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Arbourthorne Playing Fields


DaveH

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When I was younger I used to keep fish in tanks and I would sometimes go to the pond to catch fish for the tanks. However there was always this nasty bloke who didn't like kids catching even Sticklebacks and would chase you off or threaten to fetch the police. So we didn't go to it often. The pond also had a plague of Arglus or fish loush. Which would get on the side of the fish and suck the blood. The only way to get them off was to take the fish out of the water. The louse would then drop off! So we went more often to Richmond Pond which had no nasty man or fish louse!

Argulus or fish louse

;-)

Just to break up the conversation on boozers lol The stream running down from Arbourthorne Pond is called the Jervis Lum. The pond itself is shown on the first OS map and is probably a great deal older. I reckon it could have been a fishpond connected to Sheffield Park Deer Park and was kept for the purpose of watering animals on the farms later. The name Jervis comes from the park keepers and later tennants of the Duke of Norfolk. Much of the area was never built on due to either drainage or coal mining. Arbourthorne Road coming off City Road is dead straight, clearly an old waggon road dating from after 1779, because that is when the Turnpike Road "City Road" as it's known now, came about. A clause in the Act for 1779 allows wagon ways to be built off it for the purpose of transporting coal.

SH link to .. Jervis Lum, Ancient Woodland

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Argulus or fish louse

;-)

SH link to .. Jervis Lum, Ancient Woodland

Thanks Steve,

I was going to put a link on to the Jervis Lum topic having read History Dudes post but you beat me to it.

History Dude is correct that the Arbourthorne playing fields are part of the Jervis Lum valley although the stream is well underground at this point.

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When I was younger I used to keep fish in tanks and I would sometimes go to the pond to catch fish for the tanks. However there was always this nasty bloke who didn't like kids catching even Sticklebacks and would chase you off or threaten to fetch the police. So we didn't go to it often.

Which particular pond was this History Dude?

Arbourthorne Pond, on the southern side of Eastern Avenue is still there and is a popular fishing site to this day.

It is the largest of the ponds on the Jervis course.

It did require a permit to fish it and may explain why you were chased off or threatened with the police.

However, before 1966 when the Norfolk Park Estate was built, there were 2 smaller ponds, roughly where Arbourthorne Road now meets Park Grange Road near the Fellbrigg which were filled in.

One of these was cherry tree pond. I don't know if there was fish in them but they were good places to collect frog spawn.

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So we went more often to Richmond Pond which had no nasty man or fish louse!

Not been to that one but as it is still there (I think) I am pretty sure I know exactly where it is.

Is Richmond Pond on Richmond Road, opposite the Richmond boozer, at its junction with Hastillar Road and flanked on the opposite side to Richmond Road by the very aptly named Fishponds Road?

Now calling it "fishponds" implies firstly that there is more than one :unsure: and secondly that the pond is well stocked with fish.

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It was Arbourthorne pond in the seventies. We were only after little fish such as Sticklebacks hardly needing a licence! The bloke was just natsy!!

Yes Richmond Pond is still there where you said it was. It was orginally connected to Woodthorpe Hall which was demolished in 1934 and was much bigger when that was on the go. The Hall was very close to the site of Woodthorpe School.

The pond keeps getting cleaned out from time to time and is home to mostly Sticklebacks, Frogs and Newts. But I haven't been near it for years. The biggest fish in it will be I suspect Goldfish dumped in by people who don't want to keep them anymore. I think it would have been well-stocked in the days of the Hall, but by the 50's and 60's polution and the like would have put an end to any fish that fishermen would catch. It was always getting clogged up by Water Lilys and the like when I was young.

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I remember fishing Arbourthorne pond around 1976, at the time it was open for public angling,

also I remember seeing the other pond that was further down the watercourse towards Norfolk Park, we knew it a Cherry pond.

Though I never fished Cherry pond/Cherry tree pond, or perhaps I did fish it with a net

on a cane, in later years when speaking to some elderly angling friends they assured me that

Cherry pond did contain fish, some of a decent size.

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It was Arbourthorne pond in the seventies. We were only after little fish such as Sticklebacks hardly needing a licence! The bloke was just natsy!!

Yes Richmond Pond is still there where you said it was. It was orginally connected to Woodthorpe Hall which was demolished in 1934 and was much bigger when that was on the go. The Hall was very close to the site of Woodthorpe School.

The pond keeps getting cleaned out from time to time and is home to mostly Sticklebacks, Frogs and Newts. But I haven't been near it for years. The biggest fish in it will be I suspect Goldfish dumped in by people who don't want to keep them anymore. I think it would have been well-stocked in the days of the Hall, but by the 50's and 60's polution and the like would have put an end to any fish that fishermen would catch. It was always getting clogged up by Water Lilys and the like when I was young.

Arbouthorne Pond is the Eastern Avenue pond and by the 1970's was the only one left on the course of the Jervis stream.

It is still used today by fishermen.

Interesting comments about Richmond pond though History Dude,

When I drive past it down Richmond Road on my way to Handsworth it looks quite small and frequently overgrown and neglected.

I never did see it years ago when it must have been in much better condition.

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I remember fishing Arbourthorne pond around 1976, at the time it was open for public angling,

also I remember seeing the other pond that was further down the watercourse towards Norfolk Park, we knew it a Cherry pond.

Though I never fished Cherry pond/Cherry tree pond, or perhaps I did fish it with a net

on a cane, in later years when speaking to some elderly angling friends they assured me that

Cherry pond did contain fish some decent sized fish.

You must have been to Cherry pond well before 1976 though Steve.

It was filled in 10 years previously for the building of the Norfolk Park Estate.

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I found this in my collection of Arbourthorne Pond taken around 1980.

Nice picture of Arbourthorne / Eastern Avenue pond History Dude.

It looks pretty similar today except that, -

1 )

They have built some proper little pondside staging to facilitate fishing.

2 )

Those 1967 Finnegan houses in the background on the Erringtons are now largely gone, - they are in the process of removing all the prefabricated housing of this type over the next 3 years.

When those on the Algars go it will enlarge the area of Arbourthorne Playing fields unless they intend building on it yet again.

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And Richmond Pond taken in the Summer of 1984.

Perhaps when I took this picture of the Richmond (oh dear, boozers again!) I should have turned and faced the other way. :(

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Perhaps when I took this picture of the Richmond (oh dear, boozers again!) I should have turned and faced the other way. :(

I don't know if it still has it but the sign used to have the Coat of Arms for the Parkers of Woodthorpe Hall. They had to sell all up when the Parker Shore Bank went under. All that area would have belong to the Hall.

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I don't know if it still has it but the sign used to have the Coat of Arms for the Parkers of Woodthorpe Hall. They had to sell all up when the Parker Shore Bank went under. All that area would have belong to the Hall.

I didn't notice a Coat of Arms History Dude,

The Richmond used to be a Wards boozer, but since Wards has long gone I don't even know whose beer they sell now.

Even the pub sign has been "modernised" with a new design and removal of the old brewery name

I seem to think that the original Richmond standard pub sign did have a Coat of Arms on it.

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Oh well at least it's still open! :)

Yes it is still open and still serving beer of some description (but not Wards)

My picture was taken last July during the 2010 Football World Cup, - the one from South Africa where every match commentary was ruined by the incessant drone of those vuvazuaelas, hence all the sports advertising outside.

However, is the Richmonds future secure?

Worryingly there is a TO LET sign on the right hand side of the building, partially obscured by the telegraph pole.

That is never a good sign.

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Looks like The Vulcan has found a buyer after all.

I noticed that it is now JADE ORIENT.

Looks a bit like a Chinese takeaway place, - but with a building of that size it could be a proper Chinese Restraunt.

They have even replaced that missing boozer sign with their own sign ;-)

I am still not sure if Jade Orient is a Chinese Takeaway or a Chinese Restraunt.

It's price list is cheap enough for it to be a takeaway, or possibly a restraunt as the meal is broken down into individually priced dishes, the cost of which would accumulate if you had say 3 or 4 courses.

Their opening times are a bit wierd as well, all late evenings (on the Arbourthorne!! :blink: ) except Tuesdays.

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I found this in my collection of Arbourthorne Pond taken around 1980.

Arbourthorne Pond as it is today

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Nice picture of Arbourthorne / Eastern Avenue pond History Dude.

It looks pretty similar today except that, -

1 )

They have built some proper little pondside staging to facilitate fishing.

2 )

Those 1967 Finnegan houses in the background on the Erringtons are now largely gone, - they are in the process of removing all the prefabricated housing of this type over the next 3 years.

When those on the Algars go it will enlarge the area of Arbourthorne Playing fields unless they intend building on it yet again.

The pondside staging to facilitate fishing.

I think I called them "levees", borrowing the word from the deep south Mississippi steamer days, although they are not on the same scale, or really for the same purpose.

Now, notice those Finnegan houses in the background of both History Dudes picture and mine.

Notice how in my picture some of them are boarded up and have scaffolding around them.

They are in the process of being demolished over the next 3 years

Here is a close up of one of the ones from the earlier pond picture

The demolition started in November 2009, in fact the new Northern Avenue Health Centre is being built on cleared ground.

I already have hundreds of photos of demolished Finnegan houses and I intend doing a topic on this work in due course when the work is completed.

Having survived the 1962 gale in a prefab in this locality I have a certain affinity wirh demolition of prefabricated housing.

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I remember fishing Arbourthorne pond around 1976, at the time it was open for public angling,also I remember seeing the other pond that was further down the watercourse towards Norfolk Park, we knew it a Cherry pond.

Though I never fished Cherry pond/Cherry tree pond, or perhaps I did fish it with a net

on a cane, in later years when speaking to some elderly angling friends they assured me that

Cherry pond did contain fish some decent sized fish.

According to this sign Arbourthorne pond, now newly renovated for the umpteenth time, contains carp.

..and according to this sign you do need a licence to fish the pond, or you could be facing a heft fine.

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When I was younger I used to keep fish in tanks and I would sometimes go to the pond to catch fish for the tanks. However there was always this nasty bloke who didn't like kids catching even Sticklebacks and would chase you off or threaten to fetch the police. So we didn't go to it often. The pond also had a plague of Arglus or fish loush. Which would get on the side of the fish and suck the blood. The only way to get them off was to take the fish out of the water. The louse would then drop off! So we went more often to Richmond Pond which had no nasty man or fish louse!

Looks like they have even got rid of the nasty man now History Dude and replaced him with some (unseen) modern high technology surveilance equipment instead.

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Looks like The Vulcan has found a buyer after all.

I noticed that it is now JADE ORIENT.

Looks a bit like a Chinese takeaway place, - but with a building of that size it could be a proper Chinese Restraunt.

They have even replaced that missing boozer sign with their own sign ;-)

Vulcan is JADE ORIENT Chinese food.

The Cutlers (formerly the Cutlers Arms) at Herdings is soon to become a Bangladeshi restraunt.

Seems that old pubs make

Good churches (see Norfolk Park Estate)

Good Supermarkets (also NPE)

and now good Asian food outlets.

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Looks like The Vulcan has found a buyer after all.

I noticed that it is now JADE ORIENT.

Looks a bit like a Chinese takeaway place, - but with a building of that size it could be a proper Chinese Restraunt.

They have even replaced that missing boozer sign with their own sign ;-)

It seems that The Vulcan, now Jade Orient, is open for business and is both a restraunt and a takeaway.

Full details on their website here

JADE ORIENT

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It seems that The Vulcan, now Jade Orient, is open for business and is both a restraunt and a takeaway.

Full details on their website here

JADE ORIENT

I noticed that the Home Page of that Jade Orient site has some interior shots of the restraunt.

That's the interior of the old Vulcan to you and me.

I suppose those pictures will please Suzy so that I won't have to go around there with a camera pretending to buy the place! lol

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