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Nikolaus Pevsner, an architect and writer, disapproved of the building calling it 'a very ugly church'. This was followed by a visit by Queen Elizabeth II two days later. On 1 November 1955, the Lord Bishop of Birmingham, Leonard Wilson, consecrated the church. Designed by F J Osbourne, it was the first new church to be built in Birmingham after World War II. In 1954, construction of All Saints Church, a traditional Church of England church, began and construction was completed in 1955. Nine tower blocks were constructed in the ward.Īs a result of the construction of the estate, plans for a new church were drawn up. As usual, communal facilities lagged behind the building of the housing. Building of the estate started in the late 1940s and was added to in stages producing some variety in the housing. The old gravel pit was allowed to fill with water from a natural spring to form Shard End Lake and has become a leisure facility.Ī plan of the new housing estate was produced at the end of 1945 and compulsory purchase orders were issued in 1946. After the war the area was landscaped to become the playing fields. During World War II, this gravel pit was used to store and repair third-line tanks. In the inter war years the Midland Sand and Gravel Company operated a mine on what is now the Norman Chamberlain Playing Fields, off Packington Avenue.

Yorkswood takes its name from the nearby Yorks Wood, an eleven hectare forest dating back hundreds of years. After the camp closed in 1972 they were placed upon the Yorkswood housing estate (Kendrick Avenue and nearby roads) in Shard End, built upon the site of the camp. These had come from the roof of Lewis's Department Store in Birmingham when it was being renovated.

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The entrance to the camp was flanked by a series of griffin statues. A small brook from a fresh water spring ran past the camp and Cock Sparrow Farm was about 100 yards (91 m) away to provide fresh milk. The site benefited from permanent washhouses and latrines, a swimming pool, a training centre and headquarters, guesthouse, warden's hut and other huts. The total site was over 200 acres (81 ha). There were five camp fields, covering an area of 25 acres (10 ha). It was called Yorkswood and opened in 1923. This land was halfway between Kingshurst and Shard End.

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The Birmingham and District Association of Boy Scouts were able to buy a patch of land at a bargain price and set up a permanent camp there.

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The duel did not take place and Thornton left the area soon after his second trial to travel to the US.ĭuring World War I, much of the woodland between Shard End and Kingshurst had been cut down to help with the war effort.

The events of the trial led to the abolition of two ancient legal rights – the right of a close relative to demand another trial although the defendant had been acquitted, and the right of a defendant to defend himself by challenging the relative to a duel. He was charged with the murder of a local girl, Mary Ashford, in 1817.

Shard End's most infamous resident was Abraham Thornton, son of the owner of Shard End Farm (then part of the Coleshill estate). Before the end of World War II, Shard End was completely rural with the only buildings being farmhouses, farm outbuildings and tithe cottages.

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