West Heath, West Midlands
Encyclopedia
West Heath is a residential area on the southern outskirts of metropolitan Birmingham
, England
and near the boundary with Worcestershire
. Located in the ward of Northfield it is situated between Kings Norton
, Northfield
, Longbridge
and Cofton Hackett
and lies on traditional heathland formed in the 13th century as part of the Kings Norton manorial lands.
Based on a small village formed in the early 1900s that was originally centred around the medieval Lilley Lane, the majority of West Heath's expansion and growth took place just after World War II
. The original expansion in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of large numbers of prefab houses
, most of which were eventually replaced by permanent housing estates in the 1960s and 1970s.
There are a number of buildings in West Heath that date to the 19th century and earlier. The suburb is adjacent to rural Worcestershire and a number of public footpaths allow open access to the surrounding fields up to Hopwood, Cofton Hackett and the Lickey Hills
.
to King Berhtwulf, King of Mercia. West Heath and parts of Kings Norton would remain part of Coston Hackett manor estates as late as the early 20th century. West Heath was mentioned in the manorial court roll of Bromsgrove
and Kings Norton in 1267 when it was recorded that "Richard de Coſton has a purpresture (i.e. an enclosure of tenants land or an enclosure of waste land) upon Westhethe, Richard de Coſton holds four acres in Westhethe and does nothing in service to the King. Alexander and Gregory de Coſton hold land in Westhethe, Master John de Aluvechurch as (sic) 1 and half acres of purpresture upon "La Westhethe" by permission of Robert de Coſton". In 1494 it was recorded that "Baldwin Lyndon - banks in ruins between Hawkesley Pole and Westhethe...fined 2d" whilst the Abbot of Bordesley was fined 8d "through defect in cleansing the banks at West Hethe". In 1596, a woman called Joan was fined 6d because "she enclosed a parcel of the King's waste at West Heath".
Turves Green, which effectively forms part of the West Heath-Northfield boundary was known as Turvosland in 1490 and was the site for peat-cutting for fuel. There is a layer of peat a few feet below the surface and deeper still are successive layers of clay and a coal seam and a bloomerie has been discovered - this is the first form of forge
for smelting iron from ore leaving less bulk to transport for further smelting to refine the metal. In 1442 Turves Green had been named Le Grene Slave, Greenway Lane in 1780 and Green Lane in 1877.
During the English Civil War
West Heath was on the border between royalist Worcestershire
and parliamentary Warwickshire
and there were regular minor skirmishes and conflicts between the forces of the two opposing sides. On the border of West Heath, Hawkesley House, which belonged to the royalist Middlemore family, was besieged and seized by parliamentary forces who fortified the building but were expelled subsequently by royalist forces in May 1645 and the house was then razed to the ground. This historic association with the Civil War is marked by the naming of several roads in West Heath such as Fairfax Road, Cropredy Road, Edgehill Road and a public house named "The Cavalier" on Fairfax Rd.
From earliest times, what is now known as West Heath Road had been a trackway until 1796 when it was surfaced to become part of the Stourbridge to Wooten Wawen turnpike road. It remained a turnpike until 1820 with a toll-house at the junction of what are now Alvechurch and Redhill Roads, recorded in 1813. National censuses for the 19th century reveal that the inhabitants were principally farmers, agricultural labourers or nail-makers. West Heath formed a part of Kings Norton, linking Kings Norton isthmus-like to Rednal which was also part of the district and the area was principally used as livestock grazing land. The land was jealously guarded - in the fifteenth century, during the reign of Edward IV, the manor court ruled that "No man shall take in foreign cattle to keep on the common" and in 1641, John Brookes of Cofton Hackett was fined five shillings for keeping a great flock of sheep on the common, "being a foreigner". Alan The Bailiff in the fifteenth century, had been charged to "drive" the common two or three times a year to discover the nature of the stock being pastured there and to ensure that no-one should keep above five colts, horses or mares upon the common. Inhabitants were sometimes fined for "encroaching" (enclosing small areas) on the common although these may actually have been payments to regularise a new practice rather than a form of punishment.
After the Civil War, a Parliamentary Survey of "The Manor of Kingsesnorton" produced in 1649 because the manor "was in the hands of Parliament by reason of the seizure of the lands of King Charles I", reported that "The soil of the heaths, wastes, and commons called.... West Heath, and the archery (and all of them do contain in the whole by estimate of 3,000 acres or thereabouts) are the lord's and the trees thereon growing and "the bitt" belong to the tenants".
By the 19th century there was considerable local poverty and those who lived on Cofton Common were described as "peasants" in a reminiscence of Alice Impey who lived at Longbridge House and who recalled that when someone died there it was necessary for her father to send a cart for the body to be taken to Cofton Church and buried in the pauper's section of the graveyard.
- Percy Faraday Frankland F.R.S. (son of Edward Frankland, an eminent scientist who discovered chemical valency and also godson of the famous physicist, Michael Faraday
) lived at The Dell and Adrian John Brown
F.R.S. (whose chair at the university was actually that of Malting and Brewing and who became a pioneer in enzyme kinetics
) who lived with his family in West Heath House, which was the largest residence in the village but has now been demolished to make way for the Elderly Person's Home, situated at the junction of Alvechurch Road and Cofton Road.
Groveley Hall was occupied by Mrs. Fanny Jolly, whose father, J. Billing Baldwin, an industrialist in Kings Norton, had bought the house in 1872 from the son of John Merry, who in turn had purchased the house in 1820. The earliest building on the site probably dated back to 1530 and had been a religious institution belonging to Westbury College in Bristol but it had been confiscated as a result of The Reformation and handed to Sir Ralph Sadler in 1536. In 1548 the property was bought by John Coombes and later by John Lyttleton and after 1600 by Francis Heaton. In the early nineteenth century the house belonged to Robert Middleton Biddulph from whose family the Merrys obtained the property Elsewhere in West Heath, Lieutenant Meynell Hunt lived at Groveley House and the only houses on Cofton Common which are mentioned in the Directory were both owned by women - Mrs. Higgins at Fern Bank and Mrs. Avery.
The surname Hobbis had been particularly common in the area in the 19th century and people with that name included farmers, agricultural workers and (in Kings Norton village) the publican of the inn, The Plumber's Arms, but no-one named Hobbis is listed in the 1907 Directory as owning property in West Heath although a small piece of land in what is now Alvechurch Road was known as Hobbis' Piece and was then owned by Adam Webb, chief clerk in an assurance company, another solid middle class inhabitant of that time in West Heath.
The only farmer recorded to be living in Turves Green in the late nineteenth century censuses was Thomas Morris, born in 1865, but in 1907 he was mentioned in Kelly's Directory as either living at Longbridge or Staple Old Road.
In 1874, the Impey family moved from Edgbaston to Longbridge House, which had been Prince Rupert's headquarters during the siege of Hawlesley House in 1645 during the Civil War. Frederick Impey was a partner in Messrs White and Pikes which owned a printing works in Moor Street in Birmingham and which was developing a method of colour printing on to tin. Impey opened a factory in the area to carry out this process but it was burned down in 1900 and not reopened. Herbert Austin
subsequently bought the site to build a premises for motor car manufacture. In 1910, the Impeys moved to "The Island", a large house in West Heath situated between Turves Green and West Heath Road, but moved away when Frederick Impey died in 1920. Like the Cadbury family
who lived in neighbouring Northfield, the Impeys were Quakers and as well as being important developers of local industry, showed considerable interest in improving the lot of their factory workers.
with the last cases of other infectious diseases being treated there in 1920.
Many people believed the high altitude of the area (in the shadow of the Lickey Hills) was an aid for sick people to recover. In 1954 the hospital's name was changed to West Heath Hospital and whilst then still being used for TB treatment, other chest disease patients were also admitted. This site was extended many times and was gradually changed to a hospital for the care of the elderly to which it became wholly committed in 1980. The original building was demolished in early 2008 to make way for a new housing development.
. Unfortunately the skating rink was used during the First World War as a munitions factory and following an accident the rink was destroyed by fire.
In the 1930s small terraced houses that were built along Alvechurch Road and Sir Hilton's Road, and slightly grander semi-detached and detached houses, along West Heath Road and Redditch Road began to change the traditional rural nature of West Heath. The newer high density housing estates built two decades later would complete the change.
The rapid expansion of West Heath and its transition from open farm land to residential suburb of Birmingham had commenced in the years immediately after the Second World War when several extensive estates of pre-fab houses were quickly erected to house returning servicemen and families made homeless during wartime bombing raids.
Another notable building of the area was The Bath Tub open air lido (now demolished), opened on 1 July 1937 in Alvechurch Road where 20000 people had gathered to watch the opening ceremony by Gracie Fields
with Mantovani
and his orchestra and the M.P. for Northfield and Kings Norton, Ronald Cartland
, the brother of Dame Barbara Cartland, the novelist. The lido which had been built by Percy Hollier who intended it to be "Birmingham's brightest entertainment spot" and which included a 180 feet by 90 feet sized swimming pool as well as a putting green, lawn for archery and a children's playground, only operated for 3 years and was closed due to commercial failure. Laughtons took over the site with Eddystone Radio during the war when its rural location helped it to avoid attack by German air raids. The lido site is now covered by a housing estate. There is also the art deco Man On The Moon pub on Redditch Road, which was built in 1937 (originally as The Man In The Moon but the name was changed in 1969 to commemorate the first moon landing).
Prior to 1938, when a school was opened in Turves Green, children had attended St. Anne's Church School in West Heath. The headmistress of that school, Miss Mary Davies, was appointed to be headmistress at Turves Green where a junior school was first opened and then, in 1939, a school for seniors. This school maintains an excellent reputation today. A Catholic Primary School linked to the parish of St. John Fisher was opened in Alvechurch Road on 5 September 1961 on the remaining part of an industrial estate next to Hobbis' Piece.
In the 1950s the population of West Heath continued to increase and change considerably. Working class families from the central Birmingham slum
s that were being demolished and a considerable number of Irish immigrant families settled in the new homes on the newly built council estates around Cofton Common and the land between it and Turves Green. Local work was plentiful especially at the Austin Motor Works at Longbridge and, for the women, at Cadbury's chocolate factory in Bournville or the Kalamazoo paper factory in Longbridge, which had been moved to the area by Oliver Morland and F. Paul Impey in 1913 from central Birmingham.
West Heath has a small shopping precinct in Alvechurch Road and there is a Cooperative Store
, which mainly sells foodstuffs, as well as a post office and an optician's shop among others. A doctors' surgery (and primary health care centre) and a nursery are located in West Heath Road http://www.wesththn.bham.sch.uk/. Elsewhere in the area there are other doctors' surgeries and nurseries. West Heath Hospital is located in Rednal Road http://www.nhs.uk/Services/hospitals/Overview/DefaultView.aspx?id=28554 and nearby, in Ivyhouse Road, there is a rehabilitation hospital for people with brain injury http://www.birt.co.uk/content.asp?page_id=70. There are two old persons' homes, primary schools, two community centres (including Hampstead House in Fairfax Road), a recreation ground and other basic facilities. West Heath library is situated near the old Fordrough public house (now converted into a supermarket) off West Heath Road.
Many West Heath residents use the shopping centre in Bristol Road, Northfield which is much larger than that of West Heath itself.
Council estates were constructed after 1945, both at West Heath and Turves Green. Both areas feature a large number of terraces
and semi-detached
houses with some Tower block
s at Fairfax Road.
West Heath also contains a high-density private estate, built on the former grounds of West Heath Hospital, and areas of modern detached housing. Turves Green once contained nine residential towers, several blocks of low-rise flats, and an estate of pre-fabricated bungalows and brick semi-detached pairs, known as the Austin Village, that was built in 1916 to house First World War munitions workers.
Cofton Park
, the 135 acre site of the papal mass held by Pope Benedict XVI
on 19 September 2010 to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, is situated a very short distance outside of the boundaries of West Heath.
, Coston Hackett
, Dodderhill, Doverdale, Droitwich, Elmbridge
, Feckenham
, Hadsor, Hampton Lovet, Kington, Kings Norton
, Northfield
, Salwarpe, Tardebigge
and Upton Warren
. However, West Heath was incorporated in the City of Birmingham in 1911 when the Kings Norton and Northfield Urban District Council was abolished.
Danny Ryan is the current Ward Support Officer, appointed by Northfield Ward.
and Redhill. The Lickey Hills area includes a wide geological
range of rocks
of various ages. The stratigraphic
sequence, which is the basis for the area's diversity of landscape
and habitat
, comprises:
The subsoil layers under West Heath and Turves Green also contains a coal seam that would indicate that a prehistoric tropical forest once existed here.
The river rises in Waseley Hills Country Park
and after dropping 70 metres in the first mile passes through West Heath and onwards to Kings Norton, Selly Oak
and Digbeth
in the centre of Birmingham. Near Gravelly Hill Interchange
, about 14 miles from its source, the Rea becomes a tributary of the River Tame and its waters eventually discharge into the North Sea via later connections with the River Trent and eventually the Humber Estuary.
Although now often reduced to a sluggish trickle, due to changes in agricultural usage and other demands, the River Rea was once a major waterway and served several working mills in West Heath and provided water for the skating rink and open air lido (now both demolished).
and Redditch
, passes to the East, and the A38
Bristol Road South, which runs between Birmingham
and Worcester
and eventually Cornwall
, passes to the West. The M42
and M5
Motorways are also close, providing national connections.
In the 2001 census, approximately 25,000 people were resident in the Northfield ward, the population density being about 45 persons per hectare compared with an average of around 36.5 for Birmingham as a whole. The ward has an approximate average age of 39 compared with 36 for the city as a whole.
The White British ethnic group accounts for around 86% of all residents while 1.5% of the population is of Asian Pakistani origin. Around 1.5% of the population is black, including 1% of Afro-Caribbean descent; 8% are white non-British (including Irish), 2% are of mixed background, and 1% are of Chinese origin or belong to some other ethnic group.
With so many local people working at the motor works
at the time the factory was of great economic importance to West Heath and there was even a pub on Longbridge Lane which was called "The Jolly Fitter" which depicted a happy-looking motor worker on its pub sign.
Since the closure of the Longbridge motor works there is little in the way of major industry in the area and West Heath serves as a dormitory area for central Birmingham.
and First Wyvern, which serve several destinations including Birmingham
City Centre (45, 47, 146), Northfield {19, 27}, Redditch
(146) & Solihull
(49).
on the Cross-City Line is located at the north end of West Heath, with trains operating to Redditch
, Birmingham
& Lichfield
at a 10 minute frequency during peak times.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and near the boundary with Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
. Located in the ward of Northfield it is situated between Kings Norton
Kings Norton
Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...
, Northfield
Northfield, West Midlands
Northfield is a residential area on the southern outskirts of metropolitan Birmingham, England and near the boundary with Worcestershire. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
, Longbridge
Longbridge
Longbridge is an area of Birmingham, England. For local government purposes it is a ward within the district of Northfield.Since 1905, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars...
and Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is situated 10.3 miles south west of the city centre of Birmingham and 24 miles north east of Worcester...
and lies on traditional heathland formed in the 13th century as part of the Kings Norton manorial lands.
Based on a small village formed in the early 1900s that was originally centred around the medieval Lilley Lane, the majority of West Heath's expansion and growth took place just after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The original expansion in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of large numbers of prefab houses
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....
, most of which were eventually replaced by permanent housing estates in the 1960s and 1970s.
There are a number of buildings in West Heath that date to the 19th century and earlier. The suburb is adjacent to rural Worcestershire and a number of public footpaths allow open access to the surrounding fields up to Hopwood, Cofton Hackett and the Lickey Hills
Lickey Hills
The Lickey Hills are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, eleven miles to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey and Barnt Green...
.
Early history
One of the earliest mentions of West Heath is in the Saxon lease of land at Coston Hackett in 849 AD detailing a grant by Worcester's Bishop EalhhunEalhhun
Ealhhun was a medieval Bishop of Worcester.He was consecrated between 845 and 848. He died in 872.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961-External links:*...
to King Berhtwulf, King of Mercia. West Heath and parts of Kings Norton would remain part of Coston Hackett manor estates as late as the early 20th century. West Heath was mentioned in the manorial court roll of Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
and Kings Norton in 1267 when it was recorded that "Richard de Coſton has a purpresture (i.e. an enclosure of tenants land or an enclosure of waste land) upon Westhethe, Richard de Coſton holds four acres in Westhethe and does nothing in service to the King. Alexander and Gregory de Coſton hold land in Westhethe, Master John de Aluvechurch as (sic) 1 and half acres of purpresture upon "La Westhethe" by permission of Robert de Coſton". In 1494 it was recorded that "Baldwin Lyndon - banks in ruins between Hawkesley Pole and Westhethe...fined 2d" whilst the Abbot of Bordesley was fined 8d "through defect in cleansing the banks at West Hethe". In 1596, a woman called Joan was fined 6d because "she enclosed a parcel of the King's waste at West Heath".
Turves Green, which effectively forms part of the West Heath-Northfield boundary was known as Turvosland in 1490 and was the site for peat-cutting for fuel. There is a layer of peat a few feet below the surface and deeper still are successive layers of clay and a coal seam and a bloomerie has been discovered - this is the first form of forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
for smelting iron from ore leaving less bulk to transport for further smelting to refine the metal. In 1442 Turves Green had been named Le Grene Slave, Greenway Lane in 1780 and Green Lane in 1877.
During the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
West Heath was on the border between royalist Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
and parliamentary Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
and there were regular minor skirmishes and conflicts between the forces of the two opposing sides. On the border of West Heath, Hawkesley House, which belonged to the royalist Middlemore family, was besieged and seized by parliamentary forces who fortified the building but were expelled subsequently by royalist forces in May 1645 and the house was then razed to the ground. This historic association with the Civil War is marked by the naming of several roads in West Heath such as Fairfax Road, Cropredy Road, Edgehill Road and a public house named "The Cavalier" on Fairfax Rd.
From earliest times, what is now known as West Heath Road had been a trackway until 1796 when it was surfaced to become part of the Stourbridge to Wooten Wawen turnpike road. It remained a turnpike until 1820 with a toll-house at the junction of what are now Alvechurch and Redhill Roads, recorded in 1813. National censuses for the 19th century reveal that the inhabitants were principally farmers, agricultural labourers or nail-makers. West Heath formed a part of Kings Norton, linking Kings Norton isthmus-like to Rednal which was also part of the district and the area was principally used as livestock grazing land. The land was jealously guarded - in the fifteenth century, during the reign of Edward IV, the manor court ruled that "No man shall take in foreign cattle to keep on the common" and in 1641, John Brookes of Cofton Hackett was fined five shillings for keeping a great flock of sheep on the common, "being a foreigner". Alan The Bailiff in the fifteenth century, had been charged to "drive" the common two or three times a year to discover the nature of the stock being pastured there and to ensure that no-one should keep above five colts, horses or mares upon the common. Inhabitants were sometimes fined for "encroaching" (enclosing small areas) on the common although these may actually have been payments to regularise a new practice rather than a form of punishment.
After the Civil War, a Parliamentary Survey of "The Manor of Kingsesnorton" produced in 1649 because the manor "was in the hands of Parliament by reason of the seizure of the lands of King Charles I", reported that "The soil of the heaths, wastes, and commons called.... West Heath, and the archery (and all of them do contain in the whole by estimate of 3,000 acres or thereabouts) are the lord's and the trees thereon growing and "the bitt" belong to the tenants".
By the 19th century there was considerable local poverty and those who lived on Cofton Common were described as "peasants" in a reminiscence of Alice Impey who lived at Longbridge House and who recalled that when someone died there it was necessary for her father to send a cart for the body to be taken to Cofton Church and buried in the pauper's section of the graveyard.
Nail making in West Heath
Apart from agriculture, nail making was the most notable industry in 19th century West Heath. Numbers of nailers in West Heath are included in figures for Northfield and in the whole district there were 122 employed in the industry in 1831. However the industry was already in decline - in 1841 there were 74 nailers and in 1884 there were only twenty three with only seven in West Heath. Nailers' workshops were present at Groveley, West Heath and Turves Green; the latter was still the site of hand-made nail production by Mr. Withers in Oak Tree Cottages as late as 1910 although the factory of The Patent Hob Nail & Rivet Company had been opened in Station Road in 1900. The nailers' workshops were usually little lean-to sheds built against the sides of the cottages with a brick-built small furnace.20th century residents
As well drained open heath land, the area was not developed as a residential area until the early 1900s, containing only a few scattered agricultural buildings and latterly one or two grand houses in the Lilley Lane area. In 1907 Kelly's Directory Of Birmingham records that several middle class residents were living in the larger houses of West Heath including two professors of chemistry at the new University of BirminghamUniversity of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
- Percy Faraday Frankland F.R.S. (son of Edward Frankland, an eminent scientist who discovered chemical valency and also godson of the famous physicist, Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, FRS was an English chemist and physicist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry....
) lived at The Dell and Adrian John Brown
Adrian John Brown
Adrian John Brown, FRS was a British Professor of Malting and Brewing at the University of Birmingham and a pioneer in the study of enzyme kinetics....
F.R.S. (whose chair at the university was actually that of Malting and Brewing and who became a pioneer in enzyme kinetics
Enzyme kinetics
Enzyme kinetics is the study of the chemical reactions that are catalysed by enzymes. In enzyme kinetics, the reaction rate is measured and the effects of varying the conditions of the reaction investigated...
) who lived with his family in West Heath House, which was the largest residence in the village but has now been demolished to make way for the Elderly Person's Home, situated at the junction of Alvechurch Road and Cofton Road.
Groveley Hall was occupied by Mrs. Fanny Jolly, whose father, J. Billing Baldwin, an industrialist in Kings Norton, had bought the house in 1872 from the son of John Merry, who in turn had purchased the house in 1820. The earliest building on the site probably dated back to 1530 and had been a religious institution belonging to Westbury College in Bristol but it had been confiscated as a result of The Reformation and handed to Sir Ralph Sadler in 1536. In 1548 the property was bought by John Coombes and later by John Lyttleton and after 1600 by Francis Heaton. In the early nineteenth century the house belonged to Robert Middleton Biddulph from whose family the Merrys obtained the property Elsewhere in West Heath, Lieutenant Meynell Hunt lived at Groveley House and the only houses on Cofton Common which are mentioned in the Directory were both owned by women - Mrs. Higgins at Fern Bank and Mrs. Avery.
The surname Hobbis had been particularly common in the area in the 19th century and people with that name included farmers, agricultural workers and (in Kings Norton village) the publican of the inn, The Plumber's Arms, but no-one named Hobbis is listed in the 1907 Directory as owning property in West Heath although a small piece of land in what is now Alvechurch Road was known as Hobbis' Piece and was then owned by Adam Webb, chief clerk in an assurance company, another solid middle class inhabitant of that time in West Heath.
The only farmer recorded to be living in Turves Green in the late nineteenth century censuses was Thomas Morris, born in 1865, but in 1907 he was mentioned in Kelly's Directory as either living at Longbridge or Staple Old Road.
In 1874, the Impey family moved from Edgbaston to Longbridge House, which had been Prince Rupert's headquarters during the siege of Hawlesley House in 1645 during the Civil War. Frederick Impey was a partner in Messrs White and Pikes which owned a printing works in Moor Street in Birmingham and which was developing a method of colour printing on to tin. Impey opened a factory in the area to carry out this process but it was burned down in 1900 and not reopened. Herbert Austin
Herbert Austin
Herbert 'Pa' Austin, 1st Baron Austin KBE was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company.-Background and early life:...
subsequently bought the site to build a premises for motor car manufacture. In 1910, the Impeys moved to "The Island", a large house in West Heath situated between Turves Green and West Heath Road, but moved away when Frederick Impey died in 1920. Like the Cadbury family
Cadbury family
The Cadbury family is a prominent British family of industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury.* Richard Tapper Cadbury , who financed John** John Cadbury , family patriarch and founder of the chocolate company...
who lived in neighbouring Northfield, the Impeys were Quakers and as well as being important developers of local industry, showed considerable interest in improving the lot of their factory workers.
Hospital
In 1888 the foundation stone of West Heath Hospital was laid and the following year it was opened as The Kings Norton Infectious Diseases Hospital with the last case of smallpox being treated there in 1906, subsequent cases being treated at Rubery. When the first Medical Superintendent was appointed in 1910 the hospital began to admit cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. The City of Birmingham took over responsibility for the hospital in 1911 and by 1919 the hospital was known as West Heath SanatoriumSanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
with the last cases of other infectious diseases being treated there in 1920.
Many people believed the high altitude of the area (in the shadow of the Lickey Hills) was an aid for sick people to recover. In 1954 the hospital's name was changed to West Heath Hospital and whilst then still being used for TB treatment, other chest disease patients were also admitted. This site was extended many times and was gradually changed to a hospital for the care of the elderly to which it became wholly committed in 1980. The original building was demolished in early 2008 to make way for a new housing development.
Expansion
In 1900 visitors arriving via Northfield railway station could visit the skating rink on West Heath Road next to the bridge over the river ReaRiver Rea
The River Rea is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. The name of the river derives from a root found in many Indo-European languages and means "to run" or "to flow". It frequently bursts its banks after heavy rain....
. Unfortunately the skating rink was used during the First World War as a munitions factory and following an accident the rink was destroyed by fire.
In the 1930s small terraced houses that were built along Alvechurch Road and Sir Hilton's Road, and slightly grander semi-detached and detached houses, along West Heath Road and Redditch Road began to change the traditional rural nature of West Heath. The newer high density housing estates built two decades later would complete the change.
The rapid expansion of West Heath and its transition from open farm land to residential suburb of Birmingham had commenced in the years immediately after the Second World War when several extensive estates of pre-fab houses were quickly erected to house returning servicemen and families made homeless during wartime bombing raids.
Another notable building of the area was The Bath Tub open air lido (now demolished), opened on 1 July 1937 in Alvechurch Road where 20000 people had gathered to watch the opening ceremony by Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
with Mantovani
Mantovani
Annunzio Paolo Mantovani known as Mantovani, was an Anglo-Italian conductor and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book British Hit Singles & Albums states that he was "Britain's most successful album act before The Beatles .....
and his orchestra and the M.P. for Northfield and Kings Norton, Ronald Cartland
Ronald Cartland
John Ronald Hamilton Cartland was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for King's Norton in Birmingham from 1935 until he was killed in action in 1940, aged 33.-Background:...
, the brother of Dame Barbara Cartland, the novelist. The lido which had been built by Percy Hollier who intended it to be "Birmingham's brightest entertainment spot" and which included a 180 feet by 90 feet sized swimming pool as well as a putting green, lawn for archery and a children's playground, only operated for 3 years and was closed due to commercial failure. Laughtons took over the site with Eddystone Radio during the war when its rural location helped it to avoid attack by German air raids. The lido site is now covered by a housing estate. There is also the art deco Man On The Moon pub on Redditch Road, which was built in 1937 (originally as The Man In The Moon but the name was changed in 1969 to commemorate the first moon landing).
Prior to 1938, when a school was opened in Turves Green, children had attended St. Anne's Church School in West Heath. The headmistress of that school, Miss Mary Davies, was appointed to be headmistress at Turves Green where a junior school was first opened and then, in 1939, a school for seniors. This school maintains an excellent reputation today. A Catholic Primary School linked to the parish of St. John Fisher was opened in Alvechurch Road on 5 September 1961 on the remaining part of an industrial estate next to Hobbis' Piece.
In the 1950s the population of West Heath continued to increase and change considerably. Working class families from the central Birmingham slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s that were being demolished and a considerable number of Irish immigrant families settled in the new homes on the newly built council estates around Cofton Common and the land between it and Turves Green. Local work was plentiful especially at the Austin Motor Works at Longbridge and, for the women, at Cadbury's chocolate factory in Bournville or the Kalamazoo paper factory in Longbridge, which had been moved to the area by Oliver Morland and F. Paul Impey in 1913 from central Birmingham.
Services
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...
, which mainly sells foodstuffs, as well as a post office and an optician's shop among others. A doctors' surgery (and primary health care centre) and a nursery are located in West Heath Road http://www.wesththn.bham.sch.uk/. Elsewhere in the area there are other doctors' surgeries and nurseries. West Heath Hospital is located in Rednal Road http://www.nhs.uk/Services/hospitals/Overview/DefaultView.aspx?id=28554 and nearby, in Ivyhouse Road, there is a rehabilitation hospital for people with brain injury http://www.birt.co.uk/content.asp?page_id=70. There are two old persons' homes, primary schools, two community centres (including Hampstead House in Fairfax Road), a recreation ground and other basic facilities. West Heath library is situated near the old Fordrough public house (now converted into a supermarket) off West Heath Road.
Many West Heath residents use the shopping centre in Bristol Road, Northfield which is much larger than that of West Heath itself.
Events
There is an annual West Heath Flower And Produce Show held at the beginning of September in St. Anne's Church Hall but the 77th Show held in 2011 was located at Hampstead House.The area
There is a green which forms an island around which the roads from Kings Norton to Rednal and Northfield to Alvechurch pass and at the centre of which is a large and old oak tree. The green is planted with bulbs which provide a colourful display in spring. On either side of the green are St. John Fisher church and St. Anne's church as well as the home for the elderly and new housing.Council estates were constructed after 1945, both at West Heath and Turves Green. Both areas feature a large number of terraces
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
and semi-detached
Semi-detached
Semi-detached housing consists of pairs of houses built side by side as units sharing a party wall and usually in such a way that each house's layout is a mirror image of its twin...
houses with some Tower block
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...
s at Fairfax Road.
West Heath also contains a high-density private estate, built on the former grounds of West Heath Hospital, and areas of modern detached housing. Turves Green once contained nine residential towers, several blocks of low-rise flats, and an estate of pre-fabricated bungalows and brick semi-detached pairs, known as the Austin Village, that was built in 1916 to house First World War munitions workers.
Cofton Park
Cofton Park
Cofton Park is a park located in south Birmingham, England.-History:The 135 acres of land land was acquired by Birmingham City Council in 1933 for £10,640 , from the trustees for William Walter Hinde...
, the 135 acre site of the papal mass held by Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on 19 September 2010 to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, is situated a very short distance outside of the boundaries of West Heath.
Historical
Historically, in the Middle Ages West Heath was part of the upper division of Halfshire Hundred that also contained BromsgroveBromsgrove
Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England. The town is about north east of Worcester and south west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 with a small ethnic minority and is in Bromsgrove District.- History :Bromsgrove is first documented in the early 9th century...
, Coston Hackett
Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is situated 10.3 miles south west of the city centre of Birmingham and 24 miles north east of Worcester...
, Dodderhill, Doverdale, Droitwich, Elmbridge
Elmbridge
Elmbridge is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Esher. The district has only one civil parish, which is Claygate...
, Feckenham
Feckenham
Feckenham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Redditch in Worcestershire, England. It lies some three miles south-west of the town of Redditch and is around twelve miles north-east of the ancient city of Worcester...
, Hadsor, Hampton Lovet, Kington, Kings Norton
Kings Norton
Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...
, Northfield
Northfield
-Places:Australia*Northfield, South AustraliaCanada*Northfield, Nova Scotia England* Northfield, BirminghamScotland* Northfield, EdinburghUnited States* Northfield, Connecticut* Northfield, Illinois* Northfield, Indiana...
, Salwarpe, Tardebigge
Tardebigge
Tardebigge is a village in Worcestershire, England.The village is most famous for the Tardebigge Locks, a flight of 36 canal locks that raise the Worcester and Birmingham Canal over 220 feet over the Lickey Ridge. It lies in the historic county of Worcestershire.-Toponymy:The etymology of the...
and Upton Warren
Upton Warren
Upton Warren is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district, in Worcestershire, England. The village is situated just off the A38 road between Bromsgrove and Droitwich Spa, and on the River Salwarpe...
. However, West Heath was incorporated in the City of Birmingham in 1911 when the Kings Norton and Northfield Urban District Council was abolished.
Westminster
The area is in the Birmingham Northfield parliamentary constituency and is represented by Richard Burden (Labour Party).Danny Ryan is the current Ward Support Officer, appointed by Northfield Ward.
District Council
There are three Kings Norton councillors who represent the area on Birmingham Metropolitan District Council. They are Peter Griffiths (Labour), Geoff Sutton (Conservative) and Steve Bedser (Labour).European parliament
The six MEPs for the area are Philip Bradbourn OBE (Conservative), Mike Nattrass (UK Independence), Malcolm Harbour (Conservative), Liz Lynne (Liberal Democrat), Michael Cashman (Labour) and Nicole Sinclaire (Independent).Geology
West Heath is built on a well drained stretch of gravel and sand that had been laid down under a prehistoric shallow sea and enriched by sediments from ice age glaciers. The natural heath land had grown on a flatter area between the nearby Lickey HillsLickey Hills
The Lickey Hills are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, eleven miles to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey and Barnt Green...
and Redhill. The Lickey Hills area includes a wide geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
range of rocks
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
of various ages. The stratigraphic
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
sequence, which is the basis for the area's diversity of landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
and habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
, comprises:
- Barnt Green rocks - PrecambrianPrecambrianThe Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
tuffTuffTuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
s and volcanicVolcano2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
gritGritGrit may refer to:* GRIT , also known as Arhgap32 or PX-RICS* Grit , a U.S. periodical founded as a newspaper in 1882* Grit , by Celtic fusion musician Martyn Bennett* Grit , by Norwegian rock band Madrugada...
s - Lickey Quartzite - a CambrianCambrianThe Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
quartziteQuartziteQuartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink... - KeeleKeeleKeele is a village and civil parish in northern Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale...
Clay - a CarboniferousCarboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
clayClayClay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals... - RuberyRuberyRubery is a village in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire. Part of the village forms a southern suburb of Birmingham, England in the West Midlands. The village is from Birmingham city centre....
sandstone - a fossiliferous sandstone of lower SilurianSilurianThe Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...
age - ClentClent HillsThe Clent Hills lie 9⅓ miles southwest of Birmingham city centre in Clent, Worcestershire, England. The closest towns are Stourbridge and Halesowen, both in the West Midlands conurbation. The Clent Hills range consists of, in order from north-west to south-east: Wychbury Hill, Clent Hill , and...
Breccia - a PermianPermianThe PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
brecciaBrecciaBreccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments.... - Bunter Pebble BedsBunter (geology)Bunter beds are sandstone deposits containing rounded pebbles, such as can notably be found in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Devon and Dorset in England...
- bedStratumIn geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...
s of TriassicTriassicThe Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
water-worn pebblePebbleA pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of 4 to 64 millimetres based on the Krumbein phi scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered to be larger than granules and smaller than cobbles . A rock made predominantly of pebbles is termed a conglomerate...
s
The subsoil layers under West Heath and Turves Green also contains a coal seam that would indicate that a prehistoric tropical forest once existed here.
Waterways
The River Rea runs through West Heath on its way from its source to the North Sea.The river rises in Waseley Hills Country Park
Waseley Hills Country Park
Waseley Hills Country Park is a Country Park, owned and managed by Worcestershire County Council's Countryside Service. It consists of rolling open hills with old hedgerows, pastures and small pockets of woodland with panoramic views over Worcestershire, England.It is just south-west of...
and after dropping 70 metres in the first mile passes through West Heath and onwards to Kings Norton, Selly Oak
Selly Oak
Selly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
and Digbeth
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment scheme that will regenerate the old industrial buildings into...
in the centre of Birmingham. Near Gravelly Hill Interchange
Gravelly Hill Interchange
Gravelly Hill Interchange, better known by its nickname Spaghetti Junction, is junction 6 of the M6 motorway where it meets the A38 Aston Expressway in Birmingham, England.- Overview :...
, about 14 miles from its source, the Rea becomes a tributary of the River Tame and its waters eventually discharge into the North Sea via later connections with the River Trent and eventually the Humber Estuary.
Although now often reduced to a sluggish trickle, due to changes in agricultural usage and other demands, the River Rea was once a major waterway and served several working mills in West Heath and provided water for the skating rink and open air lido (now both demolished).
Roads
The A441 Redditch Road, which runs between BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
, passes to the East, and the A38
A38 road
The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...
Bristol Road South, which runs between Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
and eventually Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, passes to the West. The M42
M42 motorway
The M42 motorway is a major road in England. The motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre and Tamworth on the way. The section between the M40 and M6 road forms...
and M5
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England. It runs from a junction with the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley...
Motorways are also close, providing national connections.
Demography
As part of the Northfield ward there are no separate demographic figures for West Heath.In the 2001 census, approximately 25,000 people were resident in the Northfield ward, the population density being about 45 persons per hectare compared with an average of around 36.5 for Birmingham as a whole. The ward has an approximate average age of 39 compared with 36 for the city as a whole.
The White British ethnic group accounts for around 86% of all residents while 1.5% of the population is of Asian Pakistani origin. Around 1.5% of the population is black, including 1% of Afro-Caribbean descent; 8% are white non-British (including Irish), 2% are of mixed background, and 1% are of Chinese origin or belong to some other ethnic group.
Economy
The early 1970s were difficult times for many of the West Heath inhabitants who worked at the motor works in Longbridge because of the severe industrial unrest which prevailed then with its accompanying "wildcat" strikes. Derek Robinson - "Red Robbo" - at one time lived in Alvechurch Road and he was generally seen as one of the principal leaders of the industrial action that was frequently taken against the management of the company that was then known as British Leyland.With so many local people working at the motor works
Longbridge plant
The Longbridge plant is an industrial complex situated in the Longbridge area of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It is currently owned by SAIC Group and is a manufacturing and research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary....
at the time the factory was of great economic importance to West Heath and there was even a pub on Longbridge Lane which was called "The Jolly Fitter" which depicted a happy-looking motor worker on its pub sign.
Since the closure of the Longbridge motor works there is little in the way of major industry in the area and West Heath serves as a dormitory area for central Birmingham.
Education
- West Heath Primary School
- West Heath Junior School
- St John Fisher Catholic Primary School
- Turves Green Boys' SchoolTurves Green Boys' SchoolTurves Green Boys' Technology and Humanities College is a secondary school in the Northfield area of Birmingham, England. It is approximately 70 years old. The school is an all boys school with Technology College and Humanities College status. It received Technology College status in 1995....
- now named Turves Green Boys' Technology and Humanities College - Turves Green Girls School - now named Turves Green Girls' Technology College
Religious sites
- St John Fisher Catholic Church - The large influx of Irish people in the 1950s led to the establishment of the Catholic parish of St. John Fisher on 30 September 1956 with first masses being held by Father Philip Smith at Turves Green School. Father Smith cut the first turf on the land for a new church on 5 March 1962 with the church being opened on 31 March 1964 and consecrated on 22 June 1972, the feast of St. John Fisher. The building was designed by the architect E. Bower Norris. Until it sustained damage and was removed in 2008 there was a large sculpture of St. John Fisher dressed as Bishop of Rochester, sculpted by Jonah JonesJonah JonesJonah Jones was a jazz trumpeter who is perhaps best known for creating concise versions of jazz and swing standards that appealed to a mass audience. In jazz, he might be best appreciated for his work with Stuff Smith. He was sometimes referred to as "King Louis II," a reference to Louis Armstrong...
(1919 - 2004), attached to the front of the church but it has now been replaced by the pattern of a cross in brick. The large Catholic population in West Heath amounts to about 900 families living in the area in 2010.
- St Anne's Church - The Anglican Parish of St. Anne covers a geographically small area with St. Anne's Church at the centre, the building consisting of the old church which was built in 1900 and now used as the church hall and the new church which was built in 1966 when the parish of West Heath was established and separated from the parish of Kings Norton.
- St Nicholas Church - Prior to the building of St. Anne's, the medieval church of St. Nicholas in Kings Norton, had served West Heath as the parish church. Cofton Common lay within the parish of St. Michael's Church at Cofton Hackett.
Sports clubs and recreation
- West Heath Football Club, Wast Hills, Redditch Road - founded 2008
- West Heath Snooker Club, Unit 8 Lightning Way
Buses
The suburb is served by several buses operated by National Express West Midlands, Diamond BusDiamond Bus
Diamond is a bus operator in the West Midlands, formed in 1986 as The Birmingham Coach Company.-Birmingham Coach Company:The company was created in 1986 as the Birmingham Coach Company operating a single route, 16, in competition with West Midlands Travel....
and First Wyvern, which serve several destinations including Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
City Centre (45, 47, 146), Northfield {19, 27}, Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
(146) & Solihull
Solihull
Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
(49).
Rail
Northfield railway stationNorthfield railway station
Northfield railway station serves the Northfield area of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.-Services:...
on the Cross-City Line is located at the north end of West Heath, with trains operating to Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
& Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
at a 10 minute frequency during peak times.
Notable people
- Mike SkinnerThe StreetsThe Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
- the musician aka The StreetsThe StreetsThe Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
lived in and was raised in West Heath. - Ian LavenderIan LavenderArthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...
- actor of Dad's ArmyDad's ArmyDad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
fame (Private Frank PikePrivate Frank PikePrivate Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and junior bank clerk portrayed by Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is frequently referred to by Captain Mainwaring as "stupid boy".- Personality :...
) lived in West Heath. In the TV show he wore the claret and blue scarf depicting a loyalty to his real life favourite local football team Aston Villa). - Dame Barbara Cartland - the romantic novelist born in Edgbaston, lived in West Heath.
- Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry - creator of "Thomas The Tank EngineThomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
", was curate at St. Anne's West Heath from 1940 to 1946. - Bruce ChatwinBruce ChatwinCharles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
- the novelist and travel writer, lived in West Heath in his early childhood. - The Rockin' BerriesThe Rockin' BerriesThe Rockin' Berries are a pop group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.-History:...
- the chart topping band from the 1960s first formed while members were pupils at Turves Green Boys School.
External links
- West Heath Library
- South Birmingham Amateur Radio Society
(Based in West Heath Community Centre, Hampstead House West Heath)