THEN & NOW on the Outer Circle – stage 23 | Outer Circle Bus

As we go along Wood end Road, on our left we can see the back gardens of the new houses built on the site of the Jaffray Hospital. This was opened in 1885 by The Prince of Wales and was named after John Jaffray, owner of the Birmingham Daily Post and Governor of the General Hospital. The hospital was designed by architect Yeoville Thomason who also designed Birmingham’s impressive Council House that dominates Victoria Square.

We now climb the hill up to Six-Ways Erdington. Built in the late 1880s, Wood End Road was the last road to meet the junction at Erdington that gave this location its name.

Reservoir Road then crosses the ex-Midland Railway line from New Street Station. Erdington Station is about half a mile away to the north.

On our left after the railway bridge is the site once known as Erdington Cottage Homes. This was opened in Nineteen-Hundred as the Aston Union Cottage Homes and was one of three established in Birmingham to replace the workhouses that housed the homeless and destitute. The Erdington Cottage Homes were 17 houses for children each run by a foster mother or a married couple. The site included a small hospital, school and swimming baths. The site was closed in Nineteen-Eighty-Four and redeveloped as private housing. There is a decorative clock tower in the centre of the estate which was first donated by WJ Adams, the Chairman of the Aston Union. This was burnt down by vandals and rebuilt by local craftsmen in 1998.

At the brow of the hill on the right there is a grass bank that leads up to the reservoir that gives the road its name.

Then we continue along Reservoir Road to Stockland Green.

Jaffray Hospital – Erdington – 1906

Jaffray Hospital – Erdington – c1910

John Jaffray – 1818 – 1901

Jaffray Care – Lime Court – Jaffray Crescent – Erdington – 2016

Wood End Road – backs of the houses on the Jaffray Hospital Site – March 2017

Birmingham Municipal Bank – Six Ways – Erdington – 1955 Behind the Ovaltine advertising hoarding is the painted “Farmiloes” sign (see other photographs)

Birmingham Municipal Bank building – Gravelly Hill North at Six Ways Erdington – 1950s

Six Ways Erdington from High Street. Note the “Farmiloes” sign on the shops – 1930s

Tram 659 entering the Six Way Erdington roundabout from Gravelly Hill North – pre-1940. The “Farmiloes” sign is visible behind the Ovalitne Advertising hoarding.

ex-Birmingham Municipal Bank building – Gravelly Hill North at Six Ways Erdington – 2016

ex-Birmingham Municipal Bank building – Gravelly Hill North at Six Ways Erdington – 2018 – note the ghost sign on the end of the shops – this has since been obliterated

Gravelly Hill North approaching Six Ways Erdington – George Hancox Motors – 1950s

Gravelly Hill North approaching Six Ways Erdington – (site of George Hancox Motors) – April 2019

Six Ways – Erdington – 1935 – Summer Road is to the left and High Street to the right

Six Ways – Erdington – roundabout looking towards Sutton New Road and High Street – c1960s

Six Ways – Erdington – looking east – along the High Street – c1930

Six Ways – Erdington – looking east – along the High Street – 2011

Reservoir Road from Six Ways Erdington – 1930s

Reservoir Road from Six Ways Erdington 2011

Erdington Cottage Homes from the air

Erdington Cottage Homes

Erdington Cottage Homes – gateway Fentham Road 1905

Erdington Cottage Homes – clocktower c1990

Erdington Cottage Homes site – from Fentham Road 2015

Erdington Cottage Homes – from Fentham Road c2000

Reservoir Road & South Road junction – 1914

Reservoir Road & South Road junction – May 2015 The shops have been made into houses, but there’s no horse poo in the road!

Reservoir Road Erdington – a train from New Street Station approaches Erdington Station having passed under the Reservoir Road railway bridge – April 2019