Welcome to the Bournville Tenants Blog!

1906 plan of the estate, click to enlarge.

Bournville Tenants is a block of housing consisting of four streets, part of Hawthorne Road, Kingsley Road, part of Northfield Road, and part of Woodlands Park Road (see above). The Bournville Tenants estate was formed in 1906 when Bournville Village Trust established it as a housing co-operative, and built 145 houses in open fields previously belonging to Middleton Hall Farm, which were completed by 1913.

The aim of the blog is to explore the history of the area. If you have any photos, memories, information, or anything else of interest, also contact at: jenni.a.dixon@gmail.com

The 1911 census has been uploaded for each property (where a 1911 census was unavailable electoral roll information has been added). The 1911 census probably shows the first residents for each house for most of the properties - to find your address use the search tool to the right or click here to see all the houses.

To find out how to research your address further click here.


The Bournville Tenants estate is unique in that it is a relatively small group of houses, designed as a garden village, and often filled with many members of the same family in its many properties. Old photographs show many of the community activities which have been taking place locally for over 100 years, and this blog has been created in the hope to continue that legacy.

We hope you enjoy browsing the blog, and keep coming back for new content and current events! You can also get email updates by adding your email address to the box to the right (this will only send emails with posts added to the blog).

Click to enlarge.

Photo: Hawthorne Road from Kingsley Road, looking across the triangle in 1912. Some of the houses (12, 14, 16 and 18) in this image suffered bomb damage during World War II, and were rebuilt in 1949 in a similar style, but further back from the street.