• 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

Theodore Price, The Park, Harborne

F

FrancesKerr

Brummie babby
Hello! This is my first post so please forgive any breached guidelines.

I am researching the history of Harborne Lodge which was the lodge for The Park, home to Theodore Price adjacent to Field House on Harborne Park Road. The Park was demolished in 1955 and I have been unable to find a photograph or etching of it. Being able to date the building of this mansion might give us the date of the Lodge which was on Lodge Road now Vivian Road. The Lodge forms part of The Priory, the Augustinian priests' home, who serve St Mary's Church. It was first purchased for the Passionist order in 1873 by a Mr Morris. The Archivist for the Catholic diocese has been unable to locate the deeds for the Lodge and although the Archive department have a ground floor plan of the Lodge they do not have records of when it was built. A William Palmer, gentleman, named it in his will of 1843.
Please does anyone have a memory, photograph or documents relating to either The Park or The Lodge? A potted history is available on St Mary's website but no record of who lived in The Lodge or when it was built. Many thanks for any help. Frances
 
hi frances..little bit confused..on this old map i can see harborne park..harborne house and harborne hall but no sign of a lodge or mansion..i would have thought that if the park was only demolished in 1955 there should be a photo of it somewhere..

do you have anymore info that may help..click on link below to view the map..if you move the blue dot over the map fades out to show us what is there now

lyn

 
Please would you be able to post a map showing the site of the building you are referring to as "The Lodge". Thanks.
 
The earliest reference I have found so far is this entry in White's History, Gazeteer and Directory of 1834
Lodge 1834 directory.jpg
 
Last edited:
I wonder if that was just its name and it wasn't actually the lodge to anywhere?

Earlier reference in a birth announcement in 1830
Birmingham Journal - Saturday 19 June 1830.jpg
 
I have just found a description of the property which was advertised for rent in January 1839. Surely it is too large to be the lodge to another houseAris's Birmingham Gazette - Monday 28 January 1839.jpg
 
There are a lot of references to Theodore Price in documents held by the Library of Birmingham. You may/may not have come across these
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20240930_185916_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20240930_185916_Chrome.jpg
    221.8 KB · Views: 8
  • Screenshot_20240930_185811_Chrome.jpg
    Screenshot_20240930_185811_Chrome.jpg
    568.8 KB · Views: 9
Last edited:
An 1834 map showing Lodge Road. Presumably the Lodge is the building beneath 'Lodge' in the labelling of Lodge Road (?)

Screenshot_20240930_185245_Samsung Notes.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looks likely that the building is the Lodge but do we have a connection to The Park?
Post 6 has a reference to it in 1830 but it seems to be a house rather than the lodge of the Park.
 
FrancesKerr said:
Hello! This is my first post so please forgive any breached guidelines.

I am researching the history of Harborne Lodge which was the lodge for The Park, home to Theodore Price adjacent to Field House on Harborne Park Road. The Park was demolished in 1955 and I have been unable to find a photograph or etching of it. Being able to date the building of this mansion might give us the date of the Lodge which was on Lodge Road now Vivian Road. The Lodge forms part of The Priory, the Augustinian priests' home, who serve St Mary's Church. It was first purchased for the Passionist order in 1873 by a Mr Morris. The Archivist for the Catholic diocese has been unable to locate the deeds for the Lodge and although the Archive department have a ground floor plan of the Lodge they do not have records of when it was built. A William Palmer, gentleman, named it in his will of 1843.
Please does anyone have a memory, photograph or documents relating to either The Park or The Lodge? A potted history is available on St Mary's website but no record of who lived in The Lodge or when it was built. Many thanks for any help. Frances
Click to expand...
Regarding Harborne Lodge.
In my opinion (Frances I would like to know what makes you think it was a lodge to The Park) this was a house built as a family residence in 1829

We know it was occupied in 1830 by the Simcox family - see birth notice in post #6
The Rev Simcox died and the estate was advertised to be sold or let in March 1831 but the notice includes an interesting sentence. The house was built about 2 years since.
Aris's Birmingham Gazette - Monday 14 March 1831.jpg

Then it was later advertised for sale in 1834 as part of the property of the Rev Simcox. Property now occupied by Col. Thorn (see post #5). There is another interesting fact in the advert. recently and substantially built at a cost of £4000
That to me is a family residence not a lodge to another property

Aris's Birmingham Gazette - Monday 05 May 1834.jpg
 
Last edited:
Time line of occupants. Note the year is where I have evidence - most people there for longer than that one date.
This will be added to if I find more info.

1829 house built (reference in sale notice of 1831)
1830 Edward George Simcox (birth notice of daughter)
1844 Col Nathanial Thorn (directory)
1836 Mr E L Ireland (referred to in sale notice)
1838 Mrs Ann Sheldon (death notice)
1846 William Palmer (death notice)
1856 James Molliiet (birth notice of daughter).
1868, 1872 Ralph Heaton (directories and 1871 census)
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much for all this information. Older St Mary's parishioners and friars will be very interested! I read in Edward Chitham's book in Harborne, p72, re Harborne Lodge being the original Lodge for The Park.

I was in the cellars of the Lodge part of St Mary's priory today! There are a network of six rooms and then an entrance near the top of one of the walls into two more rooms which are large but only about four feet high. I found a 1930s RWhite lemonade bottle and a corked, but empty, Yellow Star Sherry no.3 bottle bottled by Mitchell and Butler..possibly the same age as the lemonade! (A party maybe...)
The second large but squat room which had a very small rectangular entrance had a ceiling a bit like wattle and daub ceiling. It was thin pieces of wood and a white plaster irregularly over it. I did take photos but don't seem to be able to attach them.

Astoness said:
hi frances..little bit confused..on this old map i can see harborne park..harborne house and harborne hall but no sign of a lodge or mansion..i would have thought that if the park was only demolished in 1955 there should be a photo of it somewhere..

do you have anymore info that may help..click on link below to view the map..if you move the blue dot over the map fades out to show us what is there now

lyn

Click to expand...
Hello! Thank you so much for this map. The diagonal striped outline labelled Presbytery is the outline of The Lodge building and matches the one I saw in The Archives. I didn't photograph it but did sketch it. I think lower down in this thread the floorplan is attached.
Frances
Astoness said:
hi frances..little bit confused..on this old map i can see harborne park..harborne house and harborne hall but no sign of a lodge or mansion..i would have thought that if the park was only demolished in 1955 there should be a photo of it somewhere..

do you have anymore info that may help..click on link below to view the map..if you move the blue dot over the map fades out to show us what is there now

lyn

Click to expand...
 
pjmburns said:
Frances can you confirm that the building you refer to is the Lodge attached to St Mary's Church?
Click to expand...
Yes, it is. It is only a small part of the current priory. It was built onto in the 1870s and was called the monastery which was for the Passionist Priests, as they had outgrown the Lodge. Mass was being celebrated in the conservatory, now sympathetically restored and called The Orangery. This became too small for the growing congregstion and so work began on the church itself.
 
Last edited:
Hi Frances.
This has been a fascinating journey.
To attach photos you probably need to reduce the digital size. Best way - open in "paint" and resize. If you can't then post on here and I will contact you via the message system on here.
 
Hello again! The description of rooms in The Lodge corresponds roughly with the rooms that comprise the older buildings of what is now called The Priory. It is big but not huge. It has four downstairs rooms including the dining room, a kitchen with eating area, and several one storey outbuildings attached to the kitchen. There is also the conservatory. Interestingly the small attached brick shed is painted yellow inside and has silhouettes of where the tools should hang, including scythes! The church of 1877 did have a red brick wall around its grounds' perimeter and would have been big enough to have some of the outdoor spaces described in the sale notice.
 
Thank you. I'll experiment tomorrow.

PS I have found photos of 'lathe and plaster' ceilings which match what Ii photographed, used from C17th onwards.
 
pjmburns said:
I wonder if that was just its name and it wasn't actually the lodge to anywhere?

Earlier reference in a birth announcement in 1830
View attachment 195404
Click to expand...
Discovered today that Edward Simcox was the nephew of Theodore Price.
Thomas Green (of Harborne House) who owned much of Harborne left his money and lands to his 2 sons-in-law. Theodore Price and George Simcox. George's son was Edward. However, Edward owned Harborne Lodge as after his death, it was soldcas part of his estate.
 
Last edited:
been away for a few days so just catching up on this thread...great research jan..most interesting

lyn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top