Fox Hollies Hall was a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

situated in

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 ...

Fox Hollies Fox Hollies is an area of Birmingham, England, situated on the edge of Acocks Green district. It is named after the Fox Hollies Hall estate. It roughly includes the area around Fox Hollies Road (part of the A4040 Outer Ring Road), stretching fro ...

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 ...

, belonging to the Walker family. The Hall itself was built as a mock-

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

in 1869 to replace the nearby Hyron Hall, and was commissioned by a retired merchant, Zaccheus Walker III. His father, Zaccheus Walker II, was an industrialist who was almost killed in the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

had it not have been for his friendship with Robespierre. By 1880, Zaccheus' health was deteriorating, and the Hall passed into the ownership of his son, Lieutenant-Colonel Zaccheus Walker IV, who was working as a draftsman at this time. Lt. Col. Walker was the chairperson of many local Boards and Committees, who helped to organise outings for children in the local schools, and after buying land close to the Hall in 1912, sold off a majority of the land between 1925 and 1926, at a total of £44,746; and the sales of land helped the village of

to expand into an urbanized community. Lt. Col. Walker died in 1930, and his funeral procession included his coffin draped with a

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

. By 1937, the decaying Hall was passed to the Parks Committee, and was demolished. The only surviving part of the hall are the pillars to the main gate, standing near a bus stop. Three tower blocks were built at the rear of the site in 1965, and the site of the hall itself is a public park.

External links

1888 Ordnance Survey map of Fox Hollies Hall
{{BirminghamBuildings Houses in Birmingham, West Midlands Demolished buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county) Buildings and structures demolished in 1937