Birmingham's Mills

It may be hard to imagine looking at the Rea when it is in normal flow that this river once supported nearly 200 mills! These mills included corn grinding mills, fulling mills, paper making and blade sharpening. The most famous mill is probably Sarehole Mill.

The River Rea flows through Birmingham, from the Waseley Hills in the south west to the River Tame, under Spaghetti Junction. The river is also fed by the River Bourn, which flows through Stirchley, and the Bourn Brook, which flows through Selly Oak, amongst a few others.

As the Rea supported so many mills, people became protective over the water. When the canals were built, competing companies stole each other’s water and sometimes, water was taken from the river to top up the canal network. As a result of this, several pools were built, near the river, and these acted as compensation pools, to ensure the river always had water. Examples of these include Wychall Reservoir and Lifford Lake.

Some mills have remains which can apparently be seen along the river. This includes Northfield Mill which I covered way back when I first started this blog – see here – though I couldn’t see any trace of the mill when I walked the route!

The picture below illustrates the number of mills on the Birmingham river systems, which includes the rivers Rea, Cole, Blythe and Tame. The Rea starts in the bottom left corner and works its way up towards the Tame.

King's Norton Nature Reserve & Wychall Reservoir

This post (and route!) follows on from this one which ended at Popes Lane, KN.

This walk along the river takes you through the King’s Norton Nature Reserve, from Popes Lane, past Wychall Reservoir and up to King’s Norton Park. The start point (or, where I started the route from as a continuation of my river walk) is indicated by three signs. There is a body of water in this area, I’m not sure how deep/how full of weeds it is, but be wary of this and ensure children don’t go running off.

The route is well maintained and is flat and tarmacked, so is suitable for all users. There are benches along the way. The river Rea is on your right and the reservoir is up ahead on the left. Despite being quite close to a busy school, an estate and a main road, this parkland is really quiet and you can hear all sorts of birds. More often than not, I spot herons on the reservoir!

This is quite a brief walk, and when you reach a short access road, turn left and pick up the route through the park. When you get to an opening, with a choice of two routes, take the one on the right in this picture. This will lead you past an industrial site, towards The Camp pub and Westhill Road. I'm not entirely sure where the gate on the left leads to..!

There are not many bins along this route; please take rubbish and dog waste with you. There is no parking, or visitor centre facilities. This part of the route is accessible by foot and bike, and the bus route 47 is nearby!

Photos from my walk (taken by me on June 9th) are now up on the Flickr page!

A few more piccies:

Stirchley Park

A hidden gem in the hectic concrete jungle that is Stirchley!

I think I’ve always known about Stirchley Park, but I just referred to it as ‘the patch of land behind the Co-Op’, and it would seem, so do a lot of people!

This little patch of green is indeed tucked behind the Co-Op and the houses of Bond Street, but with the river (I think it is the Bourne) running through it, the artwork on the walls and the grass area, it’s a pleasant little place. Considering the proximity to the main route into town, the Pershore Road, it’s also really quiet; a perfect little hide-away park.

It has also has a twitter feed!

L x

Pictures were taken by me, June 25th. Click for bigger. Feel free to nick 'em, they are up on Flickr, or, visit and take your own!

There is no parking, unless you use the Co-Op car park. There are two main entrances to the park, I used Hazelwell Street, near the post box, but you can also enter at the corner of Bond St/Ribblesdale Rd.