Franchise Street

[jonsyl]

Re: information on street

Hi Mikejee


I see on site that you are very good at finding old maps and street names I am trying to find a place called Kensigton Gardens somewhere of Franchise Street Perry Barr where the UCE is now any help would be most welcome

 

[mikejee]

Re: information on street

Afraid the only Kensington Gardens I can find are off Balsall Heath Road, the other side of town

 

[Curly]

Re: information on street

hi Mikejee


i see on site that you are very good at finding old maps and street names I am trying to find a place called Kensigton Gardens somewhere of Franchsie Street Perry Barr where the UCE is now any help would be most welcome

Looking at 'Britain From Above', a photo showing Perry Barr Stadium in 1937, also shows Franchise St. It does look to be a residential area. However, I too cannot tie down Kensington Gdns, BUT, have found an article on 'Perry Barr and Beyond' describing the untimely demise of an 11yo boy:- "the victim being a boy named Wallace Wellington Green, aged 11
of 1, Kensington Gardens, Franchise Street, Perry Barr."

There are a number of historical maps on www.old-maps.co.uk - search for Birchfield, not Perry Barr. All I can identify is Franchise St and the building layouts. I would suspect that Kensington Gdns was a row of houses between Franchise St and the railway, at the Wellhead lane end of Franchise St.Anyone have any larger scale maps of Birchfield?

 

[brummy-lad]

An aerial view of Franchise Street (1937). Part of the the hospital shown was the site for 'Broomfield', (owner George Kynoch).

 

[Astoness]

hi john..i did not know there was a hospital near franchise st

lyn

 

[brummy-lad]

It's now Eden Boys' School Lyn but I think it's a different building.

 

[brummy-lad]

Looking at streetview the frontage is certainly part of the hospital but the main school isn't

 

[Astoness]

Looking at streetview the frontage is certainly part of the hospital but the main school isn't

well ive learnt something new than john as i had always believed these frontages are the gate house to the IMI factory wellhead lane i never dreamt they were part of the old hospital

lyn

 

[A Sparks]

well ive learnt something new than john as i had always believed these frontages are the gate house to the IMI factory wellhead lane i never dreamt they were part of the old hospital

lyn

No, nor me!

 

[Astoness]

No, nor me!

sparks maybe john could confirm that ..i may have miss understood what he meant but this photo from the wellhead lane thread shows franchise st on the right and on the left the white building which a member says is the entrance to IMI

lyn

 

[brummy-lad]

I'm fairly certain it is the entrance to the school Lyn unless it has been taken over by IMI since June 2024.

This link says former IMI works.

Gatehouse Buildings at former IMI Works, Non Civil Parish - 1432020 | Historic England

List entry 1432020. Grade II Listed Building: Gatehouse Buildings At Former Imi Works. May include summary, reasons for designation and history.

historicengland.org.uk

 

[Astoness]

john yes it is the entrance to the new school but when i read your post 7 i thought you meant the white buildings was the entrance to the old hospital and so part of the hospital...sorry i read you wrong..

lyn

 

[brummy-lad]

No you didn't read me wrong Lyn, I was going on this 1950s map which clearly shows the gatehouse with entry and exit (same footprint as the current buildings) and the building marked as 'Hospital'.

 

[Eric Gibson]

As a lad I remember the site as Kynochs, later it became ICI then IMI . the Kynochs name is still used by a later company, still in the ammunition business. Just a thought they had a lot of explosions and fatalities could it be that the hospital was part of the ammo works?

Kynoch Ammunition home page

 

[brummy-lad]

It would appear that the 1950s map had it incorrectly marked 'Hospital'

 

[Stokkie]

Kynoch's works which became IMI has been demolished and Eden Boy's School occupies part of the site since about 2016. The gatehouses were listed and have been preserved. When I started work at Birmingham Poly staff and students could use the medical facilities at IMI as they had nurses and a doctor in attendance at the works. Some of the IMI directors were on the board of Polytechnic governors so enabled this arrangement.

The IMI site was vast and in the 1950s they wouldn't have labelled the place an ammunition works. I think that the gatehouses are the last surviving remnants of Kynoch / IMI.

Incidentally in about 1990 a Poly staff member with a geiger counter walked round some accessible parts of IMI and got a reading. He told me that the early work on the atomic bomb was done there by scientists from Birmingham University under the cover name of the Tube Alloys project. This was in the early years of the war, before production of uranium was switched to the Manhattan project in the USA. We can find out more about Tube Alloys these days, but I don't think there's a blue plaque.

 

[Astoness]

hi john and stokkie...must apologise for being a sandwich short of a picnic but were the gate houses built for the hospital or where they built for kynochs/IMI ? can we date them ?

lyn

 

[Stokkie]

hi john and stokkie...must apologise for being a sandwich short of a picnic but were the gate houses built for the hospital or where they built for kynochs/IMI ? can we date them ?

lyn

Hi Lyn,
Gatehouses built for Kynochs/IMI - the works hospital was inside the site and a small building compared to the entire works. They had a fire brigade as well.

Here's the listing description linked to by Brummielad above: "The Gatehouse Buildings at the former IMI works, of 1915 by William Haywood, are listed at grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: the buildings are a strong Beaux Arts composition and provided an impressive public face to the site; * Historic interest: they are related to the site of major arms manufacture during the First World War, and are designed by a noted practice later known as Buckland and Haywood; * Level of survival: despite some loss of fabric and minor alteration, the buildings remain substantially intact."

Derek

 

[Astoness]

thanks derek all cleared up...i must say i am impressed with the way the gate house has been preserved...i had to walk past it on a regular basis when it was in a bad state and often wondered if it would be demolished..

lyn

 

[Stokkie]

thanks derek all cleared up...i must say i am impressed with the way the gate house has been preserved...i had to walk past it on a regular basis when it was in a bad state and often wondered if it would be demolished..

lyn

I agree Lyn, it is a quality building and part of our industrial and military past. Derek

 

[Morturn]

I have a memory of that gatehouse having a small gas flame on the wall in the foyer for people to light cigarettes. There was a small sign adjacent to it, but I cannot recall what it said

 

[Eric Gibson]

I have a memory of that gatehouse having a small gas flame on the wall in the foyer for people to light cigarettes. There was a small sign adjacent to it, but I cannot recall what it said

"If our bombs don't kill you smoking will." would be appropriate.

 

[SamJ]

yes sam...here is a map showing the pub at 16/18 aldridge road

lyn

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

Thanks, Lyn. Would you be able to look something up for me but it may be a case of putting it up for wider discussion. I looked at an old map and prior to Franchise Street being called 'Franchise Street' it was named something else. It resonated with me as i spent many years at Bham Poly and thought it quite fitting. I have tried to find this information again but alas not.

 

[Astoness]

Thanks, Lyn. Would you be able to look something up for me but it may be a case of putting it up for wider discussion. I looked at an old map and prior to Franchise Street being called 'Franchise Street' it was named something else. It resonated with me as i spent many years at Bham Poly and thought it quite fitting. I have tried to find this information again but alas not.

hi sam well that is news to me but hopefully some of our map experts can check old maps to see if it was called something else before becoming franchise st as i am also interested

lyn

 

[A Sparks]

Thanks, Lyn. Would you be able to look something up for me but it may be a case of putting it up for wider discussion. I looked at an old map and prior to Franchise Street being called 'Franchise Street' it was named something else. It resonated with me as i spent many years at Bham Poly and thought it quite fitting. I have tried to find this information again but alas not.

It was definitely called Franchise Street when the Birchfield Road schools were still there so before the Poly was built. A girl in my class lived there.

 

[pjmburns]

Thanks, Lyn. Would you be able to look something up for me but it may be a case of putting it up for wider discussion. I looked at an old map and prior to Franchise Street being called 'Franchise Street' it was named something else. It resonated with me as i spent many years at Bham Poly and thought it quite fitting. I have tried to find this information again but alas not.

It is marked as Franchise Street on the 1887 map. The earliest I have found so far.

 

[Astoness]

It is marked as Franchise Street on the 1887 map. The earliest I have found so far.

thanks jan that is what i have found...sticking my neck out here but i dont think the houses were built much before that date but as always i stand to be corrected as they could have been and maybe as sam said the street had another name before it became franchise st..would love to find out for certain

lyn

 

[pjmburns]

Just done an address search on FMP and there is a Franchise Street Handsworth listed on 1861 census and later but not 1851.

Have now found it listed on 1861 on Ancestry.

 

[pjmburns]

Have now found a reference to Franchise Street Perry Barr (boundary changes between Perry Barr and Handsworth) in 1848.

 

[Astoness]

thats great jan as we can now date franchise st back to 1848

lyn