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Sparkhill Library

Clock towers in the United KingdomIndividual clocks in EnglandLibraries in Birmingham, West MidlandsSparkhill

Sparkhill Library is a library located in Sparkhill. The Library falls under the jurisdiction of Birmingham City Council. The building was originally erected as Yardley Council House in 1900 to house Yardley Rural District Council. Architect Arthur Harrison was engaged on the project from 1898 to 1902. In 2014 the building was saved from being sold on the open market after local councillors made a plea for it to be offered for community use first. Sparkhill Police Station, which includes the West Midlands Police Museum is next door. Also next door to the library is the Sparkhill Pool which houses a swimming pool alongside several other facilities. The large building currently houses a social/cultural centre in which events or daily lessons are held; however in more recent years a neighbourhood office that was once situated within the building has closed. The library opened to the public in 1987.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Sparkhill Library (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Sparkhill Library
Stratford Road, Birmingham

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N 52.4503933 ° E -1.8643399 °
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Sparkhill Library

Stratford Road
B11 4EA Birmingham
England, United Kingdom
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St John's Church, Sparkhill
St John's Church, Sparkhill

St John's Church is an Anglican church in Sparkhill Birmingham. St John's is a welcoming multi-ethnic church situated in the heart of Birmingham's Balti Belt, it is one of England's most ethnically and religiously diverse parishes. The main Sunday service is held at 10.30am, the first Sunday of the month being an All Age Service followed by a shared meal for those who wish to stay. The church is a member of the South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance and the New Wine Network of churches. The Church hosts the Armenian Church in Birmingham and a Persian-speaking congregation. It is the home of the charity 'Narthex Sparkhill' www.narthex.org.uk which received the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2016. It was constructed in 1888 which makes it one year older than Birmingham city. It sits exactly at the top of the Hill known as Sparkhill. It is a Grade II listed building."St John's Church is a remarkable Victorian building with an interior of vast proportions for its age... The church was built in 1888 by Birmingham architects Martin & Chamberlain. This firm was more famous for school buildings than churches, and most notably the Birmingham School of Art, one of the finest buildings in the city centre. St John's church is perhaps as bold an architectural statement, in its own way...The architectural style of the exterior is the Victorian version of Early English Gothic, but with c19 engineering advances displaying no further similarities to the medieval in its interior arrangement." (English Heritage report 2009) In 1990 with the closure of Emmanuel Church, Sparkbrook part of that parish was incorporated within this parish.

Greet, Birmingham

Greet (grid reference SP100841) is a historical area in south Birmingham, England, around modern Sparkhill. Now a name obsolete in addresses, Greet, meaning "gravel" (grit)", was one of the medieval manors around Birmingham on the eastern gravelly slopes of the sandstone ridge which runs through central Birmingham. The manor was a timber-framed house, first mentioned in 1562, with the majority of the surrounding land being owned by Studley Priory. This land had been given to the priory by William de Edricheston in 1254, soon after he had acquired it. The land remained in the ownership of the Priory until 1545 when it was sold to Clement Throckmorton and Sir Alexander Avenon, an ironmonger who would later become Lord Mayor of London. Avenon gave the land to his son and wife in 1570, before dying in 1580. In 1586, his son, Alexander, pledged his manor to cover a debt which he owed to a Thomas Starkey, and in the same year sold the reversion to James Banks, who sold it in 1601 to Henry Greswolde. Greswolde died in 1602 and left Greet to his eldest son, George, who was just thirteen years old at the time. Dorothy, widow of Henry, continued to live at Greet manor, having purchased from Joan, widow of Thomas Starkey, her interest in the manor. George Greswolde died in 1612, and was succeeded by his brother Humphrey. He died in 1660, and was succeeded in turn by his two sons Humphrey, who died in 1671, and Henry, who died in 1700, leaving four sons. These were: Humphrey who died unmarried in 1712, Henry who left a daughter Anne, Marshal and John. In 1776, Henry Greswolde Lewis, held a third. The other two thirds were held, in 1784, by William Richard Wilson and Jane Anne Eleanor, his wife, who appear to have given up their share to Henry Greswolde Lewis. He was succeeded in 1829 by his kinsman, Edmund Meysey Wigley, who assumed the name Greswolde and died unmarried in 1833. On his death, Henry Wigley, who also assumed the name Greswolde, became tenant for life under the will of Henry Greswolde Lewis, and he and his son, Edmund Greswolde, who was tenant in line, barred the estate in tail and conveyed the estates to the use of Henry Greswolde for life, with remainder to Edmund Greswolde in fee simple. Edmund died in 1836, and on his death, his father succeeded to the estates in fee simple under the will of Edmund. Situated next to Wake Green, Greet gave its name to Greet Common (upon which now stands Moseley School), and the now lost Greet Mill (grid reference SP099827), at the point where the A34 road crosses the River Cole between Sparkhill and Hall Green. Greet Mill was the water mill 1 km. north (downstream) of Sarehole Mill and was first mentioned in 1275. Another mill was also located in Greet, called Lower Greet Mill, which was first mentioned in 1725.