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View Full Version : Archived: St Edward's home for boys, Coleshill, Bham. March '09



boxfrenzy
25-03-2009, 05:58 PM
The crowd applauded politely as the Bishop of Birmingham, the Right Reverend Edward Isley D.D laid the foundation stone. It was October 17th, 1905. The building was to be a red brick two storey affair, with a central court yard. Father Hudson, the priest responsible for its building would have felt very proud and full of hope as the boys home opened soon after. However, after 91 years, the home closed it's doors for the last time. Today, St Edwards home for boys lies empty and boarded up.
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Inside is a dark and shadowy place, with mouldering rooms and staircases, slowly decaying. Through the kitchen are stairs heading up. Upstairs, is the sound of banging. In front, a dark corridor, with the ceiling down. We head up.
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Many of the rooms for the boys are empty. This one had a bed frame in.
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Along the corridor. Many of the rooms were dark on the road side, as the windows were boarded. On the courtyard side, some of them were smashed.
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Up in to the attic. Suitcases from another lifetime are lit by the afternoon sun, and a hoola hoop is left by the window.
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A deck chair is amongst old cupboards and trestle tables.
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Back down the one of the many flights of stairs.
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The chapel, where the boys would have been expected to attend regular services.
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To the side of the altar is the priests room. Unbroken stained glass creates interesting colours on the dusty floor.
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Back out. A decaying wood panelled corridor, with a collapsed roof leads to nowhere.
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Past the kitchens towards the scullery, a roof has collapsed, and the drying room is now open to the elements.
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Today, the residents of Coleshil are divided about what should happen to the building. Many want it knocked down, as it is linked with horrific and unpleasant events that occurred there in the 1960's and 1970's. At the moment it remains, slowly deteriorating and empty, it's wooden floors buckling, and doors banging in the wind.
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