MEDIEVAL TIMES

The first reference to a priest in Handsworth was in 1200, and the earliest work in St. Mary's Church, the lower part of the south tower, may date from the first building on the site. As manors north of Tame were included in the parish, the site was fairly central. The upper part of the tower is C15th, but very little else of the medieval church remains after Victorian rebuilding. The successive rectories stood near the present main gate of the Park. The 'church ways' which had to be reasonably maintained were probably Hamstead Hill and Handsworth Wood Road, Wellington and Aldridge Roads, to give them their modern names. Other old roads were Church Lane/Oxhill Road, Soho Road, Aston Lane, and Lozells Road.

The oldest highway across Handsworth was of course the Roman road later called Ryknild Street. Today it would lie, along Wheeler Street in Aston, Stoneleigh Road and the south part of Wellhead Lane. The straight line then continued north (beside Oldford Farm) to a paved crossing of the Tame. Beyond this the Perry Barr/Witton boundary and Kingstanding Road continue the line to Sutton Park where the worn original road may be seen. There are no Roman relics in Handsworth : fifty years ago it was claimed on quite inadmissible evidence that a great Roman camp occupied the loop of the Tame round Oldford Farm., but this is now forgotten, and the authentic camp 'at Metchley near the University becomes more interesting with every fresh excavation.

The Roman ford presumably continued in use until the first bridge was built 200 yards north in 1612. A trust was then set up for its maintenance, bequests of land providing an income which was ultimately devoted to the upkeep of six bridges. The first bridge at Hamstead was recorded in 1688, a quarter-mile north of the present one.

The site of Handsworth manor house has been lost for centuries, but it may well have been within the moat later occupied by the rectory near the church. Hamstead was a separate manor in the C13th, if not before, and it may have had its village and open fields. The Wyrley family held the manor from the C13th to the late C17th, and their descendants the Birches for another hundred years. Handsworth passed through many hands, being held of the lords of Dudley until the C14th. Its most notorious tenant was William de Parles, fifth of a family said to be 'always at law or at war'. He was hanged in 1279 for felony after a career of varied crime. In 1323 Joan de Botetourt received Handsworth, but continued to live in Weoley Castle which she greatly improved. The manor house was probably untenanted from that time.

There were certain enclosures of land in Handsworth, probably of former open pasture, by the Prior of Sandwell before 1210, and others were referred to in 1227. There was objection to further enclosures for pasture in 1432. Piecemeal agreements took in a great deal of land in succeeding centuries, but one open field of 73 acres as well as 290 acres of common and waste survived until 1793. There was always far more pasture than arable. Development of the waste was both communal and individual : clearances made by tenants working together were subject to use as decided by the manor court, and were apportioned in strips whether the land was ploughed or grazed, but assarts made by single tenants beyond the common lands could be enclosed and worked as they chose; and houses could be built on them.

Clearance of timber continued at an accelerating pace until by Tudor times the landscape was remarkably bare. The only building and structures to survive from the late medieval period are the so-called 'Old Town Hall' and the church tower base. The former was of 'cruck' construction, using naturally-curved timbers for the main frames : it has been considerably altered.

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