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Soho Road Handsworth

Rupert said:
Parts of the New Inns Pub still remain in the current building. This I believe is where the cable tramway eventually went to. There would have been a cable wheel under the road to turn the cable onto the return track. I think also that there was a toll gate located here at one time. Seems a long way to drive a cable...from Snow Hill to here and back but it did happen and was around for a number of years and the drive engine was at Hockley alongside the brook. You can see the engine house on the 1890 map but the extension to New Inns is not included in 1890.
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Actually there were two cables. Colmore Row to Hockley Brook and Hockley Brook to New Inns. The tram driver would release the grip on one cable and coast across to grip the other cable. On the other point about rope walks, because you need a long narrow area to make ropes you will often find them alongside canals or railways on old maps.
 
OK David; that makes sense. How did they round corners like at the top of Snow Hill. I can't see how the rope grabber would go around a horizontal pulley. Maybe they were pulled up to a platform where they would detach and coast on a downgrade around the corner where they would re-attach. Cable breaks would bring the whole system to a stop and maybe this and the jerkiness of operation made a change to electric trams welcome.
 
Rupert said:
OK David; that makes sense. How did they round corners like at the top of Snow Hill. I can't see how the rope grabber would go around a horizontal pulley. Maybe they were pulled up to a platform where they would detach and coast on a downgrade around the corner where they would re-attach. Cable breaks would bring the whole system to a stop and maybe this and the jerkiness of operation made a change to electric trams welcome.
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I am not too sure of the answer to this. I can think only that there must be some form of taper spacer on the gripper which eases the cable away from the pulley. The right angled corner at the top of Snow Hill is an obvious problem but no road is straight and there must be many horizontal pulleys as you go round every slight bend in the road. The only other cable tram that I am aware of in the UK is the Great Orme Tram at Llandudno. I have seen the horizontal pulley wheels there with the cable running against them but I have not seen under the cars.
 
Heres one for your Judy.


[TABLE="width: 0, align: center"]
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[TD="colspan: 2"]
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[TR]
[TD]1968
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[TD]Phyllis Nicklin
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[h=3]Soho Hill [/h][h=3]Handsworth, Birmingham [/h]Denbro Works, Soho Hill.
 
Thanks Carol. I have seen this one before, and I did save it because it brought back so many memories. It's always good to see it again. My school, Soho College was opposite Dennisons so I guess I grew up with the factory in a way. I knew the five shops on the left of the photo well. The greengrocers, Mrs Bebbintons Grocery Shop, The Off License run by two ladies whose names I can't remember, Dick Pearce's Newsagents (Mr Pearce was Dad's best friend and fishing buddie), then there was a cafe on the corner of Villa Road. To the right of the photo, just out of sight, was the Beehive Pub.

Judy
 
As a child I remember a milestone that stood at the front of Dennisons Watchcase Co on Soho Hill - you might remember this Carol. It says "111 miles from London. 3 miles from Birmingham. 10 miles from Wolverhampton. The blurb with the photo says that the milestone now stands in the grounds of St James' School nearby. The road was disturnpiked in 1870. Judy

Soho%20Hill%20Milestone.jpg
 
Judy I cant say I remember that. I remember playing netball for them at Ladywood playing fields on Monument Road. I ran, slipped over and broke my arm. I was really innocent then a lady was knitting matinee jackets in the accounts department, firstly I didnt know what matinee jackets were and it never dawned on me she was pregnant. How times have changed.
 
Here's a view taken in 1910 showing the other direction from the Phyllis Nicklin 1968 photo. This one shows the shops and the junction with Villa Road.

soho hill 1910.jpg
 
There was a milestone very near to Milestone Lane (Out side of the Post Office I think) could this be the one that is now in St James School.
 
I think the photo of the milestone that I posted is the one that stood outside of Dennisons Watch Case Factory on Soho Hill, Alan. I know that it was there when I was growing up and I know that it had been moved when I visited some years ago.
 
You are right Judy,but I would think the milestone in the school would be the one from the post office where the school was built,the school is past the Regal as we knew it.
Alan
 
I now understand Alan. I wonder if we could find out which milestone it is at St James' School? I might try and find out if I can.

Judy
 
judy just a thought, did you know an Anthony Grimshaw, who lived at the bottom of Vicarage Road, he went to the grammer school, mid late 50's.
regards
paul
 
The name doesn't ring a bell Paul. I used to play with lots of children in Vicarage Road but apart from a couple who were best friends I can't remember the names but might remember the faces! We left Handsworth in 1956.

Judy
 
Image380.jpg
 
Always good to see that photo again Topsy! That corner of Soho Road and Grove Lane holds many memories for me!!

Judy
 
Was there some sort of childrens hospital on Soho Hill, because I'm sure I had my tonsils taken out at that hospital or clinic. As I was only about 5 yrs old at the time, it's hard for me to be sure.
 
Maggs there was a clinic on Soho Road where I can remember having my teeth out, it was awful. A mask over the face and then after you sat at a sink and coughed up the blood with others who have had their teeth removed.
 
Oh Carolina, what you describe is exactly what I experienced too. I remember having something put into my mouth to bite, and then the mask coming over my face, and I was petrified. There didn't seem any bedside manner or caring for frightened children then. The pain and problem swallowing for weeks later was something I can't forget either. By Gosh, your experience of coughing up blood at the sink sounds dreadful. Were they butchers or what? Having my appendix out in Dudley Rd hospital wasn't anywhere near as bad and I would only be 7yrs old then. Well, it was Soho Road where the clinic was, thank you for letting me know.
 
carolina said:
Maggs there was a clinic on Soho Road where I can remember having my teeth out, it was awful. A mask over the face and then after you sat at a sink and coughed up the blood with others who have had their teeth removed.
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Remember it well. The sink was a trough and I was at the drain end with all the other children's blood flowing infront of me!! No wonder I am terrified of dentists.
 
carolina, where were the playing fields on Monument Road? I remember Mitchells and Butlers playing fields on Dudley Road, as we used to have our school sports day on there.
 
Another fellow sufferer then Rob1abb. It was an awful place, I shall never forget it. Fortunately I never had teeth removed there, just the blessed tonsils.
 
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