Erdington is a suburb 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of central Birmingham, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The formal council constituency the smaller ward of Erdington, and the wards of Tyburn, (formerly Kingsbury), Stockland Green and Kingstanding, although most of both Kingstanding and Tyburn wards and some of Stockland Green lie outside the historical boundaries of Erdington.
Erdington had its own manor house, Erdington Hall, which was protected on three sides by a double moat on the fourth by the River Tame. It had developed from a small fortified homestead constructed by an Anglo-Saxon named Eardwulf in the area of Bromford.
Demolished in the 17th century, it stood on a hill at the junction of what is now Wheelwright Road and Tyburn Road. The double moat was drained in the 18th century by Sir Charles Holte. Up until 1912 stood another building which was demolished for the construction of the Tyburn Road, though a small section did remain until World War I.
Other moated properties included one at Fern Road, one at the junction of Moor End Lane and Berkswell Road, and another that surrounded a large farm called Pipe Orchard, the site of which can be seen in the Erdington Grammar School playing fields.
Fort Dunlop
Nearby is Fort Dunlop, former home of Dunlop Rubber, a relic of Erdington's industrial past. At its peak, it employed 10,000 people but its industrial usage has declined since with Dunlop maintaining only a small presence in the area. The main building was redeveloped from 2005 to 2006 into office and retail space by Urban Splash. The area surrounding Fort Dunlop is used by logistics companies and also features showrooms operated by several car manufacturers, including Birmingham's only Lamborghini dealership.
Shopping
Fort Dunlop lends its name to the nearby The Fort Shopping Park, constructed on reclaimed land by the Birmingham Heartlands Development Corporation in 1996.
Erdington has a distinct concentration of retail space, known as Erdington town centre or Erdington village, the main focus of which is Erdington High Street. There is also a market located on Barnabas Road and another market, Wilton Market, between Sutton New Road and the High Street, next to Witton Market is Swannies which is intermediate between a market and a shopping centre. Opposite Witon Market and Swannies on the High Street is as Cooperative Store which has been there since at least the 1950s and is the largest Supermarket in the town centre. Erdington town centre is now a Business Improvement District.[7] With the support of Quest Micro Technology Ltd, Erdington Town Centre has embarked on improving local business economy via their official website portal http://www.ErdingtonTownCentre.com.
Other features in central Erdington
Also on the High Street is Erdington Parish Church, and nearby on Sutton Road is The Abbey Church. The Parish Church was severely damaged by fire on the morning of 4 October 2007.[8] Also nearby, on Mason Road, is Erdington Swimming Baths which were constructed by the Birmingham Baths Committee, this is a complex including Saunas and a fitness centre as well as a swimming pool, Erdington Library, Opened in 1907 as a Carnegie library, is a public library operated by Birmingham City Council. It is the meeting place of the Erdington Historical Society on the second Monday of every month.
Josiah Mason Campus, a campus forming Birmingham Metropolitan College, was formerly a further education college by the name of Josiah Mason College that merged with Sutton Coldfield College in 2006.
To the north of Erdington, within the area of Pype Hayes on the border with Walmley, is Pype Hayes Park and Pype Hayes Hall, the former home of the Bagot family. A smaller park in the area is Sorrel Park.
