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Kensington Road Selly Park

rowan

rowan

Born a Brummie
When my first husband and I were first married, in 1958, we moved into a large bedsit in a very large house that looked over the garden of a nunnery in Selly Park.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of the road :rolleyes: I think it ran at the back of the Pershore Road.

Ze little gray cells are letting me down :cry:

Thank you for your help :)
 
Hi Rowan, it's St Pauls Convent, founded by the charitable order of the sisters of St Paul and its address is Selly Park Road, I think no 94 but don't quote me on number lol.
It has care facilities for the retired sisters and is a truly peaceful place to be if you are troubled.
Sue
 
I used to go to the little hut used as a nursery run by the nuns ..i was about 4 yrs old at the time .that was back in 1950....
 
I recall watching the nuns in tending the gardens which were quite large and thinking how content they seemed to be with their lives.

We lived in that house in Selly Park for about 5 months before moving into a room in my Mothers house in Clifton Road Sutton Coldfield and then into a house on the Falcon Lodge.

I must admit that the first home holds the best memories for me................ it all went down hill
after that sadly :(
 
Rowan, some of the nuns worked at St Gerards in Coleshill and retired to Selly Park, which is how I know of it. Have only been lucky enough to visit once, but the nuns are all so content and cared for and as I said before, there is a feeling of complete peace there quite extraordinary when you consider how close to the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I often think how lovely it must be to accept what is given to you and live with it.
Sue
 
my grandmother lived in milner road ..we lived in pershore avenue for a while .thats when i went to the nursery run by the nuns....my uncle had a business on pershore road then they moved to dogpool lane they are still in business there .i dont remember a great deal but i do remember going to the british legions parties as my uncle was chairman .... and paddling in the river by the cinema which was later a bowling alley ..good times .
 
It is a large retirement home for elderly Nuns in Selly Park Road of Pershore Road near Dog Pool Lane, my daughter works there part time and so does her daughter (my Grand daughter) MY daughter says how kind and caring they are to the staff. They even have their burial plots there, sounds morbid - but practical Eric
 
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im going back to 1950.the little hut lay back from the road a big grass area in front of it just below the selly park school it was a sort of nursery as i was only about 4 yrs old then .the nuns taught us whatever we did in those days ....it could have been a church hall. its been a long time ago.ill ask my older sister to see if she remembers any more
 
The thing I remember about the Convent is every evening you would see a line of tramps and down and outs heading along Pershore Rd to the St Paul's for a mug of Cocoa and a slice of bread & dripping. It was known to them as The Dripping Trail.

Phil

SellyParkStPaulsConventSellyParkRd.jpg
 
Love the picture................. but please can anyone tell me the name of the road I was living in ?

The big old house overlooked the large nunnary gardens, it wasn't Selly Park Road I do know that
pleeeze put me out of my misery please :cry:
 
Yes Kensington Road, connecting Selly Park Rd with Pershore Rd see attached A to Z page. Just under the word "bournbrook" Eric
 
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Ahhhhh............... thank you Eric for the map.................... it shows the road and it wasn't Kensington Road it was?????????????????

GREENLAND ROAD :biggrin:
​
Now I can have some peace and maybe sleep tonight :D

Thank you all for your input and your memories.
 
Hi All,

When we moved up to Selly Park in early 1957 Kensington Road was a un-adopted road, from Pershore Road up to Selly Park Road. After dark, the dirty old men in there cars used to take the girls of the night there for there pleasures and day time you could see the evidence lying on the road. Not a pleasant sight I must say.

Charliewag
 
My guess it would be Greenland Road, Kensington Road for over half way are bungalows so it would not be possible to see over the high wall but although Greenland Road is well covered by foliage now it was not always the case.
 
charliewag

I can vouch for what you say as even in the daylight they were outside the house we lived in and many a ten bob note was handed over to the "lady" concerned............... alongside the Nunnery gardens too :shocked:

I ended up opening the window and telling them to move away :redface:
 
hi humprey
at the start of kennisington rd on your right are the one and only excisting bunolows which is the bottom end from pershore rd which is still there today
procceed up the kensington rd on your left hand passing green land rd is the start of the convent walls and it is that side of the wall that if you lived across the rd from that you would see the head stones and the graves of all the past sisters names and plots and continue furher up to the top the arch way entrants intothe big hous is there
even today you get the home less going up at lunch times and early morning go up there and get there little packed lunch and a cuppa thereis only the hand full that walk up there
and its at the junction of selly park rd and kenniston rd only and not green lands rd butsaying that at the very beginning the houses of green lands rd there was a couple of big old houses before they rebuilt them hoe ever there is still one very large large lodging house in the rd whom i know the owner and his house a great big high rise victorian house
so you would be able to see possible the grave stones from so i would think you may mean you are possible right apart from that the other houses in kenigton rd was not all that high
but there was only to very high houses facing the wall of the convent but only one was a lodging house the other one belong to a architec named mr and mrs filmore
and they had a big lake in there grounds and he employed two gardners and two house maides and one of hem ladies used to live in greenlands rd facing the convent whom i also know personaly he son and his wife and family i did write about this house about thre or four years back on this forum about the conven and the big house when houghtons owned the forum
have a great day best wishe astonian
 
Thank you for that info Astonian very intersesting.My best pal who now lives in King's Norton spent most of his life until the mid 1900's at number 30 Kensington Road and that was the last bungalow in the road.
 
Hi humprey
i know the bunolow you are on about i think there neibour was the post master general at selly oak post office if i am correct
and i stopped a couple of crooks robbing the bungolow in the 1900s they was loading up the goods from the house and putting them by the gate
i knew they did not live there and one went across to green lands rd to bring the car around to load up there car
but i dashed next door and got them to come out and help the two guys jumped in the car and shot off down pershore rd
but they got them in the end the big house with the big drive was the filmores there was a name to the house but i just cannot think of it at the moment best wishes astonian
 
Hi hump
yes it was cleeve house mr and mrs filmores big house they both died about five years agoand the house was sold to some doctor bloke
of a orgin of asian whom tryed to change it and open it up a a nursing home but the residents blocked him and it was turned down thankgod
best wishess astonian
 
Hi Humprey and mike
I have just been readin the recent thread of g,s about the lake at the rear of kensinton road
with great intrest as i know the selly park inhabitants well almost i beleive i did should i say
whilst i was reading new and past members threads, i was trying to rack my brains about
the biggest house up kenseninton road was mr and mrs filmore and humprey just comfirmed to me it was in fact
Clee house of kensinton road and behind his house and in fact is garden was the lake
If you look at the old threads you will read what i said then about the number of gardeners he employed
along with cleaning ladies and two cooks one from an old friends mother inlaw
he had a granny flat above for his mother inlaw she was one of mr filmores cooks
the grounds of the filmore ground stretches was back
there was a big lodging house next door to mr and mrs filmorehouse
i knew them personaly for about 15 years prior to them dying and i got to know there daughter as well
she was well to do in the city and of solihull i got on well with her
the filmores always gave me a christmas box for myself and for my wife i was sad to see them passing over
the house beyond the filmores clee house was medium size houses
from out side the filmores house you could see right over the convent wall and the nurmerous graves of the
past sisters of the society and yes was correct it was a daily run for these lost souls of men folk
of the roads homeless and i would see them coming back down out of the convent with a foil of fod
its clee house you are looking for and you should get the info from the filmores name and address
i used to go there very regular and our friend at the bottom of the hill the last bunolow i recall him as well
also the sisters of the nunns retirements house which was previous on bristol road
bought from a well know estate agents whom is a welknown name is personal home
he sold it to the nunns of the church whom i got to know very personaly
but i will shut up now but clee house is where you want to look into
and most certainly the title of mr filmore he was a big architect for the city in his younger days
I would like to say that when the filmores pased away there daughter eventualy sold it off
and it was some one whom done there home work on it and knew about it
He was a doctor whom started to demolish the place and he was going to turn it into a nursing home
but because of the nature and history of this huge house and it was a huge house beleive me
internal and externaly with the lake running all around the place you could walk all around it
but i was very happy to hear the big chiefes of the birmingham council stopped him and refused him permission
good old birmingham council that got some think right at last


best wishes Astonian,,,, alan,,,
 
Hi Mike
The answer to your question was it kensington road or green land road
it was for fact it was Kensington road 3 parts up the hill on the right hand side of the road
definate clee house, and it was built on high ground ,you had to walk up the high slope drive to get to the front door
It was the biggest house up the road and it was facing the big wall going up kensinton road
up a ladder to the first storie of the bed room windows you could see right over the high wall with a view of a 101
numbers of graves all in lines of the sisterhood of the church all with head stones on them
from there bedroom windows you could pan the view with your eyes for at leat 100 yards of the grounds
and towards the bottom end of the grounds was greenland road with only one big house directly facing the convent
but your view would only be a small section of the flowers and veg patches
which would be only a small section of bedding you would manage to see
charlie wag mentionioned the small bungolows they was about half way along greenlands road after that they was semi houses
and the last but one was a coalman whom had the wharf at the bottom sheepcote street he was a huge coal merchant
he died and his wife life lived in there
but getting back to the other remark about the night girls is true it was nortoriously for it but
they eventualy got shut of them they went back to edward road and cannon hill road
because varna had gone along with princess road girls
the only one girl left from the orinional girl whom was a lady named cockney lil
but as i said it was the filmores whom lived at clee house with the lake in the grounds
when i get the chance this wekend i will come back home that way and pop up to there old house to see what as gone or changed
i can recall them and the house like the back of my hand ;; Alan,, Astonian;;;
 
The following two posts have been merged into this thread.

Looking for pictures of selly park of kensington road selly park
filmores kensington road selly park
clee house
 
That pic referred to as a convent is the Nun's retirement home my daughter as worked there for many years and still does. Eric
 
When I enlarge this c1945 pic and sharpen it up, I think I can see the 'Selly Park Mysterious Arch' in the top centre of the pic.
 
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