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

Marl Pit Green

B25 - Grid reference SP121853

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

Marle Pitte Grene: first record 1620

West of the Coventry Road between Holder Road and Deakins Road, Marle Pitte Grene was first recorded in 1620. The term 'green' was usually used of common land over which local people had grazing rights. The pit here may have been a (flooded) marlpit from which clay was dug to spread on sandier soil. Marl is clay which has a content of calcium carbonate and was used to improve the fertility of arable land.

Equally the pit may have been left by extracting clay for tile or brick making. In this case there would have been a kiln very close by. Tile making was a summer occupation and usually a secondary one to that of farming. There are known to have been at least ten tile kilns at work the manor of Yardley during the Tudor period. Tile manufacture continued here until the mid-19th century when it was replaced as a roofing material by Welsh slate brought by rail for the thousands of houses being built in and around Birmingham at that time.

See also Fast Green.

Google Maps - If you lose the original focus of the Google map, press function key F5 on your keyboard to refresh the screen. The map will then recentre on its original location.

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