Selly Oak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Selly Oak is an area in south Birmingham, England. It is also a ward and formal district, managed by its own district committee.
Birmingham Selly Oak is a constituency; its member of Parliament is Dr Lynne Jones.
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal forms the northern boundary of the area.
The area is named after the famous Oak tree that stood on the crossroad of the Bristol Road and Harborne Lane. The tree fell down and was replaced by another tree which was in turn felled in 1909. The stump of this tree and a plaque can be found in Selly Park.
A number of colleges, mainly theological, collectively called the Selly Oak Colleges are now part of The University of Birmingham. These include the College of the Ascension, originally founded to train women missionaries. After the College of Ascension being closed down the USPG and the Methodist Churches in UK have started a new centre for Mission Studies at the Queens College, Somerset Road, Birmingham. This centre is known as Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies (SOCMS). Rev Val is the Director for this centre and Rev Dr Joshva Raja is the tutor for the world Mission Studies.
The famous Cadbury chocolate factory is nearby in Bournville.
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[edit] Population and services
Selly Oak was developed for industrial housing from the late 19th century, mostly in terraces of small dwellings. Because it lies adjacent to the main University campus it is now the principal area of private housing for students at The University of Birmingham, with over 1500 houses so occupied. Due to the high number of students, there is a multitude of pubs such as the Gun Barrels, the Bristol Pear, TC's, the Soak and the Goose at the OVT (Old Varsity Tavern, called the Bournbrook Hotel until the 1980s). There are also numerous eateries on Bristol Road, such as Woodstock, Mud Cafe, Adam's Place and the Selly Sausage. Adam's Place was awarded "Best Takeway Service in Selly Oak" in a recent student poll in Redbrick (The University of Birmingham Student Newspaper). Second only to Moseley, Selly Oak also has a high concentration of curry houses. There are also four supermarkets in the area: Tesco Express, Aldi, Budgens and Sainsbury's.
The 2001 Population Census recorded that 25,792 people were living in Selly Oak with a population density of 4,236 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. It had a below-average percentage of ethnic minorities with only 15.9% of the population consisting of ethnic minorities compared with 29.6% for Birmingham in general.
Industry in the area has included gunmaking, boxmaking and motor cycle manufacture.
Selly Oak was blighted for a large part of the 20th century by a road-widening scheme for the Bristol Road (A38). In the latter half of that century, many historic buildings were demolished, leaving a degraded urban environment around the Bristol Road.
Plans for significant regeneration of the area were confirmed in 2005. A new 10 metre wide, 1.5 km stretch of road will alleviate the heavily congested Bristol Road, with improvements to public transport and other facilities in the area. A major new Sainsbury's superstore will be built, replacing the existing Selly Oak store. Work will be completed by 2009.
The Tiverton Pool and Fitness Centre opened in Selly Oak on January 28, 1906 as Tiverton Road Baths. They were built by King's Norton and Northfield District Council and included two swimming baths, one with a gallery for spectators, a children's bath and private baths for men and women. The larger swimming pool would be floored over in the winter months and the floorspace was used for gymnastics. It was converted into a health centre and now includes a "Pulse Point" gym as well as sunbeds and a sauna whilst retaining the swimming pool, the children's pool which is used as a smaller instruction pool and pool spectator seating facilities.
The redevelopment of the area also involves the local hospitals Selly Oak Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which together form the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. Construction work has started on Birmingham Super Hospital on the current Queen Elizabeth Hospital site, and is due to be completed in 2009. On completion it is anticipated that Selly Oak Hospital will close as an NHS hospital.
Selly Oak is served by Selly Oak railway station on the Birmingham Cross-City Line, providing services to Birmingham New Street, Lichfield Trent valley and Redditch stations. The former Bristol Road tram route and its depots were replaced by buses in 1952.
The area is served by Selly Oak Library which hosts the Selly Oak Library Local History Group.
[edit] Politics
The ward is served by three councillors on Birmingham City Council, representing the Liberal Democrats; Alistair Dow, David Radcliffe and Robert Wright.
Selly Oak Ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer with the current holder of the title being Marcia Greenwood.
[edit] Bibliography
- Dowling, G., Giles, B. and Hayfield, C. (1987). Selly Oak Past and Present. University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-7044-0912-7
- Moth J. (1951). The City of Birmingham Baths Department 1851 - 1951. James Upton Ltd..
[edit] External links
- Selly Oak Community Network pages
- Birmingham City Council's Selly Oak pages
- Photographs of Selly Oak
- A brief History of Selly Oak
- Tiverton Pool and Fitness Centre
- Selly Oak New Road (Birmingham City Council website)
- 1884 Ordnance Survey map of Selly Oak
- Map sources for Selly Oak
| Council constituencies in Birmingham: |
| Edgbaston | Erdington | Hall Green | Hodge Hill | Ladywood | Northfield | Perry Barr | Selly Oak | Sutton Coldfield | Yardley |
| Settlements on the A38, Worcester to Birmingham | edit | |
|
Heading north: Worcester | Droitwich Spa | Wychbold | Bromsgrove | Lickey End | Rubery | Longbridge | Northfield | Selly Oak | Edgbaston | Birmingham |
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