Exciting news from Bells Farm, Druids Heath, Birmingham
Bells Farm in 1969 - photo by Phyllis Nicklin from the Birmingham University Archive
Dave Thomas, one of our volunteers has sent us this update which I thought we would share with you:
I’m really interested in old buildings and the work that Birmingham Conservation Trust does. I am a chartered building surveyor and I volunteered at Birmingham Conservation Trust (BCT). I was lucky enough to attend a recent meeting at Bells Farm with BCT, The Spearhead Trust (who use the existing part of the building for their valuable community activities) and Nick Joyce Architects LLP for initial discussions on the future restoration plans for the property.
The rear wing of this very special Grade II* listed, 17th century, timber framed farmhouse was seriously damaged by fire over 20 years ago and BCT have been asked to carry out an Options Appraisal to identify costs to restore it and a sustainable use to ensure its future. This is being done over the next few months and should lead to a bright new future for Bells Farm.
Which sort of sums up where we are at the moment.
IS THIS WHERE ST JUDES SCHOOL WAS BUILT.
Hi Angie, St Judes Primary school is just off Bells Lane, behind Baverstock School. The school next to Bells Farm is Bells Farm Primary School. Best wishes Elizabeth
I’m after if anyone knows if there are any pics of the old barracks or barns on the tank ramp site, i’d love to know what it looked like in it’s prime
Hi,Like everyone else came upon this site by accident. I lived in Walkers Heath Road from 1955 until 1975. Opposite where I lived were the football fields then through them the rugby fields. We used to play on them for hours. At the bottom of the fields was Druids Heath where all the prefabs were. I remember playing in the gardens of the empty ones.There was a big half timber framed house on the left which was owned or worked on by the residents of Monyhull Colony. I have a vague recollecion of a church building of some kind on Druids Heath which we thought was haunted. I went to Broadmeadow when Mr Pascoe was the Head Teacher, happy days. The Cartland Arms was still a huge pub and opposite was a parade of shops including a sweet shop, chip shop, greengrocer/butchers and a grocers. Happy days!
I was just wondering why my comments were deleted re the tank ramp site?
Hi,
So sorry we have deleted your comments. It was not intended. We have been doing a lot of work on the website over the last few weeks in the background and it must have disappeared as part of the reformatting. If you want to send them again we would be happy to put them up again.
best wishes, Elizabeth
Hello,
Found this site while reminicing…ho-hum.
I used to live as a child, well, until I was fourteen actually, in a prefab on the site that is Druids Heath. I was a pupil at Bells Lane infant/junior school. I remember this farm very well when it was in full production, so to speak.
There were two types of prefab: up the hill towards the Maypole were what we called the asbestos type, while at the other end, as it were, were the aluminium type; the type I lived in,
The brook(chinbrook} runs through the center and I have many memories of going home soaking wet having fell in it loads of times – we (my friends and myself) – used to do what is called ‘bashes’ across it; i.e. jumping across at difficult parts.
There used to be two wooden bridges at each end – Druids and Bells lane – with woods near by…..I can’t write anymore as too many memories.
Many say that they should never have been demolished, and I agree; well not at the time they did.(like the railways, I suppose!?). The clearance started with the ‘asbestos, type. I remember it clearly.
My parants moved nearer to Kings Norton although, some years later, they moved to Druids Heath but on the far side near to the Alcestor road.
Would be interesting to see/hear if anyone I know/knew visits this site – especially if they attended Bells Lane during the 50′s?
Thankyou.
Graham. .
The prefabs and surrounding area was the most wonderfull place to grow up in.
Bells Lane school was a pleasant place most of the time, the playgrounds were covered with wicked grit so that when we fell over our knees were ripped to pieces, we were taken to the secretaries office who delighted in washing out the grit with Dettol and then applying Iodine , ouch.
Just found an old photo of myself at the coronation party held at the school blowing up a balloon, also in the picture is a lad which I think was Johnny Morrow and his older brother, also a lad called Dennis (he lived by the pig bin in Winterbourne Crescent) , also a lad not sure of his first name but his surname was Frear, great memories.
The head master had an aerial photo of the area in his office.
The chinn brook was full of gobby’s and sticklebacks , we used to dare each other to wade under the road bridges in Bells Lane and Druids Lane.
The greenwood in Bells Lane by the Chinnbrook was reported to be haunted and if you ventured in there you would be kidnapped by Gypsies and sold (older peoples way of keeping us out of wood).
When the hay was baled in the fields down Druids Lane we all used to stack the bales into piles and make forts, ships etc, great fun, the farmer that chased us was not amused.
Could go on for hours but I will save it for another time.
I started school in Sep 1951 at Bells Lane, I was 4.
I believe Mr Pascoe was the Head, my sister had already done two years there.
We were living in Oaklands Road in a prefab since 1948, which backed onto the farm.
We moved in October 1951 to a 3 bed house in Ward End.
Does anyone have a street map of the area as it was in 1950?
I have seen an ariel photo
Found this site by accident. I lived in a prefab in Bells Lane from 1946. – 1950 and attended Bells Lane school. I remember the German prisoners of war building prefabs and my mother trading coffee for handmade toys which they made out of wood. The blacksmiths, the Maypole grocery shop, gyp sys traveller caravans coming each year to work on the fields are all part of my early memories. I also remember helping on the farm situated off Druids Lane and getting a new laid egg as payment!
hello all,
could do with some help? i am after any plans of the old farm house down druids Lane by the “Tank Ramps” or HAA Site and if anyone has it a layout of the sewage routes thruogh that area during the time of the farm or HAA Site
Thanks
Bell’s Farm – result! « Birmingham Conservation Trust August 4, 2011
[...] Farm has always got you talking on this site – as we found with the number of comments on this post alone. Clearly you all care a great deal about the building and we are really delighted that all our [...]
Like most of the correspondants I have stumbled acros this website and having lived in the area all my life. We moved to the maypole in 1946 and lived in the house on the corner of Druids Lane and the Alcester Road.The Bookie refered to earlier used to park his car on the wide verge adjacent to our hedge. a detail is that it was a Triumph Renown, the bigger sister to the Mayflower. The farm opposite the end of Crabmill Lane was Maypole Farm and was farmed by Mr Percy Warren but I think owned by Taylor Estates of Birmingham. He moved there just after the 2nd war, and I am sure there is an old 16mm film made by British Railways about the move. Perhaps an avid researcher might be able to unearth this. The farm referred to “over the brow of the first hill in Druids Lane was KIngswood Farm, farmed by Mr Bob Hooper who was also an agricultural contractor. The gun site was part of this farm and access to it was from Crabmill Lane.Although now the site is very overgrown I’m sure the gun foundations will still be there as they were when I was a kid playing over there. The foundations were huge, about 15 feet diameter concrete circles with large 2 inch diameter bolts sticking up.The tank ramps referred to were to give greater elevation to the aircraft tracking equipment used then. For many years the filter beds for the sewage treatment works for the accomodation could be seen in the field adjacent to the no.50 bus terminus in Druids Heath.The area has just gone up for sale but still remains unsold. Any future purchaser will have great fun digging out the foundations, Bob Hooper never bothered because he said it wasnt worth the effort.
Thank you for all your recollections – they really bring the formerly rural place to life. Good luck in your hunt for old photos and please keep us posted with your updates.
Hi Neil
There were two bridges over the chin brook, a road and a wooden bridge(pedestrian)on Bells lane and the same on Druids lane, the road from the Druids lane bridge walking into the woods were the remains of an old watermill we spent many hours catching small fish in the small ponds there.
Coming from the Maypole along Druids lane on the right was a farm (now gone)opposite Crabmill lane (just before were Baverstock school is now built), passing the junction of bells lane/druids lane and staying on druids there is a small farm with an orchard just before the old houses, then a couple of hundred yards on the left was the drive to Warrens farm (tank ramps)my mother and other women off the estate used to go pea picking on warrens farm and travel to the fields on a farm trailer.
Down Bells lane about 1/4 of a mile from the fork of the road druids/bells and triangulation point on the right hand side used to be an old timber framed cottage (approx were the shops are now and Phoenix pub),this was knocked down about 1957 (should have been preserved).
At the maypole near the 50 bus terminus on the start of druids lane there was a grocery shop and just behind it was the blacksmiths, I remember helping the blacksmith stoke the forge with coke and being allowed to hammer the red hot metal into shoes and hold the horses whilst he put the new shoes on (the smell of burning hoof still lingers in my memory).
Unfortunately I have no photographs of the prefabs or surrounding area, apart from some taken at Bells lane school during the coronation party.
Cheers
Hi Jim
What great recollections, thank you. Particularly confirming the existance and location of the bridges. None of my family recall them but I knew I hadn’t imagined it even though I must have been very young when they were covered over.
I’m even more curious now to find some photos of the place pre-Druids Heath
Thanks again
When I taught at Sir Theodore/The Oaks in Bells Lane we used to have a large aeriel photo of the prefab estate as it was just after the war.Might be worth contacting the school – mention my name!
Hello Mr Hicks! You taught me in the late 80′s – you were a great teacher, thank you!
Hello Stephen – you were a great pupil!
Hope life is going well for you.
I second the previous comment by Stephen, although you never taught me I always wanted to be in your class. I was in Mr Reynolds’ class (which was an experience in itself). I just remember you being a very approachable and caring teacher. Good luck in your retirement
Hello Craig, Thank you for the good wishes. I remember you and Claire – hope you are well and are enjoying life. I suppose we are both part of the history of STP School!
When I first started at Sir Theodore in 1974 I taught Karl W. who lived with his family in Bells Farmhouse.
I very rarely visit Druids Heath as I now live in North Wales, I am very good friends with John Nelder and Lee Warburton who also remember you as being a “superb” teacher. Do you still keep in touch with any of the old teachers? Life is good for me, I live in a lovely part of Wales and I even went to University to study Environmental Science. I have very fond memories of STP (football on the concrete pitch, sports day and the famous cricket ball throw). If only life was that easy and simple now.
Hello I have just stumbled across this site.
My Grandparents ran the grocery shop by the Blacksmiths which was knocked down to build the Hollywood bypass. I have a couple of photos and also a painting of the shop which was done by a lady that lived locally.
They used to have bikes left in the yard behind all day while people went to work on the bus. They also did Tea’s for the bus drivers when the 50 terminus was at the Maypole. My Grandparents names were Lesley and Winifred Haydon and my Mom, Barbara Poulton worked in the shop too. I used to be there all day when I was little and then after school. Nobody else seems to remember the shop so I am glad to see you mention it.
Fantastic! We will pass on all your recollections to the people at Bell’s Farm
Hi Jim
Like you, I have some fabulous memories about growing up in that area but I have only ever known the place as it is now (more or less). I have been trying for ages to find photos of the prefabs and even before they were built (I think it was a Golf Coursew). I knew nothing of the shops and Post Office you mentioned but I do remember the farm buildings with different coloured walls. In fact, I was pointed towards some photographs that might bring back a few memories for you. If you copy and paste the web address below into your address bar and then scroll down I think you’ll find them interesting.
I also have a vague memory of a small rickety wooden bridge/walkway in front of the farm buildings but the other side of Bells Lane which, presumably, crossed the Chinn Brook. Do you remember it at all?
Good luck
http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/view/series/Birmingham=27s_Buildings_and_Urban_Topography.html
As a young lad I grew up in the prefabs that were built between the Cartland Arms and Maypole pubs, sandwiched between Druids lane and Bells lane, as a youth I delivered morning papers to Kingswood farm and tried to avoid the snapping corgis, the tank ramps used to be an anti aircraft and searchlight unit, the old army huts served as temporary housing for homeless families until the prefabs were built.
We lived in the prefabs from 1947/8 until they were torn down in 1964, I went to Bells lane infant junior school, on the wall in the headmasters office (Mr Pascoe) hung an aerial photo of the estate showing the two types of building building materials, aluminum (majority) and asbestos at the Maypole end of the estate.
In Bells lane was the Bells farm buildings, amazing place pigsties cattle sheds, the workers on the farm mainly resided in Monyhull Hall hospital.
There were two blocks of shops, Winterbourne Crescent,( CoOp store and Butchers, also chip shop etc) and Wilsford Road, PO, hardware and news agents.
Wonderful memories of field,s woods, cows, the chinn brook, coronation party at Bells lane school(not Bells Farm or Pritchard schools)long walks to catch a no 50 or 18 bus, taking bets for my dad to the bookies runners at the Cartland Arms(now Macdonalds)or to Reg in his Triumph mayflower car opposite the blacksmiths at the maypole.
Happy days.
My wife as a child lived in the “American” style prefabs in Druids Heath, Maypole lane possibly early fifties but finding archive photos is proving difficult,any prefab photos she has seen are not like the one she lived in…
Hello, do you mean the houses that was where sainsburys is now ??
Hi my Nan, Grandad and Dad lived in one of those army huts after the war. Mr Grandad was a sergeant in The Royal Berkshire Yeomanry and had served in India and other places. When he came back they had knowhere to live so they stayed in the huts. Grandads name is Bill Crump and he is still alive aged 93. His wife was Phylis (Now passed away)and my dad is Anthony Crump.
does anyone have any photos or more infomation on the AA site? if you do could you let me know please? and just to let everyone know the land has now been sold and will be built on by the RSPCA for a rescue centre, they have strted removing the scrub and you can see more foundations of buildings and stuff. i also found a old number plate: 82 29 WD does anyone know where i can get any info on this?
Thanks Ryan
Just stumbled accross the site. Very interesting.I’m a former resident of the Estate, recollecting my childhood in Baverstock Road.I have foggy memories of being involved as a very young child in the planting of a commemorative tree in the grounds of Sir Theodore Pritchett School and certainly remember the Tank Ramps.I’ll drop by to look at any updates with real interest!
Hi Carl, We have been in touch with our consultant, Stephen Price, and he sent the following information:
‘ From the description Carl gives I think he is referring to Kingswood Farm. Confusingly there were two Kingswood Farms at the Maypole, the
other being Kingswood House Farm which was north of the Maypole on the western side of the Alcester Road, close to the site of Maypole Library. I knew both reasonably well in the 1960s and photographed Kingswood Farm off Druid’s Lane in 1966. It is reproduced in King’s Norton: A History by George Demidowicz & Stephen Price, (Phillimore & Co, 2009) p.85.
And Carl is right about the wartime remains there. I remember them too.They have become part of the archaeology of the second world war now and have been the subject of a recent survey. See Mick
Wilks The Defence of Worcestershire and the southern approaches to Birmingham in World War II (Logaston Press, 2007). There’s a section about the anti-aircraft gun site there with photographs, plans and detailed drawings between pages 172-174.’
Hope this helps and gives you some interesting things to follow up. Thank you for sharing your recollections with us.
Hi Lucie/Carl
I stumbled on to this site, and so this thread, by chance and am so glad I did. Carl and I have a couple of things in common; I grew up in the area Carl is speaking of at about the same time and I also have an interest in old buildings. I suppose because they’re a tangible link to the people and places that have shaped us.
From time to time I have “dabbled” in some local history research in that very area. About a year ago I tried to find out more about the “Tank Ramps” Carl mentions but got very frustrated at the lack of information (I am in no doubt it has more to do with my underwhelming research skills as opposed to the lack of data). As a youngster I had been told that the tank ramps were a part of a tank repair station during the war. That it was placed there because it was easy to camouflage from Strikes from the air and reduce collateral damage should it be targetted. I couldn’t find anything to support this “myth”. I am just about to order the two books you mentioned. I can’t wait to get them, thanks.
I said that I had dabbled in the past which really means that I have tried, on five or six occasions, to find pictures of the Druids Heath area prior, during and just post development. Each time I have been sidetracked when a snippet of information has stirred my curiosity and sent me off on a tangent. These tangents have usually created as many questions for me as they’ve answered.
So, apart from the tank ramps and pictures of Druids Heath’s construction I have also tried (and failed) to get pictures and information about Moundsley Hall (Now an old people’s home). It used to belong to a prominent family in the area by the name of Field I believe. I would like to know how such a beautiful building came to be in such dis-repair (prior re-development). Do you know where I could find any of either photos or info?
I have also tried to find a picture of former conservative councillor (and Director of Aston Villa Football Club) Sir Theodore Pritchett who opened the junior school in his name and who spent his childhood in that area.
But, most of all I would like to find pictures of the area before and maybe during it’s construction. I believe that there were originally pre-fabs on the site are there any photo’s of them. What before that? I know there were farms owned by the Drews and Risbridger families.
There is an information placque on a small obalisk where Druids Lane and Bells Lane meet (opposite Baverstock school) that explains that it’s situation is the highest point of land in Birmingham. I would love to think that photos were taken from that point throughout recent years. The view is magnificent.
Many thanks
Hi Neil
Wow! Lots of interesting things to follow up there!
The place most likely to have old photographs and information is Birmingham Central Library Archives, based on the 6th floor. They have loads of interesting photographs and Moundesley Hall is likely to be catalogued.
I found an interesting web site which you may have already seen, but it has a potted history of the Hall (and loads of other information about Birmingham)so it is worth a look. http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-m/moundsley/
You might also find a photograph of Sir Theodore Pritchett in the Archives, unless there are any Aston Villa fans out there who can help.
Good luck in your search and keep us posted!
Hi Lucie
Thanks for the pointers. I’l let you know how I get on.
hi every body, what a response. the only info i can give really is as follows.
i am now 43 years old and lived in druids heath all my life. when i was a child my father used to take me scrumping over what was called the old field. ?
however the site is. if you come down bells lane from the maypole to baverstock school. (formerly the maypole) you turn left directly opposite the school into druids lane you come past the tower blocks and opposite these are some old buildings this was known then as barrys farm when i was young these are still there.
you carry on past these down the lane and just as you get to the top of the 1st brow of the hill on the left hand side there was a turning on the left hand side. this was blocked off with dirt many years prior. however if you could turn left you then go into the fields along a old sort of road for about 100 yards this is the location of the site all the kids when were young new this site as the air raid shelters. you can still clearly see the site and remenence of gardens stables orchards etc. however i do think that the main entrance may of been off crabmill lane this side was nown as the tank ramps.? due to the funny concrete structure in the middle of the field which looks like a ramp for tanks. hence tank ramps i now this site was flat over 40 years ago and much longer.? ive heard this site may be due for re development and it would be a crime to loose it forever. by the way when i was about 6/7 me and my freind nicked apples from trees in the back yard of bells farm befor the new estate whent up. the photos bought back so many good memories. thanks hope we can sort this mistry out. carl redden. p,s let me now if i can help any more
Hi Carl,
We have got lots of historic maps of this area as part of the research for Bell’s Farm so if you could give us more of a clue, either what it looks like or where it is, I am sure we could find the farm you are looking for. Also the consultant we used for the research is very knowledgeable and we could probably pick his brains about old photographs.
I look forward to hearing from you.
The only one I can think of is Daisy Farm, now I can’t fully remember if this was on the Baverstock School side or over the Maypole Island on the other side (towards Solihull) but i definitely remember it was in that area. Hope it is the one you mean….!
i am intrested in old propertys myself. i have been looking for some photos of the old deralict farm off druids lane about 250 yards down from baverstock school. not the 1st farm but the one further down up the old trackway. it was a old haunt when i was a child. hope you can help. carl
Umh – Hi Carl, that’s an interesting problem – can you pinpoint it on a map? If you use http://maps.google.co.uk/ and then create a map using my maps you can put a pin where you mean and show us – that way we might be able to find some images.