Doomesday Book

17.1. Map 6

In 1086-7 the Conqueror's teams visited the shire-towns to receive records of ownership and taxable property of every manor from their owners. Their unique com-pilation still exists and from its cryptic entries we learn that William fitz (son of) Ansculf owned all of modern Birmingham except Norton and Sutton, Sheldon (still then owned by Turchil, Saxon thane of Warwick), and Yardley. In all his manors except Witton, which a Saxon held but no longer freely, fitz-Ansculf had installed a follower in place of a native. Birmingham's lord was Ricoard (pronounced Richard) and Edgbaston's was Dreu. These owed service to their lord at Dudley : in later times Birmingham's lords were stewards of the Dudley estate.

The manor names were put down in Domesday Book as Bermingeham and Celboldstone but the latter is almost certainly a clerkly copying error. Egbaldstone (Egbald's Farm) is more likely, being similar to later versions of the name. Birmingham had four hides, land for six ploughs, five villeins, four bordars, three ploughs of which one was in the demesne, and wood ¾ mile long and ¼ mile wide. The manor was and had been for twenty years worth twenty shillings in tax. From this inadequate record the following probabilities may be derived : that Birmingham had a populati-on of about 40, not counting the lord's household.

That one-sixth of the manor's total area, about 480 acres, had been cleared for arable farming, but that not all of it was in use - probably quite a lot was lying fallow : that Ricoard kept some (doubtless the best) land for his exclusive use and profit, the demesne : that the manor possessed neither church nor watermill, as no priest is listed among the tenants, and mills paid tax which was always shown : that wood occupied less than a quarter of the total acreage, so that more than two-thirds was presumably mea-dow and waste. The latter term indicates not useless land but common land used for rough grazing, not yet brought into cultivation.

Edgbaston had only two hides of land, but land enough for four ploughs, 1½ ploughteams in Dreu's demesne, 5 teams shared by three villeins and seven bordars, and wood ¾ mile by 3 furlongs. Its value had increased since 1065, tax payable being now thirty shillings, a 50% rise. From all this we may deduce that Edgbaston had a slightly larger population than its neighbour, with more plough-oxen. The number of bordars, farmers of a few acres only, suggests that not only Dreu but the three villeins employed them, perhaps on separate farms. This is conjecture, but certainly Edgbaston was more prosperous than it had been : was this due to individual enterprise ? There was no church or mill. A quarter of the manor was wooded, leaving two-thirds for waste and meadow.