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Built in the early seventeenth century (1618 to 1635), Aston Hall was the home of the Holte family until 1817 when it was sold. In 1864 it was purchased by the Birmingham Corporation (what later became Birmingham City Council) as a public museum and park. Its extensive grounds contained at least 3 large pools at various times, the smallest of which used to be beneath the Villa Park stadium before it was filled-in and built over. The remaining 2 pools were labelled on maps as ‘Staffordshire pool’ and ‘Warwickshire pool’. For about 900 years, from 1066 to 1974, the borders of the English counties changed very little.
Birmingham is unusual for such a large city because historically, parts of it fell in three different counties – Warwickshire (blue), Staffordshire (orange) and Worcestershire (green). Aston Hall was on the border between Warwickshire and Staffordshire – with its 2 pools falling in different counties. Staffordhire pool once occupied the block of land now bordered by Witton Road, Aston Lane, Dunsink Road and Nelson Road, with Emscote Road running through the middle.
The blurred watercolour by an unknown artist from the 1860s shows the Aston Hall grounds from the north looking across what is now Villa Park. It’s likely that the Pool in the centre is the Great Pool (Warwickshire Pool), and that the pool on the right of the painting is Staffordshire Pool.