hi mike hope you are well...much the same living in villa st...we were always digging up and finding the remnants of buttons and shells and i would not mind betting that when the street was demolished and new builds started they were still coming to the surface..all due to copes pearl button company which was very old and was just up from my house....about 3 years back some more new houses were built in villa st on the ground where copes stood ..imagine my surprise and delight to see that the new builds had been given the names of pearl gardens and button close (so someone did their homework)...i would guess that the new occupants have no idea where their addresses came from but at least i do
lyn
sparks ive just looked at the overlay map and on the spot you mentioned it lookes as though it was just woodland and the lodge house mind you that does not mean to say there was not a button factory near there..maybe a kellys look up may tell us more
lyn
https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18&lat=52.5208&lon=-1.9011&layers=6&b=3
Cannot find any in the 1841 or 1867 directories. But Perry Barr would have not been in Birmingham then , would it. The inclusion of firms outside Birmingham but nearby is a very irregular process. some areas are included, others not.
I'm so chuffed to come across the pieces, they have moved with me a few times, I have no idea why I kept them really!
I've been sorting out my button box, they have been saved from clothes and various relatives, over the years. It would be nice to think that the mother-of-pearl ones were made in Birmingham.
So many memories too!
rosie.
Hi all, new to this site after searching for old images of George Street Lozells. My father Clifford Welsh and aunt Joan Welsh both worked at Copes's. Family lived at 18 George Street Lozells.....great memories of visiting from new our new home Newtown. Villa Cross pic house was a must every Saturday morning late 60,s early 70's.Hi Astoness,
I posted a feature on the forum re: Copes Button Factory in Villa street some while back. Both my Mother & Grandmother worked there in the mid 1950's - the late 1960's, names I recall, Joan Welsh, Cliff Welsh, Cissy Leather, Amy (forgot surname, had son called David), I also recall a French girl who worked there but sadly can't remember her name. Still have some buttons Mom made during her time there.
Lozellian