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A brief history of Elmdon
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Elmdon is a small area on the outskirts of the
conurbation of Birmingham and Solihull. To some in the Midlands, and perhaps nationwide,
it is best known for its Airport which is now known as Birmingham International Airport
with huge terminals and car parks. Until comparatively recently, passengers who went from
Birmingham went through a listed building known as Elmdon Airport.
>More old
postcards of Elmdon Airport in the 1950's
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| There is another side to Elmdon and clues remain to this
day which probably pass people by. A stroll through Elmdon Park refreshes the spirits with
its mixture of open hilltop areas, woodland, wetlands and views over the City of
Birmingham. Many people visit the church for Sunday teas in the Summer months. Ramblers
walk up the cobbled path from the A45 (Birmingham to Coventry Road) past a small lodge and
a big brick built house behind old iron fencing known as the Rectory. Modern farming
activities are carried out whilst dog walkers skirt crops along hedgerows. |
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| All these are clues to an Elmdon long gone
but in its heyday this small parish boasted an illustrious past with fine buildings and
noble people. |
| Elmdon Hall
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| At the heart of the 2,000-acre Elmdon Manor
Estate stood Elmdon Hall. Abraham Spooner demolished the original Hall - built by John
Bolelere in 1547 - in 1783 and rebuilding began. In 1788 Abraham Spooner died at the age
of about 100 years and his eldest son Isaac completed the rebuilding of Elmdon Hall in
1795. It was an impressive three storey stone built Georgian mansion typical of the
period. Inside there was a drawing room, three reception rooms, fifteen bedrooms, four
dressing rooms and wardrobe rooms, and a splendid library with views of the lake. In
addition, there was a gunroom, servant’s hall with lounge room, a kitchen scullery,
larder and dairy, and large beer cellars. |
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In the court yard there was an engine house
with a 6bhp gas engine with dynamo, electric light plant and batteries, a
bakehouse, brew
house, laundry house and ironing rooms, a soft water tank and a slaughter house. In the
servants yard there was a game larder, boathouse, coal house and wood house. The
stabling consisted of a coach house and also a smaller coach house, stabling for twelve
horses, harness room, mews room, and open trap shed and corn store.In 1840 William Charles
Alston purchased the Elmdon Estate at an auction sale at Dees Royal Hotel, Birmingham. The
1851 census of Elmdon shows William Charles Alston, his wife Elizabeth Ann, and five
children living at the Hall. There was also a Coachman, Gardener, Tutor, Housekeeper, Head
Nurse, Lady’s maid and seven House servants. |
| The Walled
Garden
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The 2.7 acres of walled garden were able to supply the
Hall with fresh vegetables, fruit and flowers throughout the year. The rectangular shape
with the long north and south facing walls was considered ideal for maximum sunshine and
warmth, with plantations of trees arranged as windbreaks. These were outside the north,
north-west and north-east sides of the garden walls which are 12 feet high. The head and
under gardeners had cottages close by at Elmdon Farm with as many as 20 men and boys
working in the kitchen and pleasure gardens. |
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| The walled garden was intersected by wide
grass paths with neat box hedges, and after the removal of the glass tax in 1845,
extensive greenhouses and cold frames. Around the walls espalier and fan shaped apple
trees with the more tender fruits such as nectarines and apricots occupying the south
facing walls. The stables at Elmdon Farm provided a ready supply of horse manure. |
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The Rectory
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The Rectory
C1900 |
This was the Rectory, built in 1803 by Isaac Spooner.
His son William was the first occupant and he remained Rector for 54 years. He was the
Archdeacon of Coventry and also held two other livings. His seventh child Catherine
married A.C.Tait Headmaster of Rugby School, later to become the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Living in the Rectory at the time of the 1851 census of Elmdon were nine members of the
Spooner family, together with nine servants – a Butler, Housekeeper, Lady’s
Maid, House maid, two servants and three nurses. |
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| In 1948 the building was sold and became private
residences with a covenant that the title "Rectory" would not be used in the
name for the building.
The Old Rectory
2000 |
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Elmdon Parish Church
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Elmdon Church c1900 |
The existence of a Church in the parish is first
recorded in the Calendar of Close Rolls for 1297 – the ‘Church of Elmdone’
had had ‘Edmund de Whitaker’ as its Parson. The Manor remained in the
hands of various members of the ‘de Whitaker’ family until the mid 16th
century. The Manor was then passed through several other hands until around 1760 it was
sold to Abraham Spooner. It is in the period from Spooner onwards that Elmdon became a
Manor with history and a great deal of interest.
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Elmdon Church and
Wilberforce Hall extension
2000 |
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The Spooner family
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The Spooner family were responsible for the buildings we
see today at Elmdon – some still standing and used, some just outlines on the
ground. Abraham Spooner built the Present Church on the site of an old Saxon Church just
before his death in 1788. Spooner, although 90 years of age, oversaw the destruction of
the old church because " The Ancient Edifice is become of late so very weak and
dilapidated". (This may have been the reason that Abraham and Anne Spooner
traveled 7 miles to St.Martin’s, Birmingham to have each of their seven children christened,
rather than walk the short distance to the old Elmdon Church.) The new church was built
upon the same site, largely using the old foundations and was completed in 1782. |
| The estate of Elmdon passed to his son,
Isaac Spooner, who rebuilt Elmdon Hall and the Rectory. On his death the estate passed to
his son, Abraham Spooner Lillingston who died tragically after a tree fell on him outside
Whar Hall Farm in 1834. The estate was sold in 1840 to the Alston family and remained in
its possession until 1920 when a large part of the estate was sold. In 1930 the rest of
the estate was auctioned off to various parties, and the glory days of Elmdon had ended.
The old parkland was ploughed up for agriculture and many fine trees felled. In 1944 the Hall and land was sold to Solihull Urban
District Council. The Hall was used for housing the Home Guard during the war years, and
then the building was left empty. The main staircase rotted and collapsed due to the roof
letting in water as the lead had been stripped. The building became a gaunt and eerie
relict of its glorious days gone by. The broken windows, unkempt lawns and cost of
refurbishment had given the Hall its death sentence, and it was demolished in 1956. |
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