Dickens Heath

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Dickens Heath
Warwickshire
Dicken's Heath - geograph.org.uk - 85925.jpg
Dicken's Heath
Location
Location: 52°23’8"N, 1°50’15"W
Data
Population: 3,992  (2011)
Post town: Solihull
Postcode: B90
Dialling code: 0121
Local Government
Council: Solihull

Dickens Heath is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, close to the border with Worcestershire and the West Midlands conurbation. It is near Cheswick Green (Warks) and Hollywood (Worcs).

The population as taken at the 2011 census was 3,992.[1]

The name Dickens Heath is believed to be associated with Thomas Dykens, who lived in the district in 1524. Dickens Heath was one of the several areas of open common land in the ancient parish of Solihull. It was described as being of 10 acres in the 1632 Manorial Survey of Solihull. At the time of the 1841 census, Dickens Heath was a hamlet and most of the people who lived there were agricultural labourers.

Maps show that little changed over the next 150 years, until the new village began taking shape in 1997. All of the development that has changed Dickens Heath from an agricultural hamlet into a modern new village has happened in little more than a decade. The continuing development, upon completion will provide a development with three key locations, namely Market Square, Waterside and Garden Squares. Dickens Heath Village Centre[2] features residential accommodation, alongside shops and leisure facilities, incorporating community amenities and on-site management services.

The village is served by a bus service which runs half-hourly to Shirley and Solihull. In the opposite direction, every other services extends to Whitlocks End station where the buses are timed to coincide with trains departing to and arriving from Birmingham.

The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal flows around the edge of the village and is popular with canal boaters. Herons, kingfishers and ducks can be seen here, as well as bats, foxes and badgers.

Nearby woodlands, which are remnants of the ancient Forest of Arden provide a home for bluebells, wood anemones and wood sorrel.

References

Outside links

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