Acocks Green

The name Acocks Green comes from the Acocks family who built a large house in what would have been a hamlet at the time. In fact there were three hamlets in the 17th century comprising of two inns, some scattered farms and a tollgate in 1725. The earlier Acocks Green House was recorded as having been given by a Richard Acock to his son. The first mention of Acocks Green dates back to 1604 which lists it under the Yardley Parish Register. This is an old established site and was once a medieval settlement.

With the arrival of the 19th century, the Birmingham to Oxford railway opened a station in Acocks Green in 1852. Acocks Green, like its neighbour Yardley now became the wealthy retreat of the city gentry. A place to get out of the smoke of the city and relax in the semi rural atmosphere of Acocks Green. This was not to last. In 1911 Acocks Green was incorporated into the city of Birmingham. New housing, commercial and municipal development brought great expansion. Trams lines were in place in Broad Road from 1916 and later came to the Green in 1922.

Today Acocks Green is fully integrated within the city of Birmingham although retaining its much loved sixty five year old island, fondly referred to as 'The Green'. Like many areas around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Acocks Green strives to find its new identity as the old is blended with the new in the race for regeneration and improvement.