Today the town is famed as, amongst other things, the birthplace of the Land Rover car marque, home of the training facilities for the British Equestrian teams, and is considered to be one of the most prosperous areas in the UK.

The earliest known settlement in the area was at Berry Mound, Shirley, which was the site of an Iron Age Hill Fort, a fortified village protected by earth banks, dating back to the 1st century BC and which covered approximately 11 acres (4.5 ha).

[9] Local folklore holds that as part of his campaigns against the Viking invasion in the mid 9th century Alfred the Great fought a battle against the Danes at Berry Mound, Shirley.

In 1086, it was recorded that the Manor of Ulverlei was now held by Cristina, great-granddaughter of Ethelred the Unready, daughter of Edward the Exile, and sister of the last Anglo Saxon King Edgar Aetheling.

By 1242, the Manor of Solihull was granted a Royal charter to hold a weekly market and an annual fair "on the vigil, the feast and the morrow of St Alphege" (18-20 April).

On the doorway of the church of St Alphage are incisions which are arrow sharpening marks from the 1360s when men were required to practice archery on a Sunday to ensure a ready supply of archers.

[44] The society is strictly limited to a membership of 80, with this rule only having been bent once, when in 1835 Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, Lord of the Manor of Hampton in Arden, was added.

[46] In the early 1800s, Isaac William Lillingston sold the Manor of Hampton in Arden to former Prime Minister, and founder of the modern police force, Sir Robert Peel.

[47] The manor of Longdon came to famous poet Lord Byron in 1815 by his marriage with Anne, daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke Noel, and on her death in 1860 passed to her grandson the Earl of Lovelace.

[20] Mr Lovekin also leased land near Solihull town centre from the Chattock family of Castle Bromwich, on which he built the Jacobean style Tudor Grange Hall.

The purported reason for this is that in 1876 Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was visiting, supposedly to court Lady Bradford at Castle Bromwich Hall, and needed to be able to contact the government in London.

Local population growth was due to a number of factors, perhaps most significantly, the release of large tracts of land for housing development, attracting inward migration of new residents from across the United Kingdom.

[citation needed] By the time World War II began, Solihull had become a reception area for evacuated children from Coventry and the East End of London.

Some barrage balloons, smokescreen generators and searchlights were erected around Solihull in an effort to confuse any enemy bomber aircraft flying over head on their way to critical major industrial areas.

In 1966, Silhill Hall, the 13th century manor house in Solihull, was illegally demolished by the owner, Malcolm Ross, who unsuccessfully attempted to claim that a violent storm had made the structure unsafe.

[65] Due to its growth, Solihull was promoted from an urban district to a municipal borough, the honour being bestowed by Princess Margaret, who waved from the balcony of the Old Council House in March 1954.

The M42 and the M40 both pass through the outskirts of the borough of Solihull, providing very rapid links to Oxford and London in the South East, and to the rest of the motorway network surrounding the West Midlands region.

[80][81] Local bus services are provided largely by National Express West Midlands from their Yardley Wood and Acocks Green depots in south and southeast Birmingham respectively.

The new network, known as Sprint, will utilise dedicated lanes and zero-emission tram style buses which will provide off-board ticketing, multiple-door boarding, wheelchair and pushchair access, free Wi-Fi, and air conditioning as well as on-board audio visual announcements and travel information.

The extension will link up to Birmingham Airport, the National Exhibition Centre and future HS2 Interchange with the wider network, before continuing on through the region, going as far south as the University of Warwick.

[105] Berry Mound is the site of an Iron Age hill fort dating back to the 1st century BC in Shirely, Solihull, on the Worcestershire border.

The list of other parks and reserves across the borough includes: Solihull's Leisure sector has seen growth in recent years, with an average tourism spend in the region per person of £4,081 in 2018.

The centre offers rock climbing, indoor skydiving, a zip line from a Chinook helicopter, Europe's tallest high ropes, an assault course and a chance to dive with sharks.

Tudor Grange Park is also the venue for the annual free firework display held on the Saturday closest to 5 November, organised by Solihull Round Table.

The council hosts a popular farmers market every first Friday of the month on the High Street to cater to the increased demand for organic and locally grown food.

[128] Every year a large unofficial St George's Day Parade takes place, meeting in Solihull, traveling down through neighbouring Henley-in-Arden and into Stratford-upon-Avon.

Former Premiership side Wasps who entered administration and were relegated in 2022 will share Damson Park with Solihull Moors for their return to competitive rugby in the RFU Championship in 2023.

Meriden is also home to the Woodmen of the Forest of Arden founded 1785, an illustrious society of archers who shoot a unique and historic type of clout archery with longbows.

In Episode 2, Season 2 of the British comedy The Thin Blue Line, Detective Inspector Derek Grim (David Haig) suggests a martian seeking asylum in the UK marry "a sweet girl from Solihull".[147][importance?]

[150] In the S6E05 episode of television series Peaky Blinders the main character Tommy Shelby meets aristocrat Diana Mitford, who is staying at a hotel in Solihull, to secure funding from The Guinness Trust – managed by her ex-husband.