A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames . . . from A to Y

William Dargue - A History of Birmingham Places & Placenames . . .  from A to Y

 

Alcester Lanes End

B14 - Grid reference SP074808

Use the grid reference on the Ordnance Survey website - Get-a-map.

  

 

 

Alcester Road South - The Alcester Road from central Birmingham passes through a variety of residential areas, occasionally interspersed with groups of shops, such as these typical examples at Alcester Lanes End.

 

Photograph and text from the Geograph website, OS reference SP0780 © Copyright David Stowell and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence. See Acknowledgements for a direct link to that website.

 

 

 

This location is at the southern end of Kings Heath High Street where the Alcester Road begins. Until the road from Birmingham to Alcester was turnpiked in 1767 and the open heath was enclosed, Kings Heath was agriculturally undeveloped waste. Before the making of the turnpike, there was no Kings Heath High Street. The original road across the heath took a circuitous route via Valentine Road, Springfield Road, Barn Lane and Wheelers Lane before reaching Alcester Lanes End. From 1801 the turnpike road was straightened to its present line along the High Street and it may be that the name first came into use at that time.


In 1906 Alcester Lanes End became the tram terminus after the the line was extended from Kings Heath. This encouraged housing development and the building of Kings Arms public house and the nearby shops. A belt of housing was built in the area towards Kings Norton after the First World War. In 1920 St Joseph's Mission was set up probably by Christ Church in School Road, Yardley Wood and continued in use until World War 2.


See also Kings Heath.

 

William Dargue 02.09.2008

 

 

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For 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Birmingham go to British History Online - Maps.

Map below reproduced from Andrew Rowbottom’s website of Old Ordnance Survey maps Popular Edition, Birmingham 1921. See Acknowledgements. Click the map to link to that website.