Copyright 2024 - Custom text here
Home   Local Sites   Great Barr   Tanhouse Area

Tanhouse Area

The Durham Estate

The Durham estate was built in the late 1950s / early 1960s as homes for miners drafted in to work at the Hamstead Colliery from the North East. Some 250 homes were built along West Way. The estate has been council housing since the colliery closed and has faced a number of problems.

durham1973 (38K) Reproduced with permission from the Express and Star. Copies of this "Pictures from the Past" published on February 12th 2004 may be obtained from the Express and Star. Copies are approximately 10x8 ins and can be ordered by phoning 01902 319444

In the 1990s the esate was refurbished and a major review is in progress.

"Five Year plan to revamp estate"

Sandwell Council have proposed the demolition of five blocks of maisonettes which will be replaced with bungalows.

durham 2005 (29K)

In December 2005 Pepys Court was demolished. Pepys Court 2005 Pepys Court 2005 (18K) Pepys Court 2005 (8K)

Surrounded by the Hamstead Road, Old Walsall Road, The Canal and Spouthouse Lane is an estate with Ennerdale Road and Langdale Road as the main roads through it. In the middle is the block of flats.

At the end of 2007 the scaffolding went up and a major refurbishment started by Sandwell Homes.

The area was originally the site of Hamstead Villa

Cycle Speedway Teams Down the Ages - http://www.cyclespeedwayhistory.org.uk/1522.shtml

 

Midlands West: Hamstead Hammers

About the team

Track was in Hamstead Road, Hamstead. Were originally known as the Hurricanes.

Raced 1951/52.

Team based in Birmingham.

Riders

  • Dave Hill
  • Brian Jones
  • Phil Parker
  • Derek Priestman
  • Charlie Webb
  • Brian Whitehouse
  • Archie Wilkinson
In the 1880's the newly appointed colliery manager, Isaac Meachem, and his large family had been given accommodation at Hamstead House then a majestic building standing well back from Tan House Lane, but virtually opposite the colliery.
Hamstead House the Hall Farm, an ancient dwelling even then, a product of the peace which succeeded the Napoleonic Wars. Square built in large grey stones, it stood well back from Tan House Lane (now known as Hamstead Road.), beside a narrow lane leading past the farm and under the canal to Gorse Farm beyond. A semi-circular drive led to the large front door of the house, enclosing a well kept lawn within its sweep, whereupon grew numerous trees and bushes, giving privacy to the occupants of the house.
On one side of the house was a pleasant orchard, a place of fairy blossoms in the Spring, and this screened the house from the nearby school. At the black and white farm beyond Hamstead House lived John Hotchkiss and his family, and the farm supplied most of the Meachem family's dairy requirements. A tiny brook ran beside the house and lane and necessitated a plank bridge to cross from Hamstead House to the lane, whilst lower down it entered the sluggish waters of the Tame, close to the colliery.

[From Victorian Hamstead by Meacham]

More Articles ...

  1. New Kings Cabaret Theatre
  2. St.Pauls (1865-)
  3. Tanhouse Area
  4. Tanhouse Community Centre

General Menu

Copyright 2020 Great Barr Past and Present, Anthony Lewis

Administrator