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Gilbertstone

Dennis Williams

Gone but not forgotten
Gilbertstone
It is unknown where the name actually came from but a local legend states that a man named Gilbert lifted an enormous stone to move the boundaries between his and another person's land so that he could gain more land. The supposed stone, which is an erratic from the Ice Age, is now kept at Blakesley Hall in Yardley.

Gilbertstone was shown as a separate entity to Yardley in John Ogilby's strip map of Coventry Road. Gilbertstone developed as a result of the construction of the now-demolished Gilbertstone House, which was built between 1866 and 1867 for Samuel Thornley, on the site of a small farmhouse. It was bought by Richard Tangye in 1883, a major benefactor to the Birmingham Art Gallery. The house had extensive grounds which crossed into the area of Lyndon End and Bickenhill. It had a pool with a boathouse. On the side of the house was a 65-foot (20 m) tall tower.

It was recorded in 1905 that the mansion and grounds straddled the boundaries of the counties of Warwickshireand Worcestershire.

Thomas Rowbotham lived in the house whilst developing the nearby roads. He gave land for the construction of St. Michael and All Angels Church, although that piece was exchanged for the site the church was actually built on. He also sold various pieces of land for development. Sir Hanson Rowbotham sold the estate for £250,000 and the house was demolished in 1937.

The 300-acre estate was to be used for the construction of 3,000 houses, however, World War II suspended the construction of the properties on site. Visitors to the farmhouse and the manor on its site included John Bright,Catherine Hutton, William Hutton's daughter, and members of the Royal Colonial Institute.

The area the estate covered is now crossed by Saxondale Avenue, which is the exact location of the house, Sunnymead Road and parts of Wensley Road, Brays Road and Wychwood Crescent.

The joint owner of our old house and land here in Church Road is given in the deeds of 1896 as living at the Lodge of Gilbertstone Hall….small world….

Here’s a bit from Faces and Places 1889….

GILBERTSTONE: THE RESIDENCE' OF MR. TANGYE. '
A VERY pleasant residence, as all those who have visited it must admit, is Gilbertstone. Situated 'in the Coventry Road', but several miles from the City and its toil and tumult, it is surrounded on every side by charming natural scenery .. ' At Gilbertstone the atmosphere of the country is breathed, and in the summer days it would be difficult to select a place at once so picturesque and SO charming to the view. The building, which is now Mr. Richard Tangye's Birmingham home, where he resides the greater part of the year, took the place of an old mansion. It therefore is not only a modern residence, fulfilling in its structural arrangements all the later-day requirements of a dwelling place, but has the advantage of having attached to it delightful old gardens in which there is, a fine collection of plants and' flowers. At one spot in the grounds, which; with the long adjoining stretch of fields, cover many acres, there is a huge stone which marks the boundary lines between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Within the grounds are walks at least two miles in extent, the beauty of which those alone who have seen and traversed them can appreciate. Gilbertstone stands 750 feet above the sea level, and from its tower, which is 65 feet high, are extensive views. About fifteen church towers and spires are visible from it.

The Coventry Road has very much altered its character since the advent of railways. Anamusing instance of this Mr.Tangye 'himself' relates. He states that an old' roadman, who had mended that part of the Coventry Road adjoining Gilbertstone for more than forty years, told him that he could recollect “when there were more than forty coaches on the road”; and he added, regretfully : "I be sorry they baint on now, for I got more from the coaches in passing than from the parish for mending the roads." ,
 

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It looks like Gilbertstone House may have been built before the date mentioned. There is a mention of a daughter of S Thornley of GH in 1822, but I can’t locate the clip. There is a definite one from 1843.
 
It looks like the same description is given in Wikipedia...

Gilbertstone was shown as a separate entity to Yardley in John Ogilby's strip map of Coventry Road.[2] Gilbertstone developed as a result of the construction of the now-demolished Gilbertstone House, which was built between 1866 and 1867 for Samuel Thornley,[3][4] on the site of a small farmhouse.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbertstone
 
The Gilbertstone: a little known furore

The Gilbertstone was a glacial erratic from North Wales. William Dargue's brilliant site thinks it was probably named after the Gilbert family who were land owners in the area in the medieval period. It was originally at the junction of Manor House Lane/Ollerton Road where the parish boundaries of Sheldon, Yardley & Bickenhill met.

Road works in 1937 caused it to be moved to Coventry Road west of Brays Road and in 1952 to the grounds of Lyndon Grove Junior School where it lay half buried and forgotten until 1975. At the time Gerald Thompson, the librarian at South Yardley Library, was establishing a heritage collection at the library and came across references to the Gilbertstone and decided to investigate. He located the stone and obtained approval for it to be moved to the entrance hall of the library and mounted on a plinth suitably inscribed. This was carried out and a little bit of local heritage was again accessible to local people and an information leaflet was compiled.

WHAM! BANG! SHOCK HORROR!

The powers that be at the Birmingham Museum then found out and a turf war started. To cut it short the Museum claimed that the stone was an "object" and within their sphere of interest and not the libraries. The Museum won and it was promptly moved to the grounds of Blakesley Hall for "safe keeping"!

It's just my personal opinion but I think it would have been better left in the library where it was much more accessible to local people.
 
I am sure that I remember Boswell Taylor, the headteacher of Lyndon Green School at the time, telling us in assembly about the transporting of the Gilberstone from the Coventry Road to the school. He said an old legend had it that it would take six men and the Devil to move it. I assume he stood in for the latter.
 
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