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Until a century ago the environs of "the Ackers" were still wholly rural.
Hay Hall and its Home Farm were the only buildings nearby apart from the
mill and cottage. Then a few terraces of 'artisan dwellings' were put up on
short streets at West Greet off the Warwick Road, and off the Coventry Road
east of Kings Road. The Sydenham Tavern, with qardens, bowling green,
dancing platform and pool was built by Small Heath Station to cater for
townees as well as the inhabitants of the spreading suburbs. The Cole valley
was popular for summer evening and weekend walks, reachable on steam trams
as far as Charles Road, and the over-large pubs of the 1890s flourished
thanks to ramblers and cyclists. By 1900 villa rows extended along the
Coventry Road's north side nearly to Heybarnes Farm, and three long straight
streets had been largely built up with continuous tunnelback terraces east
of Victoria Park. (Since the Victoria Laundry and telephone exchange
disappeared, there is no reminder of the Park's proper name: 'Small Heath’
is the name applied incorrectly to nearly two square kilometres of suburbs
between the Oxford and Gloucester Railways, Green Lane and the Cole.) The
B.S.A. had built 'groves' of small houses for its key workers off Armoury
Road. Hay Mills was a growing detached village, extending across and up the
Coventry Road. By the start of World War One, East Greet and Tyseley Hill
were terraced. Between 1890 and 1915, Charles Hougham developed the
Wingfield-Digby estate west of Heybarnes, the long streets being named after
members of the owning family.
During the 1920s, municipal estates of pairs or short rows of houses were
built across local farms - Manor and Tyseley Farms, Heybarnes, Deakins,
Hobmoor and Fast Pits Farms. A road was made down both sides of the Cole -
starting with Heybarnes Road on the west side, and Berkeley Road East/Millhouse
Road on the east side. Apart from rebuildings after bombing, there has been
little new construction since World War Two, except replacement of the
oldest parts of West Greet.
Introduction
What can be seen from Ackers Hill
The natural landscape
Watercourses
Early settlement and boundaries
The Manors
The Warwick canal
Railways
Industry
Urbanisation
Parks and open spaces
Churches and schools
The Ackers leisure park
Itinerary
Maps |
