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

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

 

Ley Hill, Northfield

B31 - Grid reference SP011804

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

atte Leye: first record 1275

Ley Hill viewed from Merritts Hill. The housing estate is over the brow of the hillLey Hill viewed from Merritts Hill. The housing estate is over the brow of the hill

There are two Ley Hills: one in Northfield and one in Sutton Coldfield. The former is part of the ridge that runs north of Merritts Brook. The summit of the hill is at the top of Holloway.

 

Ley Hill was atte Leye, 'at the clearing' in 1275, and later la Lee, a name which derives from Old English leah hyll meaning a 'clearing on the hill'.


At the top of Ley Hill Farm Road stood the farm of that name which is first recorded in 1344. Its fields were developed with municipal housing during the 1960s. There is currently considerable rebuilding in the area.

 

Christian Kunzle was a Swiss chef, who opened restaurants in Birmingham and later built a factory to supply them with his own cakes. A well-known local philanthropist, Kunzle built a large house, Ley Hill Hall, between the Holloway and Merritts Hill, set in some 8 hectares of parkland. The park plus 10 hectares of former farmland now makes up Ley Hill Park.


See also Ley Hill, Sutton Coldfield.

 

William Dargue 19.03.09

 

 

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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.