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Granville Street Ladywood

G

Granville_St

Brummie babby
Good Morning! How sad that all of those pictures have been lost.... I have just joined the site. I was particularly intersted in seeing any photos of Granville Street. I currently work in a building on Granville St and ww are trying to find out any information about the place, its use, history etc etc and any photos would be great!

I will probably start a thread and see what comes up; but in the meantime any info you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in anticipation! Mike :)
 
Re: Can't see the pictures

Mike, welcome, I am sure there will be many members who will be able to help. Best of luck. Carol
 
Re: Can't see the pictures

Mike, which bit of Granville Street are you working on? As you come from Bath Row, which side is it?

I have the plans and the spec for the building that was Heptinstall & Lawledge (search the forum under "File makers" and you'll find it). It then passed to Lambourne's and is now part of the College of Food accomodation I think. There was a photo of the junction of Granville Street and Bath Row I think. I'll see if I can find it

I think that this thread may be relevant https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=37854


Les
 
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Re: Can't see the pictures

Hi Les,

Thanks for getting in touch. We are are just passed the junction with Holliday Street, on the right if your going towards broad st. The building is now used by the Arts Council. We think at one time it may have been a warehouse perhaps? There was research carried out some time ago which suggested that a tributary of the canal once reached the rear of the building? unfortunatly this research has since been lost so we are starting again! We plan to go to the library archives next week but are trying to gather as much info as we can beforehand.....

Any info anybody has would be great! Knowing what stood around our building and on granville street generally woyuld be great also, to help us build a picture....

Many Thanks, Mike
 
If the building is at 82 Granville Street,
in 1949 it is listed as

70-82 ...Donovan Electrical Co. electric control gear mfrs.

Not sure when they ceased manufacturing at Granville Street (still listed in Kellys 1969) but I saw a great many Donovan products in use, switch's, isolates and controls, over the years I worked in maintenance, should add it was mostly replacing them for more modern products.

Colin
 
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Thanks Colin, Yes, it is number 82, so we now at least have a name to go on.

Much appreciated....

(I am unable to use the instant messenger here at work as it is blocked, but if I log on at home I will be able too)
 
Re: Can't see the pictures

Yes, thats our building..... so, maybe no canal branch at the rear then..... We have some curious bracket type things at the back that somebody told us were maybe used as winches at one time... We know that our current door way was once an archway for horse and carts etc so I guess the wiches were to lift things of these?

We'll keep searching ! Thanks for taking the time to check out the map for us !!
 
If you go to the Library, in the Archives section there is a card index of building plans. If you can find the name for an earlier period as well, it may double your chance of success that have been lodged at the archives. Also, planning on-line https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/planningonline does include some plans back to 1948. You may need to know what ward that bit of Granville Street is in to maximise your chances of finding something in that search.
 
Mike
There is likely to be lifting tackle in a factory for lifting off the carts coming in. I attach a map c 1889 showing the area on rthe upper part of Granville st. Your building I would estimate runs about the length of the red line i've marked. A bit rough but it was made from three bits stuck together and then copied. At that timeyour building (s) seem to be part o the Granville works . You probably can't read it but the smaller lettering says Iron & tin plate. after it. In 1888 it is listed as 68-82 Granville St, and is occupied by J.H Hopkins & Sons, tinplate manufacturers

upper_part_Granville_St_c_1889B.jpg
 
Thanks! This is really helpful, and great to see our building on the map..... We thought it was part of the Granville Works and maybe J.H Hopkins & Son so this would appear to substantiate this.

So interesting to see this, and great to have something to go on when we visit the library next week.

Thanks everyone.

Mike
 
Good Afternoon!

Just a quick update, we had a good root around the building today; discovered lots of bricked up windows and door ways etc, we thought maybe our car park wall wall at the back may be part of one of the various buildings making up the granville works complex, so went for a root about in the bushes at the back !! (much to the amusement of our colleagues!), while looking we discovered what appears to be a Well of all things !! All very exciting!

Anyway, I have taken some pictures of the brackets i mentioned in a previous post which I will upload when I'm home, hopefully one of you guys might be able to tell us if they are indeed remenants of winches perhaps??

Thanks again for all your help.... much appreciated!

Mike
 
Colin B said:
If the building is at 82 Granville Street,
in 1949 it is listed as

70-82 ...Donovan Electrical Co. electric control gear mfrs.

Not sure when they ceased manufacturing at Granville Street (still listed in Kellys 1969) but I saw a great many Donovan products in use, switch's, isolates and controls, over the years I worked in maintenance, should add it was mostly replacing them for more modern products.

Colin
Click to expand...

Colin Donovan Electrical later moved to Albert Rd Stechford. Dek
 
I used to work at R J Richardson & Sons on Granville Street, I'm sure the building indicated was their works. They were a shotblasting company and I worked there in the mid seventies before they moved to the Wolverhampton area. They were part of the Staveley Group.
 
The attached map is from 1795. Granville Street doesn't exist ay that time (it was called something else beforeit was called Granville Street, but can't remember what just at the moment).
You should be able to get your bearing from the position of Bath Row and Brasshouse.
bham_1795A-part.jpg
 
What a great map ! Thanks.... I can see Bishopgate St, but nothing after that, I gues Granville St doesn't exist at this time. Fascinating to see there was once a Windmill on Holloway Head !!

Thanks Again, Mike
 
Seeing this thread yesterday, I decided to head over to Granville Street and get some external shots of it.

Is it still being used by Arts Council England?


82 Granville Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


82 Granville Street, Birmingham by ell brown, on Flickr


82 Granville Street, Birmingham - Upper William Street by ell brown, on Flickr

Saw this brick sculpture in the car park. Took it over the wall


82 Granville Street, Birmingham - bird sculpture in car park by ell brown, on Flickr

A window with the no 82


82 Granville Street, Birmingham - window,no 82 and lettr box by ell brown, on Flickr
 
Hi There! Yes, it is still been used by Arts Council. The Sculpture in the back is of an Eagle and was commisioned in 1986.

Mike
 
That's good to know.

I thought that there might be something on this in Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham, but they only mentioned Granville Square.

Was quite a lot of bricked up windows on Upper William Street (and one bricked up door).
 
This is the Hopkinson Tinplate Factory alright. If you are interested in what was made in the factory you now work in you need to take look at the book 'Victorian Tinware' by Ralph Cox published in 1970. The book has lots of pages illustrating their wares from an original catalogue, but unfortunately (and certainly inexplicably) it seems that the Birmingham Central Library doesn't hold a copy. Is not particularly rare so if there's a few quid left over from the refurbishment I reckon they should get hold of a copy.
Rob
 
Thank you. anyone know whereabouts on Granville street number 102 would have been? My great grandad was living there in the 1901 census.

I went there recently but obviously the area has been redeveloped greatly and the numbering may have changed plus a lot of it is now apartments which also changes the numbers.

Thankyou
 
The 1900 Kellys lists Thomas Rickards, plumber as being at no 102. The map below shows where that was. I am pretty sure that it was the red building, This depends on whether the mission hall, which is the building on the corner of Holliday st, was just no 94 . If it was 94/96 (thebuilding has a longer footprint on the street than nearby other buildings), then it would have been the blue building. However, as i have said, I consider it 90-95% likely to have been the red building. The building is close to the junction of two maps, and so I have had to join two pieces, giving the jigsaw effect .


mapA_c_1912_Granville_St_showing_position_of_no_102.jpg
 
Thank you so much for your help,it turns out I was looking in the right general area.

Thomas Rickards was my great great grandad.
Once again thanks.
 
I found these adverts for 102 Granville Street from the Birmingham Daily Post - assuming the numbers were the same in 1882 it seems to have been a house with a coal yard/stabling.
The advert for coal for sale is dated 6 February 1882 and the one for 102 to rent is dated 9 September 1882
 

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Thanks for those,my family moved there somewhere between 1881 and 1891.
They appear there in the 1891 census
In the 1881 census Thomas Rickards lived in Granville street but at a different number.
Maybe he was the person who answered the advert!
Very interesting stuff.
 
Hi niffan, it is strange to think he may have been the person who answered that advert and now you are reading it 131 years later!
I thought it was quite interesting as it gives you a bit of an idea what the property may have been like. What number did he live at before?
I didn't realise that you have only just joined our forum - Welcome!
 
In the 1888 Kellys he is listed as at 84 Granville St. He is not listed in the 1884 edition. The 1888 edition would havce been compiled between may (or so) 1887 to about april 1888
 
just checked the 1881 census and he was living at 61 Granville street then.
seems like he moved quite frequently in the same street.
It is also odd that he has a different wife then but I can't find a death registered for her.
My great aunt(his granddaughter,who is still alive)was very open to me and said that she didn't think he was ever married to his 2nd"wife"!
That adds up as I can't find a marriage record for them. Naughty Thomas!
 
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