Walking Tour of the Bournville Village Estate
Sunday 4th October 2026, 1.00 pm to 3.30 pm
Led by Dr Michael Harrison
Cost £10 including refreshments
Join us for an autumn afternoon exploring the architecture and history of Bournville Village Estate, one of the most important and influential examples of late Victorian and Edwardian model housing.
Our guide, Dr Michael Harrison, will be familiar to many members from his talks at several of our Day Schools, most recently in 2023. Michael is particularly knowledgeable about the life and work of William Alexander Harvey, the original estate architect for the Cadbury brothers’ model village and, as a young man, a pupil of the distinguished Birmingham architect W. A. Bidlake.
George and Richard Cadbury began developing the Bournville estate from 1894, partly to provide good-quality housing for employees of their nearby chocolate factory, but also as a wider mixture of owner-occupied and tenanted homes. The result is a remarkably varied collection of houses and cottages, combining thoughtful town planning with an exceptional range of architectural styles.
We will meet at 1.00pm at the Friends Meeting House, Linden Road, Birmingham B30 1JT, where light refreshments will be served before the walk. We shall first have an opportunity to see the interior of the Meeting House itself, designed by Harvey in 1905. Inside, the bust of George Cadbury by Francis Wood, dating from 1924, still seems appropriately to survey the village he helped to create.
We may also be able to visit the interior of St Francis of Assisi Church on Linden Road. Although planned as early as 1913, the church was not eventually built until 1924–25.
The walk will then take us through the village to examine houses and other buildings designed by Harvey, together with work by the architects who followed him after his resignation from the estate in 1904 to enter private practice. Thanks to Bournville’s strong conservation policies over many decades, a striking number of houses still retain their original external architectural details, making the estate particularly rewarding to explore on foot.
Michael has led many walks around Bournville and will provide notes for participants on the day. The Group’s headset system will also be available.
Travel
The No. 11 bus stops nearby; please check Sunday service times. For those travelling by car, parking is available on roads nearby Linden Road, subject to the usual restrictions.
You can book using the Form HERE, or via Eventbrite
See our separate refund document for details of our refunds policy.