Frances Road lies just left off the Pershore Road as you're heading from 'town' over Breedon Hill towards the centre of Cotteridge.  Cotteridge itself is a small parish within the district of Kings Norton in South Birmingham...  Some of the more long- standing locals still know the main shopping area as 'The Cotteridge' just as the  neighbouring district of Stirchley is known as 'The Village', therefore, if you lived  in Frances Road, you would go 'up the Cotteridge' or 'down the Village'...

When I was born, 'Frances Rd, Cotteridge' was in Warwickshire.  When Frances Road was built at the turn of the 20th Century (by local builders - The Grant's and the  Ferris's), it lay within the County of Worcestershire...  Now, it lies within the West  Midlands!

Frances Road is a very ordinary road of some 131 terraced houses...  Some would even say that it's an ugly road with uneven cracked paving slabs that vie for space  alongside partially tarmac'd footpaths and an ugly galvanised gate blocking off the  entrance/exit to Lifford Lane at the foot of the road.   Yes, Frances Road is not very  pretty.  Trees that were planted when the street was in its youth have long since been  removed, the only greenery being that of the occasional privet.  The congestion of  parked cars is also another huge problem for those of us who have never had the  pleasure or privilege of off-road parking.

To me and a handful of other families who still live in Frances Road however, it has provided the hub of home life for us, our children, our parents, our grandparents and in some cases, our great grandparents.  It is perhaps, a comfortable, safe link with the past where long-lasting friendships formed in childhood still flourish.

This website is purely a personal indulgence; an exploration of 'Who' moved here, 'Where' they came from, 'When' they came and 'Who' stayed... (although regarding the latter statement, apart from myself, no living persons are named in the 'family trees'  section).

Please feel free to have a browse; if you recognise a family name, click on it, you  might be surprised and please don't hesitate to contact me with any queries,  corrections, additional info or missing links etc., this site is being constantly  updated.

'Nell'
 April 2008