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Hill Top Farm Handsworth

brisan said:
I made a 30 min video (very amateur) of the recent walk i did fom sivercroft avenue , hill top remains ,the german camps ,swan pool (watson pool) the sandwell and monastry . here is link for anyone interested - link -
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Nice video, thanks for sharing. At 17.12 you show a bench. We had our lunch there in March 2008. Across the pool there is a heronry and you could see the young poking their heads out of the nests.

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Small pools near Priory Woods - Staffordshire Walks, Sandwell Valley (3)

By Pedrocut. The picture was taken in March 2008 and we had a cup of tea on a bench looking at an extensive Heronry. To our surprise chicks were hatching in several nests, and with the binoculars you…
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pedrocut- glad i brought back some nice memory's, yes there is a large heronry on the pool ,cant remember it being there when i was young !
 
brisan said:
So nice to hear about the ryman family who lived and farmed at hilltop , i only remember pam ,vaguely, but as kids we often walked past the farm on my way to play on the german camps as we called them ,sometime in mid 1960s, always remember the sound of the generator thumping away, .
do any of you know anything about the house or farm called the uplands on the lane from hilltop to the german camp, cant find out anything about this place ? only a few bricks left now on side of lane ,recently went for a walk here nov 2022, also when was hill top farm built anyone know ?.
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The farm was late Tudor, so I believe, and had to be supported by two huge wooden supports to stop it from falling over. As a young electrician, I screwed an outside light to one, as it was dark in the farm yard. Inside the long kitchen with an old, large fire grate, and there was a circular staircase that took you upstairs, and it had a long curtain in front to stop people from seeing it, and for insulation purposes.
Come winter and summer, us teenagers sat in that kitchen, listening to the radio, and there was no trouble whatsoever from any of us. Those were happy days, and even though the snow was over 3ft deep in 1963, we still went, helping Joe and Paul when needed. Hence my feeling that the place has my heart in it, which was broken when it was demolished.
 
Great to hear your memories of hill top farm, cant believe it was so old !, i remember the two wooden supports holding the wall up, sadly i never got to go inside, so sad to see it now barely a brick left, cant remember the winter of 1963 i was only 8 years old , i hear it was a bad un !!, . thanks for your input. brian
 
There was a sale of farm stock in 1960 on behalf of Mr D J Lloyd. The stock was dispersed far and wide across the country as a result of the sale. Equipment was also sold, so perhaps this was when the farm was given up ? Viv.

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Maybe someone remembers organised whippet races at the farm. Viv.

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Source: British Newspaper Archive
 
Vivienne14 said:
There was a sale of farm stock in 1960 on behalf of Mr D J Lloyd. The stock was dispersed far and wide across the country as a result of the sale. Equipment was also sold, so perhaps this was when the farm was given up ? Viv.

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That company W S Bagshaw was/is quite a large company at farm auctions. I remember going to auctions with my uncle who had a sheep and dairy farm in Wales and his brother-in-law who was a market gardener near Tamworth. They always went with a Ford Thames lorry/truck. And of course, remember Hill Top Farm in Handsworth.
 
I think after the Lloyd family left, it was taken on by a family called Ryman who farmed there until the mid 80s after which i believe they left to live on canvey island . maybe new member old codger can tell you more ?.
 
Vivienne14 said:
There was a sale of farm stock in 1960 on behalf of Mr D J Lloyd. The stock was dispersed far and wide across the country as a result of the sale. Equipment was also sold, so perhaps this was when the farm was given up ? Viv.

View attachment 175699
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brisan said:
I think after the Lloyd family left, it was taken on by a family called Ryman who farmed there until the mid 80s after which i believe they left to live on canvey island . maybe new member old codger can tell you more ?.
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That is correct, he farmed it until the 80s then moved to Canvey Island, as we were still in touch with Paul and Pam at that time. Pam moved with him and Paul moved to a flat in the city, and we still keep in touch. When I got married in 1970, my car was a few days from being untaxed, so I stored it in the farmyard up a corner. I had other expenses to consider, without that as well.
Joe and his new wife Fran moved into a smallholding in Sutton Coldfield and lived in the bungalow that came with it. They had a boy called Roger, but I have lost touch.
I and my wife attended Joe's funeral at Four Oaks Methodist Church, followed by his internment in Handsworth Cemetery, then back to meet and talk to the family at that church hall. Paul and I did some watering for the guests, of which there were many.
I am disgusted that Birmingham City Council has let the fields go fallow, but better than a large estate being built, as it exists on the start of the North Birmingham Green belt, that extends past Cannock Chase to the Staffordshire moorland.
 
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Richard Dye said:
George, I think you are correct on the cave. It was close to the river and we used to see who could ride fastest past it without sliding down the river bank. If I remember, at least in the winter (no leaves) you could see the Hamsted Colliery.

And welcome to the Forum, enjoy!
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I don't remember any 'hermits cave', we just used to call the general area including the gun emplacements at the top 'Hill Top Farm' and explored all around there in the 70's and 80's. We also went by the golf course and Watson Pool.....
 
brisan said:
So nice to hear about the ryman family who lived and farmed at hilltop , i only remember pam ,vaguely, but as kids we often walked past the farm on my way to play on the german camps as we called them ,sometime in mid 1960s, always remember the sound of the generator thumping away, .
do any of you know anything about the house or farm called the uplands on the lane from hilltop to the german camp, cant find out anything about this place ? only a few bricks left now on side of lane ,recently went for a walk here nov 2022, also when was hill top farm built anyone know ?.
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Uplands was a pow hostel (sub-camp). I do not (yet) know when it was opened, but it was initially administered by a main camp in Wolverhampton. Then, from late 1946 it was administered by the main Maxstoke Castle Camp 39. The Uplands pow site closed Feb/March 1948. It usually held between 80 - 120 pows in huts, though at one point during a re-organization of camps, it held 486 - I would think most were in tents.
From the 2 maps attached Uplands is shown at in 1947 at (SP 035 914). On the 1955 map a site is marked as a 'hostel' near to where Uplands was - I believe this was the pow hostel, though by 1955 it would have been an agricultural workers hostel or one for European Volunteer Workers.
I am going to post a thread about Maxstoke and its hostels which were scattered in and around Birmingham.
uplands47.jpguplands55.jpg
 
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