By:COBALT_Blue

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Birmingham's past undoubtably goes back as far as the Bronze age and beyond. However, very little remains from this era except the scattered flint stones and bronze artifacts that can be found in the city museum. Early Roman military roads have passed through the region. Anglo-Saxon tribes started to settle in the region around 700 A.D. Tribes such as the Hwicce and Anglian Mercians started to make the area their permanent home.

Evidence of Saxon settlement is apparent from the name endings of some of Birmingham's well known localities. The suffix -ley means clearing in a forest. Therefore Selly, Yardley, Moseley and Warley are likely to have been Saxon clearings. Other place names also carry the names of their founders. The town of Birmingham was a hamlet hence ending in ham. The followers of the ingas of Birm or Beorma completes the equation and demonstrates how many town names carry the names we have today. Medieval and subsequent Norman occupation also added to the variety of interesting place names, the origin of which is often buried in a murky past. An example of medieval remains can be found at Weoley Castle.

Leading up to the time of the Domesday Book, the independence of the scattered communities had started to fall under the control of the large landowners. Dudley Castle under the Norman William Fitz Ansculf was a prominent influence over the region. The Domesday book of 1086 values Birmingham manor at £1. Peter de Birmingham, holder of a manor worth considerably less than neighbouring areas such as Yardley and Handsworth, was the first recorded Birmingham. At the time there were five villagers and four smallholders with two ploughs. The most populous area at Aston records 43 adults.

The next recorded entry of significance comes in 1166 when Peter de Birmingham bought the right to hold a weekly market in his castle. The market prospered and Peter laid the foundations of the town of Birmingham. In 1232 a group of citizens formalised an agreement with William de Birmingham which freed them from the compulsory haymaking duties. The tradesmen and merchants were almost undoubtedly involved in the new and lucrative cloth industry. Birmingham had started its long and winding road to manufacturing.

Birmingham continued to expand and by mid 1300's the town was listed as third town in size in the county of Warwickshire. Coventry and Warwick were larger. Aston, once the larger settlement now became Aston beside Birmingham. The Birmingham market grew from strength to strength with traders selling their cloth ware and metal goods.

The castle of Birmingham, a focal point and power base for the town was influential in providing assistance for new chapel's, the Guild of the Holy Cross in 1392 and a chapel of St. John the Baptist at Deritend for the parishioners of Deritend and Bordesley. Between 1400 and 1450 a new Guildhall and a school were added. Birmingham had its first eductational facility. The castle's dominance was not to last. After a period of decline the castle lost its importance and influence.

At the time of Edward de Birmingham in the 1530's the manor was lost after Edward made enemies at court who confiscated his property. He spent 4 years in the tower of London and by 1538 he had died. The end of a family line, his wife Elizabeth continued to live in the town for some time after Edward's unfortunate downfall. The manor, a possession of the crown, later passed to Lord Lisle of Dudley in 1545. Lord Lisle later became the Duke of Northumberland and the most powerful man in England during the years of Edward VI.

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