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Irving Street

P

Pamelawagster

Brummie babby
Anyone know anything about Irving St,this is where my father was born and brought up,I believe the address was something like 'back of ',what would that mean? Do you remember any family names?
 
Do you mean Irving Street off the Horsefair (A38 Bristol Road).

The numbering denotes it was one of the so called 'Back to Back' houses and if at the back it would look onto a 'court'. Someone with more knowledge will be along shortly. I used to work at AT Gittings near the bottom of Irving Street in the early 1960's and the houses were still in being along with various small workshops and in a road running off running Street was Pickavants that made specialised tools for the motor trade.

Forgot to say - you might be better to post this message in the surnames section Pamela.
 
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Hi,no idea if that is the same street! All I know is that it was close to the city centre.i have several posts in different threads using family names etc ,thanks for the tip.
 
Hi yes it is the same and sorry I had not realised you had already posted elsewhere.

Best of luck with your search.
 
pamelawagster said:
anyone know anything about irving st,this is where my father was born and brought up,i believe the address was something like 'back of ',what would that mean? Do you remember any family names?
Click to expand...

as a boy i spent quite a bit of time on irving street. The people i knew (winters) lived at 1/201. This meant there was on building with a common wall separating two units. The unit that faced out onto the stree was 201 the back unit which you got to through a passage way was the 1/201. This was very common in birmingham. The only other family names i remember are the wall's and the kerr's.the street was very working class and ran from bristol road to gt colmore street. As you can guess it's all pulled down now. I live in the united states now but have vivid memories of irving street. Ed hughes
 
hello, re-Irving st, i hope you dont mind me asking Edwin, but are you by any chance realated to Pat and Chriss Hughes who used to live in Latimer st in the late 1950's? if so we may be related!!

thank you in advance shardeen
 
Hello, my dad lived in Irving St, till he married in 1949. I think his mother lived there for quite sometime as she was the oldest parishioner in the parish of St Catherine of Sienna. They lived at 108, it was a back to back but for some reason 108 was made into one house, I remember going up one staircase and down the other. I have a photo of my brother and I standing outside the house, I'm new to the site so I'm not sure how to send in photos? I'll have a go tomorrow, my grandmother was Agnes Flanagan and my dad was Tom. regards Margaret
 
Margaret: I attended St Catherine's school. I remember a Mrs Flanagan. Did she live at the corner of Irving and Bow street.

Edwin
 
Picture of 108 Irving Street

Hello, these photos were taken in June 1960, the photos show my brother Tony who had just made his Holy Communion, my grandmother Agnes Flanagan, my dad Tom and myself. Agnes's house was a few house's up from Bow St, she lived there till the house's were demolished about 1963/64. The car we are standing by was a Ford popular, it was brand new that year at a cost of £500 I think dad had a discount off it because he worked for Hanger Motor Company. Irving St is still there, I think where 108 stood is a car park? regards Margaret
 
Margaret: Great pictures. I must have past you house many times when I went to St Catherine's. It would have been mid 50's. I remember there was a newspaper/sweet shop just up from you. Your grandmother I'm sure knew my father as he was a pillar of St Catherine's. His name was Philip Hughes. He must have assisted there for 30 years. I grew up on Belgrave Rd near the Pershore Rd. All the best!

Edwin Hughes
 
Hello Edwin, if you go on to the churches site I've put a photo on of the inside of St Catherine's church. I have older cousins who attended church with Agnes regularly I'll ask them if they remember your father. best wishes Margaret
 
Hello again, I've put another photo on the St Catherine's post, its of my aunt Eileen's wedding, maybe you might recognise a face on there? Margaret
 
Hi Bernie, my wife and I worked at Birmingham Tempered Spring on Irving St in the 50s
 
Hello , I was at the Birmingham Lives Local History Society Fair yesterday at The Radisson and I bought an Old Ladywood calendar and inside I was surprised to find a photo of Irving St. I didn't know that Irving St was part of Ladywood in times past. Regard Margaret
 
my great grandad william morrall was born in irving street
back of 215
did google street it unfortuneatly there no longer there knocked down long ago
 
I well remember Irving street, I worked at the shopfitters in adjoining Bow St & we were always doing jobs at A.T.Gittins auto electrics including the dire job of painting the iron roof trusses above the workshop in the early 60's, the dust & muck was 2" thick as it hadn't been touched since the war.
perhaps Bernie D'boult remembers getting splashed with paint !! ::
 
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Hello all,

Would anbody know the whereabouts of a 'Lime Terrace' which was situated somewhere along Irving Street.
I can't find it anywhere on the maps I have access too. We'd be looking circa 1910.

Many thanks,

Lee

Lee
this must be the same as the terrace marked as "The Limes". I attach large scale map, and also one of area showing position on Irving St

map_c_1910_The_limes_Irving_St.jpg


map_c_1889__The_limes2C_Irving_St.jpg


Sterling job as always.
Thanks Mike

Going by Mikes maps and Kelly's directories, I'm almost sure that this 1961 photo is of the Limes on Irving Street.

That is fantastic Phil - well done.
 

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  • Irving St.jpg
    Irving St.jpg
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That's good Phil. It looks about late 1950s. In 1956 the newsagents was Mrs Elizabeth Clough at 159A. More important , at 157 was William Barker & sons furniture makers. If you enlarge the picture and aquint, the board above the entrance 2 doors away certainly looks like it starts with a large W, so that fits
mike
 
Well I got that badly wrong. Apologies to all I was attempt to merge these thread with the original Irving Street Thread but only succeeded in merging them together.

The first post in this thread was made by Jeeze625.

Apologies to all concerned but particularly to Lee.
 
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Hi there,

Just to complete my research on Irving Street, Mike, would you be able to locate number 106 Irving St, and 2 back of 164 on the map above?

Many thanks,

Lee
 
Can't use the same map, as 104 doesn't show. Have made new map (7 included the Limes) , with 104 in green and 164 in blue. Cannot be certain which was no 2 back 164. though if i had to make a guess i would guess at the on directly behind 164 was no 1 back 164 and the first of the terrace at the back was no 2
Mike

map_c_1910_The_limes_164_and104__Irving_St.jpg
 
Re: Irving Street

I worked for A T Gittins in Irving Street around 1959. They were toward the bottom.
 
Re: Irving Street

Bernie

Interesting to see you worked at A T Gittins. I started there in 1964 as a yoof straight from school in the Diesel shop. What did you do?
 
I was a trainee auto electrician and was starting at Lucas by then. Was the diesel foreman Bob ?
 
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Re: Irving Street

Hi Bernie

Yes the foreman in the diesel shop was Bob. I remained there for nearly a couple of years before the diesel got to me. It didn't do my spots any good so I was transferred to Universal mageto (their other shop) on Aston road as a trainee auto elec. A profession I remained in for twenty five years.
 
Hi there,

I am doing some family history research and one member lived in Irving Street in 1861, I just wondered if anyone knew what kind of housing was on the street at the time? Was this back to back houses or Victorian terraces, would people have worked and lived on the street in cottage industries like in other parts of the city at the time. I just wanted to get a feel of the area in terms of the social status it had at the time. Looking at the occupations of people from the 61 census it looked like a fairly good working class neighbourhood with many tradesmen.

Thanks a lot.
 
Hi Petal,


It would have been a mixture of back to backs and terraced housing. If you look at the OS maps on the thread they show blocks of houses made up of two blocks, well the dividing lines do not show the front & back of the same house as you might expect but it shows the division of two houses.
 
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