# St. Edwards Boys Home, Coleshill, Birmingham - our take. Image intensive...



## TeeJF (Aug 9, 2011)

I was in a bit of a quandry as to whether a boys home belongs in Residential or whether it should be in Religious because this one is part of a religious establishment!

Tonto and I went to Pyestock first thing Monday morning but right from the word go it was not proving an easy site. We wandered right around the fence then security came barrelling up at a rate of knots in their Landy and tracked us along the fence from the inside for a bit. A few minutes later and we came across a huge gap in the fence but who should I spy lurking in the bushes but Mr. Secca! Tip for you here dear boy, fluorescent jackets do tend to give you away when you're lurking in the shadows. Next minute who should practically fall down the banking and through the gap in the fence but Mr. Plod! I really think we spoilt their day by wandering nonchalantly past then picking sloes for quarter of an hour about 25 yards from the hole! I digress... we could hear a big old turbine running by the time we got back to the top of the site and two huge flat bed trailers arrived and went in through the gates so it was obviously a busy old day at "abandoned" Pyestock - I'm reliably informed they still use the anechoic chamber. We cut our losses and drove up to Brum where we visited the former Saint Edwards Boys Home on the Father Wassisface site. 

Briefly this site has a conglomeration of buildings old and new, and there is a boy's home/school and a small hospital which get regular reports on the forums so I'll not bore you with a load of spiel about the history other than to say it's been closed down since the mid 90s and there was a bit of a scandal over child abuse by the priest in charge. He was de-frocked and locked up and then he died in prison in 2001. The buildings are maintained to some degree - as we were to find out - despite having been abandoned, so apart from broken windows there does not seem to be a lot of water ingress in the Boys Home at least.

We wandered around looking for an entry point and soon found ourselves snapping away happily with the camera. After a bit we heard the noise of a vehicle pulling up so I peeped carefully out of the window. It was workmen come to board up our entry point!!! I hasten to add we had not interfered in any way with the point of entry, we had just walked straight in, so these guys were clearly boarding up after a weekend of rampant chavvery! We kept our heads down for a bit and then got on with our explore until it was time to think about leaving. A bit of wandering soon found an easy route out to an enclosed area at the rear of the building, without having to break anything, or change the "security" status quo of the building in any way. Suitably chuffed we drove back up here! 

I do hope you enjoy these pix... I know it's been done before but hopefully there's something here to amuse you, perhaps a different angle, or just seeing how the place has changed since the last time you looked!


*The Boy's Home building viewed from the road.*









*The sandstone plaque detailing the opening...*








*In the kitchen wing...*








*They can't have taught those boys too well really, fancy putting your boots up on the table like that!*








*Industrial scale catering!*








*I'm pretty sure this is a spud peeler as I found the blade outside in the corridor later...*








*The floor buffer is in really good condition because there's no damp to speak off at floor level...*








*The whole building has an odd choice of colour scheme and has an extremely oppresive atmosphere...*








*Boot brush!*








*Questionable aesthetics...*








*The temporary flooring has been put down because the original boards have been carefully removed, presumably to salvage copper etc from below. It's not got the look of a pykey "cut and run" raid.*








*I'm not sure what this is all about but it wouldn't look out of place in a 1950s pub!*








*Document archives perhaps?*








*Staircase to the upper floors at the kitchen wing end of the building. Awful, oppresive colours again together with tiles that wouldn't look out of place in a public lavatory.*








*There's been a lot of vandalism within and from outside of the building, mainly broken windows, but also some serious trashing of sanitary fittings and studded walls with "the boot"...*








*I'm not sure why weight watching would be a concern in a boy's home...*








*Just so the boys wouldn't forget they were being cared for at the church's behest...*








*A child's water colour paint set and brush probably abandoned when the home closed...*








*Does anybody here remeber vinyl and cassettes?* 








*The stage is still set with the scenery from their last production!*








*It's a sad fact that many of the boys were abandoned because they had been born with disabilities - indeed the second building on this site is a small hospital. This is a lifting frame for moving patients with little or no ability to use their own limbs.*








*Was this some little boy's favourite toy? How come it got left behind? *








*The chapel is in the centre of the building and is the first room off the main corridor.*








*Looking back towards the entrance from inside the chapel.*








*The entrance hall...*








*The central stair way...*








*Trashed studded walls in one of the dormitory areas...*








*Shower block...*








*Many of the boys emigrated to Canada and Australia but clearly some did not!*








*That hideous blue paint is everywhere! This is the staircase to a loft store room.*








*Looking across the roofs of some of the Father Hudson site buildings from the loft store room...*








*There is not the usual massive water damage one tends to find in abandoned buildings of this age, due to the fact that minimal maintenance is clearly being carried out on the building. *








*Tool box! The garden outside the window is so overgrown there is precious little natural light in this corridor.*








*Was this another abandoned toy or an ornament? It's hard to be sure...*








*...and finally! The kitchen door has been comprehensively sealed!*








*Thanks for looking!* ​


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## carly (Aug 10, 2011)

Love this post - the wallpapers are beautiful (in my opinion!) but it looks like it hasn't been touched since the 70's! Must have been a really depressing place - really captures an essence of melancholy and sadness about these poor unwanted boys. Thank you!!


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## krela (Aug 10, 2011)

Classy! =/


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## TeeJF (Aug 11, 2011)

carly said:


> Must have been a really depressing place - really captures an essence of melancholy and sadness about these poor unwanted boys. Thank you!!



You are very welcome. It does indeed feel horrible in that building and it's not helped by the colour scheme which is awful. One of the saddest thoughts I had was after seeing the lifting equipment and wheely bed thing in the theatre - it brought it home to me that many of the boys would have been abandoned because they were almost certainly born severely disabled. The other unpleasant memory I had was when I saw the boots in the kitchen, one on the table, one thrown across the room - it reminded me of when I was at school and the nearest childrens home housed one particular boy who came to my school and was in my class. He told me horror stories of the treatment they received... and he wore austere, almost threadbare clothes, and boots almost identical to those, whilst every other lad in the year wore the fashion of the time.

There are a few more photos from that explore on our own website if you wish to see more. Thanks again for your kind and pertinent comments.


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## Em_Ux (Aug 11, 2011)

I enjoyed this report...Thanks for sharing


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## KayleighT (Sep 3, 2011)

Awesome set of pitchaaaas dude  Xx


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## nelly (Sep 3, 2011)

ome really nice stuff there, love the paintbox shot, but Pyestock to Brum, you were keen!!!


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## Scaramanger (Sep 3, 2011)

Nice shots & cool place. That music "tower" system I note only had one tape deck. Most seem to have had two and capable of "high speed dubbing !!" Now ur talking !


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## TeeJF (Sep 4, 2011)

114 072 22 said:


> Most seem to have had two and capable of "high speed dubbing !!" Now ur talking !



Hee hee, yeah! I remember those... but the results were always as hissy as hell!



nelly said:


> but Pyestock to Brum, you were keen!!!



Not as much as you think, we were on the way home anyway!



KayleighT said:


> Awesome set of pitchaaaas dude  Xx



Howay Geordie! Thank yooooooooo.



Em_Ux said:


> I enjoyed this report...Thanks for sharing



You are very welcome. It was a really great little 'splore (apart from getting boarded in!!!) and it's nice to share the pix.


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## Pincheck (Sep 4, 2011)

nice story mate , nice find bud looks interesting


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