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Pedrocut posted this information on the Holloway Head Mill/Chapman's Mill thread. Maybe it didnt feature on some maps because it had fallen into disuse/disrepair. Maybe only the walls existed, proving a platform for the camera obscure. The Mill was demolished in 1873. Could this be the same time as the Inn was redeveloped ?
Hi Viv, I found your list in Post #26 very interesting. When I was researching boxing in the 19th Century I found a lot of these 'pastimes' in the Midland Sporting News at the old newspaper library in Colindale, London. If I remember 'pedestrianism' wasn't just fast walking it had several rules and I'm sure someone on here can tell me what they were. I think one foot had to be on the ground at any time and something about heels first. I know I tried it (not competitively) and it's not for the faint hearted.
The other 'sport' was sparrow shooting. This sounds quite hard till you find that they caught the poor things first and trapped them in a net, releasing them at the same time as 'sportsmen' assembled, guns at the ready to shoot as many as possible. Wouldn't be allowed now!
Agree, awful sport Pen, along with many others. Did wonder what 'pedestrianism' was all about. The words pedestrianism and sport don't, today, sit together. The wonders of bygone pastimes !
You can see the mill just behind the cottages. Source: From the Library of Birmingham Archives
The second photo shows #89 Holloway Head in 1868 (Dog and Duck, later replaced by the Talbot). You can just see the windmill remains - blue dot.
This photograph shows the mill in the middle distance. In the foreground is R.Wier - a carpenter, joiner and coffin maker. There are several fly-posters on the wall and also a large advert for Orams of 124 Broad Street who were a furniture and bedding store.
The view today would see you looking straight across at Clydesdale Tower and the garage next door. Photograph taken by Harold Baker
Agree, awful sport Pen, along with many others. Did wonder what 'pedestrianism' was all about. The words pedestrianism and sport don't, today, sit together. The wonders of bygone pastimes !
Pedestrianism was a sport of epic rivalries, eyewatering salaries, feverish nationalism, eccentric personalities and six-day, 450-mile walks.
www.bbc.co.uk
Off topic I know so it's my last post on this thread and quite interesting!
In relation to this sport, the Bowling Green Inn and the Prince of Wales Ground held pedestrianism events and seem to be linked. Were the Prince of Wales Ground and Bowling Green Grounds one and the same as that at the Bowling Green Inn/Tavern site ? On the pedestrianism sport thread I've posted a press cutting which also describes a 'Subscription Ground' at Holloway Head. Could this be how it developed? And by public subscription? There was a new 'pedestrian' ground opened in 1863.
On present day maps there's a large green undeveloped area and I wonder if this is/was connected. It would have been right on the edge of the early Bowling Green Inn/Tavern site.