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

The Radleys, Sheldon

B33 - Grid reference SP156856

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

Radelega: first record 1176

This Sheldon placename means 'red fields', and was probably named from the red sand rather than from red clay which is widespread in this area. The moor was a strip of boggy land which lay along Platt Brook and has still not been built on. This may have been common grazing land in the Middle Ages and probably for a long time afterwards. The name is now recalled in the street name, The Radleys. A small busy local shopping centre dating from the 1930s thrives at the junction of Sheldon Heath Road.

William Dargue 14.03.09

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