Birch coppice fc series#

The remaining land of the former manor was progressively sold off through a series of indentures of questionable legality until 1846 when Cotterill sold the last 135 acres (0.55 km 2) and moved to London. Charles Foster Cotterill, a former mayor of Walsall who had purchased the manor of Ogley Hay in 1836 upon the death of former lord Phineas Hussey, saw the potential of the area and sold off large tracts of his land for private farming and the construction of a flour mill and a foundry.

In response to the growing population of the area open land in Ogley Hay, up until then merely heathland was enclosed and converted to farmland in 1838, the same year in which the area was first declared a parish, although no church was built for another 13 years. Įarly in the 19th century, a horse-drawn tram system connected the mines to the wharves on the canal. In 1799 Norton Pool, later to be renamed Chasewater, was created to serve as a reservoir for the canals. In 1794 Brownhills (now in the plural) was included in a list of local settlements mentioned in an Act of Parliament concerning canals in Staffordshire, and three years later the Wyrley & Essington Canal, nicknamed the 'Curly Wyrley' by the locals due to its winding course, was opened.

A local legend claims that Dick Turpin once vaulted the barricade on his horse to avoid paying the toll, although this is demonstrably false as Turpin was executed in 1739, twenty years before the turnpike's construction. Beyond Ogley Hay lay Catshill, another hamlet which pre-dated Brownhills and which lay within the parish of Shenstone.ĭuring the 17th century, shallow mine workings began to develop in the area, and in 1759 a turnpike was erected in the Catshill area. Ogley Hay itself had existed since at least the 11th century and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, although the 1801 census lists it as having a population of only 8 people. The settlement is first recorded (as 'Brownhill') on Robert Plot's 1680 map of Staffordshire, at which time it was a hamlet within the manor of Ogley Hay, which in turn was part of the parish of Norton Canes. Robert Plot's 1680 map of Staffordshire shows 'Brownhill'. The local authority instituted a regeneration programme in 2007, which was hoped would revive the town's fortunes, but there has been little subsequent development. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s the subsequent closure of the pits led to a severe economic decline that has continued until the present. By the end of the century, Brownhills had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town of more than 13,000, of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Brownhills quickly grew around the coal-mining industry, especially after the town became linked to the canal and railway networks in the mid-19th century. The town lies close to the route of the ancient Watling Street, and although there is no record of its existence before the 17th century, Ogley Hay – a district of the town today – is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Staffordshire. It is part of the Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the large suburban villages of Pelsall and Walsall Wood. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Walsall, a similar distance southwest of Lichfield and 13 miles (20.9 km) miles north-northwest of Birmingham.

Birch coppice fc