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As its name suggests, this area was once covered with fields and woodland which became the setting for a new suburb. An area of woodland called ‘Handsworth Wood’ directly opposite St Teresa’s School on Butlers Road and stretching back to the playing fields behind Cherry Orchard School was still in existence on the Ordnance Survey maps of the early 1900s. Aerial photographs taken between 1944 and 1950 show new development at Inchcape Avenue and Beachburn Road either side of the woodland. Most of the woodland – except a small area of trees next to Butler’s Road – had been cut down by this time, and was being used to grow crops, along with the adjacent area that is now Butler’s Court Lane.
An estate agent’s advert from 1931 describes the area as “a pleasant stretch of open country – undulating and well wooded, rich in glorious views, dotted with stately country mansions of the Georgian time and with famous old farmsteads around which the cattle graze unconcernedly … a quiet, restful and conspicuously healthy environment in which to make one’s home.” Quote from Peter Drake’s book Images of England, Handsworth, Hockley and Handsworth Wood available to borrow from The Library of Birmingham.
This brochure from 1935 advertises a New garden suburb in Handsworth Wood. Garden Suburbs were designed to be new areas of housing, set in a spacious landscape with plenty of trees, parkland, gardens and pleasant walks. You needed to be quite wealthy to buy a property in this new area – it cost £525 for a “Well-built semi-detached villa with cavity walls and every modern convenience” according to the advert. “The accommodation includes: Pleasant square hall with cloakroom; lounge, including bay (window); dining room, including bay (window). Pleasant kitchen with fireplace, enamelled gas boiler, deep sink, draining board and dresser. The walls are plastered. Light Pantry. Three good sized bedrooms and box room. Tiled bathroom with block bath and plated taps, wash hand basin and airing cupboard. Separate lavatory. Lounge and dining room floors stained. Outside lavatory and coal house. Electric light, gas and water laid on. Electric power plugs. Aerial in roof. Copper pipes. Latest design grates and mantelpieces. Purchasers have choice of Wallpapers. Front garden paths concreted.” Semi-detached villas of attractive design and special features. Builders Messrs. Wm. Wilkinson, Ltd. at Handsworth Wood. Description and plan. c.1935.