The Little History of Birmingham E-Book

Vanessa Morgan

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 272

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

From its origins as a small Saxon hamlet, to the large sprawling city of the present day, Birmingham has quite the tale to tell – and within the pages of this handy and compact book is where you'll find it. Stories of how Birmingham developed and of the people who helped develop it. Stories of its industries, how they prospered and made Birmingham famous around the world. Stories of politicians, industrialists and celebrities who were born or lived in Birmingham, and the not-so-famous people who worked tirelessly in its factories and workplaces, who helped make Birmingham the city it is today. Set out chronologically from prehistoric times to the present day, The Little History of Birmingham is a handy guide to the city through the ages that can be picked up and enjoyed whenever and wherever you want.

Leseprobe

First published 2025

The History Press

97 St George’s Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Vanessa Morgan, 2025

The right of Vanessa Morgan to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 80399 859 6

Typesetting and origination by The History Press.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

Author’s Foreword

From Forest to Market Town

A New Dawn for Birmingham

The Market Town Begins to Grow

Birmingham in the 1700s

Birmingham and the Industrial Revolution

At the Beginning of the 1800s

Birmingham in the Young Queen’s Reign

A City is Born

Two Wars and in Between

Rebuilding Birmingham

Modern Times

Bibliography

AUTHOR’SFOREWORD

Vanessa Morgan was born just over the border in Worcestershire, but her mother and grandmother were true Brummies. This meant regular visits to family and shopping trips into town. Working life took her into Birmingham. As a genealogist, many hours were spent in Birmingham Library or on visits to locations connected to a family she was researching. And as a TV extra, Vanessa worked on location in the city on such programmes as Doctors and the popular children’s programme, lovingly entitled Brum.

Birmingham took root as a small Saxon community, but today it spreads across an extremely large area. So, for the purposes of this book, the story being told is of the whole of this large district, including all the suburbs of Birmingham that were once towns and villages in their own right, but now form part of the metropolis still lovingly known as Brum.

There are many stories in this little book that, it is hoped, will install a desire in the reader to further explore the bits that grab their interest.

FROM FOREST TO MARKET TOWN

Imagine a large, shallow lake surrounded by hills and rocky slopes in a climate hotter than it is today with no sign of life. Is this a scene from a sci-fi film? No, it is Birmingham millions of years ago. On the bed of this lake there was a thick layer of mud that had been formed from silt rolling down from the rocky crevices in the hills. This mud became known as Mercia mudstone. When the climate changed, the lake dried up and the clay cracked. These cracks would eventually become the rivers Rea, Tame and Cole.

Then came the Ice Age, and Birmingham, together with much of what became Great Britain, was buried beneath 3,000m of ice. Glaciers slowly moved across the whole area, moving masses of stones and earth across the land. When the great thaw came, once again the landscape changed. Boulders, stones and pebbles were left strewn across the country and the cracks in the dried-up lakes were filled with gushing water. Vegetation began to grow, and the Forest of Arden was formed.

AN OLD ROCKY REMINDER

One of these stones from the Ice Age can be found in Key Hill Cemetery. It is a volcanic rock that, after a study made by scientists, is thought to have originally come from the mountains of Wales and was carried to Birmingham by glaciers. As the ice melted it was left behind.

It became known as the Hoar Stone, which in old English is ‘har stan field’, meaning ‘boundary stone in a field’, and was used as a marker for the boundaries of the Birmingham, Aston and Handsworth manors in earlier times. Now swallowed up by modern-day development, it stands on a plinth, as a memorial to an age long gone. An inscription reads, ‘This felsite boulder was deposited near here by a glacier during the Ice Age being at one time used as a parish boundary mark, it was known as the Hoare Stone of which the modern War Stone is a corruption.’

It was from this that Warstone Lane was derived.

Other such boulders that were brought down from north Wales by glaciers can be found lying around Birmingham. One sits in Cannon Hill Park. Known as ‘the Boulder’, it sits by the boating lake and has stood there since the park was opened. Another can be found in Olton Park. Two others have also given names to where they sat – for example, the Great Stone Inn in Northfield and Gilberstone Avenue, Yardley.

PREHISTORIC BRUMMIES

When early humans arrived in Birmingham, they found an area of variety – patchy woodland, stony heaths, brooks trickling from springs in the clay crevices and other parts that were boggy and difficult to traverse. But they left behind some of their tools to reveal their presence, and although only a few Stone Age tools have been found, it is enough evidence to prove there was a small population here. These nomads, who didn’t settle in any particular place but travelled around as hunters and gatherers, left behind a man-made axe in a garden in Court Lane, Erdington, a type of scraper in Northfield and other bits and pieces in Saltley. Tools specific to the Bronze Age were found under Mackadown Farm when it was demolished in the 1950s.

Gradually, these tribes became more settled. They wanted to build homes for themselves where they could live permanently. In some parts of Birmingham, they found the soil was too light to farm and didn’t drain sufficiently. However, there were parts that consisted of clay, and although difficult for a farmer to plough, it did make good pots. But in the parts where the glaciers had moved numerous amounts of sand and gravel, the land was drier and easier to plough, and this is where the first Brummies built their settlements.

THE IRON AGE BRUMMIE

Around 600 BC, we were in the Iron Age. Humans had learned how to smelt iron using charcoal and could make tools and weapons. Living in larger communities of sometimes up to 1,000, they built wooden circular huts with wattle and daub and thatched, pointed roofs. They bred sheep, cows and pigs and grew crops. Their villages would be enclosed by moats and fences.

As they became more territorial, they became warriors and built hill forts as protection for their communities. The nearest known hill fort to Birmingham is at Shirley and is known as Berry Mound. It covers around 12 acres, and although it has never been excavated and was subjected to constant agriculture in the nineteenth century, a bank and ditch give a very clear view of its size.

Other evidence of Iron Age humans found in the Birmingham area include a glass bead found in a park in Castle Bromwich and some fragments of pottery from Selly Oak. However, the biggest find was during excavations prior to the M6 Toll being built. On the east side of Solihull, evidence of a moat was found together with the foundations of some circular huts.

There were three known tribal districts around Birmingham. In the south were the Dobunni, whose capital was in Cirencester. Using the River Cole as their boundary were the Cornovii and the Corieltauvi. The Cornovii came from the Wrekin, where it is thought their capital was, and spread out to the west of Birmingham. The Corieltauvi, whose capital was in Leicester, could be found in the east.

INVASION

So, by the first century, the people of Birmingham – and Britain – had become more organised, living in their tribes and led by individual kings and queens. However, they were not as powerful nor as civilised as the people from a then faraway land who were rapidly building a large empire.

The Romans first arrived on the Kent coast in AD 43, and although records are very sketchy, it is thought there were probably around four legions of Roman soldiers together with a cavalry of auxiliary troops. This would possibly make a total of 40,000 men. The campaign was long, and it took around forty years for the Romans to take complete control of the majority of England and Wales.

Birmingham was only on the edge of the Roman occupation, perhaps due to it being a dense forest area in the east, with the ground to the west not being suitable for agriculture. The only current evidence of a Roman existence here is the fort at Metchley and Icknield Street, the Roman road, although archaeological surveys do suggest there may have been a Roman farm at King’s Norton and that pottery was made in the Witton area. And when ground was being excavated for the Bull Ring, there was evidence of a farm once being there and it was thought it could be Roman.

But there is evidence that battles took place here, presumably with the tribes mentioned previously. When ground was being levelled for the building of the canals in the late 1700s and early 1800s, many pieces of ancient items were found. These included swords, battleaxes and buckles, although they were never confirmed to be Roman or otherwise.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

As the Romans progressed through the country, they began building their roads, something for which history has credited them with glowing reports. Ryknield Street, also known as Icknield Street, ran between Southampton and Tynemouth and entered Birmingham in the south-west along the Pershore Road, Bournville Lane to Harborne and then Warstone Lane. Crossing Hockley Brook, it headed out towards Sutton Coldfield. Although the original cannot be seen in Birmingham, in the 1800s a stretch of it was still very much visible in Sutton Park. A writer in the early 1800s said that parts of it in Sutton Park and on the Coldfield were in perfect repair ‘as when the Romans left it’.

THE ROMAN BRUMMIE

Metchley Fort was situated near Harborne and was always thought to have been built by the Romans, but some historians have disagreed with this. Some believe it was built by the Danes, although there is no evidence of the Danes ever being here; others feel that it was built by the ancient Britons to ward off the arrival of the Romans. There is also a conflict as to how big it was. In the 1700s writers were suggesting it covered an area of 30 acres, but when it was measured in 1822 it only appeared to be 15 acres.

The camp was named Bremenium. Translated, ‘Bre’ and ‘Maen’ mean high stone. Certainly, where the fort had been built, the Romans would have got a good view of the surrounding country and being built close to Icknield Street meant an easy journey to another camp at Wall, near Lichfield, and then on to Watling Street.

ANOTHER INVASION

Finding it difficult to defend themselves against the Germanic tribes now attacking the British coast, and with trouble brewing in other parts of their empire, the Romans left in the early fifth century. Coming from northern Europe, Germany and Scandinavia, these Germanic tribes were divided into two groups, the Saxons and the Vikings, and they quickly populated Britain. There is no evidence that the Vikings ever came to Birmingham, although they must have passed by when travelling to Shropshire, possibly using the old Watling Street, which lay to the north of Birmingham. But the Saxons quickly inhabited the area and so Birmingham was born.

THE NEW BRUMMIE

A tribe known as the Hwicca spread across England from the south-west through Worcestershire and Warwickshire, but the Forest of Arden prevented them reaching Birmingham before another Saxon party did. This tribe had arrived at the mouth of the River Trent in Humberside and had travelled across country following the Trent and then the River Tame before pushing their way through the forest. Here a group settled on the banks of the River Rea, near to where Gooch Street is today. They were the Ingas of Beorma, in other words, the Beorma family, and as Saxon settlements were called hams, this has always been considered the way Birmingham got its name. However, another suggestion by historian William Hutton refers to the name Bromych, which eventually became Bromycham, taken from broom (a shrub growing in the area) and wych (meaning descent).

Another tribe settled at Edbald’s Tom (Edgbaston) and one at East Town (Aston). Other settlements developed in the surrounding areas of heathland, and they were to become known as King’s Heath, Small Heath and Balsall Heath.

Later, all these tribes merged into one and then this part of middle England became the Kingdom of Mercia.

BIRMINGHAM NAMES

Soon Birmingham was covered in other small hamlets with names reflecting what or who could be found there. In some cases, their modern names were derived from those Anglo-Saxon names.

Dudd – Duddeston

Deritend – Der-yat-end or Dear Gate End

Digbeth – Dyke Path or Ducks’ Bath

Stirchley – road clearing

Mackadown – Macca’s farm. Also known as Machitone

Yardley – farm clearing in dense oak forest (and also known as the spot where a missionary came to preach to a Saxon community)

Northfield – land already cleared

Saltley – willow for basket weaving

Ashold – ash trees

Bromford – good river crossing

Stetchford – not a good river crossing

Greet Hill – passable all the time

Solihull – not accessible in winter

As these settlements grew so did the manorial system whereby lords of the manor governed lands and estates of different wealth and sizes. This was a system that continued for hundreds of years with a king or queen at the head. The Saxons and the ancient Britons soon became one and so the Anglo-Saxon era began.

HUNDREDS

Introduced around 613 as part of the plan to divide the country up into shires and counties, the hundreds also meant there was a regular court system, with each hundred having its own court and officers. There was no courthouse to begin with, and the hundred court was held at an ancient site, such as a stone, tree or crossroads, before purpose-built buildings were erected.

Birmingham belonged to the Hemlingford hundred and lay in the west of the area. It was named after the ford across the River Tame in Kingsbury, a town in Warwickshire about 10 miles north-east of Birmingham. Also including Tamworth in the north, Nuneaton in the east and Solihull in the south, the Hemlingford court was thought to have been held at crossroads in Coleshill.

A RESTING SAINT

Lying in St Chad’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham is an adopted Brummie. St Chad was the fifth Bishop of Mercia and from 669 until his death in 672, he lived in Nether Stowe, Lichfield. It was he who helped convert the Celtic pagan worshippers to Christian beliefs and he became known as the Apostle of the Midlands. When Lichfield Cathedral was built, his tomb was moved from Nether Stowe to the cathedral but when civil war broke out, it was taken away and hidden from the Puritans. He then found his way to Birmingham.

An area known as Chad Valley, north of Harborne and Edgbaston, was thought to have been named after him, but it could also have derived from the name Shadwell, meaning shallow boundary brook, as a brook does run through the area. Now known as Chad Brook, it joins the Bourn Brook before running into the River Rea.

DOMESDAY AND THE HANDING OUT OF LAND

Leading up to the end of the Anglo-Saxon era, the manor of Birmingham belonged to Ulwine, also known as Alwyne, the son of Wigod the Dane, who had married the sister of Leofric, the Saxon Earl of Mercia, therefore uniting the two civilisations. But now another invader arrived from Normandy and more changes took place.

Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the manors of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Selly Oak, Northfield, Aston, Erdington, Witton, Handsworth, Perry and Little Barr were all given to Ansculf de Picquigny and then passed to his son, William Fitz-Ansculf. They had come over with William the Conqueror from Picquigny in the Somme but made their home at the Saxon castle in Dudley.

William Fitz-Ansculf had just one daughter, Beatrix, who married Fulke de Paynel. When her father died, these manors became the property of the Paynel family, but by the twelfth century and into the early thirteenth century, they had been split up between other families such as the de Berminghams, the atte Holtes, the de Erdingtons and the de Somery family.

The Domesday Survey shows that Birmingham contained four hides, with half an acre of wood, which was half a mile long and 4 furlongs in breadth, and enough land for six ploughs. It was worth 20 shillings. There were nine residents made up of five villeins (villagers who farmed several strips of land) and four borders (villagers who farmed a very small plot of land) with two ploughs.

Aston consisted of eight hides, a church, mill and woodland. With five times the population, it was worth £5. The overlord here was simply known as Godmund.

Edgbaston, known as Celboldstone, had two hides and half a mile of wood. The ten residents were ruled by Drogo. He was a Norman soldier who had fought with Ansculf.

Erdington had nine villeins, three smallholders and two slaves. There were 5 acres of meadow, six plough fields and woodland all worth £1 10s, plus a mill worth 3 shillings.

In Selly Oak there were seven villeins and sixteen smallholders with six cottages, three slaves, one priest, nineteen ploughlands and one woodland. It was worth £5.

Witton had just one villein, two smallholders and two slaves. There were four plough lands, and it was worth £1.

Handsworth just consisted of two plough lands with 2 acres of meadow and a mill. It was worth 2 shillings.

Perry and Little Barr were just listed as an abandoned settlement.

A FAMILY TAKES CHARGE OF ITS LANDS

Sometime in the mid-twelfth century, the de Bermingham family acquired the manor of Birmingham from the Paynell family, also known as Paganell. Peter de Bermingham applied to Henry II in 1154 for a market charter for the purpose of selling livestock. The date may not be entirely accurate and some historians say it was 1166, but it was granted. Records show that at some time Peter was listed as a steward to Gervaise Paganell.

The Bermingham family are thought to have originated from Picquigny, and Richard, who fought with Ansculf, was rewarded with land in Birmingham. Richard had a son, William, who not a lot is known about, and it was his son Peter who adopted the name de Bermingham. The Paganell family had become Barons of Dudley, and it seems Peter served them well and was rewarded with more land and was made Gervaise Paganell’s chief steward and second in command.

With his newly acquired grandeur, Peter built himself a moated manor house. The Moat, as the house was called, was about 8 yards south of St Martin’s Church and replaced a castle that had been built around 1140. It is not clear what had happened to the castle, whether Peter demolished it to build his new manor house or if it had been destroyed by King Stephen during his war with Matilda. However, there is no evidence that Stephen was ever in the area.

There are believed to have been three royal visits to the de Bermingham family: one from King Richard I in 1189 and two for King John in 1206 and 1208.

A TOWN QUIETLY GROWS

Birmingham avoided getting involved in any of the wars and skirmishes that blew up at various times in the history of England – the conflict between Stephen and Matilda and the Wars of the Roses, for example. On the whole, Birmingham and its families sat out these events as the town quietly grew.

In 1181 there were eighteen freeholders cultivating 667 acres with thirty-five tenants holding 158 acres. The total value was £13 8s 2d.

One of the oldest streets in Birmingham is Edgbaston Street. Originally, it was the road that led from St Martin’s and the manor house to Edgbaston and was used by the de Birmingham family to visit their neighbours in Edgbaston. Known in King John’s reign as ‘Egebaston Strete’, strete being the word used to describe a paved way in cities and towns, it was the first street in the town to be paved.

There was a mill in the Moor Street area called the Town Mill. The miller was called John le Moul or le Molendin. Through various phonetic variations of the name, the street on which he lived became known as Moor Street. Together with Edgbaston Street, this is said to be the oldest in Birmingham, and is probably older than Edgbaston Street. There was at one time a wooden bridge over a stream that crossed the street. It became the street where many of the old Birmingham families resided – Carless, Smallbroke, Ward, Sheldon, Flavell and Stidman, among others, who all paid rent to the lord of the manor.

A NEW DAWN FOR BIRMINGHAM

In the 1300s, the town was mainly filled with timber-framed buildings known as cruck houses and its market was a thriving place to be. These were typical of many houses throughout the country and were basic homes with one large lower room with a hearth, and at the other end steps led to a smaller upper room. One typical cruck house was Minworth Greaves, which was built on the outskirts of Sutton Coldfield. Rescued from demolition in the early 1900s by George Cadbury, it was rebuilt at his newly developed Bournville and is still on view there today.

A typical Cruck House, still found in modern country villages.

Improvements began to take place, and in 1319 a three-year patent was taken out to improve the roads in Birmingham. The finances didn’t stretch to completing the task, so in 1333 a second patent was taken out and tolls were fixed at 1 farthing for every 8 bushels of corn. Apparently though, as later stories tell, the slabs were placed the wrong way up and therefore the surface was uneven and painful to the feet. How long these slabs lasted is not recorded, but when these roads were paved in 1819 the system had improved. A steam-paving engine did the job this time. With its six heavy hammers, it easily drove any uneven stones into the roads as the engine slowly moved about 1ft at a time.

In a document dated 1347, Lady Well is listed as a ‘dwelling in Edgbaston Street leading towards God Well Field’. The well had been dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was close to the house, which was later known as the Parsonage or Rectory, where priests found shelter. The spring was very abundant and filled the moat around the Parsonage. From there it was joined by waters from the hill at Holloway Head and went via Edgbaston Street to fill the moat around the Manor House.

The Chester Road, a busy road today, was also an important highway in these times. The Earl of Warwick, who was Lord of Sutton manor, built a cottage to house two men who assisted travellers across Sutton Chase, a desolate area that was well known for harbouring bandits. Known as Bow Bearers Lodge, it existed right up to the early 1800s when it was demolished. The empty field became known as Bow Bearers Croft and is now immortalised as Bowcroft Grove.

A STRING OF WILLIAMS

In 1252, a charter for holding a fair was given to William de Bermingham by Henry III. The fair was held at Whitsun and Michaelmas.

William, who had inherited the manor in 1246, was the grandson of Peter de Bermingham and his father had also been named William. He married the daughter of Thomas of Astley and joined his father-in-law in the Barons’ War. He was killed in the Battle of Evesham in 1265. Because of his involvement in the uprising, his lands, which were then valued at £40, were confiscated and given to Roger de Clifford. However, they were returned to the family when his son, William the third, paid a fine. This William, as a military knight, joined Edward I during the Gascon Campaign and while attempting to relieve the Fortress of Bonnegarde was captured, along with other knights, and taken to Paris. He did make it back to Birmingham and survived until 1306, when the fourth William inherited.

The fifth and last William helped raise troops, 400 in total, for Edward III in 1326 and for this he was given the title Lord William de Bermingham. He became a Member of Parliament, but the succession of Williams ended with him. His son was Sir Fouke de Bermingham, who succeeded around 1340 and followed his father into Parliament as MP for Warwick.

The last of the de Bermingham family, Edward, was born in 1497 and succeeded his grandfather when he was only 3 years old. And it was this that eventually resulted in the demise of the Bermingham family – a story that will be told later.

THE PARISH CHURCH

In the late thirteenth century, a new church was built to replace an earlier Norman one. Since then, St Martin’s has seen many improvements. In 1690 it was encased in red brick, apart from the spire, which provided a cover for the original sandstone as it was beginning to show wear and tear. Between 1873 and 1875 it was again completely rebuilt, the idea being to return it back to the Gothic appearance it would have had when first built. Further restoration was necessary after damage caused by the bombings of the Second World War.

However, in all this time four stone figures survived. It is highly likely they are members of the Bermingham family, with one being the William de Bermingham who fought in the French Wars with Edward I. But of the other three, it is not certain who is who. William carries the distinctive shield showing the diagonal line from upper right to lower left, with five lozenges, which has always been incorporated in the city arms.

In 1330 and 1347, father and son Walter of Clodeshale and Richard of Clodeshale endowed a ‘chauntry’ in St Martin’s for their daily use and that of their families and descendants. Walter was a wealthy and influential wool merchant from Birmingham and in 1343 bought the manor of Saltley.

NEIGHBOURHOOD DISPUTE

The manor of King’s Norton was owned by the king and within it was an area known as Kingswood. Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, who already had several possessions, was given the manor of King’s Norton by Edward II in 1317. Around seven years later, Roger had a ditch dug, almost a mile in length, to enclose his land in Kingswood, which up until then had been common land within the parishes of Kings Norton, Yardley and Solihull.

His neighbours were not happy and demolished it, with the bailiff getting killed during the scuffle. It must have been considered an accident because Mortimer only charged them with trespass. He did win and was awarded £300 damages. However, Mortimer was a ruthless man at court and was involved in many intrigues and made several enemies. He was eventually arrested and executed. After his execution his neighbours petitioned Edward III, who reduced the fine to £40. The area is now known as Druids Heath.

THE HOLTE FAMILY OF ASTON

The Holte family are of Saxon origin, their name meaning grove or woody place, and they became wealthy exporting wool across Europe in vast quantities. Their connections with Aston began around 1331 when Simon Holte bought the manor of Nechells from the widow of Sir George de Castells, followed in 1363 when John Holte bought the manor of Duddeston and two years later, the Manor of Aston. Their place of residence was then Duddeston Hall.

In 1400 William Holte gathered 120 men to take supplies of herring and flour from London to Scotland by ship to Henry IV’s army. This luckily put him in the king’s debt and when four years later, the manor was taken by the local escheator following the Act of Resumption, William had no problem in having the manor returned to him.

In March 1406, he was once again coming to the aid of the king when he accompanied the king’s son, Thomas of Lancaster, to Ireland. His favour with the royal family continued into the reign of Henry V and by 1419 he had become a friend of the Earl of Warwick, who he accompanied to France. In 1422, the earl gave him the post of Sheriff of Worcestershire. He died around 1435/36 and his nephew, John Holte, succeeded him.

The Holts were to become a prestigious family in Aston. By the 1500s, Thomas Holt was a Justice for north Wales and his marriage to Marjorie Winnington had brought the family more land and wealth. When he died in 1545, his estate was valued at £270 6s 2d and showed that his residence had thirteen bedrooms and ten other rooms with a couple of smaller rooms adjoining those. It was described as containing ‘splendid hangings’ of blues and reds.

THE OLDE CROWN INN

In 1368, the Old Crown Inn was built in Deritend, and it is still standing in the same place at No. 188 High Street. It wasn’t originally an inn. In 1538 it is simply described as a ‘mansion house of tymber’. Parts of the original building are still there, although the majority dates to the early 1500s. It survived Prince Rupert’s attack on the area during the Civil War, Hitler’s bombs and more modern redevelopment plans in the district. One historian wrote in the late 1800s that, at that time, it had been owned by the same family, the Smiths, for many years.

Queen Elizabeth I is supposed to have stayed there for one night on her way back to London from Kenilworth Castle. She slept in a room above the main entrance.

The earliest record of it being described as an inn was in 1626 and it was only from 1666 that it was known as the Crown. However, in 1684 it once again became a dwelling house and was converted into two cottages; then in 1693, into three cottages. It wasn’t until the end of the nineteenth century that it once again became an inn.

The Olde Crown.

At the back of the property there is a courtyard and here can be found a well that is thought to have been sunk 1,000 years ago.

In 1851 the inn was in peril of being demolished as part of the Birmingham Corporation’s plans for improving the area, but lawyer Joshua Toulmin Smith rescued it. It was in peril again in 1856 and 1862, but once again Smith managed to get the Corporation to change their plans and in 1863 he repaired the well and added iron railings. In the 1880s the well began to suffer neglect and lay forgotten until 1994, when new owners took over and it was discovered hidden among the old sheds.

Another pub over in Erdington often causes debates as to whether it is the oldest pub in Birmingham. The Lad in the Lane, previously known as the Old Green Man, sits on the Bromford Road and certainly has bits of its building work that do date back to the fourteenth century. It too started as an ordinary house before becoming Ye Olde Green Man in the 1780s.

A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS

The Middlemore family’s connection with Edgbaston began in the 1390s when Thomas Middlemore became attracted to Isabel, the heiress of Sir Richard de Edgbaston. Sometime around 1395, Sir Richard was away fighting and Isabel was left alone. Middlemore decided to take advantage of this situation and rode to Edgbaston to court her. He found her being attacked in the woods around Edgbaston Hall by thieves. After rescuing her, she was soon his, and their descendants remained in Edgbaston for the next 300 years. They also helped finance the ships that fought the Spanish Armada in 1588.

WEOLEY CASTLE