If you go to Handsworth and look for Heathfield Hall, the home of James Watt from 1790 until his death in 1819, you wont find it. Other than The Lodge, built in 1797. In 2019 on the bicentenary of his death, the Birmingham Civic Society placed a new blue plaque on the building. Sadly the hall was demolished in 1927, and the Heathfield Estate is now full of houses.

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James Watt's Heathfield Hall in Handsworth


James Watt's Heathfield Hall in Handsworth


If you go to Handsworth and look for Heathfield Hall, the home of James Watt from 1790 until his death in 1819, you wont find it. Other than The Lodge, built in 1797. In 2019 on the bicentenary of his death, the Birmingham Civic Society placed a new blue plaque on the building. Sadly the hall was demolished in 1927, and the Heathfield Estate is now full of houses.


Heathfield Hall, Handsworth

James Watt lived at Heathfield Hall from 1790, until his death there in 1819. The hall was erected sometime between 1787 and 1790. At the time Handsworth was located in the county of Staffordshire (it wouldn't become a part of Birmingham until 1911). The architect was Samuel Wyatt who was recommended to Watt by his business partner Matthew Boulton. He had designed Boulton's home of Soho House (still standing today and is a museum run by the Birmingham Museums Trust).

After Watt died in 1819, his workshop was sealed, and very few people saw it after that. His son James Watt Jr ended up living at Aston Hall in Aston. By 1876, the hall was eventually surrounded by semi-detached villas, such as up Radnor Road. The contents were later moved to The Science Museum in London in 1924 (to recreate the room) this included well over 8000 individual objects. The hall was later demolished in 1927.

The Heathfield Estate now contains houses around West Drive and North Drive (built during the 1930s). But The Lodge to the hall built in 1797 still survives on Radnor Road. In 2019 on the bicentenary of Watt's death, the Birmingham Civic Society unveiled a blue plaque on The Lodge.

dndimg alt="Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/1977V43 Heathfield Hall Handsworth.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

An 1853 painting of Heathfield Hall in Handsworth by Allen Edward Everitt. From the Public Domain. Taken from the Birmingham Museums Trust Digital Image Resource which you can find here: 1977V43 Heathfield Hall, Handsworth.

The Lodge to Heathfield Hall

Located at 33 Radnor Road in Handsworth, this is the only building that survived the bulldozers in the late 1920s. The Lodge is said to date to 1797, so is probably the oldest building on Radnor Road (the other buildings looked Victorian to me).

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dndimg alt="The Lodge of Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Lodge Heathfield Hall (Sept 2020) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Blue plaque from the Birmingham Civic Society, placed on The Lodge in 2019. The Lodge was the gatehouse to Heathfield Hall, which was the home of James Watt (1736 - 1819).

dndimg alt="The Lodge of Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Lodge Heathfield Hall (Sept 2020) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

There was also a previous plaque here, about The Lodge being the Gate-keepers house to James Watt. Built 1797.

dndimg alt="The Lodge of Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Lodge Heathfield Hall (Sept 2020) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="The Lodge of Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Lodge Heathfield Hall (Sept 2020) (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Was also this sign on the corner of Radnor Road and West Drive saying simply, The Lodge 1797.

dndimg alt="The Lodge of Heathfield Hall" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Lodge Heathfield Hall (Sept 2020) (6).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Heathfield Estate

Before I got to The Lodge, I saw Radnor House, which is a Residential Home at 31 Radnor Road in Handsworth. This was probably a semi-detached villa built around 1876.

dndimg alt="Radnor Road" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Radnor Rd Handsworth (Sep 2020).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Beyond The Lodge, a look down West Drive. It's a bit hard to imagine Heathfield Hall being somewhere down or around here. Many of these houses were built in the 1930s.

dndimg alt="West Drive" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/West Drive Handsworth (Sept 2020).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

On North Drive I saw this lion sculpture holding a shield outside of a house. I wonder if it is a survivor from the 18th century, or a more recent sculpture?

dndimg alt="North Drive" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/North Drive Handsworth (Sept 2020).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Heading back to Hamstead Road to catch the 16 back into the City Centre, I saw this building from Gibson Road. It's the Bethel United Church on the corner of Gibson Road and Beaudesert Road in Handsworth. I'm not sure if this was part of the Heathfield Estate, or just outside of it.

dndimg alt="Gibson Road" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Gibson Rd Handsworth (Sept 2020).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

You can catch the no 16 National Express West Midlands Platinum bus from Birmingham City Centre, and get off on Hamstead Road in Handsworth. I decided to not go to Handsworth Park or see St Mary's Church again this time around, as I just came for the blue plaque mainly. Bus stops in town on Upper Dean Street, Moor Street Queensway, Colmore Circus Queensway and Snow Hill Queensway.

 

You can old black and white photographs of Heathfield Hall here: Birmingham Images: Library of Birmingham.

For more on the blue plaque, click here: Blue Plaque to James Watt unveiled.

 

List of previous Boulton & Watt related posts:

 

Modern photos taken by Elliott Brown at the beginning of September 2020.

Follow me on Twitter here ellrbrown.