Castle Brom's last farm - a link to the rural past

SURVIVING: The former farmhouse/ Google Street View

STOOD at the roadside, near the pristine paintwork of a mini roundabout, is a building that has been a part of the area for at least three centuries.

What was once Beechcroft Farmhouse is perhaps easy to overlook on a suburban street where rows of homes are now crowded on both sides.

But it is a important link back to Castle Bromwich's rural past, when only a scattering of isolated cottages speckled the route of the old Chester Road.

It is fair to say that the patchwork of fields, which once covered the parish, are now far more a feature of ageing ordinance survey (OS) maps than living memory.

Although Beechcroft is a reminder that that isn't entirely the case. As the Castle Bromwich Village Trail - a concise guide to local sites of note - confirms, this was the last of the area's working farms and its agricultural days lasted rather longer than some may realise. 

PERIOD FEATURES: The porch
and distinctive barge boards

Indeed, those who lived locally might recall how now vanished pastures to the rear were still used to graze horses and cows into the 1970s.

Its relatively recent use means that while other estates only survive in the names of streets signs or developments - think perhaps of The Firs or Park Hall - here is one where a building itself is still standing.

From the roadside the pebbledash walls don't jump out as belonging to the 1600s; this is the date which heritage records suggest the farm came into use, although they acknowledge it might have been even earlier.

But of course many structures change over time and a lot of the features you can see today, such as the 19th century gabled porch and the decorated bargeboards, would have been added much later.

Numerous outbuildings, included an old barn, were ultimately bulldozed.

In its final years, this barn was perhaps notable for a distinctive V-shape in the tiles of the roof.

According to Colin Green's Castle Bromwich: In Times Past, the V - for victory - was created by workmen repairing damage caused during a wartime bombing raid. The farmland was of course only a short distance from Castle Bromwich Airfield and the nearby Spitfire factory - an important target for the German Luftwaffe.

After the barn and farmland failed to escape the housing developments of several decades later, Beechcroft itself was turned into a residential dwelling following the departure of the final farmer (a Mr Rawlins).

The building was deemed noteworthy enough to be included on Solihull Council's Local List - a document I will be referring to quite a bit in these posts as it is something of a treasure trove for more obscure historic landmarks.

Such lists are drawn-up by local authorities around the country and include sites which are of significant value - and deserve to be preserved - but have not been deemed quite important enough to receive a national listing from Historic England.

As with several buildings in this part of the borough, Beechcroft's age is perhaps made less obvious by the gradual development to have taken place around it. 

And yet its survival is a reminder that while Solihull's motto is "Town in the Country", there are also some important remnants of the country in built-up areas.

References:

Castle Bromwich Village Trail, produced for the Castle Bromwich Bell Restoration Project (2017)

Castle Bromwich: In Times Past, C.W Green (1984)

Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Birmingham & District 1910 (reprinted 2014)

Solihull Council's Local List of Heritage Assets (revised October 14, 2022).