| These two settlements have always been linked geographically and
as members of the Parish of Aston, though in different lordships.
Since the reign of Elizabeth I they have shared officials, and they
came together into the Borough of Birmingham in l838. The first known
reference to BORDESLEIE is dated 1226, though the settlement may well
have been in existence when the Domesday statistics were collated.
All that can be said with some certainty is that Birmingham's foundation
was earlier. The people of that manor, whose name may indicate an
Anglian colony of relatively early date, had evidently established
their claim to land on the east bank of Rea before the Bordesleians
appeared. Their common border lay along an arc that enclosed 92 acres
of riverside. The alignment of what became Deritend's east bound cannot
now be explained. It may originally have been the forest edge, the
northern limit of ancient Arden, or - more likely in view of the geology
(see below) - the then limit of clearance away from the river. |
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