The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
The Seventeenth
Century
The Seventeenth Century stands out as the century of the civil war. After
Charles I attempted to enforce Anglican reforms in Scotland and found resistance
he was forced to summon parliament to raise funds for military action.
Parliament however raised grievances and was disbanded. These grievances were
never addressed and when Charles attempted to arrest five members of parliament
both sides began to stockpile military resources for the conflict which would
bring Oliver Cromwell to power. For the country this meant years of upheaval.
The Midlands was mainly Parliamentarian (with certain exceptions such as Aston
Hall) but no matter which side you fell on the war meant expenditure, delay, and
loss of life.
By now the population was on the rise again and would hit an all time high in
the next hundred years. However as the population went up so too did the ever
encroaching enclosure, which left more and more members of society landless and
displaced. As a result people from the most rural areas began to move to areas
of wealth such as Yardley in search of work on the large farms. In the first
half of the century the rising numbers in Yardley became unsustainable once more
and unemployment and underemployment spiralled out of control. Vagrancy and
crime began to rise.
There was one hope for the people of Yardley however in the shape of the new and
growing linen industry. Every stage of production could provide jobs, from the
growing of flax to the spinning, weaving, making of dyes, and selling, and the
Midlands was considered perfect for the new venture for numerous reasons.
Firstly the climate and soil were well suited to flax and there was no staple
crop being grown and taking up the most fertile lands. Also there were plenty of
unemployed people who could work the labour intensive crop. Woad, madder, and
weld, used for making dyes were also cultivated for this reason. Linen became
such big business in Britain that duties were levied on French Damask in 1663
and French linen was banned altogether in the 1670s.
However the production of linen never really took off in Yardley and the
business never made it past small-scale domestic production. As more and more
people continued to move in every day only a tiny dent was made on unemployment.
Another shift occurred in the agricultural face of Yardley at this time. During
this century the price of nutritious crops began to rise above that of dairy and
so more land was handed over to the production of the staple cereals. Hops too
made their first appearance as bitter beer replaced the traditional English ale.
The Manor House was also built in Yardley somewhere between 1690 and 1720. The
house was certainly grand but its name is deceptive, as it was in no way large
enough to be the manor house of such a wealthy area. It is also not thought that
any of Yardley’s lords actually lived in the area, preferring to rule from afar
through a structure of bailiffs and sheriffs.
The Eighteenth Century
Industrialization became large scale in the eighteenth century as more people
left subsistence fanning behind them and began to work for a wage.
Industrialization brought immigrants who travelled mainly from the countryside
to centres of industry to ply their trades. From a sixteenth century number of
500, Yardley’s population rose to over a thousand for the first time in the
1750s and Yardley was soon overcrowded and faced a housing shortage. With most
of the area's money tied up in expansion there was little that could be done
until the birth of the building society movement and slum conditions began to
spread into the area.
Along with the workers industrialization did also bring money to the area. By
1776 there were 24 tile houses in Yardley producing tiles from the natural marl
base of the area which could be sold at great profit. Many signs of this
lucrative industry are still around. The name of the Marlborough and Fast Pits
Estate gives a clue to what the area was used as before, and many of the pits
became pools or ponds which remain today.
With the money Yardley began to improve its infrastructure. The Turnpike Trust
was created and began to maintain both the Edgehill Turnpike (the Stratford
Road) and the Birmingham to Warmington Turnpike (the Warwick Road)
in Yardley. Roads were improved and wooden footbridges replaced by stone, such
as Greet Bridge (first show on maps in 1725) later to become the Stratford Road
Bridge. Toll gates brought back some capital and included one at Greet Mill,
Cole Bank, and Acocks Green while the Coventry Road
was officially created with a toll at the Swan. After 1745 milestones became
mandatory but the 'miles' were often hugely inaccurate and none of the old
stones survive in the area today.
By the 1750s tolls had become unmanageably high and the 1767 General Turnpike
Act was passed to regulate them. In 1793 the Acocks Green Turnpike charged 1s 6d
for coaches and 1s for wagons. The road was expected to take £1 a day but only
made £293 that year, but use, and profit, steadily picked up and by 1817 there
were five daily coaches on the Stratford Road. The busier roads drew coaching
inns to the area, including the original Spread Eagle in Acocks Green, the Bulls
Head, and the Old Crown. These in turn brought new industry which took advantage
of the passing trade. By 1795 the Warwick and Birmingham Canal was built,
including High Bridge and a tunnel under Yardley Road which remain in altered
states. Two wharves were built at Wharf Road and Yardley Road to allow
deliveries of Black Country coal and in 1799 the Oxford Canal was completed and
Yardley Tiles were shipped out to a wider market.
Industrial prosperity created the money to build more impressive private
buildings. In 1700 Allestrey Hall was built near the church but was demolished
before accurate maps could tell us much about it. Religious buildings also
profited and in 1704 the reign of St Edburgha's as Yardley's only church was
ended when Job Marston funded Marston Chapel (now the Church of the Ascension in
Hall Green).
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