The Maypole

Shops at the Maypole © Copyright David Stowell and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. OS reference SP0778. See Acknowledgements for a link to the Geograph website.

This is the name used to describe a location and its immediate area at the junction of Alcester Road South and Maypole Lane. Standing on higher ground between river valleys, this was the crossroads of the road from Alcester to Birmingham and a cross-country route from Kings Norton to Solihull.

As Birmingham grew during the 18th century, the Alcester Road became increasingly important for farmers bringing in produce from the rich farmlands of Worcestershire. This road was turnpiked in 1767:

To Alcester, about twenty [miles], formed in 1767, upon a tolerable plan, but it is rather too narrow, through a desolate country, which scarcely defrays the expence; but that country seems to improve with the road.'
William Hutton 1781

The May Pole is thought not to have been a pole for dancing round, but to have been a tall pole which stood here to direct travellers. It may have been so called because it was later also used as a maypole, or this may have been a nickname. Certainly the 1887 Ordnance Survey map indicates a guide post here. Maypole Farm stood on the north side of Druids Lane, a short way from the junction. Baverstock School now stands on the site.

The modern use of the term probably derives from the name of the public house which is no longer there. The road junction at the Maypole is now a local shopping centre.