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heathmill lane

The houses are long gone but the viaduct is still there pretty much the same. I thought that it was the infamous viaduct to nowhere but this one looks like it is still used. The one to nowhere is a bit further down the lane.
 
cant be sure but i think these houses would have been on the same side as the old crown pub...

lyn
 
Great thanks Ell. The left side of your 2nd photo (where the edge of the modern building is just in view) looks like the position of the terraced houses in post #1.

So there's a new custard factory on that road too. Does that have any connection with the old one ( Birds?) ? Viv.
 
The new Custard Factory is an arts complex. They finished renovating it last year.

Six hundred paces from the Bull Ring is The Custard Factory, Built 100 years ago it is now home to a hive of young creative companies, galleries, fine artists, independent shops and terrific restaurants. One of Birmingham’s biggest nightclubs and a number of renowned live music venues are located here.All are part of a vigorous working community that knows how to party too.
Click to expand...

This page maybe of interest Custard Factory - history

The Custard Factory, Birmingham’s revolutionary new arts and media quarter, is 800 paces from the Bull Ring. This 5-acre sprawl of riverside factories was built 100 years ago by Sir Alfred Bird, the inventor of custard. At one time he had a thousand people making the stuff. Some even say it helped create the British Empire. But by the early 1980s it had long since lost its mysterious appeal and the factories fell derelict. We took it over in 1990. We began to restore the buildings and announced open house (and studio) to the best of Birmingham’s young creative talent. The rush to come in was overwhelming. Since then a whole new inner city neighbourhood has begun to emerge – intricate, fine grained and threaded by green spaces, fountains and sculpture.
The award-winning first phase is now home to a dynamic community of 500 artists and small creative enterprises, affordable studios and offices are complemented by a theatre, café, antique shops, meeting rooms, dance studios, holistic therapy rooms, art galleries, bars and nightclubs.
The second phase has seen the Custard Factory continue to grow, with Zellig adding 101 new offices, studios and galleries to the quarter. Our community becomes more diverse every day, from fine dining restaurants to skate board ramps, creating a dynamic, almost tribal community.
Click to expand...
 
The first house from the Old crown used to be an electrical contrctors office of WJ Parsons . The last time I was around there it had been demolished and was part of the pub car park , I think they all may have gone but I'm not sure Bernie
 
thanks everyone for your input on this thread...its amazing what one pic can do...this one was taken in 2009 when we had a forum meet up at the crown..pretty sure it show the viaduct in my original pic and the old houses would have been on the right where maggie is standing...
 
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That all looks like it nicely ties in with your photo Lyn. So the Custard Factory would be on the left of the Forum meet up photo.

So good to hear Ell that the Custard Factory is being put to good use. Just shows what can be achieved when people think carefully about knocking down older buildings.

As always Lyn, your hard work in posting photos has given us lots to mull over. Enjoying this tour around parts if Birmingham I know nothing about too. Thanks. Viv.
 
There are certain walls of the Custard Factory that have graffiti street art on them (keeps changing a lot).

Since they restored the main building, it looks in better condition.

This was early 2010, just before the barriers came down.


Devonshire House - Custard Factory by ell brown, on Flickr

Shops are now open again on the ground floor on High Street Deritend.
 
Thanks for these photos. A lady who I used to know in the 70s lived there as a child. Her name then was Diana Landis and she appeared on stage at theatres and at the one that used to be up New St towards the Town Hall, I think it was called The Royal which went long, long ago. Her father worked at the ironworks down Newhall Street. Her mother worked at Grey's dept store (where I too had worked before I knew Diana!!)
 
Re post #15.

I wonder if the two riders are actually on what is called River Street in the 1890 map. The junction would be with Lower Fazely St. To the left of the horse struggling with it’s rider and bales of corn for milling is the mill pond with anglers on the bank. This would be fed by a leat from further up the Rea. The stream leading off from above the gable on the etching is probably the mill tailrace heading back to the river witch is probably outlined by the row of trees…mid distance. The mill is undershot or breast shot at best…not much head of water. The building on the right might be still visible on the 1890 survey and the cows are standing in the triangle that by 1890 is filled with houses. I wonder if that could be St Peters on the left edge of the picture mid distance and could that be Dale End on the other side of the church leading off towards Coleshill. No Gullet at that time. Heathmill Lane is close to River Street and they both junction with Lower Fazely. There is an iron foundry in the cow triangle by 1890 and an ice manufactury where the old water mill stood. Where the road bends around to, is a bit of a mystery but since the river is shown in a strait run in 1890 then the course may have been changed. If we can project the old etchings visually on the 1890 map then we can also locate the etchings subject on todays Google Earth.
It looks like the mill pond became Gulverton Tin Works.

1890 OS ref...https://www.british-history.ac.uk/m...d=10098&ox=3812&oy=1988&zm=1&czm=1&x=282&y=53
 
I have printed these pictures again because they are complimentary and help one to visualize the area and see the changes over time. The picture of Coopers mill and nice looking home may have been at the end of Heathmill Lane at that time but I suspect that the street that the two horsemen are on later became River Street. It’s hard to pick out the river Rea from the etching but I suspect that it had a different course to shown on the 1890 survey…the course being changed when the canals were built later. No canals to be seen on the 18th century SE prospect. When Warwick wharf was built I theorize that the Rea was diverted further south and ran under the canal at a narrow section east of Fazely Street…as it does today. If you look at the 1865 rough sketch you can see a swale to the right of the modified route which may have been the original natural course of the river. I have always wondered what Floodgate Street was named after. A flood gate for what? Why was it there to hold back the water anyway? I think it must have been a weir to raise the water level so that a leat could be taken from that elevation to Coopers Mill. When the elevation of the water became too much due to rainfall a gate was opened there to reduce the excess water in the flood plain above the weir. The building in the 18th century etching and mill is visible on the later sketch and is marked by a green dot. This would be looking at the back of the building. Not a mill anymore by then but suspect that the building was still there. I think that the river diversion was along the old mill leat (this was done on the Tame in Perry Bar also) thus draining the old course and producing the swale where the river once ran, on the 1865 sketch…brown dots. The revised course…blue dots. Gulverton Tin Works, built on the old mill pond is shown..red dot. The two canals there are denoted by a series of white dots. The viaduct to nowhere is shown on the 1865 sketch…a lot of it is still there today but a little bit that would have been part of the sketch remains still to be seen in the elbow in the road that is Montague Street. It sits like a Roman ruin with foliage on the top of it…wonderful. Other places of note are the gun barrel proof house…orange dot. On GE a photo has been posted of the back of this establishment (canal side) and the view is almost identical to the sketch if you zoom in. Curzon Street station and sheds are marked by Yellow dots. Viewed together the two pictures show the changes over the period 18th to 19th century. The remains of the tin works are still in place and I think that there is something on the present day, mill house location, buildings on Fazely Street that might be a rememberance of the old mill home…it might just be. Can anyone else spot it on GE.

1890 map ref...https://www.british-history.ac.uk/m...=10098&ox=3769&oy=1824&zm=1&czm=1&x=273&y=327
 
Rupert
According to Bill Dargue , talking about Floodgate St, it was “Originally known as Water Street it runs alongside and over the River Rea. There used to be a gate here to control the water flow”
Mike
 
I don't understand what 'to control the water flow' means Mike. If you have a gate or some means of control then what you are doing is merely backing the river up and raising it's level up stream. For what reason? The only one that I can think of is to feed a mill pond by making a leat at the artificial raised level up-stream of the gate...I think it would be a weir with a gate to control the raised level and this gate could probably be dropped lower in times of heavy flow thus allowing more water flow to the down stream river to stop flooding above the weir. The mill pond in question would be for Coopers Mill and since the wheels in the etching are under or breast shot then not much head was gained. Anyway, I think these are two great pictures giving an insight to a period between the 18th and 19th centuries together with the 1890 OS maps. Even today we can still have some understanding of the journey they took. It took a while to piece these two windows on the past together.
 
I wonder when Coopers Watermill existed. 18th century from this but did it exist concurrently with Asterics/Lloyds mill below St. Martins. It must have done. Backing up the river too much would have compromised the elevation of Asterics tailrace. Perhaps the Coopers mill weir produced a flood plain that resulted in the marshy ground that was in the area above. Astericks mill recieved water from the old manor moat/springs and clear water from Edgebaston but more importantly from a weir above in the river...possibly the location would have been at the junction of Highgate Street (aptly named) and the leat would have run along Gooch St and Sherlock St or thereabouts to Mill Lane. This would have made a flood plain above, which was built upon in 1890 OS...no need for low powered water mills any more and probably all gone there by the 1865 sketch. Curiosly there is a green area above Highgate now which seems to hark back to the old old days but some houses are along the river. I think that the tailrace from Coopers mill would have re-entered the river down by Vauxhall Gardens or there abouts and curiously the river makes a sharp turn there which may support the theory of diversion along the tailrace of the old mill. The old river course north of this was then filled in but the old sketch and 1890 OS still show some of it. This would have been done to facilitate the construction of the canal basin I think.
The old etching shows a somewhat grandiose building with arched roof line. If you go to the junction of Fazely St and Rver St. and look at the buildings on the east side of Fazely; you will see a small arch buit into the side of one buiding...I wonder why? Does it show some reference back to the old building which possibly was a landmark in the old old days. Nah...just romantic musings.
 
Could this picture from Google be the remains of the same building in the mid 18th century etching. Changed a bit yes...no curved crown but look at the roof lines...pretty much the same. Too much of a coincidence to say not. Coopers house remains do you think. Above the green door and slightly to the right is a little arch built into the wall. The building has lost it's attic but that often happens over time. There appears to be a little plaque on the to the right of the green door and below the small inlaid brick arch.

GE ref...River Street and Fazely Street
 
Why not take a trip to 180 Fazeley Street...The Bond. That is the old Heath Mill which is shown in the Wesley etching. Worth a picture or two. If you Google The Bond Fazeley Street Bham, you will see some outstanding development with old buildings and maybe a forum meet up there would be a great outing. There seems to be a cafeteria there that may be open to the public...I don't know. Otherwise it seems to be a bit upscale from the web. Anyway worth a look. So nice to see these old industrial and other buildings put to good use. If I could come to Brum that is one place that would deffinately be on my list to visit. The inovation there is what we were hoping would happen is it not?
 
There you go...no cows in the triangle where you were standing I suppose but the building to the left of the arched gate is a landmark since the 1720s and now part of a convention centre seemingly. The Bond also includes an Ice House...presumably from the ice making factory that was there after the water mill. That area could very well become a great attraction if it succeeds.
 
These days farm land is outside the city, so would only see cows from the country roads or motorways.

Fazeley Street (like all Digbeth back streets) was pretty quiet (on a weekend).
 
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