Bournville Hall

[Mike Fisher]

Can anyone tell me whereabouts this is/was ?

 

[Vivienne14]

Thought it might be Bournville Ruskin Hall but doesn't look like it now I compare. Maybe there's a connection though. Viv.

 

[mikejee]

The Hall has been on the forum before on thread https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26791, but it is Bournbrook hall, not Bournville Hall. the photos were lost , but i have just reinstated them. It was on Bournville lane and was demolished in 1907 to make way for the Girls Grounds. The name Bournville only existed with the move of Cadbury's to the area, and the Hall was considered to be 100 years old when Richard Cadbury bought it in 1895. It is thought that originally it was the property of the Izon family, then bought by richard Stock, a glass & lead merchant, and later owner by someone called Martin. As part of the girls grounds, like the cricket pitch in front of the factory, due to the foresight of the Cadbury Family, it is, as i have pointed out before , safe from the depredations of crooked American firms, being under the control of the trust not the company.

 

[leslam]

Sorry Mike - I can typed this in before your reply arrived. I'll leave it here to show how reports can differ!!

An entry on Rootsweb says "Bournville Hall was a Georgian house and adjacent land
purchased by the firm in 1893 from the Martin family. Some 24 acres of
meadows and parklands were set aside as recreation grounds for the
employees. I have a photograph of the old house if you are interested.
It was demolished sometime in the 1930's I believe."

Employees = employees of Cadbury's

I'll see if I can find it on a map.....

 

[mikejee]

I 'm not old enough (!) to hav eseen it for myself, but the c1905 & c1921 maps below show it disappeared between the two surveys, which were probably about 2-3 years before dates listed on map. I note that the 1905 map does call it Bournville Hall, so they must have changed its name in the short period of Cadbury ownership before demolition

 

[Gorswen65]

Hi. Very interested in this post, I am descended from Richard Stock's nephew Joseph. This family owned the British Crown Glass Company which ultimately went into the Chance glass businesses, being sold after Richard's death. He had no children. I have some data about Joseph and his family living at the hall but am intrigued by the reference that Richard bought it. I had suspected this however had never seen reference to it. May I ask your source for this? Interested in anything else about him or the hall also. As I understand it the glass factory was quite close by. much appreciated

 

[Vivienne14]

This article suggests Bournbrook Hall was bought by the Cadbury family from the Martin family. The map in the article names it as Bournbrook Hall so it must be pre-1905 of Mike's map in post #5. It's possibly a pre-1879 map as the station was re-named Stirchley Street & Bournville after Cadbury's opened it's factory there. ihttps://2yearsatmargaretstreet.wordpress.com/tag/bournbrook-hall/

Also the kitchen garden wall still exists and is listed. Viv

 

[Gorswen65]

That fits. Sarah Stock, the widow of Joseph Stock died in 1865 and it is then that I understood Bournbrook Hall was sold, presumably to the Martins and then to the Cadburys. I visited and walked through the gardens last August/September. Harriet Stock, daughter of Joseph and Sarah married Robert Smith Bartleet of Redditch. She donated the fountain that to this day features on the Redditch village green.

 

[pjmburns]

Joseph Stock is on the electoral roll of 1838 at Bournbrook Hall.

It is Bournbrook Hall on a map surveyed in 1882.


Janice

 

[Vivienne14]

Think this must be part of the kitchen garden wall on the corner of Bournville Lane and Linden Road. Looks like it once somehow gave access to the Hall/kitchen garden at this point. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

An aerial view of the kitchen garden. Looks at least the size of a football pitch! Note the doorway in the white wall. Maybe it gave access to potting sheds etc on the other side of the wall. You can still see the crop rows showing through the browned grass. Viv

 

[mikejee]

Am not sure where i got the original information. The Stocks certainly lived in the Hall (https://www.users.waitrose.com/~stmarysellyoak/History/The Story of Selly Oak.pdf), but I may have assumed they sold it directly to the Cadburys. Certainly Deborah Cadbury states that the Cadburys skated on the pool when they first moved to Bournville and said the Martins allowed them to do so. ( https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...AEwAzgU#v=onepage&q="bournbrook hall"&f=false ). However Joseph Stock died in 1858 and in 1866 the contents of the Hall were sold(see attachment), and in the 1860s the Hall was advertised to rent.(attached). Whether they held on to the ownership and just rented, or sold to the Martins, I don't know.

 

[Gorswen65]

They definitely sold in 1865/66 after Sarah Stock, Joseph's widow died. Presumably straight to the Martins but not certain.

 

[Gorswen65]

Damn. I didn't walk quite far enough. When I visited last year I saw what some reported was a pond during the cadbury days but the basement of Bournbrook Hall earlier. I can see it above next to the garden wall. my pic is attached.

 

[Vivienne14]

I wondered whether the 'pond' feature was part of the Hall as Mike's 1905 map places it roughly where the Hall buildings once stood. Looks like the Hall was made up of two buildings at that time. Viv.

 

[Gorswen65]

Yes, I have read that it was. It is not overly large but of course the buildings could easily have spread beyond the below ground component.

 

[Stitcher]

I have no date for this, could that be Bourneville Hall on the left.

 

[Pedrocut]

Joseph Stock was at Bournbrook Hall in 1850, he may of bought it around 1827 when Mrs J Izon was selling off the farming stock and said to be leaving.

 

[mikejee]

No Stitcher, that is not Bournville hall, but part of the original factory before they built the large dining /etc block. you can seethe girl's baths in the distance on the same side of the road

 

[Stitcher]

Thanks for that Mike.