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Hall Green History
a brief look at the past
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Hall Green
was a small part of the ancient Parish of Yardley, which
later became Yardley Rural District. The
 Parish stretched for seven and
a half miles from Yardley Wood to Lea Village. Survival of the past can
often be in name only, and there are some examples of medieval names
still used. Bromhale (Broomhall), Greet Mill, and Six Weyes (1382, now
known as Robin Hood Island), are examples going back to the fourteenth
century and beyond. Sixteenth century documents mentioned Sarehole Mill,
Four Ways, Busmere (Bushmere), Shartmore (Shaftmoor), Swartmore Laine,
Hawes House and Hawe Green. Hawe Green became Hall Green.
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Sarehole
Mill
This is Birmingham's only working
watermill. There has been a mill on the site since before 1542, with the
current builds dating back to the 18th century. Flour was
made here, and the mill was also used to roll and smooth metal in the
Industrial Revolution. The mill now houses a fine display of Victorian
rural life. The surrounding bogs and marshes provided the inspiration
for JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth land of magic and monsters and it formed
the basis of Hobbiton Village, home of the Hobbits. Tolkien's family
lived nearby at Wake Green Road and Tolkien trespassed at the mill as a
boy. The mill is open from April to October. Entrance is free. >Tolkien
Trail
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Hall Green Hall:
Parts of the timber framed hall dated
back to the fifteenth century. After his arrival in 1683 the wealthy Job
Marston rebuilt the hall with  additions and may have added a separate
farmhouse so that the hall could serve exclusively as his home. The hall
and estate were passed in in a series of inheritances to the Wigley
family and the by marriage to the Severne family who sold it it in 1912.
The hall was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the fine Charles Lane
Trust almshouses that remain on the site today at the corner of Fox
Hollies Road and School Road.
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Churches:
Just across from the Hall, Marston Chappell (now the Church of the
Ascension) was
built in 1703/4 across from Hall Green Hall. Here was the
old centre of Hall Green, supplemented in late Victorian times by a
collection of houses known as the Hamlet. Hall Green has lost this
centre, and does not have one, unless the Stratford Road is seen as a
very elongated one!
A smaller C of E church was St Cadoc's in Highfield Road which was
renamed St Peter's in 1954, burnt down in 1957 and was replaced in 1964
with a new church. Some other local churches are the Methodist in
Reddings Lane (1924), the Trinity
United Reformed in Etwall Road (1929), the
Baptist on Stratford Road (1936), the Anglican/Methodist centre at
Redstone Farm Road (1970), and St Ambrose Barlow
R.C. on Lakey Lane
(1981).
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Highfield
Hall:
Highfield Hall in Highfield Road was
originally
 built around 1928 on land owned by Charles Lane as a pavilion
for the Gresham and Highfield Hard Court Tennis Clubs, but became very
popular before the War as a dancing studio owned by the Goodalls. It was
brick built with only one large room. During the war, it was
requisitioned to store flour or dried milk. In 1955 the site was sold to
the city council. Since 1980 Highfield Hall had been used as a community
centre and for adult education.
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Rural Scene:
One of the most attractive areas in the whole City is
 on the edge of
Hall Green: the River Cole valley. The City has kept faith with early
plans to retain the valley as a green corridor, and the River Cole and
Chinn Brook Conservation Group pursues this aim very effectively today.
There is now a continuous walkway from Solihull Lodge to the Ackers and
beyond. The Group argues for nature conservation, and also seeks the
preservation of old hedgerows, fragments of ancient woodland, and other
remnants of historic landscape. These 'time-slips' are present in
surprising places, and the Group tries to make local people and the City
authorities aware of them, and also to value them.
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Housing:
In Hall Green a high proportion of private
housing was constructed, which tended to be built without the
 grand
sweeping planning characteristic of inter-war municipal estates. Many
were 'distinctive' homes built by Dare's. and frequently green spaces
were left enclosed behind the new roads. A lot of money was spent on
infrastructure by the city at this time, which contributed to the
creation of a high quality of life in Hall Green. The only sizeable
council estate was built around the Pitmaston Road area.
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Transport:
The early years of the twentieth century brought change with rail
passenger services starting in 1908,
 linking Hall Green and Yardley Wood
to Birmingham and Stratford on Avon. In 1914 trams had crossed the River
Cole and ran on to the Bulls Head, then from 1928 on to the City
boundary. In 1928 the No. 29 bus service to Kingstanding from Highfield
Road also began, later with a terminus at the Baldwin pub. The No. 11
outer circle bus route, which started in 1926, cuts across the Stratford
Road at the junction of Colebank Road and School Road.
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Roads:
The main thoroughfare is the Birmingham to Stratford Road, entering as
it crosses the river Cole at the
junction of Stratford Road and
Shaftmoor Lane and leaving the area past Robin Hood Island at the city
boundary joining Shirley, Solihull. It is crossed by the Outer Circle
bus route, in the north part, The Fox Hollies and Highfield Road
junction at the Bulls Head, and then Robin Hood Island at Solihull Lane.
The roundabout at Robin Hood was built in the early 1930s to replace a
rather complicated series of small islands. Trams ran through the middle
of the large island before they were replaced by buses. Today traffic
lights control the flow of vehicles and provide safe pedestrian
crossings across the busy Stratford Road. Robin Hood has provided the
inspiration for the names of several roads in the area, such as Robin
Hood Lane, Sherwood Road and Marian Way. 2004 sees the start of a new Red
Route along the Stratford Road.
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Cinemas:
The first cinema in Hall Green was the Rialto Cinema, situated on the
corner of Green Bank Avenue and  Stratford Road. It opened in October
1927 and closed in May 1959. The site made way for a supermarket, now
Somerfield. The same year the the Rialto opened Robin Hood Cinema opened
on the 26th of December, it was then known as the Robin Hood Theatre. It
stood on the corner of Stratford Road and Ingestre Road. The Robin Hood
was a beautiful cinema with a gold dome, inside were gold settees
upholstered in red velvet, the passageways had Tudor decor and over the
screen was a scene depicting Robin Hood and his merry men. It closed in
March 1970: its final film performance was "Zulu". It was soon
demolished to make way for a Waitrose
Supermarket which opened in 1971 and still remains today.
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Pubs in Hall Green
The pubs in the Hall Green area have not changed much over recent years
but they have mostly survived the bulldozer unlike
 those in other
suburbs. On a journey down the Stratford Road the College Arms stands at
the corner of Shaftmoor Lane. Further down just past the junction at
School Road is the Horseshoes which now has a "Wacky
Warehouse" added to the rear of it. Next is the Bulls Head at
Highfield Road, built around 1840, then The Robin Hood by the island
with the same name. Sadly the name is now relegated to the small print
and replaced by the official name of "Toby Carvery, Hall
Green". At the rear of the pub is now a Holiday Inn Express Hotel.
An interesting thought is all these pubs along the Stratford Road are
all on the Southbound side. You can travel from the Angel at Camp Hill
to Shirley before finding the Saracens Head on the other side of the
road. Another pub still in business is The York on the corner of
Fox Hollies Road and York Road.
Courtesy of Maxam Cards
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The Baldwin
Three Magpies
Courtesy of Maxam Cards
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A Tale of Two
Pubs:
The Three Magpies in Shirley Road and its sister pub the Baldwin in
Baldwins Lane were designed by Birmingham born Edwin Reynolds. The
architects were Birmingham based Wood & Kendrick. A profile of the
front elevation of the two pubs placed side by side would reveal another
part of history as the design was based on The Queen Mary cruise liner launched by Cunard White Star on September 26th 1934, undertaking her
maiden voyage on May 27th 1936.
Fortunately, The Three Magpies and the Baldwin have stood the test of
time a little better as The Queen Mary was decommissioned on October 5th
1971. After a recent refurbishment the Three Magpies has become The
Maggies.
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Sport:
football
Moor Green were
formed in 1901 when the players of Moseley Ashfield Cricket Club decided
to amuse themselves during the winter by playing football. The first
ground was on a part of a farm in Moor Green Lane, Moseley, but when the
rent was increased from ?2 after one season the club was forced to move
on. A
number of grounds were rented until 1930 when the current site in
Sherwood Road was acquired. The ground was named ?The Moorlands? and
was soon developed into one of the best stadiums in the Midlands, but in
the 1980s, safety regulations and planning requirements enforced the
demolition of several banks of terracing and the pitch had to be turned
through 90 degrees to make way for increased car parking. Moor
Green are now members of the Dr Martens (Southern) Football League
Premier Division
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Sport:
Greyhound Racing
Hall Green Stadium opened its doors to greyhound racing
in August 1927. In 1928  motorcycle
speedway racing started, on a circuit
inside the dog track. Local residents signed a petition against the
speedway and it finally finished when the Second World War started and
later a football pitch was made in the centre area. The Stadium
has been the subject of considerable investment
over the years with two restaurants for around 500 diners, bars and fast
food facilities. In October 1990 Hall Green Stadium opened its own
Motel, situated adjacent to the third and fourth bends. Another addition
has been a snooker hall, which is along the back straight of the track.
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Hall Green has an interesting industrial past. This is
not just a matter of smithies and of mills, some of which ground blades
or rolled metal. Some of
 the more recent industrial activity was also
there before the houses. Early Ordnance Survey maps show a small
building in the fields, known as the Robin Hood Works. This became Newey
Goodman, manufactures of 'smallwares', employing over a thousand people.
A small chocolate factory appeared before the First World War at Webb
Lane, which later made electric vehicles and fork lift trucks in
particular. Aldis Brothers built a factory on a green field site in 1914
at Sarehole Road, and made world famous signalling lamps. One of the
great names in British motorcycling: Velocette
was at York Road on the site that is now Goodrich
Engine Control Systems (formerly Lucas Aerospace)
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Famous names:
There are other famous names associated with Hall Green. Comedian Tony
Hancock was born on Southam Road, Nigel Mansell,  one of Britain's
greatest racing drivers, spent most of his childhood and early adult
years in Hall Green. He was a pupil at Rosslyn School and his final home
in Hall Green was a detached house in Doveridge Road before he moved to
the Isle of Man in 1985. He is also an accomplished low handicap amateur
golfer and combines golf with his World of Motor Racing Experience at Woodbury
Park Hotel and Country Club in Devon. Commentary on Formula 1 racing
during Nigel's career was another Hall Green man. Murray Walker lived at
Reddings Lane from 1923 to 1925 before the family moved to
Wolverhampton.
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