Catherine-de-Barnes (known to locals as Catney) is a small village within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of West Midlands. It is situated about 2.25 miles (3.6 km) east of Solihull town centre, in the civil parish of Hampton in Arden, and 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Hampton village. Population as taken in the 2011 census can be found under Bickenhill. The

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail ...

is 3.25 miles (5 km) to the northeast of the village and Birmingham Airport lies 3 miles (4.8 km) to the north.

History

Its name originates from Ketelberne, the man who owned it after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

in 1066. However it is mainly a later settlement probably dating from the building of the Grand Union Canal there and the present St Catherine's church, now a village hall, was built by Joseph Gillott in 1879.

Isolation Hospital

In 1907, a "fever hospital" was built in Henwood Lane as a joint operation of the Solihull and Meriden Councils for isolating patients with infectious diseases such as

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...

, typhoid fever and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

. In 1978, Janet Parker, the last known victim of smallpox in the world, died here. The hospital closed in the mid 1980s and in 1987 was converted to residential use.Toxic Shock; Twenty five years ago a disease that many thought was dead and gone reared its head in Birmingham: smallpox.
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Governance

Catherine-de-Barnes was split between the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Solihull and the Hampton in Arden civil parish until 2019, when it became a ward of Hampton in Arden, to which the part in the unparished area was transferred.

Transportation

The main road passing through the village is the east-west B4102 Hampton Lane/Solihull Road from Solihull to Hampton in Arden. The north-south B4438 Catherine de Barnes Lane starts 250m east of the village, leading past Bickenhill, over the A45 to the

, Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International station all of which are just 3 miles to the north. The main bus route through the village (from 28 August 2022)

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

82 which operates hourly Mon-Sat between

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and Solihull.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine-De-Barnes Villages in the West Midlands (county) Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull