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First footers
During one warm period of prehistory the soaked landscape of post-glacial
times dried out until it could not support tree growth. Tracks were perhaps
trodden out then and crossing-places of dry river-beds were used which were
maintained when wetter conditions and arboreal abundance returned. Certainly
animals kept trails open from clear ridges to watering and fording places
where stony patches provided firm going. Hunters of successive primitive
cultures followed these tracks and used the fords. Nomads left no trace of
their passing, and later prehistory has no tale to tell of Sparkhill and its
environs. 'Arden', the Celtic name given to the great tract of forest and
heath which covered the plateau within the Severn/Trent/Avon triangle,
attracted few settlers; but we cannot say for certain that there were none,
or that some clearance for agriculture had not been undertaken before the
Saxons came.
Three miles due south of Sparkhill is the remnant of an 11-acres hillcamp,
Berry Mound in Solihull Lodge, which must have been the permanent stronghold
of a large tribe, whose territory could have included ours. Roman
legionaries cut a road we call Ryknild Street across what is now west
Birmingham, and built a fort at Metchley which became a civil settlement.
But of Romano-British activity hereabout nothing is known. Two coins of the
Empire have been found on Sparkhill, but no roads or buildings.
Anglo-Saxon settlement
We have no certain information about settlement in our districts until the 7th
century. Then West Saxons, who called themselves Hwicce, came from the south
and Anglians from north and east in small colonising groups. In the
Tame/Rea/Cole basin they met and ultimately settled. Following river
terraces, ridgeways and Roman roads, they established themselves wherever
the ground was clear and dry enough for ploughing. Such sites were of course
on the sandy or gravelly patches: hereabout the earliest were Moseley,
Bordesley, and Yardley, and Tyseley was later. The 'ley' ending indicates a
clearing in wood, necessarily a natural one or one expanded by former
inhabitants, where the soil was dry but water was obtainable from springs
and shallow wells. Neither the valley floors nor the slopes made suitable
sites, but the former were the source of summer grass and winter hay for
stock, and the latter of fuel, timber, pannage for swine, and game. The
streams could be ponded for fisheries.
Introduction
Preface
Relief and drainage, geology, and the natural
landscape
First footers and Anglo-Saxon settlement
The manor of Yardley, the boundaries
of Yardley, and the 'Manor' of Greet
Ancient roads, ancient buildings, and watermills
Turnpike roads, bridges, and administration
Public transport
Enclosures
Urbanisation, and amenities and services
Churches, schools, and commerce and industry
Between the Wars and since, and references
Maps |
