New houses - the Whateley Hall Estate

Until the 20th century Castle Bromwich was an area of farms and fields with a number of small cottages for working people and a few very large houses for wealthy people. These big houses had very big gardens. From the 1930s the houses were demolished and the land was sold to build houses for ordinary people. 

Whateley Hall was one of these big houses. It had been built in the 18th century but it may have been built on a the site of a medieval hall. (For a history of Whateley Hall, click here.)

The Hall was demolished in 1935 and houses were built on the site by (Fred) Hales & Company of Castle Bromwich. The shaded area on the 1887 map below shows the land owned by Whateley Hall. In fact, it stretched further than this map shows - all the way up to Hurst Lane North which is off the right-hand side of the map. After 1935 this land was built on and called the Whateley Hall estate. The roads on this estate are Bentley Road, Clifton Road, Hurst Lane North, Manor Park Road, Marlborough Road, Springfield Road, West Avenue and Whateley Crescent.