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Facing south, upstream on the Cole, you are looking towards Berry Mound, 8km
away in Solihull Lodge. It is a permanent earthwork camp of 6.6ha and of
Iron Age date, protected by ditches and banks and formerly by high
palisades, and was probably occupied when the Roman legions conquered the
Midlands in 48 A.D. Possibly it was the tribal centre for this part of
Arden. Our name for it, meaning 'fortress hillock', was given by Hwiccan
(West Saxon) immigrants some six centuries later. They moved north from the
Avon, establishing scattered farms and hamlets in woodland clearings, giving
them names which have come down to us as (Kings) Norton, Moseley, Yardley
and Tyseley. The -ton ending means 'farm' and -ley means 'clearing
settlement'. At the same time that the Hwiccans were moving north, in small
kinship groups, Anglian colonists were moving south up the Tame and the Rea.
They met at the Cole and the Spark.
The tiny Spark has had remarkable significance as a boundary line. On this,
the north side, descendants of the first settlers became subject to the
Anglian kings of Mercia, and those to the south and east of the Hwiccan
kingdom, Wigornia, whose capital was Worcester. From this initial separation
came all the rest during thirteen centuries. Here we stand in Mercia, the
Diocese of Lichfield, Coleshill (later Hemlingford) Hundred of Warwickshire,
the Domesday manor of Estone (Aston) and the parish of SS. Peter and Paul,
the early medieval manor of Bordesley, the Civil Parish of Aston from the
later 16th century, Bordesley Ward of the Borough of Birmingham from 1838,
Sparkbrook Ward of the City of Birmingham from 1889, and the B12 postal
district.
When we cross the Spark, we are historically in the See of Worcester,
Pershore (later Halfshire) Hundred of Worcestershire, the Domesday manor of
Gerlei (Yardley), the parish of St Edburgha, the medieval manor of Greet,
the Greet Quarter of the Civil Parish of Yardley, Solihull Poor Law Union,
Sparkhill Ward of Yardley Rural District from 1894, and of the City of
Birmingham from 1912, and B11.
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 |
