CAMPAIGNERS fighting against plans for a housing development Burntwood say research has shown the site has “historical significance”.
Bloor Homes is aiming to build 250 new homes on the site at Coulter Lane.
But members of Burntwood Action Group (BAG) say new examinations have shown the site is one of national importance in black British history.
Research has linked the area to two women named Elizabeth Ball – the first of whom left an endowment in 1770 for the construction of a school for the area’s poor children.
A spokesperson for BAG explained:
“The Old School House on Coulter Lane and the surrounding Fulfen fields were the physical and financial heart of this charity.
“Decades later, the school became the home and workplace of Francis Barber – the freed slave and heir to Samuel Johnson who was the UK’s first black schoolmaster – and his wife, Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Barber.
“Michael Bundock, a leading authority on Francis Barber, has confirmed the site’s significance to us, stating that it formed an ‘important part of British history’.
“But despite this heritage, developers plan to remodel the landscape for housing. This will permanently erase the endowment landscape that supported the site’s legacy.”
The group’s research has included examination of historical documentation surroudning The Old School House.
The BAG spokesperson added:
“We aren’t just fighting for green fields – we are fighting to save a 250-year-old promise.
“This site represents a unique piece of international history. To bulldoze it for a standard housing estate, while ignoring the expert evidence of the UK’s first black schoolmaster’s home, is an act of cultural vandalism.”
The planning application for the housing development on the site can be viewed on Lichfield District Council’s website.
