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Old street pics..

continuing posting on this latest thread...

francis st nechells..dated 1961

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highgate st...the globe works dated 1962


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thanks mike...i do think its lovely the way folk turned the houses into little outdoors..

lyn
 
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Looking towards Great Lister Street, this is Rupert Street Aston. 1955
 
A pic from the 'old evening mail pics' - it's an old street in Ladywood - the caption says 'This street party picture sent by Ron Scrambler of Lichfield shows the community spirit which existed during his childhood days in Ladywood' The flags and bunting are out and look at the nice chairs and a nice large teapots. I'm not sure what the celebration was - it looks earlier than 1953 so I did not put it in the Coronation thread.
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That's a very tall chimney!! I think I read somewhere, but can't remember where, that Birmingham had a relatively healthy environment due to the height of the chimneys which carried away the smoke. Not sure I'm completely convinced on that one. Viv.
 
My dad worked in the foundry and steelworks industry as a furnace electrician. I heard him say many times that Brum was the cleanest of all the industrial cities in the UK, at least the ones he'd spent time in. Maybe because there wasn't all that much truly heavy industry in Brum. He said that the two filthiest places he recalled (this is during the war) were Sheffield and Wolverhampton, mainly because both cities had steelworks and also coal-mining in the near vicinity. Having said that, my mother used to go crackers at the chemical pong her washing picked up from the nearby Tufnol works - but it was a pong only, not smoke.

Big Gee
 
Smog was a frequent event. Not steel perhaps but iron and brass smelters...Brum was the centre of the brass industry I think. Also every house had a coal fire and since it was a large city it was a major feature. Not so prevalent in our day but steam engine powered factories added to the sum.
Coal gas plants...maybe most of the Black Countries coal was burned in Brum. When natural gas came to town it must have been a huge game changer.
 
I think it all depends on what period in history we're talking about, Rupert. I was born (just) post-war, but although we had plenty of fog I can't remember much in the way of the kind of photo-chemical smog they used to get in London, for example, but I do believe there was a bad smog in the early 1950's. There were no steelworks, i.e., plants that produced steel stock rather than steel parts, within the Birmingham area, and also very few large iron foundries. (Again I'm talking within my life-time, and I worked in the metals industry for many years). Yep, there were plenty of brass foundries (smelting is a different process), but brass is a 'clean' metal compared with iron and steel. Don't remember steam power, so can't comment, but certainly remember coal fires, and the days before smokeless fuel. Sometimes in Perry Barr we got a whiff from Saltley Gasworks, but not very often. But there's no argument that the post-industrial Brum we have now is infinitely cleaner in all respects than the days when it was The City Of A Thousand Trades.

Finally, I had a girl-friend who lived about half a mile from the Longbridge works, and when I visited her I could always smell paint from the Austin factory (as it then was). She said she couldn't smell anything.

Big Gee
 
Hard to say when that photo was taken. But the ladies dresses look earlier than VE day I would have thought, but perhaps not.... and the condition of the court seems better than I can remember any looking by the 40s.
 
Bernie D'Boult said:
Could it have been the Coronation of King George VI?
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Hi Bernie - You might be right about it being the earlier Coronation. I'm puzzled about the absence of children who are usually seen at street parties. The pic came from Lyn's original 'old evening mail pics' thread which I've just read through from #1 to see if any information was there.
oldmohawk
 
You know, you could probably find that court on the 1890 OS of Ladywood. There are three or four features to look for and if you look at the old area there are many courts there and amazingly none are identical that I can find. This particular one has a wide entrance and wide yardway and there are the usual facilities on the sides at the entrance end here I think and no garden patches in front of the dwellings...just close-up palings. It's hard to determine what is a garden patch and what is a dwelling on the OS map at times.
 
Another pic from the 'old evening mail pics' thread- the caption says it is a yard off Stoke Street at the back of Broad Street early 1960s and Magic Miskins? All the hanging washing across the yard shows it must have been washing day.
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Does anyone have any pictures of Upper Webster Street Aston?

We lived there in the 1960's with our three small daughters before buying our house in Erdington .

Upper Webster Street was a back-to-back 'slum' area but our little 'home' was kept like a little palace and we made the most of the lack of facilities.

I am unsure when this area was cleared, perhaps someone knows?
 
I wondered about that and even Googled but did not get much. I've guessed that they are what I used to know as Dustbins but I might be wrong....:rolleyes:
 
Think you must be right. The only definition I could find was a little bagpipe. In the absence of bagpipes, I think I'll go along with dustbins!! Viv
 
I think the photographer may have taken this photo from Wheeler St. The flats at the back were built where Gt Russell St used to be.
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