42 Facts About Solihull

Solihull is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England.

Solihull itself is mostly urban; however, the larger borough is rural in character, with many outlying villages, and three quarters of the borough is designated as green belt.

Solihull's name is commonly thought to have derived from the position of its arden stone parish church, St Alphege, on a 'soily' hill.

The assimilation of Longdon into Solihull was so total that few references exist today indicating it was ever a separate place.

Solihull'storians have suggested that the Shakespeare family, ancestors of William Shakespeare was born on a few miles south in Stratford-upon-Avon, and were originally from Solihull's Balsall, with their names appearing in local registers between 1385 and 1457.

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Manor of Solihull remained property of the king for many years, and was passed through a number of custodians or lessees.

Manor of Solihull was eventually granted to the Duke of Norfolk, who in turn passed it on in 1530 to the local Throckmorton family of Coughton Court.

Solihull was owned by the Throckmorton's during the Throckmorton Plot of 1583, and the planning of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in which the Throckmorton's were heavily involved.

John Greswolde, brother of Robert Greswolde, of the wider Greswolde family of Solihull, was an attendant of Henry Garnet .

Sub-manor of Longdon in Solihull meanwhile had passed to the Greswolde family, in the era of Elizabeth I, however it soon passed through a daughter to Thomas Dabridgecourt.

In 1680 the Rev Henry Greswolde, then rector of Solihull, bought a large farm called Malvern Farm, in the Malvern part of Longdon Manor, to establish a new family seat, which would be called Malvern Hall.

Solihull'slly had been a thriving hamlet during the 13th and 14th centuries, and included Monkspath, but there was little mention of the area by the 17th century.

The Manor of Solihull continued to pass through a number of other holders including the Archer family of Umberslade Hall in Nuthurst.

Two roads in Solihull are named after the family, Lady Byron Lane and Lovelace Avenue.

In 1894, Solihull was made into the Solihull Rural District in the county of Warwickshire.

In 1936, two Solihull farms were bought for the construction of a shadow factory to prepare for the Second World War.

In 1966, Silhill Hall, the 13th century manor house of Solihull was illegally demolished by the owner Malcolm Ross who attempted unsuccessfully to claim that a violent storm had made the structure unsafe.

Solihull itself remains administered by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, effectively a unitary authority providing the majority of local government services.

Solihull School is an independent school and is located on Warwick Road near the centre of the town.

Tudor Grange School and Solihull School continue to enjoy a friendly sporting rivalry centred around rugby union.

Solihull had a 'Wave 1' proposal of the Building Schools for the Future investment programme approved.

M42 and the M40 both pass through the outskirts of the borough of Solihull, providing very rapid links to Oxford and London in the South East, and to the rest of the motorway network surrounding the West Midlands region.

Solihull will be served by a HS2 interchange station if the project is approved, putting London just 38 minutes away by train.

The Diamond buses operating in Solihull were fitted with leather seats and wireless internet, and used the cleanest bus engines in Europe.

Bicycling in Solihull is popular, and as of March 2021 it was announced that Solihull would benefit from a cycle hire scheme, where residents and visitors would be able to hire bikes from an app on their phone.

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Birmingham Airport is located in the Elmdon part of Solihull and was known as Elmdon Airport until control passed from the government to Birmingham City Council in the 1960s, as Birmingham itself was without an airport.

Solihull is the home of the four-wheel-drive car manufacturer Land Rover.

Earlswood in the Solihull borough is home to Fowlers, established since 1670, it is the oldest cheese-making business in England.

Solihull is home to the Core Theatre, part of the Solihull Arts Complex.

Solihull is home to a large number of public sculptures and art works.

Hobs Moat in Olton, Solihull, is the site of the ruined 12th-century castle of the Lords of the Manor of Solihull.

Solihull has a number of parks and local nature reserves, including the UK's first dedicated hedgehog conservation area.

Solihull has numerous leisure facilities including a public swimming pool on the edge of Tudor Grange Park.

Every year a large unofficial St George's Day Parade takes place, meeting in Solihull, traveling down through neighbouring Henley-in-Arden and into Stratford-upon-Avon.

Solihull Riding Club is the longest established riding club in the UK.

Adjacent to Hogarths Hotel in the Four Ashes area of Solihull is the Stables, home of the British Equestrian Eventing Team.

The Solihull Arden Racquets Club is a thriving racquets and fitness club in Solihull.

Solihull is home to Solihull Cycling Club which was founded in 1929.

Solihull Barons are the local ice hockey team and play their home games at the Solihull Ice Rink.

Solihull town has several suburbs including Olton, Solihull Lodge, Blossomfield, Sharmans Cross, Cranmore, Shirley, Longdon, Shirley Heath, Hillfield, Monkspath, Widney Manor, Lode Heath, Elmdon Heath, Hobs Moat, Haslucks Green and World's End.

Solihull Borough includes several satellite towns and villages including Barston, Balsall Common, Bentley Heath, Bickenhill, Blythe Valley, Castle Bromwich, Catherine-de-Barnes, Cheswick Green and Illshaw Heath, Copt Heath, Dickens Heath and Whitlocks End, Dorridge, Eastcote, Elmdon, Hampton in Arden, Hockley Heath and Nuthurst, Knowle, Meriden, Ravenshaw, Tidbury Green, and Temple Balsall.

In David Turner's 1962 play Semi-Detached, Solihull is parodied as Dowlihull, a fictional town where the protagonist aspires to live.