Blocked off Arches

[DavidO69]

Hi. I just walked under the St Chads railway underpass in a South westerly direction and as well as a plaque about this being the place of an execution in 1806 I noticed a series of blocked off archways at 90° to the road. What were they for and when were they built?

 

[Stokkie]

Hi. I just walked under the St Chads railway underpass in a South westerly direction and as well as a plaque about this being the place of an execution in 1806 I noticed a series of blocked off archways at 90° to the road. What were they for and when were they built?

Welcome David,

Details of the execution are in the first post of this link:
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/threads/public-execution.33901/

Now to the arches - are they the ones in post #11 in the link I've posted?

 

[Stokkie]

I think the arches are what remains of old Snow Hill station which was rebuilt 1906-1912 closed in 1972 and mostly demolished in 1977. You can see arches at the rear of the booking hall photo in this postcard of 1914 [Wikipedia public domain]

But many members have a detailed knowledge of this building and the arches and tunnels.

 

[Stokkie]

Another view from 1950s. I'd say some of these are or were originally ticket offices where you could buy tickets.

 

[mikejee]

I would not have thought they would have had all those ticket offices, potentially with queues around them on the open street. The view I took back in 1969 was slightly different, and seemed to have a little window in the upper part

 

[Stokkie]

I would not have thought they would have had all those ticket offices, potentially with queues around them on the open street. The view I took back in 1969 was slightly different, and seemed to have a little window in the upper part

View attachment 201132

I meant the ones in the booking hall, which are a different design. I'm guessing the 1969 picture in the street shows ventilation at the top. Did steam engines run the other side of the wall? Or ventilation for the concourse under the glass roof? I wonder if most of the arches in the outside wall have been bricked up? I know that there were many changes to the station over the years.

 

[mikejee]

The features are under the bridge on Great Charles St, with the rail lines above. All the engines would have been above that level.

 

[Stokkie]

The features are under the bridge on Great Charles St, with the rail lines above. All the engines would have been above that level.

Thanks Mike. Do you think that the arches might have been open originally to ventilate the space behind then later bricked up?

 

[mikejee]

I do not really know. There was a parcel depot under the rail lines, with access from Snow Hill,. and apparently some storage rooms I am not sure if the features we are describing were windows or gavwe access to that area