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The river had never been usable as a highway except by small flat-boats.
About 1795 travel by water across Yardley became possible when the Warwick
and Birmingham Canal was constructed. It came along the north slope of the
Spark valley, crossing the Cole just below the confluence on a long
embankment: culverts were made for the river and head-race to Hay Mill. A
feeder was cut from the Spark to the canal, starting just east of the
Stratford Road. From a wharf at Danford Lane the folk of Greet could now
travel by fast fly-boat to the outskirts of Birmingham, and a few years
later to Warwick and then London. Bricks and tiles, the making of which from
the excellent mudstone was a winter occupation on many Yardley farms, could
be and were taken all over the Midlands by water, while coal and other
supplies were brought from the town.
In 1852 the Oxford Railway was opened, broad-gauge lines crossing canal,
river, and race on a high embankment which not only cut off the view
downstream but impeded air flow, thus making the valley upstream more
subject to fogs. For a decade the nearest station was at Acocks Green, but
then Small Heath and Sparkbrook Station was opened, chiefly to serve the new
B. S. A. factory on the Golden Hillock. Sparkhillians must have thought
themselves very well-served then, despite the long walk down and up Danford
Lane.
Turnpikes having been abolished in 1872, horse-buses plied to the 'Mermaid'
and the Tivoli Gardens behind it. By 1885 steam trams had reached The Hill,
and a depot was built where now the Salvation Army Citadel stands. Later the
lines were extended to Knowle Road. The humped bridges prevented further
progress until their replacement. By 1914 Corporation electric trams were
going on to Four Ways, Hall Green. In 1904 the long-awaited tram service
began on Stoney Lane, going to what since the annexation of Balsall Heath
Local Board District in 1891 had been the City boundary, just south of the
Barracks.
The Warwick Road required drastic improvement before trams could use it.
There was a weighbridge at the 'Mermaid' to ensure that road-engines were
not too heavy for the humped bridges. Horse-buses still plied to Acocks
Green. The road had to be widened, straightened, raised, and re-bridged, and
the Corporation had not completed this work until 1916. Trams then ran as
far as Flint Green, taking workers to the wartime factories between canal
and railway on Hay Hall Estate. The extension to Shirley and Westley Brook
were post-World War One. The Warwick Road at West Greet was so narrow
between terraces that a single track was laid there, its use being
controlled by small red and green lights at each end.
In 1907 the North Warwickshire Line was opened by the G. W. R. from a new
station, Tyseley Junction, to Stratford. This replaced an abandoned plan for
an independent line parallel to the Stratford Road, with a station at Baker
Street. A halt was provided at Spring Road, and a station at Hall Green.
The narrow lanes
and awkward intersections of rural Yardley needed remaking before tramlines
could be laid, and the need for public transport was so immediate that
petrol buses were introduced instead. The 1 and 1A to Acocks Green and
Moseley were first. College Road and Shaftmoor Lane were tarmac-surfaced and
kerbed, lit and drained, for the use of open-topped buses from 1920. By 1924
buses were linking Stoney Lane tram terminus to Yardley Wood and Warstock.
The Inner Circle ran along Highgate and Walford Roads from 1928, and a few
years later there were services along the Stratford Road to the new housing
estates of Hall Green. In 1937, for no reason other than their obstruction
of traffic, the trams were taken off and the lines covered.
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 |
