1900 - 2004 The People's Park is created. Expand The Warley Hall estate passed from the Galton family into the hands of various different owners. By 1905 local residents were very concerned that the then owner might sell the land for housing, which was expanding rapidly in Bearwood at that time. Alexander Macombe Chance, owner of Chance’s glassworks, who had earlier set up a committee to save Lightwoods Park, negotiated a deal to buy Warley Woods. Local residents concerned about the loss of green space, raised money by public subscription and the balance was provided by Birmingham City Council. So, although it was never located in Birmingham Warley Woods was opened as a Birmingham public park in 1906. It quickly became a very popular place to visit and many thousands attended the opening ceremony by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. At the opening ceremony Chance said: ‘I want it to be known as the People’s Park, for never was there a park in the Midlands before that was paid for directly by the money of the people’. On summer bank holidays and at weekends, busloads of visitors travelled out from Birmingham to listen to the brass bands and picnic in the park. In July 1909 a Boy Scouts rally was held there, attended by General Baden Powell, with many thousands taking part or watching. In 1914 the Abbey was used as a home for Belgian refugees. A number of features were added or donated to the park including an aviary, on the site of the car park by Abbey road, various drinking fountains, tennis courts and a bowling green. The Abbey was used as a popular tearoom for park users, and noted for its delicious cakes, which people would consume after a stroll around the rose garden. The Abbey also housed the golf professional who ran the public pay and play golf course established in 1921 on what had been the course of the private Edgbaston Golf Club. The park superintendent from 1906-1935 was George Bretherick. He laid out a whole series of fashionable flowerbeds around the Abbey, with exotic plantings following an exhibition of ‘French Gardening’. He used the old walled kitchen garden for Warley Abbey as a plant nursery for the parks department and grew a number of exotic specimens in the glasshouses. This area was used for more than 60 years until the glasshouses were bulldozed in 1996 During the heyday of the Birmingham parks department the nursery employed 20 gardeners and apprentices growing a variety of plants and vegetables. William Powell was one of a group of invalided ex servicemen, who worked in the nursery and park after the First World War. Just after the war it was used as a demonstration garden to show people how to grow different types of healthy and exotic vegetables including peppers and aubergines, and bags of tomatoes were sold at the back gate. The Nursery supplied cut flowers for the council house in Birmingham and put on a magnificent display of vegetables at the Handsworth Show each year. There was an orchard, a mushroom house and a fine series of steaming compost and leaf litter heaps, known as the brown hills.
1500 - 1900 The Warley Hall Estate. Expand The Warley Hall estate probably came into existence after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1538. The Warley Hall estate is mentioned in documents during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Various documents record events in the lives of the Warley family throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Samuel Galton II, born in 1753, followed his father into the family gun-making business and was also a Quaker. He married Lucy Barclay in 1777, and they moved to Barr Hall, Great Barr in 1782. They purchased the Warley Hall estate in 1792 and called in the celebrated landscape architect Humphry Repton in 1794, to create a setting worthy of his new house to be built in his country estate at Warley. Repton set out his ideas for Warley in one of his famous Red Books, so called because he bound them in red leather. In his Red Book he showed clients his ideas for improving the landscape, illustrated by his own watercolours, with flaps lifted to reveal a landscape ‘before’ and ‘after’ his improvements had been made. We are very fortunate that the Red Book for Warley survives in the local studies archive, in the library in Smethwick High Street. We also have a copy of the Red Book which is available to be viewed at the Trust office. Repton made good use of the lie of the land with its spectacular scenery and panoramic views, which he incorporated into his plan. He moved the oldreptonline of the old Harborne Road to bring Warley Tor, an existing summer house/prospect house into the park. The main carriage drive was designed to pass through the existing woods, then reveal the house across the sweeping lawns. Repton recommended creating a small pool to attract wildfowl from the intermittent stream in the bottom of the wide valley, and proposed a sheltered winter garden, with scented shrubs and gravel walks close to the house to the south. He created contrived views that slowly unfolded for guests, as they toured round the park, so that they could enjoy glimpses of the house from a series of constantly changing perspectives. They might stop at the Doric temple set in a bay cut into the woods, or take tea at Warley Tor (tower), whilst admiring the view to the family’s first home at Great Barr. Repton’s suggested design for the new house was not implemented, and it was eventually built in the fashionable gothic style, to a design by the architect Robert Lugar. Lugar also designed the three gate lodges, one on the turnpike at Beech Lane (now Hagley Road) and one at each entrance on Lightwoods Hill and what is now Abbey Road. For more about Repton. Lugar also made recommendations for the enlargement of Warley Tor as the main residence, but these were apparently never carried out. The site of the Tor today is a grass-covered quarry beside the golf course.
1066 - 1500 Farmland. Expand The area now known as Warley Woods was originally part of the township of Warley Salop, itself part of the manor of Halas/ Hales at the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. The manor passed to David ap Owen, Prince of Wales in 1177 and his name was added to the name of the manor Hales-owen. In 1214 King John gave the manor of Halesowen to the Bishop of Winchester to found a religious house. The area of land, which was to become Warley Woods Park, was administered by Halesowen Abbey. In the medieval period the area of Warley Woods probably consisted of enclosed fields and woodland. You can see eroded traces of the medieval ridge and furrow within the Park today and from vertical aerial photographs taken quite recently. The area was administered from Warley Hall farm, which lay to the west of present day Harborne Road.
2004 to today: The Trust's Management What the Trust has achieved. Expand It took the Trustees of Warley Woods Community Trust seven years to go through all the legal issues to allow them to manage Warley Woods. It took over a site which had had no investment for many years. There were no paths, no bins, just two benches. There was no fencing, gates or play area and the drinking fountain just looked like a lump of concrete amongst nettles. The only events were ones which the Community Trust had put on while waiting for the legal issues to be sorted. We think Warley Woods is now an award winning, welcoming,safe, thriving community space with top class facilities, events for everyone and an opportunity for anyone to get involved at any level. We have 1,000 plus members, hundreds of volunteers and have raised £4.5 million - all spent on making Warley Woods a special place for everyone who visits. 2004 Management of Warley Woods park and golf course began 2006 Delivery of regeneration through Heritage Lottery Project (HLF) began 2006 New children’s play area created 2006 New park sculptures installed 2006 Stride healthy walks started 2007 First trees planted in Warley Woods for over 30 years 2008 Pavilion building made fully accessible with new toilets, boiler and windows 2008 First corporate groups help to maintain the park 2009 History trail leaflet and signage created 2009 Edwardian Drinking Fountain restored 2009 First golf summer school – free for children from Sandwell 2009 Green Flag Award for the first time 2009 New perimeter path around the golf course created 2010 The Wilderness opened to the public 2010 Theatre in the Woods for the first time 2011 Volunteers number over 400 2013 Oral history project completed 2014 Warley Woof , promoting responsible dog ownership, launched 2014 10th Anniversary of managing the site. 2014 Four years of the Big Tree Plant and two years of being a Nature Improvement area project completed 2015 Outdoor gym equipment installed 2015 Entrances refurbished 2016 Large IT system project to support the Trust’s future development (OSWALD) delivered 2016 Voted one of the UK’s Favourite Parks 2016 Viv Cole, Trust Manager wins Green Flag Employee of the Year award 2017 Gold Award from Royal Forestry Society Excellence Awards: Urban and Community Woodland 2017 16th Picnic in the Park With more to come..... If you like what the Trust has achieved, then why not play your part in caring for Warley Woods and make a donation today. Please select a donation amount (required) £5 £10 £20 Other Set up a regular payment Donate
What should I do if I see something wrong? Expand Thank you for caring about Warley Woods and for wanting to help keep it a safe and pleasant place for everyone to visit. We appreciate the support of our visitors in achieving that. If someone is in danger, a crime is in progress, or someone needs an ambulance or there is a significant fire, then please call 999. If it is during our building opening hours then please also call us 0121 429 2440. We will come out to help if we can, or contact a Trustee or volunteer if we cannot leave the building. We have a defibrillator in the shop which anyone, even untrained, can use which can prolong life until the emergency services arrive.. If the activity is not a physical emergency but is illegal and antisocial and needs law enforcement please call the police on 101. We also appreciate knowing about this and will help if we can, but Trust staff and volunteers do not have any more legal powers than any other member of the public and we will only be able to talk to the individual. If you see something physically wrong, like flytipping, vandalism, something broken please call in at the Pavilion or telephone us. 0121 429 2440. If the Pavilion is closed for the day, there is an answerphone on that line and so we will know about the problem first thing the next morning and shop staff will be able to liaise with groundstaff to get it resolved. We would prefer that you do not use facebook, facebook messenger, or email to report issues like this, as there is no guarantee of facebook being monitored, as our Administrators are volunteers and you might send the email to an address which is not monitored over the weekend. As our shop has staff in it seven days a week and long summer hours, it really is the best way to get a message to us, so we can deal with the issue promptly. If you want to report a particular issue with a problem dog/owner, then we have a special form for this. We do not have any byelaws or enforcement powers relating to dogs, as these are covered by primary legislation. We do keep records of incidents and will go through the legal channels open to us, if we identify a particular dog/owner causing significant nuisance. The form can be accessed here.
What time are the gates locked? Expand Times do vary on different days of the week and with longer and shorter daylight hours. You can always ask our shop staff on 0121 429 2440 what the hours are for today. For general guidance you can see the information here.
Can I hold a family party in the park? Expand We love people to use Warley Woods for all kinds of celebrations and for a normal family outing or picnic then no special permission is needed. We like it that people feel the Woods is an extension of their own gardens. But you need to keep to the normal park rules - such as no BBQs, taking care of rubbish, being considerate to other park visitors and not erecting tents etc. Please see our byelaws if you are unsure what is or isn't allowed. Large scale parties though are not allowed without permission. Also be aware that sometimes things that start small scale end up being larger, and on some occasions stray into commercial operation where other rules start to apply (and charges). If you are starting to invite people you don't know to join you at your activity - through promotion on facebook for example, then you start to have a duty of care for those people and the activity becomes more of an event. If you are starting to provide games or activities, again it may be best to talk this through with us first. If in doubt, please ask. We have staff on site 7 days a week and are always happy to clarify anything. You can make an enquiry through this online form too.
What is the metal tank alongside the path from Harborne Road into the park? Expand This is the irrigation tank for the golf course and next to it is the pump shed. The golf course greens are watered at night by sprinklers (only when necessary though). Watering at night helps keep the moisture where it should be and not wasted in the heat of the day. So few people see it happen.
Can we scatter ashes at Warley Woods? Expand Yes you can. We know that Warley Woods is a special place for many people and we understand that people would like to do that and have a place that they can come back to visit with that memory. We would ask that you talk to us about this before you do so. There are places where ashes should not be scattered. There are also spaces, like on the golf course, where we would need to make special arrangements with you. You should not dig holes to bury ashes. You should also be careful when scattering that you avoid any newly planted trees. These have often been planted in memory of someone and we have had the situation where a family has come back to their tree and found someone else's ashes added to the tree and a flower attached to the stem. They found it very upsetting and we would like to avoid that kind of situation in future. We do not officially allow the leaving of tributes such as flowers, or decorations on benches or trees. We do have people do this and we will generally not remove them until they become unsightly. But we do prefer the park and woodland to be as natural as possible - it is not a cemetery. In particular benches have been provided for people to sit on and while many of our benches have "in memory" type plaques on them, they should remain places that everyone feels that they can sit on without intruding.
Which is the oldest tree in Warley Woods? Expand We have over 4,500 trees in Warley Woods. The oldest area of planting, that gives us the "Woods" name is the oak trees in the triangle of land at the corner of Barclay Road and Lightwoods Hill. These trees may not look like old oak trees, but they have been coppiced at some point (cut back to their base) which means they have grown their trunks at least twice, if not more. The majority of the planting of the woodland was done after 1795 when the area went from being farmland to designed parkland, for Samuel Galton Junior. A lot of this planting was beech trees. Then during the public park period (1906 onwards) other trees were added, like the trees either side of the driveway. We also have lots of odd specimen trees, as parts of the grounds were used as a tree nursery for Birmingham Council and some of these trees were never transplanted. The oldest trees though are likely to our yew trees. These are such slow growing trees they don't look that impressive, but they are not only slow growing, but long lasting - while trees like beech trees only last a few hundred years. If you would like to know more about our trees - have a look at our tree trail leaflet
Ask a Question Expand If you have a question and it isn't answered here, then please use this form to let us know so that we can add the information. Thank you
Use of Drones Expand The use of drones is a complex matter and you need to ensure you are aware of regulations before you consider using a drone in a public place. All drone operators now have to be registered. It is possible to use some drones (lighter weight) in public areas, but it is unlikely a a larger drone can be used safely in a public space and so the Trust does not give general permission for drones to be used. Commercial photography of any kind (this includes wedding photography) needs prior permission of the Trust. Due to the safety issues involved and admin oversight needed from the Trust, it is unlikely the Trust will give permission for commercial photography using drones at the present time.
Can I have a special tree planted in Warley Woods? Expand We do plant special new trees which could be adopted, or planted in memory, but this only happens once a year in the winter time. We have a waiting list of people who are interested in this and contact them when we have a planting plan for the year ahead. We start from the point of what Warley Woods needs and what budget we have to buy in trees and then we contact the people next on the list (often around December) to see if what we are planting and where is of interest to them. If it is we ask a minimum of £250 per adoption - which is currently around half the cost of each tree we buy. Then when we have the planting day (always a weekday as we need staff help with equipment for such substantial trees and usually in February) we invite families to be involved with the planting if they wish to. If someone wants to include ashes or something sentimental in the planting hole then we will work with the family on this and make the moment special. If you want to be included on our waiting list please let us know. It doesn't oblige you to take up the offer, when we call you, as you may have decided to do something different while you are waiting. Please be aware though that this may be a while in the future. Please be aware we don't put plaques on or near trees. The only record of adoptions is in our own records and on our website tree map.
Can I have a bench in Warley Woods? Expand At the moment I am afraid the answer is no, as we have all the benches that the site needs. You can find out more about why this is on this page.
Where has the water gone from the valley bottom? Expand The line on the map indicates the route of an occasional stream. It is actually termed "an occasional" stream in Repton's Red Book of his landscape design for the site. Water there has never been a permanent feature there as there is no water source in Warley Woods. The stream forms when there is sufficient heavy rain, that runs down both sides of the valley and takes a while to drain away. There used to be a permanent (but artificially created) pond on site, (thanks to Repton) and this stayed as a feature in the early years of the public park. It was at the Abbey Road gates, and is probably the only piece of flat land in the park. But in the 1920s, when Abbey Road was created, land was used from Warley Woods to widen the lane (Slatchhouse Lane) to a road (Abbey Road) and a culvert for water was taken under this new road. It flows down to Thimblemill Brook. So now we only get a pool after exceedingly heavy rain, that has to take its time to go through the culvert. We are told that it was created by using herringbone bricks as its base and in the drought of the 1970s, the grass cracked around the bricks and the shape of them can be seen. It used to be a very rare pool - just once every few years, but now we see it several times a year.
Can I use a metal detector in Warley Woods? Expand Sorry no. This is something we will not give permission for. This is common policy across Sandwell.