Old Walsall Road

The Old Walsall Road links Hamstead Village to the Walsall Road. Originally it was the main route from Birmingham to Walsall until the new turnpike through Perry Barr was made in 1831.

When the main shaft of the Hamstead mine was completed, the call went out for miners to work the coal-faces. Hamstead was then only a sleepy hamlet and not ready for an influx of miners. The housing shortage was met by rows and rows of small two-up, two-down terraced houses being built in a very short space of time. They were uniform brick dwellings with no unnecessary ornamentation, and as they sprang up they would adopt the name of the principal building in that particular row. Hence we had "Police Row", "Butchers Row", "Canal row" and more oddly "88 Row" taking shape. This latter row was so-named because on the wall of the end house there was picked out in blue brick " 1888"

From Hamstead Herald 1986.
The different rows shown on the plan did not go all the way down to the Hamstead Road as indicated in the plan as Hamstead House was situated here.

The white building in the photograph below is the "Workmans Institute" on the map above.

Amongst the many shared facilities of this time was the Wash-House, which each house-wife used in turn for the family wash. A lane branching off to the left beside the canal, and officially named Canal Row, became known locally as Maiding Tub Row because of this hot bed of Monday activity.

Hamstead Cottages East later became Bradford St.

Hamstead Mill

While Hamstead Mill is 'just over the border' as far as B43 is concerned it is one of a number of mills that used to sit along the border of our area.

This mill was the manorial grist mill. The Domesday book entry which is believed to cover this area states:

William, the son of Ansculf, holds of the King and Walter of him, five hides in Hunesworde. Land of five ploughs; now in the demesne; two ploughs; eight villeins have one plough and a half. There is a mill of eight shillings, and twenty acres of meadow.