Kingstanding
Encyclopedia
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham
, England
. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington
council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common
, St. Mary's College
, Witton Lakes
and parts of Kingstanding, Wyrley Birch and New Oscott
. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott
ward.
Kingstanding houses a covered drinking water
reservoir, Perry Barr Reservoir
, on the site of the former Perry Barr Farm.
Kingstanding is served by two libraries; Kingstanding Library and Perry Common Library.
King Charles I
supposedly reviewed his troops standing on the Neolithic Bowl Barrow
in the area on October 18, 1642 during the English Civil War
, after his stay at nearby Aston Hall
. The first references to Kingstanding were as King's Standing.
The course of the Icknield Street
Roman Road runs past this barrow; and when the foundations for the water pumping station were being dug in 1884, a hoard
of Roman coins
was discovered.
The area was largely rural until the 1928, when large-scale residential development commenced in the area. The first of the estates was completed in 1934. It was during the 1930s and 1940s that most of the current housing was built. Most of the houses in Kingstanding were built as council houses with the majority being located in the north of the area. At the time, it was the largest council housing development in Europe
, containing some 6,700 properties on its completion.
In 1935, an Odeon cinema
, designed by Cecil Clavering
, was opened in the area. On June 6, 1964, Kingstanding Library opened. It had an area of 1000 sq ft (92.9 m²) and was identified as being liable to mining subsidence.
Kingstanding is featured in the novel The Last Viking by Dr Ron Dawson
. The author grew up at number 79 Parkeston Crescent, and used the estate and its many characters as the backcloth to his Birmingham based novel.
candidate, Sharon Ebanks
, to Birmingham City Council - the first BNP candidate ever to be elected in Birmingham. However, it was announced by the Returning Officer shortly after the declaration that a counting error had taken place and, following a High Court recount, Ebanks was removed as Councillor on July 26, 2006 and replaced by Labour candidate Catherine Grundy. The other councillors are Zoe Hopkins and Peter Kane, both of the Labour party
. However since then the BNP have fallen away to such an extent that local Conservative Gary Sambrook, who was only 18 at the time of the election, fell only 80 votes short of defeating Labour in this once safe seat that regularly racked up 4 figure majorities.
Kingstanding has a Ward Support Officer.
is the largest ethnic population living in Kingstanding.
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington
Erdington
Erdington is a suburb northeast of Birmingham city centre, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common
Perry Common
Perry Common is an area of Kingstanding, in the constituency of Erdington, Birmingham, England.College High School is located in Perry Common as are the Hawthorn Shopping Centre on Hawthorn Road and Witton Lakes....
, St. Mary's College
St. Mary's College, Oscott
St Mary's College, Oscott, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, though it admits students for the priesthood from various dioceses of England & Wales, as well as some overseas students...
, Witton Lakes
Witton Lakes
Witton Lakes are a pair of former drinking water reservoirs between the Perry Common and Erdington areas of Birmingham, England ....
and parts of Kingstanding, Wyrley Birch and New Oscott
New Oscott
New Oscott is an area of Birmingham, England.It was named after the Oscott area of Birmingham, when St. Mary's College, the Roman Catholic seminary, moved from that site to the new one. The original then became known as Old Oscott....
. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott
Oscott
Oscott is a ward in the northwest of Birmingham, England, within the formal district of Perry Barr.The Ward is centred on the area known as Old Oscott, and should not be confused with nearby New Oscott. It includes the former Booths Farm sand quarry, Aldridge Road Recreation Ground, Witton Cemetery...
ward.
Kingstanding houses a covered drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
reservoir, Perry Barr Reservoir
Perry Barr Reservoir
Perry Barr Reservoir is a covered drinking water reservoir, in north Birmingham, England. Built on the site of the former Perry Barr Farm, it is not, despite its name, in the modern Perry Barr area, but nearby Kingstanding, at ....
, on the site of the former Perry Barr Farm.
Kingstanding is served by two libraries; Kingstanding Library and Perry Common Library.
History
The name of the area is derived from the occasion when the StuartHouse of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
supposedly reviewed his troops standing on the Neolithic Bowl Barrow
King's Standing Bowl Barrow
King's Standing Bowl Barrow or Kingstanding Mound, is a Scheduled monument in the Kingstanding area of Birmingham. It comprises the buried and earthwork remains of a Bowl barrow from the Late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age, lying alongside the Icknield Street Roman Road to the South of Sutton...
in the area on October 18, 1642 during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, after his stay at nearby Aston Hall
Aston Hall
Aston Hall is a municipally owned Jacobean-style mansion in Aston, Birmingham, England. Washington Irving used it as the model for Bracebridge Hall in his stories in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.-History:...
. The first references to Kingstanding were as King's Standing.
The course of the Icknield Street
Icknield Street
Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman road in Britain that runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire to Templeborough in South Yorkshire...
Roman Road runs past this barrow; and when the foundations for the water pumping station were being dug in 1884, a hoard
Hoard
In archaeology, a hoard is a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards may be uncovered by...
of Roman coins
Roman currency
The Roman currency during most of the Roman Republic and the western half of the Roman Empire consisted of coins including the aureus , the denarius , the sestertius , the dupondius , and the as...
was discovered.
The area was largely rural until the 1928, when large-scale residential development commenced in the area. The first of the estates was completed in 1934. It was during the 1930s and 1940s that most of the current housing was built. Most of the houses in Kingstanding were built as council houses with the majority being located in the north of the area. At the time, it was the largest council housing development in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, containing some 6,700 properties on its completion.
In 1935, an Odeon cinema
Odeon Cinemas
Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...
, designed by Cecil Clavering
Cecil Clavering
John Cecil Clavering OBE was an English architect, best known for his work designing Odeon Cinemas as part of Harry Weedon's architectural practice in the 1930s, and his later work as the architect of the Public Record Office in Kew, London.-Life:Clavering was born and educated in Sunderland, the...
, was opened in the area. On June 6, 1964, Kingstanding Library opened. It had an area of 1000 sq ft (92.9 m²) and was identified as being liable to mining subsidence.
Kingstanding is featured in the novel The Last Viking by Dr Ron Dawson
Ron Dawson
Dr. Ronald Leslie Dawson, . Special Educational Needs educator, psychologist, researcher and author. Author and co-author of numerous books and articles concerning the education of pupils with SEN...
. The author grew up at number 79 Parkeston Crescent, and used the estate and its many characters as the backcloth to his Birmingham based novel.
Politics
The Kingstanding ward was the scene of political controversy in May 2006 when it initially appeared its voters had elected a British National PartyBritish National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
candidate, Sharon Ebanks
Sharon Ebanks
Sharon Ebanks is a former member of the British National Party and one of the founder members of the New Nationalist Party.-BNP activism:...
, to Birmingham City Council - the first BNP candidate ever to be elected in Birmingham. However, it was announced by the Returning Officer shortly after the declaration that a counting error had taken place and, following a High Court recount, Ebanks was removed as Councillor on July 26, 2006 and replaced by Labour candidate Catherine Grundy. The other councillors are Zoe Hopkins and Peter Kane, both of the Labour party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
. However since then the BNP have fallen away to such an extent that local Conservative Gary Sambrook, who was only 18 at the time of the election, fell only 80 votes short of defeating Labour in this once safe seat that regularly racked up 4 figure majorities.
Kingstanding has a Ward Support Officer.
Population
Kingstanding had a population 25,702 at the time of the 2001 Population Census. It has a population density of 5,410 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. It has a small ethnic minority population with ethnic minorities representing 10.6% (2,724) of the ward's population as opposed to 29.6% for Birmingham. White BritishWhite British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
is the largest ethnic population living in Kingstanding.
Notable residents
- Lisa Wallace, Big Brother 2009Big Brother 2009 (UK)Big Brother 2009, occasionally referred to as Big Brother 10, was the tenth series of the British reality television series Big Brother. It began on 4 June 2009 and was aired on Channel 4 and E4 for 93 days, concluding on 4 September when Sophie "Dogface" Reade was crowned the winner with 74.4% of...
contestant - Lloyd Dyer, Professional Footballer currently playing for Leicester City in the Coca Cola Championship, attended Cardinal Wiseman School between 1994-1999))
- Dr Ron DawsonRon DawsonDr. Ronald Leslie Dawson, . Special Educational Needs educator, psychologist, researcher and author. Author and co-author of numerous books and articles concerning the education of pupils with SEN...
. Educationist, researcher and author lived in Parkeston Crescent, attended Twickenham Road School, 1945-1951. - Kingstanding is also the HQ of the 23 Special Air ServiceSpecial Air ServiceSpecial Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
Regiment.