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Urbanisation
The hamlet of Greet never developed, due in part to poor water supply in
earlier times and poor communications later. It was in fact to disappear
completely, but not before a last burst of activity as a centre of
extractive industry. The Greet Brickworks removed a large part of the
hillside above Greet House in later Victorian times, and the Burbury
Brickworks acquired Greet Farm's Riddings west of the Cole: with clay from
its enormous excavation most of Sparkhill and Springfield were built.
Meanwhile a new settlement, called here for convenience West Greet, had
developed apace. Hermon Row, Albion and Bertha Roads were built on Greet
Farm's Petty Fields in the 1870s, comprising humble terrace rows for
artisans. This settlement was clearly associated with the Small Arms factory
on Golden Hillock and with a Fog Signal Works fittingly sited near the
railway bank in Stock Moor Meadows. Another development south from the Spark
Brook was however a suburban overspill from built-up Bordesley. Farms were
being bought up, streets laid out, and terraces built. There were large
well-capitalised estates like the Barber Trust, and small blocks, with
piecemeal completion. See my 'Urbanisation of Yardley'. The streets between
the highways, with their variety of buildings from the 1870s to the 1890s.
still have something of the look of a country town, though the insertion of
workshops and small factories, and haphazard demolition, are destroying
this. Later streets, ringing The Hill with their long and uniform tunnelback
terraces, are clearly suburban.
The Lloyds' house 'The Chains' was only a few decades old when the family
moved out. It was razed and Old Grange Road (an unhistorical name) was built
over its site. Between the 1870s and 1900 Gravel Field, between Stratford
Road and the riverside meadows, was fully if sporadically built up from
north to south. On Percy Road and Saddler Street (now Lea Road) were the
earliest terraces. On and near the Stratford Road were large three-storey
villas, with smaller ones in continuous rows down the slopes. The
personal-name roads on both sides of the highway commemorate members of the
Smith-Ryland family which owned the land. When building stopped during World
War One, Sparkhill and Greet were fully developed, Showell Green was still
semi-rural south of Adria Road, but Springfield had been uniformly laid out
between the Park and the river. Green Bank and Tyseley had compact estates
among the fields. The demolition of Manor Farm and nearby buildings by 1930
ended the existence of the ancient hamlet. Since then 'Greet' is west of the
Cole, and across it Tyseley begins.
Amenities and services
Yardley was notably lacking in public services, as would be expected in a
District which had been rural and sparsely populated until the 1870s. The
Rural District Council's administration was that of a village, and the
demands on its finances of new streets and drains were crippling. Piped
water and gas and mains drainage were provided for new dwellings, but road
maintenance and refuse collection were inadequate. There were no public
baths, wash-houses, or libraries, and the only hospital was the Women's, in
a converted villa at the top of Evelyn Road. This moved to its present
buildings in 1906. The first power station in the District was built by the
City, in Evelyn Road in 1914. Fire and Police Stations had been provided by
the County a few years earlier, with a Public Works Yard behind. The library
and Baths were to be of City provenance, the latter not until 1931, next to
the Council House.
The Yardley Charity Trust owned 333 acres of land. Thanks largely to
Councillor Malins, 40 acres were given to the Rural District Council in 1898
for use as public open spaces. Land and income were supposed to be for
educational purposes: Malins promised that physical education and
instruction would be given, which in practice meant swings, roundabouts, and
park keepers! The local patches were Formans Road Recreation Ground and
Sparkhill Park, Due to delays while small exchanges were made to simplify
the shape, the latter was not opened until 1904. It covers 16 acres, and had
a much-loved pool until after World War Two.
For some years before 1899 Yardley was policed from Warwickshire, of which
it was always geographically a part, and there was a move then for the
District's transfer wholly to that County. It was pointed out that Yardley's
connection with Worcestershire was tenuous, with only one of its main roads
going into the County, and that there had been no reason for the link since
Pershore Abbey had ceased to hold the manor five centuries earlier. But the
campaign failed, and Worcestershire regained police powers. Twelve years
later Sparkhill Station and Court House were taken over by the Birmingham
Force. For two decades thereafter 'the Greet Beat' was always patrolled in
pairs because of the unruliness of its inhabitants!
Introduction
Preface
Relief and drainage, geology, and the natural
landscape
First footers and Anglo-Saxon
settlement
The manor of Yardley, the boundaries
of Yardley, and the 'Manor' of Greet
Ancient roads, ancient buildings, and watermills
Turnpike roads, bridges, and administration
Public transport
Enclosures
Urbanisation, and amenities and services
Churches, schools, and commerce and industry
Between the Wars and since, and references
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