Weoley Castle | |
---|---|
Weoley Castle Square | |
Location within the West Midlands | |
Metropolitan borough | |
Metropolitan county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | BIRMINGHAM |
Postcode district | B29 |
Dialling code | 0121 |
Police | West Midlands |
Fire | West Midlands |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Weoley Castle is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The area is part of the Weoley local authority electoral ward, and also comes under the Northfield local council constituency. The suburb of Weoley Castle is bordered by Selly Oak to the east, Harborne to the north, Bartley Green to the west, and Weoley Hill and Shenley Fields to the south.
Weoley Castle Square is a shopping area at the heart of Weoley Castle. It includes a very large traffic island and during the 1950s prefabricated bungalows of a type known locally as 'prefabs' were on this central island. [1] Today Birmingham City Council maintains the island as a recreation area with benches trees and mown grass. Round the recreation area are a health centre, shops selling economically priced goods and a market. [2] [3] Shops have also been there since at least the 1930s. [1]
The area takes its name from the ruins of a moated and fortified manor house, now owned by Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. The castle ruins are a Grade II listed building, [4] and the site became a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1934. [5] The castle's individual name is from the Old English "Wēo-lēah" meaning "temple clearing". Before the Christian era there may have been a heathen temple here. [6]
Between 1960 and 1961 excavations took place at Weoley Castle which unearthed a 13th-century wooden building. The substantial stone remains and the moat can be seen from the viewing platform which is open daily. A recent Heritage Lottery, Birmingham City Council and English Heritage funded project has led to consolidation of the ruins and the creation of a community education centre where schools sessions, community meetings and events are held. The ruins are supported by a volunteer group called the Castle Keepers.
Weoley Castle Library located at Weoley Castle Square serves the district. The library includes a local history section, [7] a Pre-school playgroup, drop in advice from Age UK and councillors' surgeries. [8]
Weoley Castle Museum is a visitor attraction that is also located in the suburb. Weoley Castle Walkway is an area of recreation ground that is located mainly within Selly Oak and Quinton. The Lapal Canal is within the grounds and is maintained by the Lapal Canal Trust
Weoley Castle was mostly developed for council housing during the 1930s, and in 1935 the 10,000th council house in Birmingham was officially opened in Hopstone Road by the later Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. This made Birmingham the first local authority in Britain to build 10,000 council properties – just 15 years after building its first. The completed Weoley Castle housing estate consisted of nearly 3,000 homes. [9]
Buses serving Weoley Castle area include:
Northfield is a residential area in outer south Birmingham, England, and near the boundary with Worcestershire, which it was historically within. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the wards of Kings Norton, Longbridge, Weoley Castle and the smaller ward of Northfield that includes West Heath and Turves Green.
Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harborne are to the north of the Bourn Brook, which was the former county boundary, and to the south are Weoley, and Bournville. A district committee serves the four wards of Selly Oak, Billesley, Bournville and Brandwood. The same wards form the Birmingham Selly Oak constituency, represented since 2010 by Steve McCabe (Labour). Selly Oak is connected to Birmingham by the Pershore Road (A441) and the Bristol Road (A38). The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham Cross-City Railway Line run across the Local District Centre.
Birmingham, a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England, is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom.
Bartley Green is a residential suburban area and electoral ward in Birmingham, England, 5 miles (8 km) south west of the city centre. The ward is part of the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency and is represented in parliament by Labour Co-operative MP Preet Gill.
Quinton is a suburb and ward of Birmingham, England, 5 miles (8 km) west of the city centre. Formerly part of Halesowen parish, Quinton became part of Birmingham in 1909. Quinton was a village and the surrounding area was farmland until the 1930s when the first housing estates were developed. Most of the farmland had been built on by 1980 but some countryside remains in the form of Woodgate Valley Country Park. Along with Bartley Green, Harborne and Edgbaston, Quinton is within the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.
West Heath is a residential area of Birmingham, England on the boundary with Worcestershire. Forming the larger part of the ward of Longbridge And West Heath it is situated between Kings Norton, Northfield, Longbridge and Cofton Hackett and lies on traditional heathland formed in the 13th century as part of the Kings Norton manorial lands, and was historically in Worcestershire.
Birmingham Edgbaston is a constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Preet Gill, a Labour Co-op MP.
Birmingham Northfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Gary Sambrook, a Conservative. It represents the southernmost part of the city of Birmingham.
Bournbrook is an industrial and residential district in southwest Birmingham, England, in the ward of Bournbrook and Selly Park and the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Selly Oak. Before 2018 it was in Selly Oak Council Ward. Prior to what is commonly termed the Greater Birmingham Act, which came into effect on 9 November 1911, the Bourn Brook watercourse was the North Eastern boundary of Worcestershire, and the area was locally governed by the King's Norton and Northfield Urban District Council.
King's Norton and Northfield Urban District was a local government administrative district in north Worcestershire, England, from 1898 until 1911. Much of its area was afterwards absorbed into the neighbouring Borough of Birmingham, under the Greater Birmingham Scheme, and now constitutes most of the city's southern and southwestern suburban environs.
Lodge Hill Cemetery is a municipal cemetery and crematorium in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. The cemetery was first opened by King’s Norton Rural District Council in 1895, and during the 1930s became the site of Birmingham's first municipal crematorium.
St. Gabriel's Church, Weoley Castle is a parish church in the Church of England located in Weoley Castle, Birmingham.
The Selly Oak local council ward was one of the 40 electoral wards for the City of Birmingham, England prior to 2018. It was also one of the four wards that make up the local council constituency of Selly Oak, the other three being the wards of Billesley, Bournville and Brandwood.
California is a small suburban area of Birmingham, England. It lies 4 miles (6.4 km) south west of Birmingham city centre, near to Woodgate Valley Country Park. It is within Bartley Green ward and the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.
Selly Oak Park is a public park in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. It is close to the University of Birmingham. The stump from the "Selly Oak", a large oak tree on Oak Tree Lane was situated in the park after it was felled in 1909.
Weoley Castle is the remains of a fortified manor house located in the Birmingham district of Weoley Castle, a primarily residential area, in the English West Midlands. Owned by Birmingham City Council and administered as a community museum by Birmingham Museums Trust, it is a Grade II listed building and a Scheduled monument. The castle was on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, but was removed in 2009 following repair work.