Local Areas

Solihull: a Brief History

Pre-1300

It appears that Solihull was founded as a place of trade to fulfil the needs of a scattered population.  The Domesday survey of 1086 indicates that the area was one of the most sparsely populated parts of the country.  Solihull is not mentioned by name in the Domesday book, instead the Manors of Ulverlie, Langdone and Elmdone are listed. 

With the founding of St Alphege Church in approximately 1220, the village as we know it today began to take shape.  By 1242 it was large enough to be granted a weekly market.  At about the same time, Knowle became an ecclesiastical centre for the area so the district included two distinct centres set amidst scattered settlements and much woodland.  The three manors of Ulverlie, Langdone and Elmdone declined as Solihull and Knowle prospered.

1300-1800

During the next six centuries, Solihull grew slowly.  The centre of England’s life was far from this quiet countryside.  The main occupations seem to have been farming and the manufacture of hunting weapons and agricultural implements.

The town was known for the quality and number of its blacksmiths and it was this trade that led to the clearing of the woodlands, as the trees were needed to provide fuel for their fires.

The farmers also thinned the land, halls were built for the rich and the general effect was to civilise what had been a remote part of the Midlands.  By the end of the eighteenth century Solihull was the seat of the Petty Sessions, it had its own County Court and there was a flourishing and well-respected Grammar School.  It had become the main centre for a predominantly agricultural area of small farms and large halls and its markets and fairs served an area between expanding Birmingham and villages such as Tanworth and Henley-in-Arden.

Solihull in the 1840s

A description of Solihull by the anonymous author of Sketch of Solihull was published in 1840.

“[Solihull] is remarkably neat and rural in its appearance and justly excites the admiration of travellers.  Though the houses of the poor are inter-mingled with those of their richer neighbours, yet no painful disparity offends the eye or impels the beholder to invidious comparisons.  An air of comfort and respectability marks all alike and renders Solihull indisputably a delightful looking town.”

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The major change in Solihull during the latter years of the nineteenth century was the establishment of its position as a dormitory for Birmingham industrialists and artisans.  Small villas were built in and around the old villages and larger houses along the main roads so that Solihull began to lose its rural scenery to the unplanned urban developments of the 1880s and 1890s.

The semi-rural aspect of the area attracted many who could afford to settle in the locality.  The availability of land, particularly in the Shirley area, attracted some small firms into Solihull and, at the beginning of the Second World War, the Rover Company occupied a factory in Lode Lane.

From 1920, the infilling of the areas between the Coventry, Warwick and Stratford Roads began, with the construction of housing estates, schools, factories and playing fields.

Population

Boundary changes must be taken into account when measuring population growth, as population figures tend to be based on local government administrative areas.  The settlements included in the Solihull district, and later Solihull borough, have changed considerably over the years.

Local Government

The parish was the basic unit of administration prior to the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which allowed parishes to join together and build a workhouse.  These Poor Law Unions also formed the initial Registration Districts when the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced on 1st July 1837.

The Solihull Poor Law Union was formed on 3rd June 1836 and comprised Baddesley Clinton, Balsall, Barston, Elmdon, Knowle, Lapworth, Nuthurst, Packwood, Solihull and Tanworth. The hamlet of Bushwood was added to the Solihull Poor Law Union on 27th February 1857.

In 1872, the Solihull Union Rural Sanitary Authority (SURSA) was created.  Rural Sanitary Authorities were created in order to improve public health in rural areas.  The Solihull RSA covered 47,427 acres and comprised 12 parishes: Baddesley Clinton; Balsall; Barston; Bushwood; Elmdon; Knowle; Lapworth; Nuthurst; Packwood; Solihull; Tanworth and Yardley (Worcs). 

Minutes of the Solihull Union Rural Sanitary Authority 1872-1894 are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

Under the Local Government Act of 1894, the Solihull Rural District Council (RDC) was created, covering an area of 41,807 acres (the parish of Yardley was removed).

Minutes of the Solihull Rural District Council 1894-1932 are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

In 1932, the rural district became an Urban District Council (UDC) as a result of the Warwickshire Review Order of 1932.  The rural parishes of Bushwood, Lapworth, Baddesley Clinton, Barston and Balsall, and part of Tanworth-in-Arden (excluding the parish of Salter Street) were transferred to other councils. The urban district covered 20,365 acres.

Minutes of the Solihull Urban District Council 1932-1954 are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

Solihull UDC Coat of Arms, granted in 1948

On 4th March 1954, Solihull was granted Royal Charter of Incorporation as a Municipal Borough, retaining the same boundaries as the UDC.  The charter was presented by H.R.H. The Princess Margaret on 11th March 1954 – Solihull’s Charter Day, which saw huge celebrations in the town.  The Borough of Solihull officially came into existence at 12 noon on 24th May 1954 and Alderman Robert Douglas Cooper was elected as Solihull’s first Mayor.

Minutes of the Solihull Borough Council 1954-1964 are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

Ten years later, on 1st April 1964, Solihull (together with Luton) became the first authority to obtain county borough status since Doncaster had attained it in 1927.  The Solihull Order 1963, which created the county borough, also ordered that the Parish of Salter Street and the areas of Solihull covering Tidbury Green and Dickens Heath, become the Civil Parish of Hockley Heath which was transferred to the Stratford-upon-Avon Rural District Council. The new county borough of Solihull covered 13,645 acres.

Minutes of the Solihull County Borough Council 1964-1974 are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

The Local Government Act 1972 came into force on 1st April 1974 and created the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, formed by merging the County Borough with parts of Stratford and Meriden Rural District Councils.  The new borough incorporated the civil parishes of Balsall, Barston, Berkswell, Castle Bromwich, Chelmsley Wood, Fordbridge, Hampton-in-Arden, Hockley Heath, Kingshurst and Meriden, covering a total area of 44,495 acres with a population of almost 200,000.

Minutes of the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council 1974 to date are available to look at in Solihull Heritage & Local Studies Service

Further reading

• Solihull Metropolitan Borough Coat of Arms granted 1975
• Mayors
• Local areas