{"id":292523,"date":"2025-07-26T05:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292523\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T05:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T05:47:13","slug":"the-m5-junction-hiding-a-secret-passage-that-was-once-part-of-something-much-grander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/292523\/","title":{"rendered":"The M5 junction hiding a secret passage that was once part of something much grander"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of drivers may pass the lodge each day without realising what it is<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS375915053.jpg\" alt=\"The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">If you take a drive along one of the region&#8217;s busiest junctions, you&#8217;ll find a rather peculiar building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Made from sandstone, it looks like a relic from a bygone era &#8211; and that&#8217;s exactly the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The Grade II listed lodge &#8211; located within Junction 1 of the M5 in <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/west-bromwich\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">West Bromwich<\/a> &#8211; was built long before the motorway arrived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">READ MORE: <\/strong><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/estate-birminghams-border-european-name-32053953\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">The estate on Birmingham&#8217;s doorstep with a European name and no one knows why<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Get breaking news on <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/chat.whatsapp.com\/FJKVhwxllixI0DiCj9e2sk\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"[object Object]Link opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">BirminghamLive WhatsApp<\/a>, click the link to join<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The lodge formed part of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/sandwell\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Sandwell<\/a> Hall, which was a mansion house constructed in the early 1700s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The mansion, which was situated about one mile east of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/west-bromwich\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">West Bromwich<\/a>, was demolished in 1928.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS375915056.jpg\" alt=\"The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">However, the lodge has survived to this day and now forms part of the motorway&#8217;s roundabout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The lodge is accompanied by a curving brick wall and set amongst a number of trees, shrubs, bollards and a patch of grass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">It is hard to reach, with no direct pedestrian access to the motorway island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The lodge can best be seen from the northeastern corner of the roundabout, most visible to drivers emerging from the southbound entry slip road and direction of <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/west-bromwich\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">West Bromwich <\/a>town centre.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_JS375918352.jpg\" alt=\"The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>The lodge of Sandwell Hall at Junction 1 of the M5<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Its located on the corner of the roundabout, lying just metres from the tarmac and passing vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Today, it&#8217;s hard to envisage how the estate would have looked when it was first built, with the motorway and urban sprawl cutting up the land.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The hall was once a family home before becoming an orphanage and mental asylum amongst other things.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">It was knocked down in 1928 after suffering damage from mining subsidence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The lodge, meanwhile, received Grade-ll listed status in 1970 and remains as an interesting local landmark today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thousands of drivers may pass the lodge each day without realising what it isThe lodge of Sandwell Hall&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,108786,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-292523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-m5","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114917962317576645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}