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Birmingham Farming History

florence butler

master brummie
Hi all,

Information wanted on Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin's 1920's scheme to send men and boys over to Canada to help with the wheat harvest, thereby reducing the dole queue's here.

My uncle went over from Brum on the Duchess of Atholl to work on Coombs farm in Manitoba. Many stayed and made a new life for themselves, but he eventually returned home.

His son, my cousin has always had an ambition to retrace his fathers footsteps and visit the farm (if it still exists), and travel around the area, as a kind of memorial to his Dad.

I've only been able to find minimal reference to this scheme, despite various enquiries and letters. Wonder if any of the records have survived.

Any help would be most appreciated.........Florence
 
I'm not having any luck finding posts about city farms in Birmingham.
So now it's time to ask the wise and the well-versed if they have any particular recollections, links, photos, and the like.
My main interest is in in a farm that was either at Highbury or Uffculme, definitely through the 70s and 80s, as both Stan H and a former Queensbridge pupil have provided stories and names from that era.

There doesn't seem to be a dedicated thread to city farms generally (Woodgate Valley, St. Pauls/Balsall Heath, Sheldon, Cropwood?) so this might be the time & place to start one.

Ready...?
 
I readily remember Lucas's farm alongside Bournville Lane / Cob Lane until its demolition for the building of the new police complex probably in the 1960s. Opposite that the Wagon Works offices were built maybe in the late 1950s. As a school boy in the 1947/48 period I went potato picking on the farm fields adjacent to Cadbury's Manor Farm. Lucas's had a small dairy herd the milk from which was delivered to local houses by pony and trap via churns and ladle. The farm is no more, most fields being built on with housing.
 
I'm not having any luck finding posts about city farms in Birmingham.
So now it's time to ask the wise and the well-versed if they have any particular recollections, links, photos, and the like.
My main interest is in in a farm that was either at Highbury or Uffculme, definitely through the 70s and 80s, as both Stan H and a former Queensbridge pupil have provided stories and names from that era.

There doesn't seem to be a dedicated thread to city farms generally (Woodgate Valley, St. Pauls/Balsall Heath, Sheldon, Cropwood?) so this might be the time & place to start one.

Ready...?
Any particular reason you're looking for this stuff? I'm working on a massive archive of material for St. Paul's who run the Malvern St. Farm. If this is some formal project or personal research maybe arrangements can be made but they don't let a whole lot out. The pictures and text on Birmingham Images are part of that archive or something I wrote when I put them up on a site called Digital Balsall Heath. You can see copies of a couple of the pages on someone else's post in this thread.
 
Any particular reason you're looking for this stuff?

Yes, various reasons - including these two:
a) wanting to trace the history of Highbury/Uffculme more thoroughly
b) drawing attention to the historical existence of City Farms generally,

Both are part of the often neglected story of agriculture in cities. Birmingham's own story will be one fo transition from rural to urban, and the peri-urban farms that serve urban communities, along with a few relicts that survive envelopment by suburbs. Agricultural history is significant in the story of Birmingham and Black Country.
 
Yes, various reasons - including these two:
a) wanting to trace the history of Highbury/Uffculme more thoroughly
b) drawing attention to the historical existence of City Farms generally,

Both are part of the often neglected story of agriculture in cities. Birmingham's own story will be one fo transition from rural to urban, and the peri-urban farms that serve urban communities, along with a few relicts that survive envelopment by suburbs. Agricultural history is significant in the story of Birmingham and Black Country.

If Malvern St is anything to go by, the usual purpose of such things is education with any real claims to agriculture some way behind. There have been occasions when the hens' eggs are sold/used for food but that is rarely advertised and there's the odd picture of a whole fleece from when they kept sheep. They also keep ducks and rabbits which, as far as I can tell, were never used for anything productive and have kept a pony that occasionally pulled a trap. These are taken from memory although I could find more by simple research. The site also encompasses a building that is used for occasional events, groups of children, and offices as well as a stable.
 
This is interesting in the context of future plans for an urban farm. Viv.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/evaluating-use-urban-farm-birmingham-akash-jotangia

I get the feeling that the guy who wrote that article doesn't know what he's talking about. From what I remember that part of the city had a problem with toxic chemicals in the ground. If that's true the picture shown isn't going to be the sort of thing that would work. You can't plant anything in that kind of ground - if it lived it would probably be poisonous (or worse). Then again, he says the best option would be aeroponics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics . That could work on a commercial basis but only on a long term project and this one would disappear with the arrival of HS2. You might be able to do something with hydroponics or some other sealed system on a shorter term basis - it works with certain illicit substances - and it might have the added effect of rehabilitating people who were involved in the drug trade. I don't know what they would have to produce to make it commercially viable in the short term but I'd guess the place to ask would be the high-end restaurants on Broad St. If you did something like that, it would take place in something that looked like an office building or factory not on open land. At least, that should keep it from the worst of the industrial chemicals from the local businesses.
 
When it comes to plants you are correct. He is apparently a building surveyor employed by a firm that is into compliance and building controls. He will know all about building regulations, but much less about growing real plants.
 
Looking at the artist's impression of a "farm" in Birmingham, it seems that it is a market garden being suggested. Surely a farm is more than a market garden.
 
Hi,

This forum is an amazingly interesting place, just found it as have been looking up information online for a potential project. I am interested in discovering more about the historical land uses (such as types of farming etc) and details of the natural history of the areas Welsh House Farm in Harborne, Birchfield in Aston and Firs & Bromford in Hodge Hill. The former I know was an actual farm before the housing estate was built in the 60s but don’t know what type of farm, e.g. livestock/crops, or what the other vegetation etc was like, was there a predominance of a particular tree for example? For the other two I have found a little about the natural history due to the name origins, but again, any information would be really helpful!

Thank you

Cath
 
Welsh House Farm gets a mention as early as 1826, and is referred to as a Dairy Farm in the 1920s.

Birchfield Farm, opposite the Crown and Cushion was in 1839 selling its live and dead farming stock, plus dairy and brewing utensils.

1846 Bromford Farm was doing the same.
 
Thanks again for the response, I’m wondering if there is a way to find information on the natural history, common native, introduced or farmed plants for the Welsh house farm area? Thanks
 
Hello Yvonne B,
Would you be able to give us a clue what the subject you are searching for?
RobT
Hello Yvonne B,
Would you be able to give us a clue what the subject you are searching for?
RobT
Hi Rob, thanks for replying. I am looking for a farm that was where Bournville Lane Police Staion is. The tenant farmer was Wilfred Lucas and some refer to it as Lucas Farm although that wasn’t the correct name. My father worked on the farm and I spent a lot of time ther as a child in the early 1950’s
 
Sometimes, Yvonne, there is another way around a difficulty like this. Do a normal Google search but include in your search definition the phrase "birmingham history forum" as well as the specific subject you are searching for. This sometimes does a more effective search of BHF contents than the Forum's own search facility. And if the result still doesn't come through, try rephrasing the subject in different ways.

Are you definitely signed in when you try the Forum Search? It all SHOULD work fairly straightforwardly. But, as has already been suggested, please tell us exactly what you're trying to find.

And welcome to the Forum!!

Chris
Thanks ChrisM, I think it’s just me as a novice on the forum. The info you have given is great even for a technophobe like me. I only found this site by accident and signed up straight away
 
Yvonne B,
Is it this one?
I just searched for Lucas farm Bournville

 
Hi Rob, thanks for replying. I am looking for a farm that was where Bournville Lane Police Staion is. The tenant farmer was Wilfred Lucas and some refer to it as Lucas Farm although that wasn’t the correct name. My father worked on the farm and I spent a lot of time ther as a child in the early 1950’s
Yvonne B,
Have look at this site - gives details of Woodbrooke Farm (including photo), of farm between Bournville Lane & Cob Lane.


Rob T
 
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