Stirchley, West Midlands
Encyclopedia
Stirchley is a southern area of Birmingham
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...

. Close to the districts of Kings Heath
Kings Heath
Kings Heath is a suburb of Birmingham, England, five miles south of the city centre. It is the next suburb south from Moseley on the Alcester Road.-History:...

, Bournville
Bournville
Bournville is a model village on the south side of Birmingham, England, best known for its connections with the Cadbury family and chocolate – including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of Selly Oak and home to the Bournville Centre...

, Selly Park
Selly Park
Selly Park is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Selly Park is located between the Bristol Road and the Pershore Road .-Toponymy:...

, Cotteridge
Cotteridge
Cotteridge is an area of Birmingham, England and is part of the Bournville ward. It is located about 4.5 miles south of Birmingham city centre. Connected to both the Watford Road and the Pershore Road, Cotteridge is a local shopping area.- St Agnes Church :...

 and King's Norton. Stirchley is a popular residential area for young professionals and families but sections are dilapidated.

The area is served by Stirchley Library.

Toponymy

Stirchley was probably previously known as Streetly, and has also been known as Strutley and Stretley. Stirchley can mean either Cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...

 or street cleaning, the first reference to Stirchley was probably "Strutley Street" in 1658, at the time Stirchley was an agricultural area with not much more than two mill
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...

s. By 1836 there was a railway
History of rail transport in Great Britain
The railway system of Great Britain, the principal territory of the United Kingdom, is the oldest in the world. The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. These isolated links developed during the railway boom of the 1840s into a...

 and canal
History of the British canal system
The British canal system of water transport played a vital role in the United Kingdom's Industrial Revolution at a time when roads were only just emerging from the medieval mud and long trains of pack horses were the only means of "mass" transit by road of raw materials and finished products The...

.

Pershore Road

Pershore Road runs through Stirchley starting at Cotteridge
Cotteridge
Cotteridge is an area of Birmingham, England and is part of the Bournville ward. It is located about 4.5 miles south of Birmingham city centre. Connected to both the Watford Road and the Pershore Road, Cotteridge is a local shopping area.- St Agnes Church :...

, there is a shopping centre at Cotteridge and there are individual shops and shopping centres lower down Pershore Road, a large part of Pershore Road is lined with houses and shops built between the 1890's up to the mid 20th Century and many side roads have similar houses. Part of Pershore Road was originally a Roman Road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 but in the Nineteenth Century a Turnpike trust
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...

 decided to develop this road as a turnpike road and build new sections. Early maps show a well called Hazels Well which explains the name of Hazelwell Road, a road joining Pershore Road that follows the old Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 route. Where Pershore Road joins Hazelwell Road and Bournville lane there is the Three Horseshoes public house which already existed in 1836, there is also a large Cooperative store
The Co-operative Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd. is a United Kingdom consumer cooperative with a diverse range of business interests. It is co-operatively run and owned by its members. It is the largest organisation of this type in the world, with over 5.5 million members, who all have a say in how the business is...

 and a Cooperative Funeral home
The Co-operative Funeralcare
Co-operative Funeralcare Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Co-operative Group Ltd., trading as The Co-operative Funeralcare. The Co-operative Funeralcare is the largest funeral director in the United Kingdom with over 850 funeral homes, crematoria and woodland burial grounds; it is a member...

 these were originally the Ten Acres & Stirchley Street Coperative Soiciety which first opened in 1875.

Bournville Lane Baths

On 25 June 1911, Bournville Lane Baths were opened to the public by King's Norton and Northfield Urban District Council. These were the second baths constructed by the council with the other being located on Tiverton Road, Bournbrook
Bournbrook
Bournbrook is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Bournbrook is bordered by Selly Oak to the west and south, Selly Park to the east, and Edgbaston to the north. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham Cross-City Railway Line run along the...

. Later that year, the baths were taken over by the Birmingham Baths Committee
Birmingham Baths Committee
The Birmingham Baths Committee was a Birmingham City Council-run organisation responsible for the provision and maintenance of public swimming and bathing facilities within the Birmingham boundaries in England...

. The baths contained one swimming pool with a spectators' gallery, private baths for men and women and a small steam room
Steam room
A steam room is an enclosed space with large amounts of high temperature steam, creating a high humidity environment. People sit in this room in a similar way to a sauna , for relaxation and purported benefits to health and well being. They can be commonly found in gyms, sanitariums and health...

. In the winter months, the swimming pool was floored over and the room was used as a hall. The private baths service was discontinued after the baths were taken by the City of Birmingham Baths Department shortly after opening. An unusual feature of the baths was a system of aeration
Aeration
Aeration is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid or substance.-Aeration of liquids:-Methods:Aeration of liquids is achieved by:...

 and filtration
Filtration
Filtration is commonly the mechanical or physical operation which is used for the separation of solids from fluids by interposing a medium through which only the fluid can pass...

 of the water, which was obtained from the council's mains supply and continuously filtered. This was one of the first uses of such a system in swimming baths in the country and it was later introduced and installed in all baths in all local authorities. Swimming baths usually obtained the water from deep wells
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...

 constructed beneath the premises.

These baths are a grade II Listed building but are now closed and tumbledown. As of 2011 Plans are now in place to refurbish the baths as a community centre, this has come about by Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 acquiring the land on which the current community centre stands. Pictures of the current state of the baths can be viewed here and here.

Church of Ascension

The Church of Ascension, the first church in Stirchley, began construction 1898 on Hazelwell Street. Construction was completed in 1901 and it was consecrated by the Bishop of Coventry
Bishop of Coventry
The Bishop of Coventry is the Ordinary of the England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield....

 on 30 October 1901. It was designed by W. Hale as a chapel-of-ease to St. Mary's Church in Moseley
Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of Birmingham, England, two miles south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants...

. A parish was assigned to it in 1912 out of the parishes of St. Mary's, Moseley and St. Nicholas, Kings Norton
Kings Norton
Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...

. On 1 December 1927, a church dedicated to St. Hugh of Lincoln serving the Dads Lane Estate, was opened in Pineapple Grove.

On 29 October 1965, the Church of Ascension was destroyed by fire and was demolished. A new church, designed by Romilly Craze, was constructed next to St. Hugh's and was consecrated by the Bishop of Birmingham
Bishop of Birmingham
The Bishop of Birmingham heads the Church of England diocese of Birmingham, in the Province of Canterbury, in England.The diocese covers the North West of the historical county of Warwickshire and has its see in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, where the seat of the diocese is located at the...

 on 14 July 1973. Surviving features from the original church, such as some of the stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

, the Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...

, the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...

 silver, the processional cross
Processional Cross
A processional cross is a crucifix or cross which is carried in Christian processions. Such crosses have a long history: the Gregorian mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury to England carried one before them "like a standard", according to Bede. Other sources suggest that all churches were...

es and the vestment
Vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...

s, were used in the new church. St. Hugh's closed as a church once the Church of Ascension was completed as the two became one single church. The church building became the church hall for the Church of Ascension. A new vicarage was built on land behind the church in 1992.

The Church of Ascension is now a large building with an octagonal main church, and a church hall. There is also a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

, and a large organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 on an upper balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...

 in the main building.

Pineapple Farm estate

Pineapple Farm council estate was developed in the 1920s and 1930s in the east of Stirchley and from 1923 was served by a primary school, which opened initially with space for 400 pupils, at a site on Allen's Croft Road. However, an annex was opened at Hazelwell Parish Hall in 1930 to accommodate growing pupil numbers, before the main site was finally expanded to create a 14-class (two-form entry) 5-11 school in 1952. The school buildings were replaced in 2007, by which time they were all between 55 and 84 years old.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK