BIRMINGHAM has a reputation for being a former industrial powerhouse, but the city is also home to a charming village that's like stepping back in time. While most holidaymakers to Birmingham rarely step foot outside the city centre, there are plenty of other areas that deserve some attention. 3 Birmingham's Austin Village was founded in 1917 by Lord Herbert Austin Credit: Alamy 3 Cedarwood bungalows were imported from America and quickly built to house the factory workforce Credit: Alamy Located in south Birmingham, the Austin Village is a residential area with a deep sense of history.
The village was named after Lord Herbert Austin, a farmer's son from Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire who founded the Austin Motor Company . It was founded in 1917 by the Austin Motor Company to provide housing for its growing munitions workforce during World War One after Lord Herbert Austin was concerned about the long commute his employees faced. After a private transport route to the factory was scrapped because of petrol prices, hundreds of cedarwood bungalows were imported from America to house Austin employees.
Built in less than a year, the Austin Village was home to around 2,000 factory workers, many of which were women, with an average of seven employees living in each bungalow. Forty years after the village was first built, it was recognised as a permanent fixture in the Birmingham landscape . The Austin Village Preservation Society formed in 1990, to promote a sense of neighbour.
