Balsall Heath

Balsall Heath is a working class, inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It is home to a diverse cultural mix of people and the location of the Balti Triangle.

History

Balsall Heath was agricultural land between Moseley village and the city of Birmingham until the 1850s when expansion along Moseley Road joined the two. The area was originally part of the Worcestershire parish of King's Norton, and was added to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire on 1 October 1891.

During negotiations in the previous year it had been promised a public baths and a free library. In 1895 the library was opened on Moseley Road and in 1907 Balsall Heath Baths were opened in an adjoining building.

In 1900 the city's College of Art was also opened on Moseley Road. By this time the small lake (Lady Pool on old maps) at the end of Ladypool Road had been filled-in to create a park.

Balsall Heath initially had a reasonably affluent population, which can still be seen in the dilapidated grandeur of some of the larger houses. A railway station on Brighton Road (on the Birmingham to Bristol line) led to further expansion, and the end of the 19th century saw a proliferation of high-density small terraced houses.