| The first map to
give a detailed picture of Swanshurst Quarter is the Field Drawing Sheet of
the Ordnance Survey to a scale of two inches to one mile, drawn about 1820,
but it is suspect in its field boundaries and hard to read. The First
Edition of the One-Inch Map (published c. 1837) is clearer and more useful,
though still not without errors. Map 9 is derived from it. Commons have been
added from the 1843 Tithe Map of Yardley, a finely-detailed map which shows
every hedgeline, track, and building. It is of great value to the historical
geographer. The accompanying Schedule lists the name of every close: few of
these are of historical or topographical interest, however, as they chiefly
relate to the farms to which they belong. Newly-enclosed pieces had been
given number sequences different from surrounding ones, so that their
identification is easy. At a meeting in 1832 at the Bull's Head the
principal landowners of the parish decided to seek enclosure of the
remaining open fields (200 acres in Church End and Greet Quarters) and
commons (650 acres, mostly in our Quarter, comprising Showell Green, Wake
Green, Greet Common, Swanshurst Slade, Billesley and Sarehole Commons, and
Yardley Wood). Piecemeal enclosure at the edges had reduced all these. A
Bill was passed in 1833, and the land was eventually shared among the
promoters and those few others who had documentary proof of their rights to
common. The land was sold to the promoters of the Bill, who then paid the
money back to themselves, thus recouping the cost of the Parliamentary
process. Nearly all the commons were thus acquired by the Taylors, two
members of which family then owned half (1368 acres) of the whole Quarter.
See Map Ten. The land was duly hedged and ditched in regular quadrilateral
closes. A piece of land four acres in extent was designated as a gravel pit
and deeply quarried for some sixty years of road-mending. It is still there
filled with trees, beside Wake Green Road opposite Gracewell Lane. Two
pieces of land were set aside as allotments for the poor, off Springfield
Lane and Stoney Lane. Map Eight shows the roads which were improved to given
standards following enclosure.
Introduction
Geology, Natural vegetation, and relief and drainage
Early settlement, and Saxon beginnings
Boundaries, Domesday Yardley, and Moats and
earthworks
Medieval times, and Ancient roads
Perambulations
Old houses, Local government, and Tudor to Georgian
times
Families and houses
Georgian times
Bridges, Watermills, and the Stratford Canal
The Tithe Map
Churches, and Schools
Yardley Rural District, The City of Birmingham, and
Urbanisation
Industry, Between the Wars, and Public transport
Swanshurst Quarter in 1979, and Short bibliography
Maps |
