Talk:Saracen's Head

Saracen's Head
This article is not completely correct. There were two buildings of medieval origin entered into the BBC 2 Restoration Programme. The first is a medieval timber framed building on the South to the Church which is known locally as the Saracen's Head. (the title came after a small part of the complex was used as a public house in the 18th century). The second building is to the North of the Church and is known locally as The Old Grammar School. The church which has Norman origins (probably earlier) but is mainly from the medieval period was not part of the Restoration Project. The three buildings form part of the medieval history of Kings Norton, but they have never been collectively called The Saracen's Head. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.96.245 (talk) 15:05, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

The 'medieval timber framed building' you refer to is actually a group of buildings - the original house at the north (known as the North Range built in 1491/2), the building/s immediately to the south of this known as the Saracen's Head (originally built approximately 1510), and the victorian addition to the latter (the South Range). The building phases were seperate, and there is no evidence that they were a single building until considerably later. Although the naming of these buildings is disputed, they are refered to locally as a single entity 'The Saracen's Head'. The section on the Restoration project makes it clear that the award was to the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School. I will try and rewrite the first sentence to make this a bit clearer. Duncan 18:58, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Conflict of Interest
I haven't looked at it for a while but I also think the Kings Norton article could probably do with a serious revamp. I am assuming that you actually still live in the general area - I haven't been there for nearly 50 years. (Adds) Having just looked at it there are multiple issues, firstly the para headings don't conform with wiki standard for places, their is a brief mention of a civil war 'skirmish' even though there is a whole article for the Battle of Kings Norton. The Saracen's Head has almost a bigger article than Kings Norton itself. There is no pre-history section, hardly any Saxon/Norman info, no demography, a skewed governance section, few images and a non standard lead - generally it needs pulling apart and starting again.21st CENTURY  GREENSTUFF 15:58, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

I added a title and a link to the previous contributor's message. South Birmingham OK (talk) 13:48, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Conflict of interest
I feel Conflict of interest may be relevant and perhaps the page should get a different title to ensure that this public house is not unduly prominent. I have little to do with Kings Norton, I am much more familiar with Turves Green and do not know what locals call the area round Saracen's Head. I will discuss the matter on the talk page of the Kings Norton article. South Birmingham OK (talk) 13:56, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

I copied this from User talk:South Birmingham OK. South Birmingham OK (talk) 14:03, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't have any problem with the Saracen's Head having its own article, it is after all a very historic building. My point was that the Kings Norton article is poorly structured and in need of both developing and reorganising more in keeping with the proper guidelines. There should be, for instance a decent sized paragraph on notable ancient buildings within the KN article with a link to the Saracen's Head page for people that wish to find out more. 21st CENTURY  GREENSTUFF 14:26, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Article needs renaming St Nicolas Place
According to the article, the whole complex (Saracen's Head, Old Grammar School and a third building?) has lately been renamed. I came across this article in trying to find a page about the Old Grammar School (no exist! says Wiki) - the good folk of King's Norton have recently simplified matters, and Wikipedians should follow suit. It's unnecessarily complicated otherwise, especially when "Saracen's Head" should throw up an article about the definition, origin/derivation and popularity of the phrase as a generic pub name, and instead it throws up a page about a group of buildings that include one specific place that's a Town Hall which used to be called the Saracen's Head. Better if someone locally (or someone with specific King's Norton knowledge) retitles the page and reworks the initial sentence or two accordingly, rather than me. Does anyone agree, that might like to do it? Pete Hobbs (talk) 17:03, 18 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Regardless of whether the page is moved, I have set up redirects pointing to this page. If you still wish to change the article title, I would suggest you use the WP:Requested move procedure, as it may prove controversial.  Skinsmoke (talk) 12:45, 16 January 2014 (UTC)