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Courtyards and yards of brum

Lady Penelope said:
Crumbs oM, what on earth was keeping the house together on post #1,057. It looks as though there is hardly any mortar left either.
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I often look at these old courtyard photos and wonder what the buildings looked like when they were first built. I've no idea of the building dates but maybe it was before cameras were in general use so there are no such photos.
 
It seems there was work improving slum housing at some unknown date as shown in this photo of reconstructed slum housing in 28 Court, William Street, Birmingham. The dark coloured notice under the first bedroom window says 'MoorCroft Cottages' and the notice on the end wall says 'House To Let'. There are many similar photos of houses in different areas.
They look as good as some 'new build affordable housing' I've recently seen although without today's 'mod-cons' and insulation.
28CrtWilliamSt.jpg
shoothill
 
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There are some 'before and after' images of reconditioned slum housing in the Staniforth Street thread.
Images below only visible if logged in to the BHF
oldMohawk said:
Pic 1 (also posted elsewhere on the forum) shows some very poor housing conditions. A wall plaque can be seen on a wall in the street beyond and there are suggestions that it is a war memorial and if for WW1 then the poor housing was obviously there in the early 1920s. There is nothing in this image which identifies the location but the following sequence of photos will.
Pic 1
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Another view of the buildings and lavatory block in Pic 2, still showing very poor conditions and the edge of the wall plaque can just be seen. The original caption with the pic source suggests it is named Bagot St Court.
Pic 2
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In Pic 3 below the buildings on the right have been reconditioned and the lavatory block demolished. The wall plaque can be seen and also part of an Ansells Pub. Apparently there was a project of reconditioning some slum housing in Birmingham but I have not been able to find any information about it. A close look at the memorial suggests there is a vase of flowers on it.
Pic 3
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Another view of the the reconditioned buildings and more of the pub showing. Also a street name shows on the pub wall but is not clear in this jpg image. A low tower-like building with a conical roof can also be seen and looks to be part of the pub. The conical roof can be seen in an aerial photo on the 'britainfromabove ' web site.
Pic 4
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With some photo editing on the original pgn file it reads Staniforth St as shown below, so the pub is the White Hart on the corner of Staniforth St/Bagot St. I've seen this confirmed on an old map but there does not appear to be any available photo of the pub. The house on the right in the previous pics backs on to Bagot St so maybe is why the court is known as 'Bagot St Court'
Pic 5
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dawny58 said:
This house was ours! we lived at 1/12 primrose place. You can still see the initials that my sister wrote on the wall, DL and LL. We slept in the attic. the Abbott's family backed onto our house in the next yard to the right. We moved in 1968 due to demolition. happy days.
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thats great...how lucky are you to have found this photo...

lyn
 
dawny58,

One of my father's relations lived in Primrose Place, but I would have to look it up to find the date. The surname would be SHEPHERD or a similar variant and it would most likely be early 20th Century.

Maurice :cool:
 
This is an amazing thread:) My Dad grew up in house number 5, 779 Bristol Road in Selly Oak (where Sainsburys now is). Their left hand garden wall apparently bordered the Oak cinema car park. If anyone has any photos I would love to see them and show him. We visited the Birmingham back to backs in Hurst St last weekend and it brought back a lot of childhood memories for him!
 
Clairabelle said:
This is an amazing thread:) My Dad grew up in house number 5, 779 Bristol Road in Selly Oak (where Sainsburys now is). Their left hand garden wall apparently bordered the Oak cinema car park. If anyone has any photos I would love to see them and show him. We visited the Birmingham back to backs in Hurst St last weekend and it brought back a lot of childhood memories for him!
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Hello, I've just joined this Forum and the first thing I find is a reference to the house I lived in until I was 9! I lived
at 5/779 Bristol Road with my parents and brother until my father's death in 1963 when we moved to Northfield. I have to say that when I think back it was pretty dire... When you left Bristol Rd, down an alley between the shops you arrived in a courtyard which lead to a path and on to a row of 5 houses ,no 5 being the furthest away next to the cinema car park. The courtyard was often knee deep in potato peelings from the back of the fish and chip shop which fronted onto Bristol Road......no health and safety concerns in those days. I think there was a wash house in the courtyard, but there was definitely the toilet block, which meant a short walk from our house! I remember having a lot of fun playing in the cinema car park and running over the mountains of coke which was stored there. What years did your father live there?..I'm not sure if I have any photos but will have a look.
Regards Pam
 
Hi everyone,

I've just joined the forum as well. I was born in a back to back in 1952 in Skinner Lane, Deritend. Later my family moved out to Selly Oak, but my granny and (numerous) aunts, uncles and cousins still lived in the town centre. Slowly they were all rehoused but I remember going to see my granny and remaining cousins in the city centre, usually on a Saturday afternoon, after a visit to the markets with my mum. My dad worked in a garage called Evans and Kitchen in Hurst Street, and for some years in the sixties and seventies I worked with him in Saturday and holiday jobs before going to university (a family first!) Later in my career I moved to France to work in an international school in Toulouse for 35 years. A few years before my retirement I organised trips to Stratford and Birmingham for our students in the equivalent of year 9. We visited the National Trust back to backs in Hurst/Inge Street. For me the first time was quite emotionally overwhelming, after an absence from Birmingham of nearly forty years. I've been back since and have finally begun to integrate what was a challenging but intense period of my life. We all know what physical challenges we faced in those inner city dwellings , but the love and solidarity I felt as a child from my family and friends have been the sustaining force of my life.
 
smashing post bullring boy...hope you enjoy the forum..photo here of skinner st to the right..skinner lane on the left ..click on the link below to take you to the skinner lane thread there are a few other pics on it


Skinner Lane

Does any one know where this street was please. Skinner Lane.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk


City Skinner Street 1968[1] (2).jpg

lyn
 
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Thank you so much for your replies and the pictures. I could go on for hours about the times I spent in Hurst street and the surrounding area as a kid, including endless trips to The Hippodrome to see the variety shows and the pantomimes. I think my sister and I were taken to the theatre because there weren't any babysitters in those days! I remember falling asleep during the show, but the two acts that would always wake me up were the ventriloquists and the comedians. Arthur Worsley was my favourite. My dad really liked Ruby Murray and we actually had a box to see her! Tommy Cooper was on the same bill, so that was me sorted!
 
Wonderful pictures, but conditions were dreadful, mostly outside loos. But the people were generally hard working and honest. I had a part time job as a payments collector for a credit draper in the, in the Lozells and Aston area and collected on a weekly basis. Some customers were out at work and left their doors open, with little piles of money left on the table, with notes like 'club man', insurance man', 'milkman' etc. and I never bothered to lock my car. I am not sure that would happen in today's climate! How things have changed!
 
Hi Wally. How right your are! When reminiscing about our life in the back to backs my older sister always talks about how everyone's door was always open in the yard, and as a child she could always wander in and out of people's houses and always feel safe and welcome. We when moved out to a terraced house in Selly Oak, our front door was always open during the day. We had a little glass door in the hall which you just had to push open to enter the house. We had a doorbell and when it rang I knew it was someone like the Co-op man or the man from Davenports delivering beer and pop! When I heard the door pushed open without the doorbell ringing, then I knew it was one of my many relatives calling round- as they did frequently. I used to get really excited at the sound because I knew that meant I'd get to play with my cousins. I suspect nowadays we all keep our front doors well and truly locked. I guess we've made much material progress- my kids as they grew up didn't have to share an outside lavatory with the neighbours, they didn't have to wash in a tin bath and they've never had to light a coal fire to keep warm- but perhaps we've also lost the comforting sense of community and security. On balance are we winners or losers? It's for each of us to decide I guess.
 
wally said:
Wonderful pictures, but conditions were dreadful, mostly outside loos. But the people were generally hard working and honest. I had a part time job as a payments collector for a credit draper in the, in the Lozells and Aston area and collected on a weekly basis. Some customers were out at work and left their doors open, with little piles of money left on the table, with notes like 'club man', insurance man', 'milkman' etc. and I never bothered to lock my car. I am not sure that would happen in today's climate! How things have changed!
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how true that is wally...very often dad would have his window cleaning money left on the window sill of the terraced houses he cleaned...not so much on the sills of houses that were on the pavements..quite amazing that the money stayed there because lets face it most folk did not have much money back then..happy days though

lyn
 
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