Tour of Lost Birmingham: A Walk Down Wheeley's Lane

Guest post by Bill Allen. 

Painting of Wheeleys Lane by Raymond Mason, 1958. Mason grew up here, and he painted the street as it was about to be demolished.

Wheeleys Lans was probably built in the 1820s, but this wasn't the Regency of Jane Austen, with balls, carriages and visits drinking tea. The Regency life in Wheeley's Lane, and the dozens of other streets like it, was that of the working people.

Let's take a walk down Wheeleys Lane.



The map shows the houses shown in Mason's painting in red, fading to pink as they go into the distance.


The Welcome Inn (below) was on the corner of Wheeleys Lane and Owen Street (yellow on map).



The houses in pink on the map were the other side of Owen Street (below). Note the lamp on the right, which was attached to the Welcome Inn.



Kales Buildings were a row of terraces coming off the street with an open court in front (dark blue).


A close-up of the distant houses from the same photograph (below).


At number 59 (below) there was, what looks like, another pub (darker yellow on the map).



And this image (below) is looking back in the other direction down Wheeleys Lane. It was taken earlier as the older bay windows were still in place.





At the top of Wheeleys Lane, on its narrow corner with Bath Row, stood the Trees Hotel (below, marked 'Inn' on the map).



Cleve Terrace
A photograph of Cleve Terrace looking towards Bath Row.


All photographs are held at Birmingham Archive.