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City Centre Photographs

And another bit of old City Centre Brum that always fascinated me...The Lamb House...corner of Bull Street...it's been on here many times, and has quite a bit of history connected to it...notably via it's owners...


Lamb House 1886.jpg John Suffield.jpg Old Lamb House.jpg



FROM MY BIT ON THE COLMORES

"With support from the Under Bailiff and one of Holte’s men, the constable bearded the Colmores in their den, the ‘Lamb’ in Bull Street. Seeking to arrest the servant they were confronted by the Colmore brothers who swore that ‘they would die first on any many that laid hands on him’. Thomas Colmore then thrust murderously with his rapier at the constable. In the ensuing scuffle the officers of the law were badly beaten and their task was made impossible by the arrival of the Colmores’ father, William, with a party of twenty men who were brandishing pikes.


Lion and Lamb pub on the left side of Bull Street...scene of crime...

At last the Colmores were brought to book at Warwick Assizes in 1603 – but after bribing the witnesses against them the case was dropped. Almost in desperation Smallbrook went to the highest court in the land, the Court of the Star Chamber. He won his case but was left with heavy legal fees. As for William Colmore he received a substantial fine whilst two of his sons were committed to prison, plus each was also ordered to wear a paper on his head explaining his offence and to do so in an open place in Warwickhire. Terrifying. "
 
Dennis

You couldn't mistake the entrance to the Woodman, it was one on it's own.
 

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Duncan, if you can bring up the photos in the last few posts you are OK. The earlier ones were removed by a hacker some time back, so nobody can see them until they are reposted by the original Poster. If you cannot see the latest ones then your computer needs a doctor...hope this helps...and welcome to the madhouse!
 
Hi Duncan...Welcome to the Forum... if you post a request on the thread you are looking at, asking for the photos to be reposted if possible, you may get lucky.. if the original poster sees the request they might be able to add them back in..Sadly though, some photos will have been lost forever if the member is no longer with us.

Edit..it might be worth including the page number on the thread and the post number (shown at the end of the blue line at the top of the post marked with a #) of the photo you would like to see.
 
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Great sepia shot from Mail of the older Queens Head, Steelhouse Lane...plus other versions along the timeline...original to latest...







Queens Head Steelhouse Lane 1946.jpg Queens Head 2.jpg Queens Head 3.jpg Queens Head 4.jpg Queens Head Yard.jpg
 
Great set of pictures Dennis. What a sad end to the Queens Head from such a lovely building to something so ugly. I loved the Queens Head Yard sketch - I wonder what year this would have been about? Also do you have any idea where Queens Head Yard would be in relation to Russell Street which was also off Steelhouse Lane?

Judy
 
Jayell said:
Great set of pictures Dennis. What a sad end to the Queens Head from such a lovely building to something so ugly. I loved the Queens Head Yard sketch - I wonder what year this would have been about? Also do you have any idea where Queens Head Yard would be in relation to Russell Street which was also off Steelhouse Lane?

Judy
Click to expand...

This appears to be all we know about this famous image Jayell...unless mike or Phil know any more..? It was a photo of course, as illustrated, but no idea who copied it...i am fascinated by the Penny Black pub sign. The stamp was first issued circa 1840 by our own Sir Rowland Hill...no idea exactly where in Steelhouse Lane it was...let alone its relationship with Russell Street...sorry.


Queens head yard.jpg
 
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Thank you Dennis. I thought the Queens Head Yard picture was a sketch but now I see otherwise! The photo is absolutely fantastic - I love looking at it for the wealth of detail in it. Also thank you for the map showing the situation of the Queens Head Tavern - I think the Penny Black sign is great. I'm interested in the Steelhouse Lane area for several reasons - one being that my 3 x gt.grandfather (David Mackain) was a shoemaker in that road and is shown in the 1815 Wrightsons Triennial Directory as being there. After his death in 1835 his widow, my 3 x gt.grandmother, is next found at 32 Russell Street, off Steelhouse Lane, in the 1839 Robsons Directory as a Gun and Pistol Bag Maker!

Judy
 
great pics of the queens head dennis..what a shame that they deemed it ok to demolish the top half of the building..

lyn
 
Somewhere, probably on this thread, is soemthing I wrote on the Queens Head. It follows:
The subject of the Queens Head yard has come up before on one of the forums, but I don’t seem to have kept a record of it (or it got lost in a crash). Crussel court and Queens Head Yard are one and the same. I suspect that it was called Crussel court up to about the 1850s and Queens Court Yard from sometime after this.. This is because up to 1858 directories list the pub as the Kings Arms, and from 1862 as the Queens Arms .. McKenna states that the original building was built in the early 16[SUP]th[/SUP] century (which would fit with its appearance ), but did not become a pub til 1840. He doesn’t mention the earlier name though. Apparently it was locally known as The Stamp, because of the sign over the door.
 
For Christmas, I received two books about buses in and around Birmingham. Both books include some marvellous photos of the City Centre. Almost all the photos are accurately dated and identified. In fact, the books are almost worth buying just for the shots of 'Town'. Both books are by the same author: Malcolm Keeley. I'm sure some you are familiar with his work. The books are:
Birmingham Buses Route by Route 1925-1975, published in 2012 by Ian Allen (£24.99)
The Colours of the West Midlands, published in 2009 by Capital Transport Publishing (£19.99)
I thoroughly recommend them.

John Ball
Images of Birmingham: www.jlb2011.co.uk/iob/
 
Thanks for the tip John. Will try them, and let you know...

Meanwhile a super shot from the Mail...Church Street from Colmore Row..


Before and after...

Church Street.jpg Church St now.jpg
 
Great photo, but I believe I have seen an original which states it is taken from Edmund Street. this would tie-in as the Red Lion is visible towards the bottom at the juction with what was probably Bread Street which became Cornwall Street.
 
dennis thats a wonderful pic...never ceases to amaze me how i can never get my head round how our city used to look..

thanks for posting both the then and now i keep flicking from one to the other..

lyn
 
Yeah, corner of Edmond St. and Church St. Possibly around 1890 ish. I recognise the fence which has been on other photo's and indeed this corner is represented here in several pictures from different angles. I wonder if there had been buildings in the empty spaces that had been demolished; in which case they must have been gone for quite a while by then if the fence was put around for safety and was new when installed. What a dump it was by then.
One wonders why this photo was taken...maybe for a re-development study.
 
Yes also interesting as the site beind the fence on the left would become the site of 'Rutland House' which opened in 1958.
Was the site left empty for 60/70 years or was something built only to be demolished prematurely, anyone know?
 
Another couple of evocative shots of Edmund Street in it's Victorian pomp...no idea if they are related to the previously posted wrongly captioned photo.....

Edmund St 1904.jpg White Horse Edmund St.jpg
 
Yes, Dennis those are the pictures of the fence that I was thinking of. Same style fence as the one at Church St. but this one at the corner of Margaret St. and Edmund. To the left of those photos across the street would have been the back of the Art Gallery.
 
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