Bartley Green

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Bartley Green is a residential area South-West of Birmingham City Centre. The ward is part of the Edgbaston constituency which has been under Labour rule for almost ten years. The constituency is seen as one of the "leafiest" parts of Birmingham and a haven for wildlife and nature, despite having many links to the City Centre and adjacent areas.

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Contents

1 History
2 Claim To Fame
3 \"Jinny\"
4 Politics
5 Schools and Education
6 Images

History

Most of the land occupied by Bartley Reservoir was in the parish of Northfield, originally in Worcestershire. It was transferred to Warwickshire when Northfield became part of Birmingham in November, 1911.

However, the south-west end of the reservoir overlapped into the parish of Frankley, in Worcestershire (Hereford and Worcester, from 1974). In April 1995 part of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the West Midlands county.

Claim To Fame

Bartley Reservoir is a reservoir for drinking water in Birmingham, England. It covers 46 hectares of countryside and it is well known as the place where Bill Oddie did much of his early birdwatching, and features in his books (notably Bill Oddie's Gone Birding) and television programmes. His first ever published article, for the West Midland Bird Club's annual report, was about the birds of the reservoir.

The reservoir is also used by a local sailing club and nearby schools and activity clubs frequently visit to take part in watersports activities such as sailing and canoeing.

\"Jinny\"

Jane "Jinny" Bunford, born on 26 July 1895 to John and Jane Bunford of Bartley Green, Birmingham UK, was, and remains, an enigma. She grew into one of the tallest woman in the world.

Her father was a metal caster and she was one of seven children. She attended St. Michael's School in Bartley Green. Her abnormal growth began after an head injury she suffered at the age of 11. On her 13th birthday she was measured as being 6 feet 6 inches tall or 198cm.

She eventually grew to a height of 2.31m (7 feet 7 inches), becoming the tallest woman the world at the time. However she suffered from Kyphoscoliosis and had she been able to stand erect, would have measured 7 feet 11 inches.

Jane died from Hyperpituitarism and Gigantism on 1 April 1922 aged 26 years, and was supposedly buried in St.Michael's Churchyard, Bartley Green. Fifty years later a row broke out as to whether she had, in fact, been buried there at all. It was reported that a skeleton of a giantess was discovered at Birmingham University's Medical School. Although there was no name attached, it was presumed to be that of Jane Bunford. The most logical explanation is that Jane's father presented her body to the museum, and that they, in turn, remove her skeleton, and returned her remains for burial.

A large plaque has been placed on the wall outside Bartley Green Local Library in commeration of "Jinny", who had her plaited. It measured 8 feet long in length.

Politics

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Bartley Green is part of the Edgbaston Constituency of Birmingham. It has been under the watchful eyes of Bavarian-born Labour MP Gisela Stuart, who has held the seat since 1997, replacing Dame Jill Knight in the year of Tony Blair's landslide victory. Unlike any other UK constituency, Edgbaston has had a female Member of Parliament since 1953.

In the 2005 General Election, Gisela held her seat with a decreased majority of 2,349: a -5.3% swing, winning ahead of the Conservative candidate Deirdre Alden, Mike Dixon of the Liberal Democrats, Peter Green of the Green Party and Stephen White of UKIP.

Like other wards within the Edgbaston constituency such as Harborne and the Edgbaston ward itself, Bartley Green is a safe Conservative ward at Birmingham City Council level. Its serving councillors are:

John Lines (Conservative), Vivienne Barton (Conservative), Bruce Lines (Conservative).

Schools and Education

Primary Schools

[Woodgate Junior and Infant School]

[Kitwell Junior and Infant School]

St. Michael's Primary School

St. Peter's RC School

Secondary Schools

[Bartley Green Specialist Technology and Sports College]

[King Edward VI: Five Ways]

Colleges

[Newman College of Higher Education]

Images

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Government of Birmingham

Birmingham electoral districts and wards

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