Author Topic: Bull Ring Photos  (Read 175538 times)

Robert

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #264 on: June 10, 2017, 01:36:00 PM »
I remember the buskers" as they were called then in the old bullring they used to sword swallow and also swallow seemingly yards of steel chain. in the stores to the right of that photograph. Was a spectacle manufactor known as "Luckings" my first job in the 1953or 4. was as an apprentice lense grinder at this company :) Robert

Phil

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #265 on: June 10, 2017, 02:11:44 PM »
Hi Robert,

Nice to see you posting again after a couple of year not hearing from you. Here's a little memento for you Luckings Opticians at 4 the Bull Ring next to the Red Lion just up from Park Street so possibly a little lower down the Bull Ring than you remember. This photo was taken in 1955 which wouldn't have been much before it was demolished and replaced by St Martins House and the multi storey car park.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

jamesm

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #266 on: June 10, 2017, 03:08:34 PM »
Phil. loved the photo of the Bull Ring with Luckings Opticians. Looking at the numbers of the premises they are obviously numbered in ones. i.e. 1,2,3,4 etc. Do you have any photos or information regarding a property at 8 1/2 (Eight and a Half) the Bull Ring. The reason I ask is that according to the 1901 Census one of my ancestors was listed as being a resident there, along with many other young men. I suspect it was a lodging house for single male workers but I can't find any confirmation of this. Anything you can offer would be appreciated.
James

Robert

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #267 on: June 10, 2017, 03:30:56 PM »
Hi Phil, Thanks for that picture much appreciated. don't remember it in the minds eye quite like that but after all these years, hardly surprising. I seem to remember a stone pillar with a bull tethering ring in it. I  :) assumed it was the original "bullring" from whence the name originated it was close to that area.

Phil

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #268 on: June 10, 2017, 04:49:25 PM »
jamesm

According to the records I have in the early 1900's  8 1/2 the Bull Ring was apartments owned by a Mr George Davis it later became the old Pump Tavern of which I'm pretty sure I have posted this photo before.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

jamesm

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #269 on: June 10, 2017, 07:06:25 PM »
Thanks for the picture, I hadn't seen this before. Given the address (eight and a half) I presume, rightly or wrongly, this refers to perhaps the upper floor of the pub which may have been let out as a boarding house.

Phil

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #270 on: June 10, 2017, 07:47:23 PM »
jamesm

I think it might have been called 8 1/2 because it was at the rear of number 8,  in 1900 numbers 7 & 8 was H.C Smith a leather merchant.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

jamesm

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #271 on: June 10, 2017, 07:54:37 PM »
Phil, thanks for your reply. I doff my hat to your investigate prowess and knowledge. The map was very informative.

Robert

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #272 on: June 11, 2017, 03:43:50 PM »
Yes Phil, Thanks again for the photo and building plan. It invokes some memories. The entry at the side of luckings  had, at the back. A small room more like a hole in the wall. It was filled with old boots and railway oil lamps and other junk as we called it. nobody ever seemed to go there or attend it. I "acquired" one of the old oil lamps. and still have it to this day. I was fifteen at the time and oblivious to the rights of possession, so you might forgive my lapse. Does anyone remember the tethering stone in the middle of the road close to where the buskers performed. I cant imagine I dreamt it. To my memory it was quite a substantial monolith complete with large iron ring or maybe rings.. For some reason, I assumed that is where the bullring acquired its name.?

Phil

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #273 on: June 11, 2017, 04:31:58 PM »
Robert

If you go back a page on this thread you will see a drawing from the 1800's of the Bull Ring tether that was set outside the Shambles which were a row of butchers shops in the Bull Ring before they were demolished. This is the only image of the tether that I have ever seen, though I think I am a little younger than yourself so that is why perhaps I don't remember seeing it.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Robert

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Re: Bull Ring Photos
« Reply #274 on: June 11, 2017, 08:40:55 PM »
Yes Phil sorry I didn't read the text accompanying the photo, I am glad that my recollections are not that far out. On viewing that busker photo again, that young man although not clear enough to be sure who is between the two vertical pieces of wood, in the background could even be myself. although that is entirely fanciful but I do have old photo,s where I do resemble the image  Glad that the stone wasn't a figment of my imagination. I do remember at the time, that at the back of the churchyard they were removing the old graves I don't remember to where. this must have been in preparation to develop the old bullring. The road was cobblestones when I went up there with my parents some few years earlier. I used to complain to my dad about the british rail horse and cart drivers. They used to be what I thought quite brutal with the whip especially in the winter as those great beasts slipped and slithered on greasy cobbles. love these old pics and snippets of info on this site, must try and keep regular visits, depending on how long I last of coarse.


 

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