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The River Cole's name can mean either 'hazel' or 'charcoal'. The latter is
more appropriate because the oak woods through which it flowed provided
charcoal for Birmingham's forges over many centuries, and the fitful stream
may sometimes have been usable for transport on rafts or punt-like boats.
The Cole is about 40km long, rising south of Kings Norton, falling fairly
quickly in its direct upper and middle courses, joining the River Blythe
near Coleshill after much slow meandering. Though never a major watercourse
- its alternate Georgian names hereabout were Greet Brook, Hay Mill Brook -
it used to be much more impressive than today's customary trickle. Bordering
forests retained rainwater, releasing it gradually to countless small
tributaries, so that the usual level was higher. Once cleared of timber, the
impervious claylands shed water rapidly, creating sudden floods. Field
drainage accentuated this fast run-off. Lacking major feeders, the middle
Cole falls as quickly as it rises, but its floods have taken lives and
destroyed bridges throughout recorded history. When swollen, the Cole, fed
by Tyseley Brook, was joined by Spark Brook (described as a 'torrent' in
1511), and the whole confluence plain would be briefly inundated, creating a
lake 300m across.
The Spark Brook, 3.3km long and named after a local family, rises at Showell
Green. Since 1896 it has been culverted beneath Stoney Lane and the Barber
Estate off Walford Road. It appears above ground beside the former B.S.A.
sports field. Tyseley Brook, alias 'River Lee', rises near Hall Green Church
and flows north-northeast to join the Cole upstream of the Spark. It is
partly culverted: from the Warwick Road it runs in an artificial channel,
having been diverted to permit the extension of railway sidings across its
valley.
Other alterations to stream courses around "the Ackers" are not fully
authenticated, due to the conflicting evidence of early maps. Beighton!s 'Mapp'
surveyed in 1722 (scale 1:63360) is the first to show the channels in
detail, but is unreliable. It transposes Hay Barnes and Hay Hall, and places
Medley's Mill on the Yardley bank of the Cole. Two arms of the river have
Hay Mill at their confluence, and two arms join Spark Brook below the mill.
Field Drawing Sheets (1:126720) for the Ordnance Survey, 1817, show the
Cole, the Spark and the Lee joining in a pool south of the canal embankment,
and a single channel flowing from there. At Hay Mill Cottage, a headrace
continues to a triangular millpool, and the main flow curves round it; the
two arms rejoin 400m south of the Coventry Road.
The First Edition of the O.S. One-Inch Map (1:63360) c.1822 is more accurate
in some respects and may be more reliable hereabout. It shows three channels
under the canal - Spark, Cole and Lee; the last feeds a rectangular pond
above the embankment and serves as the headrace to Hay Mill. No confluence
of channels is shown above the mill, and the tailrace continues to beyond
the Coventry Road. Doubtless in flood the three courses combined. The reason
for the long tailrace is that after turning the breast-shot wheels, the
water was in a well below river level, and could be returned to it only by a
channel of lesser gradient: by trial and error this had been found to
require a leat of 400m, with a culvert under the turnpike.
The 1841 Tithe Map of Yardley (1:5280) shows two channels only. The Spark is
almost joined by the Cole and a straight branch from the latter is fed by
the Lee, having three pools upon it and a floodrace at Mill Cottage running
beside the lowest pool to join the Spark below the mill. This finely-drawn
map is the first to achieve modern standards of accuracy. On it we see that
the Cole flow is normally down the headrace: the channel leading towards the
Spark is a 'floating course', a dead-end cut which would overflow into the
brook only in flood. Downstream of the canal, a channel leads to the
floodrace from the embankment foot, and this may indicate a culvert used to
drain the meadow on the south side of the bank.
Blood's splendid map of 1857 shows the Oxford Railway viaduct over the canal
and the embankment across the confluence meadows south of it, cutting in two
the uppermost of the three pools. We see also that for reasons unknown and
not readily discoverable, the combined Spark/Cole channel (the floating
course having been extended) has been diverted from the old Spark course to
flow for 120m between the two banks before going under the aqueduct from
which the Park takes its colloquial name. There is no doubt about this
diversion: on all subsequent maps the ancient boundary is drawn following
the old brook course directly across the canal. No trace of the original
1790s culvert on this line can now be found.
Floods were a greater problem when two barriers impeded flow down the
valley, and by 1887 (O.S. Map Second Edition One-Inch) and First Edition
Six-Inch (1:10560) a relieving course had been made. A weir just below the
junction of the Cole and the Lee fed water to this: the brick-walled channel
between the two banks joins the Cole/Spark at the aqueduct: this was given
two arches, one of which is normally dry.
Widening of the rail embankment to support extra lines after 1907
necessitated extension of the three culverts beneath it: as by then water
was no longer used for power at Hay Mill, a low arch was made for the
headrace, sufficient only to prevent the channels from drying up.
Severn-Trent Water
Authority has acquired control of the Cole system from the City and Trent
Water Board. Amenity is desirable, but flood control is always the chief
concern. A double concrete weir has been built below the confluence of the
Cole and the Lee: the higher upper dam maintains the river level for the
benefit of wildlife and citizens, and the lower forms an intermediate basin
which prevents erosion of the soft clay bed by water which would otherwise
fall some 1.5m. The overflow channel, with a newish concrete portal in the
rail bank, has no approach arm at the weir: in exceptional floods, water can
drain into a ditch parallel to the bank and so into the channel, but usually
the only flow therein is what has backed up from the main Cole/Spark course.
Downstream of the Waste Disposal Unit, a balancing lake has been created:
excess water can be diverted into this and released when the river is low.
Introduction
What can be seen from Ackers Hill
The natural landscape
Watercourses
Early settlement and boundaries
The Manors
The Warwick canal
Railways
Industry
Urbanisation
Parks and open spaces
Churches and schools
The Ackers leisure park
Itinerary
Maps |
