Marston Hall Marston Green Bickenhill

[elmdon]

what happend to marston green hall i know it was knocked down to make way for the new airport but it was a listed building and the story went it was stored for possible ( re building or spare parts for other houses of the same age the gates and gate posts were to be used some were in the new terminal to get round the listed problem) my friend was a friend of last owner and would like to know what happend any info would be good
yours elmdon

 

[sistersue61]

It was knocked down in the 80's, but I think it was only parts of the hall that were listed, not the whole building - I'm sure someone will correct me if thats wrong - but have no idea what happened to any listed parts.
I have e-mailed a friend who was keen on Marston Green history to see if she knows anything.
Sue

 

[elmdon]

has your friend have any more info re marston green hall
ELMDON

 

[elmdon]

looking for info about marston hall i know it was knocked down to make way for airport would like to know last owner and what happend to him or her

 

[Radiorails]

For anyone unacquainted with the place a little history and a photo of the hall.
https://bmgpc.org/history/
https://www.solihull.gov.uk/Resident/Libraries/Local-family-history/localhistory/marstongreenhistory
Bill Dargue gives some detail of past ownership.
https://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-m/marston-green/

 

[mbenne]

Also appears on this link

https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/for...-hall-and-bickenhill-village-surrounds.47903/

 

[mbenne]

from the 1891 Census


Description from British History Online:
Marston Hall, 1¼ miles north of the church, is of early-16th-century origin but considerably altered (perhaps in 1616) and again late in the 17th century, when it was refaced with brick and re-fenestrated and furnished with the main staircase. The walls are now covered entirely with cement. The plan is rectangular: the east front and the back have three gables, and there are two on the south side. The upper story of the front has six late-17th-century tall windows with casements and transoms; similar windows to the lower story now have sash frames. In each gable-head is a blocked window. The south-east front room has a wide fireplace with an oak lintel, and a good moulded early16th-century ceiling-beam; the beam in the room above, now encased, is said to be similar. The middle room has a Tudor stone fire-place: the mantel has a frieze panel with honeysuckle ornament. The staircase at the back has late-17th-century turned balusters, &c. A long forecourt is entered by a gateway with brick posts having heavy stone ball-heads. A sun-dial dated 1616 is said to be indigenous.

 

[Vivienne14]

The Thornley family seem to have owned the Hall from at least the 1830s (most likely well before that time) until at least the 1870s. The family had a long association with Marston for hundreds of years.

Wilson, Lovatt & Sons seem to have been based there in the 1940s. Did they purchase the Hall and were they connected with the airport development I wonder ? Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

The Hall was probably leased by Wilson, Lovatt & Sons. See below.

By 1975 it was owned by Birmingham Corporation according to this article (about Marston Farm but mentions the Hall in the later paragraphs). At the time the Hall was leased by Mr Alan Thomas, a machine tool manufacturer. He'd leased it since the 1940s. Viv.

 

[elmdon]

thank you all for info trying to find history of last tenant mr alan thomas he owned a company in brum that made machine tools

 

[Dennis Williams]

Some pics and stuff....Any one got a pic or info on it's neighbour, HURDLE HALL, that was demolished for the Airport ..

 

[Dennis Williams]

Check under 'Marston Hall' on here!

 

[ritzy2go]

The Thornley family seem to have owned the Hall from at least the 1830s (most likely well before that time) until at least the 1870s. The family had a long association with Marston for hundreds of years.

Wilson, Lovatt & Sons seem to have been based there in the 1940s. Did they purchase the Hall and were they connected with the airport development I wonder ? Viv.

I spent many years at Marston Hall with my friend Alan Philip Lawless Thomas ( always fondly known as Lawless) I frequently helped him in his workshop sometimes through the night. I worked close by at the Arden Motel night club as a musician where I met Lawless for the first time in the 70s. He was one of lifes characters sporting a fine handlebar moustache. I heard stories about the Hall. I S Brunel stayed there for years whilst building the L M S railway. Later on the Queen Mother frequented the Hall on visits from nearby estate on the back of a motorcycle. Lawless as a young man worked in Notting Hill assisting Logie Bird in a possible development of colour TV. There are many more stories of Lawless.

 

[Radiorails]

Th

I spent many years at Marston Hall with my friend Alan Philip Lawless Thomas ( always fondly known as Lawless) I frequently helped him in his workshop sometimes through the night. I worked close by at the Arden Motel night club as a musician where I met Lawless for the first time in the 70s. He was one of lifes characters sporting a fine handlebar moustache. I heard stories about the Hall. I S Brunel stayed there for years whilst building the L M S railway. Later on the Queen Mother frequented the Hall on visits from nearby estate on the back of a motorcycle. Lawless as a young man worked in Notting Hill assisting Logie Bird in a possible development of colour TV. There are many more stories of Lawless.

This is what British History online has to say:
Marston Hall, 1¼ miles north of the church, is of early-16th-century origin but considerably altered (perhaps in 1616) and again late in the 17th century, when it was refaced with brick and re-fenestrated and furnished with the main staircase. The walls are now covered entirely with cement. The plan is rectangular: the east front and the back have three gables, and there are two on the south side. The upper story of the front has six late-17th-century tall windows with casements and transoms; similar windows to the lower story now have sash frames. In each gable-head is a blocked window. The south-east front room has a wide fireplace with an oak lintel, and a good moulded early16th-century ceiling-beam; the beam in the room above, now encased, is said to be similar. The middle room has a Tudor stone fire-place: the mantel has a frieze panel with honeysuckle ornament. The staircase at the back has late-17th-century turned balusters, &c. A long forecourt is entered by a gateway with brick posts having heavy stone ball-heads. A sun-dial dated 1616 is said to be indigenous.

Welcome to the Forum Ritzy2go. I do not like to have to correct a new member post but this is a definitive history forum and Members do try to keep things as accurate as possible. Others use it for research, so it is important.
I do not know who I S Brunel was, I know of Marc I Brunel and his equally famous son Isambard K Brunel. However neither built the LMS Railway. They built, or were responsible for, the construction of many others, the most well known being the GWR and some of its constituents. The original railway in the area of Marston Hall would have been the London to Birmingham Railway (Euston to Curzon Street). It construction was under the supervision of Robert Stephenson. It later became part of the Midland before grouping to become the LMS.

 

[Vivienne14]

There is now a thread about Fifield Farm here https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/fifield-farm-bickenhill.50346/

Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

Not a great image from the Birmingham Post but I wondered if that’s the farmhouse in the distance, behind the trees.

And a resident with lambs out in the fields in 1953. Viv.

 

[jmadone]

A couple more pictures of Marston Hall as it appears in 1919 Auction catalogue


At the time of auction the tenant was Mr. J.H. Cattell

 

[marthadm]

It would seem that my grandfather lived in the Hall in 1936. His name was Michael Norton-Griffiths and he was killed in the 2nd World War.