The Bourn (sometimes Bourne) Brook is just over 5.5 miles long. It rises from a spring at Watery Lane, flows north-east, then eastwards, joining the River Rea at Cannon Hill Park. 

Section 1. Watery Lane to first bridge in Country Park. (674 m – 0.42 miles)

Watery Lane, en route to Hole Farm. The brook used to run down one side of this road, but was culverted. 

The emergence point of the spring at the gate of the farm. Water is just visible near the centre of the image.

The infant brook runs north, along the western end of Woodgate Valley Country Park. 

The fields were of course farmland, and there is still an Urban Farm, popular for school visits as well as the public.

Another of the bridges leading into the Park.

Hole Farm is a horse riding centre, and this path is one of the routes. Thus it gets quite muddy & rutted. Walking boots are strongly advised! 

The water is pretty clear, but here, just left of centre, there’s a small inlet of cloudy water….

This nearby inspection hatch must be something to do with that inlet.

The brook is here 3 or 4 feet wide.

You could easily slip over in this mud, but there is a good metalled path on the other side of the brook.

In comes a tributary stream, which does not have a name as far as I know. It comes from the other side of the Quinton Expressway, having flowed through the Quinton Meadows, a local nature reserve adjoining the Quinton Business Park.

This is shot from the other side of the brook. These tributaries will be described on another page in due course.

We decided to walk back along the metalled road, which is well maintained for prams, push-chairs, bicycles &c. 

It was a nice day in late October 2020.

This is Bridge No.1, the last point on this initial short section. There used to be a weir here, but it’s been removed, and the stream banks reinforced with stones, to speed up the flow & improve aeration &c.

Section 2. The rest of Woodgate Valley Country Park. (2 Km – ~1.25 miles)

Starting from the same point, and keeping to the metalled path, on the south side of the brook.

The brook is on the left but the path is six or eight feet higher, hence the railings.

These ramps must be to enable access to the stream bed by e.g. tractors, for dredging &c? It’s about 6 or 8 feet wide here.

Bridge No. 2. looking upstream.

Anther small stream comes in through a pipe. This is discussed on the Tributaries page.

Few people are on these images, though the path was being quite heavily used by runners, cyclists & walker. as well as mothers and children, as it was such a nice day (13th November 2020). But some don’t like being photographed!

Looking downstream from Bridge No.3…

Upstream…

…and Bridge 3 itself.

This & the following image are ‘lucky shots’ in that the atmosphere of a bright, mellow autumn day… at least, I think so. 8^)

The brook is shallow but about 5 feet wide at this point.

By now, we can hear the traffic from West Boulevard, so we’re nearly finished for today!

The brook passes into the culvert that will conduct it under the dual carriageway.

Ah – cars going past. Gasp! I’ve photographed two people – I hope they don’t mind.

So we have left the major section of the Woodgate Valley Country Park, here looking back they way we have just come.

Section 3. Woodgate Valley to Northfield Road. (550 m – 0.34 miles)

West Boulevard. Its northern end was  begun ca. 1930, but most of it, including this section, dates from the 1970s. 

We now progress eastward, in a short stretch of our overall route. 

The Bourn Brook emerges from underneath West Boulevard.

Actually this image should have been first – the emergence from underneath West Boulevard.

There are ‘stepping stones’ here over the brook, which is still only about three feet wide.

Again, almost a ‘fairy-tale’ impression of gentleness and bright, yet autumnal, colours.

See how narrow the brook is here? There has been no prolonged rain for some time.

More stepping stones. There is a path either side of the brook; we are on the south side, but…

..we crossed over to the north side. By now, the brook is largely surrounded by modern housing.

Nearly there.

A bit of a meander.

And here is the barrier which stops broken branches & twigs blocking the conduit under Northfield Road.

It’s quite an elaborate construction – and there are more to come!

Section 4. Northfield Road to Arosa Drive. (923 m – 0.57 miles)

Don’t worry about the other brooks visible on this map – they will be described separately.

The exit of the Bourn from its culvert is hidden by a mass of foliage.

The ‘Bourn Valley’ is getting deeper & wider in this part – see the walker on the path at upper right.

We are now on that path – the stream is to the left quite a way down. 

The whole Bourn path is getting wider & wider – it just looks like scrubby woodland around here. 

But now it’s narrowing and the path crosses to the other side over a dinky little bridge.

Probably the stepping stones were there first, but now this path is OK for wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

Looking back, we are reminded that these urban ‘open routes’ are also convenient  for the electricity supply!

As well as being ‘wild-life corridors’ of course. Here is upstream, and…

…downstream from the mini-bridge.

This much larger bridge connects the housing on each side of the Bourn Valley, most of which is quite recent.

Upstream…

…and downstream from that bridge, brings us to Arosa Drive, the end of this section.

Section 5. Arosa Drive to Harborne Lane. (789 m – 0.49 miles)

 

The entrance from Arosa to the footpath. I assume you’d get a wheel-chair through there?

Only half a mile to go! Plus, we get to go under the Birmingham & Worcester canal – well under it,  as you’ll see!

This is another of this type of  bridges, not the one we saw before.

Looking upstream, there’s a confluence of the Harts Green Brook (right) with the Bourn (left). 

Downstream. The Bourn is getting wider  – about 6 – 8 feet (~ 2.5 m).

The path is crossing back to the right, as we continue west.

Up… Now 10 – 12 feet wide (~3.5m).

Down. The terrain is about to become more interesting…

The land is now very flat, and getting far wider than before. The stream has changed sides again, and is off to the right.

There used to be a Water Mill where the yellow circle is, and the irregular area bounded in yellow was a reservoir, as well as a source of power for the Mill. 

This map, most likely from the late 1800s, shows practically nothing but farms. For the legend: ‘Co. & Parly. Boro. By.’, read: ‘County & Parliamentary Borough Boundary.’ To the north was Warwickshire, & to the south, Worcestershire. To the north, Harborne; to the south, Selly Oak, which was then ‘U.D.’ – that is, an Urban District, as opposed to a Rural District. In addition, the Dudley No.2 canal is seen. It passed out of use in the 1950s – but that’s quite another story!

In the map above, the stream came out in the middle of the dam, but it’s long been re-routed to the south.

Here, we’re looking at what was once the bed of the the reservoir. The profuse growth of Bulrushes (reed mace) indicates that it hasn’t ‘forgotten’ what it once used to be! 

We’re getting near the end, but include this shot because quite a lot of the path has red or yellow wooden markers hammered in. There was a sign to saying that the path from Arosa to Harborne Lane was going to be shut in early November (2020) for seven weeks. But this has not eventuated. Whether the weather hasn’t been right, or it’s the Covid Lockdown, who knows? 

Here’s another of these access points that goes down to the old lake bed. They’re usually locked, but this one isn’t – you can go down if you like. I didn’t, because it’s possibly quite swampy down there. You can just see the bars of a barrier below the chain at the bottom. This must be to allow water accumulating in the low-lying bed, to run off into the Bourn after prolonged heavy rain? 

All this is quite new – the building on the right is I believe, a small private hospital.

Upstream.

Downstream.

Then, a rather large bridge – necessary become of the enormous volume of traffic that passes up & down Harborne Lane.

No traffic! The upstream Parapet. I don’t really like cars in photos unless it’s unavoidable. 8^)

There is a yard behind these buildings which was the location of the water mill. Of course, it would originally have been a flour mill, but I have read that it became a metal grinding mill – a ‘Blade Mill’ quite early in the 19th century.

The west-bound, downstream parapet.

Section 6. Harborne Lane to University. (1200 m – 0.75 miles)

The onward sign points at right angles because the path is offset to the left. 

The pylons stride away down the watercourse, which is buried in foliage to the right. The University tower is visible.

Eventually we can actually see the brook. It’s shrunk to only about four feet wide.

Through dense foliage, there is some inaccessible brickwork – perhaps a small tributary, or even just a drain?

 Presumably a ‘glacial erratic?’ Carved into it is “When you see only one set of footprints (in the sand), it was then that I carried you.” This is from a poem called ‘Footprints’. Many people have claimed to have written it.  

A strange railed platform with two very large pipes appears. I believe that this is the water supply (or one branch of it) bringing in water to Birmingham, from the Elan Valley reservoirs, 90 miles away in central Wales 

I don’t know what that stuff is – looks like blocks of stone…

Two people are walking over the bridge under which the Bourn passes. 

This is an area in which large building works have been taking place for several years. On the skyline is a huge retail development, while behind the line of white boarding there is still is an enormous open space, which is already being got ready for more structures. Doubtless the abandoned area on which we are standing will eventually be built on too! 

There are two arches here. The larger one on the right takes the Bourn under the higher land. The small arch on the left may be for an un-named tributary that flows a couple of hundred yards down from the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital site (part of which was the Roman Fort, Metchley). These tunnels – or one of them – must have been here since ca. 1800, when the Worcester & Birmingham canal was dug. 

This is the A38 along its new path, avoiding Selly Oak. A valley has been excavated! The two bridges enable the railway and the canal to cross it. Both were at ground level until quite recently. I wonder what they did with the zillion tons of earth? 8^)

Nevertheless, the Bourn Brook continues resolutely behind one of the new buildings, mostly student accomodation, that line the Selly Oak New Road. Upstream…

…& downstream.

The next big new building; this one has a bridge over the brook. Upstream.

Downstream. Notice, in this and the previous shot, there is some old brick & stonework, which probably dates back to the building of the university. It gradually came into existence in the 1890s, but these rather nice Byzantine style ‘core buildings’ were officially opened by King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra in 1909:

And here they are, seen across the Bourn Brook on a very drab day in mid-November 2020. Needless to say, a great deal of land was given initially, and the university has never stopped expanding.

It will soon be time for the brook to turn & go under the A38, near where the distant traffic can be seen.

Taken over the parapet, the Bourne curves round to the right and goes under the new and old A38… 

The new being the near one, the old, the far one, acrtually now the B-438.  The dark brickwork is the parapet on the far side. Incidentally, I had to wait quite a while to get a shot without any cars in it; this really is a busy road, even under the severe Covid 19 lockdown we currently have .

Section 7. To confluence with River Rea. Mostly on inaccessible ground. (1.5 Km – 0.93 miles)

The brook emerges on the south side of the Bristol Road and swings sharply east…

…only to disappear after perhaps 30 yards into a culvert…

…which is under this scrub & continues just past the white van, in Bournbrook Road.

We are heading for that galvanised fence by the grey lamp post.

One of the nice things about poking around along the course of streams & brooks is finding these strongly-engineered barriers and mysterious steps that descend into forbidden places… this is one of the best, so far!

Look: it’s built of stones contained in wire cages – the steps go down quite a way, and the pale brick on the left is the parapet at the end of the culvert. Most surprising, perhaps, is the alternating red and blue bricks at the bottom right of the steps. What point is there in having ornamental brickwork down in a place which virtually nobody ever sees??? Presumably the brickie got bored, but I must say, it’s one of the most delightful things I’ve seen on the whole exercise! 

Having said that, the view over the parapet is less like the functional containing of a small stream, than the entrance into an Enchanted Fairy Kingdom – or a forgotten Legendary Garden of Delights. 8^)

And that, I fear, is nearly it. The ‘Enchanted Garden’ is the beginning of a very long stretch, well over half a mile, in which the Bourn runs between two roads of very nice houses, where the gardens meet, and there is absolutely no access. However, there is one road that crosses at right angles, so there is a bridge, and the above is the view upstream.

The first time we came here, the gates of King Edward’s School Hockey Pitch were locked, but today they weren’t, so we were able to shamble in & get the brook coming into their grounds…

Off it goes, but I didn’t go any further, being a trespasser.

The next public access point is about 220 yards (200m) further east, where the Bourn is joined by the Chad Brook, coming in from the right. These images have already appeared on the Chad Brook page, for though the Chad ends here, it is so close to where the Bourn joins the River Rea, that we added the few extra images.

Looking west, upstream of the Bourn Brook, complete with ducks.

…and downstream, where the augmented Bourn Brook will go under the Pershore Road.

Shot over the parapet of the Pershore Road bridge – the big building is the new Dental College and Hospital.

It suddenly dawns on me that the parapet on the other side of the
Pershore Road is huge! Beyond it is the Wildlife Conservation Park.

We’re now inside the Wildlife Conservation Park, and the channel is completely brick-lined – as is the River Rea, into which the Bourne Brook will soon flow. I suspect the expense of lining the bed dates back to the works done in the 1920s (check this), which put the River Rea into its deep brick-lined culvert – the Rea would break its banks after a prolonged downpour. Such a flood would doubtless flow back up the Bourne Brook. The Pershore Road used to be a ‘Hot Spot’ for Rea floods.

Looking North from a bridge…

…and South towards the Rea. Of course, there has been a ‘time slip’ because these shots were taken  a couple of months ago!

And at last, the Bourn drops over a weir several feet high, which must be intended to stop the Rea coming back up the Bourn, as remarked above, and joins the Rea, which is flowing from right to left along the edge of Cannon Hill Park. There’s a footpath along it. I rode it many times on my bike, 12 or 14 years ago. Well  that’s about it. Thanks if you’ve stayed the whole course. Take care & let’s hope this ruddy Coronavirus thing goes away pretty soon!