B26 Through the Ages
From a quiet Warwickshire village to one of Birmingham's best-connected suburbs — the story of Sheldon and B26.
Sheldon's history stretches back over a thousand years — from its Anglo-Saxon name recorded in the Domesday Book to its transformation into a Birmingham suburb in the 20th century. Today's B26 sits on ancient farmland, beside a Victorian mill pool, and in the shadow of a runway that opened before the Second World War.
📌 The name Sheldon is over 1,000 years old.
The name Sheldon derives from the Old English Scēaf-dūn — meaning "hill of sheep" or "shed-hill" — a reference to the gentle ridges and brook-cut valleys that still define the landscape today. The area was settled during the Anglo-Saxon period as agricultural land, with Hatchford Brook and Westley Brook providing water for early farming communities.
📌 Recorded in the Domesday Book, 1086, as Scheldone.
Sheldon was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Scheldone, a small rural manor situated within the Hemlingford hundred of Warwickshire. For most of the medieval period it remained a quiet agricultural parish — a patchwork of open fields, common land, and small estates. The Victoria County History (Warwickshire, Vol. 4) records the manor passing through several prominent families over the centuries.
📌 Grade II* listed. Core structure dates to c. 1290.
St Giles Church on Church Road is the oldest surviving building in Sheldon. Its core structures date to around 1290, with significant additions made during the 14th and 15th centuries. Grade II* listed by Historic England, it served as the medieval nucleus of the settlement and remains an active parish church today.
The Manor of Sheldon was held by a succession of prominent families. The Marows built the Tudor moated Sheldon Hall — the centrepiece of the estate for generations. The Dervells and later the Digby family (Lords Digby) also held the manor. The village remained firmly rural throughout this period, its fields worked by tenant farmers while the gentry of the hall presided over the parish.
📌 The A45 Coventry Road was one of England's busiest coaching routes.
The Coventry Road — now the A45 — served as a vital arterial turnpike connecting Birmingham to Coventry and London. Sheldon sat on this busy coaching route, with inns and staging posts serving the constant traffic of stagecoaches and travellers. The turnpike brought new movement and commerce through what had been a quiet agricultural parish.
📌 Lea Hall and Stechford stations opened 1844.
Throughout the Victorian era, Sheldon remained a distinct rural village — separate from the rapidly industrialising city of Birmingham just a few miles to the west. Market gardening, brickworks, and small farms defined the local economy. The coming of the railway to nearby Stechford and Lea Hall in 1844 began to bring Sheldon within the orbit of the city, but the village retained its agricultural character into the 20th century.
📌 Sheldon joined Birmingham in the 1928 boundary extension.
Sheldon's transformation from quiet agricultural parish to vibrant residential suburb happened rapidly during the 1920s and 1930s. Municipal and private housing developments spread across former farmland as Birmingham expanded eastward. The 1928 boundary extension brought Sheldon formally within the administrative boundaries of the city, ending its centuries-long identity as a Warwickshire parish.
📌 Elmdon Airport (now Birmingham Airport) opened 1939.
Elmdon Airport — later Birmingham Airport — opened in 1939 on Sheldon's border with Solihull, transforming the local landscape and creating long-standing aviation ties and employment for the area. During the Second World War it served as a Royal Air Force base. Post-war, the airport's civilian role expanded steadily, and Sheldon's identity became increasingly linked to aviation — a relationship that continues today.
📌 Old Rectory Farm at the park's heart dates to the 17th century.
As suburban development filled in the remaining green spaces of B26, Sheldon Country Park was protected as public open space by Birmingham City Council. The park incorporates Old Rectory Farm — a 17th-century working farm — which preserves Sheldon's rural heritage alongside the modern airport flight paths. Over 300 acres of ancient farmland, grassland, and wetland survive as a free, open green space for the community.
Babbs Mill takes its name from a Victorian-era watermill that once stood beside the mill pool on the River Cole, on what is now the border between Sheldon and Kingshurst. The mill is long gone, but the millpool survives as a fishing lake at the heart of Babbs Mill Park — a 62-acre open space managed by Birmingham City Council, supporting kingfishers, herons, and a variety of wildfowl.
📌 Grade I listed. One of Birmingham's oldest buildings.
St Edburgha's Church in Yardley is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the Birmingham area. The current building dates largely from the 15th century, with elements going back to the 13th century. Grade I listed, it served as the parish church for Yardley — which historically encompassed much of what is now B26 — for centuries. Its timber-framed construction and medieval stonework make it one of east Birmingham's most significant historic structures.
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