Bank Top

William Dargue  A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames from A to Y

Staplehall Farm Public Open Space along the River Rea in Northfield is marked as Bank Top on current Ordnance Survey maps. The 1887 OS map shows Bank Top Farm standing off Church Hill where Staple Hall Road now runs. A feature of the open space is visible evidence of ridge and furrow of an open field probably of medieval origin. The bank top itself may have been an earthwork feature created as a result of strip farming and was recalled in the name of the farm until the 20th century. Staple Hall Farm lay to the east of Turves Green, its name referring to the wool trade.

William Dargue 04.09.2008/ 30.07.2010

For 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Birmingham go to British History Online.

See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.aspx?compid=55144&sheetid=9256&ox=1253&oy=433&zm=2&czm=2&x=401&y=158.