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Saltley & Alum Rock

We can only look at features on the 1890 map which is already years after the photo...but the coincidences are pretty convincing. The triangle on the map is about the same size as on the photo it seems to me and the copse and trees are also pretty similar. Up by the gasometer the road seems to have turned around to the left at one time on the map. The clincher for me though is the entrance from Nechells Place to where the house was in the photo by the 314 on the map. The house is gone but the entrance from the road is on the map.
 
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Vauxhall Railway Station was built about 1838/9 I think so the line up by the old photo would be in place at the time that the picture was taken. The first photography was around the same time 1839 in France so the railway would have been in place by 1860. If the old photo was Cato St. N. then the railway would be visible I think since that Street ran close along the side of it and there was no triangle at the junction then. From the vantage point of the camera the railway would have been out of sight on the left but converging with what I feel sure was, or became, Nechells Place in the distance and would be hard to make out, even though it would have been level with the road at the crossing. It would have been a gated level crossing possibly, at that time and Nechels place would have run directly to the junction of Charles Arthur St, and Bloomsbury as shown on the earlier 1833 map. This old map also shows the triangle at the junction of Nechells Place and Saltley Road and a few more dwellings on the left just there. Actually I think that more buildings can just be made out in the darkness foreground left. The house on the right of the road is not shown though. Anyway by 1890 Nechells Place was modified and the road changed to run along side of the railway further up the hill to a place where it was higher than the railroad and a simple girder span bridge over was constructed.
The land on the right had been zoned industrial before 1890 seemingly and the house on the corner had gone...it's entrance from the road still there though...a big Gasometer had been built which I must have passed many times as a boy. However the little plot on the corner, left of the triangle still remained...possibly the last little bit of Nechells Green when it was indeed green countryside. I did not give much thought as a youth to where Saltley ended and Nechells began. You can not have a name more associated with Saltley than The Gate and Nechells Place is only 500 yards from there. What a pity that the photographer did not take a shot facing the other way also. Might have been difficult to do in those days with the lighting and I suppose that the art was expensive then. Still an amazing and important find.
 
Re: Nechells & Saltley

hI everyone This is my first post,

The photo brought back many memories I lived in Lingard St. I have walked up and down there many times and it defiantly Nechells Place or as we called it gasworks hill. Its at the very top just before St Clements Rd
 
No 1 High St , in 1921 and later, was listed in Kellys as the London Tavern and was on the corner of Crawford St. . Looking at the electoral roll for 1922, the village Tavern is just above no 1 High St on the list, and is at 2/4 George Arthur Road. It is just listed as a beer retailer in the 1921 Kellys, but is listed in some later Kellys as the Village Tavern
 
As Mike says the Public House at 1 High St was the London Tavern. High St only ran from the viaduct at Crawford St to the junction of Adderley Rd, Alum Rock Rd, Washwood Heath Rd. If the Village Tavern was on the corner of George Arthur Rd then it was in fact at the junction of Alum Rock Rd and not High St. (attached photo of The London Tavern).

Phil

Saltley London Tavern High St - Crawford St (3).JPG
 
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The Village pub wa on the corner of George Arthur Road. My Grandad and Dad used to drink there. I beieve its still there.
 
wendyP said:
The Village pub wa on the corner of George Arthur Road. My Grandad and Dad used to drink there. I beieve its still there.
Click to expand...

Yes its still there on the corner, the signwriting says No 1 George Arthur Rd.

Phil

Alum Rock Village Tavern Alum Rock Rd.jpg
 
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Thanks for your replies. I have spoken to Gramps (yes, still alive and well and living in Knowle!) He says it was in fact The London Tavern where he was born. 1922 Electoral Roll has confused us all? He confirms it has been demolished. He also added that it was next to the Gas Works????? and before he was born (1922) there was an explosion that blew the windows out!!!!!!!!
The family name is Cooper.
 
It did a bit more than blow out the windows at the gas works


SALTLEY.jpg
 
Thanks Mikejee
Don't the old folk make you laugh..... I called Gramps to tell him about the replies and he said 'my dad had 2 pet goats he use to walk around on leads' Never mentioned it before!!!!!
 
Luluco, does Gramps remember a monkey or chimpanzee kept as a pet in or near Cranby Street that escaped and bit somebody? That somebody was my uncle Sam. It was reported in the Evening Mail but I cannot find any reference to the incident. Would have been the 1950's/60's.

Also any pictures of the housing in the area, particularly Cranby Street (where I was born)? Thanks.
 
Macca said:
I watched this video a few days ago Paul: https://www.macearchive.org/Archive...3-monkey-escapes-saltley/MediaEntry/6672.html hope it's what you're looking for.
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It certainly looks like it. I have emailed my sis with the link and she is almost certain it is Uncle Sam (not a blood uncle- but an uncle in the tradition of an old and trusted family friend) and names the two ladies in the clip. I have just emailed cousin Jacqui (uncle Sam's daughter) who should confirm the details- and hopefully have some more.

Pity there was no sound- was quite nostalgic for the unique Saltley accent. I can spot it a mile away from any other Brummie accent.
 
I think I should begin a post titled 'Ask Gramps'..... he was born 17.09.1922 in the London Tavern Saltley and is still absolutely on the ball. He is the source of so much info..... what do you all think?
 
Trebor said:
Hello Chocks2,

Do you remember a family with the surname George, Mr George was the local insurance man, there was a son Lesley and a daughter Linda. Linda and I are still friends.

Trebor
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I remember our insurance man, from the Pru' or Pearl, we had insurance with both companies. I think he's name was Banks or Vernon. He used to come of a Friday night when 'come dancing was on' I'd be having my bath in front of the fire, getting ready for bed, with my pj's warming on the fire guard. I was only little, and he came to see me when I had chicken pox.
 
Hello Phil , Is there any chance you could repost the pictures of Alum Rock /Saltlety area, i d love to see them .I grew up in George Arthur Rd,in early 60,s ,good times .Regards Kim.
 
Hi Kim

I have reinstated all my posted photos to this thread as requested. I'm sorry you had to wait so long but if I don't keep some sort of sequence then I'm afraid I will lose track of where I am.

Phil
 
Just found this new site.https://www.saltleygate.co.uk/. Which Is about the miners strike.and the blockade of saltley coke works. There are a few images and newspapers cuttings. Also an article by Arthur Harper.Who was a convenor at Drews lane and led all the workers to saltley gate.I knew Arthur Harper many years ago before he died.And found out his funeral was attended by arthur scargill and red robbo.
 
Beryl Hayes said:
I also lived on Farndon Road in the late 50's. When did you move away?

Hannah
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Sorry about the delay replying- been busy and also broke my collar bone!

1957- I was born there, at 37 Cranby Street but mom and dad got a house off the council on the Pype hayes estate the year I was born.
 
This is No.68 Hams Rd.Saltley...ivy covered cottage,not exactly what you would expect down "the old end".
 

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My father and his family lived at 61 Cranby Street and his motherand sisters still lived there into the 1970s; the family name was Rawlings
 
Does anyone have a photo of Raymond Road, Alum Rock? My sister lived there before emigrating to Australia?
Thanks. Jojo
 
hi,guys,.is there any pics, of PAT ROACH..tv star,,& wrestler..at SALTLEY MARKET..on alum rock rd in the 1972/3..opening the market..cheers..christy..
 
Phil, you are a hero. I have been trying to find a picture of Adderley Road for years and you have come up with one. I was born over Mrs Edwards's shop, No 79 Adderley Road, about a dozen houses from Mr Turner's News/conf/tob. on the corner of Cranby Street. I tried to photograph the shop years ago but it was just a pile of rubble - I was too late. A few years later houses had been built on the site. Now the place where No 79 stood resembles a derelict basketball pitch. If anyone has other pictures I would love to see them.

Thanks again, Phil.
 
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