The Gillott Estate

In 1851 Joseph Gillott, who had made a fortune from pen-nibs in his Graham Street factory, bought the residue of the Perrott-Noel Estate for £100,000. He was a model employer and had a fine art collection at his mansion in Westbourne Road. Wen he died in '73 the estate was leased to several farming tenants but development had already begun : the Harborne Railway was being cut across the Park, and Gillott Road was to be laid out parallel to it. Portland, York, Mon-tague, and Clarendon Roads were in being, their names showing Gillott's Yorkshire ties and his interest in aristocratic families. Rotton Park Road had been up-graded from a lane to a suburban street. Birmingham Heath Farm, Rotton Park Lodge and Farm, and Beaks Farm, were unaffected as yet.