Stoney Stanton Road

Over the canal bridge Stoney Stanton Rd the Navigation pub was on the left almost on the corner of Eden St where the Adam and Eve pub was/is and the cottage was almost opposite. Now then, I thought the field with the tank was just beyond that cottage and beyond that on the right was a row of conventional houses the first house next to the tank had been converted to a shoe shop. I am probably wrong but I thought the image above was between Proffitt Ave and the canal with Sewall Highway on far left. If it is beyond the canal then what is that road on the left? Norman

Norman Conquest, yes, at first I thought Greg's photo was before the canal, but JVB says between the canal and Cross Street. I thought the railings around the tank was on the top of the canal bank, and as you say then the shoe shop, so Greg how far is the house from the canal?

H. Sykes and Son's, the builders, lived there and also used it as a builders yard. I know one of the Sykes family was living there 7 years ago and could well be still there. I believe the family lived there as far back as 60s, 70s and maybe earlier than that.

I checked, this afternoon, and the cottage is about 200 yards on the town side of the canal. I remember, as a kid, seeing the base that the tank was on and it must have been next to this cottage.

Yes Greg it must be. There is a couple of roads and a McDonalds between cottage and canal. Also there has never been any three storey buildings on Bell Green Rd. Norman.

I lived in Sewall Highway for a few years from about 1964, there was a hairdressers where Kaga suggests because I used to go there, the barber if I remember correctly was Mr Salmon, he had a son called Rob who I think went to Longford Park School.

The barber was Jack Salmon. Family named Sexton next door, the youngest son, Mick Sexton, was a pal of mine.

johnwright, walrus, was there an entrance between those houses that ran to cottages behind?

Kaga, there was and still is if you look on google earth. There was either one large cottage or a semi-detached, I can't remember after all this time. Another old property, accessed by a separate pathway was adjacent, now long gone and redeveloped to the rear of the flats. About 1962 some kids were playing in the, by then, derelict building and it collapsed. I remember at least one of the kids was injured. There were many more old cottages on the land between Bell Green Road and Tallants Road, most or all of them demolished during the 60s and later. I delivered papers all along Bell Green Rd, Sewall Highway and around Eden St. I miss the area as it was, don't know why because life was very much a struggle for our family back then. Simple nostalgia.

I well remember, what we called, an old farm house exactly where you are talking about. It was derelict when we played in it in about 56/57 time.

I remember those terraced houses very well, three storeys, I used to pass them on my way to and from school in the late 50's. I don't think the top storeys were lived in, I don't know about the second storeys but the bottom ones certainly were. One of my memories of them is on a cold winter's afternoon going home I often saw a blazing open fire through the window and could almost feel the heat coming through the glass, it looked so cosy. They were on the Bell Green side of Cross Rd, I can't remember much of the cottage, it must have been next to the kids' playground which was next to the canal. On the footpath by the playground was an emergency call box which as kids we used to amuse ourselves by telling the operator that there was a fire - in my old woman's grate. Naughty. Trolling through my memories I tried to remember what was between the canal and the railway line and of course it was the Bell Green railway goods yard which offered us kids hours of dangerous play. On under the railway bridge there was a footpath which followed the railway and a cobbling shop run by a small fellow who wasn't much bigger than us kids. Also in the same area was a hardware shop where we bought our kerosene (paraffin?). Going further down towards Proffitt Ave there was Dyers the greengrocer, a toy shop and a bike repair shop run by a feller called Harrabin or something similar. As kids we used to raid his back yard for old torch batteries which gave us a few hours after warming them up in the oven. Somewhere among them was Rose's garage and getting towards Proffitt Ave was the barber's shop, the butchers who sold delicious pork batches on a Friday night I think, the Blue Chain greengrocer and on the corner Worthingtons grocery store. I know this is getting away from the cottage, I thought I would jot them down as the memories came in. Cheers

Hi Walrus, I remember those cottages off Proffitt Ave collapsing on top of the kids playing in them. As I remember there a few derelict houses around which drew kids like a magnet. Although I wasn't involved in the demolition my mates and I used to fossick around the buildings and found all sorts of treasures some of which were old lamps which would have been used on carts or coaches (horse type) complete with candles which makes me wonder if horse and carts were stabled there, any ideas? Cheers

Good morning Mr Kerbstone. Happy Christmas to you and yours. That building where you once fossicked was once stabling for two horse drawn hearses. I recall fossicking round those buildings myself, then the hearses were still there but badly damaged. That is of course that we are thinking of the same place. Norman

Kerbstone, all those shops are very familiar memories for me but I'm amazed at the details I can recall. The fields between the railway and the canal were known locally as "The Stars". The cobbler was little Georgie Buggins, he was also a bookies runner in those pre-betting shop days. Maslin's paint and decorating supplies was next door. He also sold the paraffin (remember the Esso blee dooler?), Michael Maslin was in my class at Courthouse Green for a while . Dyers, as you mentioned, Harry's grocery shop, Aubertin's hardware, he lived in Elkington Street, drove a Vauxhall car and sort of leaned over to one side in his seat as he drove. The butchers next to the Blue Chain was Harry Hyde, he made pork batches on Friday and Saturday nights, made a fortune, he also owned a farm out past Coombe Abbey. Down towards The Weavers pub was Mrs. Russell's sweet shop and there was another over the road. Just past The Weavers was a terrace of cottages that were demolished about 1962. They would probably be refurbished now. The kid injured in the collapsed cottage was Jimmy Beasley.

Hi Norman and Walrus, hope you had a merry Christmas. Interesting about those stables, funny how things were just left lying around, those lamps would be valuable now I bet. I didn't know those fields were called the Stars, they were a popular haunt for us kids and the odd courting couple. Russells was a grocer too wasn't it, only small and could get quite crowded and add a couple of dogs and it was all on. A bit further down past the Weavers was a tiny shop, dark and dingy, that sold a variety of things including veges where I used to buy a yellow powder called Kayli in pointed, narrow bags into which a wetted finger was dipped and sucked, ended up with fingers stained like was a heavy smoker. This is getting far away from those cottages isn't it.