the last shall be first

when I came out on the seventh floor landing at about 3.15 pm the sun was high in the west



by the 97 bus stop where my journeys begin the glint og the glass fragments in the sun caught my eye



and we have new white lines down the centre of Bosworth Drive




Merton House looked really charming to me - in this lovely sunshine any building looks great - remeber never buy a house on a sunny day or even view one for sale.



With a thin old rolled plastic bag I lashed my trolley fast to a stanchion, and went to the seats with the best leg room




something was going on at the Custard Factory in Digbeth




the bus inspectors, guarded by police in their yellow jackets, were stopping every bus and inspecting every ticket.




now our turn

The medieval village of Birmingham was developed by its Norman lords, the lord of the manor, Peter de Birmingham from 1166 into a successful market town toll (tax) concessions for resident merchants helped.
The original Birmingham charters are held in the National Archives at Kew.

finally at the market I made a pile of the vegetables I was buying



for £1 - a bag red onions, or of small onions, carrots or three leeks, five green peppers, 4 (-I took 2) savoy cabbages, 2 white cabbages., 7 turnips, 3 big parsnips which I will wash, chop up and steam.



no thanks to this offer of two pineapples for one pound money




at the next stall I offered £1 for three and was accepted.



a minute ago the two empty trays were full of green apples and I got the apples in the one to the left for£1



unsold goods were being stacked on a pallet ready to be taken away



a box of lose bananas for 50 pence - so this week I will eat them instead of bread.



a beautiful victorian barrow of museum quality still in daily use




yes England has missionaries wanting to help us - and looking for older volunteers to help them do good works




stone masons' traditional style work
St Martin-in-the-Bull Ring, Birmingham Parish Church
St Martin’s was built by 1300; in view of the fact that Birmingham Manor House was mentioned in the 1166 Market Charter an earlier or a saxon church is likely.



I crossed over here to get on to the dark side of Digbeth High Street




this used to be a pub with a nautical theme



and I walked down the shadow side of Digbeth to snap this lovely old building,which still has the original steel window frames - the shutters to the street level windows are the only additions



Makepeace House/136-137 Digbeth Birmingham, B5 6DR.
makepeace digbeth - Google Search

Digbeth High Street, Birmingham on Flickr - Photo Sharing!: "The Makepeace building? It's a little cracker. Unfortunately I don't expect it to last the decade. This block is now prime real estate."

if I wanted to research this site I can use census and Kelly's and older directories too

the little greenshop is
Readers World - Digbeth - Books - Rare & Secondhand - Birmingham:
"137 Digbeth
Digbeth
Birmingham B5"







" digbeth cold storage" - Google Search and my usual 97 bus stop



the house with the ventilated roof looks like a small power station



still walking on the shadow side



in the background another factory is becoming appartements



Smithfield House Digbeth Birmingham B5 6BS
Smithfield House Digbeth Birmingham B5 6BS - Google Search shows many charities







so new that this shop is not yet on their website



Ministry of Paintball website
the largest paintball network in the world. With over 100 indoor and outdoor locations in the UK alone, we are also rapidly expanding in Australia




SING FAT LTD chinese supermarket



the much liked police station



on the pedestrian island - but I prefer the wild ones



I just enjoyed my walk so much I pushed on - with my big red trolley in front




this bus station is doomed in Digbeth - a stub in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




the GWR viaduct runs behind
The name Digbeth is derived from "dyke path".



I am really curious about who built this



the bus came by just at the wrong moment but see the round tower of the ROTUNDA has got all its new windows





the new car showrooms have failed



Digbeth Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Digbeth Institute

The building was opened officially on Thursday 16th January 1908 as an institutional church attached to the Carr's Lane Congregational . .

The National Archives | Search the archives | National Register ...

Digbeth Institute, Birmingham Reference CC2. NRA 32817
Digbeth-in-the-Field Congregational Church, B
irmingham Reference CC 16 Accession 89/47. NRA 6208 ...



and the carpenters were busy hammeing this into place last time I rode by






childhood memories of making things - and hitting my left thumb with the hammer



I stuck my head through the hole in the fence



the river Rea is culverted deep below the green windows which were in Aston ( Deritend), the next parish The Story of the Rea - River Rea Trail

Deritend - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "(in the past called Der-yat-end, possibly Deer Gate End) "






the irish used to live around here



but the green is very faded



now why this bycycle on a bollard?




opposite the Custard FActory



the third bus stop and the one I will use
the top floor has been adrawing office and heas excellent skylights which you can see through the windows




has this building been sold for redevelopment?




a very strong smell of plastic and rubber come out of this door
the shelves are about 3 or 4 man high at the
Bull Ring Trading Estate, High Street, Deritend, Digbeth



the oldest house

THE OLD CROWN 1368

licensd to sell cider too - I don't remember seeing that wording before







thes interloclked terracota bricks replace the traditional stone lintel, or an arch



Fragile Design - Vintage 20th Century Design

Specialising in vintage 20th Century objects for the home. We regularly stock original and collectable items from the great 20th Century designers of Europe .

the prices of ceramics will surprise some danish friends




glass bricks painted over



or kicked out




the wrong bus Iwanta 97 or 97a and the seat has gone from this bys shelter


Bull Ring Trading Estate, High Street, Deritend, Digbeth - is on the shadow side

MadeInBirmingham.org - The Birmingham Industrial History Society: "

President Professor Carl Chinn MBE"
from google's cache:-
Deritend on the other side of the River Rea was part of Birmingham manor but part of Aston parish.

Because Deritenders had to travel several miles to their own parish church at Aston they were granted the right to their own chapel 1380, and the right to elect their own priest and manage their own affairs 1382.
St John the Baptist stood on Deritend High Street/ Chapel House Street; it was rebuilt 1735, out of use by 1939 and demolished 1947. The Bull Ring Trading Estate stands on the site.

The Guild of St John the Baptist built a guildhall c1450 which included a priest’s house and school for Guild members’ children.
This is undoubtedly the Old Crown, although a building on this site is said to date from 1368.

Birmingham first appeared on John Gough’s map of Great Britain 1330.















and on my return the shadowas are longer and the sun lower in the western sky




not much room for the trolley - wood recycled but not de-nailed or stored
first switch on the MAcintosh computer ready to empty by blue tooth the K800i videophone's 1 gb memory chip of all these photographs