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Walsall
Walsall maps
Historic maps of Walsall and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Walsall maps
Walsall area books
Displaying 1 of 9 books about Walsall and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Walsall
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Walsall.
There are 12 shared memories to read.
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As it Was
I left Walsall at the age of fifteen, at the time of the date of this picture. I loved the trolley buses and watching the trolley conductor change the rails. I remember the Bridge well, as shown in this picture. It was my task on a Saturday to collect and return my younger nephew every Saturday morning from my older sister, taking him home to Mom for the day so my sister could work in one of the shops on the Bridge. On my return I sometimes waited outside the pictures in Walsall town centre, asking adults if they would take me in with them to see an A grade picture (I would not reccomend that now!).
It was a penny in those days from the Fulbrook where I lived in Brockhurst Street to the Bridge, and half a penny to either Palfrey of Caldmore. The school I attended was Joseph Leckie and Walsall Technical College, before the family moved to Bearwood, Smethwick.
I have plenty of good... Read more
The Rendezvous
The shop on the right of the picture used to belong to my father and his brother. They bought it in about 1927. It was known as the Rendezvous.
My Time at The Littleton Arms
My husband and I ran the Littleton Arms in the 1960s, my son Adam was born there in 1971 in the front bedroom. I remember Sunday nights when we had a pianist playing in the smoke room, what an atmosphere, it was great. I have many fond memories of the pub, we made many friends, but the most startling thing that happened was a car coming through the window and landing up by the bar, my children were in bed and it shook them and they came downstairs crying with fear, fortunately no one was hurt. We had one or two accidents outside but of course they installed traffic lights about 12 months after so that made things better. We left there in 1973 to take up residence in the Pipe Hall Hotel, Blston. I was a local girl and was born in the Back Butts in 1940 and then moved to Warwick Street in 1946 where I stayed until I was married. My husband came from Darlaston. I have... Read more
The Girl's Drink
I met this girl in the basement bar of the George where they had the go go dancers, I bought her a drink and then took her home to a house up the Sutton rRad, arranged to see her on Sunday night, kissed goodnight and waved as she went in. Arrived to pick her up at 7-30, this house had been empty for a long time, it sounded hollow, I knocked on the next door's house and asked what had happened to Jackie and her family, I was told the family moved away after Jackie was knocked down and killed outside the George Hotel 18 months ago, the house has been empty for 12 months. So who did I take home on Friday night? Who did I buy a drink for? and WHO DID I KISS GOODNIGHT? I never went in that basement bar again. Has anyone else had any strange happenings?
The Entrance to The Arbo
I was brought up in the Chuckery and so my friends and I regarded the Arboretum as our personal back yard and "'m going down the Arbo" was the usual refrain shouted to my mother in the school holidays. We usually entered the park by way of The Broadway but I always thought that the gates in the picture were particularly elegant and a wonderful entrance into this land where one could play on the swings, jump brooks, tease Park Keepers and generally keep ourselves amused for hours and days. The building to the right must be the Melba Cafe which I thought had been demolished a little before this picture was taken. There was a huge picture of a boy with a gleeful smile holding out an ice cream to tempt passers by. I believe that the Melba later developed a darker reputation as a night time haunt of 'Rockers'. To me though the eye is always drawn to the gates of The Arboretum. I left Walsall in 1967... Read more
A First Illicit Drink
After leaving school I worked for a short time at Walsall Co-op in Bridge Street. One of my colleagues was a rather raffish young gentleman and 'man about town'. One day he invited me, which I thought a great honour, to have lunch at The Priory Hotel. I thought that it was all terribly grand despite the fact that it was only meat and two veg in an upstairs room. Afterwards he suggested that we go and have a drink in The George. I was at the time fifteen! Into The George we went with me feeling a mixture of bravado and sheer terror. I was asked what I wanted to drink and having no idea but the words mild and bitter were floating around my head I asked for half of the latter, drank it quickly, stuffed my hands in my pockets and whistled nonchalantly as if I was merely with my older brother. The George was a lovely Art Deco building as smooth as a Fred Astaire film,... Read more
Getting Locked in The Arboretum
I remember when I was 14 my friend Josie Weston and I rode our bikes along Broadway West to the Arboretum. We were walking along the paths and around by the lake when we met two boys and one of the boy's mothers worked for Josie's mother at Dawson's coaches. They asked if we would go on the lake and we said yes, so off we went on the lake in a rowing boat. We went all the way over the other side and we sat talking and by the time we actually got back to the boat shed, the park keeper had already locked the gate.
We had to get one of the boys to scale the gates and then lift our bikes over and the other boy 'bunked us up' so we could get over the gate. We got on the bikes and rode like mad as we had to be home before 9.30pm. My dad met us about halfway in the car and by the time... Read more
I Lived There ....
My parents were landlords of the Littleton Arms in the early 1960s era. I was around three years old or so then. Can remember the Saturday nights when bands played down in the bar, wooden beer barrels large and small being delivered into the cellar and Dad hooking them up. Bottles of "BabyCham" on shelves, the odd bag of crisps or pork scratchings for a treat and a Vimto! ... Go figure what lingers in the memory. I understand the pub was demolished recently to make way for a road expansion .. such a shame. It would have been a blast to visit the place after all this time since I have now lived in Canada these past 34 years and pubs in the same realm do not exist here.
