Hall Green is an area in southeast
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
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, synonymous with the B28 postcode. It is also a
council constituency, managed by its own
district committee
In Birmingham, England, each council constituency is managed by a Constituency Committee, made up of all the councillors for the wards in that constituency.
Birmingham's ten Council constituencies were formally created as eleven "districts" on 5 ...
.
Historically
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
it lay within the county of
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 ...
.
Politics
Hall Green is part of the parliamentary constituency of
Birmingham, Hall Green, which also includes the wards of
Moseley and Kings Heath
Moseley and Kings Heath is a ward (politics), ward within the Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, constituency of Hall Green, covering the greater part of the Moseley and Kings Heath areas of Birmingham, England.
Politics
The ''Moseley ...
,
Sparkbrook
Sparkbrook is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, England. It is one of the four wards forming the Hall Green formal district within Birmingham City Council.
Etymology
The area receives its name from Spark Brook, a small stream that f ...
and
Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
; the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for the constituency is
Tahir Ali
Tahir Ali (born 15 October 1971) is a British Labour politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Hall Green since 2019.
Early life
Ali has previously worked for Royal Mail after securing an engineering apprentice ...
, of the
Labour Party.
Hall Green ward is represented by three Labour councillors; Sam Burden (Hall Green's first elected Labour Councillor, elected in the 2011 May elections) with Barry Bowles (elected in May 2012) and is the Executive Member for Local Services Hall Green and Kerry Jenkins who was elected in May 2014 and is the Chair of the Hall Green Ward Committee.
Demographics
The
2001 Population Census found that there were 25,921 people living in Hall Green with a population density of 4,867 people per km
2, this compares with 3,649 people per km
2 for Birmingham.
Housing is largely inter-war. There are still a small number of independent locally run shops.
Places of interest
The
Shire Country Park
The Shire Country Park () is a country park in the south of Birmingham, England, taking its name from Tolkien's The Shire.
It consists of the Millstream Way following the course of the River Cole from Yardley Wood to Small Heath and includes t ...
runs past
Sarehole Mill
Sarehole Mill is a Grade II listed water mill, in an area once called Sarehole, on the River Cole in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. It is now run as a museum by the Birmingham Museums Trust. It is known for its association with J. R. R. Tol ...
and along the course of the
River Cole to
Small Heath
Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre.
History
Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. ...
. Millstream Way passes through the park. Wildlife present at the country park include otters and water voles and many types of birds. The old village of
Sarehole
Sarehole () is an area in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. Historically in Worcestershire, it was a small hamlet in the larger parish, and manor, of Yardley, which was transferred to Birmingham in 1911. Birmingham was classed as part of Warwick ...
(now on the border of Hall Green and
Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...
) is where
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
lived as a child and gained inspiration for the Hobbit's home "The Shire" as well as the book, ''The Lord of the Rings''.
Hall Green was the home to
Moor Green F.C., prior to an arson attack on the club's original Moorlands stadium in 2005, leading to the club moving their home games to
Solihull Borough's
Damson Park
Damson Park is an association football stadium in Damson Parkway, Solihull, West Midlands, England. It was the new home of Solihull Borough following their departure from their original Widney Lane Ground. It is now the home of Solihull Moors ...
stadium, with the two clubs subsequently merging to become
Solihull Moors
Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...
. The local Moorlands stadium has since been demolished to make way for a housing estate.
Hall Green was also the home to the popular
greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...
stadium and race course situated on York Road called
Hall Green Stadium
Hall Green Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium located in the Birmingham suburb of Hall Green, which existed from 1927 until 2017.
The track itself was a 412-metre long oval track with a sand covered surface. The capacity of the stadium was b ...
; the stadium having won the BGRB Midlands and Western Region Racecourse of the Year for four consecutive years between 2000 and 2003. The stadium was closed by its owners Euro Property Investments Limited in July 2017 to make way for a housing estate.
Architecture
![Semi-detached houses, Hall Green](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Semi-detached_houses%2C_Hall_Green.jpg)
On School Road is the
Church of the Ascension, formerly the Job Marston Chapel, which was built in 1704 and is believed to have been designed by
Sir William Wilson. The chancel and transepts were added in 1860. The brick building consists of an exterior with a stone entablature and balustrade supported by Doric pilasters and the window architraves are of moulded stone. At the west end is a tower with an octagonal upper storey with a copper cupola. The interior of the nave is covered by a coved plaster ceiling. It is the earliest classical church to survive within the city boundary.
Other historic buildings in Hall Green include
Sarehole Mill
Sarehole Mill is a Grade II listed water mill, in an area once called Sarehole, on the River Cole in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. It is now run as a museum by the Birmingham Museums Trust. It is known for its association with J. R. R. Tol ...
, one of only two watermills in the city.
Highfield House was another historical building. It was built in 1850, making it the oldest house and the third oldest building in Hall Green. It was the farm house for Highfield Farm. The house was built in Georgian style with Neo-Classical features. It also retained the original sash windows. In March 2008, in the face of much public opposition, petitions, articles in local newspapers and items on radio stations,
Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...
's
Planning Committee
A planning committee in the United Kingdom is a committee of local authority councillors that sit as the local planning authority to determine planning applications.
Advice is usually given to the committee by planning officers who provide a reco ...
approved plans for its demolition and the building of four houses and six apartments.
![Highfield House, Nick Davis 14-02-08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Highfield_House%2C_Nick_Davis_14-02-08.jpg)
As well as this is Petersfield Court, an
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 ...
housing block containing 14 flats, built in 1937. Built out of brick, it has rounded corner windows, made possible by the introduction of reinforced concrete.
Later examples of architecture include the original
Hall Green Technical College on the Stratford Road. It was designed by
S. T. Walker and Partners in association with
Alwyn Sheppard Fidler
Alwyn Gwilym Sheppard Fidler CBE (8 May 1909 – 1990) was a Welsh architect and town planner who was chief architect for the new town of Crawley from 1947 to 1952 and was the first person to be appointed City Architect of Birmingham, wher ...
, the City architect for Birmingham. Built in 1958, it consists of a reinforced concrete framed classroom and an administration block clad with cedar boards and aluminium windows. Boarding was rarely used on educational buildings of this size at the time.
A private development named "The Hamlet" was built between 1883 and 1893. It consists of fourteen villas on Hamlet and Fox Hollies Roads, along with the Friends Meeting House on the Stratford Road. The architectural style of these brick and tile properties is typified by massive chimneys and timbers, leaded casements, and bracketed bays. It is believed that initially all the properties carried a moulded plaque bearing the initials 'MS' along with the date of construction but few of these plaques now remain. Whilst there is not a definite explanation for the 'MS' monogram, the most likely interpretation is that they stand for Marian Severne whose families land they were built on.
Education
Primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
s in Hall Green include Chilcote Primary School, Hall Green Infant School, Hall Green Junior School, Lakey Lane Primary School, St Ambrose Barlow RC Primary School,
Robin Hood Academy
Robin Hood Academy is a coeducational primary school with academy status, located in Hall Green area of Birmingham, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Sc ...
and Yorkmead School. Rosslyn School is an
independent primary school located in the area.
Hall Green School is the main
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
for the area, while
South and City College Birmingham
South & City College Birmingham is a further education and higher education college in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), ...
has a campus in Hall Green.
Transport
Hall Green railway station
Hall Green railway station serves the Hall Green area of Birmingham in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains.
History
The station was opened by the G ...
is on the
Birmingham to Stratford Line
The North Warwickshire Line (also known as the Shakespeare Line) is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It runs from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, now the southern terminus of the line, a ...
with some services also running between
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...
&
Worcester Foregate Street and
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
&
Whitlocks End. It opened in 1908 and is currently operated by
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 ...
.
National Express West Midlands
National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, su ...
and
Diamond BusX50previously run b
Johnson's Excelbusoperate a number of bus routes through the area, terminating at
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 Blythe i ...
,
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Central 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 ...
,
Northfield Northfield may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland
* Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland
* Northfield, Birmingham, England
* Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England
United States
* Northfield, Connec ...
,
Acocks Green
Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Acoc ...
,
Lyndon
Lyndon may refer to:
Places
* Lyndon, Alberta, Canada
* Lyndon, Rutland, East Midlands, England
* Lyndon, Solihull, West Midlands, England
United States
* Lyndon, Illinois
* Lyndon, Kansas
* Lyndon, Kentucky
* Lyndon, New York
* Lyndon, Ohio
* ...
,
Erdington
Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Warwickshire and located northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. It was also a council constituency, managed by its o ...
,
Perry Barr
Perry Barr is a suburban area in north Birmingham, England. It is also the name of a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. Birmingham Perry Barr is also a parliamentary constituency; its Member of Parliament is Khalid Ma ...
,
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...
, and
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...
.
Famous residents
Hall Green has been a home to comedian
Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor.
High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...
, who lived at 41 Southam Road until the age of three (the house contains a plaque commemorating this), racing commentator
Murray Walker
Graeme Murray Walker (10 October 1923 – 13 March 2021) was an English motorsport commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV between 1997 and 2001 ...
, who was born at 214 Reddings Lane (which is now a dentist's surgery),
Nigel Mansell
Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship (1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series ( 1993). Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved over ...
, who though born in
Upton-upon-Severn
Upton-upon-Severn (or Upton on Severn, etc. and locally simply Upton) is a town and civil parish in the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Lying on the A4104 (formerly A440), the 2011 census recorded a population of 2,881 for the ...
spent most of his childhood and early adult years in the area, comedian
Joe Lycett
Joe Harry Lycett, also known by the self-given moniker Mummy, is an English comedian, painter and television presenter. Known for his sardonically camp style, whimsical public stunts and elaborate set designs, Lycett has been described as one ...
who is believed to have settled in
Kings Heath
Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435, Alcester road.
...
in his own residence,
actor and writer Christopher Smith and most famously
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
, who lived near
Sarehole Mill
Sarehole Mill is a Grade II listed water mill, in an area once called Sarehole, on the River Cole in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. It is now run as a museum by the Birmingham Museums Trust. It is known for its association with J. R. R. Tol ...
, Birmingham's only working water mill.
Sarehole Mill is a tourist attraction, powered by a tributary of the
River Cole, that is open to visitors during the summer months and has several locations nearby that are the inspiration behind scenes in ''
The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...
'' and ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''.
References
Further reading
*''J R R Tolkien - A Biography'', Humphrey Carpenter
External links
Hall Green Neighbourhood ForumBirmingham City Council: Hall Green ConstituencyBirmingham City Council: Hall Green WardGreyhound racing in Hall GreenMade in BirminghamHall Green SchoolYorkmead Primary SchoolNational Express West MidlandsDiamond BusWest Midlands Railway
{{Wards of Birmingham
Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands
Former wards of Birmingham, West Midlands