Balsall Common

Balsall Common is a large village and one of the larger rural settlements in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, situated 7mi west of Coventry, 8.5mi east of Solihull and 14mi to the southeast of Birmingham, to which it serves as a prosperous commuter village. It is currently undergoing gradual suburbanisation and is increasingly considered as a small town in terms of its population. The name “Balsall” comes from the Anglo Saxon word “Baelle” meaning corner (or angle) of land, and “Heale” meaning a sheltered placeThe village is split between the civil parishes of Balsall, which also includes Balsall Street, Temple Balsall, Fen End, and Chadwick End, and had a population of 7,039 according at the 2011 census. It also lies on the Heart of England Way.The village is of recent origin; most of the houses and shops were built in the 20th century. Previously, the village consisted of a couple of hamlets of about six to twelve houses each and a few scattered cottages - as shows. In the 1930s there began the development which linked these isolated buildings, but it was not until after World War II that the village really began to grow.