Lickey Hills Toposcope

The Lickey Hills Country Park is found approximately 10 miles to the south west of Birmingham City Centre. The land is wholly owned by Birmingham City Council but it isn’t actually in Birmingham! The Lickey Hills  are in fact in Bromsgrove, and the park was gifted to the people of Birmingham in the late 1800s.

The toposcope, which can be found at the top of Beacon Hill offers extensive views across Birmingham. At 975ft above sea level, you can see all the way to South Staffordshire Pennines in the north; Dudley to the northwest; Cannock Chase to the east and over to Birmingham Airport in the southeast. Behind the toposcope, now obscured by trees, you can see to the Cotswolds and sometimes into Wales. It’s a pretty humbling place to be, seeing the land stretching out for miles in all directions!

The Lickey Hills toposcope is quite elaborate, and resembles a small fort. I think the actual toposcope is the metal plate at the top of the fort, and the fort was just built to house it as a centenary celebration. If you can confirm or deny this, get in touch!

Some panorama pictures can be seen here. And here are a few photos I took while I was there a few weeks back:

I got the bus to the 47 terminus and then walked the rest of the way - it is about a mile and a half from the terminus to the beacon. I have doodled over a Google Earth screengrab to highlight key places. The 98 bus also goes up here (I made a booboo and put 92 on the picture); it stops near to The Old Hare and Hounds before turning off to head towards Rubery.

I have marked on BIG HILLS because I'm pretty certain they weren't that steep when I was younger. Good for the thighs though. There is a car park near to the beacon; it is on Monument Lane. There is also a car park at the golf course on Rose Hill, and at the visitor centre on Warren Lane. Bins are few and far between, please take rubbish with you, and please clean up after your dog!

The Lickey Hills are close to the hamlet of Lickey, which dates back to 1225.

Rednal Tram Terminus

The Rednal Tram Terminus is exactly as the name suggests; a terminus for the old Birmingham tram network! Trams used to come down the Bristol Road from the City Centre and take people to the Lickey Hills in Bromsgrove for their holidays. The old terminus building is still standing. Use has changed over the years from public toilets to varying restaurants (it is now a Cantonese takeaway).

Around the back of the building, there is a section of old cobbled street, and inlaid in the cobbles are two sections of track, which come to a point at one end. These are the remains of the tram tracks! Some of the cobbles are covered with grass but most of it is uncovered. There are no signs telling you what these are, which I think is a shame. The other end of the tram lines is in the city centre, by the Gas Hall.