Moseley Park and Pool is an private park in

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 ...

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. ...

, maintained by the Moseley Park and Pool Trust. It is located to the west of the district centre and the

A435 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European isla ...

Alcester Road; it sits in the

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 ...

electoral ward of

and is situated very close to the border with Balsall Heath West . The Park and Pool is open for all the local community every Wednesday between 10am and 4pm, and at the same times on the last Saturday of each month (to coincide with the local Farmers' Market Day). Outside these hours, people need to buy a Key Fob to open the gates (but there is no requirement to live nearby to do so).

History

The park and pool were originally part of the gardens of Moseley Hall, which were designed by the estate landscape gardener

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

. Towards the end of the 19th century most of the estate was being sold for house building; in particular, the construction of Salisbury Road in 1896 disconnected the park from the Hall. Businessmen bought the park and pool in order to prevent further development and preserve them for the citizens of Birmingham. The park was opened by local East Worcestershire MP

Austen Chamberlain Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain (16 October 1863 – 16 March 1937) was a British statesman, son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly ...

on 29 September 1899. In 1983, the park became part of the wider Moseley Conservation area. This seeks to preserve the historic character of the locality. In particular, the centre of the park contains a number of specimen trees.

Amenities and events

The park is home to tennis, angling and yoga clubs, and hosts annual music festivals, including the Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, and Mostly Jazz.

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 singles to dat ...

, who originate from the area, headlined a festival at the park in 2016 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their album ''

Moseley Shoals ''Moseley Shoals'' is the second album by the British rock group Ocean Colour Scene which was released during the Britpop era. The album reached #2 in the UK charts, and amassed 92 weeks on chart, making it the band's most successful album in t ...

''. An ice house in the park is Grade II listed. It was built in the 18th century and is around by . The ice house was used for cold storage and storing ice before the invention of the refrigerator. It is believed to have storage space for up to 20 tonnes of ice and food materials were placed above it to be used as frozen food. It is now open for public viewing. In 2015, the '' Sunday Times'' named the park as one of the desirable factors for Moseley being the best place to live in the UK, beating London’s Mayfair and

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Fi ...

. The Park and Pool has a toilet situated just inside the Main Gate (closest to the Alcester Rd).

Security

A key is required to gain entry. Residents with keys have a say in the management, while the public may purchase a day key with a refundable deposit. The former head ranger said it has made the park popular as people feel safe inside it. An incident where a man was spotted armed with a knife in the park surprised the former head ranger, who said that she had not heard of such a case in her 15 years of managing the site.

References

External links

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{{Birmingham parks Parks and open spaces in Birmingham, West Midlands Moseley

History

Amenities and events

Security

See also

References

External links