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Kingswood House, Alcester Road South, Druids Heath

Lady Penelope

Lady Penelope

master brummie
Does anyone have any information on Kingswood House please? It's the wrong side of town for me and the road may be wrong but I was asked to see what I could discover. Definitely in Druid's Heath and it was there until mid 1960's.
 
Kingswood house is marked (or rahte ra group of buildings is marked on the 1903 map below. The road it is on going north to south is Alcester Road South.

map 1903 showing Kingswood house.jpg

The 1950s map showa a Kingswood Farm. but i would have said that the biodling marked as the farm is the same as what i would have thought was the earlier one marked housw, being apparently at the apex of the drive

map 1950s showingb area around kingswood house.jpg
 
mikejee said:
Kingswood house is marked (or rahte ra group of buildings is marked on the 1903 map below. The road it is on going north to south is Alcester Road South.

View attachment 219587

The 1950s map showa a Kingswood Farm. but i would have said that the biodling marked as the farm is the same as what i would have thought was the earlier one marked housw, being apparently at the apex of the drive

View attachment 219585
Click to expand...
Regarding my comment on it looking as if the building marked as Kingswood farm, looks like it might have been the earlier House, a cooment at
http://www.birminghamconservationtr...ere two Kingswood,the site of Maypole Library. says:
Confusingly there were two Kingswood Farms at the Maypole, the
other being Kingswood House Farm which was north of the Maypole on the western side of the Alcester Road, close to the site of Maypole Library. I knew both reasonably well in the 1960s and photographed Kingswood Farm off Druid’s Lane in 1966. It is reproduced in King’s Norton: A History by George Demidowicz & Stephen Price, (Phillimore & Co, 2009) p.85.
And Carl is right about the wartime remains there. I remember them too.They have become part of the archaeology of the second world war now and have been the subject of a recent survey. See Mick
Wilks The Defence of Worcestershire and the southern approaches to Birmingham in World War II (Logaston Press, 2007). There’s a section about the anti-aircraft gun site there with photographs, plans and detailed drawings between pages 172-174.’

The photo he mentions is below, and does look a bit more like a residence than a farm house

kingswood house farm.jpg
 
Thank you all for this information. As usual you've come up trumps.

I'm confused by the two different farms mentioned Mike but from what I know it was replaced by the library so that ties in with your post. I will check on this. So, which is the photo of please? The family I'm looking at were farmers and I've been told lived at Kingswood House but no mention of another house with the same name.

As an aside, I've always wondered where The Maypole came from and now that's been made clear so two for the price of one, so to speak!
 
Not totally relevant! In 1940's knew of a lady who lived as a neighbour to Kingswood Farm in Druids Lane, she lived at "The Laurels" she was called Laura Bliss I guess she would have been born at the turn of the century. The gatepost of her house is still there today on google map oppoosite to a block of flats "Topfield House"
 
Lady Penelope said:
Thank you all for this information. As usual you've come up trumps.

I'm confused by the two different farms mentioned Mike but from what I know it was replaced by the library so that ties in with your post. I will check on this. So, which is the photo of please? The family I'm looking at were farmers and I've been told lived at Kingswood House but no mention of another house with the same name.

As an aside, I've always wondered where The Maypole came from and now that's been made clear so two for the price of one, so to speak!
Click to expand...
From the link I gave, the photo is of the kingswood farm marked as such on tge 1850s map. This I would have thought was the house in the group of buildings in the 1903 map which seems to be the main building facing the entrance, which I would assume was Kingswood House itself tge otgers being buildings on the estate and pr.esumably are mainly farm buildings
 
So looking at this 1937 OS map .... I'm assuming the photo in Post #9 is Kingswood Farm off Druids Lane, and the Phyllis Nicklin photo in Post 17 is Kingswood House on Alcester Road South.
Despite the fact that in the 1964 OS Map, the names have changed to Kingswood Grange and Kingswood Farm respectively. Confusing.

1937 Maypole Kingswood House and Kingswood Farm a.jpg
 
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