Warley Woods (sometimes known as Warley Park, or Warley Woods Park) is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

in the Warley district of

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

, in

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...

, in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England, originally laid out by

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 ...

. It has been grade II listed by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

in their Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of special historic interest since September 1994.

Geography

The park lies approximately west of the Birmingham City Centre and occupies a small valley north of the

A456 road Known as the Hagley Road in Birmingham, the A456 is a main road in England running between Central Birmingham and Woofferton, Shropshire, south of Ludlow. Some sections of the route, for example Edgbaston near Bearwood, are also the route of ...

between

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 ...

and

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and from ...

, just outside the city boundary. Approximately one-third of the site is mature woodland. The western part of the park is given over to a nine-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. The small stream which once ran through the site is now filled in. The park holds a

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

History

The estate which now forms the park was purchased by

Samuel Galton, Jr. Samuel John Galton Jr. FRS (18 June 1753 – 19 June 1832) was an English arms manufacturer. He was born in Duddeston, Birmingham, England, into a Quaker family; despite that background he became a merchant selling guns. He was a member of the Lu ...

, then living at nearby

Great Barr Hall Great Barr Hall is an 18th-century mansion situated at Pheasey, Walsall, on the border with Great Barr, Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has associations with the Lunar Society and is a Grade II listed building. It is, however, in a very p ...

, in the 1790s. At the time, it was in

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 ...

. He commissioned

to landscape the fields and ordered the building of a new house to designs by the architect,

Robert Lugar Robert Lugar (1773 – 23 June 1855), was a British architect and engineer in the Industrial Revolution. Although born in Colchester, England, Lugar carried out much of his most important work in Scotland and Wales, where he was employed by s ...

, in

gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. The house was occupied by his son Hubert, in 1819. The land was purchased by

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 ...

in 1902 and opened as a park in 1906. Repton first visited the site in 1794. His designs, in the form of a Red Book typical of his work, and submitted in March 1795, are now held by Sandwell Archives. They were largely complied with, albeit some modifications were made. The house, known locally as "Warley Abbey", despite having no religious function, was demolished in 1957.

Murder of Zee Ming Wu

In 1919, a Chinese labourer, Zee Ming Wu, was murdered in the park, during the theft of his

Post Office Savings Bank Post Office Savings Bank is a name used by postal savings systems in several countries, including: * New Zealand, later renamed the PostBank * United Kingdom, later renamed the National Savings and Investments * Singapore, later renamed POSB Bank * ...

account book. Another Chinese labourer, Djang Djing Sung, confessed to being involved in the robbery and was convicted of murder and hanged, despite insisting that he had played only a minor part in a conspiracy to rob Zee Ming Wu, and did not strike the fatal blow.

Community Trust

The park is now managed by Warley Woods Community Trust, a voluntary organisation and

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

which leases the land from

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands county of England. The council offices are located at the Council House, Freeth Street, Oldbury tow ...

, who in turn lease it from

. At the time of the Trust's creation it was the only charity in England to have responsibility for an Urban Park. It holds the park on a 99-year lease. The park is governed by its own set of

byelaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), or as it is most commonly known in the United States bylaws, is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authorit ...

s. The trust operates a building, The Pavilion, at the southern end of the park. This houses the trust's offices, a café, a public meeting room, toilets, and a golf shop. Another of the park's features is a

drinking fountain A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and s ...

installed in 1907. This was restored in 2009. The Trust's patrons are the actors

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a ...

and Colin Buchanan, the DJ and Presenter

Stuart Maconie Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...

and local historian

Carl Chinn Carl Steven Alfred Chinn, MBE (born 6 September 1956) is an English historian, writer and broadcaster whose working life has been devoted to the study and popularisation of the city of Birmingham. He broadcast a programme on the BBC from the mid ...

References

External links