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

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

 

Westley Brook

B27 - Grid reference SP120831

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

Westley Vale Park, off The Avenue, Acocks GreenWestley Vale Park, off The Avenue, Acocks Green

 

This was the name of the medieval hamlet centred on the Warwick Road at its junction with Westley Road, Shirley Road and Dudley Park Road. This location is now considered the centre of Acocks Green.


The village was named after the brook which now flows in an underground culvert. It rises west of the road junction and flows north-eastwards to join Kineton Green Brook which joins Easthall Brook at Sheldon which eventually joins the River Cole near Bacons End. The brook also serves a s a feeder and overflow for the Warwick & Birmingham Canal (now the Grand Union) which was cut in 1799. 

 

If the original placename was Westley, it probably translates from Old English as 'west settlement (in wooded country)'. In this case there may have been a settlement elsewhere caslled Westley. However, if the alternative spelling Whisley is older, then the origin of the name is unknown.


See also Acocks Green.

 

Westley Brook at Westley Vale Park Westley Brook at Westley Vale Park

 

William Dargue 25.02.09

 

 

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