Balsall Preceptory

Temple Balsall (grid reference SP207760) is a small hamlet within the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the English West Midlands, situated between the large villages of Knowle (where population details as taken at the 2011 census can be found) and Balsall Common. It was formerly in Warwickshire and is on a notoriously bad series of bends on the B4101 Kenilworth Road. It is one of the oldest and most interesting sites in the borough. It is named after, and dates from the time of, the Knights Templar. They farmed about 650 acres (2.6 km2) of the estate in the 12th century, and established Balsall Preceptory where a number of brothers lived and ran the estate. After the Order was suppressed, the estate was given to the Knights Hospitaller of St John. They lost it when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and Queen Elizabeth I gave the estate to Robert Dudley. The 13th-century church and Old Hall, and 17th-century almshouses survive. Robert Dudley's granddaughter, Lady Katharine Leveson of Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, inherited the estate. On her death in 1674, Lady Leveson left endowments for almshouses, the Lady Katharine Leveson primary school and the local church. There are only a handful of residences in the hamlet.

St Mary's Church, Temple Balsall is a parish church in the Church of England in Temple Balsall, Solihull, West Midlands, England.

The Heart of England Way is a long-distance walk of around 160 km (100 mi) through the Midlands of England. The walk starts from Milford Common on Cannock Chase and ends at Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds linking south Staffordshire through Warwickshire to east Gloucestershire (or vice versa).It crosses seven others: the Beacon Way, Staffordshire Way, Two Saints Way, Arden Way, Cotswold Way, Oxfordshire Way, and Thames Path. It is maintained by the Heart of England Way Association. On 3 April 2021, Richard Antrobus set a new record, north to south, nonstop of 19 hours 47 minutes. Food and water was provided at prearranged places to comply with Covid restrictions in place at the time. Diversions due to construction of HS2 were followed with the final distance covered being 104 miles. This was confirmed by two separate trackers carried for the entire route. On 20 July 2013, Ultra Runner David Hollyoak set a solo course record of completing the entire length of the Heart Of England Way (south to north) nonstop in 25 hours 11 minutes. The run is corroborated by having a relay of runners to run sections with him all the way.

Barston is a village and civil parish in Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands of England. It is approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) east of Solihull and is located inside a large meander of the River Blythe, at the western edge of the Meriden Gap, and midway between the far larger villages of Balsall Common and Hampton-in-Arden. The nearest large city is Birmingham, 11 miles (18 km) away to the west. According to the 2001 UK Census, the parish had a population of 499, increasing to 533 at the 2011 Census.Barston is an affluent village with many historic buildings, some of which are timber-framed. The Church of St. Swithin is a Church of England church which dates from 1721, and is built on the site of an earlier church. The village also possesses two pubs, The Bulls Head Archived 14 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine and The Malt Shovel, and about 50 residential properties. The Barston Memorial Institute, opposite the Bulls Head, hosts many village activities with a Friday night youth club and regular Art Classes as well as the Barston WI and U3A meetings. There is no bus service or any other form of public transport in the village, although an abandoned bus stop still exists at the end of the central road of Barston, Oak Lane, which is left over from an old-school service from the 1970s and 1980s. Next to the bus stop is an old-fashioned red phone box. The footballer Robbie Keane owned a house in Barston from 1999 to 2000, whilst playing for Coventry City F.C.

Meriden is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Saqib Bhatti, a Conservative. It is named after the village of Meriden, halfway between Solihull and Coventry.

Chadwick End is a small village which straddles the border of Warwickshire and the West Midlands Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, situated 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the large village of Knowle and 8 miles northwest of Warwick. It is almost contiguous with the slightly larger village of Baddesley Clinton, which lies a half-mile to the south on the A4141 route. The name Chadwick means 'farm near a spring', and the village remains a farming community. The south side of the village lies within Warwickshire with the north side lying in the Borough of Solihull. The civil parish was split from part of Balsall on 1 April 2014.A mile from the village centre lies Chadwick Manor and its Estate, built in 1875 by the architect Edward Holmes (1832-1909). During the 1930s the Manor became a country-house hotel and the estate a racing-stud both owned by Scottish racehorse owner and breeder Captain. Norman (Norrie) Stewart~MacKay (1895-1980), who sold the estate in 1964 (after which the Manor was converted to luxury flats).The former Poor Clares convent on Rising Lane was founded in 1850; it has been converted into private flats since its closure in 2011.

Baddesley Clinton is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about 5+1⁄2 miles (9 km) southeast of Solihull. The village has Anglo-Saxon origins. It is believed that at some point it was settled by an Anglo-Saxon called Baeddi, Badde or Bade as a clearing in the Forest of Arden to graze cattle. Such a clearing was called a leah or ley – hence Badde's Ley which became Baddesley. Through most the medieval era, the village was part of Hampton in Arden. In 1290 it passed to the de Clinton family. The de Clintons were a powerful Norman family of the area and held Maxstoke Castle, Brandon Castle and Kenilworth Castle at various times. It was at this point that it became known as Baddesley Clinton. The village is famed for its National Trust property, Baddesley Clinton. The village also has a Grade II listed church dedicated to St Michael, which shares a Rector with St Mary the Virgin's church in the nearby parish of Lapworth.

Knowle is a large village situated 3 miles (5 km) east-southeast of the town of Solihull, West Midlands, England. Knowle lies within the Arden area of the historic county boundaries of Warwickshire, and since 1974 it has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull within the West Midlands. It lies 2.5 miles from the Warwickshire border and had a recorded population of 10,678. Knowle is in the parliamentary constituency of Meriden.

Built in c.1560, Grimshaw Hall (grid reference SP184774) is a half-timbered Tudor manor house located in the village of Knowle, approximately 15 miles from the city of Birmingham, England. The Hall takes its name from the Grimshaw family who occupied it from 1620 to around 1765. Grimshaw Hall is Grade I listed and is considered to be a fine example of Elizabethan domestic architecture. It has a main hall block between two cross-wings which project forwards about six feet; in the centre is a fine two-storeyed porch, which completes the E plan often favoured at that time. The hall is visible during winter months through the bare hedgerows of Hampton Road running between Knowle and Hampton-in-Arden. At most other times of the year the hall retains its seclusion.

Hampton in Arden packhorse bridge crosses the River Blythe near Hampton in Arden in the West Midlands (historically Warwickshire) of England, between Birmingham and Coventry. Dating from the 15th century, it is the only bridge of its kind in the area now covered by the West Midlands, and is a grade II* listed building and a scheduled monument.

Knowle Parish Church is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Knowle, West Midlands.

Knowle Football Club is a football club based in Knowle Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the Midland League Division Two and play at the Robins' Nest.