Camp Hill is the name of a road and surrounding area in

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 ...

, West Midlands, England south east of the city centre. The area's name was first recorded as Kempe Hill, derived from a family name, in 1511, but it became known as Camp Hill after

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

set camp there in 1643, prior to the

Battle of Camp Hill The Battle of Camp Hill (or the Battle of Birmingham) took place on Easter Monday, 3 April 1643, in and around Camp Hill, Warwickshire, during the First English Civil War. In the skirmish, a company of Roundhead, Parliamentarians from the Lichf ...

, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, reputedly using the Ship Inn as his headquarters. The area is dominated by a former

Commissioners' Church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament as a result of the Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824. The 1818 Act supplied ...

, the Church of the Holy Trinity, designed by Francis Goodwin in decorated perpendicular gothic style and built from

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...

in 1820–1822. Ship Inn - Camp Hill - Birmingham

Another notable local building is timber-framed Stratford House, built in 1601 and now a scheduled Ancient Monument and

Grade II* Listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The former

King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys , established = , closed = , type = Grammar school;Academy , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Russell Bowen , r_head_l ...

building is now a community centre; the school relocated to

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 1956. The grade II listed, Jacobean style, Lench's Trust almshouses on Ravenhurst Street are dated 1849 and were designed by J H Hornblower and Haylock. Dowding and Mills, a company specialising in motor rewinds was headquartered in Camp Hill for over 100 years from its foundation in 1913. Incorporated in 1919, the company was taken over by Swiss firm Sulzer in 2010 and the Camp Hill premises closed in 2021. Plans have been approved for the site to be cleared and replaced by the Camp Hill Gardens development of a 26 storey apartment tower, lower rise blocks and townhouses set around a private garden. The estimated completion date is 2024.

Transport

The

A34 Stratford Road The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to B ...

meets Birmingham's Middleway at Camp Hill Circus. The area was formerly served by

Camp Hill railway station Camp Hill railway station was a railway station in Camp Hill, Birmingham. History It was opened by the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) in 1840 and was its first terminus. Subsequently, the line extended to join the London and Birming ...

, which closed in 1941. The

Warwick and Birmingham 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 str ...

, part of 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 st ...

has a flight of six locks running up through Bordesley known as the Camp Hill Locks. In 1931 an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

had been passed authorising modernisation of the

Braunston Braunston is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, next to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1,759. Braunston is situated just off the A45 main road and lies between the to ...

section which had been built narrow so the locks could accommodate only a single

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...

. The section between Napton and Camp Hill Top Lock was rebuilt to take

widebeam A widebeam is a canal boat built in the style of a British narrowboat but with a beam of or greater.The Canal and River Trust (CRT) gives more than one minimum width for a wide beam on their website: "anything wider than []" in ''Wide beam, wide ...

boats or barges up to in beam, or two narrowboats. Camp Hill Locks in Birmingham were not widened since they lead only to further flights of locks not in the ownership of the Grand Union. A new

canal basin A canal basin is (particularly in the United Kingdom) an expanse of waterway alongside or at the end of a canal, and wider than the canal, constructed to allow boats to moor or unload cargo without impeding the progress of other traffic, and to al ...

and warehouse were constructed at

Tyseley Tyseley is a district in the southern half of the city of Birmingham, England, near the Coventry Road and the districts of Acocks Green, Small Heath and Yardley. It is located near the Grand Union Canal. Etymology Tyseley means "Tyssa's clearin ...

, above Camp Hill.

Geography

Elevation Camp Hill is on a ridge above the River Rea plain at above sea level.

References

Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands {{WestMidlands-geo-stub