Saltley, Warwickshire

Historical Description

Saltley, a hamlet and an ecclesiastical parish formerly in Aston parish, Warwickshire, but now included in the city of Birmingham. The hamlet stands 2 miles NE of Birmingham, Coleshill, Ordius, and Adderleys. It dates from ancient times, belonged to successively the Earls of Mercia, the Barons of Dudley, and the Rokebys. It has two stations, Adderley Park on the L. & N.W.R. and Saltley on the M.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office (T.S.O.) under Birmingham. Saltley had a castle built by the Rokebys, and long ago ruinous; has undergone many modern improvements and much modern extension; and possesses a public park of 11 acres, presented by the Right Hon. Sir C. B. Adderley, afterwards Lord Norton. A commodious public free library attached to the park was enlarged by the corporation of Birmingham in 1892. Extensive railway carriage works and the gasworks of the Birmingham Corporation are in the neighbourhood. There are also paper and metal works and brickfields. Since 1891, when the district was annexed to Birmingham, several hundred artisans' dwellings of the better class have been erected, and the population has considerably increased. The church was built in 1850 at a cost of about £6000, and is cruciform and in the Perpendicular style. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £404 with residence. Patron, Lord Norton. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels. The Worcester, Lichfield, and Hereford Diocesan Training College for the education of masters for elementary schools was built in 1850, after designs by Ferrey, at a cost of over £17,000; stands on a plot of 7 acres; is a quadrangular structure in the style of the time of Edward I.; contains dormitories and class-rooms for 112 scholars, a large dining-hall, a large lecture-hall, a residence for the principal, and rooms for other officials; and has numerous scholarships and exhibitions. A model and practising school for 400 boys is connected with the college. The Birmingham Reformatory for boys was built in 1854. The ecclesiastical parish was constituted in 1848. Population, 9313. The house of Button, the historian of Birmingham, is at Bennetts Hill, and was attacked and damaged during the riots of 1791.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Saltley from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Saltley, with Washwood)

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Warwickshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Saltley are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Warwickshire papers online:

• Leamington Spa Courier

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619 is available on the Heraldry page.