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.
The
Domesday Survey of 1086
(Domesday Book)
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.
Aston
Parish History
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
on the Map
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.
Birmingham was becoming more of a town in its own right.
No longer under such heavy influence of the whims of
the current landlord the officials of the town could
plan its destiny with little interference. Trade and
manufacturing industry was starting to take hold. Birmingham
was already known for its metalworking. In 1511 the
Clerk of Ordanance placed an order for horseshoes and
weaponry for the Royal Army. Trade links were being
forged with East Anglia and Bristol. The tanning industry
was also thriving.
Birmingham
Expands
In the early 1500's the population of the town of Birmingham
was reaching a 1000 inhabitants. The thriving local
industry was already setting the scene for greater things
to come. Enter the 1600's. Things were starting to change.
A prominant and wealth landowner by the name of Holte
commissioned the building of a large country house in
the 1620's. Completed in 1634 it stood magnificient
as it does today, standing in its own grounds, a testimony
to the wealth and status of the Holte family. Sir Thomas
Holte, Lord of Aston manor had made a tidy sum from
the breaking up of the churches and was well in with
the the crown. Sir Thomas was not the nicest of gentry
having taken a cleaver to one unfortunate
cook, killing him in the process.
Aston Hall is one of the great Jacobean country
houses of England.
The Holte's family seat was at Duddeston Hall. King
Charles paid him a visit in 1642. A turbulent period
of English history, the civil
war, was soon to begin.
Charles I, seeking allegiance in Birmingham was
enraged that the Royal baggage train was looted and
the goods sent to the Parliamentary cause. Prince Rupert
descended on the town and meeting little resistance
proceded to remind the townspeople of their duty to
the crown by terrorising the local inhabitants . Birmingham
thereafter was in favour of the Parliamentary forces.
The civil war came and went. Birmingham surpassed Coventry
in size and status making it the largest town in Warwickshire.
In the mid 1600's, with a population of some 7000 inhabitants,
William Westley by 1700 drew up a town plan and calculated
the population of Birmingham as 15,000. In fifty years
the doubling of the towns population was caused by immigration
from the surrounding towns and villages. Birmingham
was gaining a reputation as a town where things were
progressing. A trading and manufacturing town of status.
Nails, metalwork, and anything in iron was being exported
to London and Europe. Birmingham had a monopoly. The
change to industrialisation had taken hold. Mills sprang
up all around the town. Corn mills were being converted
to the production of metal rolling and ironwork. An
example of this which survives to this day can be found
at Sarehole Mill . Birmingham was about to test its
new found industrial might.
The History of Birmingham. How it all began
