Editing Shard End (section)

==History==

===Pre-War===
Before the end of [[World War II]], Shard End was completely rural and the only buildings were farmhouses, farm outbuildings and tithe cottages.

Shard End's most infamous resident was Abraham Thornton, son of the owner of Shard End Farm (then part of the [[Coleshill, Warwickshire|Coleshill]] estate). He was charged with the murder of a local girl, Mary Ashford, in 1817. The events of the trial led to the abolition of two ancient legal rights – the right of a close relative to demand another trial although the defendant had been acquitted, and the right of a defendant to defend himself by challenging the relative to a duel. The duel did not take place and Thornton left the area soon after his second trial to travel to the US.

During [[World War I]], much of the woodland between Shard End and Kingshurst had been cut down to help with the war effort. The [[Scouting in Birmingham|Birmingham and District Association]] of [[The Scout Association|Boy Scouts]] were able to buy a patch of land at a bargain price and set up a permanent camp there. This land was halfway between [[Kingshurst]] and Shard End. It was called Yorkswood and opened in 1923. There were five camp fields, covering an area of {{convert|25|acre|ha}}. The total site was over {{convert|200|acre|ha}}. The site benefited from permanent washhouses and latrines, a swimming pool, a training centre and headquarters, guesthouse, warden's hut and other huts. A small brook from a fresh water spring ran past the camp and Cock Sparrow Farm was about {{convert|100|yd}} away to provide fresh milk. The entrance to the camp was flanked by a series of griffin statues. These had come from the roof of Lewis's Department Store in Birmingham when it was being renovated. After the camp closed in 1972 they were placed upon the Yorkswood housing estate (Kendrick Avenue and nearby roads) in Shard End, built upon the site of the camp. Yorkswood takes its name from the nearby [[Yorks Wood]], an eleven hectare forest dating back hundreds of years.

[[File:Shard End Lake Birmingham2.JPG|thumb|Shard End Lake]]
In the inter war years the Midland Sand and Gravel Company operated a mine on what is now the Norman Chamberlain Playing Fields, off Packington Avenue. During [[World War II]], this gravel pit was used to store and repair third-line [[tank]]s. After the war the area was landscaped to become the playing fields. The old gravel pit was allowed to fill with water from a natural spring to form [[Shard End Lake]] and has become a leisure facility.

===The new estate===
A plan of the new housing estate was produced at the end of 1945 and compulsory purchase orders were issued in 1946. Building of the estate started in the late 1940s and was added to in stages producing some variety in the housing. As usual, communal facilities lagged behind the building of the housing. Nine [[tower block]]s were constructed in the ward.

As a result of the construction of the estate, plans for a new church were drawn up. In 1954, construction of [[All Saints' Church, Shard End|All Saints Church]],<ref>[http://www.allsaintschurch-shardend.co.uk/ All Saints Church]</ref> a traditional [[Church of England]] church, began and construction was completed in 1955. Designed by F J Osbourne, it was the first new church to be built in Birmingham after World War II. On 1 November 1955, the Lord Bishop of Birmingham, Leonard Wilson, consecrated the church. This was followed by a visit by [[Queen Elizabeth II]] two days later. [[Nikolaus Pevsner]], an architect and writer, disapproved of the building calling it "a very ugly church".<ref>[http://www.acny.org.uk/7259/ Brief history of All Saints Church]</ref>

[[File:Shard End Library, Shard End, Birmingham (geograph 4136614).jpg|thumb|Shard End Library]]
Shard End Library opened in 1967 and was the first in Birmingham to use plastic membership cards instead of the traditional cardboard tickets. Some of the housing deteriorated in later years, but has improved as tenants have bought their homes.

===Development in the 1970s===
After the estate of the 1940s had been constructed, a large swathe of green land remained along the River Cole valley, this was called 'The cow fields' and in the early 1950s local people - particularly at the 'Bailey bridge' end of Shard End Crescent - would have cows grazing on the fields there. This rare open space in a city provided valuable recreation space for the new and young population of Shard End.

During the late 1970s, however, this tract of land was almost completely built upon and the area lost much of its charm. Since the building of this development, and a sharp decline in employment levels during the 1980s, Shard End has seen a marked increase in the problems typical of urban areas in large cities.