Ward End is an area of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It covers the area between
Saltley
Saltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, England, east of the city centre. The area is part of the Washwood Heath ward, and was previously part of the Nechells ward. It is part of the Ladywood constituency in the city.
History
Saltley was ...
,
Hodge Hill
Hodge Hill is an area 4 miles east of Birmingham City Centre, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The MP of Hodge Hill is currently Liam Byrne.
The constituency includes the smaller constituency ...
and
Stechford
Stechford is an area of East Birmingham, England, situated about five miles east of the city centre, bordering Ward End, Yardley, Hodge Hill and Kitts Green. Historically it lay within Worcestershire.
History
Stechford's history is uncl ...
and includes Ward End Park, a public park that has been open for over 100 years.
Ward End territory
Pelham in Ward End joins with
Alum Rock Ward End starts by Ward End Park on the Washwood Heath Road and finishes at the Fox and Goose public house.
The Fox & Goose
The
Fox & Goose, a pub and shopping area is situated in the eastern part of Ward End and marks the boundary with
Stechford
Stechford is an area of East Birmingham, England, situated about five miles east of the city centre, bordering Ward End, Yardley, Hodge Hill and Kitts Green. Historically it lay within Worcestershire.
History
Stechford's history is uncl ...
and
Hodge Hill
Hodge Hill is an area 4 miles east of Birmingham City Centre, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The MP of Hodge Hill is currently Liam Byrne.
The constituency includes the smaller constituency ...
.
Ward End Park

The park, opened in 1904, covers a large part of Ward End. A typical English park, it is heavily populated in the summer months. Ward End Park House is located within the park and dates back to 1759.
The park also has two large multi-sports practice courts, two professional cricket nets, two large play sections and a car park.
Secondary schools
The secondary school which served this area from 1958 was Ward End Hall
Secondary Modern
A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupils ...
; later known as Ward End Hall County Secondary School, before finally being renamed Park View Upper School in 1983 when it catered solely for 4th and 5th year senior pupils, and sixth-formers (or Year 10, 11, 12 and 13s as they are known these days). Park View Lower School was the name given to the next closest secondary school, Naseby, after the two schools amalgamated in the mid-1980s. However, whether it was due to lack of demand for places or just financial problems, the former Ward End Hall School was closed down and demolished in the mid-1990s. A housing estate now stands on the site of the former school. Park View School was renamed
Rockwood Academy in 2015. In addition to Rockwood Academy, there is a secondary education establishment quite locally at
Washwood Heath
Washwood Heath is a ward in Birmingham, within the formal district of Hodge Hill, roughly two miles north-east of Birmingham city centre, England. Washwood Heath covers the areas of Birmingham that lie between Nechells, Bordesley Green, Stec ...
(
Washwood Heath Academy
Washwood Heath Academy is an all through school located in the Washwood Heath ward of Birmingham, England. Originally known as Washwood Heath Comprehensive School, it opened in September 1967. It was extended in 1996 to make way for the Post-16 c ...
) and two more in
Hodge Hill
Hodge Hill is an area 4 miles east of Birmingham City Centre, England. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The MP of Hodge Hill is currently Liam Byrne.
The constituency includes the smaller constituency ...
(
Hodge Hill College; and
Hodge Hill Girls' School, a former
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
).
Places of worship
There are a number of places of worship in Ward End, Christ Church in Burney Lane and a large number of mosques.George Grenfell Memorial Hall situated to the rear of Grenfell Baptist Church in Bankdale Road B8 2AA. Monk Road Methodist is now an African pentecostal church.
Unusual events
Several unusual events have occurred in Ward End over the years.
In late-1981 and into 1982, the residents of five houses on
Thornton Road informed the police that stones had been thrown against their windows at night. The stones had no fingerprints, so a night-time surveillance using
infrared
Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
cameras and
image-intensifiers was set up. The stone-throwing continued even though no human activity was seen. Eventually the Birmingham CID gave up and left the case open.
In late-2004 and early 2005, there were rumours that a man had
bitten several people on Glen Park Road; described as being black and in his mid-20s he was dubbed the "Birmingham Vampire". However the police had received no reports of any attack, and the hospitals had received no bite victims. The local press was inundated with calls from worried residents in Ward End and the surrounding area. The case has been dismissed as an
urban legend
Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not.
These legends can be e ...
.
In 2006, Tarmac (a heavy building materials company) drew up a list of Britain's "spookiest roads", with Drews Lane in Ward End coming tenth. Invisible cars are frequently heard on the road.
Famous Resident
Charlie Hall, character actor in many
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
films, was born here.
References
External links
Ward End LibrarySpooky roads article
{{Coord, 52, 29, 34, N, 01, 49, 15, W, type:landmark, display=title
Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands