Burbury Brickworks River Walk
- Address
-
Burbury Brickworks, Sparkhill, Birmingham, B11 3AX
- How to get there and parking
-
Entrance off Formans Road and Westwood Avenue via Battery Way.
Nearest bus stop is on Formans Road.
- About the park
-
Burbury Brickworks is a 13-acre site of a former brickmaking factory that existed until the early 1960s and has now been transformed into a haven for nature.
For many years, locally-sourced clay was used to produce bricks here, which were used in the building of houses in Sparkbrook, Sparkhill and Small Heath.
When the brickworks closed down the land began to return to its natural state and wildlife returned. In the 1980s Birmingham City Council bought the site and it was incorporated into the Shire Country Park which follows the River Cole as it wends its way between Yardley Wood and Small Heath.
Visitors can now walk one of the routes around the site or incorporate it into a longer walk through adjoining sections of the Shire Country Park, which was named to honour the works of author J.R.R. Tolkien whose spent his childhood in this area.
As well as being able to follow the course of the River Cole, there are marshland areas and young oak trees.
Wildlife can be seen throughout the park and butterflies, foxes, water voles and bats may be spotted as well as many species of birds.
-
- Video introduction
-
- Toilets
- There are no toilets on site
- Points of interest
-
- Direct walking route to Sarehole Mill Museum – a 250-year-old watermill famous for its association with author J.R.R. Tolkien (www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/sarehole)
- Large area of wetland
- River Cole – rich in fish and a food source for otters and other wildlife and insects
- Other features
-
- River walk
- Several accessible walking routes
- Surfaced path
- Wildlife – including kingfishers, woodpeckers and sparrowhawks
- Woodland – variety of trees and wildflowers
Part of the Shire Country Park
