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Between the Wars and
since
With the building of the Showell Green Estate in the 1920s and Hangleton
Drive in the 1930s, the private development of Sparkhill and Greet was
complete. Manor Farm municipal estate appeared between the Wars, and a
prefab estate now razed brought life back to Old Greet after World War Two.
Bombing had left many gaps in terraces throughout the districts, but most of
these have been infilled. The only large patch of destruction, off Stoney
Lane, was an early rebuilding with towers and detached blocks. Some old
terraces have been cleared, on and off Percy Road and in West Greet. Most
houses, brightly painted since clean air came in, are in good repair, and
very little demolition will take place now that population decline and
recession are upon us.
A
1909 plan of the Rural District Council, adopted by the City Council, was
intended to save the Cole from the fate of the Rea, confined in a brick
channel and lined with factories. A green strip on one or both sides of the
river was to be barred to builders and a walk provided from end to end of
Yardley, giving nine miles of grass and trees from Yardley Wood to Sheldon.
Land for this purpose was given and bought, most of it secure as parks,
playing fields, and allotments.
The South Birmingham Town Planning Scheme, begun in the early 1920s,
included three throughways hereabout. One would have linked Formans Road to
the foot of Weston Lane, the last stretch of a riverside highway from
Trittiford. It was never made. A second, linking Hall Green to Tyseley, (Cateswell
and Tynedale Roads) is bordered by municipal estates and light industry. The
third, a far-sighted plan to bypass the inadequate Warwick Road through
Tyseley and Acocks Green, was Olton Boulevard. It was intended to start at
Greet Bridge, link up with Spring and Victoria Roads, and sweep on to the
city boundary at Olton. By 1939 one carriageway and a grass strip had been
made from Reddings Lane north, but Spring Road and the railway bridge were
unimproved, the west end had not been started, and no progress has been made
since. Lucas's Works sprawl across the intended line south of Weston Lane,
and only at Fox Hollies is the dual carriageway completed. There have been
no road improvements in Sparkhill and Greet except the 1967 diversion of
Stoney Lane to a direct crossing with Walford Road, and the provision of
lights at the Mermaid junction. A planned bypass of that intersection will
probably never be made.
Immigrants from Ireland have long been common in Sparkhill, lured by the
strong Catholic community based on the English Martyrs' Church. In the last
two decades people from the West Indies and Asia have filled older and
larger villas and are increasingly occupying the terraces. Indian and
Pakistani shops now predominate on The Hill and down to Sparkbrook. The
characteristics of our districts today are ageing dwellings with gardens,
many with converted or added bathrooms but no garages, plenty of shops (some
closed or in decline despite Asian enterprise) but no parking spaces,
inadequate main roads with too many intersections, good public transport but
great traffic congestion, far too many through streets and too few safe play
areas, little room for further development and major change.
References
Birmingham and its Regional Setting by Kinvig, Thorpe, etc.
Printed Maps of Warwickshire by Harvey, Thorpe
V.C.H. Vol. vii Birmingham
Notes and Mss. for a History of Yardley by Bickley
History of Birmingham by Gill and Briggs
Kelly's Directories
Aris's Birmingham Gazette 1756-1804
Transcripts and Summaries: Discovering Yardley Group
Photographic Survey of Warwickshire
Charter of Edgar AD 972
Presentment: of Yardley Boundaries 1495, 1609
Plan of Greet Farm 1766
Rental of Taylor Estates
Allotments of Open and Common Fields in Yardley 1843 - 6
Yardley Tithe Map 1847
Ordnance Survey Maps:First edition one-inch et sequ., Drift geology,
Six-inch 1924 (South Birmingham Town Plan)
Map of Warwickshire Beighton 1725
Introduction
Preface
Relief and drainage, geology, and the natural
landscape
First footers and Anglo-Saxon
settlement
The manor of Yardley, the boundaries
of Yardley, and the 'Manor' of Greet
Ancient roads, ancient buildings, and watermills
Turnpike roads, bridges, and administration
Public transport
Enclosures
Urbanisation, and amenities and services
Churches, schools, and commerce and industry
Between the Wars and since, and references
Maps |
