IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Hams Hall Distribution Park, BIRMINGHAM, B46 1AQ

Looking into the pool at SP208929 from Bird Hide

Two of a convoy of five lorries parked in Canton Lane on the north side of the National Distribution Park near Coleshill, North Warwickshire. The park was developed in the 1990s on the site of the Hams Hall power stations, which were themselves built on the Hams Hall estate by Birmingham Corporation, beginning in the 1920s. It was (and still is) a strategic location close to a railway and the River Tame (and today the M6 and the M42). Apart from the sky it is an entirely man-made landscape: even the plants are cloned. The evergreen oak, centre, is one of the few surviving trees from 1,000 hectares of parkland. Early OS maps show the 18th century house at SP 205922, out of shot, left. The steam rises from a factory that makes lightweight concrete blocks. It is probable that it was sited here to use the pulverised fuel ash from the power stations.

A view inside the former two-acre walled kitchen garden of Hams Hall, a remnant of the 100 hectare estate acquired in 1919 by Birmingham Corporation, who needed it as a strategic location for a power station. The garden is now an environmental education centre owned by E-on and is not open to the public. The head gardener's cottage is being restored and extended to accommodate the centre, now housed in temporary classrooms. The brick wall with recesses was probably the heated rear wall of a lean-to (south-facing) greenhouse. The yew trees in the background are in the churchyard of Lea Marston parish church, at Image

The church dates from the late 13th century.

A late 19th century sandstone cross, which formerly stood on a much more substantial stepped base, and was Grade II listed https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101034678-cross-approximately-20-metres-south-west-of-church-of-st-john-the-baptist-lea-marston#.WnwE7Pll9hE in 1989. It sits in the middle of the road, just outside the church.

The lane to St John the Baptist Church is dominated by this Grade II listed cross from the Victorian era.

"This memorial was erected to Commemorate the visit of Prime Minister William Gladstone to Hams Hall in 1905". Research by "tuppence" a geograph moderator suggests that the visit took place in 1895. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6994046

This quiet spot is only yards from a large distribution park, though the latter does not impact on the setting here. The Grade II listed church dates from the 14th Century with a lot of Victorian modifications.

Spring flowers have been given a chance to grow.