Memorials of the Old Square : being some notices of the Priory of St. Thomas in Birmingham, and the lands appertaining thereto; also of the Square built upon the Priory Close, known in later times as the Old Square; with notes concerning the dwellers in the sixteen houses thereof, and of some notable persons associated therewith / by Joseph Hill and Robert K. Dent.

  • Hill, Joseph, of Birmingham.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorials of the Old Square : being some notices of the Priory of St. Thomas in Birmingham, and the lands appertaining thereto; also of the Square built upon the Priory Close, known in later times as the Old Square; with notes concerning the dwellers in the sixteen houses thereof, and of some notable persons associated therewith / by Joseph Hill and Robert K. Dent. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    MEMORIALS OF LIIE OLD SQUARE to modern times as a picturesque ruin within pleasant surroundings, telling of the wealth and Importance of this thirteenth century foundation. Its woods and warren, with its brooklet and sacred well, might have formed an attractive resort for the townsfolk, and the ruined Priory have become an object of interest and veneration. But Birmingham of the days of Henry VII., the whilom market town of the grazier and the agriculturalist, underwent a remarkable change, and in addition to its earlier trade in wools and skins, in weaving and tanning, its people adopted the working of iron, and their skill in manipulating metal brought trade and fame. Its population gradually but steadily increased. Its old streets and alleys became changed in character, new work- shops and new buildings were required, and notwithstanding the checks of civil war and dire pestilence, the town’s development progressed, until at length the leasows, closes, and meadows surrounding its ancient Priory, even to the ancient burial place, well filled with the burghers of past times and their families, were sold to speculators, and enterprising builders covered its erstwhile sacred precints with a closely packed mass of buildings, in which the name of the Priory was preserved, whilst adjacent streets assumed the dedicatory names of St. Thomas and St. John For two and a half -centuries the Augustinian Priory of St. Thomas the Apostle was a potent religious institution in our town. Originally endowed in 1285 with twenty acres of land in Aston (the value of which may be^ gathered from its description as brushwood) given jointly by the lords of Birmingham and Aston, and of three acres in Saltley, given by the lord of that manor, further and more valuable gifts were speedily added, of which John de Somery, the baron of Dudley and superior lord of all the manors around Birmingham, gave seven acres of land in Bordesley, the lord of Birmingham, William de Birmingham, twenty acres in his manor, and the lord of Aston, Thomas de Maydenhache, ten acres in Aston. The Birmingham land was, of course, that upon which the Hospital or Priory was built, viz., extending from Chapel (now Bull) Street eastward along the whole length of Priors Conigree (now Steelhouse) Lane; but during the next twenty-five years many small gifts of land, cottages, and rents were made by Nicholas in the Dale, Roger the Moul, Alexander the Mercer, William of the Shawe, and about thirty other persons with equally primitive surnames. Near to the religious house a small church was erected, and was dedicated.