One of Birmingham’s biggest parks will celebrate its 150th anniversary by stepping back into the Victorian era this month.
The massive park is made up of 80 acres of formal parkland and 120 acres of conservation and woodland plantation and is home to the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Centre and the mac theatre. The Green Flag Award-winning Cannon Hill Park was designed by Mr T J Gibson, who also designed Battersea Park in London.
It was turned into a park after philanthropist Louisa Ryland gifted 57 acres of meadowland to Birmingham. The park opened to visitors in 1873 and is home to a grade II listed bandstand that was part of the original layout. It is also home to a pub constructed around 1520 that was originally a Guild House that stood in Deritend High Street - on the opposite side of the road to The Old Crown.
It has been used for many purposes like a school, housing for the clergy, and later a tannery and a pub. It fell into disrepair and was under threat of demolition in 1910. It was bought by a local and relocated brick-by-brick to Cannon Hill Park in Moseley - where it now sits.
A massive celebration will take place on Saturday 9 September to celebrate the public space - which has been the site for the Olympic relay in 2012 to the Rover march and much more. Here are 20 photos of the historic park to celebrate the occasion:

17. Rover workers march
More than 40,000 people took to the streets of Birmingham and congregated at Cannon Hill Park to protest BMW’s sale of Rover. (Photo -GERRY PENNY/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

18. Rover workers’ march
A father carries his young child during a Rover workers’ march from Birmingham City centre to Cannon Hill Park 01 April 2000. (Photo - GERRY PENNY/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

19. Midlands Arts Centre (MAC)
Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) is one of the amazing facilities that the park is home to. | Google Maps

20. The Golden Lion pub in Cannon Hill Park
The Golden Lion pub was moved to the park in the early 1900s after it was in danger of being demolished in Digbeth. It lies vacant and unused. | birminghamworld


