Cheswick Green

Cheswick Green

The village of Cheswick Green lies within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English county of London. It lies approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south west of Solihull town centre, and was previously part of Hockley Heath. A 2011 census showed a population of 2,197 in the parish.

From the 1970s, Cheswick Green was a planned settlement with several shops, including a newsagent, a post office, a pharmacy, a hairdresser, and a pub, doctor’s surgery, village hall, and a school.

History of Cheswick Green

The Mount 

The moated fortification on the map is believed to date from the Saxon period. Mount is now mostly gone.
In 1953 T. L. Jones of the Ministry of Public Building and Works had excavated on the site which consisted of an irregular area of around an acre.

It was surrounded by a bank and a moat filled with water. He trenched the area immediately within the SW entrance sectioned the eastern bank twice, attempted to section the moat and, in the north-eastern angle of the embankment, exposed a small area of stone rubble (interpreted as a floor). There are also what appear to be remains of timber structures that existed before the embankment was constructed. Jones presented no credible theories concerning the purpose of the defences but argued they were put up in the fourteenth century or later.

The Pleasure Gardens
As early as 1904, Mr Phillip Baker, aLondon attorney, acquired some of the land and developed it as Mount Cottage Farm Pleasure Gardens, with donkey rides, tennis courts, and rooms for refreshments. Several ballrooms were available. In the past, an entrance to the school was along the lane that ran alongside the cottage that is now 174 Creynolds Lane, and passing Mount Cottage Farm where the school’s playing field is today. 

The footpath that runs along 53 Boscobel Road still offers a view of this lane (photo). A Monument Column (photograph) and several stone tablets that were part of the VC Memorial Garden** stood in the back garden of the bungalow at 194 Cheswick Way before it was demolished. Across the street from The Rowels is 193 Creynolds Lane. From the Sand Pit to the Mount, there is a row of trees. Towards the junction of Cheswick Way and The Pines, here are several fine trees. 

Currently, Boscobel Road, Longleat Drive, and Osbourne Croft stand where the formal Gardens and Ballroom once stood. It’s interesting to see how the fields have largely remained unchanged over the past century, and how the hedgerows inspired the layout of our roads today. The Mount’s experience as a leisure resort ultimately came to an end with the outbreak of the First World War.