Latest site news
Welcome to Great Barr, Past and Present that brings together historic and current information on Great Barr and its surroundings.
The site can still be accessed using its original addresses of www.b43.co.uk and www.b43.uk as well as the new www.great-barr.uk address.
This site has been updated to be responsive so it provides a better experience on mobile phones and tablet devices.
The sister site for www.redhousepark.org.uk as also been updated and hamstead colliery site is in progress of being updated,
I an aware that some of the navigation is missing and this is being corrected. Please let me know if you find anything that is not being presented correctly or any improvements by emailing
Great Barr Past and Present
This web site is dedicated to presenting past, and present, information on Great Barr. The area is quite loosely defined around the 'B43' post code area but includes Hamstead, Gorse Farm, Newton, Grove Vale, Pear Tree, Scott Arms, Queslett and Pheasey. There are a number of significant historic areas, including the Great Barr Hall estate, Red House Park, Bishop Asburys House and Hamstead Colliery.
The site is organised in two ways. First by geographic area covering each part of Great Barr, and secondly by theme categorising features. Follow the navigation links to access individual pages.
There are also the separate sites covering The Red House, Hamstead Colliery and Great Barr Hall which can be accessed via the 'Other Sites' menu. The Red House is to be sold by Sandewell Council and developed to contain flats , more details about the Red House and Red House Park can be found on the Friends of Red House Park site. Great Barr Hall is under new ownership and ideas for the future are being handled by Lapworth Architects .
Information about Great Barr is continually being added - there is a backlog of historic information to be added, completely new pages will be shown as Recent Additions in the bottom area of this page. Updating the site is a slow process, feel free to email me any problems you find and any contributions or articles are always welcome. I am adding individual pages for every road in B43 and welcome contributions about 'your' roads, why they got their name or any other information or photographs.
This site is very grateful to the residents, past and present, of Great Barr who have provided pictures and information about the area. If anyone can make a contribution to the sites content please let me know at the email address at the bottom of the page.
Anthony Lewis, webmaster