Great Barr

History

Great Barr was a largely rural area in south Staffordshire, on its border with Warwickshire, as recently as the First World War, but during the 1920s development for private and council housing began. The urban district of Perry Barr was ceded to Birmingham, then in Warwickshire, in 1928.

By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 it was a very busy residential area with good road connections to West Bromwich, Walsall and Birmingham.

Expansion continued after the war, and during the 1960s the area received a motorway link when Junction 7 of the newly built M6 motorway was opened on the A34. It is also located close to the starting point of the M5, which can be accessed just one mile (1.6 km) northwards on the M6.

On 11 August 1975, eight-year-old local schoolgirl Helen Bailey was found dead from a single knife wound, in woods near Booths Farm. Her killer was never found.

Kidnapper Michael Sams abducted estate agent Stephanie Slater from a house in Turnberry Road, Great Barr before holding her for eight days in January 1992. Following receipt of £175,000 ransom, Sams released her. Police arrested him three weeks later and he was sentenced to life imprisonment for abducting Slater and murdering Leeds prostitute Julie Dart.[2]

Geography

A lot of what is now wrongly seen as Great Barr was in fact Perry Barr with the Council House for Perry Barr Being in Green Lane,

The from the 1700s until 1928 Perry Barr boundary was Queslett Road (Pronounced Queeeslet Queese being a collective name for wood pigeons and let or Let meaning Valley) to the Chester Road, along the Chester Road to College Road, College Road to the River Tame, River Tame through Hamstead to the Newton Road, then across the fields to The Beacon Pub and down to the Queslett Road

1928 saw the Big change, as the Perry Barr Council wanted it to merge into neighbour Birmingham, But West Bromwich, Sutton and Walsall all kicked up a fuss and the Hamstead Area including the area north of the Scott Arms Pub merged with into West Bromwich – Pheasey merged into Walsall and New Oscott into Sutton Coldfield and the rest into Birmingham

sadley over the last 30 years Politicians and Postal Sorting Offices have changed what was Perry Barr into Great Barr and Barr Beacon always the Center of Great Barr with the Scott Family Home beneath it is the traditional Centre of Great Barr wholst the traditional centre of Perry Barr is the old village with the church of St Johns Council records for Perry barr c 1928

The traditional centre of Great Barr is focussed on the busy junction of the A34 and A4041 roads, at the Scott Arms public house and shopping centre. This is named after the Scott family of Great Barr Hall, which was once home of Samuel Galton and a meeting place of the Lunar Society.

However, the name is also loosely applied to a swathe of the West Midlands bounded by junction 8 of the M6 motorway in the west, the Birmingham – Walsall railway line (part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837, and including Hamstead railway station, formerly called Great Barr station) and Perry Barr to the south, Kingstanding to the east, and the open countryside of Barr Beacon to the north.

Great Barr includes much of the B42, B43 and B44 postcode areas.

Places of interest

Bishop Asbury Cottage (incorrectly named as "Bishop Ashbury's Cottage" on Ordnance Survey maps), was where Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist Bishop, was raised. It is owned by Sandwell Council and is Grade II listed. It is open by appointment for group visits, and opens occasionally to the general public.

Great Barr Hall is a Grade II* listed building, and due its current state of disrepair is not open to the public. St. Margaret's Church stands nearby.

Red House Park is open to the public and provides important amenities for the local community. It is owned by the Sandwell Council. In the grounds are both the Red House itself and an obelisk erected in memory of Princess Charlotte who died in childbirth in November 1817. The Red House is Grade II listed building, but is not currently open to the public, having been sold in 2015 for conversion to apartments.

Birmingham Canal Navigations' Tame Valley Canal runs through Great Barr, from Piercy Aqueduct at Hamstead, along a cutting in 200-million year old sandstone, under Freeth bridge at Tower Hill, under the A34 and into Perry Barr Locks at Perry Barr.

Great Barr's notable current and former residents

Education

Great Barr is well served with a number of primary and secondary schools. Great Barr School is the largest single-site school in the country with over 2,400 pupils on roll.

Primary schools

Secondary schools

Perry Beeches does not have a 'Primary' School it has two separate schools Perry Beeches Infant School and Perry Beeches Junior School.

The Perry Beeches Campus is the largest school campus in Birmingham and houses 5 schools: Perry Beeches Nursery School, Perry Beeches Infant School,Perry Beeches Junior School, Perry Beeches The Academy and Priestley Smith School for the Visually Impaired.

College

The James Watt campus of Birmingham Metropolitan College is at the junction of Beeches Road and Aldridge Road, at the Old Oscott side of Great Barr. The buildings were originally Brooklyn Technical College.