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Kingston Hill Park

  • Thread starter Thread starter EGriffiths
  • Start date Start date
E

EGriffiths

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Does anyone remember the Park in Kingston Road otherwise known as Kingston Hill during the 60's it also backed onto Keeley Street not far from the Blues ground.

E Griffiths (nee Priddey)
 
EGriffiths, Refresh my memory is that the tarmac park that sloped down towards Garrison Lane?, if so i played many a game of football using a tennis ball and up to 30 in each team from factories around there!. Len.
 
1949 to 1960 - Kingston Hill/Road Park had a roundabout, a row of swings, a pumper and a witches hat to play on. From there you walked up some steps to a higher level where there was a hard surface playing pitch and the "parkies brick hut". Those were the days when you could drink from a water fountain with a metal cup on the end of chain without fear of catching something nasty. They looked a bit like metal bollards. Nearby landmarks were Kingston Picture House, St Andrews Church, Birmingham FC, Bus Depot, Greenway Pub to name but a few.
 
yes i remember kingston hill park, i lived on st andrews rd near mona rd and we used to play footie on the patch ,and cycle round the perimeter on like a cinder track; also spent hours sitting in the sun listening to radio luxembourg,on my days off that is.
 
I was born in watery lane in the back to backs and used to go to the park all the time, we used to go to the top of the yard behind the brewhouse and climb over the wall into the park if it was open or not. laurabelle was right we had a metal cup to drink out of but it tasted really good, it had two entances in kingston hill and two in keeley st. In the sixtys all us local teenagers used to meet in there our early courting days. i have some good memories of the park. it was also used by us as a short cut to ada rd school,through the top park to mona rd then across the rd to school. we used to play football and cricket on the top park. it consisted of a large concrete circle with a cinder track around it, it was supposed to be a quarter of a mile round. I read somewhere the park was a gift from some rich family for local residence. formula t
 
yep i do.

used to play in it ever since i was a kid.

it remained a park for years after the surrounding houses were taken down...new developments such as houses are on the old park grounds now...not much landscape to recognise from the past. but im intrested greatly if you or anyone has photo's from the 60's of the same park and old houses that were standing all the way to the bottom of kingston hill.

I DO HAVE A FEW PICS I TOOK MANY YEARS AGO IN THE PARK OF GYPSY KIDS.
BUT THE SENSE OF WHAT THE ACTUAL PARK LOOKED LIKE IS NOT VISABLE GREATLY.
 
pmcdermott said:
yes i remember kingston hill park, i lived on st andrews rd near mona rd and we used to play footie on the patch ,and cycle round the perimeter on like a cinder track; also spent hours sitting in the sun listening to radio luxembourg,on my days off that is.
Click to expand...

There are some photographs of the lower part on this forum but on another thread, cant find it though. Opposite the gate behind the Kingston there were the remnants of a large building, possibly bombed out during WW2, as a matter of interest, anybody remember what it had been ?

Cant see you getting much of a tan listening to Luxenbourg....
 
hi formula t I was born in watery lane in 1951 and lived at 4/201 the discripsion of kingston hill park was great I had forgot about the metal cup it was true that the watery tasted good we used to play on the swings trying to pump level with the bar in keeley street the suds from Warnwright
factory ran down the gutter and pices of swaff there was a cafe on the coner of watery lane and keeley street. in the lane you could smell the vinarger from sarsons we left the lane in 1967 it says you dont know what you got tll you lose it. edward
 
Hi
I have many memories of Kingston hill park, used to play football forever there ..many times until it was dark, we couldn't see the ball most of the time.
I have managed to dig out some old contact sheets and discovered a few pictures I took some years ago.
They are shots of a Gypsy family with caravans on the central part of the park.
You can clearly see its Kingston park...one of the shots of 2 lads face old Emily Street looking at Saint Andrews fc on Saint Andrews Road before the Club was modernized . I used to deliver early morning papers there when I was a young boy.
I have posted them here.
These are pictures from the contact sheets, I have found the original film which would be much sharper but I feel these will be fine.
Maybe you will like them.
regards
redken
 
During my membership term here I have tagged and saved lots of pictures of various locations around Small Heath which have been of fantastic intrest to me and family through nostalgia .
We were all born and raised in S.H.
It seems a lot of what I have are missing now from this site due to 'hackers'.
Should I manage to sort what I have tagged and are missing...'Can I re-post them'?
They will of course be merited to/from unknown sender.
 
I love this shot...remembering my times here....you can just work out where the concrete steps are taking you to the upper level of the park.
 
A marvelous Pic.Thanks,I am so enjoying this thread and all the others on the Small Heath area.
 
Hello redken, i remember those stone steps, you can also see the Warne Wright & Rowland factory in Keeley St at the back of the picture. We played football for hours on the top park, used to love the place. Happy Days. all the best FT.
 
yep happy days f. t.
I took a picture of a guy painting a caravan in that park it was a close picture but the factories can clearly be seen behind him in Keeley Street I will post it later.
 
redken said:
During my membership term here I have tagged and saved lots of pictures of various locations around Small Heath which have been of fantastic intrest to me and family through nostalgia .
We were all born and raised in S.H.
It seems a lot of what I have are missing now from this site due to 'hackers'.
Should I manage to sort what I have tagged and are missing...'Can I re-post them'?
They will of course be merited to/from unknown sender.
Click to expand...
You are more than welcome to post any photos you have which will replace the lost ones. One of us will try to place them correctly if you let us know.

Bernie
 
ken its over 10 years worth of images so to replace them all is impossable as some posters are no longer with us for one reason or another...but at least we can slowly replace some of them...
thanks again for your efforts it really is appreciated..
lyn
 
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