Hall Green is a suburb of Birmingham about 4 miles from the city centre. Many people in Birmingham know Hall Green for its famous dog racing stadium but there is a lot more to Hall Green than first meets the eye.
The local housing is varied and many larger pre-war properties line its leafy suburbs. There are however many new developments in Hall Green. Hall Green takes its name from the Hawe family who used to live at Haw Green. Hall Green has Birmingham’s only remaining working watermill at Sarehole Mill. This is one of Birmingham’s tourist
attractions and illustrates the history of the watermills for the grinding of
corn and industrial work which followed during the Industrial Revolution.
Hall Green has its links with J.R.R. Tolkien who used to frequent Sarehole Mill, a surviving 18th-century water mill on the River Cole, and the house where he lived as a child which is in Wake Green Road. Matthew Boulton used Sarehole Mill for the rolling of metal for his buttons and lived here before moving to the Soho Foundry and his house in Soho Avenue, Handsworth. Hall Green is also the birthplace of Tony Hancock.
The River Cole valley and its chain of parks, including parts of Cole Valley and Sheldon Country Park, form a green spine through Hall Green, protecting wildlife habitats and preserving the shape of the old rural landscape. These open spaces help explain why Hall Green still feels greener and less built-up than many other Birmingham districts.
Properties in Hall Green have enjoyed an increase in value in recent years and Hall Green has become a desirable residential location of Birmingham. The wide avenues and open areas of Hall Green make it an attractive place to live and its close proximity to the
city centre adds to the attraction.
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