A limited amount of archaeological work has been carried out in the study area previously, although it has tended to concentrate around known sites of antiquity (particularly medieval moated sites), or in advance of road construction. Consequently, the archaeological picture for the area is incomplete, particularly for the prehistoric, Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods.
Although several written histories exist for Sutton Coldfield, they concentrate on the post-medieval period for which there is already ample contemporary documentary evidence, therefore this report will be restricted to the period before c.1500 AD, in which archaeological work can make its greatest contribution.
The aim of this study is to locate and record archaeological features of all periods in the area.
The geology in the study area exhibits a marked dichotomy: in the south, the predominant solid geological formation is an impermeable heavy clay called Keuper Marl (or Mercia Mudstone). This is easily eroded to form a flat or gently undulating lowland landscape. To the north, the predominant formations are sandy and gravelly (Hopwas Breccia, Bunter Pebble Beds and Lower Keuper Sandstone) which are more resistant to erosion, and are therefore responsible for the upland landscape in the north of the study area.
The solid geology in the southern part of study area is covered by glacial 'drift' deposits, although for the most part, the drift is derived from the underlying solid formations, and therefore have similar properties. The drift deposits give rise to the soils and consequently reflect the dichotomy of the underlying geology: in the north, pebbly drifts creates stony soils, which are very well-drained, and therefore prone to drought (indeed, the soil in the northern part of the study area was considered unsuitable for agriculture and therefore remained as heath-land until the 19th century, when it was enclosed by Act of Parliament). The soils in the south are derived from the Keuper Marl, and are therefore water-retentive and prone to flooding [1].
Pebbly soils are also more susceptible to downward leaching of nutrients than clay soils, therefore the soils in the south are generally more fertile.
The main method used was fieldwalking. Fieldwalking is the systematic collection of artefacts from a ploughed field surface. As manpower was limited, the most economical method was to walk the fields in lines 2-3 m apart, allowing approximately 40% coverage of the total field surface [2].
The artefacts are mainly pottery or prehistoric worked flint. The concentrations of these artefacts allow interpretation of land use in the respective periods; a thin scatter of small abraded pottery shards in a field imply manuring of arable land with domestic refuse from a nearby settlement, whereas a discrete accumulation of large pottery shards may indicate a settlement site in the vicinity. Plotting the mean shard mass of pottery from each field on a histogram (see Figure 4 and Figure 7), produces a binomial distribution; the first peak represents fields containing a mean pottery mass consistent with manuring, while the second peak corresponds to those fields containing pottery shards of sufficient mean mass to imply settlement.
The majority of the Mesolithic flint pieces recovered from the study area were 'waste flakes', which are likely to be the result of flint tool maintenance ('re-touching') during hunting expeditions away from a settlement, rather than of settlement per se. However, two late Mesolithic flint cores, from which flint flakes and blades were struck, were found near Wiggins Hill (SP 4166 2930), which indicate an area of flint tool manufacture, and therefore of settlement. As alluded to previously, this settlement was probably a temporary base-camp for hunting.
No Mesolithic flint tools were identified in the study.
Flint is not indigenous to this area, therefore the Mesolithic flint tools in the study area are manufactured from flint pebbles obtained from local glacial drift deposits, consequently Mesolithic flint artefacts are typically small and of poor quality.
Several Neolithic flint tools (all 'scrapers') were found throughout the southern part of the study area, including one from Fox Hollies which has been re-touched as a knife.
Unlike the Mesolithic period, post-Mesolithic flint-work is generally made from larger pieces of higher quality raw flint imported from areas of chalk geology. The presence of more Neolithic than Mesolithic material is unusual for the West Midlands [3], as Neolithic settlements tend to be quite rare
Although a variety of purposes have been suggested, ranging from cooking to industrial processes (e.g. woodworking or dyeing) their purpose remains uncertain. However, the current interpretation is that they represent the accumulated debris from saunas in which water was poured onto heated stones to produce steam as seen among many North American Indian tribes [4]. Whatever their interpretation, these burnt mounds indicate the density of settlement sites in the study area during the middle Bronze Age.
Although no evidence for human activity in either the late Bronze Age (c.1,000 BC - c.500 BC) or the Iron Age (c.500 BC - AD 43) has been found either in the study area, or in Sutton Coldfield as a whole, it is feasible that some of the post-Mesolithic flint may be from this period, as flint use is thought to have continued well into the Bronze Age and possibly even into the Iron Age.
Crop marks (B 20198) showing linear features and enclosures at Fox Hill (SP 141 991), within the study area, could be of late prehistoric (i.e. Late Bronze Age or Iron Age) date. A series of crop marks have also been identified recently on aerial photographs in the vicinity of Manorial Farm (SK 413 000), including three possible ring ditches and a probable field enclosure. Although these features are undated pending further investigation, they may be of Iron Age date.
Remnants of a possible pre-Roman or very early Roman field system (B 20511) have also been identified in a group of fields in the southern part of the study area [2], which is similar to extensive rectilinear Roman field systems identified elsewhere. The field boundaries are shown clearly on a map of 1825 [7], which reveals that these rectilinear fields continued for at least 2 km in a north-south direction. Indeed, the routes of many of the roads in the vicinity appear to respect these field boundaries. Therefore, the possibility that these routes share the field system's late prehistoric or Roman ancestry cannot be ruled out.
From these concentrations, it is possible to infer the location of arable land and improved pasture in the Roman period, and consequently the settlements from which they were farmed.
As mentioned previously, it is possible to determine whether a scatter of pottery is likely to be associated with manuring or occupation plotting the mean pottery shard mass from each field upon a histogram. Using this method, it can be seen from Figure 4 that a binomial distribution of mean shard densities exists. Fields with a mean shard density near the second peak (in this case >25 g) imply occupation. The mean shard mass of Roman pottery recovered from Hermitage Farm, Wiggins Hill and Fairview (SP 4158 2956) may, therefore, be suggestive of settlement. Fieldwalking near Grove Farm (SP 4161 2940), ½ km south of Fairview, also produced a small quantity of Roman pottery of high mean shard mass. However it is uncertain whether this represents a separate Roman settlement, distinct from that at Fairview, or whether it is part of the same accumulation. Therefore, it can tentatively be suggested that at least three Romano-British farmsteads were present in the southern part of the study area; near Hermitage Farm, Wiggins Hill, and at least one at Fairview.
The presence of a Romano-British settlement at Wiggins Hill is supported by the discovery of an urn containing about thirty 3rd century Roman coins (B 2972) near Wiggins Hill in the mid 19th century [7].
The rest of the of Roman pottery recovered during fieldwalking in the study area is consistent with manuring with domestic debris from a nearby settlement, in which broken pottery, along with other domestic refuse, would have been thrown onto dung heaps, which were then spread over arable fields as manure. Although the quantities of pottery are insufficient to indicate the exact location of that settlement, they nevertheless show that a settlement must have existed in the vicinity.
Roman pottery was well-made and plentiful, and can therefore survive for long periods in the plough-soil. Therefore, as the overall quantity of Roman pottery recovered during fieldwalking is small (a total of 24 shards), any interpretations of settlement based upon pottery concentrations should be treated with caution. However, fieldwalking by The Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit (B.U.F.A.U.) at part of its Wroxeter Hinterland Project, revealed that even a small distance away from the Roman city of Viroconium (near Shrewsbury), the quantity of Roman pottery decreased markedly to a level comparable with the quantities found in this survey. This low level of Roman pottery has been interpreted as representing a low level of Romanisation away from the major urban centres, rather than a low level of settlement [9].
The probable ancient field system in the south of the study area, may be of Roman date [2]. Indeed, these field systems may have originated in the late prehistoric period and remained in use into the Roman period. Part of the field system survives to the north of Bulls Lane in the form of fields called 'Burrels' (B 20511), while remnants of this field system survive as earthworks (B 20263) and vestigial hedgerows to the south (B 20311). The continuous scatter of Roman pottery between Hermitage Farm and Wiggins Hill demonstrates that this area was arable at that time; the extent of the Roman pottery throughout these fields may represent the extent of this field system in the Roman period, or at least the extent of manuring of those fields in the Roman period. Despite field boundaries associated with this field system continuing as far as Langley Hall in the north, no Roman pottery was found north of Ox Leys Road. If this field system did, indeed, continue further north in the Roman period, it may be that it was simply not manured with domestic debris. Those fields at Wiggins Hill, Hermitage Farm and Fairview which produced large shards of pottery implying occupation may represent the approximate positions of the farmsteads which, together, farmed this part of the field system.
During the Roman period, with its estimated population of up to 5 million, large areas of land must have been arable. The Roman population is similar to that in the mid-14th century, so it is hardly surprising that in other parts of the country, the distribution of rural Roman settlement sites has been shown to be similar to that of medieval settlements [10].
The density of Roman pottery in the southern part of the study area suggests that these areas were mostly arable land in the Roman period. However, the absence of Roman pottery from elsewhere in the study area, suggests that those areas were either uncultivated (i.e. were woodland, or had already degenerated into heath-land), or at the very most were peripheral, and therefore too remote from settlements to enable manuring.
Further evidence of Roman activity in Sutton Coldfield is provided by the Roman road (Ryknild Street) which survives in Sutton Park, and the 2nd century pottery kiln [11] discovered at Sherifoot Lane, Four Oaks (SP 113 994). The kiln does not necessarily indicate the existence of a settlement; it is more likely to have consisted of the potter's workshop and dwelling, although more than one potter may have been involved. Fuel for the kiln would have been obtained from the surrounding woodland which, again, points to the upland areas of Sutton being under woodland at that time.
Although there have been three chance finds of Roman date: a brooch (B 20193) from Hermitage Farm, a fibula (B 20186) near Wheatmoor Farm (SP 4143 2971) and a single Roman coin (B 20194) from Peddimore Hall (SP 4153 2937), they have all been interpreted as travellers' losses rather than as evidence of settlement.
Figure 5: The Domesday Book entry for Wiggins Hill
Place-names
Some of the local place-names may also indicate human activity in the Anglo-Saxon period. For example the name Wiggins Hill may have originated from the late Anglo-Saxon name 'Wicgingahyll', which translates as 'the hill ('hyll') of the people of ('ingas') Wicga [14]. The first part of the name 'Peddimore' (c.f. Peddimore Hall) is thought to derive from an Anglo-Saxon personal name Pede or Peoda [14], while the second part contains the element '-mör' meaning 'barren wasteland'. However, this name does not indicate a settlement in itself, but a place-name, which continued to be used until the construction of the medieval hall in the 13th century.
The name 'Langley' contains the late Anglo-Saxon place-name element '-lëah', which translates as 'a clearing or glade in a wood' which clearly indicates the presence of woodland in the vicinity. 'Sutton' itself has a name derived from the Old English for 'south farm' (although it is far from clear as to where Sutton was supposed to lie to the south of!). However, Sutton did not become 'Sutton Coldfield' until c.1269.
Open fields
By the 8th or 9th centuries the 'common' or 'open field' system of agriculture was practised. This system typically consisted of large communally owned open fields subdivided into strips (selions) which were distributed amongst the inhabitants to ensure an even distribution of land quality. These strips consisted of ridges separated by furrows (i.e. 'ridge-and-furrow'); each strip was typically 1 furlong long (c.200 m) by 1 chain (c.20 m) wide, making it approximately 1 acre in area - the area which could sensibly be ploughed in one day.
The first documentary reference to open fields in the study area is in 1418, in which 'land at the common fields at Wiggins Hill' is mentioned [15]. The open fields around Wiggins Hill do not appear on a map until 1791 [16], in which three large fields called Church Field, Wigginshill Field and Greaves Field are shown. The 3-field system would have allowed crop rotation to be practised, wherein each field would contain autumn-sown crops, spring-sown crops or communal pasture land following harvest. This system continued to be used throughout the medieval period, although the purpose of the ridge-and-furrow differed; as adjacent selions were acquired by an individual, who may then have enclosed the land, the ridge-and-furrow would have lost their tenural significance, but may have continued to be used to improve drainage. The scattered ownership pattern of the selions within the open fields around Wiggins Hill is preserved on maps as late as 1825 [7]. The 2 or 3 fields of open-field agriculture has also been found near Wishaw (SP 417 294), Minworth (SP 415 292), Curdworth (SP 418 293) and possibly Walmley (SP 414 293) [2].
It has been suggested that the alignment of the open-fields around Wiggins Hill, conforms to the earlier field system [2]. This suggests a degree of continuity of land use, but as there is no archaeological evidence from the Anglo-Saxon period, it is not possible to say whether the fields were continuously farmed throughout that period, or whether vestiges of the earlier field system were merely rediscovered in late Anglo-Saxon or medieval period, and incorporated into the open-field. The open fields around Wishaw and Curdworth were probably aligned according to this early field system also.
However the open field system was by no means universal; in areas where extensive clearance was impractical, or where large areas of wasteland lessened the need to safeguard communal grazing rights on the open field, the 'woodland system' was more prevalent. This system was typically one of numerous small fields owned by individuals rather than communally as in the 'open field' system. Therefore, even if ridge-and-furrow is known to be of medieval or earlier date, it may not necessarily have formed part of an open-field.
Exact dating of ridge-and-furrow is problematic, but one method uses wavelength (i.e. the distance between adjacent ridges). With this method, ridge-and-furrow with a wavelength of more than 5 m (i.e. 'broad rig') is identified as medieval, while a wavelength of less than 5 m (i.e. 'narrow rig') is interpreted as post-medieval.
Ridge-and-furrow earthworks have been found throughout the survey area (Figure 6), which although predominantly medieval or earlier, is unlikely to be associated with open fields.
In the study area 2 'reversed-S' field boundaries c.200m (i.e. 1 furlong) in length (B 20481, B 20482), with vestiges of a third (B 20483), were identified. It appears that these hedgerow boundaries were planted along lines of aratral ridge-and-furrow, which have long since disappeared.
The medieval landscape
For centuries, the southern part of the study area east of Springfield Road was called 'Walmley and Beyond the Woods', which suggests that there was a large amount of woodland [13] - indeed a document of 1207 [17] refers to a property called Ramshurst (B 20048) being in Sutton Woods. However, by the 13th century, the population had reached three times its Domesday level, which led to the need to cultivate more land. Much of the land in Sutton, which previously was regarded as marginal, gradually became economically viable to farm, such that by 1320 the amount of land under cultivation would have reached its peak [18].
A variety of 13th century deeds survive which granted permission to carry out 'assarting' (a word derived from the Norman French verb 'assarter' meaning to reclaim land for agriculture by grubbing), in which wasteland was incrementally cleared and enclosed for agriculture, to create a patchwork of small irregular fields. Assarting is recorded around Ramshurst in 1207. Assarting is also recorded as having taken place prior to November 1240 [19], in named fields between the 'two great roads to Langeley' [sic]. 'Langeley' is certainly Langley Hall (SP 4151 2955), a (long since demolished) medieval moated site of some importance; indeed on 7 October 1327, a licence was granted by Edward III to crenellate (i.e. to fortify) the hall [19], although it is not known whether this was carried out. Therefore, the 'two great roads' are likely to be Ox Leys Road and Bulls Lane. These medieval field names can by identified with post-medieval field names: for example the medieval fields called Burhale have been identified with those fields called Burrels in 1825 (indeed the name of Bulls Lane may be a corruption of Burrels). This is of significance because these 'Burrels' fields form part of the probable early field system mentioned previously. However, as this area is recorded as being assarted around 1240, it must have been uncultivated immediately prior to that, which implies that these fields reverted to waste in the late Roman or Anglo-Saxon period and were subsequently re-enclosed in the medieval period. Presumably the original bank and ditch boundaries were rediscovered by the medieval assarters, and reused to enclose the field.
Earthworks discovered at Springfield Farm (B 20447) and Yew Tree Farm (B 20478) appear to be remnants of substantial bank and ditch field boundaries. It would seem likely, therefore, that these are associated with medieval assarted fields.
A total of 170 shards of medieval pottery of 13-14th century date have been recovered during this study. Although a binomial distribution of mean shard mass is not clear from Figure 7, those values towards the higher range of masses are likely to indicate occupation. Therefore the large quantities of medieval pottery recovered from fieldwalking around the known medieval settlements at Wiggins Hill, Hermitage Farm and Grove End (SP 4167 2950) appear (unsurprisingly) to be consistent with occupation. Although large quantities may be expected from fieldwalking around Langley Hall, the adjoining fields were used as a rubbish tip until recently, and therefore much of the material in the ploughsoil has undoubtedly been obscured. Smaller quantities of medieval pottery were also found around the probable moated site at Walmley Ash (SP 4145 2930), and around Fox Hollies (SP 4150 2944).
On the whole, fieldwalking in those fields assarted in the 13th century produced medieval pottery, although no medieval pottery has yet been found in on areas which were waste in the early 19th century suggesting that the same areas were waste in 1825, as in the 13th century.
On a different note, this survey has demonstrated that the traditional view of soils derived from Keuper Marl (i.e. that they supported thick impenetrable forests in antiquity, which were not cleared and cultivated until relatively recently) is not the case; the Keuper Marl has clearly been used on and off for agriculture for at least 2,000 years.
These discoveries could only have been arrived at in a study which, like this one, subjects an entire landscape to systematic study.
Terry Jones
Honorary Field Group Secretary