Processions & Parties: Celebrating the 1953 Coronation

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Five photographs showing the procession, events and parties which took place to celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth II on 2nd June, 1953. As can be seen above, many of the houses were decorated with bunting as the procession started in Northfield Road. Children and adults dressed in their best, and many children were in fancy dress as they followed the car, which can be seen with a loud-speaker on its roof.

The two images, above, show the procession as it turned from Northfield Road to Woodlands Park Road (the road-sign in the background says Middleton Hall Road). The gentleman in the fez was possibly an entertainer.

Later in the day there were activities for the children, such as fancy-dress and races at, probably, the top rec (above). A tea-party for the children was also held at Woodlands Park Hall, seen laid out below.

The activities of the 1953 Coronation seem quite similar to the Coronation of George VI in 1937. A programme from 1937 can be seen here.

Processions & Parties: Celebrating the 1937 Coronation

Although no photos of the festivities surrounding the 1937 Coronation of George VI have been found (yet), there is a programme showing the itinerary of the day, which gives a sense of what the celebrations were like. They were quite similar to the 1953 Coronation celebration, where there are photographs of the day, seen here.

Click on the image to enlarge the programme, or see the transcription below.

Programme of Events

2-15 p.m. Procession assembles in the Drive, Northfield Road.
2-30 p.m. March round Village.
        Procession headed by Northfield Prize Band, followed by Villagers and Children in Fancy Dress, Decorated Cycles, Prams, etc.
        Judging to take place at the Pavilion.
3-30 p.m. Sports for Children and Adults on Recreation Ground behind the Garages.
2-30 p.m. Tea for Children in the Village Hall.

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The Band will give Selections at Intervals

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5-50 p.m. Re-assemple on Children's Playground.
6-00 p.m. Punch and Judy Show.
6-30-7.30 p.m. Burlesque Cricket Match.
         Ladies v. Gentlemen.
7-30 p.m. Treasure Hunt for Children.
7-45-8.30 p.m. Community Singing, led by Northfield Prize Band.
        Entertainer and Conjurer.
8.30 p.m. Adults' Treasure Hunt.
8.45 p.m. Dancing on the Green.
9.30 p.m. Bonfire and Fireworks Display.

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Light Refreshments will be available during the Evening

God Save the King

NOTES
If you are curious about what a 'Burlesque Cricket Match' was, there is an image here.

Archive Reference: Held at Birmingham Archive - MS 1536, box 28, 24/8j

The Top 'Rec'

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Above: The grand opening of the top recreation ground, known more fondly as the top 'rec', on Saturday 3rd July, 1909. The crowd includes many of the first residents of the estate, and the man speaking was Mr. T. Bryan (Tom Bryan, Bounville Tenants' first chairman), and George and Elizabeth Cadbury were seated to his left (our right). The six houses in the background are the backs of (I think) 36 to 46 Kingsley Road.

The Tenants Estate was built on twenty acres of land, with two acres of that being leased rent-free from Bournville Village Trust for 'the purpose of providing permanent open space and recreation grounds'. There were two the recreation grounds, the bottom 'rec' (see here), and the top rec', with the latter being the first to be opened; it contained provision for 'games of Bowls, Croquet, Tennis etc'; and the whole area being fringed with trees and shrubs 'with charming effect'.*1 Originally, the top recreation ground was for adults and the bottom recreation ground for children, which is why the bowls, tennis and croquet areas were set up here.

An article in the Birmingham Daily Post (5 July 1909) described the recreation area as:

'a triangular plateau with a charming outlook from all points of the compass. Citywards can plainly be seen on the horizon Warley Woods, while Frankley Beeches stand out prominently on the skyline in a south-easterly direction'. 

Above: Invitation card to the grand opening, which began at 3.30pm with speeches (top photo), where Mrs. Cadbury and Mr. Bryan were both presented with 'an album of views of the village' (it would be nice to find out if these still survive). After the presentations the group took a tour of the village, and then played 'sports and pastimes on the green'.*2

Above: The areas laid out for the bowls and tennis courts in 1909 (the houses in the rear are Northfield Road).*1

1930s

Above: A top 'rec' running event for young children in the late 1930s. The boy on the right is Brian Court, who still lives on the estate. The girl second from the right is Margaret Paxton (later Cowe) who lived at 12 Kingsley Road and 49 Kingsley Road.

About 1950s

Above: A Summer Fete at the Top Rec. Pictured are George (Jimmy) Riddell (left) and Peter Savory (right) on the greasy pole stall. Thanks to the Savory family for the photograph.

See more about Woodlands Park Bowling Club (situated in the top 'rec') here.
See more about the Tennis Club, now gone, here.

Thanks to Brian Court & Pete Done for the photographs.

*1: From the 1909 prospectus.
*2: From Birmingham Daily Mail, 5 July 1909.

The Tennis Club

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From the beginnings of the Tenants Estate in the early 1900s there was provision for a range of sports on the top 'rec' (between Kingsley, Woodlands Park and Northfield Roads), including a bowls green and a tennis court. Clubs formed to utilise both, which flourished, but by the 1990s membership of the tennis club had waned, the court had become run-down, and, despite interest from Kings Norton Boys School, it was decided to remove the court and replace it with a second green for the bowls club.

Due to its closure, and the court being removed, not much is known of the club, but the photo (above) shows some of the members in the early 1950s. They are, from left to right, Bill Tallis, Vic Clark, Hetty Willetts, Grace Clark, Charlie Evans, Arthur Hodgkins, Marjorie Parker and Alison Hodgkins. They're standing on the Quadrangle, outside 30 Kingsley Road, where Alison grew up; the visible house being 34 Kingsley Road.

The Bottom 'Rec' (Bigwood Dell)

The bottom 'rec', or bottom recreation ground, is one of two areas which were part of the original 1906 design of the estate designated for leisure and sports. I have always been told that this area was for older children, and the top 'rec' (behind the the main block of houses) was for younger children.

The area was originally part of Middleton Hall Farm, and the field within the farm was called Bigwood (hence Bigwood Dell). The ground was difficult to build on due to its incline, so was designed as a green-space instead. The reason for the dip leading towards the overgrown area (filled with blackberry brambles, see above) was that this had been a clay pit, used for excavating clay to make bricks (see maps, below). It was one of three clay pits nearby, with another surviving in gardens of Heath Close and the other being filled in and built on, on Heath Road.

In the 1880s, it was already called the 'Old Clay Pit', and trees were marked at its edges, so it was probably eighteenth-century in origin.

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During World War II the area was converted into allotments to help with the war effort. Today, the area is great for blackberry picking.

The bottom 'rec', or Bigwood Dell, is accessed via Hawthorne Croft, which is off Hawthorne Road.

Bournville History: Bournbrook Hall

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Above: Photograph of the ornamental pool in the old 'Girls' Recreation Ground', taken in about 2011.

If you go exploring around the Bournville area, one of the old remnants of George Cadbury's original village design is an ornamental pool situated at the far end of the old Girls' Recreation Ground off Bournville Lane.

It was originally a quite retreat for female employees at Cadbury's, framed by the rural landscape of the early 1900s.

Below: Two postcards depicting the pool in about the 1920s.

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Near to the pool was also a walled-garden, which is still there today, and gives the sense that the area was once the grounds of an eighteenth-century villa. This villa was sometimes called Bournbrook Hall, at other times Bournbrook House, and occasionally Barnbrook, but the park around the pool was once its grounds, and the pool itself was its cellar.

The house was still standing when the Cadbury's arrived, and can be seen in early photographs, where it was situated on Bournville Lane, facing the men's sports grounds (see below).

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Above: Men's sports grounds, Pavilion club house, and Bournbrook Hall to the rear on the right, 1902. The house had been demolished by 1910.


The Cadbury's bought the Bournbrook Hall estate in 1895, which included lands which later became both the 'mens'' and 'girls'' grounds. The walled-garden which survives was the kitchen garden, and the premises also had stables, which are still standing, and Grade II listed, although getting little care and attention at present. The map (below) shows the area in the 1880s, just as Cadbury's was moving in.

Bournbrook Hall area in the 1880s. Click to enlarge.

Bounbrook Hall was a gentleman's residence, and would have been a fine building in its day.

Bournbrook Hall area in the 1930s. Click to enlarge.

Close-up of Bournbrook Hall, 1902.

Middleton Hall and the Manor of Middleton

Middleton Hall stood on the corner of - what is now - Woodlands Park Road and Bunbury Road, its land being the site now taken up by Redmead Close. Middleton Hall Road was named after the hall, stretching from Pershore Road to the hall itself, but is a relatively modern addition, being constructed in about 1870. In 1871 about three families lived along it and it was called Middleton Hall Lane.

The area around the Hall, including the Tenants estate, was part of Northfield until the 1920s. The parish of Northfield was anciently divided into several parts; the manors of Northfield and Selly (or Selley), and later Weoley, as well as the sub-manor of Middleton (later Haye and Middleton), and Middleton Hall was the manor house of Middleton. Middleton was the youngest of these sub-manors, with both Northfield and Selly being mentioned in the Domesday Book, but Middleton was formed in the latter part of the twelfth-century. It is thought to have been named after its position half-way between the villages of Northfield and Kings Norton.

Within Middleton were several farms including Rowheath Farm and Hay Green Farm; barns of the former surviving off Selly Oak Road and converted into housing. Middleton Hall itself had a sizeable farm attached called Middleton Hall Farm, which stretched along - what is now - Woodlands Park Road, out along Northfield Road, and down Popes Lane behind the Bunbury Road. The Tenants estate was built on three fields originally belonging to the farm; Pool Close, Bigwood and Near Lady Field, and its shape was influenced by the boundaries of each.

The Sub-Manor of Middleton
Ralph Paynel was the first known holder of Middleton in the late 1100s, and gave 'the land of Middletune and lahaie' to Bernard Paynel. 'lahaie' was later recorded as 'Le Hay', and was probably the Hay Green area.

In the 1200s the owners of Middleton took their name from the lands. John de Middleton was first mentioned in 1273, and the Middleton family held the lands until about the mid-1400s. After this, Middleton passed through the hands of several families.

Throughout the early centuries of Middleton's history there is no mention of a hall, although there would have been some form of manor house on the lands, most likely on the Woodlands Park Road/Bunbury Road site, which was near the roads running between Northfield and Kings Norton. This would have been a prime position to take goods to market, and to move around the rest of the manor.

Middleton Hall
The first known mention of 'Middleton Hall' was as 'Middleton Hall Farm' in 1596, when it was occupied by Henry Cookes. This was probably the timber-framed building which survived until the early 1800s, and was possibly moated, as traces of a moat were discovered during its demolition, but no archaeological survey was conducted so any evidence is now lost.

One hundred years after Cookes, the interior of Middleton Hall is brought to life through an inventory drawn-up after the death of its then occupant, Robert Fox. Fox was described as a 'yeoman', a gentleman farmer, and occupied Middleton Hall from at least 1684 till 1698, although in 1684 he would have been about 50 years old so he, and his wife Barbara, had probably been living there for several decades previously.

Fox's inventory shows that Middleton Hall had six rooms downstairs and five upstairs. Downstairs was a hall, parlour, kitchen, cheese chamber, back house and buttery. The back house had a malt mill, so was used for brewing, and the other rooms are pretty self explanatory. The parlour contained '2 looking-glasses' and the hall a 'brass candlestick' which were expensive items for the time, showing the wealth of the family. The five rooms upstairs all had beds in them, but some would probably have been used for entertaining guests, especially the chamber over the kitchen, which would have been warmer as it had a fire (meaning it had a brick chimney, another expense). This room also contained a 'closet of books', again showing a family of wealth as well as literacy (see Fox's full inventory here).

Middleton Hall probably bore several similarities to Selly Manor, which was moved from its original location in Selly Oak to its present site in Bournville Village between 1914 and 1916. Like Middleton Hall, Selly Manor was originally a manor-house, both were timber-built, and both a similar size, although Middleton Hall was possibly a little larger (although both probably had several additions made to them over the centuries). But the best way to get a sense of what Middleton Hall was like at this time is to visit Selly Manor (visit details here).

In 1789, the occupant of Middleton Hall was William Henshaw, another yeoman running the farm as well as residing in the house. His diary for that year survives, and outlines the maintenance of the farm from winnowing grain and sowing peas, to helping 'Cherry' the cow give birth (other cows were called 'Kurley' and 'Prat'). His story will be added in the farm section, below.

Henshaw's diary suggests that he struggled financially, and in the 1790s Middleton Hall Farm was bought by George Attwood, a wealthy ironmonger, and grandfather of Birmingham's first Member of Parliament, Thomas Attwood (whose statue was at the rear of the Town Hall, presumably to be replaced after the current works are finished). Attwood cared less about farming, and more that the land contained mineral deposits. He still owned the Hall in 1840, which was tenanted out to Robert Thornley.

It was perhaps Attwood, or one of his tenants, who remodelled Middleton Hall sometime in the first half of the nineteenth-century. The historian Leonard Day states that the front was 'encased in brick, which gave the Hall the external appearance of a gentleman's residence in the Victorian style'. Because the old building was beneath, the brick encasement (see below) gives a sense of the shape of the timber-framed Hall.

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Photo: Sketch of Middleton Hall from a, now lost, photograph; showing the Victorian re-build from about the early 1800s.

The 1911 census noted that the Victorian Middleton Hall had twelve rooms (excluding workrooms, landing, hall, closets and bathrooms), so had been slightly extended from its 1690s predecessor.

The Hall was demolished in 1952.

Middleton Hall Farm & William Henshaw
Coming soon!

The story of Middleton Hall Farm will be added shortly.

MAPS OF MIDDLETON HALL

1880s, click to enlarge.

1900s, click to enlarge.

1910s, click to enlarge.

1930s, click to enlarge.

1960s, click to enlarge.

History of Rowheath Playing Fields & the Pavilion

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Image: An undated picture postcard of 'A CORNER OF THE RECREATION GROUNDS AT ROWHEATH, BOURNVILLE'. Probably dating from the 1940s or 1950s.

Before the area around became built up, Rowheath was a stretch of farm land between Rowheath Farm and Haygreen Farm on Haygreen Lane. It had an old public footway running north-east through it, which later became Heath Road, and another running north-west, which still forms the main route through the playing fields. At the rear of Rowheath Farm was a marshy pool, possibly mentioned in a charter of AD 699, which was signed by Offa. The charter described the route of a boundary passing through this area, and mentioned 'spa thaet cume in Usan Mere' [then it comes to Usan Pool].*1 Whether over 1000 years old or not, the marshy pool became the fishing pond in the Pavilion gardens (see maps below).

In the 1920s the land was purchased on the behest of George Cadbury, with the intention of creating grounds for a variety of sporting activities. The Pavilion was built to supply the need for a clubhouse and changing rooms, and the garden and pool of the Pavilion was landscaped for leisure activities. The site was opened in July 1924.

In the 1930s Rowheath Playing Fields spread over about seventy-five acres, and included 'eleven grounds for association football, three for rugby and seven for hockey, eleven cricket pitches, three bowling-greens, two croquet lawns, and forty-one lawn tennis courts. But not only is provision made at Rowheath for the out-and-out athlete; for the benefit of others there is a Garden Club, occupying nine acres, where there is a pavilion, together with gardens, shrubberies, ornamental waters (used by the Works Model Yacht Club), and facilities for playing gentler games as clock-golf, bowls, and croquet. A shallow pool is provided on which children may sail their boats'. The 'shallow pool' was probably the smaller pool on the other side of the arched bridge.

Idyllic view from c.1930. Click to enlarge.

Some of this land has since been built on, so the area does not have quite as much sporting activity as it once had. In 1931 it was thought that more than 5,600 hours of tennis had been played in the year 'at Rowheath alone'.*2

In July 1937 an outdoor swimming pool was also added to the area, called the Bournville Lido (which has its own post here).

History in Maps

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References
*1. Bill Dargue, 'Row Heath' from A History of Birmingham Places & Placenames 
*2. Iola A. Williams, The Firm of Cadbury 1831-1931 (London: Constable and Co. Ltd., 1931)

The Bournville Lido (at Rowheath)

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Photo, above: Rowheath Pavilion and Bournville Lido at the far right, probably 1940s or 1950s.

The Bournville Lido was an outdoor swimming pool, one of many across the city, which were very popular in their heyday. Bournville Lido was built on a spring of natural mineral water, and was opened to the public on 2nd July 1937.

1937

2 July 1937, click to enlarge.

2 July 1937, click to enlarge.

The two photos, above, show Edward Cadbury opening Bournville Lido on 2nd July 1937.

The image, below, depicts the Lido later that year, on the August bank holiday, when nearly 3,000 tickets were sold.

1st August 1937, click to enlarge.

During WWII it was used by the RAF barrage balloon section, and after the war was rebuilt and reopened in style by the Lord Mayor. The image, below, shows the event and dates it at 23rd May, but does not include the year.

Mid 1940s

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About 1947

c. 1947. Click to enlarge.

The photo above is dated 1947 by some and 1950s by others. It shows a district event.

1959

1959. Click to enlarge.

1959. Click to enlarge.

1959. Click to enlarge.

The three images above are stills from a short silent film of the 1959 Kings Norton Girls School Outdoor Swimming Gala. The full video can be seen here.

1960

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In 1960 a short film was made showing the lido being used for baptising Jehovah's Witnesses. See the film here.

1960s

1960s, click to enlarge.

1960s, click to enlarge.

Above: Two photos of a sunny day at Bournville Lido in the 1960s. Added with permission from Ian Knowles.

1970s

In 1972 the lido was closed down, but a group of local residents raised money to rebuild it, which was done between 1976 and 1977, but at a diminished size to the previous lido.

1977

1977. Click to enlarge.

The photo above is from 1977, and it shows the lido after it's been reduced, with the workers putting some finishing touches to the pool-side.

The lido was closed again in 1987 and demolished in 1997. The images below depict some time during those years.

c. 1990s

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Above is the lido in disrepair, with two more below.

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 Inside the pool house (above), and the pool itself (below).

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Please share any memories in the comments below.

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