Description:Home 1 was one of the homes within Shenley Fields Cottage Homes.
When they were built by the Kings Norton Union, the Cottage Homes aimed to accommodate orphaned, abandoned or destitute children who would otherwise have ended up in the workhouse.
Home 1 was one of the first cottage homes to be built at Shenley. It was standing in 1890 when there were only six cottage homes in Shenley Fields in total. Initially, it accommodated 24 boys.
However, by the early 1900s, it was a home for girls as were all the homes on that side of the Drive. It was the first home on the Drive after the Lodge, adjacent to the office.
From the early 1900s Miss Battersby was the housemother. She was followed by Miss Roberts and Miss Gibbs.
By 1915 Miss Dewey was the housemother.
By the 1920s, Miss Saunders was in charge. In the 1930s, the home remained all girls. By 1948 the total number of children in the home had been reduced to 20 (although more were taken in when the need was there) and both boys and girls now lived in the home.
In the 1940s, in common with several of the Cottage Homes, a married couple, rather than a single woman, took over as houseparents, Mr and Mrs Cox. They then went to one of the new family group homes in Kings Heath in the 1950s. In 1949, Home 1 became known as Merriland.
Mr and Mrs Platt took over in the 1950s, followed by Mrs Saddler who became the houseparent in approximately 1959.
In the 1950s, it appears that this home ‘swapped places’ with Ferndale. All children and staff, and the name of Merriland, were moved to where Home 1 was, nearer to the stores. It remained in this new location until it closed.
In the later years, Mr and Mrs Rewhorn were the houseparents.
The rear of Merriland, in its new location, had a large tarmac area which was originally the playground for the infants school (a wooden building) in between Homes 2 and 3.
In 1981, it was agreed to use the building as offices within Social Services.
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Image: The rear of Merriland (in its post-1950s location) taken in the months prior to demolition in the late 1980s. Reproduced courtesy of Kate Slade.
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Source: This history was compiled by the Birmingham Children's Homes Project, an initiative to explore Birmingham City Council-run children’s homes between 1949 and 1990.