Relief and Drainage

The lie of the land reflects a gentle tilt of the marl strata from south-west to north-east. In the Quarter the highest point is at 500 feet north of St. Agnes' Church, and the lowest at Greet Bridge on Stratford Road (370 feet). Looking from the top corner of Swanshurst Park (475 feet) across the Cole Valley, the flatness of the plateau across which Stratford Road winds is clear to see; a drive along the western perimeter roads of the Quarter shows that side to be equally level, save where it is hollowed by water-courses. On this northward extension of the Solihull Plateau relief has been created by downcutting of streams into the soft clay. At the end of the most recent glaciation, the vastly swollen Cole gouged deeply into the marl, and its tributaries followed suit; ten thousand years of rain, snow, and wind have bevelled the gorges' sides to create the gentle undulations below plateau level that we see today.

The Cole is about 25 miles long, from a spring source near Weatheroak almost on the Midland watershed, to its confluence with the Blythe near to Coleshill. Twice the river changes its mind about its destination, at Birch Acre and Stechford; but in the Quarter it flows south to north as it probably always did, falling about 40 feet in two miles. The principal tributary (Chinn Brook) rises only 20 yards from the Cole, but the streams diverge at once and the Chinn flows north-east to Titterford where it rejoins the Cole after 4.5 miles. The present confluence is not the original (see Watermills below) being now a quarter-mile downstream.

Other tributary streams in the Quarter are short and insignificant now. Three of them (Spark, Yardley Wood and Shirley Brooks) define not only the manor but also the county bound (see Boundaries below). In what follows the original source of each stream is given.

Yardley Wood Brook, one mile long, had formerly two sources. The southern rill was the manor and shire bound which continued along the conjoined brook, now the city bound, from Highters Heath to the Cole; open from the Stratford Canal eastward, it is dammed to form a fishpond at Priory Road, channelled between modern houses both sides of the border, and still diverted as the tail-race of the vanished Priory Mill.

Shirley Brook (from shire-ley, the clearing on the shire bound) rises on Sandy Hill near Stratford Road and flows one mile south-west to the Cole. It too fed a mill. The last 30 yards are culverted beneath the railway embankment. The boundary leaves the brook a quarter-mile south of the source.

Primrose Brook lies to the north and flows westwards. It rises in Primrose Lane (convenient location name) and enters the river half a mile below, opposite Titterford Mill Pool.

Haunch Brook (1 mile) rises near Wheelers Lane and flows south-south-east, crossing Hollybank Road and the foot of Billesley Common, entering Chinn Brook in Cocks Moor Woods. For much of its length it defines the bound with Kings Norton.

Billesley Brook (half mile) is now wholly culverted; it formerly rose at the Common's north-east corner and flowed east, down the line of Dene Hollow, and into the Cole at the start of Sarehole Mill's headrace.

Swanshurst Brook (three-quarters of a mile) rose near the top of Brook Lane; it is culverted from source to Swanshurst Pool, which it formerly fed. Descending through the miniature golf course, it is now culverted beneath (new) Wake Green Road beside the remains of Sarehole Farm; from 1768 until 1935 it flowed into Sarehole's headrace at that point.

Robin Hood Brook rises near Highfield Road and flows half a mile north-west to join the Cole just below the former ford opposite Sarehole Farm. It is culverted throughout.

Coldbath or Bulley Brook. 1.5 miles long, rises near the top of Cambridge Road (Kings Heath) and flows easterly across the Quarter, joined by two rills on the Moseley Golf Course, and enters the Cole at Green Road ford, having been diverted at Sarehole Mill. It is open from Billesley Lane to Coldbath dam; therefrom it is part of a new sewer, but its lower course still supplies Sarehole Mill Pool.

Springfield Brook formerly rose on the Yardley Pool Allotments; its spring (now dry) may have been the holy well referred to below. The brook fed Greet Mill Pool.

Showell Green Brook (1.5 miles) rose near the manor bound on Billesley Lane, at what may have been Bull Spring, and met another rill at the Yardley Wood/Wake Green Roads crossing. It still flows above ground beside Sparkhill Park, leaving the Quarter at Stratford Road. A rill from Hazel Dell formerly joined it in the Park.

Spark Brook is nowhere to be seen in the Quarter. Described as a 'torrent' in 1511, it can rarely have been more than a trickle. Rising near Phipson Road, it flowed north to Stratford Road and east to the Cole. By 1896 it had become a stagnant rubbish repository; it was then culverted, Stoney Lane being widened over it to take tramlines.

The millpools and fishponds on these watercourses will be described in Water-mills and Georgian Times below.