Witton Half Term Trail

Thank you to everyone who took part in the Witton Trail this half term, I have collected the trails and will announce the winner soon.

Lots of jam jars full of Witton and River Tame wildlife (including Witton's industrial wildlife, like cars, bikes, cogs and engines) were placed round the streets over half term. Those that took part in the trail followed the clues on their sheets and could discover what the area used to be like, some hidden places in the present, and produce some ideas for what they would like to see happening in the area in the future.

A map was provided with the trail to help people find their way round.





















A little more information about parts of the trail.

Why is there a horse in Witton?

Well, horses used to pull carts, you can see some pictures of horses pulling the milk carts in Tame Road here. But, as well as the carts, horses used to pull the canal boats along the canal, as you can see below; the trail took you the part of the canal in the photo, along the Deykin Avenue cul-de-sac, and the house on the right is still there. It used to be the house for the toll keeper, who collected money from those using the canal.

There was also a cow along the trail, where Witton Farm used to be; now this is part of DANA. Near to DANA those on the trail found out where children, who are now in their 90s, used to pick blackberries in the autumn, and the noises that all the metal manufactories used to make.


PRESENT WITTON


 

Around Electric Avenue and Tame Road there were lots of clues about all of Witton's industry; WILD makes parts which can be found in most people's cars, plus bikes, engines and all sorts of other things are still made in the area. Many of Witton's items travel all across the country and to the rest of the world, like Germany, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Brazil, China and many other places.

FUTURE WITTON

There were some great drawings produced for how Witton could be added to, and how some of the empty buildings and spaces could be used.

I will add these to some separate posts as they were so good.

More Than Just a Job

This flyer from 1886 reveals how the industries of the time supported the social lives of their workers by providing all manner of entertainments, sports and events. During this period most of the large companies in the area had sports grounds attached and put on competitions for the employees, but now many of those grounds have been built on, or are awaiting development.

People of Witton #1: King Kynoch

I will be looking at a number of Witton residents past and present, but let's start with one of the first to put Witton on the map, George Kynoch. He moved his business to rural Witton in the 1860s and grew it to an immense size.

It is 1887, and George Kynoch really is King of his empire; his business in Witton was a massive enterprise and had expanded greatly in the area and was spreading over the globe. In 1886 Kynoch had become chairman of Aston Villa Football Club and had been elected an MP for Aston Manor (Kynoch's throne is engraved with 'Aston Manor' as well as the details of his business). The smaller man has the name 'Phipson Beale' written on his collar. Phipson Beale was part of a prominent Birmingham family, he was a politician who was a candidate for the Aston Manor by-election, competing against Kynoch, and loosing. By the next year George had been 'persuaded' to resign by his directors due to all these clashes in his obligations and he died in relative poverty a few years later in South Africa. The business that bore his name though, was one of the largest and most prominent in the area.

The 'Martin's Patent' machine on George Kynoch's head is a bit of a mystery. From what I can gather, a company called Martin's had a particularly large number of patented items, so perhaps this is a particularly innovative Bright Idea Machine, that has been invented by the illustrator to make a point. I think I'd probably buy one!

 

The Witton Lions

The Onion Fair Escapee
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s it was common for travelling circus's to keep a wide range of animals, including elephants, tigers, bears, and, indeed, lions. The Onion Fair came several times a year to the Serpentine between Aston and Witton, and one year in the 1920s the lion escaped. Here are some memories of the event.....

#1. Hardly had they got to the fair, then pandemonium broke out.

I have a tale to tell (from the 1920s). My mother was persuaded by her mother in law, my grandma, to go with her to the fair. Now my grandma was as round as she was tall, according to my mom. So it was with some trepidation that they started out. My gran used to like a tipple, and my mom was worried that once they had been to the fair, she would want to call in all the pubs on the way home which was Tower Road Aston. How wrong could she have been?

This was before I was born, so I am relaying my mom’s story. It seems that hardly had they got to the fair, then pandemonium broke out, and everybody started running towards them, picture the scene, one very frightened little woman (my mom) and one very old lady, who could hardly put one foot in front of the other, a weight watchers nightmare, so they turned and ran leading the panicking crowd. And it would seem that most of the crowd overtook them, and then with one voice and accord turned back on my mom and gran, as the poor old lion by this time had beaten the crowd and was now chasing them in the opposite direction.

That night was certainly ingrained in mother's memory, and it was probably the only anecdote that she ever told with any certainty.

#2. The greatest thrill was when the lion escaped.

I can only go back to what I remember from 1922, and before that what my parents told me.

We lived a stone's throw from the Serpentine Ground which held the annual Onion Fair, and I can remember when its lighting was by naphtha flares, it was one of Aston's traditions, it belonged to Aston and they came from all over Birmingham to enjoy all the fun of the fair.

It fascinated me as a child, and race down there, and I became a stooge, Charlie Hickman had a boxing booth and he would call me onto the front stage outside the booth and pretend to cut a potato in half with a great cutlass, which I held in my hand, of course the potato was already in two but stuck back and I had to put a terror-stricken face on but it was a free entrance. I was stooge to the magician the Great Maskelyn and found out how one was sawed in half.

The greatest thrill was when the lion escaped, all the fair hands rushed to help capture him so we enjoyed a few rides on the roundabouts. Incidentally, they didn't capture the lion, that went into the churchyard, it gave itself up, the poor beast was more frightened than the population, it had got no teeth anyway, and I can remember when the fair came the next year, the trainer's coat was hung up outside the big tent, ripped to ribbons, but it was well known that his claws had been cut and probably the oldest lion in captivity.

#1 by Dot Dodson, #2 is from the Carl Chinn Archive.

The Lion Works
There are more lions attached to Witton as from the 1860s the Lion Works opened by the River Tame, later known as Kynoch's and IMI.

 

The main gate of the Lion Works was topped with a striding lion with its paw resting on a globe, and a series of other decorative lion motifs beneath. This company was one of the largest in Birmingham, and the country, a real 'lion' of industry at that time.

Aston Villa
The Villa are often called 'The Lions' as well, due to the lion in their emblem; and the gates to the Villa ground are adorned with stone lions too. They have been painted claret, and I have been reliably told (by a staunch Villa fan) that they had to be painted, as before a match between Villa and the Blues the Birmingham fans came and painted all the lions blue. The paintbrush was quickly got out, as was the tin of claret paint!

All That's Left of Kynoch's and IMI

Whilst walking down Wellhead Lane on Tuesday I came across this tumble-down building and wondered what it could have been, but on a tour of Witton and Aston by an Aston resident (Dave, who has been a really great help with sharing his memories) I found out that this was the rear entrance of Kynoch's. Everyone who remembers Kynoch's tells me that the site was like a town in itself; there was a power station, dentists, doctors, vehicles that never left the site, and each building had bikes to get around because it was so vast. I will put some maps up to show how massive the site was, but for now I will just say that it was big- really, really big.

It seems so strange then that it has all gone, and until I found this building I thought that it had completely disappeared; so this ragged, peeling building is all that is left of what was a company that was world renowned, and supplied the world with its multitude of goods. It seems a shame then, that it is just being left for nature to slowly creep up and help it to finally be unsaveable. So I thought I would take some photographs of the state it can be found in today, with many of the traces of its industrial use, which have a charm of their own. There are more photographs to come.

Made in Witton #2

Kynoch's (later ICI and IMI) was a huge part of Witton, in regards to its size, the amount of people it employed and its industrial output. It began making ammunition in the 1860s, but grew and diversified over the decades producing bikes and motorbikes, zips, engines, paper, metal products, lamps, and the list goes on. The video above shows a portable gas engine working that was made in Witton, and below is a trade image of a similar oil engine from 1904.

If anyone has any memories of working in Kynoch's, or any other places/events in Witton or Perry Barr, that they would like to share with the project, please let us know.
Contact Jenni jenni.colesharris@gmail.com