Rookery Park is located on Wood End Road and Kingsbury Road in Erdington.

Rookery Park from Wood End Road (January 2019). Photography by Elliott Brown

With another entrance / exit from Western Road.

Pair of paths in Rookery Park near Western Road, Erdington (November 2019). Photography by Elliott Brown

It has 2 kilometre walking route.

Path around Rookery Park (November 2019). Photography by Elliott Brown

The park also has a Play Area.

Play Area at Rookery Park (November 2019). Photography by Elliott Brown

The park is served by the following bus routes: 11A, 11C on Wood End Road. Also the X14 on Kingsbury Road. The park is in walking distance of Erdington Station and Gravelly Hill Station, on the Cross City Line.

History of Rookery Park

Rookery House is where the Wilberforces planned their antislavery campaigns.

The house in Rookery Park was originally known as Birches Green House. Built in the early Georgian period around 1730 by Birmingham ironmaster Abraham Spooner. He moved to Elmdon Hall in 1760 and his son Isaac and family lived here until Abraham's death in 1789 when they moved to Elmdon. William Wilberforce planned his antislavery campaigns in this park. He married a member of the family Dorothy Spooner. Later Birmingham's first Tory MP, Richard Spooner was born here in 1783. The glass manufacturer Brueton Gibbons lived in Rookery House from 1816. From 1871 the house was leased by William Wiley. Rookery House became Erdington's Council House after 1894 until 1911 when Erdington became part of Birmingham. The Council had used it until about 2008 for council services, but in recent years it's become derelict. Now under scaffolding, the house is being converted into flats.

Rookery House from Rookery Park (November 2019). Photography by Elliott Brown