CHESWICK GREEN: Solihull Parish #8 of 16

CHESWICK GREEN – Green at the Cheese Farm Today on TVI we come to Cheswick Green on the south western edge of Solihull about three miles from the town centre. This lies between Shirley, Dickens Heath and the fields running towards Earlswood and Warings Green. A civil parish in its own right, it was created in 2009. The name turns up in records from 1250 as “Chesewic”. Linguists link it to Old English words for a cheese farm or small dairy settlement. It sits in the same family as Chiswick in London and Cheswick in Northumberland, both linked with cheese making. Long before the modern houses this has plenty of, this was Arden woodland and rough farmland. At Illshaw Heath, which is now part of the parish, there was an early manor site. In the village itself, the best known ancient earthworks belong to The Mount – formerly a defended Saxon farmstead. In the Domesday Book the landscape was is wrapped into wider estates such as Nuthurst and Tanworth, with woodland, ploughland and meadow recorded for the king and his tenants. Later documents pick out places like Sidenhall, whose manor once stood near Illshaw Heath. Medieval lords in this area included the de Yelschawe and de Sidenhall families, who managed the scattered farms and woods. Over centuries those holdings passed through gentry hands, then into larger estates. We have a totally different village now. Cheswick Green today, is a planned village, with a centre that dates from the late 1960s and 1970s. It has a green, a parade of shops, a pub, surgery and a school, all gathered around Cheswick Way. It was laid out as typical a “village of the seventies”. --- Many Birmingham families made simple bungalows here their permanent homes after wartime bombing. Beyond the village is even newer housing at Blythe Valley Park, and the Stratford Canal is within a short drive. In the village, The Mount’s tree lined earthwork sits quietly behind some of the modern houses, and that’s easily the best feature here. In the early 1900s Birmingham lawyer Philip Baker turned The Mount into a pleasure ground with ballroom and a maze. Local talk still lingers around The Mount in fact. Stories tell of its Saxon defenders watching for raiders, and of visitors getting lost in Baker’s maze on summer outings. The water filled moat, shaded by trees, adds to that slightly secret feel it has. Cheswick Green brings together a landscape formed from cheese farms and manors to seventies cul de sacs and new estates. From Illshaw Heath to Blythe Valley, from earthworks and farmsteads and shopfronts and school gates, this all sits quietly on Solihull’s southern edge. **** #CheswickGreen, #Solihull, #WestMidlands, #Birmingham, #Canals, #Schools, #Shops, #Halls, #Greens, #Cricket, #Lloyds, #Banks, #Churches, #Bridges, #Blythe, #Rivers, #Saxons, #Mount, #Pubs, **** Some of the following music tracks may appear in this video: Brendan Perkins - “Foxsnow” (B. Perkins)    • Foxsnow   Brendan Perkins - “Mickey's House” (B. Perkins)    • Mickey's House   The Keyhouse - "Voices" (H. Flunder)    • Voices   The Keyhouse - "Circles" (H. Flunder)    • The Keyhouse - Circles (official audio)   Helen Flunder - "Sun" (H. Flunder)    • Helen Flunder - 'Sun' (Official Audio)   Helen Flunder - “Angels” (H. Flunder)    • Helen Flunder - Angels (Official Audio)   Helen Flunder - “C Song” (H. Flunder)    • Caistor and the Lincolnshire Wolds   Ending Song made by Suno AI I have me a Facebook page too!   / the-village-idiot-226069228730989   And now an INSTAGRAM - @andythevillageidiot Come and join The Village People! (Subscribers only!)   / 1037756120085304   Please consider buying me a coffee to support the channel! The more I get the faster I'll get to your parish! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thevilla... Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @thevillageidiot