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Evidence of the landscape’s past can be found in the names of people and places. Fox Hollies is a good example of this. A family called ‘atte Holies’, literally ‘at the Hollies’ lived here in Medieval times and gave their name to their farm which, presumably had abundant holly trees nearby. The farm was bought the Fox family, and by 1624 so bonded were they with the place that it was called ‘Foxholleys’ which eventually became known as Fox Hollies.
By the mid-nineteenth century Fox Hollies Estate was owned by the Walkers who came from the Lake District, with Zaccheus Walker III building Fox Hollies Hall in 1869. His son, Colonel Zaccheus Walker IV was a magistrate and vice-Chairman of Yardley District Council before it became part of the City of Birmingham in 1911. The Colonel, as he was known locally, was said to be a colourful character who bred horses and dogs, and opened the grounds of his house to the poor children of Birmingham for outings. In 1925 he sold 262 acres of his land to Birmingham for £334,000 (more than £17 million today according to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator) to build a new Council estate. After his death in 1930, Fox Hollies Hall was demolished, with only the gate pillars near the bus stop on Fox Hollies Road remaining. The tower blocks built in Curtis Gardens in the 1960s are named after fields from the original Foxholleys estate: Holly Piece, Home Meadow and Coppice.
The blurred photograph, taken in the late nineteenth century, is of ‘Sir Goliath‘, a prize-winning Mastiff, bred by Zaccheus Walker IV on his farm at Sandpits Farm, now Fox Hollies Park.