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Kingstanding Together

From the Heritage Archive

Kingstanding, then and now

Same places, decades apart — 25 of them so far. Drag the handle, or use the arrow keys, to travel between an archive photograph and the view later on.

4 pairs

Kingstanding Library and the shopping parade under its flat canopy in January 2018, with parked cars along the kerb
1960s: Colour photograph of the modern Kingstanding Library, with a “Kingstanding Library” sign over a glazed entrance and honeycomb screen walls, set into a parade of yellow-brick shops with flats above; a white Ford Popular is parked at the kerb.
1960s2018

Kingstanding Library, 1960s and 2018

Kingstanding got a library of its own in June 1964, after thirty years of borrowing books from a room in the Methodist church. Ron Jameson photographed its new glazed entrance and the flats above the shops; in 2018 the same block stood behind shutters.

Kingstanding LibraryThe 1960s pictureThe 2018 picture

1960s: Photo: Ron Jameson. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding. · 2018: Photo: Martin Richard Phelan, 2018 · CC BY-SA 2.0

1965: Colour photograph of a large brick pub with tall chimneys and an “M&B” sign on its gable, with 1960s cars and a van parked on the forecourt and houses in the distance.1965
2011: A long red-brick pub building with three gables, the middle one lettered “Kingstanding” and “M&B”, behind a small car park with a public toilet kiosk on the left and cars on the forecourt.2011

The Kingstanding pub car park, 1965 and 2011

Ron Jameson’s 1965 view from the pub car park shows the original Kingstanding, a building remembered for its “large chimneys and a big frontage”. By 2011 a smaller red-brick replacement stood on the site.

The Kingstanding pubThe 1965 pictureThe 2011 picture

1965: Photo: Ron Jameson. Reproduced with permission via Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding. · 2011: Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.

1962: A black-and-white view of the new church’s brick west front: a tall gable with a large stained-glass window above double doors, a clock tower with a cross on the right, and a low wall with railings in front.1962
2010: The brick front of Christ the King church in low winter sun: a tall gable with a full-height stained-glass window over green doors, a noticeboard, a square tower on the right and steps with handrails leading up.2010

Christ the King, 1962 and 2010

The new Christ the King church was finished in time for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1962, replacing the parish’s wooden church. Its tall stained-glass west front caught the winter sun in 2010.

Christ the King ChurchThe 1962 pictureThe 2010 picture

1962: Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding. · 2010: Image reproduced with permission of Chris Hillcox, Voices of Kingstanding.

1966: A colour photograph of tall trees behind a rough wooden paling fence.1966
2005: Low grassy hummock with three bare trees on a green beside the road, with inter-war houses behind under a dark sky2005

The King’s Standing mound, 1966 and 2005

In 1966 the tumulus on Kingstanding Road was an inconspicuous clump of trees behind a paling fence. By 2005 it was a low grassy hummock on an open green — the scheduled mound that gave Kingstanding its name.

The King’s Standing moundThe 1966 pictureThe 2005 picture

1966: Library of Birmingham, Local Studies and History Department, LSH/ Warks Photo Survey WK-K10-0116 (3/1335) · 2005: © Adrian Bailey, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Geograph)

Help us finish the set

These archive photographs don’t have a partner yet. If you pass one of these spots, stand where the old photographer stood, take the view today and send it to us — we’ll pair them up here, credited to you.

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