If you haven’t heard of Lea Village (it is in Shard End, very close to the airport) then don’t worry. Even in 1932 a reporter from the Birmingham Mail described it as “… probably the loneliest, most rural and least known spot in Birmingham”.
Although the history of the village can be traced back to 1275, it became subsumed under the suburban growth of Birmingham in the 1930s and post war estate building projects. There are now no signs for Lea Village, no markers of its rich history. However, Lea Village’s past is marked by German planes that were shot down in the Second World War, the roads built by POWs, the role of the now demolished Lea Hall in the Civil War and the people who moved here, including Sam Musson who walked from Leicestershire to Lea Village in 1850 to begin a small-holding and open a sweet shop. Birmingham’s rich history lies not just in its industrial city centre past, but in its hinterlands too.