Pensnett Trading Estate
Pensnett Trading Estate maps (2 available)
Map of West Midlands
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of West Midlands
Personalised maps
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Pensnett Trading Estate photos (none available)
We have no photos of Pensnett Trading Estate,although these nearby locations do:Pensnett Trading Estate books (17 available)
Coventry Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Dudley Living Memories
Paperback
Wolverhampton Photographic Memories
Paperback
Pensnett Trading Estate memories
Read and share memories of Pensnett Trading Estate and West Midlands inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in West Midlands below.
West Midlands memories
Village School
To the left of where the photographer was standing was the junior's playground of the old village school (St Mary and St Margaret's.) In 1963-4 we would have vacated the old buildings and moved into a new building in Southfield Avenue on the Hall Estate. The old school was basically a large room divided into classrooms by immense sliding concertina doors. The windows were very high and so were the ceilings. Because the old school was very cramped just prior to moving to the new one, our class with our teacher Mrs Huggins, had our lessons in two rooms of the old house. I remember immense coal fires in the winter while the rest of the school had hot pipes running ...read more here
A memory of Castle Bromwich contributed by helen kerr
Visits to cathedral
We used to stay one week each summer with my mother's aunt and we would be taken to see the sights of Coventry. I remember so well going into the ruined cathedral and feeling a sense of awe and that it was still a place of worship, albeit open-air. I think it was because the original aisles were still in place and where the pews would have been was grass.
Later on we came to live in Coventry and I have been a member of the Cathedral community. Memorable occasions in the 'old' cathedral have been Easter Sunday services at dawn after having stayed awake (and busy) since the first part of the service the evening before; sponsored sleep-outs overnight (usually ...read more here
A memory of Coventry contributed by josie skene
My parents wedding
Although I wasn't to be born for another 6 years, I remember my mother teling me about her wedding day here. My brother's name is Peter, I wonder if the connection is from this church?
A memory of Wolverhampton contributed by Sarah Hartley
Post Office
We moved to nearby Kingshurst and the Post Office on the corner of Hurst Lane was the nearest for collecting the much needed Family Allowance. It was a good walk as the buses were not very frequent. When I was newly married 13 years later, our first house was in Hawthorne Road so this was my local shopping area. We moved away 33 years ago but having friends who live in Hurst Lane North we do visit the area occasionally. I have experienced many changes to these shops and the now very busy road.
A memory of Castle Bromwich contributed by Lynda Ridgard
Extracts From Pensnett Trading Estate & West Midlands books
In the early 1960s there was not only the
development of Sutton College, but a new
Petty Sessional Court House and Divisional
Police Headquarters were also completed. Up
until then the police headquarters had been
in Station Street, where they had once formed
part of a public house. Earl Jellicoe opened
the new fire station in 1963. It provided a
drill ground, hose drying and drill tower,
garages, workshops, space for auxiliary fire
services and stationing for three appliances.
Previously the fire station had been on Mill
Street, just beside the Masonic Buildings.
If you look at the clock tower on the Town
Hall, you would never guess that at one
time the fire hoses were hung up there to
dry! When the Town Hall was built in 1906
it not only housed the fire station, but had
assembly rooms and a council chamber. It
was extended in the 1950s and a few years
ago it underwent a massive redecoration
programme so that it is now a very popular
venue for weddings and conferences, as
well as having a stage that is used by local
dramatic societies. Next to the Town Hall,
in what was the Royal Hotel and is now the
council office, is the registrar for births and
deaths. From 1881 burials were made in a
cemetery off Rectory Road, but it would
appear that there is no new land available
here for burials. However, a crematorium
was built in Tamworth Road in 1964 at a
cost of £125,000 and in 2004 it underwent
a major refurbishment. The first municipal
cemetery to be opened since 1923 was
opened in 2002 in Sutton New Hall.
(Birmingham Library Services)
This photograph shows the Town Hall when it was being used as a sanatorium.
An extract from from"Sutton Coldfield - A History & Celebration".
Just down the road from the 1881 cemetery
is the Good Hope Hospital. Originally Sutton
was served by a cottage hospital that was
opened in 1907 but, despite being extended in
1911, it could not cope with the demands that
were being placed on it. Sutton was growing
and the need for another general hospital
to serve the district was also growing. It was
suggested that as a house called Good Hope
on Rectory Road was up for sale, it was an
ideal site. It was purchased for £5,000 in 1943
and used as a convalescent home for patients
from the cottage hospital for some ten years.
As the site gradually underwent development,
the old house itself was demolished in 1967.
More wards, operating theatres and facilities
were added and in 1993 the Good Hope
Hospital NHS Trust was formed. Change
came in 2003 when Good Hope signed a
three-year franchise agreement with the
private company, Secta.
1967 was a busy year for Sutton - the
postgraduate medical centre and the
maternity unit at Good Hope Hospital were
opened and a new extension at Bishop Vesey’s
Grammar School also opened. It also saw
the Mount development on Reddicap Hill
and a year later permission was granted for
the building of swimming baths in Clifton
Road which opened in 1971, the same year
that the Central Youth HQ, also in Clifton
Road, came into use.
(Courtesy of Grahame Tench)
In this photograph taken during the redevelopment, Brassington Avenue is quite recognisable.
An extract from from"Sutton Coldfield - A History & Celebration".
The Second World War broke out in 1939
and the Park again played its part when tank
testing took place there; a Civil Defence
camp was built near Powell’s Pool; German
and Italian prisoners of war were interned
near Longmoor Pool and some heathland
was cultivated near Streetly, all in aid of the
war effort.
An extract from from"Sutton Coldfield - A History & Celebration".
As well as theatre, Sutton recorded a
first when in 1949 the BBC erected a
750ft (228.6 metres) mast in Hill village,
the first transmitter to be built outside
London. It broadcast to areas as far away
as Shropshire, parts of Wales, the Potteries,
Nottingham, Leicester and Oxford. A new
mast was constructed in 1983 when it
was felt that the existing mast did not
have sufficient capacity to cope with the
demands being made on it. It currently
supports both analogue and digital services
for television, FM services for radio and
also digital radio services.
The increasing prosperity of Sutton is clearly shown in its house prices. Around 1950 in Boldmere,
houses were being advertised for £900, Lower Queen Street from £450, Eastern Road £850 and
Corbridge Road £695. The modern-day values have more than exceeded inflation; by the turn of
the 21st century £900 would translate into just over £60,000 but one glance at the newspapers or
estate agents’ windows will confirm that prices in Sutton Coldfield are well in excess of this.
After the end of the war, bricks were in short supply so Sutton built its first ‘pre-fabs’ (pre-
fabricated houses) in Four Oaks, 1951-61. The population of Sutton Coldfield rose by some 25,000
and over 8,500 houses had to be built.
An extract from from"Sutton Coldfield - A History & Celebration".
Also lost during the town centre
development was the Wesleyan Methodist
Church, which had stood on the corner of
the Parade and Newhall Street. It was opened
to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee
but when the new church was consecrated
in South Parade the old building found use
as the public library, until the new Sutton
Coldfield Lending Library (also housing the
Music Library and the Reference Library,
with local history section) was included in
the building of the Sainsbury Centre. For
a very short time afterwards the Wesleyan
Church also served as a drop-in centre.
Buses are a significant feature in modern
Sutton, especially around the Sainsbury
Centre and the upper part of South Parade,
but they weren’t actually allowed into the
town until 1913 when the Midland Red
Omnibus Company was finally granted
permission to operate single-deck omnibuses
in the area. It was to be another 25 years
before the double-deckers were allowed to
cross the town boundary. The townsfolk
of Sutton have always been very protective
of their town and fiercely resistant of any
motorised encroachment. So much so, that
trams from Birmingham were allowed only
as far as Wylde Green. You will notice that
the shops there, on the Chester Road end
of Birmingham Road, are set back quite
significantly compared with those at the
Penns Lane and Emmanuel Church end of
the shopping area. This was to accommodate
the trams, the last of which was finally taken
out of service shortly before the coronation of
Queen Elizabeth II. Even now older residents
still refer to this area as ‘the tram terminus’.
An extract from from"Sutton Coldfield - A History & Celebration".