Back in early September I saw the lovely Cadbury Sisters perform at Moseley Folk Festival (see previous post 6/9/2013). When introducing them, the Festival Compare Janice Long said that they were related to a previous owner of Moseley Park - the venue for the festival. The sisters said that they had not known that - which I found surprising in itself.
Due to my interest in Moseley Park, I decided to look at the history of the Cadbury connection. Richard Cadbury lived in Moseley Hall with it's extensive grounds which included the Lake. In 1892 he gave the Hall to the Children's Hospital Committee, so that it could be used as a hospital and convalescent home for under privileged children from Birmingham.
The map above is from 1888 when Richard Cadbury and his family still occupied the Hall. The centre of Moseley is in the middle of the image with the Park to the left and the rapidly expanding suburbs on all other sides.
The map below is from 1902. Moseley Hall can be seen as 'Convalescent Home for Children' and the Park has been cut in half by the newly constructed Salisbury Road (1896). More housing is encroaching on the northern section of the Park with just the lake (labelled as Fish Pond) and some woodland surviving.
A group of local businessmen got together to save the Park and prevent the lake from being filled in to build more houses. Moseley Park and Pool was officially opened in 1899. It survives today by private subscription, but is open regularly to the public, for festivals and local school visits.
Gifting the Hall as a hospital cost Richard Cadbury £30,000, which in today's terms would be approximately £3 million. He and is family moved to nearby Uffculme Hall, which was later also given up to be an Open Air School for children with TB. Thousands of children from inner city Birmingham were treated at Uffculme. The Cadbury Family still own the lease on Moseley Hall. The NHS pay a peppercorn rent for it's continued use today.
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