Local History 4

Photograph copyright Roy Hughes

The horse trough was refurbished and Julie Kirkbridge MP was asked to "open" the new trough in April 2006

Lickey War Memorial Junction of Monument Lane and Old Birmingham Road, Lickey, Worcestershire, B45 9QQ

Photograph copyright Roy Hughes

The memorial is now now Grade II listed and Lickey Hills History Society are researching all the names on it.

Lickey Monument

Photograph copyright Roy Hughes November 1995

Built in 1834 the large obelisk of Anglesey marble, was erected in memory of 5th Earl of Plymouth, by the Worcestershire Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry, with funds raised by public subscription. The inscription reads "To commend to imitation the exemplary private virtues of Other Archer 6th Earl of Plymouth".  It is now Grade II listed. In 1995 the Monument was restored and cleaned and re-dedicated. the photograph was taken at that ceremony. 

 

CARL CHINN - "LICKEY HILLS, A WORLD OF MAKE-BELIEVE" 

Carl Chinn takes a stroll down memory lane across The Lickey Hills.
(Article and photo Lickey Hills in the 70's: B'ham Mail 12/8/2013)

Lickey Road was the entrance to a world of make-believe for hundreds of thousands of Brummie children. Catching the tram from Navigation Street, they would alight at the terminal and then head off into the Lickey Hills for a day out in the country that was their holiday, fortified by bottles of cold tea and jam sandwiches wrapped up in pages from the Birmingham Mail
They followed in the steps of ancient peoples, for a flint arrow head and a flint scraping tool from the Neolithic period (New Stone Age) have been found on Rednal Hill. After the Norman invasion, the Lickeys were part of the royal Manor of Bromsgrove and a royal hunting ground.

The area was filled with deer and the Normans introduced rabbits that were kept in large enclosures known as warrens, hence Warren Lane. In 1682, Bromsgrove was sold by the crown to the Earl of Plymouth, whose descendants owned much of the Lickeys for the next 250 years.

One of those who was enraptured by the beauty of the unspoilt Lickey Hills was Elihu Burritt, the American consul to Birmingham. In his book, Walks in the Black Country (1868) he avowed that there were “no hills more grateful and delightful for airing one’s body and soul”. For this peculiar reason they were: “such happy picnic rendezvous, especially for men, women, and children of the mine and forge district; they are perfectly Scotch in cut and clothing. They are belted with genuine Scotch firs and larches; they are carpeted with genuine Scotch heather, which feels so elastic under your feet and gives such elasticity clear through you to every lock of your hair. The thymy incense of its purple flood of blossom you breathe in the air, and you feel as if on one of the Ochil Hills ...”
“These remarkable hills... supply Birmingham and other large towns far and near with bilberries of the finest size and flavour. So, any summer day in the year when the sun shines upon them, these hills are set to the music of merry voices of boys and girls, and older children who feel young on the purple heather at 50. Then the scenery from these tops embraces a vast sweep of fertile and beautiful country.”

In the late 19th century the coming of the railway and a station encouraged housing development around Barnt Green and there were concerns that the wondrous Lickeys would be lost to the urban outpouring of Birmingham. These were heightened in 1887 when the new owner of Rednal Hill divided it into building lots to be sold at auction. A local man was stirred to do something to prevent development. He was Mr T. Grosvenor Lee, who Robert Dent praised for at once taking the steps necessary to secure Rednal Hill and “preserve it in its present wild, forest-like condition for the enjoyment of the public”.
In 1882, as the Birmingham Daily Post explained, Mr Grosvenor Lee had championed the rights of the public when he had “sawed a gap in the fence with which the purchaser of the hill had enclosed, it, and so preserved the right of way over it”.
Now, and as the secretary of the Birmingham Association for the Preservation of Open Spaces and Public Footpaths, he was instrumental in opening a subscription to raise the money to buy Rednal Hill so that it might be made free to the public forever.

Richard Cadbury, of the chocolate-making business in Bournville, was the largest contributor, but with time pressing Mr Grosvenor Lee himself bought about 22 acres of the land for sale. He then went on to agree the purchase of more lots from other buyers, whilst Mr G. Underhill of Small Heath gifted the uncultivated portion of land that he had recently acquired. In May 1888, those plots that had been paid for were handed over to the Baths and Parks Committee.
Just over a year later, Mr Grosvenor Lee announced that the remaining area of Rednal Hill was now ready to be conveyed to the Corporation, to be kept open for ever as a place of public recreation. During this time Lord Windsor, the owner of the Lickey Estate, offered to the Corporation the adjoining Bilberry Hill on a 21-year lease at an annual rental of £5 which he would pay himself. The council readily accepted. The Baths and Parks Department rose to the challenge of caring for the hills with skill and care. Its stewardship was extended in 1904 when Barrow Cadbury presented a large piece of land adjoining Bilberry Hill and facing Rednal Hill. He was a worthy descendant of a Quaker family that was marked out by its social concern and action. A successful businessman, yet was Barrow Cadbury motivated by concern for the well-being of others. He gave three of his homes to good causes: Uffculme went to the Adult School Union; Cropwood became an Open Air School; and Southfield went to the YMCA. Barrow Cadbury also paid the cost of clearing from the gift of his Lickey site its buildings, which had disfigured the landscape. They were replaced with “a large refreshment hall, with seats for 2,513 visitors, private tea-rooms, bicycle storage, standing for horses and vehicles and other accommodations”.

In keeping with his religious beliefs, Barrow Cadbury made one condition – that the Corporation promised that no alcoholic drinks should be sold in the refreshment house. His generosity was matched by other members of the Cadbury family. In October, 1906, 34 acres at Rednal were given to the council by Edward Cadbury, George Cadbury the younger, and Henry T. Cadbury, who explained that: “our object in making this offer is to show in some practical form our desire for the welfare of Birmingham, in the government of which our great-grandfather, grandfather, and father have successively taken some little part”. This land was connected by a short public path with Rednal and Bilberry Hills, and it included the top of Beacon Hill. This was the highest point of the range and commanded a famous and extensive view.
The Cadburys continued to cherish the Lickeys. In 1913, the freehold of Bilberry Hill was acquired by the city from the Earl of Plymouth (formerly Lord Windsor) for £3,400, and within six years he had sold another 129 acres of wooded heights and pasture. This Rose Hill Estate was acquired by Edward Cadbury and George Cadbury junior and the trustees of the Common Good Trust. They then presented it to the city in 1919. It included the Rose and Crown and ornamental grounds and a lake.
In the following year the council bought Cofton Hill, Pinefields Woods and the Lickey Warren from the Earl of Plymouth. In total it covered 198 acres and was sold for £19,000. The council went on to purchase a further 28 acres, whilst the Cadbury family gifted 29 more. Finally in the late 1920s the council acquired the 134 acres of Low Hill Farm, opposite the expanding Longbridge car factory, thanks to the will of William Water Hinde. A Birmingham manufacturer, he had left £10,000 to the Corporation for this purpose and for “the recreation and pleasure of the people”. It was renamed Cofton Park in 1936.