Moving To Bournville

On 18 June 1878, an ideal site was found: fourteen and a half acres of land between the villages of Stirchley, King's Norton and Selly Oak, about four miles south of the centre of Birmingham. This Greenfield site was sloping meadowland with a trout stream - the Bourn, and a solitary building - Bournbrook Cottage. This was eventually pulled down but the old pear tree from its garden still stands outside the main Cadbury reception at the Bournville factory.

The site had many advantages:

• The Worcester and Birmingham canal adjoined so that barge loads of cocoa beans could reach the factory directly from Bristol docks
  
• To the east it was bordered by the Birmingham West Suburban Railway
  
• On the southern edge was a country lane, Oak Lane, now called Bournville Lane, which could easily be improved for road transport
  
• Water was in good supply
  
• There was ample room for expansion and to fulfil the Cadbury brothers' vision for the future.

Originally the factory was to be called Bournbrook, after the cottage and Bournbrook Hall, which stood nearby. However the name 'Bournville' was chosen - 'Bourn' from the stream of that name and 'ville', the French word for town. All things French were in vogue at that time particularly in the area of confectionery, so a French sounding name was considered to be commercially beneficial.

Plans for the factory were drawn up by a Birmingham architect, George H. Gadd, working closely with George Cadbury. Production began at the Cadbury Brothers' 'Bournville factory in a garden' in September 1879.