Priory Hall
Priory Hall - A Short History
Priory Hall sits on land that was donated to the Birmingham Association of Boy Scouts in 1937 by Major John Howard Cartland. Major Cartland owned the substantial Cartland Estate in Kings Heath, with a main house called ‘The Priory’ on Vicarage Rd, now the site of the two King Edward’s Camp Hill schools.
The Cartland family wealth came from brass foundries, and Major Cartland was a well-known local dignitary and personality; he kept a stud of horses at The Priory and presided over the Kings Heath Horse Show. He was also uncle to romantic novelist, Dame Barbara Cartland.
The history of the Group describes how the newly-formed 1st Grove Boy Scout Troop (later to become the 96th) lobbied the Major to give them land for a hall and in 1937 he donated a piece of land that was then part of an orchard. The hall was named Priory Hall in recognition of the gift from Major Cartland.
A report in the Birmingham Gazette of 12th June 1939 reads:
SCOUTS’ NEW H.Q.
Priory Hall, Colmore-road, King’s Heath, Birmingham, the new headquarters of the 1st Grove Boy Scouts was formally opened on Saturday by Major J.H. Cartland, who presented the land on which it stands. In a short speech he expressed the hope that the Scouts would follow the great example of their leader, Lord Baden Powell.
The first hall on the site was a wooden hut, which was in use until 1975, when it was replaced with the current brick-built structure, which was built with much involvement from parents of boys in the 96th at that time.
Major Cartland died in 1940 at the age of 90; he had never married and would have left his estate to his two nephews - but were both tragically killed at Dunkirk in the same year. The Priory and its grounds was acquired by the King Edward’s Foundation; The Priory was demolished in 1950 and new buildings for Camp Hill Schools opened on the site in 1956. Major Cartland is buried in King’s Norton cemetery.
Major John Howard Cartland
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