On the site where Selly Manor now stands, there was once a pool of water – it lay at the foot of Stock’s Wood. Selly Manor, along with its nearby companion Minworth Greaves, is a timber-framed building saved from destruction by George Cadbury. Both were carefully dismantled, moved from their original locations, and rebuilt near Bournville Green. Their histories are fascinating (you can find out more [here]), but the land …
This summer, the library’s reading challenge is “Story Garden” — and we’ll be sharing a series of posts about local green spaces: some tucked out of sight, others hiding their secrets in plain view.
We begin just behind the library itself, in what’s sometimes called the Robin Garden, named for the painted robin perched on a wooden stump. This space is cared for by the Fruit & Nut Village, who’ve transformed it into a vibrant patchwork of fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, and other useful plants.
This tucked-away green space is full of surprises. While many …
If you go exploring around the Bournville area in the grounds near the old Cadbury Club, you find an old remnants of George Cadbury’s original village design. It’s an old lily 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.
Near to the pool you can also see traces of a walled-garden, which gives the sense that the area was once the grounds of …
During Birmingham Heritage Week at the beginning of September, we organised a heritage walk along the River Rea. This followed six bird portraits by local artist Stephen Earl Rogers positioned in community gardens run by Fruit & Nut Village, and a talk on route about the history of the Rea in Stirchley by Jen Dixon.
This guide provides an outline of the walk so you can go hunting for the six birds yourself, with the aid of the map (above).
The walk began in the Forest Garden at the rear of Stirchley Library …
In 1886 the Midland Union of Natural History Societies published the Midland Naturalist, which outlined some of the areas natural history. One of the sections was entitles “Notes on the Rea Valley” by Henry Boyden, and his essay included wildflowers he found at several sites in Stirchley. These were in Lifford, Dogpool, and a bit further north up the Rea, near Holders Wood (although he called it Stocks Wood).
