Your Local Area
The Heritage of Bromsgrove
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The main axis of the town is the Roman Road between
Droitwich and Wall, and Bromsgrove was probably the site of an
Anglo Saxon Minster. A 'reeve' (an official elected annually by the
serfs to supervise lands for a lord) and a 'beadle' (a parish
constable of the Anglican Church often charged with duties of
charity) are recorded as being employed in 1086 which indicates
that Bromsgrove was an important Royal manor. The town of
Bromsgrove developed in the second half of the 12th
Century, with the right to have a weekly market being granted in
1200. The town would seem to have been very prosperous at this
time, however this prosperity diminished shortly
afterwards.
In 1533 records show that Bromsgrove had an established
trade in narrow cloth and friezes, which thrived into the
18th century. From the 17th century the
manufacture of nails became the predominant industry. Bromsgrove
continued to flourish in the 19th century, with nail
production and button making being the main industries. The
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway Company's line from Cheltenham to
Gloucester opened in 1840, and later that year the completion of
the Lickey Incline Plane allowed the town to be connected to
Birmingham by rail. |
The High Street and immediate vicinity clearly exhibit a number of
medieval elements. The churchyard lies immediately to the West of
the town on an area of raised ground overlooking the main road.
This area may have been the site of an earlier
Anglo Saxon Church, but the earliest remnants in the existing
Church date from the 12
th century. The street system in
and around the High Street is very clearly medieval, consisting of
the main South West /North East route between Worcester and
Birmingham which is the High Street itself. From this road two
roads go off to the West (Kidderminster Road and Stourbridge Road)
and one to the East (Stratford Road). These roads are probably of
medieval date along with Hanover Street and St John Street, which
lead to the Church. The 1839 tithe map shows many small lanes
leading from the High Street to the backs of burgage plots, many of
which are medieval in origin, with narrow frontages to the High
Street.
The weekly market, originally granted in 1200, was likely to
have been held in the wider part of the High Street, a common
feature of medieval high streets. The street market was
re-established in 2008, located along the High Street with
occasional specialist farmers' and continental markets.
The original medieval burgage plots resulted in a number of
narrow units, with significant ancillary accommodation to the rear,
some now in unconnected uses. The rear workshops were originally
part of the nail making industry in Bromsgrove. The upper floors of
some buildings (particularly at the Southern end of the High
Street) are relatively grand indicating that they were originally
constructed as houses for wealthy merchants.
