Samuel Galton II, born in 1753, followed his father into the family gun-making business and was also a Quaker. He married Lucy Barclay in 1777, and they moved to Barr Hall, Great Barr in 1782. They purchased the Warley Hall estate in 1792 and called in the celebrated landscape architect Humphry Repton in 1794, to create a setting worthy of his new house to be built in his country estate at Warley. Repton set out his ideas for Warley in one of his famous Red Books, so called because he bound them in red leather. In his Red Book he showed clients his ideas for improving the landscape, illustrated by his own watercolours, with flaps lifted to reveal a landscape ‘before’ and ‘after’ his improvements had been made. We are very fortunate that the Red Book for Warley survives in the local studies archive, in the library in Smethwick High Street. We also have a copy of the Red Book which is available to be viewed at the Trust office.
The Warley Hall estate passed from the Galton family into the hands of various different owners. By 1905 local residents were very concerned that the then owner might sell the land for housing, which was expanding rapidly in Bearwood at that time. Alexander Macombe Chance, owner of Chance’s glassworks, who had earlier set up a committee to save Lightwoods Park, negotiated a deal to buy Warley Woods. Local residents concerned about the loss of green space, raised money by public subscription and the balance was provided by Birmingham City Council.
In addition to this work the trust has established a tree nursery on site to provide trees as they are required in the woods.
Key features have been restored, to include: its gothic roof canopy with clay titles and have repaired and its granite base, adding in pieces which had been damaged or lost. The area around the fountain has also been re-landscaped to provide access up to and around the fountain and additional seating.
The Community Trust has been able to undertake this project thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund. Their grant provided funding for training, equipment and professional support with sound editing, video production and transcribing.
Part of this project involved the students of two local schools: Abbey Junior School and St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School. In spring and summer 2013 Julia Letts of the Oral History Society visited the schools over a number of weeks, training the students in how to be good interviewers. The students then interviewed seven local residents about their memories of Warley Woods on camera, filmed by a professional film company, Scraggy Dog. The DVD of this part of the project is also available at the Trust’s shop.
The Heritage Lottery Fund provided £737,000 to restore the basic infrastructure of Warley Woods and this was spent on fencing, pathways, benches, bins, tree works and new trees. It also paid for a community archaeological dig. This work was completed in December 2007. The Heritage Lottery Fund also funded our Oral History Project which ran in 2012-2014.
Gives the Trust core unrestricted funding which helps provide for salaries and some of the maintenance of the park. The Trust also applies for funding for projects and Sandwell MBC has supported the golf summer school, the fountain restoration and two projects through Smethwick Town Committee. It provided major match funding for the Heritage Lottery Project which ended in December 2007.
Forestry Commission
Gives the Trust a small grant for providing woodland for public use and also grants to help with tree works and for public access.
We are in despair, about a broken chair.
This was unacceptable, making his meal indigestible.
We aren’t going to get all spendy, we don’t need anything trendy.
Could you help us with the bill.It would be such a thrill.
But we are not greedy and we need to replace them speedily.
We would love to offer you something in return for your help. If you donate £20, we will give you a voucher for a Warley Woods mug. If you donate £40 we will give you vouchers for a mug and a Warley Woods history book. Our deadline for fundraising is 28th February when we will have to pay the invoice for the chairs. Thank you for any help you can give.
Stuart Maconie is a TV and radio presenter, journalist, columnist and author. He is one of the UK’s best-selling travel writers. His book Adventures on the High Teas was the top selling travel book of 2009 and Pies and Prejudice was one of 2008’s top selling paperbacks. His work has been compared with Bill Bryson, Alan Bennett and John Peel and described by The Times as a ‘National Treasure’.
Dame Julie Walters was brought up in Smethwick, and is one of the UK’s most popular female entertainers. A successful stage performer, a best-selling author and an award-winning screen actress, Julie Walters is a gifted artist. She has won several British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, a Golden Globe and is an Academy Award nominated actress.
Born in Moseley to parents from Sparkbrook and Aston, Carl Chinn grew up in Birmingham and was educated at Moseley School. He initially followed his father and grandfather into bookmaking before entering academia, gaining his Ph.D. in 1986. Professor Carl Chinn MBE Ph.D. is well-known throughout Birmingham and the Black Country as a historian, broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author. Carl is the author of 21 books, many of which focus on various aspects of Birmingham’s history.
