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'Bordesleie'
was first recorded as a separate manor in 1226. It covered 3133ha, 3.1km².
The hamlet was at the west end, where the Coventry Expressway joins the
Middleway near Bordesley Station. Its open fields lay all around. The rest
of the manor was covered in wood and heath, with scattered farms. Those
hereabout were Heybarnes (Haybern ref. 1370), Little Hey, and Danford Farms.
This last was named after a crossing-point, probably dene-ford (dene - a
small valley), of the Spark Brook. In Georgian times, perhaps earlier, there
was a large fishpond on the brook, and its dam was used as a causeway across
the mire.
The manor of Yardley ('Gyrdleahe' ref. 972 A.D.) covers 27.5km³ and extends
from Solihull Lodge to Sheldon and from Sparkbrook to Olton. It therefore
includes Greet, Sparkhill, Tyseley, Acocks Green and Hall Green. The first
open fields were in the north, where later the manor house and church were
built, but there were other field systems at Stockfield/Acocks Green, to the
east of our vantage point, and over Sparkhill, associated respectively with
the lost hamlet of Tenchley ('South Yardley') and the scattered settlement
of Greet. The manor house of Greet, a small estate within Yardley, but in
different ownership, stood near the modern Greet Inn on Warwick Road: its
Georgian successor, 'Manor Farm', is remembered in a street-name. The
water-worn stones in the streambeds are the 'greot' (grit, gravel) which
gave a name to the district and provided a few wide but firm and shallow
crossing points in the boggy denes.
Hay Hall, not
visible from the hill, is a medieval timbered hall, one of the great houses
of Yardley manor, which was later encased in Stuart brick and tile. It was
the home of the Delahayes and the Ests. The south front is Regency, rebuilt
after fire. The factory firm which nearly surrounds the Hall has preserved
it: a side view may be had from Redfern Road.
Introduction
What can be seen from Ackers Hill
The natural landscape
Watercourses
Early settlement and boundaries
The Manors
The Warwick canal
Railways
Industry
Urbanisation
Parks and open spaces
Churches and schools
The Ackers leisure park
Itinerary
Maps |
