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Berkswell
Berkswell maps
Historic maps of Berkswell and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Berkswell maps
Berkswell photos
We have no photos of Berkswell, although we do have photos of these nearby places:
Meriden| Kenilworth| Knowle| Coventry| Dorridge| Ashow| Stoneleigh| Packwood
Berkswell area books
Displaying 1 of 9 books about Berkswell and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Berkswell
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West Midlands memories
The Old Speedwell Factory Needlesend Lane
I remeber the old canteen, playing on the old factory site, and I remember the lorries parked there full of dead cows from Lidgates (stunk like hell). I remember when it was just fields all around, the old Shell garage was just a wooden shed with old pump. No Shenstone Colse or Whitnash and so on.
Pickerings Antique Shop
I have lived in Knowle for most of my life,I went to Knowle School before Arden School was built. The Rev. Sharpe was the vicar and took us for history lessons about the church. I also learnt to play the piano with Miss Muriel Mawbey in her studio situated in an old bungalow type building at the back of Chester House Antiques. There was an old petrol pump at the back of Chester House and a yard where the GPO vans would park. The scout and guide hut was just along the road behind Salmons shoe shop. There was an old air raid shelter in the corner of Pickerings Field. Lots of memories too many for here.
Knowle Window Cleaners
My Mother, brother and I arrived in the Knowle and Dorridge area about 1941, being evacuated from London during World War Two.My Father had remained in London,. At first we were billeted in a large house opposite the Dorridge Cricket Ground, the owner of the house was very nice. Later we were moved to a large house in Temple Road Dorridge, the name of the house was Selborne. I attended school at an emergency school (no other school being available) in a hall attached to the church of St George in Station Road Dorridge, Mr Doyle being the head teacher and Miss Vaughan looking after the infants class. I attended that school until the age of 14 years when I left to enter the working world, after one year I joined my Father at his work, my Father had joined us in 1943.
My Father and I were window cleaners in Knowle for a number of years. Every Saturday afternoon after finishing at Dorridge we would walk to Knowle pushing... Read more
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 November) to raise funds for the Cyrenians; and the dedication of a peace statue which has its counterpart in Hiroshima.
We now have family memories as well, as my grandaughter was married in St. Mary's Hall and wedding photographs were taken in the Cathedral gardens.
Fishy Moores
I remember the strange triangular shaped building where my Mum and I used to walk down the back, down the cobbled road to Fishy Moores. We used to have to join the queue outside until the lady on the door called us in when there was a table free. There was a section up on raised platform inside, and I used to think only important people were allowed to eat their fish and chips up there! Happy days.
Earlsdon
We moved into Earlsdon from Wales in 1965 and stayed with my aunty who lived in Belvedere Road. Such a big house with three floors and close to the Spencer Park tennis courts as I recall. The bus used to stop right outside the front door (no 1 in those days) and take us into town and park at Broadgate. We'd always visit Owen Owen (now Primark!) and have a cup of tea and a bun in the ground floor cafe.
If we didn't get the bus we could walk over the iron bridge which crossed the railway and even then was covered with graffiti. I used to leave the clanging echo sounds from it as it had built in sides so you couldn't see the line below.
Eventually we moved to our own place in Myrtle Grove at the top of Moor Street.
There was a paper shop run by Mr and Mrs Mills at the bottom of Moor Street opposite the Royal Oak pub and this was eventually... Read more
Moving House
In 1946 I was ten years old and lived in a village named Ynysboeth in South Wales. My grandmother Sarah Ware and her daughter my aunt Hervilly moved up to Coventry at this time. I accompanied them in the back of an old lorry which was owned by my aunt's boyfriend Horace. It was an open-backed truck with a makeshift canvas top and was very draughty. My gran and I sat in the back of this truck with all her worldly goods and furniture all the way to Binley, Coventry. We were met by three of her children who had been living there for some years. What impressed me more than anything at that time about Binley was the apple and pear tree orchards, and with fruit on them no less, back home there were no orchards, just the odd apple tree. I stayed for a few days and then went back home to Wales.
