Bentley Heath

Bentley Heath is a veelage in the West Midlands burgh o Solihull, Ingland.

Location

Bentley Heath is tae the East o the M40 an the Sooth o the M42 which, alang wi a sma but important green belt aurie, separates Bentley Heath an its neighbours o Knowle an Dorridge frae the greater urban aurie o Birmingham. It faws in the Meriden Gap an historically wis pairt o Warwickshire. It is 125 metres (400 ft) abuin sea-level, locatit in the Midlands Plateau.

Featurs o the Veelage

There is a relatively lairge amoont o green space tae be foond in Bentley Heath, wi the pairk, Bentley Heath Schuil fields an various sma greens dottit aroond the residential roads. In the veelage itsel is the aforementioned C o I schuil, a butchers, a co-operative store, a winter sports shop, a post office an a newspaper shop. There are twa hair salons in the veelage centre an a GvR pillar box situatit unner a lairge oak tree next tae the bus stop.

History

Earliest existence

It is likely that the Heath wis first inhabitit in Anglo Saxon times. The Domesday Book records the land as belangin tae Turchil o Warwick. Efter changing hands a number o times, the maist famous Laird o the Manor wis Laird Byron efter whose wife Lady Byron Lane in Knowle is named. Widney Manor is referred tae back in the reign o Henry III. Bentley Heath wis first mentioned in its awn richt in 1280 where reference wis made tae the "Heath at Benteley".

Widnay Manor came intae the awnership o the Holbech family in the reign o Elizabeth I. Nae ane landlaird awned the land o Bentley Heath as the estate wis split up in 1738; in the mid-19t century the main landawners wur Thomas Haydon, Lady Noel Byron an Ann Musgrove.

Aroond 1850, the Great Western Railway wis built, splittin the estate in twae. The Muntz family bought some o the land in the latter pairt o the 19t century.

Bentley Heath Kirk o Ingland Primary School

Bentley Heath Kirk o Ingland Primary Schuil is the anerlie primary schuil in the veelage. The current heidmaster is Mr. Andrew Williams.

References

• Bentley Heath and Windey Manor, Edna G. Handley, 1992, ISBN 0951989707