Has anyone any information on how "Birchley Island" Oldbury came by its name. Thankyou.Sandra Harper.

Sandra: Birchley Island only dates from the 1970s, when the M5 motorway was completed. Before that, it was a simple cross-roads, where the A4123 Birmingham - Wolverhampton New Road crossed Birchfield Lane. On that cross-roads, stood Birchley bus garage which backed onto Birchley Park. However that cross-roads itself only dated from 1927, when the Birmingham - Wolverhampton New Road was built. So the question comes down to one of why that area was known as Birchley. The 1902 Ordnance Survey map (Alan Godfrey) shows the area to be entirely fields and old coal shafts. The word "Birchley" doesn't appear at all, although Birchfield Lane does. The 1900 book "Picturesque Oldbury" (great title!) includes a section on local parks and recreation grounds, but no Birchley Park. The 1857 Map of the Township of Oldbury also shows no Birchley, but does have Birchy Field Lane, which name also appears in the earliest censuses. The 1830 map of the Parish of Halesowen, Shropshire, which included Oldbury, also fails to mention Birchley. So the earliest written reference I can find to Birchley dates only from Birchley Park in 1936 and Birchley bus garage in 1937, although I'm sure the name must go back at least a little earlier. As to the meaning, it surely has a similar root to Birchfield, alias Birchy Field, Lane, and refers to the birch trees that once grew there. Paul Prescott Born Birchfield Lane, Oldbury. ----- Original Message ----- From: "sandra harper" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 1:34 PM Subject: [Black Country] (no subject) > Has anyone any information on how "Birchley Island" Oldbury came by > its name. Thankyou.Sandra Harper. > ------------------------------------- > The only List that specifically covers the whole of the Black Country. Run > by Black Country folk who were born and still live in the area. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi: A bit more searching on the internet has come up with the sale in the late 19th century of the Birchley Coppice Estate, which contained Whiteheath Villa. This house was about half a mile south-west of the present Birchley Island, so assuming they are linked it must have been a considerable estate. So very possibly Birchley is an old estate name going back centuries. Has anyone heard of it? Best wishes Paul Prescott