The Norman Conquest: Domesday Book

The Conquest was not complete for five years. William's followers were rewarded with English estates, usually well dispersed. Ansculf of Picquiny however acquired 30 manors confiscated from the Earl of Mercia, centred on his stronghold of Dudley. William fitzAnsculf his son owned 10 manors in what is now the City of Birmingham: Barr, Perry, and Handsworth in Offlow Hundred of Staffs., Birmingham, Aston, Witton, Erdington, Edgbaston, in Warks., and Northfield and Selly in Worcs.

This information is derived from Domesday Book, the compilation of ownership records made by William I in 1086-7, which provides the first surviving record of all the manors now in the City except Yardley (first ref. 972).
Of 15 named manors fitzAnsculf held 10, the King held two (Norton and Sutton), Pershore Abbey held Yardley, one was held by Turchil Saxon thane of Warwick, and one was still in the possession of a Saxon. Stannechetel had held Witton freely, but by 1086 he was only a tenant: the Conqueror had strengthened the Feudal 'pyramid' by ordaining that 'every man must have a lord'. In Witton, Aston (Godmund) and Machitone (Alnod), the tenants were still Saxon.
Ricoard of Birmingham, Dreu of Edgbaston, Peter of Erdington, Robert of Harborne and Selly, Walter of Handsworth, were all Norman followers of fitzAnsculf. Dreu or Drogo also held Perry and the larger part of Handsworth, while Robert shared Selly with Wibert. Northfield was untenanted in 1086. Before the Conquest Birmingham and Selly had been the property of Ulwine, Shire-Reeve of Warwick.

Though Birmingham had probably been founded earlier than Aston, it appears to have been less valuable. But this is only because the Aston entry is for the parish of that name, which included Aston Manor, Duddeston, Nechells, Bordesley, Deritend, Haybarnes, Saltley, Ward End, Little and Castle Bromwich, Park Hall, and Water Orton. Only two churches are assumed for the area of the City, since only two priests are listed. There were four or five watermills but no fisheries. The inadequate statistics show that hereabout there were only small villages, each with its open fields, woods, and meadows: there was still much forest to be cleared in Arden. The population of Warwickshire was about 24,000, but in the City area there were no more than 1,000 people. One fifth of the area was still woodland, and only one ninth was ploughland. In Birmingham Manor, there had been more clearance, one sixth being arable land and one-fourteenth woodland.

Kings Norton and Moseley are among 18 berewicks (colonies of Bromsgrove whose statistics are lumped with those of the parent manor: all were held by the King, formerly by the Earl of Mercia. The figures for Yardley are lumped with those for Beoley, of which it was a 'member'. There were perhaps about 50 people in Yardley, which was heavily wooded: the two manors together cover about 15 square miles, but the estimate of woodland for both is 6 leagues by 3 or 40 square miles !!

8.1. Map 7