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Erdington

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Erdington

Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is located 5 miles (8 km) northeast of central Birmingham, bordering Sutton Coldfield. Erdington saw significant development in the Victorian era after the railway arrived from Birmingham in 1862. It was incorporated into Birmingham in 1912. The 2021 census shows the population of the ward to be 21,550.

Erdington Hall, a manor house, was protected on three sides by a double moat and on the fourth by the River Tame. It had developed from a small fortified homestead constructed by an Anglo-Saxon named Eardwulf in the area of Bromford. Demolished in the 17th century, it stood on a hill at the junction of what is now Wheelwright Road and Tyburn Road. The double moat was drained in the 18th century by Sir Charles Holte. Until 1912 another building stood, but this was demolished for the construction of the Tyburn Road, though a small section remained until World War I.

Other moated properties included one at Fern Road, one at the junction of Moor End Lane and Berkswell Road, and another that surrounded a large farm called Pipe Orchard, the site of which can be seen in the Erdington Grammar School playing fields.

Erdington developed as a village as a result of settlers travelling up the course of the River Tame from Tamworth in the 9th century. The settlements of Minworth and Curdworth were also established. It is believed that the Roman track 'Ridgeway', now Chester Road, was another route for settlers, since the early nucleus of the village which was a very short distance from the path.

At the time of the Norman Conquest the Earls of Mercia had possession of the village: Edwin, grandson of Lady Godiva, owned the property. He tried to resist the Normans' attempts to gain possession of Erdington, but he was executed in 1071. The earldom then passed to William I who placed the manor and village in the possession of William Fitz-Ansculf, a powerful Norman baron who lived at Dudley Castle. He then gave the manor to Peter de Erdington.

Erdington was mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Hardintone and was under the possession of Peter. It had arable land for six ploughs, a mill and 5 acres (2.0 ha) of meadows and woodland. It was valued at 30 shillings and was one mile (1.6 km) in length and half a mile in breadth.

As Erdington was near Sutton Forest, the Normans imposed strict laws on the village forbidding the hunting of wild animals and the keeping of sheep. Tenants were permitted an allowance of timber from the forest, but with limitations to protect royal game. Erdington remained within the precincts of Sutton Forest until 1126, when Henry I exchanged the Manor of Sutton, with forest, for two manors in Rutland belonging to Roger, Earl of Warwick. The forest became a chase and the woodland laws were relaxed.

The mill mentioned in the Domesday Book was located in Bromford, close to the manor house at a loop in the river, where a straight channel was cut to facilitate the milling of corn. The mill was owned by the lord of the manor and the tenants were obliged to grind their corn there. Erdington was connected to Bromford via Bromford Lane, which still exists today in the middle of a 1960s council estate.

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