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There is so much information about Warley Hall/Warley Abbey that this website trail can only share the general highlights – but if you would like to explore more please follow the links to other pages and articles which cover more specific aspects.

Humphry Repton had designed the landscape for Samuel Galton Junior and included a suggested design for a Georgian symmetrical building, but Hubert, Samuel’s third son, commissioned a house in the romantic neo-gothic style from Robert Lugar, who also designed the stables and lodges (north/south).  The house was built in around 1819 by Younge and Sharpe with pinnacles, battlements and buttresses and covered with Parker’s Roman Cement.  Hubert engaged Thomas Rickman, a Birmingham architect and fellow Quaker, for some of the interior design, including the library.   It was substantially extended, probably in the 1860s with some Tudor looking additions. The house apparently had its own water supply, fed from a reservoir near Warley Hall Farm. It also had extensive cellarage, with three vaulted wine cellars with slate and stone shelves, an ale cellar and a brewhouse.

It has been called both Warley Hall and Warley Abbey.  Many census records refer to it as Warley Hall, but Hubert Galton clearly intended it to be called Warley Abbey from the outset as he, then living at Hockley Abbey, wrote to his brother about the plans for his new home with a sketch of the design and the name Warley Abbey underlined.  His plans had clearly grown from his original intention to build “a cottaged house, made very comfortable”.  The name leads some people to believe that the building was much older and more historic than it was and, in fact, in 1893 this misconception was actively encouraged with newspaper articles making much about the land’s former connection to Halesowen Abbey and suggesting there had been a building of sorts at this location for hundreds of years, rather than less than a century.  The first actual legal title to Warley Abbey wasn’t until 1893 when there was a clear instruction that the building formerly known as Warley Hall, was, from then, to be called Warley Abbey.

The Galtons only lived at Warley Abbey until 1838 and then the house was let to a series of tenants.  Many of these have fascinating stories of their own and exploring them allows us to explore much social history of the area with many social, industrial and political connections.  The house was significantly enlarged over the years so that when it was advertised to let in 1878 it had sixteen bedrooms, six water closets, a secure room, wine closets, a knife house, lamp room, bakehouse, larder, salting room, dairy and brewhouse.

While the house had many tenants, the Galton family still owned it and much of the grounds until 1899 when finally the house was finally sold with some land to its occupier, and then sold on again in 1902.  It was eventually purchased, along with much more land to become the centrepiece of the new public park in 1906, owned and managed by Birmingham Corporation.

The Abbey then became the home for all of the successive park superintendents and (later) the golf professionals. It was the base for the staff who worked in the park, and the starting point for the golf course from 1927 to 1957. In addition there were tea rooms for members of the public for many years, starting in 1906, and the contract holder was able to use the dining room and glass pavilion (conservatory) for private tea parties. 

Over time the house offered accommodation for various public services including an “infant welfare clinic” and tuberculous dispensary (1918), both run by Worcestershire County Council. They occupied seven rooms until 1928.  The Golf Club, which was formed in 1921, had  approached Birmingham Council in 1927 for the use of some rooms as a Club House but had been refused because nothing suitable was available.  This changed when Worcestershire Council ended their tenancy and the Golf Club was able to use several rooms as locker rooms and for refreshments.  They held their committee meetings in the Abbey and one of our floor plans shows that some rooms were set up with practice nets for which permission was granted in 1938.!  

During WW1 the Abbey housed Belgian refugees, who left without paying their bills.  In the second world war it was the base for the local ARP, Home Guard and the WRVS, who rented three rooms for the storage of emergency clothing. You could take your gas mask to The Abbey to be serviced.  

Any building, however grand, requires upkeep and even as early as February 1918 it was reported that several roofs of the Abbey were falling in and some had had to be stripped to prevent accidents, and consideration was given to demolishing this particular part.  In 1926 part of the plaster ceiling in the refreshment room kitchen came down because the ceiling joists were so rotten.  Those who shared their memories of the building in our oral history project tell of very faded glory, with flaking plaster, no go areas and leaking skylights over the stairs.

Following the second world war the condition of the Abbey had continued to deteriorate and in 1957 Birmingham City Council, who was then managing the site, after considering various options, decided to demolish it in its entirety.   In 2007 an archaeological dig was undertaken to see what remained of the Abbey. This confirmed the location of the building and revealed foundations which show the final floor plan of the rooms. It is hoped that at some time in the future a more extensive dig can take place.

Who lived in Warley Abbey  Who lived at Warley Abbey? 
Demolition   The Demolition of Warley Abbey 
Walk Round A Walk Around The Abbey 

You can hear people share their memories of the Abbey here An oral history of Warley Woods 

If you would like to know more we recommend Lost Landmarks of Smethwick, Volume One, Mary Bodfish and A Place in Time; being a history of Warley Hall and Warley Abbey DE Yates and JD Halverson

Would you like to read about somewhere else on the history trail?  Go back to the main listing page.