Manor house in Solihull

The timber-framed Manor House in Solihull High Street was built in approximately 1495 and is Grade II* listed. It has never actually been home to the Lord of the Manor so isn't a manor house in the traditional sense. Once owned by the Greswolde family, it was known by the 19th century as Lime Tree House as a result of the nine lime trees that had been planted outside it about 1720. For many years it was the surgery of local doctors Ferdinand Page and his son, Ericson.

The building was purchased by a brewery in 1938 but plans to convert it into a public house were shelved on the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war the building was used as local headquarters by the Home Guard. In 1945 the house was sold, being purchased by a trust with funds raised through public subscription, and it was subsequently used as a community association and then as an adult education and social centre.

Halls were built for the rich and the general effect was to increase the population of what had been a remote part of the Midlands. By the end of the eighteenth century Solihull was the seat of the Petty Sessions court, it had its own County Court and there was a flourishing and well-respected Grammar School. It had become the main centre for a predominantly agricultural area of small farms and large halls and its markets and fairs served an area between expanding Birmingham and villages such as Tanworth and Henley-in-Arden.

The building was purchased by a brewery in 1938 but plans to convert it into a public house were shelved on the outbreak of the Second World War. During the war the building was used as local headquarters by the Home Guard. In 1945 the house was sold, being purchased by a trust with funds raised through public subscription, and it was subsequently used as a community association and then as an adult education and social centre.

The timber-framed Manor House in Solihull High Street was built in approximately 1495 and is Grade II* listed. It has never actually been home to the Lord of the Manor so isn't a manor house in the traditional sense. Once owned by the Greswolde family, it was known by the 19th century as Lime Tree House as a result of the nine lime trees that had been planted outside it about 1720. For many years it was the surgery of local doctors Ferdinand Page and his son, Ericson.

TOUCHWOOD HALL

Touchwood Hall was situated at the north end of Drury Lane (near to the site of Beatties today) and was built in 1712. The source of the name is unknown but may have replaced an earlier moated house on the site. A 17th century garden wall and belvedere indicated an earlier dwelling on the site. Touchwood Hall was the home of the Holbeche, Madeley and Martineau families in turn.

Touchwood Hall stood in Drury Lane for over 250 years until its demolition in 1963 to make way for the Mell Square development. By the time of its demolition, the house was derelict, although it was argued by some that the walls, floors and ceilings were mostly sound. There were hopes that the hall could be restored in the same way as the Manor House had been almost 20 years before. However, suggestions that it could be retained as a museum or meeting place came to nothing and a compulsory purchase order was taken out on the building prior to its demolition.

The name lives on in Touchwood Hall Close, off Lode Lane, and also in the new shopping centre, which opened in September 2001.