Edgbaston (Warks)

From the C12 th to present only three families have held Edgbaston. The de Edgaldstones were related to the Middlemores who succeeded them. The estate was acquired by Sir Richard Gough in 1718, and his heirs (now Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe still own it. In the mediaeval period two western parts of the manor were owned by the lords of Birmingham: Rotton Park extended to Sandon and Hagley Road, and Metchley Park was another hunting preserve. The two were separated by woods, of which Rooks an Stumps's Woods survived into the C19 th. The manor was bounded by the Rea, the south bound of Birmingham, Chad Brook, Metchley Lane and Bourn Brook. The only possible evidence of open fields in Edgbaston is the names of Church and Moreish Fields north of the Hall, and the manor may have been enclosed early. It is possible that depopulation, due to plague or dispossession took place : certainly if there was ever a village near the church it had gone by the C18 th . Apart from a small cluster of houses at Good Knaves End (Harborne Rd, Chad Valley) there were only farms. There was no common in 1701, the year of the first map. Th Middlemores built a new Hall in the C15 th, , half-timbered and moated, and perhaps from that time the Deer Park and Great Pool date - and also the depopulation. The Hall had a chapel in 1340, founded from Harborne, and Humphrey Middlemore rebuilt it in the late C15 th. His wife Marjorie added the tower in 1500, the only ancient part of the present Church of Sts. Bart. & Monica. (The 'Blessed Humphrey' of the modern school was an Elizabethan martyr.)

Robert M. bought back Metchley Park, most of which has been sold or given by the Calthorpes for the University and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In 1635 Richard M forfeited his estate as a Papist, but then rented them back and sublet to Robert Porter, blade-miller. In 1644 the Old Hall and the church were made by 'Tinker' Fox into a stronghold. The church was ruined and the Hall was pulled down in 1688. They were rebuilt in 1718 and '25 by the new owner whose heirs lived in the Hall until 1783. The first Lord Calthorpe set the pattern for the Estate when he allowed the Worc. Canal through it without access or commercial building : until the present redevelopment only residential building has been permitted. Calthorpe Road was made in 1810, and the estate was developed from east to west during the century . St. George's Church was built in 1838, and St. Bart' as enlarged in the 1870s.