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pool farm cottages

Astoness

TRUE BRUMMIE MODERATOR
Staff member
hi all.. thought i would post a pic of pool farm cottages which is only a 30 sec walk from my front door and i can see them from my back window....they were originally farm labourers cottages used when this area was all open land....now divided into 3 seperate accomodations....an old lady who lived opposite in the newer houses told me that there use to be a little stream running around it and that is where the name pool came from...there are records going back to 1840 but it is thought they are quite a bit older than that....

astoness:)
 
Dear Astoness,
I apologise for the amount of time that has lapsed since you first posted your item on Pool Farm Cottages.
My Great Uncle Augustine owned Pool Farm Cottages, Pool Farm and Warren Farm.
His full name was Augustine Lewis Wells and he was the youngest brother of my Great Grandfather, Thomas.
The family of the time, the early 1800's to the first quarter of the 20th century were farmers.
They farmed or owned and leased out a number of farms around what is now Kingstanding.
I say now because at the time that my Great Uncle lived at Warren Farm it came under Handsworth.
Augustine was farming at Warren Farm around the 1880's and up until just before his death in 1934.
I have a map from 1834 that shows Lodge Pool and Warren Farm.
Next to Lodge Pool is a small square symbol, although it isn't labelled it is in the approximate position of Pool Farm and the cottages.
In 1881, Augustine's nephew (or to put it another way, my cousin), Thomas lived at No. 2 Pool Cottage.
He lived there with his wife Louisa and their two sons, George and Philip (they later had a daughter).
Charles, Thomas's brother was also living there in 1881.
Both Thomas and Charles were bailiffs to Warren Farm.
My Great Grandfather, in 1881, farmed at Witton Lodge Farm which was on the other side of the College Road from Warren Farm.
He lived there with his first wife, Jane, and the first few of their 9 children (7 girls and 2 boys).
My Great Grandfather purchased and moved to Oscott Farm (it stood on School Lane, Old Oscott, now Oscott School Lane) where he lived until he died in 1922.
As far as I know, my Great Grandmother, Teresa Ursula (my Great Grandfather's second wife), lived there until she died in 1940.
Augustine spent his last days at St Anthony's in Four Oaks (I believe it was a form of Care Home) before dying in September, 1934.
Augustine and Thomas are buried at Erdington Abbey as are a great number of the Wells's family.
Augustine wasn't only a farmer, he was also a Justice of the Peace, a Councillor and both Vice-Chairman and Chairman of the West Bromwich Board of Guardians.
When Lady Bateman-Scott of Great Barr Hall died in 1909, Augustine was the Chairman of the West Bromwich Board of Guardians and he suggested to the Committee that they purchase Great Barr Hall and Great Barr Park and start " Great Barr Colony ".
They were successful and in 1912, Great Barr Colony (later to be called St Margaret's Hospital), was opened.
Four homes were originally built and one of them was named " Wells Home " in honour of my Great Uncle.
I realise that this is more information than your original post warranted but perhaps it will help to fill in more of the history of the Kingstanding area.
Augustine was the first person in Kingstanding to own a Rolls Royce, he was also the first person in Kingstanding to have a phone put in.
With best wishes from Rod.
P.S. it is only a coincidence that Pool Farm Cottages are now in Rodwell Grove and my name is Rod Wells.
 
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