uploads to the server. Nice as it was, the system was a bit hit and miss, complicated to use, and it also put a strain on the forum backups.
The best solution is to use a 3rd party image host. Please use www.ForumImageHosting.com as an alternative. It's free and easy to use. Here's some features: Drag and Drop uploading, Private and Public folders, all the link codes you'll ever need, share directly to Facebook, Twitter and other social media directly from the image or album page. And of course, you can use the images wherever you want.
In the near future there will be guides published, but in the meantime, just make sure your pictures go in an album, the album is private (if you want), and you use the 'Image embed codes -> BBCode full' to display the full size image. As usual we recommend the largest image size is 1024 pixels on the longest edge. Anything larger than that is pointless.
Maurice
pjmburns
master brummie
There was a report in the Mail in January about this. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/demolition-building-been-called-crime-12406610
Radiorails
master brummie
I thought I posted this earlier, maybe I did not click the post reply button. However I believe there is some posts referring to the future f this structure.
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/archway-of-tears.14233/page-2
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/archway-of-tears.14233/page-2
Have merged three threads to form this single thread. Viv.