• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Courtyards and yards of brum

Great photos & history. I lived in a back to back house Winson Green in the later 60s when I married & had my 3rd child at home - think if was 9/259 Heath Street & in 1973 lived in a back to back house in Greenway Street, off the Coventry Road.
 
Astoness said:
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
Click to expand...
People did not do nasty things then. even though they had no dosh. it was a comunity,every one looked after one another..
 
Lovely memories of when I was a youngster in the late 40s and early 50s, our mom took us to the Bull ring on a Saturday , we had winkles and bought a bag of mussels to cook at home, then we walked down past the police station and Birds factory and got to the Crown pub and walked along Heath mill to Allcock street where my aunt lived in a back to back.
I remember a big brick air raid shelter in the yard and the wash house also the toilet block that was up against the railway viaduct, in the winter it was a ghastly sight when the Loo's were frozen.
After playing in a few bomb sites with my cousin we walked back to catch a 50 bus back to the Maypole and our modern prefab, Happy days .
 
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!
Click to expand...
when we went fishing in Coleshill.it was a day permit req. you put the dosh in a box fastened to the gate.:grinning:
 
The question of people's honesty in those days may have partly been due to the 'Blitz' where people shared air raid shelters and were much closer to each other and helped one another in all things and everyone knew each other's business! Am I being too philosophical?
 
Not at all, Wally. I knew the names of 80% or more of our neighbours in a 50 yard radius in Sparkhill in the 1940s and I was still in Junior School. Today when I check through the names on the 1945 Electoral Roll, those names still leap out at me at the age of 83. And they were not just names, as you knew quite a lot about them too. Where they worked, the names of their pets, it was just the way of living. Nowadays people living in cities rarely know the names of their next door neighbours let alone someone living 50 yeards away.

In a village or rural area, things may be somewhat different. In my Greek village, my mainly Greek neighbours are my best watchdogs! If a stranger is hanging around, they will quite often keep an eye on that person until they have established whether they are dealing with friend or foe.

Maurice :cool:
 
wally said:
The question of people's honesty in those days may have partly been due to the 'Blitz' where people shared air raid shelters and were much closer to each other and helped one another in all things and everyone knew each other's business! Am I being too philosophical?
Click to expand...
No you are remembering things as they were, yes there were thieves and vagabonds about, but they targeted the wealthy, it was all a sort of Robin Hood thing, they did not take from the poor. There was no ostentation then, no designer clothes or bling, the odd Hyacinth Bucket dwelt in the suburbs, but in the main people were friendlier, closer together and even after the war had passed that spirit remained for a while, so can any of those members who remember the war, remember when the change came about, was it the swinging sixties or was it before. I can remember people getting cars, the angst over possible promotions and (it happened to me) the promotion not staying within the company but going to an outsider and around 1958 to 1962 to my knowledge, that outsider now had a university degree. No idea of the job he had been brought into do, no knowledge of the average working man and his day to day life. Just a desire to be as dominant as he could get away with and funnily enough the managers kow-towed to this new breed of business man rather than try to help him change things gently. I saw it happen at both Dunlop and Cannings. When I moved to the West Country, and eventually found a job that paid less than I earned in Birmingham, I realised they were years behind in their thinking and operation and within two years was acting like the people I despised and getting away with it. I think it would be better if you did it this way...........mumble, mumble - and go ahead with it Mr Davis (they were always very formal) and we brought in early automation to the accounts and wages, started to cost jobs properly. We got rid of the back of the cigarette packet system of estimating. Now I get offered graduates to improve my business and increase my profits but they lack the basic human touch and there is no text book or computer that can tell you how to react with the people you deal with. In the forties it was a natural thing for our parents, if you like they knew their place and were content with it. I apologise if I have gone off thread slightly, but I remember when my Dad was in Ladywood and we visited people in the back to backs, we were made welcome and they were proud but honest people and now I grieve for the future. I would suggest that possibly Covid 19 has been an eyeopener to most of those born in the fifties and sixties.

Bob
 
mw0njm. said:
when we went fishing in Coleshill.it was a day permit req. you put the dosh in a box fastened to the gate.:grinning:
Click to expand...

Hi Pete,

Was that down by Cuttle cottages at the bottom of the hill? I used to take my lad there
when he was little, and he fell in. We had to walk back to Chelmsley Wood, but some kind
person gave us a lift back from near the Police Station.
We caught a Stone Loach there on another occasion, took it home, and kept it in an
aquarium for years.

Kind regards
Dave
 
Dave89 said:
Hi Pete,

Was that down by Cuttle cottages at the bottom of the hill? I used to take my lad there
when he was little, and he fell in. We had to walk back to Chelmsley Wood, but some kind
person gave us a lift back from near the Police Station.
We caught a Stone Loach there on another occasion, took it home, and kept it in an
aquarium for years.

Kind regards
Dave
Click to expand...
yes. i loved it there. fishing the Blyth.
 
Astoness said:
nos 3.4 5 and 6 court 7 cheapside..circa 1905

View attachment 116090

court in cromwell st..duddeston circa 1905

View attachment 116091

yard in milk st 1950s...demolished 1955


(Pic2 (missing) court in cromwell st..duddeston circa 1905
IMG Photobucket won't release this pic2 at the moment ... I'll get it when they are not looking ... :D Oldmohawk)
img934.jpg


back of 131 fazeley street.. circa 1905

View attachment 116092
Click to expand...
My dad would have lived in a similar house to this one. 10 BK 79 Vicarage Road
 
Astoness said:
hi folks thought this thead may compliment dennis williams great passages and alleyways thread...back to the days when homes were just not fit for habitation by todays standards...its all to do with social history of course and thats the way it was and folk knew no different..life has evolved at lot since those days and who knows what it will be like in a couple of hundred years time...

lyn..


View attachment 116086
Chapel Terrace Saltley Road
View attachment 116087
View attachment 116088 View attachment 116089
Click to expand...
This is great. I am researching Barr Street and this is so close. Thank you
 
Phil said:
Hi Les,

Welcome to you, I have to admit that I have never seen a photo of Dolobran Road let alone any of the back courts off it, though I did know somebody who lived in one of the street fronting replacement houses. I am posting a plan showing the back courts on Dolobran Road to help you locate the court you want exactly.

View attachment 128794
Click to expand...
i lived at 2/37 Dolobran Road prior to moving out in 1971
 
dottieau said:
Great pictures Lyn they remind me of the homes my aunties lived in in Pope Street not far from the ice rink. Most people only either had front or back of house but one aunty had the back and front. Picture 4 is sad with the 3 boys makes you grateful that that our parents that came from that life gave us a better life. Still I know that was the times hard times for the working class.
Click to expand...
I note with interest your list of family names. My grandmother's maiden name was Martha Holtham although I am not certain of the spelling she was from a family of 7 siblings but was born in St Johns Worcester. I am not sure when she moved to Birmingham but her three daughters were born there they lived in Ladywood her married name was Wilcox
 
Right in the city, safe for kids and a community spirit. With a few tweaks of course.
Like a layer of breeze blocks between houses, more toilets and three floors.
Better than living in a flat.
Special thanks to Mikegee for the brilliant deduction in finding Carey's court , they should build some more.
 
My Gran & Grandad brought up 11 Children in a courtyard house in Gerrard St & my Gran was fortunate that she never lost one. They moved too a bigger house with an attic in Fentham Rd Aston where they all grew up.
Seeing your photos just brings back memories for me. My parents, brothers & I, moved to Hereford as Dad worked for Henry Wiggins and was relocated in 1964, but we use to live at 6/177 Icknield Port Road & Firs Farm Estate Castle Bromwich.
Athough I love it here Brum will always be home.
 
These are great photos of Brum. I was born in the Sorrento Hospital and1of my brothers in Dudley Road hospital we now live in Hereford.
We lived at 6/177 Ickneiled Port Rd off Dudley road which was 6 houses either side a path 3 box outside toilets each side which you shared with your neighbour & 2 wash houses to share. Mom use to get up at 6 to put boiler on for washing when it was her turn to use.
Tin Bath in front of fire, water heated on tiny stove in poky kitchen. We left there about 1958 to move into flat, which was luxury, on the Firs Estate Castle Bromwich.
 
Astoness said:
hi folks thought this thead may compliment dennis williams great passages and alleyways thread...back to the days when homes were just not fit for habitation by todays standards...its all to do with social history of course and thats the way it was and folk knew no different..life has evolved at lot since those days and who knows what it will be like in a couple of hundred years time...

lyn..


View attachment 116086
Chapel Terrace Saltley Road
View attachment 116087
View attachment 116088 View attachment 116089
Click to expand...
 
steveo3 said:
These are great photos of Brum. I was born in the Sorrento Hospital and1of my brothers in Dudley Road hospital we now live in Hereford.
We lived at 6/177 Ickneiled Port Rd off Dudley road which was 6 houses either side a path 3 box outside toilets each side which you shared with your neighbour & 2 wash houses to share. Mom use to get up at 6 to put boiler on for washing when it was her turn to use.
Tin Bath in front of fire, water heated on tiny stove in poky kitchen. We left there about 1958 to move into flat, which was luxury, on the Firs Estate Castle Bromwich.
Click to expand...
the strange thing was no 2 courts were a like all over brum central there was hundreds of them
 
I spent some time in a back house in Vicarage Rd Aston (1/128) when I left the RAF in '56 till we bought our own house in Erdington in '61, but at least we all had gardens albeit small. Eric
 
steveo3 said:
These are great photos of Brum. I was born in the Sorrento Hospital and1of my brothers in Dudley Road hospital we now live in Hereford.
We lived at 6/177 Ickneiled Port Rd off Dudley road which was 6 houses either side a path 3 box outside toilets each side which you shared with your neighbour & 2 wash houses to share. Mom use to get up at 6 to put boiler on for washing when it was her turn to use.
Tin Bath in front of fire, water heated on tiny stove in poky kitchen. We left there about 1958 to move into flat, which was luxury, on the Firs Estate Castle Bromwich.
Click to expand...
After Dad left the army after 22 years, we stayed briefly with an aunt in Saltley (Devon St) handily next to the coking plant of the gas works. When maisonettes on Blossom Grove, Firs Estate became available, we moved there. At that time the Bham racecourse was operational, so we could see Lester Piggott if we had binoculars. From the grime of Saltley to clean air!
 
Astoness said:
yard in digbeth..circa 1910...ive looked closely and on the right it looks like there is a pile of the steel bands that were around the large barrels...could be they made them here...

View attachment 116096


court no 7 william st..circa..1905

View attachment 116097
Click to expand...

berniew said:
View attachment 81862
not a court but I bet they all lived in one
Click to expand...
They might have been poor children but they look happy nowadays children have sour looking faces because the mobile phones glued to their heads are doing something to their brains.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top