• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Snow Hill Station

As a lad my dad would sometimes take me to Snow Hill tomwatch the "Dragons", and we would stand on the end of the platform facing the tunnels, and we would watch as the trains would rush through , in side with the fire box's reflecting off the sooty walls and with the steam and smoke they really did look like "Dragons", to a small boy.!!!
PAUL
 
Hi Brian. Yes I realised the map was Hockley, but I didn't explain myself very well. What I meant was did they shunt the cattle via train from the 'Cattle Pens' at Hockley to Snow Hill Station, then drive (i.e. walk) the cows across town (on the roads) from Snow Hill Station to Digbeth? !! There must have been a reason for the name 'cattle pens' next to Hockley station, but maybe they took cattle down the line in the other direction from Hockley.

Phil, that 'now' photo gives a very clear impression of the vastness of the tunnels.

Paul, what a magical memory of Snow Hill.

Viv.
 
Viv
i think most cattle either came to lawley st , for the cattle market in montague st, or to the spur on the viaduct at upper trinity St for later transport through the streets to bradford St market. Possibly the pens were for transhipment of cattle to elsewhere. only guessing though
 
Sorry Viv,

Cattle were certainly detrained and stored at Hockley, maybe fopr 'resting' or something. My Mum remebers they occasionally had run-aways / escapees on the Flat nearby.
 
Maybe the runaways saw the writing on the wall Brian. Must have been quite a sight to see one make a run for it! Viv.
 
I understood there were also stable there for the delivery horses, but unsure where. I can recall the warehouse that were still there in 1971/2 - massive places with space for hundreds of wagons.
 
Cattle brought in to Birmingham by GWR would normally be brought into Moor Street for the markets. They could perhaps be held at Hockley before movement to Moor Street or Bordesley.
 
Key Hill Brian said:
I understood there were also stable there for the delivery horses, but unsure where. I can recall the warehouse that were still there in 1971/2 - massive places with space for hundreds of wagons.
Click to expand...
The stabling for the horses was in All Saints Street. It was a double/triple deck building with a ramp that took the horses to different levels.
 
Hockley.jpgHere's a screen grab from Google earth. The area outlined in 'BLUE' was Hockley goods yard and warehousing. The are outline in 'YELLOW' was the stabling for the horses.
 
Blimey how big was this operation? ! The stabling alone was vast. Still trying to get my head around why Hockley had a direct link with Snow Hill Station (passenger transport excluded). Trying to work out what exactly was the freight that went from Hockley via Snow Hil? Seems incredible that Hockley produced so much stuff to justify a goods yard on that scale. Obviously I know guns, jewellery, all manner of metal goods etc were produced, but it must have been on a very grand scale. Had no idea this was there when I used to travel through Hockley on my way to work. Viv.
 
Snow Hill Station Livery St Northwood St 1968.jpgSnow Hill Station Livery St Northwood St 2008.jpg

Page 109 of the same book shows Snow Hill Station from that point on Northwood Street / Livery Street, that I've taken photos from 3 times now.

First view is from 1968, second from 2008.

Compare to my 2011 photo on Flickr



Last year



A few days ago

 
Interesting newspaper cuttings Ell. At least there's a little of the history left at Snow Hill if only in the tracks. Your modern day photo shows a chimney stack to the right. Would this be Taylor & Challons or was it connected to the station I wonder?

The stables at Hockley were used to stable a large number of Snow Hill working horses. 1n 1867 there were 130 of them working at Snow Hill.

On the www.warwickshirerailways.com site contained within the instructions for shunting at Snow Hill is this info:

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1359622524.756733.jpg

The horses were used for shunting carriages etc as well as road deliveries. I think they must have had a pretty hard life. Here's one in action at Snow Hill just in view (from the www.warwickshirerailways.com):

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1359622603.935538.jpg


Also an extract from "The Long Haul (The Life and Times of the Railway Horse)" by Bryan Holden gives a little more detail of the life of shunting horses:

"In January 1977, Bryan Holden visited Snow Hill Station, Birmingham, then in the final stages of its demolition and in the depths of the south tunnel discovered the stables where the fish siding's shunt horses had spent their lives in conditions worse that any pit pony. Rarely had these unfortunate animals left the tunnel; they were creatures of habit, working instinctively: it was said that they never passed a coloured light signal set at caution, nor stepped nearer the rail than was safe".


Viv.
 
I think in one of the previous posts or in a Warwickshire Railways link it said that there were 1000 men employed at Hockley including 300 carters. This shows the number of horses that there must have been.

Remember that in those days all parcel trafic went by rail. We did not have companies like DHL, FedEx, DPD etc. When you went on holliday you could send your luggage in advance and it would be waiting for you when you got to your hotel or boarding house. All this had to be handled by the railways.
 
Following an earlier comment, I can now state that the Snow Hill Tunnel between Snow Hill and Moor Street is 580 yards. I did walk that tunnel one day that they allowed a charity walk through before it reopened to rail traffic.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Interesting newspaper cuttings Ell. At least there's a little of the history left at Snow Hill if only in the tracks. Your modern day photo shows a chimney stack to the right. Would this be Taylor & Challons or was it connected to the station I wonder?
Click to expand...

My photos came from a book, not a newspaper.

Yes it is Taylor & Challen.

In the following photos of mine from 2009, you can see it through a gate (there is a different gate here now and you can't see through it)



 
Glad you like it Brian. There's loads of then and now photos in that book.

Here's a modernish shot of mine from Jewellery Quarter Station towards where Hockley Station was. Key Hill on the right.

 
Key Hill Brian said:
Cheers Ell - A great pic of the part of the cemetery - not seen that shot before - they usually seem to cut out the cemetery!

Brian
Click to expand...

I remember seeing one of the Portillo Great Railway Journeys, I think it featured Birmingham where there was a train that used to take the deceased on the train to the cemetery. Was it this one? Sometimes the tains took 'unofficial' live passengers too! Viv.
 
Apologies Ell, the grainy photos made me think the pics were from a newspaper, despite you clearly saying they're from a book! Great photos, both old and new. Viv.
 
Thanks Viv. The Hockley one is dated 1964. It says that the Doric Temple at Key Hill Cemetery was demolished as it was "unsafe".
 
Vivienne14 said:
I remember seeing one of the Portillo Great Railway Journeys, I think it featured Birmingham where there was a train that used to take the deceased on the train to the cemetery. Was it this one? Sometimes the tains took 'unofficial' live passengers too! Viv.
Click to expand...

No Viv that was the London Necropolis Station at Waterloo see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Necropolis_Company The station frontage is still there but the station behind it was bombed in 1941
 
When Michael Portillo went to Birmingham last time, he got off at Moor Street. They didn't show him travelling to the Jewellery Quarter, as in the next scene, he was walking down past shops on Vyse Street!
 
Viv
I think the Portillo train you were mentioning was the Necropolis railway from Waterloo. by chance i was watching the episode last night. here is a screenshot from my recording

PS sorry posted before I saw later post

necropolis_railway.jpg
 
Thanks David, Ell and Mike. Must go and have a look. And you could buy a coffin ticket!! Pity they didn't do this on the GWR from Snow Hill to Hockley, would've made an interesting study. Viv.
 
Apologies for going "Off Topic" but I wanted to thank Ellbrown for the the Key Hill photo as this was the area where my GT. Grandmother was buried before they moved her for the Metro!!! Haven't seen a photo of it before.
rosie.
 
No problem Rosie. Do you mean the modern photo, or the old one?

I've got this view of Key Hill from Jewellery Quarter Station

 
Vivienne14 said:
There must have been a reason for the name 'cattle pens' next to Hockley station, but maybe they took cattle down the line in the other direction from Hockley.


Viv.
Click to expand...



I've found a report of a Queens Court case which mentions Hockley as being one of two GWR cattle stations, the other being Bordesley. Bordesley handled cattle from the south of Birmingham so Hockley must have handled that from the north. This legal case (of, I think, 1865) was reported in the Law Journal 1842 - 1949. The plaintiff's cattle were mistakenly taken to Hockley instead of Bordesley and he consequently missed taking them to market. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1359644706.383139.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top