Moor Pool (or Moorpool) is a 22.32 hectares (55.2 acres) garden suburb within the ward of Harborne, Birmingham, England.[1] It was designated a Conservation Area in July 1970,[2] which was raised by an Article 4(2) direction order in 2006.[3] A Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Plan was adopted in March 2012.[4]
History
Memorial plaque to John Sutton Nettlefold within Moorpool HallMoorpool Bowling Club clubhouse
The Moor Pool estate was established in 1907 by John Sutton Nettlefold,[5] who was part of the Guest Keen Nettlefold (GKN) family. It formed part of the Garden City concept, shared by George Cadbury in Bournville, to create low density housing with many interspersed green spaces, and community facilities. The estate was built with a community hall (complete with skittle alley and snooker tables), two tennis clubs, a bowling green, numerous allotments, and the Moor Pool (pond) itself; all of these facilities remain today for residents' use.[6]
In 2014 the residential landlord of the estate, Grainger plc planned to sell off the local amenities, including the hall, the bowling green, tennis courts, skittle alley, fishing pond, some open space and shops. The Moor Pool Heritage Trust made a deal with Grainger to acquire the community facilities for £325,000.[8] After a fundraiser, which included a £98,900 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the acquisition was completed on 14 December 2014.[9][10]
Nettlefold Pocket Park
In 2016 it was announced that Moor Pool Heritage Trust had been awarded over £8,500 to create a pocket park[11] on an overgrown site on the corner of Margaret Grove and Moor Pool Avenue. The name Nettlefold Garden was chosen (after a naming competition), to reflect the heritage of the Moor Pool estate.[12] The park was officially opened to the public by Cllr Carl Rice, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, on 21 May 2017.
Brick and roughcast; tile roof. Two storeys, 5 bays with the central bay advanced and gabled. Ground floor with a 3-light window, a 2-light window with associated single-light window, an asymmetrically placed 2-light window, a 2-light window with associated single-light window and another 3-light window. First floor with an apparently altered door approached up steps, a 4-light window and a 3-light window.
An asymmetrical block of 6 flats. Red brick and roughcast: tiled roof. Two storeys; 3 flats wide, each with a projecting roughcast gabled bay with battered sides. In the projecting bays the recessed and arched entrances to the flats, those on the ground floor slightly below pavement level, those on the upper floor reached by bridges supported on exposed steel joists. All windows casements, those of the ground floor with segmental heads.
An asymmetrical composition closing the vista down North Gate. Brick and roughcast, tiled roof. One and a half storeys; 8 bays. Mostly 3-light windows, some horizontal, others almost square and divided one from another by brick buttresses, and a double- door partly surrounded by glazing. In the roof 2 altered or later dormer windows.
An asymmetrical block of 8 flats. Red brick with some timber-cladding; tile roof. Two storeys; 4 flats wide, each with a projecting timber-clad bay, the 2 outer ones gabled, the 2 inner ones hipped roofed and with a timber-clad gabled dormer window in the roof between them. In the projecting bays, the entrances to the flats, those on the ground floor slightly below pavement level, those on the upper floor reached by steps. All windows casements, those of the ground floor flats with segmental heads.
A symmetrical composition terminating the vista down Moor Pool Avenue. Brick and roughcast; tile roof. Two storeys; 5 bays with the central gabled bay higher and wider than the gabled 2nd and 4th bays. Ground floor with a single-light window, a shop front, 2 shop fronts with their doors set at angles to each other at the centre, another shop front and then another single-light window. First floor with a segment-headed 3-light window either side of a 6-light canted bay window on brackets.
