Stirchley School Photo Album

Captioned Stirchley St Infants 1924.

We’ll be adding a photo album of images related to Stirchley School here. If you have any photographs that you would like to add, please email: [email protected]

Captioned ‘Children’s Entertainment 1923’. Santa’s presence lets us know it’s Christmas!
Stirchley Juniors 1932. With courtesy of Pam Hobson. The boy circled is captioned as being Ken Russell on the back, aged 4, so that it is juniors is questioned. The teacher is captioned as being Miss Bristol.
Probably Miss Bristol, an early 1930s teacher.

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Which Field Do You Live In? And Stirchley’s First Brewery?

This wonderful map, above, was designed by Andy Underscore using the 1838 tithe maps for Stirchley (used with permission – see Andy’s original article here).

Stirchley was at this time part of Worcestershire, and part of the parish of Kings Norton, and Kings Heath, Cotteridge and Moseley were also part of Kings Norton parish. Stirchley also bordered with Northfield parish, and the border meandered along the same route as the Bourn Brook and then the Rea after the Bourn flowed into it. The tithe map named all the fields, pastures and meadows, which Andy transcribed. Stirchley Library is situated …

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How Old is Stirchley?

The answer is that no-one really knows, but the earliest known mention of the area is on 1 May 1658. This was in an indenture written in ink on vellum and signed by three people, and with a red seal attached for each. In it, ‘Stretley Streete’ is noted.

The indenture was concerning a ‘garden, orchard and backside [yard at the back of the house] and one little close or meadow’ which was in the tenure of Katherine Compton, a spinster, but ownership of the land was changing (see below). This is definitely the right ‘area because ‘Stretley Streete’ was …

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Sign the petition to save Stirchley Library!

Stirchley Library, along with other community libraries in Birmingham, is at risk of closure. Please sign the petition here to save Stirchley Library and other community libraries.

Birmingham City Council have now published their proposed plan to close 25 out of 35 existing community libraries and develop the remaining libraries into ‘community living rooms’. It is not yet clear which libraries would be closed nor the precise process by which the decision would be made.

The proposal would have a devastating impact on communities throughout Birmingham. Local libraries are safe and welcoming spaces for all – they provide such a …

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A First World War Childhood in Stirchley

In 1989 a local history project was conducted in Stirchley where people provided oral histories and donated photographs which are still deposited in the library. Not all of it is organised or marked with where it came from. The image above includes a note that is was taken by the Savoy Picture House near Breedon (Breedon Cross) in 1916. The Savoy cinema was at 1649-1651 Pershore Road and was, initially, a silent movie theatre which opened in about 1923 – so after this picture was taken. The note also says that this was the Kings Royal Rifle Cadet Corps, and …

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