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Monument Lane Station/Shed

dwilly

dwilly

master brummie
Anyone know why Mounment Lane Station/Shed was so called? The maps etc i've looked at around the time, 1854, seem to show a Monument Road, part of which remains today, but no Monument Lane
 
It is indeed most peculiar. up to sometime between 1873 and 1876 the station was known as Edgebaston Station and was on Icknield St West. By 1876 the station had been renamed Monument Lane. Up to 1876 there was a Monument lane that went from Hagley road to Reservoir road, the road then changing to Icknield St West. Between 1876-78 Monument lane was changed to Monument Road and the road extended to include what had been Icknield St West. So the station was never on or very near Monument Lane, and a couple of years after they changed the name to Monument lane, the road called Monument Lane changed its name to Monument road . Sorry if that seems complicated, but i have done my best !!
 
Hi guys
as you know it was connected to the monument rd rail way station which was as refered as the rail way sideings and sheds
where they cleaned and repaired the locomotives of steam and they stored the denotaters for this side of the city
and down the side of the station was a road called cope street which was formerly monunment lane and this went one end of the street
and from monumement rd it went down a hill passing spring field st and contined up hill passing stour street and steward street right to the top
but i can tell you there was a great big hig wall built in those old black blue bricks which had to been bult in the 17 or 1800s from one end to the
other end of cope street but at one time in history that would have been a name change from monument lane to cope street
for the reason being he big wall built its height was about eighty feet high all the way up in height
as you walked from the station down cope streetfor about 5oo yards there was an opening which you went into the rail way sidding and you
turned right you would walk about three hundred yards to reach the rail way sheds and that was a dirt track before you got any where near them sheds when we was kids in lady wood we spent many a hour down that track but i will also say thee was a plaque which did state monument land goods yards
so with out going into research the maps i presume its was the old rd renamed cope street i can remember an old station master
whom ran it his fore head was damaged and left him with a big inplanted shape on his fore head he was very strict about kids coming down the stairs to the station messing about if you did not want the train or wih parents he would chase you off the platform we used to cheek hm
and he would chase us up the stairs but he kept the station very clean
best wishes astonian
 
Yes that all agrees with what I found in the directories. As I said before, it is very peculiar.
 
Just read your original post and by looking at the maps and what I've seen now makes sence! The sites on Railways seem to have the same or very similar information, few mention the original station and none seem to point out that Monument Lane was no where near Monument Lane! Was there already a Monument Road station somewhere on the network at the time and so as to avoid confusion they called in Monument Lane, but Monument Road wasn't near by when it was built! Very confussing!!!!!
 
Couple of replies from a post on a guest book on the excellent https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/index.htm website. Appears it always has been a mystery why!

In his book 'Monument Lane Loco Shed' Tony Higgs states that its a mystery as to why Monument Lane station and shed were so named. Monument Lane was sited over half a mile away from the site which actually lay alongside St Vincent Street and Sheepcote Street. Tony states that in 1878 Monument Lane later became Monument Road but neither the station nor the engine shed had their name changed to suit.
Best wishes
Mike

Dave
Having given it some more thought I have added
Tony states that when first mooted the shed was initially identified as the 'Crescent' but within a month it had been named Monument Lane. My guess is that Monument Lane was the nearest thoroughfare of consequence and therefore the shed and station was so named.
Mike
 
From Ladywood Middleway. The Monument Lane Shed and Goods Yard was on the right.



Steps take you down from the Middleway to a path to a housing estate. Signal box used to be around here somewhere.



The only part of the Ladywood Middleway bridge without tracks running under it.



All fenced off.



Went back up the steps and onto the BCN Mainline canal

 
The locomotive shed, goods shed and railway interchange basin were constructed as part of the works for the Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Stour Valley Railway, which became part of the London & North Western Railway network, but had been promoted before the establishment of the LNWR, by a group that included the London & Birmingham Railway and the Birmingham Canal Navigations. This extensive site extended towards Monument Lane, as it was when this railway was constructed, hence, it appears the naming was correct. The Crescent was a distance away and any link with that name appears inappropriate. Having looked at the BWSVR minutes at the TNA, I do not recall any other nomenclature. The passenger station was located at the bridge.
 
Hi Dwilly
At this precise moment i cannot give you the answer because i have just got home and now i have to dash back out
monunt lane ran along side the tracks and right up to the sheds and yes they called monument lane sheds
I will have to differ on one of two things i have just read and my mind is racing away with things on my mind
i grew up there next to the station which was on monunent road
regarding monument road ending on ickneild port rod is not true, i have not seen the maps yet
and years ago in history i beleive you are correct on the sheepcote street ends there was railway siding there
in the 1800,s
ickneild port road means you would come down across the cannal to get to the siding of the railway
monument lane you could walk from the sheds back to the station on that track with out coming out of the monument lane
siding into cope street and up the hill to get to the front of the station on the bridge
Dwilly i am runnning out of time at the moment i reall have to shoot off hear but just before i tempory close off
on the subject of the signal box it was a bbit further on up the tracks as you have said
well passing the sheds not the direction yoiu have said
i know the area very well indeed plus my two younger brothers lived right by those stepps you have shown
and i still have neices living right there now since they first built the estate speak later around eight oclock
Astonian,,,,
 
Hi Dwilly
A John Cope was one of the first street Commisioners in 1769, whilst in 1813,
Charles and john Cope were elected govenors of King Edward,s School.
Wrightson,s Directory of 1818 gives charles as a Brass founder and caster in general in John street,
And john and charles as military cabinet and coach brass founders , in Fleet Street,
John had houses on Hagly Row [ now Road ] and summer hill terace, close to springhill
And this fact accounts for the nearby Cope street, which emerged in 1882.
Monument lane ladywood was made monument road in 1888
as i have previouly said about cope street right up until the beyond the 1960
the original sign was on the side of the building of monument lane and it was an original british railsign
stating this walk way was monument lane if youread the older post i put on about the dirty black wall built all the way dow
cope street as it went down hill and climbed back up a steep hill of eyeir street
that lane from along the side of the railway tracks had to be going all the way up passing the sheds as i recall it
co,s us kids done that also walking back along from the sheds to the side entrance instead of coming out continue a little furt
you would come to the station masters office and up the steps to the platforms and there you would walk up a complete lot o
steps which was a very high walking up to come out on the monument road and the bridge
The signal box was way past the sheds it could have been about half a mile pased the sheds
heading toward the feeder of the cannal if you knew where the harborne lane was, which is the one that ran up behind
summerfield park it could have ben about 500 yards from there it would cross over after coming from the city
acros the tracks to its one line only with the bridge that crossed over that cannal you would have seen from the steps but since
they built that blocked off bridge you could not see it but if you went up dudley road to northbrook street you will se the old bona
track as we called it thats whatit was known bye all the locals of winson green
there was a signal right by the station and the monument bridge as you stood on the platform
on the subject of a new signal box the old one was further along back towards sheepcote street that was the early years
that used to be the old railway sidings and what it appeared to be a very huge castle looking building
and a huge timber merchants which got burt down and it was the late 100 t0 early 1900 there was a young lady murderd there
and she was a local girl whom in later years frequented the areaonce a twice this story is well known in history and the rev
powell came and tol my brother at his house down where you showed the pictiues and the housing estate
he came a couple of time to bless the spirit to leave his home
i could come and meet you and give you the history of that area step by step mile by mile
 
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Hi dwilly yes thats the reason it was listed as monument lane station sheds where they done all the repairs for the trains
and in later years they stored them further down the tracks by the cannal feeder of the water ways
and i think it was called spon lane
 
My first ever railway photograph was of 44760 at Monument Lane Shed. A schoolfriend & I would visit the place two or three times a week after school (at the former King Edwards place at Five Ways, by then an annexe to George Dixons), and got known by the staff as we always asked if we could go round. Others got chased off, but we were allowed to stay! Even got a cab ride in a brand new Brush type 2 diesel, freshly delivered that day! The apartment block is on the Site of Monument Lane shed now, on the corner of Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street.
44760 at Monument Lane Shed.jpg
Site of Monument Lane shed..jpg
 
I was a regular visitor to 21E Monument Lane in the early sixties, when the the 2P,s were stored there. On the opposite side of the main line was the DMU/ carriage shed. You could hear trains coming up the tunnel from New Street, they made a deep booming sound then burst out into daylight, usually a Bushbury Jube,Groan! O to see that now. In the 70,s I drove a concrete truck and delivered to the estate built on the site of 21E. We also had a job delivering to the old Hockley Goods Depot. The builders were for ever digging up old rails from years gone by.
 
21E ??? ....... it was 3E in my spotting days way back in the 1950's !!! I had a friend that was a fireman there and he worked mostly on the Harborne line....... he had some interesting stories to tell and such a shame he never put pen to paper.
 
Yes you are correct with the 3E code, the depot was recoded 21E on 20/6/60. A further recode took place in september 1963 when it became 2H. Closure was in march 1967 and was demolished during 1968. I have an excellent book about the depot by Tony Higgs, well worth a read if you can find a copy.
 
The Wreck of the Irish Mail, enquiry August 1915.

Frederick Brightman, driver of the train said he took his engine out of the Monument Lane Shed at 8.5 on Saturday
morning....

'F776BD09-DF63-4FEC-875E-520B45DBB080.jpeg8247E54F-56D1-4926-9DAB-ED91F6B86597.jpeg
 
alan bartlett said:
Yes you are correct with the 3E code, the depot was recoded 21E on 20/6/60. A further recode took place in september 1963 when it became 2H. Closure was in march 1967 and was demolished during 1968. I have an excellent book about the depot by Tony Higgs, well worth a read if you can find a copy.
Click to expand...
Yes I read it and have just sold it on....my grandfather used to live right by the depot and used to spot from their attic room.....c1905......a bit before Ian Allan brought his train refs out...lol..... I seem to recall he and his brothers logged their kops on the walls and ceilings in pencil ha ha
 
mikeflan said:
21E ??? ....... it was 3E in my spotting days way back in the 1950's !!! I had a friend that was a fireman there and he worked mostly on the Harborne line....... he had some interesting stories to tell and such a shame he never put pen to paper.
Click to expand...
I also worked with a guy who used to fire on Monument Lane. I could listen to him for hours, he should have wrote a book about it all.
 
Monument Lane loco shed by Higgs, Tony. (2008) has been mentioned in above posts. It is available on the Internet Archive.
A few pictures…
An aerial view of the shed (to the top right) in the 1920s and the surrounding area…

892A78C2-795C-4E8F-8CC4-745BB2987DFD.jpeg
 
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