Two miles north of Birmingham, is Aston (East-town) being east of
Westbury (Wednesbury) it lies on a steep descent towards the river Tame.
This place, like that of Erdington, belonged to the Earls of Mercia in
the Saxon times; and, at the conquest, was the property of the
unfortunate Edwin. Fitz-Ausculf became his successor in this, and in
other lands: the survey calls it eight hides, valued at 5_l_. per annum;
a mill, 3s. and a wood, three miles long, and half a mile broad. The
mill, I make no doubt, stood where a mill now stands, near
Sawford-bridge; but neither the hides, nor the wood, could be confined
within the boundary of Afton; the manor is too little for either. The
lordship extends about a square mile, and that part which is now the
park, I have reason to think, was then a common, and for ages after.
A Saxon, of the name of Godmund, held it under the Mercian Earls, and
found means, at the conquest, to hold it under the Norman.
One hundred yards north of the church, in a perfect swamp, stood the
hall; probably erected by Godmund, or his family: the situation shews
the extreme of bad taste--one would think, he endeavoured to lay his
house under the water. The trenches are obliterated by the floods, so as
to render the place unobserved by the stranger: it is difficult to chuse
a worse, except he had put his house under the earth. I believe there
never was more than one house erected on the spot, and that was one
too much.
Whether this Saxon family of Godmund became extinct, or had lost their
right, is uncertain; but Sumeri, Fitz-Ausculf's successor, about 1203,
granted the manor to Sir Thomas de Erdington, Ambassador to King John,
mentioned before, who had married his sister; paying annually a pair of
spurs, or six-pence, as a nominal rent, but meant, in reality, as a
portion for the lady.
The family of Erdington, about 1275, sold it to Thomas de Maidenhache,
who did not seem to live upon friendly terms with his neighbour, William
de Birmingham; for, in 1290, he brought an action against him for
fishing in his water, called Moysich (Dead-branch) leading into Tame,
towards Scarford-bridge (Shareford, dividing the shares, or parts of the
parish, Aston manor from Erdington, now Sawford-bridge) which implies a
degree of unkindness; because William could not amuse himself in his own
manor of Birmingham, for he might as well have angled in one of his
streets, as in the river Rea. The two lords had, probably, four years
before been on friendly terms, when they jointly lent their assistance
to the hospital of St. Thomas, in Birmingham.
Maidenhache left four daughters; Sibel, married Adam de Grymsorwe, who
took with her the manor of Aston; a daughter of this house, in 1367,
sold it to John atte Holte, of Birmingham, in whose family it continued
415 years, till 1782, when Henage Legge, Esq; acceded to possession.
This wretched bog was the habitation of all the lords, from Godmund to
the Holtes, the Erdington's excepted; for Maud Grymsorwe executing the
conveyance at Aston, indicates that she resided there; and Thomas Holte,
being possessed of Duddeston, proves that he did not: therefore I
conclude, that the building, as it ought, went to decay soon after; so
that desolation has claimed the place for her own near four hundred
years. This is corroberated by some old timber trees, long since upon
the spot where the building stood.
The extensive parish of Aston takes in the two extremes of Birmingham,
which supplies her with more christenings, weddings, and burials, than
were, a few years ago, supplied by the whole parish of Birmingham.