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Birchfield Road Perry Barr

Me again ... pondering about my photo in post#418. I don't think it is Birchfield Road, I think it is Wellington Road and the two photos below appear to confirm this.

The photo from post#418. Note the litter bin on the pavement, a bus stop further along, the Atkinsons Pub sign, and the building beyond it with a light colour on its lower wall and darker above.
PerryBarr.jpg

I think the above photo has been taken from an upper floor window of the modern Crown and Cushion Pub (just visible in the photo below) looking down on Wellington Road.

A photo of Toys Chemist which was on the corner of Birchfield Road and Wellington Road. Note on the other side of the road is a litter bin, a bus stop, a pub sign and a building with a light and dark coloured wall.
ToysChemist1959.JPG
 
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phil i agree with you...i did have my doubts about it being birchfield road but didnt like to say anything as i could not be sure...

lyn
 
Phil

Your photo #148 The first building on the left is Harry Brooks Opticians, the next is Gordon Motors 300 & 294 Wellington Rd .
 
A view of Birchfield Road looking north and a road roller turning into Aldridge Road is holding up some buses. On the right next to Wilkins Chemist is Crown Avenue ... which I first learnt about earlier in the thread ... I never even noticed it in the 1950s when I walked past.
1959SteamRoll.JPG
 
Guys, I think you may well be correct about that first photo being Wellington Road....I did say my memory is very vague. I do remember Toy's Chemist - in fact, I was going to ask what was on the corner of Birchfield Rd and Wellington Rd before the 'new'(?) C&C was built, but you've answered it for me.
I definitely remember having an eye-test at Brooks Opticians, and I do remember, slightly more vaguely, walking past the opticians and the car-lot with my Mom as we made our way to the station.
However, thinking about it, I would guess that Mom, who was a very, very cautious person, may well have crossed Birchfield Rd on the library side of the crossroads with Wellington Rd, then walked down Wellington Rd a short distance to where it was easier to cross. This was all nearly 65 years ago, don't forget. What I would say, though, is that the small pub on Birchfield Rd opposite today's C&C (for want of a better description) was definitely called The C&C at one time - my dad used it on Saturday lunch-times in the 1970's and I sometimes went to collect him and have a quick 'un myself. There again, memory does tend to play tricks with one....

Great thread, though. I love seeing old pics of 'my' area when I was a nipper - a good old working-class neighbourhood that was ripped apart.

G
 
Hi Lyn, there was no date with the photo but the No 6 Perry Barr tram route closed in 1949 so the photo must have been taken before that date.
Phil
 
Would we have a map showing whereabouts number 296 would be, although i believe it is now long gone.

thank you..
 
At the terminus on Birchfield Rd the trams stood in the middle of the road with traffic passing both sides. Some interesting things in this pic ... a Vee shaped object on the wire above the tram, a 'two tone' Bundy Clock, and what look like flags hanging on the pub. The tram conductress appears to be having a chat to the right of the clock and two women sitting on the tram's front balcony seat. Maybe a tram expert will know what the Vee shaped object is.
TramTerminusBirchfieldRd.jpg
 
Map attached shows 296 in red
 

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  • map c1950 showing 296 Birchfield Road.jpg
    map c1950 showing 296 Birchfield Road.jpg
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Phil the land in Normandy road where the cricket match was being played is, on the later map, interestingly still green. How has that happened when so much land of inner cities has been used for housing?
The traffic jam on Birchfield Road shows only one half of the picture. We lived in Stoneleigh Road, which runs parallel to Birchfield Road, as I walked home from work at ICI I walked past a line of cars usually at a stand still. I regularly had a chat to my husbands cousin who sat in his 'Bubble' car on his way home to Sutton.
 
This photo is in the 'A few Trams for a Change' thread and shows two trams queuing to get to the terminus. The library can be seen and the Birchfield cinema and if we could see what film was on we could have dated the photo but it looks to be just after the end of WW2. I can see at least five buses in the view which gives some idea of the traffic jams in those far off days. (linked image only visible if logged in)
index.php
 
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oldMohawk said:
At the terminus on Birchfield Rd the trams stood in the middle of the road with traffic passing both sides. Some interesting things in this pic ... a Vee shaped object on the wire above the tram, a 'two tone' Bundy Clock, and what look like flags hanging on the pub. The tram conductress appears to be having a chat to the right of the clock and two women sitting on the tram's front balcony seat. Maybe a tram expert will know what the Vee shaped object is.
View attachment 109663
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The angle piece over the wire is to hide the sparking when they run the current pickup pole round and engage with the power line, if you look it is inline with windows in pub.
The clue is the bundy clock the tram would be stopped at that point following it's journey from city it should have pulled up a bit further to locate . It was possibly installed during the war to prevent aircraft seeing the flash when changing direction at night
 
Thanks Ray, the tram is standing at the terminus and I remember the conductors/conductresses had to pull the collector pole down and walk round in traffic to get it back on the wire and I thought it might have been some sort of guidance system to save them having to fiddle with it at the same time as watching out for cars and bikes etc. I don't think it remained there long because I have never seen it in other pics.
oldmohawk ...:)
 
Photo in #430 is very definitely taken during WW2 or very soon after it ended as confirmed by the V canopy over the wiring, white bumper on the tram and the white painted base of the Bundy clock.

I would agree the photo in #433 is soon after the war ended as the BCT buses have the darker roofs introduced during the war but nothing seems to have blackout headlamps still fitted.

Two great photos.

Simon
 
The No 6 Perry Barr tram service ended in 1949 and 4 years later in March 1953 they were taking up the tracks.
TramTracksGoing.jpg
 
Vivienne14 said:
Hi Oldmohawk. Never heard of those before. Can't say I'm totally surprised they had a short life! How on earth could they've been regarded as safe? Bus failures must have been a common winter sight on the hill near the Golden Hind. I've been on the # 29 bus, going towards Hawthorn Rd in bad weather and seen the the buses just refusing to go up the hill. It was quicker to walk. Must have been a bit of a nightmare for bus drivers. Viv.
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They weren't safe. I don't remember them but my Mother did tell me about a lad from our road who was killed in Perry Barr. He waited for the bus to pass and dashed across the road to be run over by the trailer
 
The tram lines had a lot to answer for, how many cyclists got their front wheels stuck in them. But on a dark foggy night, or even day when the fog was at its worst, how many of us followed them to get us home when the bus's wern't running.
 
Astoness said:
nice pic phil...now where on that route was it taken ..looks like a pub on the left but it rings no bells with me and i dont think its birchfield road...

lyn
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Hi Lyn, I thought it was Birchfield Road by Chain Walk. The road was narrow there and the tram track went to single line as shown on the map below. Also, what I think is the pub is shown on the map although marked as a hotel. I could however be wrong and maybe other members can comment.

Screenshot (48).jpg
 
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Di.Poppitt said:
The tram lines had a lot to answer for, how many cyclists got their front wheels stuck in them. But on a dark foggy night, or even day when the fog was at its worst, how many of us followed them to get us home when the bus's wern't running.
Click to expand...
I can remember having some scary moments with tram lines when I cycled in Birchfield Rd. With regard to the fog in those days, it was so thick and smoky (smog) bus drivers could not see the kerbs. One foggy night going home from Handsworth Tech, I managed to catch a No 5 tram from Villa Cross to Six Ways but then had to walk from there to Great Barr because no buses were running.
 
I remember walking home one Christmas with my parents from my aunt's in Victoria Road to Kingstanding because of the smog, dad said "we'll follow the tram lines" then after a while said "damn that's the Chain Walk." We'd completely missed the Six Ways turn towards Perry Bar.
 
hi eric any ideas why it was called chain walk...i have an idea but just wondered if anyone knew for certain

lyn
 
A cropped view of the pic dated 1954 in post#438 which I think is on Birchfield Rd. There appears to be a pub like building on the corner of Johnstone Rd and it is marked as a hotel on the map in post#442. I have highlighted two features on the building.
Pic1
1_BirchfieldRd1954.jpg

A view of Birchfield Rd dated 1962, and a building in the pic appears to have the same two features. A problem with this pic is that the building now has an upper floor compared to the 1954 pic.

Pic2
2_Birchfield_Rd-1.jpg
Another view dated 1966 shows what looks like the same building and one feature looks the same. Unfortunately a bus blocks nearly all of the front of the building.
Pic3
3_BirchfieldRd1966.jpg
If the building on the corner was a pub I cannot find a name for it or any other information.
 
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Lyn
Hava elooked at maps and searched newspapers, but cannot find reference to Chain Walk until it was a street. It must have been before 1865
 
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