Kings Norton Walk - 12 August 2022 - time 19:30 - temp’ approx 30°C

Kings Norton Nature Reserve - St. Nicolas Church and Old Grammar School - Saracen’s Head - Kings Norton Green -

I’m starting the walk near the junction of Beaks Hill Road and Meadow Hill Road in Kings Norton. It’s about 7:30 on a very pleasant evening with a temperature around 30° Celsius.

Kings Norton has a long and rich history with some evidence of prehistoric and iron age activities. It was during the Anglo-Saxon period that Kings Norton was first recorded historically

In the Doomsday book Kings Norton is called ‘Nortune’, because of it’s location to the north of Bromsgrove, a much more important settlement during the Anglo-Saxon period.

Now, Kings Norton is a suburb of Birmingham, who’s centre lies several miles to the north east.

We enter the Nature Reserve from Beaks Hill Road.

As we walk along the path leading further into the Nature Reserve we will see Merecroft Pool to our left. The meadows and land around the pool were once part of two large granges belonging to the medieval estate of Bordesley Abbey and during this period the land was known as Kingsack Farm.

Merecroft Pool was created around 1900. The pool was once used by Birmingham city to re-stock fish for it’s other lakes. The lake forms an important habitat for waterfowl and Daubenton’s bats.

As we exit the Nature Reserve we cross West Hill Road. Between 1940 and 1946 a certain Reverend Awdry, the curator of St. Nicolas Church lived on this road. Most will know him as the author of ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’

We now approach Birdcage Walk, a short pathway that may originally have been a tree lined tunnel leading us to St. Nicolas Church

St. Nicolas is the ancient parish church of Kings Norton.
The church has two of the original Norman windows which are over nine hundred years old. The original church was much smaller and was rebuilt in the 13th and again in the 14th century of local sandstone. The tower, spire and south porch are of the 15th century.
Major work was undertaken in 1872 to restore the Gothic appearance of the church and this is what we see today.

Within the grounds of St. Nicolas Church we find The Old Grammar School. This Scheduled Ancient Monument has a timber framed upper storey constructed in the 15th century though the lower brick part of the building was added in the early 17th century.
The school may have been built as a priest’s house or perhaps as a place of meeting.

Next to the churchyard stands what was once the bailiff's house and manorial court and may occupy the site of an earlier manor house. Substantially extended in the 16th century, the oldest part dates back to 1450. The building was used as an inn from at least the 18th century and was known as the Saracen’s Head. An extensive restoration of the building was undertaken between 2006 to 2008 and was renamed Saint Nicolas' Place.

Moving on we come across Kings Norton Green. Since the 16th century the Green has been the site of Kings Norton Mop Fair held on the first Monday of October. Originally a hiring fair, it attracted a variety of stalls and entertainments some of which still continue throughout the year.

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