Sheldon is an area of east

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Historically History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

part of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, it is close to the border with the

Metropolitan Borough of Solihull The Metropolitan Borough of Solihull is a metropolitan borough in West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, England. It is named after its largest town, Solihull, from which Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is based. For Eurostat purpose ...

and

Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Bor ...

. Sheldon is also one of the 69 electoral

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s in Birmingham, and one of the four wards that make up the council constituency of Yardley. It covers an area of . Areas covered by the ward are Lyndon Green, Well's Green, Sheldon itself and part of Garrett's Green. Sheldon was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as ''Machitone'', meaning "Macca's farm". A Mackadown Farm existed in the area until the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, however, it is only remembered through Mackadown Lane, a residential road. The suburb is home to the 300 acre Sheldon Country Park, a popular local attraction.

Population and housing

According to the

2001 UK Census A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...

there were 20,129 people living in 9,140 households in Sheldon with a population density of 3,481 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Sheldon has a low percentage of ethnic minorities in its population with only 5.9% (1,195) being of an ethnic minority compared with 29.6% for Birmingham in general. The population had increased to 21,817 at the 2011 Census. Housing in the area primarily dates back to the 1930s. The area benefits from Sheldon Country Park which is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and is served by numerous shops and businesses situated along the busy A45, Coventry Road. This road acts as one of the city's primary gateways from

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. There are two secondary schools serving the area: Cockshut Hill School and King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy. There are five primary schools, one of which is

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Sheldon Library
also serves the area.

Politics

As of 2022, the two councillors representing Sheldon Ward on

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

are Paul Tilsley and Colin Green, both Liberal Democrats. The ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer.

Birmingham City Council Elections, 5 May 2022 - Sheldon Results

*Isra Abdi - Labour Party - 835 *Mark David Andrews - TUSC - 89 *Susan Axfrord - Conservative Party - 564 *Colin Green - Liberal Democrats - 1534 *Kevin Harrison -

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

- 218 *Oliver Jenkins - Conservative Party - 513 *Joseph Piekarz - Labour Party - 743 *Paul Tilsley - Liberal Democrats - 1752 Candidates Elected - Paul Tilsley and Colin Green - Liberal Democrats

Birmingham City Council Elections, 4 May 2006 - Sheldon Results

*Robert Arthur Devenport -

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

- 1132 *Derek Anthony Johnson - Conservative Party - 556 *Michael Johnson - Labour Party - 792 *Paul Morris - National Front - 74 *Colin Richard Preece - Legalise Cannabis Alliance - 45 *Michael Paul Sheridan -

- 139 *Michael Howard Ward -

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

- 3233 Candidate Elected - Michael Howard Ward - Liberal Democrat

Notable residents

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

, town planning expert, also lived in Cranes Park Road in the 1960s and '70s. * Rev.

Thomas Bray Thomas Bray (1656 or 165815 February 1730) was an English clergyman and abolitionist who helped formally establish the Church of England in Maryland, as well as the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge and USPG, Society for the Pr ...

, founder of the

Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and worldwide. The SPCK is the oldes ...

, was Rector of Sheldon. * Howard Brown, branch manager for the Halifax bank, won a staff competition to appear in their advertisements, was born and brought up in Sheldon. *

Kevin Warwick Kevin Warwick (born 9 February 1954) is an English engineer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University. He is known for his studies on direct interfaces between computer systems and the human nervous system, and has also done ...

, professor of

cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

lived there in the 1970s. In the latter part of this time he studied at

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...

. *

Andre Marriner Andre Marriner (born 1 January 1971)

, a

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

football referee.

References

External links

Birmingham City Council: Sheldon Ward
{{Wards of Birmingham Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands Wards of Birmingham, West Midlands