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| Lickey Hills Country Park | |
|---|---|
 Lickey Hills Country Park, from Bilberry Hill over Rosehill Road and the Birmingham Municipal Golf Course towards Beacon Hill. Bilberry bushes in the foreground. | |
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| Location | Birmingham,England |
| Coordinates | 52°22′36″N2°00′37″W / 52.37664°N 2.01024°W /52.37664; -2.01024 |
| Area | 524 acres (212 ha) |
| Operated by | Birmingham City Council |
| Awards | Green Flag |
| Public transit access | Barnt Green railway station |
| Website | www |
Lickey Hills Country Park is acountry park in England. It is 10 miles (16 kilometres) south west ofBirmingham and 24 miles (39 kilometres) north east ofWorcester. The 524 acres (212 ha) park is situated just south ofRednal and close toBarnt Green. It is half a mile west ofCofton Hackett. It is one of the oldest parks managed byBirmingham City Council. The hills rise to 298 m (978 ft) above sea level atBeacon Hill.
The park exists in its current form only through the activities and generosity of the early 20th-century philanthropicBirmingham Society for the Preservation of Open Spaces who purchased Rednal Hill and later arranged for Pinfield Wood and Bilberry Hill to be permanently leased on a nominal peppercorn rent. The society included such prominent and public spirited luminaries asT. Grosvenor Lee,Ivor Windsor-Clive, 2nd Earl of Plymouth and several elders of the Cadbury family led byGeorge Cadbury and his wifeDame Elizabeth Cadbury. The society gave the original park to the people of Birmingham in 1888, with further tracts being added progressively until 1933. The park has thus been preserved as a free-entry public open space.
The Lickey Hills immediately became popular as a recreation area and attendance numbers exploded between 1924 and 1953 while the tram service connected with the terminus atRednal. As early as 1919 as many as 20,000 visitors were recorded on a single August Bank Holiday Monday. The current Country Park status was established with the support of theCountryside Commission in 1971 and today the park still hosts over 500,000 visitors a year. It is considered to be one of the most picturesque public spaces of its type in the West Midlands and isGreen Flag recognised.
The first evidence of people settling in the Lickey Hills date back to theStone Age when aNeolithic hunter lost a flint arrow head on Rednal Hill. The arrow head is leaf-shaped and made of flint and is certainly over 4,000 years old. Additionally a 3,000-year-old flint javelin point was found lying on the surface by an observant Mr W H Laurie when the Lickey's road-widening was taking place in 1925. Aflint scraping tool was found in the area near the Earl of Plymouth monument. The artifacts are on display at the Birmingham Museum.[1]
TheRomans constructed aRoman road over the Lickeys very near to the present Rose Hill gap, before it swung north and followed the route of the present day Bristol Road South. The road would have been used to transport salt and other goods between the Roman encampments at Worcester and Metchley, near where Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital now stands. It would have also been used as a military marching route by Roman soldiers. In 1963 aRoman coin was found near Rednal Hill School by a Janet and Stephen Harris. The coin was adupondius struck during the reign of theRoman EmperorAntoninus Pius who ruled Rome andBritain from 138 to 161 AD. The tiny coin was struck from brass and would have been worth about the price of a loaf of bread.[2]
InNorman times the Lickeys formed part of the royalmanor of Bromsgrove and were set aside as aroyal hunting forest. As well as stocking the area with deer, the Normans deliberately introduced rabbits to the area that were kept in large enclosures, or 'warrens' hence the road and place names. The word 'forest' means 'place of deer' and did not necessarily mean that the area was totally covered with trees.
The manor was sold by crown charter in 1682 to theEarl of Plymouth. The Earl lived at nearbyTardebigge and his descendants would own the lands atLongbridge,Rednal,Cofton Hackett and the Lickey Hills for the next 250 years.
In 1888 the Birmingham Society for the Preservation of Open Spaces purchased Rednal Hill and handed it to the City in trust. They also arranged for Pinfield Wood andBilberry Hill to be leased on a peppercorn (nominal) rent. Birmingham City Council finally purchased Cofton Hill, Lickey Warren and Pinfield Wood outright in 1920. With the eventual purchase of the Rose Hill Estate from the Cadbury family in 1923, free public access was finally restored to the entire hills.
In 1904 Mr and Mrs Barrow Cadbury gave theLickey Tea Rooms building at the bottom of Rose Hill to the people of Birmingham, as a place of rest and refreshment and it remained open until the late 1960s. The building still stands but is in use as theBilberry Hill Centre, a hostel and sports facility run byBirmingham Clubs for Young People nestling at the base of Bilberry Hill. The hostel can accommodate up to 65 persons.[3]
For many Birmingham and Black Country people, the Lickey Hills were a traditional day out. When the Birmingham tram network was extended to the Rednal terminus it would carry the crowds from all over the city to the Lickeys. There are records of crowds as far back as the Rose and Crown on busy Sundays, as families queued for the trams to take them home. The terminus and tram tracks were removed in 1953.
The park is situated in theLickey Hills range, which is part of the Clent and Lickey ridge. The hills, which separate theLongbridge andCofton Hackett end of Birmingham fromBarnt Green andLickey in rural Worcestershire, are 11 miles south of central Birmingham. The total area of the park is 524 acres (2.12 km2).
The area is of significantgeological interest due to the range and age of therocks. Thestratigraphic sequence, which is the basis for the area's diversity oflandscape andhabitat, comprises:
On the road from Lickey to Lickey Beacon there is anobeliskfolly commemoratingOther Archer Windsor, 6th Earl of Plymouth, who created the Worcestershire Yeomanry volunteerregiment ofcavalry, which served in theNapoleonic Wars. The obelisk, which is well hidden from the road, is inscribed with the words "To commend to imitation the exemplary private virtues of Other Archer 6th Earl of Plymouth."
Just a kilometre north of the monument, on top of Beacon Hill, is thetoposcope made in the early twentieth century by the Cadbury family, standing next to theOrdnance Surveytriangulation point. A small castellated structure was built to rehouse the toposcope in 1988 to celebrate the centenary of the park. It is 297 metres above sea level and provides the best views, of the city and surrounding counties, that the park provides.
The park includes an 18-hole non-membershipgolf course, the first such municipal facility in the country which was noted as one of the most difficult municipal golf courses in the country in the 1970s byTony Jacklin. Also included within the park boundary is a bowling green, tennis and putting green as well as a purpose-built wheelchair pathway and viewing platform allowing easy access to panoramic views over the surrounding countryside.
The visitor centre, which first opened in April 1990, contains an exhibition, leaflets and information on nature trails, guided walks and other activities organised by the Ranger Service. It also has a small café and gift shop. There are three car parks, one for the visitor centre, one by the golf club house and another on the top of Beacon Hill. Also next to the visitor centre are a children's play area and paths for disabled visitors, although these are limited by the steep topography within the park. Between theBilberry, Beacon and Rednal Hills standsThe Rose & Crown hotel and public house which serves meals daily includingSunday lunches.
The Lickey Hills Country Park was awarded aGreen Flag Award for seven consecutive years from 2000. A ranger explained in a newspaper interview: "The Green Flag Award is a national scheme which started back in 1996 as a means of recognising and rewarding the best green spaces in the country. They look for a certain standard of quality management within the park, cleanliness, use by the community and so on. There are a total of 27 criteria to pass in order to win the award."[10]
There are severaldeer species andbadgers living in the park, together with a range of waterfowl on the lake includingCanada geese,mallards,coot,moorhen andmute swans. In spring, there are notable displays ofbluebells.
The forests mainly consist of maturespruce andpine trees although there is also a wide-ranging mosaic ofdeciduous trees on the lower slopes. Bilberry Hill is named after the extensivebilberry bushes that bear fruit in the early to mid autumn and are popular with walkers for the free harvest that is later transformed into jams or bilberry and apple pies.
There are over 380 different species of flowering plant within the park, including 17 species of fern and 30 species of moss.[11] There are a range of woodland invertebrates including insects such as beetles, centipedes and slugs. Together with flies, bees and butterflies, they provide the staple diet for some of the larger wildlife within the park.
Ninety bird species have also been recorded within the park. These includerobin,chaffinch,blue tit,great tit,sparrowhawk andcommon woodpigeon, withcommon redstarts andtree pipits visiting during the summer andfieldfare andredwing during the winter.Nuthatches are frequently seen on the bird feeders outside the small cafe near the lake.
The damp woodland and the nearby heathland is also home to a variety of reptiles, which includegrass snakes,adders and thecommon lizard. The most evident mammals are the large numbers ofgrey squirrels throughout the woods andrabbits over the hills, especially during summer evenings. The area is very popular withwalkers, families,birdwatchers, other nature lovers and the general public.
There is a short to medium walk from all local public transport stops to the main park visitor centre.
Diamond Worcestershire services 182 and 183 start at Lickey Square and terminate in Redditch.Diamond services 145/145A andNational Express West Midlands route X20 from Birmingham City Centre also stop nearby.
The nearest railway station isBarnt Green, with frequent services on theBirmingham Cross-City line from Bromsgrove/Redditch in the south and the City Centre/Lichfield in the north.
In 1904,J. R. R. Tolkien, author ofThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings, moved to Rednal with his mother who was convalescing after an illness. The hills became a favourite haunt of Tolkien's and are thought to be his inspiration for the mythical Shire, where the hobbits lived in his books.[12]
John Henry, Cardinal Newman lived and was buried in the area.[13]
The authorJonathan Coe was born in Lickey in 1961.[14]
