How did the road get its name?
The road was named after the ancient field names of the area: Far Blackminster meadow, Middle Blackminster meadow, Near Blackminster meadow, Blackminster meadow, Near Blackminster, Blackminster Ground and Blackminster Orchard. “Black” in a place name suggests a possible site of Roman occupation. It was sometimes referred to as Birmingham Road. With the opening of Littleton and Badsey Station at Blackminster on 21st April 1884, it became an important route for sending market gardening produce to market in Birmingham.
When did housing development begin?
In 1842, at the time that the Offenham Tithe Map was drawn, there were no houses at all in Blackminster; the land was given over to arable. But, in about 1844, a stone quarry was built. By 1851, a house which we know today as The Old Farm House had been built to house the foreman of the stone quarry. By 1853, two more cottages had been built (called today Ivanhoe and Rose Cottage). Following the First World War, farm land to the west of the road was sold and ten bungalows were built; three more bungalows were built at a later date. In the 1980s, eight houses known as The Squires were built at the junction with Station Road; this was on land which had been occupied since the Second World War by Evesham Rural District Council Stores.
Numbering system
There are no numbers (with the exception of the houses at The Squires which are numbered consecutively 1-8) – all the houses have names.
19th and early 20th century auctions
An auction of 1850 of land at Blackminster refers to “Hunt’s far-famed paving, building and limestone quarries at Blackminster". An auction notice of September 1853 refers to “three newly-erected dwelling houses”.
Who lived on this road in the 19th and early 20th century?
This street on the 1851 census, 1861 census, 1871 census, 1881 census, 1891 census, 1901 census, 1911 census, 1921 census and 1939 Register.
