Bournville is a
model villageA model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, in most cases built from the late eighteenth century onwards by industrialists to house their workers...
on the south side of
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, best known for its connections with the
Cadbury familyThe Cadbury family is a prominent British family of industrialists descending from Richard Tapper Cadbury.* Richard Tapper Cadbury , who financed John** John Cadbury , family patriarch and founder of the chocolate company...
and
chocolateChocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
– including a dark chocolate bar branded "Bournville". It is also a ward within the council constituency of
Selly OakSelly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
and home to the
Bournville Centre for Visual ArtsThe Bournville Centre for Visual Arts is an art school in Birmingham, England. It is located at Ruskin Hall on Linden Road in the area of Bournville...
. Research by the
Joseph Rowntree FoundationThe Joseph Rowntree Foundation is a British social policy research and development charity, that funds a UK-wide research and development programme. It seeks to understand the root causes of social problems, to identify ways of overcoming them, and to show how social needs can be met in practice...
has claimed that it is "one of the nicest places to live in Britain".
History
Originally the area that was to become Bournville consisted of a few scattered farmsteads and cottages, linked by winding country lanes, with the only visual highlight being the
GeorgianGeorgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
built Bournbrook Hall.
The
bluebell gladesA bluebell wood is a woodland that in spring-time has a carpet of bluebells underneath a newly forming leaf canopy...
of Stocks Wood were said to be a relic of the Forest of Arden and there are
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
remains nearby.
Cadbury
Having taken over their father
John CadburyJohn Cadbury was proprietor of a small chocolate business in Birmingham, England, that later became part of Cadbury plc, one of the world's largest chocolate producers.-Biography:...
's expanding business in 1861, the Quakers
GeorgeGeorge Cadbury was the third son of John Cadbury, a Quaker who founded Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company.-Background:...
and
Richard CadburyRichard Cadbury was the second son of the Quaker John Cadbury, founder of Cadbury's cocoa and chocolate company....
needed to move their
cocoaCocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao....
and chocolate factory from Bridge Street in central Birmingham to a greenfield site to allow for expansion.
Cadbury were reliant on the
canalCanals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s for milk delivery, and on the railways for cocoa deliveries from the ports of London and Southampton. They therefore need a site which was undeveloped and had easy access to both canal and rail. The brothers noticed the proposed development of the
Birmingham West Suburban RailwayThe Birmingham West Suburban Railway was a suburban railway built by the Midland Railway company. Opened in 1876, it allowed both the opening of development of central southwest suburban Birmingham south into Worcestershire, and the by-passing of railway traffic via the Birmingham and Gloucester...
, which would extend from central Birimingham south along the path of the
Worcester and Birmingham CanalThe Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long....
into the then green fields of southern Birmingham and the villages of northern
WorcestershireWorcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
.
In 1879, they moved their business to Bournbrook Hall, 4 miles (6.4 km) to the south of Birmingham. The location was chosen as it was regarded as cleaner, healthier and more amenable to longer-term expansion plans. Although rural, it was also already serviced by the new
Stirchley StreetBournville railway station serves the Bournville area of Birmingham, England. It is on the Cross-City Line which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street.-History:...
railway station, which itself was located right next to the canal.
The Cadburys named the area 'Bournville' after the
Bourn BrookBourn Brook is a common name for small rivers, reflected in a number of place names. See:* Bourn Brook, Cambridgeshire* Bournbrook, Birmingham* Bournville, Birmingham...
(now known as The Bourn); with 'ville' being French for 'town', this set Bournville apart from the local area (some people wrongly believe Bournville was originally known as Bournbrook -
BournbrookBournbrook is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Bournbrook is bordered by Selly Oak to the west and south, Selly Park to the east, and Edgbaston to the north. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham Cross-City Railway Line run along the...
exists as a separate area to the north of Bournville). The Cadburys began to develop their factory in the new suburb. Loyal and hard-working workers were treated with great respect and relatively high wages and good working conditions; Cadbury also pioneered
pensionIn general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
schemes, joint works committees and a full staff medical service.
In 1893, George Cadbury bought 120 acres (0.5 km²) of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a
model villageA model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, in most cases built from the late eighteenth century onwards by industrialists to house their workers...
which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. By 1900, the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres (1.3 km²) of land, and many more similar properties were built in the years leading up to the
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, with smaller developments taking place later on in the 20th century. These almost '
Arts and craftsArts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
' houses were traditional in design but with large gardens and modern interiors, and were designed by the resident
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
William Alexander HarveyWilliam Alexander Harvey was an English architect. He is most notable for his design of Bournville, the model 'garden suburb' built by Cadburys to house their chocolate-making workforce to the south of Birmingham....
. These designs became a blueprint for many other model village estates around Britain. It is also noteworthy that, because George Cadbury was a temperance Quaker, no
public houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s have ever been built in Bournville although, since the late 1940s, there has been a licensed members' bar at Rowheath Pavilion.
The Cadburys were particularly concerned with the health and fitness of their workforce, incorporating park and recreation areas into the Bournville village plans and encouraging swimming,
walkingWalking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step...
and indeed all forms of outdoor sports. In the early 1920s, extensive open lands were purchased at Rowheath and laid to football and
hockeyHockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...
pitches together with a grassed running track. Rowheath Pavilion was designed and built in accordance with the instructions of George Cadbury and opened in July 1924. At that time, it served as the clubhouse and changing rooms for the acres of sports playing fields, several bowling greens, a fishing lake and an outdoor swimming lido, a natural mineral spring forming the source for the lido's healthy waters. The Rowheath Pavilion itself, which still exists, was used for balls and dinners and the whole area was specifically for the benefit of the Cadbury workers and their families with no charges for the use of any of the sporting facilities by Cadbury employees or their families. The lido was eventually closed in the 1970s after complaints of noise disturbance were made by residents of the newly built Oak Farm estate, coupled with new and stringent health and safety regulations relating to outdoor public swimming facilities. Cadbury's also built the Bournville indoor swimming baths on Bournville Lane (separate buildings for 'girls' and men), the Valley pool boating lake and the picturesque cricket pitch adjacent to the factory site, that was made famous as the picture on boxes of Milk Tray chocolates throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1900, the
Bournville Village TrustBournville Village Trust is an organisation that was created to maintain and improve the suburb of Bournville, located in Birmingham. However, during the 20th century it expanded its geographical coverage to include developments in Shenley Green, Lightmoor in Telford, Bloomsbury in Nechells and...
was set up to formally control the development of the estate, independently of George Cadbury or the Cadbury company. The trust focused on providing
schoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s,
hospitalA hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s,
museumA museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s, public baths and reading rooms. As Bournville is a conservation area, another job of the Bournville Village Trust is to accept or reject plans for building extension and modification.
An almost campus feel evolved, with a triangular village green, infant and junior schools, the School of Art and the Day Continuation School (originally intended for young Cadbury employees) and a host of events such as fêtes and
MaypoleA maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, particularly on May Day, or Pentecost although in some countries it is instead erected at Midsummer...
dances. The
carillonA carillon is a musical instrument that is typically housed in a free-standing bell tower, or the belfry of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze, cup-shaped bells, which are played serially to play a melody, or sounded together to play a chord...
and a Quaker meeting house are also beside the village green.
The trust continues to exercise an international influence on housing and town planning generally. Now containing 7,800 homes on 1,000 acres (4 km²) of land with 100 acres (0.4 km²) of parks and open spaces, Bournville remains a popular residential area of Birmingham.
Cadbury-Businesses:*Cadbury Adams, the company's North American subsidiary*Cadbury Ireland, the company's Irish subsidiary*Cadbury UK, the company's UK subsidiary*Cadbury India, the company's Indian subsidiary*Cadbury New Zealand, the company's New Zealand subsidiary...
is still one of Birmingham's main employers, making all manner of chocolate products.
The dark chocolate Bournville Plain is now manufactured in France and sold in the UK.
Cadbury also named their brand of malted drinks Bournvita after Bournville.
Governance
The ward is served by three councillors, all of whom are
ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
; Bill Evans, Nigel Dawkins and Timothy Huxtable.
Bournville has adopted a Ward Support Officer with the current holder of the title being Karen Stevens.
Demography
The 2001 Population Census found that 25,462 people were living in Bournville with a population density of 4,217 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Bournville had an area of 639.8 hectares, and within this, it has a population density of 39.8 people per hectare. 52.9% of the population was identified as female, above the city average of 51.6%. A number of students from The University of Birmingham live there, although not as many as in the nearby wards of
Selly OakSelly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
and
EdgbastonEdgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
.
Bournville is an ethnically diverse community although ethnic minorities represent 10.1% (2,474) of the ward's population as opposed to 29.6% for Birmingham. 8.7% of the ward's population was born outside of the United Kingdom, below the city average of 16.5% and the national average of 9.3%. The White broad ethnic group represented 90.1% of the population. The Asian broad ethnic group was the second largest at 3.9%. More specifically, the White British group is the largest ethnic group at 84.9%, above the city average of 65.6% and below the national average of 87%.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
was the most prominent religion in the ward with 70.6% of the population stating themselves as Christians. 16.6% of the population identified as having no religion.
98.3% of the residents lived in households, equal to the city average and 0.1% higher than the national average. The other 1.7% lived in communal establishments. The total number of occupied households was 11,032, resulting in an average number of people per household of 2.3. This is below the city average of 2.5 and national average of 2.4. 62.5% of the occupied households were occupied by the owner and a further 15.4% were rented from a housing association. Terraced houses were the most common form of houses at 38.9%, followed by semi-detached houses at 32.9%.
The largest age group in the ward was 25-44 age group which was represented by 30.1% of the population, above the city average of 28.3%. The second largest age group was the 45–54 years, which was represented by 17.9% of the population. 18.6% of the population was of a pensionable age, above the city average of 16.7% and the national average of 18.4%. 60.7% of the population was of a working age, above the city average of 59.8% but below the national average of 61.5%. 68.4% of the population was economically active. The unemployment rate was 6.2%, of which 36.7% were in long term unemployment. The city unemployment rate is higher at 9.5%. Of those who worked, 18.2% worked in the Finance, Real Estate, & Business Activities sector. A further 16.7% worked in the Health sector. The largest employer in the area is the Cadbury Trebor Bassett company, employing approximately 6,500 people.
Serco Integrated ServicesSerco Group plc is a government services company based in Hook, North Hampshire in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
is the second largest employer in Bournville, employing approximately 1,800 people.
Although Bournville is most famous for its turn-of-the-20th century Cadbury style homes, a significant amount of more modern stock also exists in the area — not all of which was built by Cadbury's. The local authority built several homes around Bournville before and after the Second World War.
Bryant HomesBryant Homes was one of the larger UK housebuilders when it was acquired by Taylor Woodrow in 2001; Bryant then became the principal housebuilding operation of the enlarged group. Taylor Woodrow merged with Wimpey in 2007 and during 2010 the Bryant brand was phased out...
built a collection of upmarket and mostly detached houses in the west of Bournville during the 1970s.
Education
Primary schools in the area include
Bournville Junior SchoolBournville Junior School is a mixed voluntary aided school in the heart of Bournville, England, taking children from ages 7 to 11...
, Bournville Infant School and St Francis Primary School. St Francis has 243 children on roll and was opened in 1979 and the 26 place nursery was officially opened by Professor Tim Brighouse in November 1998.
Dame Elizabeth Cadbury has a secondary school and sixth form named after her in Bournville. Opened in 1955 located on Woodbrook Road. The school badge shows the Bourne brook flanked by a tree each side.
Bournville SchoolBournville School and sixth form centre is a coeducational, state comprehensive school, with Specialist Business and Enterprise College and Music College status, for students aged 11–19 years, located on Griffins Brook Lane, Bournville, Birmingham in the United Kingdom.Since 2002 Bournville has...
is a secondary school in the Birmingham Local Education Authority area. It is a comprehensive school with a sixth form centre. In April 2007, the school received Music College status as well as already having Specialist Business Enterprise College status. Bournville is served by
Bournville College of Further EducationBournville College of Further Education is a further education college based in Longbridge, Birmingham. The college offers courses that include A Levels, BTECs, NVQs, Apprenticeships and bespoke qualifications...
, which features a
sixth form collegeA sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...
and
higher educationHigher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
programmes. The college is due to relocate to a new campus in
LongbridgeLongbridge is an area of Birmingham, England. For local government purposes it is a ward within the district of Northfield.Since 1905, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars...
. The new building is due to begin construction in late 2009 and is estimated to cost £81 million.
The
Bournville Centre for Visual ArtsThe Bournville Centre for Visual Arts is an art school in Birmingham, England. It is located at Ruskin Hall on Linden Road in the area of Bournville...
, located at Ruskin Hall on Linden Road, has been part of the
Birmingham Institute of Art and DesignThe Birmingham Institute of Art and Design is the largest British university art and design teaching and research centre outside London. It is a faculty of Birmingham City University and the largest, most successful department of the university.-History:BIAD dates back, in various incarnations, to...
(BIAD) at
Birmingham City UniversityBirmingham City University is a British university in the city of Birmingham, England. It is the second largest of three universities in the city, the other two being the Aston University and University of Birmingham...
since 1988. It offers undergraduate, foundation and self-development courses.
Transport
Bournville lies on the
A4040The A4040 is the Outer Ring Road in Birmingham, England. It is the route followed by the Birmingham Outer Circle bus route. It was formed mainly of redesignated old roads, unlike Birmingham's inner and middle ring road , which were mostly purpose built.Places along the route include:* Perry Barr*...
, the ring road developed in the 1920s and served by the 11A and 11C
Birmingham Outer CircleThe Birmingham Outer Circle is a roughly circular, 27 mile bus route in Birmingham, England . It mainly follows the city's outer ring road, the A4040 with some small deviations to serve some rail stations and shopping areas. Buses on the Outer Circle are numbered 11C on the clockwise journey and...
bus routes. The 27 (Hawkesley to
Kings HeathKings Heath is a suburb of Birmingham, England, five miles south of the city centre. It is the next suburb south from Moseley on the Alcester Road.-History:...
) bus service also serves the area.
Road access into Birmingham City Centre is via either the Bristol Road (
A38The A38, part of which is also known as the Devon Expressway, is a major A-class trunk road in England.The road runs from Bodmin in Cornwall to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. It is long, making it one of the longest A-roads in England. It was formerly known as the Leeds — Exeter Trunk Road,...
), served by the 61 (Birmingham to Gannow), 62 (Birmingham to Rednal) and 63 (Birmingham to Rubery) bus routes, or the Pershore Road (
A441A441 is an A-road in England which runs from central Birmingham to Cookhill, Worcestershire.-History:Once one of the main routes between Evesham, Redditch and Birmingham, the A441 has now largely been superseded by A435 which has been upgraded to the East...
), served by the 45 (Birmingham to West Heath) and 47 (Birmingham to Cofton Hackett) buses.
TramA tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s ran on these routes until 1952.
Bournville is served by
Bournville railway stationBournville railway station serves the Bournville area of Birmingham, England. It is on the Cross-City Line which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street.-History:...
on the Cross-City Line to Birmingham New Street,
LichfieldLichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
and
RedditchRedditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...
. While other suburban Birmingham railway stations feature the yellow and green corporate livery of
CentroThe West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive , sometimes known as Centro, is a local government organisation responsible for certain transport services in the West Midlands county in England....
, Bournville railway station is instead painted in Cadbury's purple.
The
National Cycle NetworkThe National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans , and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230 million trips.Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor...
route five passes near Bournville (
map) towards Hurst Street in the City Centre. The
Worcester and Birmingham CanalThe Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is long....
towpathA towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...
can be joined at the railway station and serves as a de-facto cycle route to
BrindleyplaceBrindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It is often written erroneously as Brindley Place, the name of the street around which it is built...
.
Religion
Christian churches in Bournville include
St Francis of Assisi ChurchSt Francis of Assisi's Church, Bournville is a parish church in the Church of England in Bournville, Birmingham.-History:Land was set aside for a church and church hall by Bournville Village Trust in 1905. The church hall was built in 1913, and the church building was consecrated in 1925. It was...
which is also the Anglican parish church. The ward is also served by
As Bournville was founded by Quakers, a meeting house was built. Being intended also to serve other Christian denominations, it was equipped with an organ, which would not normally be expected in a Quaker meeting house in Britain. The Bournville Friends Meeting House is located on Linden Road, and features a bust of George Cadbury by Francis Wood, installed in 1924. The building, designed by
William Alexander HarveyWilliam Alexander Harvey was an English architect. He is most notable for his design of Bournville, the model 'garden suburb' built by Cadburys to house their chocolate-making workforce to the south of Birmingham....
, was constructed in 1905.
There is a purpose-built Serbian Orthodox Church known by its members as
LazaricaThe Serbian Orthodox Church of St Lazar, Cob Lane, Bournville, Birmingham, England was the built for political refugees from Yugoslavia after World War II....
, formally the Church of the
Holy Prince LazarLazar Hrebeljanović , was a medieval nobleman that emerged as the most powerful Serbian ruler after the death of the previous, childless, Emperor Uroš the Weak, which resulted in years of instability in the Serbian realm. As Stefan Lazar, he was Prince of Serbia from 1371 to 1389, ruling what is...
. This is built in the traditional Byzantine style of the Balkans and is consciously modelled on some famous examples. The interior is decorated in the full scheme of the Orthodox Tradition with wall-paintings alfresco. The Priest in charge is under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Scandinavia and Great Britain and resides in Stockholm, and ultimately comes under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate in Belgrade.
Further reading
External links