Martin Mullaney, Councillor for Moseley & Kings Heath, Birmingham

The Highbury Trust

The Highbury Trust has been source of much local media attention in relation to the possible sell off of parts of the original Highbury estate. Thankfully on Wednesday 25th February, the Council's Charties and Trust Sub-Committee decided to arrange a meeting with the Charity Commission within 4 weeks to discuss removing the secton on the new scheme for the Trust which mentions disposal of parts of the estate.

With this webpage, what I want to do is explain what the Highbury Trust is; which sections of the Trust are part of Highbury Park and which sections were proposed to be disposed off. This disposal has now been abandoned - further details can be seen here

First of all let's remind ourselves of the boundaries of Highbury Park. The area shaded in green in the map below is Highbury Park.

Highbury Park is one of the few parks in Birmingham that is on English Heritage's Register of Parks and Landscapes of Historic Importance Grade II.

The parks consists of two historically important landscapes. The northern section is the former estate of Highbury Hall - the Hall and associated gardens were created between 1879 and 1914. The southern section of the park is the former estate of the Henburys - the estate with its formal gardens was created in the early 18th century and is a rare survival in an urban environment.

The Highbury Trust was created in 1919, following the death of Joseph Chamberlain in 1914 and the decision of the Chamberlain family to vacate Highbury Hall and move to Shropshire. The Highbury Trust contained Highbury Hall and its formal gardens.

The Trustees of Highbury Trust handed the management of the Trust to Birmingham City Council in 1932. The Council still manage the Trust.

I don't intend to go into the life story of Joseph Chamberlain - there is an excellent section on his life on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Chamberlain

I also do not intend to go into the fine detail about the story of Highbury Park and Highbury Hall - there is an excellent historic landscape survey which can be downloaded here

The map below shows the boundary of the Highbury Trust - both the public and non-public parts of the Trust

The map below zooms into the Highbury Trust area

The map below shows the location of the original pools of the Highbury estate

The map below shows the locations of the original buildings on the Highbury Trust

The map below shows the first phase of planting on the Highbury estate that took place between 1878 and 1889

The map below shows the second phase of planting on the Highbury estate that took place between 1890 and 1891.

The formal gardens were kept intact until 1990. After this they have been allowed to overgrow, fall apart and get vandalised. On top of this, the Council destroyed many views by filling the meadowland at the centre of the estate with an arboretum. Instead of looking like a wonderful Victorian country estate, the area now resembles a 1980s reclaimed industrial wasteland.

The 2009, the Council decided to renew the Scheme for the Highbury Trust. The new scheme allowed for the disposal of sections of land. These are shown in the map. Thankfully, this proposal has now been withdrawn.