Northfield
Northfield maps (2 available)
Map of West Midlands
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
See this old map of West Midlands
Personalised maps
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Northfield books (9 available)
- 4 photos on Northfield appear in 1 Frith books - View photos of Northfield
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Northfield and West Midlands
Northfield memories
Read and share memories of Northfield and West Midlands inspired by Frith photos
Old Northfield
The stretch of road we see is called Bell Lane. Bell Lane curves back to Bristol Rd. The big house partly seen in the distance is Bell House which has quite a history.To it's left goes Bell Holloway (still fairly unaltered) and to it's right Bell Hill where I was born in an old cottage in 1927. It is now a double twin carriageway through to Harborne. In a cluster were a farm, two cottages, and a bungalow, .This small area was then known as Paradise and our cottage Paradise Cottage.
Coming back to the photograph the shop was Hewitt's which had a bakery and sold sweets. Bell House 'partly seen ' had five false windows on the wall looking over ...read more here
Contributed by Donald Cook
West Midlands memories
Old Northfield
The stretch of road we see is called Bell Lane. Bell Lane curves back to Bristol Rd. The big house partly seen in the distance is Bell House which has quite a history.To it's left goes Bell Holloway (still fairly unaltered) and to it's right Bell Hill where I was born in an old cottage in 1927. It is now a double twin carriageway through to Harborne. In a cluster were a farm, two cottages, and a bungalow, .This small area was then known as Paradise and our cottage Paradise Cottage.
Coming back to the photograph the shop was Hewitt's which had a bakery and sold sweets. Bell House 'partly seen ' had five false windows on the wall looking over ...read more here
A memory of Northfield contributed by Donald Cook
My Dad
My dad Harry Kitchener Stacey worked part time as a bar man at the Duke. I remember coming on the bus from Bartly Green in the afternoons, sometimes after finishing his shift, dad would take me to the afternoon movies just around the corner.
A memory of Harborne contributed by paul stacey
Mitchells and Butlers playing fields
As I lived in Raglan Road at the time my memories are:
Of heading over the road to Mitchells and Butlers playing fields, a green strip that ran alongside of the brewery, and lying in the grass. I thought it was great, a green space all to myself, as Victoria Park and the Sandpark were a fair distance away to a 5 year old. Then came the snow of 1947 and my sister and I going to the canal wharf to fill up the old pram with coke, trudging back home in the snow, it was great. Then there was the lady that lived in Wills Street ,she always went on holiday and came back with apples and made toffee ...read more here
Extracts From Northfield & West Midlands books
Bell Road is an echo of Northfield’s agricultural past.The population
grew by over 200 per cent between 1881 and 1891, nearly all of it
overflow from Birmingham; but modern Northfield owes much to the
opening of the Austin works at Longbridge.
An extract from from"West Midlands Pocket Album".
The parish church of St Laurence is originally 12th-century with a
13th-century chancel. The south aisle was replaced in the late 13th
century; the north aisle was only added in 1900, though it was built
in a 14th-century style. On the right is the pound, or village lock-up,
built of sandstone.
An extract from from"West Midlands Pocket Album".
Northfield is frequently described as having retained much of its village character. This is optimistic, to say the least,
but the heart of the former village is still a pleasant and rather unexpected scene of brick cottages, a pub, a former
cattle pound and this sandstone church. Dedicated to St Laurence, the church was built in the 12th century but has
been much altered since.
An extract from from"West Midlands Living Memories".
It was in February 1909 that proposals
were made under the Greater Birmingham
Plan to annex Aston Manor, Erdington,
Handworth, King’s Norton, Northfield and
Yardley. The Urban District of King’s
Norton and Northfield had a population in
excess of 78,000 and covered 22,000
acres.The plans would give Birmingham a
population of 850,000, making it the
second city in England.
An extract from from"West Midlands Pocket Album".
Northfield was founded by Saxon settlers in the fertile valley of the River Rea. The original
village remained agricultural, but a subsidiary settlement grew up on the Bristol road which
had already become a sizeable suburb when Northfield was incorporated into Birmingham in
1911. The last farm in the parish survived until the 1960s, a few years after this view was taken.
An extract from from"West Midlands Living Memories".