Chad Brook, Edgbaston Golf Club from Edgbaston Park Road (geograph 2827892)

The Chad Brook is a stream, or brook, wholly within

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England. It rises in the district of

Harborne Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in ...

(formerly in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

), giving its name to the area known as Chad Valley (and thus indirectly to Chad Valley toys), and runs through the suburb of

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

. Its course follows a roughly south-easterly direction, passing through the grounds of

Lordswood Boys' School Lordswood Boys' School (formerly Lordswood Technical School) is a secondary school for boys located in the Harborne area of Birmingham, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Opened in September 1957, ten years later it had ch ...

and then Harborne Nature Reserve and the Grade II listed Westbourne Road Town Gardens, underneath the former

Harborne Railway The Harborne Railway was a short standard gauge railway line constructed for residential travel from the Harborne area into the centre of Birmingham, England. The line opened in 1874, and was worked by the London and North Western Railway. As bus ...

(now a walkway), crosses the campus of the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and the grounds of

Edgbaston Hall Edgbaston Hall () is a country house (albeit now in the middle of the city) in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England. Description and current usage Since 1936, thanks to negotiations initiated by The Birmingham Civic Society with the owner, C ...

where it feeds Edgbaston Pool, then leading to its confluence with the Bourn Brook. From there, water flows into the Rivers

Rea REA or Rea may refer to: Places * Rea, Lombardy, in Italy * Rea, Missouri, United States * River Rea, a river in Birmingham, England * River Rea, Shropshire, a river in Shropshire, England * Rea, Hungarian name of Reea village in Totești Commun ...

Tame Tame may refer to: *Taming, the act of training wild animals *River Tame, Greater Manchester *River Tame, West Midlands and the Tame Valley *Tame, Arauca, a Colombian town and municipality * "Tame" (song), a song by the Pixies from their 1989 alb ...

and

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

, then the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...

, and eventually the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. At one time, The Chad formed the boundary between the counties of Worcestershire and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. A water mill, called 'Over Mill' operated on the brook from the 16th to 19th centuries. The remains of some of its buildings are extant.

Etymology

The origins of the name are not recorded. It may refer to

Chad of Mercia Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Catholic monk who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised ...

, or be derived from the medieval term ''shadwell'', a 'shallow boundary brook'.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Chad Brook relation
on

OpenStreetMap OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, open geographic database updated and maintained by a community of volunteers via open collaboration. Contributors collect data from surveys, trace from aerial imagery and also import from other freely licensed g ...

Tributaries of the River Trent Geography of Birmingham, West Midlands Harborne Edgbaston