Great Barr
| Great Barr | |
|---|---|
 Great Barr
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| Great Barr shown within the West Midlands | |
| OS grid reference | SP047945 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BIRMINGHAM |
| Postcode district | B (B42, B43, B44) |
| Dialling code | 0121 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament |
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Great Barr is a large and loosely defined area in north-west Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The area was historically in Staffordshire, and the parts now in Birmingham were once known as Perry Barr, which is still the name of an adjacent Birmingham district.
"Barr" means "hill", and the name refers to nearby Barr Beacon.
Great Barr was a largely rural area in south Staffordshire, on its border with Warwickshire, as recently as the First World War, but during the 1920s development for private and council housing began. The urban district of Perry Barr was ceded to Birmingham, then in Warwickshire, in 1928.
By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 it was a very busy residential area with good road connections to West Bromwich, Walsall and Birmingham.
Expansion continued after the war, and during the 1960s the area received a motorway link when Junction 7 of the newly built M6 motorway was opened on the A34. It is also located close to the starting point of the M5, which can be accessed just one mile (1.6 km) northwards on the M6.
On 11 August 1975, eight-year-old local schoolgirl Helen Bailey was found dead from a single knife wound, in woods near Booths Farm. Her killer was never found.
Kidnapper Michael Sams abducted estate agent Stephanie Slater from a house in Turnberry Road, Great Barr before holding her for eight days in January 1992. Following receipt of £175,000 ransom, Sams released her. Police arrested him three weeks later and he was sentenced to life imprisonment for abducting Slater and murdering Leeds prostitute Julie Dart.[2]
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