Castle Bromwich (; colloquially abbreviated to Castle Brom) is a large suburban village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands, England. It borders the rest of the borough to the south east, Sutton Coldfield to the east and north east. It borders Birmingham: Shard End to the south west, Castle Vale, Erdington and Minworth to the north and Hodge Hill to the west.
Historically part of the Meriden Rural District of Warwickshire, in the 1920s half of the original parish was ceded to the City of Birmingham for the construction of overspill estates. In 1974 it became part of the new metropolitan county.
History Castle Bromwich was originally a Warwickshire village. There has been a settlement here since before Stone Age times. There is evidence that the area was first settled some 5,000 years ago. Romans, Saxons and Normans also settled on this raised piece of land close to a natural ford across the River Tame. The Chester Road runs through the village following the line of a drovers' road called the Welsh Road, the origins of which are probably an ancient trackway from the pre-Roman era. Bromwich is not named in Domesday Book in 1086 yet was in the ancient hundred of Coleshill. Bromwich comes from the old words 'brom' for the yellow flowering broom, which grows here, and 'wich' an ancient name for a dwelling or settlement. The motte (called the Pimple Hill locally) is some 40 metres in diameter and appears to be a natural feature that was probably heightened by Iron Age settlers, then by the later Normans and once again during the development of the 1970s to make way for the A452 "Collector Road", which bypassed Castle Bromwich to the north.
The Pimple commanded the important crossing place of the River Tame. It remains today, somewhat reduced, sandwiched between the M6 and the Collector Road (Castle Bromwich & Chelmsley Wood bypass). There was an extensive archaeological dig of the area prior to the development of the Pimple site and discoveries were made that confirmed folk tales of the area. The Pimple was the highest point of an Iron-Age fortification that encompassed most of Castle Bromwich. The land between the Pimple and Kyters Lane was particularly well defended by several areas of ridge and furrow; Kyters Lane and Rectory Lane were built within ditches. Other ditches were excavated between Kyters Lane and the Pimple but nothing of consequence was found. The name Pimple was commonly used from about 1915 onwards, and the story that the hill was a Saxon burial ground appeared around 1935, when the spread of dwellings from Washwood Heath began to appear over Hodge Hill. Modern houses now occupy the site and overlook the graveyard. The ridge and furrow has been obliterated.
There is a good view over Castle Vale (formerly Castle Bromwich Aerodrome) and the Tame valley from the top of the hill.
During the 18th century Castle Bromwich was an important place at the junction of two turnpikes. Chester Road, an old Roman way from London to Chester, joined the Birmingham to Coleshill road near Castle Bromwich Hall. There was a toll gate at the junction of Chester Road, School Lane and Old Croft Lane, near the village green. The toll house still exists, although the massive wide toll gate has been lost. In the 1780s stagecoaches travelling from Holyhead to London stopped in the village, as did a horse-drawn bus from Birmingham to Coleshill. There were several coaching inns and two survive today. The Midland Railway arrived in 1842 and Castle Bromwich Station was rebuilt in 1901. Boy Scouts used to arrive here and trek the four miles (6 km) to their major camp at Yorkswood in Kingshurst. The station closed in 1965 and was partly demolished in 1975.
Until 1894 the village was a hamlet in the large parish of Aston. Castle Bromwich has had historic ties with both Erdington and Water Orton through administration, governance and land ownership whilst being part of the parish. The Local Government Act 1894 created a parish of Castle Bromwich from part of the Aston parish not in either Birmingham or Aston Manor urban district. It was part of the Castle Bromwich Rural District from 1894 until 1912, when it became part of the Meriden Rural District.
During the 18th and especially during the 19th centuries wealthy Birmingham businessmen built large houses in Castle Bromwich.
Castle Bromwich has a village green. The land for this, called Seven Acre Green, was given to the village by Viscount Newport in 1895. The War Memorial was erected in 1920 on a small island nearby. There is also another green called Whateley Green. Whateley is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for wheatfield clearing. This was the site of the village's stray animal pounds and a smithy. It had two pounds, stocks and a whipping post. Whateley Hall was nearby. The ancient duck pond was filled in during the late 1950s.
In 1931, a portion of Castle Bromwich land was sold and ceded to the City of Birmingham which built the overspill Chipperfield Road development during 1937–8. This halved the area of the parish of Castle Bromwich, from to .Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire through time
During World War II, the occupants of Chipperfield Road pulled down an ancient white-washed farm house thinking it would deny German bomber crews a marker to the aerodrome and the adjoining factories. The Firs Estate (as it was then known, and including Chipperfield Road, Oakdale Road, Millington Road and Ermington Crescent) were private semi-detached houses that briefly enjoyed the benefit of the farmland and golf links. In the late 1950s further development took place. The new council housing was built adjacent to Chipperfield Road and as far as the Newport Road. The name "Firs Estate" now points to the council estate and the name originated from the fir trees that stood near a large house between Chipperfield Road and Hodge Hill Common.
The council housing was also extended up what was known locally as "The Golf Links" to meet the Stables, now known as the Comet.
Castle Bromwich Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in the 1890s. The club and course closed at the onset of World War II.“Castle Bromwich Golf Club”, "Golf's Missing Links".
Governance Castle Bromwich was a civil parish within the Meriden Rural District of Warwickshire. In the 1920s, half of the original parish was ceded to the expanding City of Birmingham county borough. Under the Local Government Act 1972, in 1974 the parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the newly created West Midlands metropolitan county. The parish was subsequently split into two.
Demographics Castle Bromwich had a population of 11,857 according to the 2001 census, falling to 11,217 at the 2011 census. The population has remained quite stable since then; the 2017 population estimate was 12,309.https://www.solihull.gov.uk/Portals/0/InfoandIntelligence/Solihull-Population-Estimates-Projections.pdf, Population Estimates
In 1861, the population was 613. This rose to just over 1,000 in the 1920s, when half of the original parish was ceded to the City of Birmingham for the construction of overspill estates. This caused a drop to 678 (almost the 1861 level). Post Second World War estate building in Castle Bromwich increased the population to 4,356 in 1951, 9,205 in 1961 and 15,941 in 1971.Castle Bromwich CP: Census
Churches There are two from the Church of England, and a Methodist and a Baptist nearby. St Mary and St Margaret's Parish Church is the original church and is in the west of the village. It is unusual as it is a "church within a church". A small stone chapel was known on the site before 1165. It was replaced in the 15th century by a large half-timbered structure. The church was extensively altered between 1726 and 1731 by Sir John Bridgeman and the old timber one was encased in brick and plaster. The massive oak timbers can be seen now in the roof. It is considered to have outstanding architectural and historic merit.
St Clement's Church is in the east and was built in 1967, when the original parish was split into two.
Castle Bromwich Hall
Castle Bromwich Hall is a Jacobean mansion that was built in 1599 by Sir Edward Devereux, the first MP for Tamworth in Staffordshire. It was a single storey with a plain entrance. It was bought by Sir Orlando Bridgeman (keeper of The Great Seal) in 1657, for his son Sir John Bridgeman I. Sir John extended and improved the property in 1672, adding the second floor and a large front porch. His son, Sir John Bridgeman II, inherited it in 1710. He extended the Hall and rebuilt it in local hand-made bricks of clay. The Bridgmans were created Barons of Bradford in 1792, and Earls of Bradford in 1851. A marriage also brought Weston Park into their possession, which the family gave to the National Trust in 1986. The Hall was then rented out or used for other family members to live in. It is famous for having twelve windows (one for each Apostle) and four dormers above (one for each Of the four Gospels).
The garden door passed through a grapevine which was always trimmed into the form of a cross. The last family member, Lady Ida Bridgeman, Dowager Countess Bradford left the Hall in 1936. It then was used for storage during World War II. Post-war it was leased out as an apprentice training centre for the GEC, and then used as offices while the outbuildings are used by other small companies. The conservation area is centred on the Hall. The Hall is falsely reported as having tunnels linking to the former vicarage and former public house nearby.
Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens which surround the Hall is the only surviving example of an 18th-century English formal garden, having escaped the attentions of Capability Brown. Sir John Bridgeman II originally laid out the Hall's gardens in the style to which they have now been restored by the Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens Trust. They commenced the restoration of the in 1985. The Gardens are open to the public and are a tourist attraction.
The Rectory was commissioned by the 5th Earl of Bradford, who enjoyed having tea at the Rectory. The Rectory is now grade II Listed.
Other places of interest Many of the old buildings have now been demolished and farms have disappeared to make way for new housing and roads.
Park Hall was bought by Henry de Ardern in 1373.Driver, J. T. Worcestershire Knights of the Shire 1377–1421 Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society. Third Series Vol 4 1974 p19 The 'Park Hall Manor House' was supposedly haunted and was demolished in the early 1970s during construction of the M6 motorway. The hall was first mentioned in 1265, but this could have been a nearby moated timbered dwelling. Remnants of the hall, farm house and adjacent buildings, orchard and pond are still visible at the Park Hall Wildlife Reserve managed by the Birmingham & Black Country Wildlife Trust. The name lives on in Park Hall School, which is on the other side of the road, and is the largest secondary school in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull.
Castle Bromwich Post Office was the first to have a telephone outside London so that Benjamin Disraeli could keep in touch with the government. He frequently visited Castle Bromwich Hall in the 1870s, possibly to court Lady Chesterfield and Lady Bradford. Later, Queen Mary made use of the telephone when visiting Lady Ida (Lady of the Queen's Bed Chamber) at the Hall. The Post Office closed in 2004 and is now a hairdressing salon.
A drawing of 1726 shows a large structure called "Old Castle Hall" next to the old castle earthworks.
Chester Road used to climb up a steep hill from the river to the church, called "Mill Hill". Towards the bottom of the hill was a brick structure surrounding the Holy Well of St Lawrence. This has now been covered by the roundabout for junction 5 of the M6.