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Broad Street

  • Thread starter Thread starter rianne1974
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hi aidan..i wondered why it was called pig lane..like you say it could be because of the founderies and the pig iron..and heres me thinking it maybe because they drove the pigs to market from there lol..i do have a pic of that but its taken in deritend..
 
aidan i would think your explanation is more near the mark to be honest...bit off thread but here is that pic..like i say its deritend not broad street..
 
I read that at each end of Broad Street in the 30's there were two floral fountains each adorned with a naked man stood astride the dome of the Council house. One at each end of the road. I wonder what happened to those?

Phil

CityBroadStoneoftwoFloralFountains.jpg
 
Stitcher

Going back to your mention of the cushioning of Symphony Hall. Here is a slightly better photo of the cushioning in the reverberation chamber underneath Symphony Hall.

Phil

CityBroadStSymphonyHall2.jpg
 
Hello Phil, if you tell others about his reverberation chamber they tend to look at you as though you are making it all up.

I will look at a few books annd see if I can find anything out about the two statues.
 
Another article by Carl Chinn in tonights (Saturday) Birmingham Mail about Broad Street with pictures of area where ICC now stands and a brief history of Prince of Wales Theatre.
 
Aiden i,ve come across a book "Memories Of Birminham"a hundred years of Photographs there are several of Easy Row among others of all areas, can i scan and post them that is the Question. Dek
 
You can if you think you can Dek - would love to see them. I love books like that... where'd u get it?
 
When I saw Stitcher's picture of the Easy Row/Broad Street junction I assumed that the Masonic Hall had been built just to the right off picture. The horse bus and the open top bus date the picture to Edwardian era. Aiden's post is much later I would say late 1950s. I was surprised to see the building to the right with shops at ground floor level which means that the Masonic Hall was further to the right than I thought. I remember the roundabout as it was on my bus route into town. Remember that on the other side of the road next door to Baskerville House (or the Civic Centre as we then called it) was a service road and then the Air Terminal on Easy Row. There was usually a single deck Birmingham Corporation bus parked in the service road running the airport bus service. I believe the fare was a massive 3 shillings. Not sure how that service was licensed as the normal Corporation buses had to turn at the Sheldon turning circle, which is still there at the city boundary.
 
That's really interesting info and a fantastic picture Maxwell. Would you have the accompanying Easy Row page by any chance?
 
Apparently there is a plaque close to the underpass leading to the central library, depicting where Easy Row was. Max
 
I posted a few days ago that Broad St. was once known as Pig Lane. I have searched my odds and *ods but can find no reference to it at all. However I mentioned it to a friend and he came up with this, but he tells me there is no text to go with the page.

View attachment 56114
 
Stitcher said:
I posted a few days ago that Broad St. was once known as Pig Lane. I have searched my odds and *ods but can find no reference to it at all. However I mentioned it to a friend and he came up with this, but he tells me there is no text to go with the page.

View attachment 56114
Click to expand...

I have been looking in books that i have, and various maps, and i couldn't find any reference to pig lane either, in fact in Carl Chinns book of brum street names he makes no reference to it. What has come to light is that Broad St was originally over the other side of town !Max
 
I have spent some time looking for info on the floral fountains and statues that phil mentioned but again no luck.
I should tell you that I only look at the forum for short spells to have a break from sewing, so I may miss some threads or replies and for that reason I now only reply to anything that really appeals to me.
 
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Stitcher
On the next page to the picture showing "Pig Lane " it does say " People who trotted along Broad St in 1998 would have seen this sign , which was however only publicity relating to a veterinary congress at the ICC. But Broad St was once called Pig Lane". Not that this brings us any further forward.
mike
 
Hello Mike, I have quite a few small books and newspaper cuttings that I saved over the years but I have nothing about this Pig Lane thing. I have read that various cattle were herded across Bristol Rd, up the hill and across Wheeleys Rd and Broad St but there is no specific mention of pigs.
 
Hi Stitcher.
I agree . I have never found anything suggesting a pig lane (yet).I was just saying that there was this small note on the next page
mike
 
I remember the Woodman pub in the 1960s although I never went into it.

On the photo showing the junction of Easy Row and Edmund Street in 1912, at some time this building became HMSO, the Government Bookshop. Am I right in thinking that you can just see the shop front in the 1946 photo? The building looks the same but without the pediment over the front door
 
Dek, what smashing pictures.
Mike, I understand what you are saying but I do not have the book in question. A friend supplied the picture after I had mentioned Pig Lane. Max tells us that the original Broad st. was on the other side of town so There may be a connection to pigs there.
 
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