Dorridge is a large village in the
Metropolitan Borough of Solihull
The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region ...
in the
West Midlands (county)
West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act ...
, England. Historically part of the
historic county of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
, the village is encompassed within the electoral ward of Dorridge and Hockley Heath, which had a population of 11,140 in the
2011 census.
Location
Dorridge is to the east of the
M40 and the south of the
M42 which, along with a small but important
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ...
area, separates Dorridge and its neighbours of
Knowle and
Bentley Heath from the greater urban area of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, with the town of
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
encompassing the green-belt area. It is situated at the southwestern extreme of the
Meriden Gap
The Meriden Gap is a mostly rural area located in the West Midlands between Solihull and Coventry. It serves as a part of the wider West Midlands Green Belt, and separates the latter from the large West Midlands conurbation, which includes Birming ...
and until 1974 was part of
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
. Indeed, there are no major towns between Dorridge and Warwick. It is 125 metres (400 ft) above sea-level, located in the
Midlands Plateau. Both Knowle and the sub-village of Bentley Heath are contiguous with Dorridge to the north and share its B93 postcode.
History
Earliest existence
The village of Dorridge did not exist as a community until the mid-19th century, though it is mentioned as far back as 1400 in the
Westminster Muniments which recorded a place called 'Derrech' - a clearing in the wood frequented by animals.It was just the name given to the ridge of land running westwards from Knowle (also then called 'Dorege'). The earliest evidence of settlement dates to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
– an axe dated to 1300 BC was found in Norton Green.
Cottages dating back to the 16th century exist in Mill Pool Lane. However, the lack of any significant road system until the arrival of the railway showed that there was no community there.
With the rise of
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
, a road connecting to
Hockley Heath
Hockley Heath is a large village and civil parish in the Arden area mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, incorporating the hamlet of Nuthurst, with a history dating back to the year 705 AD as a wood owne ...
became formed. Along this road, the Four Ashes (after which the recently developed estate was named) became a landmark – records show the trees being present in 1662 and marking the Parish boundary. They were also mapped in 1725 even in preference to some local buildings of note. The ashes still exist today near to the driving range, though they have been replaced several times since the earliest records. The Drum and Monkey existed from around 1860, though then it was known as The White Lion Inn.
Impact of the railway
In 1852 the railway was built by the
Great Western Railway, originally in Brunel's preferred 7-foot gauge track.
Dorridge railway station
Dorridge railway station serves the village of Dorridge in the West Midlands of England. The station is served by Chiltern Railways, who manage the station, and also by West Midlands Trains. It is situated south of .
History
The station was ...
, which was originally called ''Knowle'', and later ''Knowle and Dorridge'', created the focal point for a new community. The Muntz family granted the land for the railway on condition that a station was built – perhaps less surprising on discovering that the Chairman of the
Birmingham & Oxford Railway Company was P. H. Muntz, a relative. There is some folklore about the agreement that suggests that the railway was obliged to stop at Dorridge; however, with the affluent residents of Knowle and Dorridge, it was certainly a commercial practicality. Evidence of the popularity of the railway can be seen in that a "bus" service from the Greswolde Hotel in Knowle was provided in the early days of the railway at the cost of 6d. In its heyday, the train service ran between Lapworth and Birmingham with four tracks, but by the mid-1960s two tracks had been removed and traffic was declining. The link with London was revived in the 1990s as part of the
privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...
, initially with a single track running south of Banbury. Dual track working was reinstated and today in spite of being a village, Dorridge is still one of the stops on the express service.
Muntz family influence
The development of Dorridge is strongly linked to the Muntz family, who lived in nearby
Umberslade Hall
Umberslade Hall is a 17th-century mansion converted into residential apartments situated in Nuthurst near Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The Archer family were granted the manor of Umberslade by Henry II ...
. The Muntz family were descendants of Philip Fredrick Muntz, an immigrant of the 18th century, who had left revolutionary France after settling there from Poland. Through industrial wealth, founded on a brass-making process for creating
Muntz Metal
Muntz metal (also known as yellow metal) is an alpha-beta brass alloy composed of approximately 60% copper, 40% zinc and a trace of iron. It is named after George Fredrick Muntz, a metal-roller of Birmingham, England, who commercialised the a ...
, a form of brass used in shipbuilding, the family acquired a considerable estate in the area.
Possibly the most famous of the Muntz family was the inventor of Muntz metal,
George Frederic Muntz, who was also an early
Member of Parliament for Birmingham. He was a supporter of political reform and a founding member of the
Birmingham Political Union along with
Thomas Attwood. In his actions that led to the
Reform Act 1832 Muntz was indicted for sedition as he tried to undermine the
Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...
with a run on gold – ''To stop the Duke, run for Gold''. He also was involved in a riot at
St Martin's in Birmingham in protest against the Church Rates which were levied at around 6d to 9d in the pound. He was sent to trial in 1838 but was acquitted on all but one of 13 charges. Whilst claiming to be a Republican, his true character appeared to be that of an egotistical aristocrat. E. Edwards wrote in 1877 in the Birmingham Daily Mail of a conversation about a speech he made: ''"They won't be able to print Muntz's speech verbatim." "Why not?" said I. "Why my dear fellow, no printing office in the world would have capital I's enough."''
Middlefield Hospital
Dr Fletcher of Dorridge, together with Jonathan Henry Kimball of Knowle also provided for an 'Asylum for 20 Idiot Girls' in the mid-19th century, in 'Dorridge Grove' which was on the site of the former 'Royal Oak'; the building still exists as a distinctive house on Knowle Wood Road. The term 'idiot' was a specific term for those considered ineducable and was considered different from insanity. The records of the early years show that it was a successful enterprise, surprising those who visited that they achieved so much improvement in the behaviour of the patients.
The demand for this facility was such that a purpose-built Idiot Asylum was then constructed in 1872 near Grove Road for £10,000. The construction of this was something of a national event: representatives of 100 Masonic Lodges marched from Knowle Station to take part in the laying of the foundation stone, which was set in place using the same mallet used by King Charles the Second to lay the foundation stone of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London. The asylum was funded mainly by the local Counties of the Midlands, but George Fredrick Muntz sponsored competition with a prize of £100 for the best design. It provided for housing idiot children from all over the Midlands. It is perhaps telling that in 1867 it was renamed to be the 'Midland Counties Middleclass Idiots Asylum' and although subsidised, families typically had to pay an annual fee to have their children placed there. This was extended in 1893 and evolved into the Middlefield Hospital which existed on the same site until the 1990s, having been adopted by the
National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
in 1948.
Development of housing
Dorridge was not considered a district in its own right until 1940. Around the start of the 19th century, much of what is now Knowle Wood Road, (was then Packwood Road) was farmland with just a few dwellings, similarly Avenue Road (which was then Warwick Road) had a handful of dwellings. By the 1930s the main Dorridge Triangle was properly established. Aside from the substantial family homes, there are a significant number of mansions, some of which, such as Parkfield near the park, have now been converted into flats.
During the 1930s, development slowed, and it was not until the 1950s that expansion gathered pace again. One of the earliest post-War developments was Kingscote Road, one of the few developments of semi-detached housing in the area, followed by the nearby Rodborough Road development in 1960.
There was a substantial development in the 1960s around the area christened by estate agents as the "Golden Triangle" – alluding to the expensive and desirable housing of the area bounded by Dorridge Road, Avenue Road and Knowle Wood Road. Even then the local press noted the high cost of housing, and that 2 and 3 car households were well above the national average. This area of housing has been noted as the most expensive in all of Dorridge and Knowle. This neighbourhood's proximity to the railway station has pushed property prices up much more than other areas of Dorridge. The population expanded rapidly: there were around 600 dwellings in 1955, which expanded to 1800 by the mid-1970s to somewhere above 2500 homes by the year 2000.
Whilst there is a history of locals taking a dim view of developers, a local developer, Mr Ford, gave the land which is now Dorridge Park to the community in 1965.
In the late 1990s another substantial development was built on former farmland in the area known as Four Ashes, behind the Porsche Centre Solihull, and the development of the Middlefield Hospital site occurred at a similar time.
The architecture is a reflection of this development — there are some fine buildings from the Victorian era all around the area. Over the years, each period has then added buildings of its style — Avenue Road, for example, has classic
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
houses with rounded metal-framed windows. Building sizes were restricted in the post-war era. Buildings in the 1960s, though of limited architectural merit, were built with large gardens; many owners have since imposed character on these houses. More modern developments have seen the move to build apartment-style blocks, though there have also been substantial houses built, often on the site of much smaller houses and at the expense of the large gardens that still characterise the area.
Schools
The Infant and Junior schools today have over 750 pupils, until as recently as 1955 there were no schools in Dorridge, with pupils travelling to Bentley Heath, Hockley Heath, Knowle or Packwood to get an education. In 1955 Dorridge Junior School was built and by 1963 an Infant School was built. These were joined by the Catholic School of St. George and Teresa. The secondary education is mainly provided by Arden School in nearby Knowle, which now also has a sixth form centre. The sixth form buildings were completed in 2007 with additions being made every year. A considerable number of children go to private schools in Solihull, Warwick or Birmingham or to grammar schools in Birmingham or Stratford.
Commercial development
When coming to Dorridge today, a visitor would be surprised to know that there was significant activity in the area over the last hundred years.
In Poplar Road, between the Station and the level crossing at Bentley Heath, a significant goods yard existed. During the 1960s and 1970s the
Austin Motor Company used it to deliver up to 600 cars a day for export, via the railway. It has now been replaced with sheltered housing.
A brickworks, the Knowle Brick Company, existed off Mill Lane with its own clay pit. The company ceased production in 1969, and whole the site was converted to housing in 1993 by
Bloor Homes
Bloor Homes is an English housebuilder based in Measham, Leicestershire.
History
The company was founded by John Bloor
John Stuart Bloor (born 16 June 1943) is a British billionaire businessman. His business, Bloor Holdings, owns both Bloo ...
. The extent of the brickworks and pit site is the same as that now occupied by all the housing accessed via Oakhall Drive.
A gasworks was developed on land that has now been developed into flats. Many of the buildings around the area that is now a Conservation Area – Station Approach – date back to around the start of the 20th century or before, though aside from the Forest Court shopping centre and the
HSBC bank, now a café, the centre is essentially unchanged from the mid-1950s.
In 2008,
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
revealed that they had purchased a long lease to redevelop the Forest Court shopping centre and also owned part of the Station Approach Conservation Area which they intend to refurbish. An independent local group was formed in 2010 as a focus of opposition to any redevelopment of Forest Court which, it is argued, would be inappropriate in scale for the existing village centre. After some changes to the plans approval was given by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, and in the summer of 2013 Sainsbury's submitted an application to amend some details of the scheme.
Dorridge today
The
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
is on the line between London and Birmingham.
Chiltern Railways have created an inter-city route out of the run-down remnants of what had become primarily a goods line. A
West Midlands Railway
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
route now terminates in Dorridge or
Leamington Spa, from
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
.
Dorridge is neither urban nor a village. However, it sits right next to the Warwickshire countryside, with green fields being a short walk from the town centre.
It has a small shopping centre, a village hall, at least three churches and a number of schools. It has a substantial park bordering the countryside. There are a few small restaurants, and three pubs.
The property prices around Dorridge are the highest in the West Midlands region and also the highest in the entire
English Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...
. In 2005, several houses sold for over £1,000,000 according to the land registry. According to housing website
Zoopla
ZPG Ltd. is a British real estate company based in London, England, owned by Silver Lake Partners.
Its brands include the property website Zoopla, price comparison service Uswitch, finance comparison website Money.co.uk, personal finance conte ...
, the average house price in Dorridge in February 2021 was almost £624,000, amongst the very highest in the UK outside of London.
There are a number of notable residents who live here or very nearby,
Jasper Carrott
Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), best known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, actor and television presenter.
Early life
Born in Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green, in Birmingham, Carrott was educated at Acocks Gr ...
,
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series o ...
actress
Lucy Davis
Lucy Clare Davis (born 17 February 1973) is an English actress best known for playing Dawn Tinsley in the BBC comedy ''The Office'' (2001–2003).
She is also known for her roles as Hilda Spellman in the Netflix series '' The Chilling Adven ...
, Sir
Adrian Cadbury
Sir George Adrian Hayhurst Cadbury, (15 April 1929 – 3 September 2015) was an English businessman who served as the chairman of Cadbury and Cadbury Schweppes for 24 years. He was also a British Olympic rower. Cadbury was a pioneer in raising ...
,
Karren Brady
Karren Rita Brady, Baroness Brady, (born 4 April 1969) is a British business executive and television personality. She is a former managing director of Birmingham City F.C. and current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C., and an aide to Al ...
former managing director of
Birmingham City F.C,
Steve Bruce, former manager of
Birmingham City F.C, former England International
Lee Hendrie, and Catriona Hamilton formerly lived here, alongside many other professional footballers and Musicians
Bev Bevan
Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II.
Bevan also was drumm ...
,
Harry Sutcliffe and
Russell Leetch
Russell Jonathan Leetch (born 5 March 1982) is the bass guitarist for Birmingham-based indie rock band Editors. He studied music technology at Staffordshire University where he met his fellow Editors band members. He went to secondary school at ...
.
Dorridge is part of the
Meriden constituency, though is due to be split from Meriden under the current boundary review, forming a separate constituency of Dorridge and Kenilworth with the nearby castle town of
Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, which joins the ...
.
Community groups
Aside from the strong church communities, the town benefits from a
Round Table, a Residents' Association, a Neighbourhood Forum, drama groups and youth organisations including the strong Dorridge Scout Group. Some of the organisations are shared with Knowle, such as Knowle Sea Scout Group for young people aged 6 to 18.
Residents' Association
The Residents' Association was formed in 1961. It was formed in response to concerns over unwelcome developments and also helped develop facilities for local residents. In 1974, Dorridge Day was first held as a fundraising event for the Village Hall which was opened in 1976. The Dorridge & District Residents Association first ran the event, though in recent years, Knowle and Dorridge Round Table have run this popular annual fair.
Neighbourhood Forum
Knowle, Dorridge and Bentley Heath Neighbourhood Forumwas formed in 2015 with the purpose of bringing together the people from the three adjoining villages to define how they would like to see the villages develop in the future. The Forum will collate the policies developed into a draft Neighbourhood Plan for the three villages during 2017, and subsequently arrange for a local referendum to create the Neighbourhood Plan as a statutory planning document for the area. The Forum is run entirely by volunteers, and by Spring 2017 had a membership of over 800.
Anglican Church
St Phillip's Church was first built in 1878. It was demolished and rebuilt in 2020.
Catholic Church
Originally, the Catholic population had no formal meeting place but met in Cross Close, a house in Arden Drive. In 1917 St George & St Teresa's church was built on Station Road. This burnt down in 1935 and was replaced with the substantial building on the same site, which still exists today. In 2006, a parish centre was added to the church, which was paid off in 2015.
Methodist Church
The Methodists put down their roots in 1958 with the arrival of their church in Mill Lane.
Baptist Church
In 1877, George Fredrick Muntz founded Christ Church Umberslade, a Baptist church off Spring Lane, Hockley Heath following his conversion to the Baptists cause. In later years, due to ill-health, he had a microphone system installed and linked to Umberslade Hall so he could hear the services. The church is now in the ownership of
Historic Chapels Trust
The Historic Chapels Trust is a British Registered Charity set up to care for redundant non- Anglican churches, chapels, and places of worship in England. To date, its holdings encompass various nonconformist Christian denominations and Rom ...
Christadelphian Church
Knowle and Dorridge
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the ...
meet in Dorridge Village Hall on Sundays.
Round table
Knowle and Dorridge Round Table 812 was founded in 1963. For many years its regular meeting place was in Knowle, but the membership has always been drawn from the two communities. Whilst primarily a friendship organisation, it supports local charities, with the two main events it runs being Dorridge Day and the Christmas sleigh, visiting nearly every street in the area every December.
Dorridge Scout Group
Dorridge Scout Group was formed from the old 1st and 2nd Dorridge Scouts
Places of interest
Nearby there are the historic buildings of
Packwood House
Packwood House is a timber-framed Tudor manor house in Packwood on the Solihull border near Lapworth, Warwickshire. Owned by the National Trust since 1941, the house is a Grade I listed building. It has a wealth of tapestries and fine furnitu ...
and
Baddesley Clinton now in the care of the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
, and the
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...
is in walking distance with both the Heron's Nest and Black Boy pubs being accessible. The
Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal is a canal in the south Midlands of England. The canal, which was built between 1793 and 1816, runs for in total, and consists of two sections. The dividing line is at Kingswood Junction, which gives access to the ...
also links in and is notable for a large flight of locks that descend into nearby
Lapworth
Lapworth is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, which had a population of 2,100 according to the 2001 census; this had fallen to 1,828 at the 2011 Census. It lies six miles (10 km) south of Solihull and ten miles (16&nbs ...
from
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
.
To the West, just across the M42, there is a nature reserve at Blythe Valley Business Park. The park is next to the
River Blythe
The River Blythe flows through the English Midlands from central Warwickshire, through the Borough of Solihull and on to Coleshill in north Warwickshire. It runs along the Meriden Gap in the Midlands Plateau, is fed by the River Cole and is ...
which is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest. Footpaths run from Dorridge both to the Park and to
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...
's Brueton Park, the latter at times running alongside the River Blythe.
Also to the West located along Four Ashes Road is Four Ashes Nurseries now run by the Sewell family for over 50 years but established by the Rodway family in the early 1920s and a golf driving range established in 1983, as well as the Railway Tavern “The Tavern” on Grange Road.
Sport
As well as being home to Ye Olde Knowle Bowling Club, Dorridge Cricket Club play at The John Woolman Ground in Grange Road while
Birmingham and District Premier League
The Birmingham & District Premier Cricket League is the oldest club cricket league in the United Kingdom, formed in 1888. It was the first ECB Premier League, being designated such in 1998, and is one of the strongest of the ECB Premier Leagues ...
side
Knowle and Dorridge Cricket Club sits on the village's border with Knowle.
Noted Person
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...
- (John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris) - born in Dorridge - (10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969)
References
Further reading
* ''Around Knowle & Dorridge''. Charles Lines, 1996. Alan Sutton Publishing Limited.
* ''The Rise of the Commuter Village of Dorridge''. Gem Bradley. Unpublished Thesis, 1972.
* ''Personal Recollections of Birmingham''. E Edwards, 1877.
* ''Bentley Heath and Widney Manor''. Edna G Handley, 1992.
{{authority control
Villages in the West Midlands (county)
Solihull