• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Handaxe - Court Lane, Erdington

Lady Penelope

master brummie
Today I've been to the museum to see if I can find out any more about an ancient handaxe discovered in a garden in Court Lane. Bill Dargue says this about it:

One of Birmingham's oldest man-made objects was found lying on the surface of a garden in Court Lane, Erdington. A handaxe just 13cm long, it had been fashioned out of quartzite a quarter of a million years ago by Neanderthal people and is now exhibited in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

However, it's no longer on display and it's whereabouts are uncertain. It may be at Dollman Street but this is only open on the last Friday of the month, by appointment.

I'm sure, when I was younger, that you could wander round the museum for hours looking at different things. Now apparently there is an Egyptian Room, a Roman Room and a child orientated Birmingham Room. I was assured that it wasn't in any of these. The Saltley hand axe is though.

I believe it was found in the mid 20th century but where exactly I don't know. I'd love to know 'which end' of Court Lane it was.

I shall of course pursue the Dollman Street avenue but any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
In January 1961 there was a display of Midland's relics at the Bham and Midland Institute. The oldest was the Saltley Hand-axe, circa 40,000 BC, and found in the late 1800s.
 
The Saltley hand axe was found in the River Rea gravel area apparently, in 1890, when a pit was being dug for brick making. Other axes, not quite as old as the Saltley and Erdington ones have been discovered at Nechells, Edgbaston ans Sutton Coldfield.
 
I thought I had heard this story two, maybe on the Goosemoor Lane History site
 
I thought I had heard this story two, maybe on the Goosemoor Lane History site

Checking out the site it says...

Stone Age - Dwarf Holes
We do know people lived in this area in ancient times. These partly man-made stone-age caves were in Gravelly Hill and are mentioned in 1490 AD written records in fact. Locals used them in WWII as air-raid shelters. They were demolished to make way for Spaghetti Junction. A stone-age implement was dug up from a garden in Court Lane a few years back.

https://www.goosemoor-lane.com/history.htm

Probably a bit of wishful thinking to call them Stone Age?
 
Today I've been to the museum to see if I can find out any more about an ancient handaxe discovered in a garden in Court Lane. Bill Dargue says this about it:

One of Birmingham's oldest man-made objects was found lying on the surface of a garden in Court Lane, Erdington. A handaxe just 13cm long, it had been fashioned out of quartzite a quarter of a million years ago by Neanderthal people and is now exhibited in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

However, it's no longer on display and it's whereabouts are uncertain. It may be at Dollman Street but this is only open on the last Friday of the month, by appointment.

I'm sure, when I was younger, that you could wander round the museum for hours looking at different things. Now apparently there is an Egyptian Room, a Roman Room and a child orientated Birmingham Room. I was assured that it wasn't in any of these. The Saltley hand axe is though.

I believe it was found in the mid 20th century but where exactly I don't know. I'd love to know 'which end' of Court Lane it was.

I shall of course pursue the Dollman Street avenue but any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The Goosemoor Lane history was written in 2010 and says the object was found a few years back. No details.

It seems to me the the axe should be permanently on display at the Birmingham Museum. For such an important find you would think they would know where it is, and keep it well guarded.
 
The Saltley axe, according to Wikipedia, “was discovered in 1890 and thought to be approximately 500,000 years old. It was the first human artefact from the paleolithic era found in the English Midlands, which had previously been considered not to have been inhabited before the end of the last glacial period....and suggest that it was not found in situ, but was transported to its find site by the action of glacial meltwater.”

Well Lady P, does this tie in with your thread about Lake House?

There is a map on the thread showing the extent of the superficial deposits from the last ice
age. Court Lane is just in the deposit area, but some of Goosemoor Lane is not!

The Saltley hand axe was found in the River Rea gravel area apparently, in 1890, when a pit was being dug for brick making. Other axes, not quite as old as the Saltley and Erdington ones have been discovered at Nechells, Edgbaston ans Sutton Coldfield.
 
I found the Saltley one up in the Birmingham display but no sign of the Court Lane one.
Yes Pedro, I do think it would lend a little more weight to my lake theory although no help to the Lake House mystery.
The handaxe could also have been moved or dropped by traders en route for somewhere else so doesn't necessarily mean it was made there. I just find it frustrating that nobody knows where it is. I was hoping that there might be a write up in one of the papers but without a date to go on I don't hold out much hope.
As with everything else I'll just keep looking!
I've been reading about various ice ages but I'm still at the confused stage at present. I know there were several and it's the Devensian which applies in the case of the lake as I remember this from you post on the other thread.
 
Result. Thanks to the treasurer at Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group, who pursued the matter with Bill Dargue, I now know exactly where the axe was found. I'm enclosing a picture on which I've done my best to show the location of the relevant items. The pale green line is the original route of the Chester Road / Boundary which carries on, cutting Sycamore Road at the bend. The pink circle is approximately where the lake was before it disappeared completely. The little yellow square is the Greyhound and the blue pin marker with the grid reference is where the axe was found. Not sure what date the houses there were built but later than the ones on Court Lane itself, I believe. The site was originally farmland belonging to Cottage Farm and then sold to the College.

As Peter says, maybe deposited by a glacier.

All I have to do now is find out what the Museum has done with it!
 

Attachments

  • Handaxe Location 2.png
    Handaxe Location 2.png
    750.1 KB · Views: 38
Yes Pedro, it did originally but when the 'commons and wastes' were divided up and sold off the lake was drained and all that was left was a small 'pond' at the rear of the Greyhound. This was exactly where the deepest part of the larger lake was. I expect the glacier deposited lots of items on its way south. Or, alternatively, maybe some Paleolithic nomad dropped it on his way to the settlement on the lake shores.... One can but guess. The original Chester Road didn't go through the lake but the turnpike straightened the route and went through the middle cutting off the section of Sutton Coldfield which interests me.
On the thread below you can see where the residue of the lake is shown (I thought it was marks on the map originally).
https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...ed-to-the-lake-house-in-boldmere.48710/page-7

Still lots of questions to be asked (and maybe never answered) but I will post on the 'What Happened to the Lakehouse' thread as I seem to be straying again.
 
What happened to this? Bill Dargue talking about Brookvale Park...

“In 1961 an observant schoolboy, M T Wilkinson, found in the park a Bronze Age arrowhead made of stone. Most Bronze Age tools found in Birmingham are made of stone and not bronze. And this may generally have been the case, bronze being a high status material. The art of making stone tools continued throughout the Bronze Age, the metal being a high-status expensive commodity. However, the lack of bronze artefacts here is certainly an indication of the backwardness of this area in comparison to areas further south.”
 
Very interesting Pedro. Maybe when they build the new museum in Yardley we will find both of the above items on show. Fingers crossed.
 
To solve the mystery regarding the Stone Age Hand Axe discovered in Erdington...this was indeed found in Court Lane opposite the Greyhound Pub. It was found by my brother around 30 years ago and was 'loaned' to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery at that time. For many years in was on display in a room (containing similar artefacts such as flints etc) which was located off one of the main staircases in the museum. In recent years, I have taken my children to see if we can find it however it would appear that it has been moved/archived somewhere. I have emailed the museum and never received any response. On another occasion, I asked one of the Curators at the museum, but they simply directed me to the 'Birmingham History' display where the Saltly Axe is displayed. I would love to find out exactly what the Museum has done with it
 
I really hope someone is able to locate the axe for you - it's very bad that the Museum seem to have misplaced / lost it.
I hope it's not been taken on purpose by anyone!
Can you contact the Director (or whatever they are called) or someone at the Museums Association for their advice?
 
To solve the mystery regarding the Stone Age Hand Axe discovered in Erdington...this was indeed found in Court Lane opposite the Greyhound Pub. It was found by my brother around 30 years ago and was 'loaned' to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery at that time. For many years in was on display in a room (containing similar artefacts such as flints etc) which was located off one of the main staircases in the museum. In recent years, I have taken my children to see if we can find it however it would appear that it has been moved/archived somewhere. I have emailed the museum and never received any response. On another occasion, I asked one of the Curators at the museum, but they simply directed me to the 'Birmingham History' display where the Saltly Axe is displayed. I would love to find out exactly what the Museum has done with it


Hi MrsJ, I can't say I'm surprised but it's very disappointing isn't it? Can they do this, I mean who does the handaxe actually belong to? I wonder how many other things they have had 'on loan' and subsequently lost. I'm still working on the history of the Greyhound but as it hops about between Erdington and Sutton it's proving quite difficult.
 
Hi MrsJ, I can't say I'm surprised but it's very disappointing isn't it? Can they do this, I mean who does the handaxe actually belong to? I wonder how many other things they have had 'on loan' and subsequently lost. I'm still working on the history of the Greyhound but as it hops about between Erdington and Sutton it's proving quite difficult.
From another thread here, I get the impression that some artefacts of the city are stored in Dollman Street.
 
It possibly is at Dollman St Alan, but you'd think that museum would know and have some sort of record.
I wish I could answer that Lady P, but I have never been there. There have been tours of the place - according to earlier posts - maybe some BHF Member saw it there? I got the impression from this thread that inventory was not a priority but if it is there then hopefully someone would know of it.
 
Last edited:
I don't know what Dolman Street is like but I have been round the stores for the Museum of London and they seem very organised - of course that may not apply everywhere!
 
Back
Top