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Smethwick

Foodville on Oldbury Road around 1950. Does not seem to be too close to Spon Lane, but the author may put in “Spon Lane area.” ?

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Mallin st is not very near to Spon lane . not sure where Five ways Smethwick is, It does not seem to be marked on the large scale 1950s map
 
We need a Smethwick “local.” Just to the east of the junction of Mallin Street and Spon Lane there is the meeting of Albert Street, Victoria Street, Church Street and the through Oldbury Road. Could this have been locally known as Five Ways ?
 
Stokkie said:
In recent years there have been many supposedly paranormal events in the baths. There are certainly basements and sub-basements with WW2 posters and notices. The underground corridors were used as an air-raid shelter and it was said there was an entrance to a deep shelter in the flats over the road. There was an American supply base in Beakes Road close by.

There has also been talk of a plague pit in recent years. Google threw up this site, but I wonder if this has any substance before people started selling supernatural experiences? The acoustics of the building are odd, but they would be with the swimming pool.https://havegoggleswilltravel.com/pool/smethwick-baths/
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The supposed 'plague pit' at Thimblemill Baths / Smethwick Baths seems to be an urban myth of internet origin. There are only recent references.
 
Smethwick Striver said:
SMETHWICK
Perhaps I may be permitted a humble reply to Shorty's somewhat sharp response to my thread about Smethwick.
What? A Brummie trying to point score over a Smethwickian, perchance?

Juxtaposing my mention of Smethwick being at the centre the Industrial Revolution with my list of factories through the years was naughty of you, Shorty. Of course they were not originals from the I.R. Strewth, I may be old, but not that old! It was what it was - a list of factories that I remembered. No looking up on the internet, no poring over books to find facts - or catch anyone out.

I concede my source about the ironwork was iffy. Perhaps some Brummie filled my head with that nonsense years ago; for which I shall wear a hair shirt for you as a penance - for a couple of minutes; just to make you happy.

As for the Smethwick, Birmingham, postal address, Shorty, it's irrelevant.

My son who lives in Bidford on Avon has a Birmingham postcode. Does that make Bidford Birmingham? No. That's the point. When I was a lad, the County Borough of Smethwick was in Staffordshire. People around where I lived in the early 50s didn't see themselves as part of Birmingham.

I started the thread hoping to set the ball rolling for everyday memories from Smethwickians, but it's turned into a bit of a heavy lecture from an Expert Brummie, no less, on Smethwick.

Who am I , a mere Newbie Brummie from SMETHWICK gainsaying a member of the BIRMINGHAM ILLUMINATI? (Nicely hierarchical names puts me in my place. I'd rather be something else!)

I think I shall soon be stripped of my membership for this, but before World War 3 starts ..........

Come on, Shorty, give peace a chance!

PS. No lessons about Henry Hope's needed either because I worked there - in the drawing office and factory - a long time ago.
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Smethwick is only a short bus ride from Brum, I always thought of Smerrick as being part of Brum! ;)
 
Lemonella said:
Smethwick is only a short bus ride from Brum, I always thought of Smerrick as being part of Brum! ;)
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It nearly was! There was a suggestion for Smethwick to become part of Birmingham in 1888 but vote was deafeated by the narrowest of margins by the castting vote of the chairman

NB: Don't forget that Smethwick was part of Harborne Parish for centuries.................. Holy Trinity was called Holy Trinity, North Harborne in 1842 when created from ancient parish of Harborne.
 
Hi superdad3
I don't know why they had to have a vote, it seems unfair, but I still think of myself as a Brummie, even though I was brought up in Smethwick. Doesn't it have Bham postcodes and dialling codes? The same goes for Bearwood.
 
Lemonella said:
Hi superdad3
I don't know why they had to have a vote, it seems unfair, but I still think of myself as a Brummie, even though I was brought up in Smethwick. Doesn't it have Bham postcodes and dialling codes? The same goes for Bearwood.
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Hi Lemonella,

This is from Smethwick Local History Website - well worth looking at.

Modern local government in the town [ie Smethwick] began in 1856 when a local board of health was set up. In 1888 Birmingham was planning to extend its boundaries by annexing several adjacent parishes, intending to include Harborne by exclude Smethwick. Some local businessmen thought where would be advantages in the town becoming part of its large neighbour and factions for an against annexation arose. Eventually the proposal to apply to join Birmingham was only defeated by the casting vote of the chairman, Arthur Keen. Harborne joined Birmingham in 1891 and Smethwick became a borough in 1899, with Jabez Lones as the first mayor.
 
The Smethwick Local History site continues:
'Smethwick’s identity became blurred by local authority re-organisations. In 1966 it was removed from its historical county of Staffordshire to join Oldbury and Rowley Regis in the new borough of Warley in Worcestershire, and at the same time it lost its status as a single parliamentary constituency. The absorption in 1974 of Warley into the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell left many Smethwickians with a sense of loss and the feeling that their town had somehow been robbed of its significance.'
I lived in Bearwood, so travelling to Birmingham meant simply crossing Bearwood Rd or walking to the Kings Head and crossing Hagley Road.

I have also worked and lived in Birmingham and have an affinity with both Smethwick and Birmingham its big neighbour. Sandwell never had much of an identity for me.

Mother's family came from Ladywood and father's family home was in Broomfield. But he worked in Birmingham as did my grandfather who was born in Upper Gornal and had established a factory and an earlier family in Birmingham! My ggfather a chainmaker and blacksmith born Old Swinford. The Black Country, Smethwick and Birmingham roots are intertwined for me.
 
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superdad3 said:
Hi Lemonella,

This is from Smethwick Local History Website - well worth looking at.

Modern local government in the town [ie Smethwick] began in 1856 when a local board of health was set up. In 1888 Birmingham was planning to extend its boundaries by annexing several adjacent parishes, intending to include Harborne by exclude Smethwick. Some local businessmen thought where would be advantages in the town becoming part of its large neighbour and factions for an against annexation arose. Eventually the proposal to apply to join Birmingham was only defeated by the casting vote of the chairman, Arthur Keen. Harborne joined Birmingham in 1891 and Smethwick became a borough in 1899, with Jabez Lones as the first mayor.
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This sounds like political engineering to me. I wonder what the real gain was?
 
Stokkie said:
The Smethwick Local History site continues:
'Smethwick’s identity became blurred by local authority re-organisations. In 1966 it was removed from its historical county of Staffordshire to join Oldbury and Rowley Regis in the new borough of Warley in Worcestershire, and at the same time it lost its status as a single parliamentary constituency. The absorption in 1974 of Warley into the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell left many Smethwickians with a sense of loss and the feeling that their town had somehow been robbed of its significance.'
I lived in Bearwood, so travelling to Birmingham meant simply crossing Bearwood Rd or walking to the Kings Head and crossing Hagley Road.

I have also worked and lived in Birmingham and have an affinity with both Smethwick and Birmingham its big neighbour. Sandwell never had much of an identity for me.

Mother's family came from Ladywood and father's family home was in Broomfield. But he worked in Birmingham as did my grandfather who was born in Old Swinford and had established a factory and an earlier family in Birmingham! The Black Country, Smethwick and Birmingham roots are intertwined for me.
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Excellent detail Stokkie! I do not see, albeit from a distance the true gain for the citizens. I worked for a butcher after school on SoHo Road, 264 to be exact. I delivered meat to people in Smithwick and Windsor Green etc., and always regarded them as Birmingham. I maybe over simplifying but it seems like moving towns in and out of counties is a political thing rather than a value gain for the citizens!
 
Richard Dye said:
Excellent detail Stokkie! I do not see, albeit from a distance the true gain for the citizens. I worked for a butcher after school on SoHo Road, 264 to be exact. I delivered meat to people in Smithwick and Windsor Green etc., and always regarded them as Birmingham. I maybe over simplifying but it seems like moving towns in and out of counties is a political thing rather than a value gain for the citizens!
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I suspect that big business in Smethwick thought they would have more influence and profit as part of Victorian Birmingham. Politics! Nothing changes.
 
superdad3 said:
I suspect that big business in Smethwick thought they would have more influence and profit as part of Victorian Birmingham. Politics! Nothing changes.
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Yes, nothing changes. Politicians have no spine they just follow the money, have no resistance to money and influence! I serve on two boards with the caveat that I will tell you what I believe you need to know not what you want to know. You would be surprised, or maybe not how many don’t want that. I consider myself a centrist with no bias.
 
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