MANORS.
WALSALL may be the 'Walesho'
which Wulfric Spot left to Morcar in his will of
1002-4. (fn. 33) It does not appear in Domesday Book, but
it seems to have been a royal manor by then and was
probably omitted in error. (fn. 34) Certainly it was accepted as ancient demesne from 1373, when the
men of the manor were granted quittance of toll
throughout the realm. (fn. 35) In 1159 Henry II granted
it to Herbert le Rous (or Ruffus) in fee farm for £4
a year. (fn. 36) Herbert, described by the king in his grant
as serviens meus, was almost certainly a member of
the royal household (fn. 37) and was probably a kinsman
of one or more of Henry II's household officials
surnamed le Rous; (fn. 38) his son Richard later became
chamberlain to the king's son-in-law the duke of
Saxony. (fn. 39) Herbert was still alive in 1166. (fn. 40)
Herbert or his son William died c. 1177 with
William's son William, a minor, as heir. The boy
was not at first put in ward, perhaps because his
uncle Richard was abroad; instead the sheriff
managed the estate from 1177 until 1189. Richard
then became guardian. The fee-farm rent paid by
the sheriff was raised twice, to £5 3s. in 1179 and
£6 from 1180, apparently because the manor had
been restocked. (fn. 41) William came of age in 1197-8 (fn. 42)
and was holding the manor at the old rent of £4 in
1212. (fn. 43) Henry II's grant was confirmed to him in
1227. (fn. 44) He was described as a knight in 1235. (fn. 45) He
died in 1247, (fn. 46) and the manor was divided between
his daughters Emecina and Margery.
By 1247 Emecina had married Geoffrey de Bakepuse. (fn. 47) He was still alive in 1255, (fn. 48) but by 1262 she
was the wife of William de Morteyn. (fn. 49) She was still
living in 1275, (fn. 50) but about then her son Sir William
de Morteyn succeeded to her share of the manor. (fn. 51)
He died in 1283, holding the moiety from the
Crown in fee farm, and was succeeded by his
nephew Roger de Morteyn. (fn. 52) Roger, who had been
knighted by 1298, (fn. 53) mortgaged his moiety to John,
Lord Somery, in 1311, with reversion to Ralph,
Lord Basset of Drayton. (fn. 54) He seems not to have
redeemed the mortgage, and between November
1313 and January 1314 Somery conveyed the manor
to Basset. (fn. 55)
In 1338 Basset also acquired Margery's moiety. In
1247 she was still under age, and she was put into
the guardianship of her brother-in-law Geoffrey. (fn. 56)
A few years later she married Richard de Alazun,
but at the beginning of the civil war, after some
eight years of married life at Walsall, she was abducted by John de Lay. Richard fled and for long
did not return to Walsall. (fn. 57) He was still living in
1289, but in the earlier 1280s Margery appears as
the wife of John Paynel. (fn. 58) John was killed at Walsall
in 1298; Margery was accused of murdering him
and was acquitted only in 1302. (fn. 59) In 1293 she had
to vindicate her right to the moiety against her
daughter Alice and Alice's husband Nicholas
l'Archer. The share had been settled on Alice at her
betrothal to the brother of a Ralph Basset, and
although the two were not married Alice nevertheless claimed the moiety. Her mother, however, was
able to uphold her own claim. (fn. 60) Margery died in
1302 or 1303 and was succeeded by her son
Thomas, (fn. 61) who had been knighted by 1304. (fn. 62) He
was known by the surname le Rous, taken from his
mother's maiden name; Margery herself was frequently called by the surname la Rousse, perhaps
because of her break with her first husband. (fn. 63) In
1335 the king released Thomas for life from payment of the rent due upon his moiety. (fn. 64) Alice
l'Archer successfully revived her claim in 1338. (fn. 65) In
the same year, however, Thomas had granted his
share to Lord Basset, (fn. 66) whose grandson and heir
was Thomas's godson, (fn. 67) and in 1339 Alice waived
her claim in Basset's favour. (fn. 68)
Both moieties were thus united in the hands of
the Bassets of Drayton. Ralph, Lord Basset, died in
1343. His heir Ralph was a minor, and by a grant
of 1336 the custody passed to Thomas de Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, whose daughter Joan
married the heir, probably in 1339. (fn. 69) Ralph took
possession in 1355. (fn. 70) Under a settlement of 1339 the
manor passed on his death in 1390 to his brother-inlaw Thomas de Beauchamp the younger, earl of
Warwick. (fn. 71) The earl's estates were confiscated in
1397, and in the same year the manor was granted
to John Beaufort, marquess of Dorset. (fn. 72) The grant
was renewed in May 1399, (fn. 73) but Warwick was restored later that year and was holding Walsall at his
death in 1401. (fn. 74) In 1400 the king granted Beaufort
the fee-farm rent from Walsall manor; the rent was
held by his son John, duke of Somerset, at his death
in 1444 and later by Somerset's son-in-law Sir
Henry Stafford. In 1485 Margaret, countess of
Richmond, to whom the rent had been assigned,
settled it on her husband Thomas Stanley, earl of
Derby, for life. (fn. 75)
The manor descended from 1401 to 1525 with
the manor of Sutton-in-Coldfield in Sutton Coldfield (Warws.), passing to the Crown in 1492 on the
death of Anne, countess of Warwick. (fn. 76) In 1525 it
was granted to the king's natural son Henry, duke of
Richmond (d. 1536), (fn. 77) and in 1541 to Sir John
Dudley, later earl of Warwick and duke of Northumberland. (fn. 78) The manor, which was leased out by the
Crown mainly to royal officials, was described in
the leases from 1506 as the manor of the foreign,
perhaps because in 1501 the borough was leased
to the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses. (fn. 79)
On Northumberland's attainder and forfeiture in
1553 Walsall passed back to the Crown. In 1557 it
was sold to Richard Wilbraham of Woodhey in
Faddiley (Ches.), master of the queen's jewels and
already the tenant, his brother Thomas, and
Richard's heirs. (fn. 80) Richard died in 1558, a few weeks
after Thomas, and was succeeded by his son
Thomas, a minor. (fn. 81) Thomas died in 1610, and
Walsall passed to his son Sir Richard, created a
baronet in 1621. Richard died in 1643 and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who died in 1660 with
his son, another Thomas, as his heir. (fn. 82) In 1686
Thomas and his wife Elizabeth settled the manor,
subject to their own life-interest, on their younger
daughter Mary, wife of Richard Newport, later
earl of Bradford. Thomas died in 1692 and Elizabeth
in 1705. Walsall passed to Mary and on her death in
1737 to her son Thomas, earl of Bradford, an imbecile. When he died in 1762 his property passed to
his sister Diana, countess of Mountrath, and his
nephew Henry Bridgeman. They divided the property in 1763, and Walsall went to Lady Mountrath.
She died in 1766, leaving Walsall to her son Charles,
earl of Mountrath. On his death in 1802 it passed to
his cousin Orlando Bridgeman, Baron Bradford
and from 1815 earl of Bradford. The manor then
descended with the earldom. (fn. 83) In 1945 the greater
part of Lord Bradford's Walsall estate, then consisting mainly of freehold ground-rents, was sold,
and by 1974 little remained. (fn. 84)
There was a manor-house by the later 14th century south of the present Moat Road about a mile
west of the town. The first buildings there were
erected on what had been cultivated land (fn. 85) and
may have dated from John's reign when William le
Rous created a park in that area. (fn. 86) He was described
as of Walsall in the later 1220s. (fn. 87) On the division of
the manor between his daughters in 1247 a house
probably passed to Emecina with the park and fishpond. (fn. 88) The house was, however, first mentioned in
1275, and Margery, the younger daughter, acknowledged, apparently in 1276, that it belonged to
Emecina's son William de Morteyn. (fn. 89) He was holding it at his death in 1283, (fn. 90) and it presumably
passed with his moiety of the manor to his nephew
Roger de Morteyn and subsequently to Ralph,
Lord Basset, when he secured the Morteyn moiety.
Basset, whose principal seat was Drayton, apparently
kept Walsall manor-house in use. He may have
established his son and daughter-in-law there, since
Ralph, his grandson and eventual heir, was said to
have been born at Walsall in 1333. (fn. 91)
Excavation on part of the site has revealed at least
two early phases of building, followed by the construction of a moat and further rebuilding. At some
date between the first occupation of the site and the
formation of the moat part of the site was used for
metal-working: (fn. 92) perhaps an unmoated lodge or
manor-house was temporarily converted to industrial
use before being rebuilt on a more substantial scale.
No precise dates for those developments have been
established, but apparently by the 1380s the moated
house was the lord's Walsall residence. It was presumably there that Lady Neville and two of her
children lived in 1385 and 1386, when they were
staying at Walsall. Meanwhile the owner of the
house, Ralph Basset the younger, Lord Basset, was
preparing to build 'a new castle' at Walsall, (fn. 93) but
it seems that in fact no new house was built. Instead
the existing 'manor-house within the moat of the
park' was repaired and extended: in 1388-9 the
roof of the hall was repaired, a wooden belfry was
made for the chapel, a small room with a privy was
built next to the knights' chamber, a new drawbridge was made over the moat, and the great gates
were reinforced with iron. Basset presumably stayed
in the house during his three short visits to Walsall
in 1389. (fn. 94) After his death in 1390 there is no
evidence that the owners ever stayed there. In the
later 1390s, however, the house was repaired and
a new chamber built. (fn. 95) The chapel was apparently
disused by 1417, (fn. 96) and the house seems to have
been abandoned by the later 1430s. Only the moat
was thereafter of any value: in the late 1430s a
20-year lease of rights in 'the fishery called le Mote
in the park of Walsall manor' was granted to the
bailiff of the foreign. (fn. 97) The house had disappeared
by 1576. (fn. 98)
In 1763 the moated site was in the tenure of a Mr.
Holmes, probably Roger Holmes the town clerk,
and two houses stood there. (fn. 99) The site was leased
out as building-land in 1865, (fn. 1) and by 1885 the north
side of the moat had been filled in and buildings had
been erected on part of it. (fn. 2) In 1974 most of the remainder survived and still contained water.
The bounds of Walsall manor were those of the
ancient parish. (fn. 3) Several sub-manors, however,
emerged.
A carucate of land at BESCOT was held by the
king in 1086 but was then waste. (fn. 4) By the later 13th
century Bescot was part of the manor of Walsall,
but it had become a separate manor by the mid 14th
century. Overlordship remained with the lords of
Walsall at least until 1610. (fn. 5)
William Hillary held land in Bescot in 1271. (fn. 6)
About 1300 Roger de Morteyn granted him further
land in Bescot and Walsall, including all the waste in
Bescot which Roger had previously reserved to
himself. (fn. 7) Those lands formed the demesne of the
manor of Bescot, which William's son Sir Roger
Hillary held at his death in 1356 at a rent of 2d.
a year. Sir Roger was succeeded by his son, another
Sir Roger. (fn. 8) In 1384 he settled the manor on himself
and his wife Margaret, with reversion to Sir John
Rochford, son of his sister Joan and her second
husband. (fn. 9) Sir Roger died in 1400, (fn. 10) but Margaret
was still living in the manor-house in 1411. (fn. 11)
In that year, however, Sir Roger's trustees granted
the manor to William Mountfort of Coleshill
(Warws.), great-grandson of Joan Hillary by her
first husband John de Clinton. (fn. 12) In 1425 Bescot was
settled by trustees on Baldwin Mountfort, (fn. 13) possibly William's eldest son, who was later knighted. (fn. 14)
In 1451, however, William settled the manor successively on his third son Robert and his second son
Edmund. (fn. 15) In doing so he disinherited Sir Baldwin,
who was similarly deprived of estates in Warwickshire. (fn. 16) William Mountfort died in 1452. (fn. 17) Sir Baldwin evidently secured Bescot, for in 1453 William's
widow Joan sued him for dower there. (fn. 18) Robert
Mountfort, however, retained a claim to the Bescot
estate, which in 1479 he settled in trust. (fn. 19) Nevertheless, by 1469 Sir Baldwin had been succeeded at
Bescot by his son Sir Simon, (fn. 20) who was attainted
of treason in 1495. (fn. 21) Sir Simon's son and heir
Thomas petitioned for reversal of the attainder in
1503, and the king was then empowered by Parliament to reverse it. (fn. 22) Reversal, however, was not
obtained until 1534, and Bescot was evidently included among the estates then granted to Thomas's
son Simon. (fn. 23) Simon was succeeded between 1535
and 1548 by his son Francis (d. 1592). (fn. 24) On his death
the manor passed successively to his son William
(d. 1610), his grandson Sir Edward (d. 1632), (fn. 25) and
his great-grandson Simon. (fn. 26) By 1648 Simon's lands
had been sequestered for recusancy. (fn. 27) In 1652 he
and his creditor Walter Hillary obtained a lease for
seven years of two-thirds of the estate, the remaining third having been leased for a year to George
Hill, mayor in 1654-5. (fn. 28) Simon had evidently recovered the manor by 1663, (fn. 29) and he died in 1664. (fn. 30)
He was succeeded by his brother Edward, (fn. 31) who
died in 1672, leaving a son Simon (d. c. 1672) and
a daughter Elizabeth, both minors. Under a settlement of 1671 the manor passed to Edward's widow
Elizabeth (d. c. 1675). (fn. 32)
The estate then passed into the hands of trustees,
the survivor of whom gave possession c. 1681 to
Thomas Harris, guardian of Edward Mountfort's
daughter Elizabeth. By 1684 Elizabeth had brought
Bescot in marriage to Harris's son Thomas. (fn. 33) After
his death she married Jonas Slaney. (fn. 34) He had died
by 1727, and in 1728 Elizabeth settled the manor on
Jonas Slaney the younger of Dawley (Salop.), reserving £2,000 and a rent-charge to Dorothy, wife
of Nicholas Parker of Bloxwich. On Elizabeth's
death Dorothy entered the estate, but in 1739 the
property was secured to Slaney. (fn. 35) He died in 1762
or early in 1763 leaving as heir his son Jonas, who
lived at Bescot at some time before 1768 but by then
had moved to Bristol. He had returned to Bescot by
1772 and was vicar of Rushall by 1778. (fn. 36) As a result
of financial difficulties he conveyed the estate in
1781 to trustees, after settling 105 a. on his wife
Mary. In 1791 they sold the hall and 80 a. to
Richard Wilkes, who had been living at the hall
since 1788. (fn. 37) Mary Slaney still held her share of the
estate in 1796, but by 1825 it had passed to William
Spurrier, who still owned it in 1843. It was then
a compact farm east of Wednesbury Road. (fn. 38)
In 1794 Wilkes sold his property at Bescot to
Richmond Aston, a Tipton banker. (fn. 39) Aston died in
1796, (fn. 40) and his widow lived at the hall until at least
1800. (fn. 41) She still owned the estate in 1817. (fn. 42) By 1820
the property had passed to Richmond Aston's
trustees, who then sold it to Edward, Stephen, and
John Crowther. (fn. 43) From at least 1817 they had held
152 a. of the estate, which Jonas Slaney's trustees
had evidently sold to Dorothy Crowther by 1796. (fn. 44)
By 1843 John Crowther was sole owner. The estate
then consisted of a compact block of 204 a. at
Bescot, houses, gardens, and a croft at Bloxwich,
and 3 a. of meadow at Shelfield. (fn. 45) In 1852 Crowther
left the property to William Crowther, a relative. (fn. 46)
The Crowthers did not live at Bescot and the hall
was occupied by a succession of tenants. (fn. 47)
William Crowther died in 1865. The estate then
passed to trustees and in October 1871 was split up
and sold. Richard Bagnall, who was living at the
hall in April, agreed to buy it and c. 24 a. there but
subsequently sold the option to James Slater, who
bought the property in 1872. (fn. 48) Slater died in 1901
and the estate passed to trustees; among them was
his widow Elizabeth, who lived at Bescot until her
death in 1922. (fn. 49) The estate, consisting of 48 a., was
then offered for sale by the trustees, (fn. 50) but without
success. The house remained unoccupied for a short
time, but in the mid 1920s it was the home of Pitt
Bonarjee, minister of Wednesbury Congregational
church. (fn. 51) It was demolished in 1929-30. (fn. 52) The
trustees sold the estate in small parcels from 1925
to 1939. (fn. 53)
The original manor-house was moated. Along
much of the north-west side the ditch was double. (fn. 54)
It stood in what is now Pleck Park between the park
entrance from Bescot Drive and the M6 motorway,
which crosses the south-west corner of the moat.
In 1972 the site was marked by a group of trees, the
moat having been almost obliterated. The house
existed by 1311 when William Hillary was besieged
there by Thomas le Rous and over fifty others, (fn. 55)
and in 1345 Roger Hillary was licensed to crenellate. (fn. 56) In at least the later 14th century it contained
a chapel. (fn. 57) By 1666 the house was a substantial
building taxable on fourteen hearths, and fourteen
rooms are mentioned in 1672. (fn. 58) In the 18th century
it was demolished and rebuilt on a new site northeast of the moat on what is now the west side of
Bescot Drive. The old site was laid out as a garden
connected with the new house by a bridge over the
moat. (fn. 59) The bridge survived the demolition of the
hall but was ruinous by 1937; (fn. 60) it has since been
removed.
The Georgian house was a brick building of two
storeys and an attic, with stone quoins and balustraded parapet. It was considerably enlarged by
Richmond Aston, who added a third full storey, a
one-storeyed wing on the north-west side, and
a semicircular porch with Tuscan columns. (fn. 61) In the
19th century a second storey was added to the wing,
and an annexe, including a basement and a conservatory surmounted by a balustrade, was built at
the rear of the house. In 1922 there were 35 rooms. (fn. 62)
BLOXWICH was originally part of the manor of
Walsall. (fn. 63) In the later 16th century a separate
manor is mentioned (fn. 64) which is identifiable with the
holdings acquired in Bloxwich by the Hillary family
in the 14th century. There is, however, no evidence
of manorial jurisdiction and the estate did not continue to be called a manor. It was held of the lords of
Walsall manor until at least 1617. (fn. 65)
About 1300 Roger de Morteyn gave John son of
Nicholas Wodemon of Bloxwich a plot of waste in
Walsall, probably in Bloxwich. John gave all his
lands in Bloxwich to William Hillary. By 1377 they
had passed to Sir Roger Hillary of Bescot. Roger de
Morteyn also gave a house and land in Bloxwich to
John de Bloxwich, clerk, and 2 a. of waste there to
Thomas, son of Robert de Ruycroft of 'Hulton'
(probably Hilton in St. Peter's, Wolverhampton).
Those holdings too later passed to Sir Roger Hillary. Margery le Rous (d. 1302-3) held as part of
her moiety of the manor of Walsall a piece of waste
in Bloxwich called Northwood Heath. Her son
Thomas granted it to a Walter Marchis, and in
1315-16 Emme le Marchis and Thomas her son
gave half of it to William Hillary. Thomas le Rous
in 1330 granted the whole tenement to Robert
Hillary, rector of Sutton Coldfield (Warws.). It too
was later held by Sir Roger Hillary. (fn. 66)
All these tenements may have formed part of an
estate in Bloxwich inherited by Sir Roger from his
father Sir Roger in 1356. (fn. 67) After the younger Sir
Roger's death in 1400 (fn. 68) the estate descended with
the manor of Goscote; after 1510 the rights were
shared between the coparceners of Goscote, half descending with Lord Berners's share and the rest
with that of Lady Sheffield. When Lord Sheffield
sold his share to John Skeffington in 1565 it was
described as a moiety of the manor of Bloxwich. (fn. 69)
Skeffington died in 1604 and his Bloxwich estate,
no longer called a manor, passed to his son William,
who was created a baronet in 1627 and died in 1635.
William's son and heir John died in 1651 and was
succeeded by his eldest son William (d. 1652). The
rights to the Skeffington estate in Bloxwich then
passed to his cousin John, son of his uncle Sir
Richard Skeffington. (fn. 70)
At some time before 1632 Sir William Skeffington and his son John sold part of the estate to Simon
Woodward and George Smyth of Great Bloxwich. (fn. 71)
John mortgaged other property there in 1637 to a
Katherine Barford. In 1638 she assigned the mortgage to her son-in-law Thomas Brome of Fisherwick in St. Michael's, Lichfield, in trust for her
unmarried daughters. Brome sold it in 1648 to
Theodore Colley of London. Meanwhile in 1642
John Skeffington had mortgaged a further 72 a. in
Bloxwich to Colley and in 1648 granted him a lease
for 93 years of all his holdings there. In 1660 Colley
sold the lease to Edmond Lathwell of London and
William Pretty of Fazeley in Tamworth. John
Skeffington resigned his rights the following year.
Lathwell disposed of his share of the estate by selling
it in small parcels between 1661 and 1665 to John
Slaney, William Bayley, Zacharias Greene, and
Nicholas Parker, all of Bloxwich. (fn. 72)
A manor-house at Bloxwich occurs in 1564, when it
was occupied by John Baylye. (fn. 73) At some time before
1637 the Skeffingtons leased it to a Joan Cowley,
and it became known as Cowley's Farm. It passed
in 1660 to Edmond Lathwell, who at some time
between 1661 and 1665 sold it to Zacharias Greene. (fn. 74)
The manor of GOSCOTE is identifiable with
the property in that hamlet held of the manor of
Walsall by the Hillary family in the 14th century.
The lords of Walsall manor remained overlords until
at least 1604. (fn. 75)
Sir Roger Hillary of Bescot was receiving 20s. rent
from free tenants at Goscote in 1356. (fn. 76) The estate
descended with Bescot until 1411, when William
Mountfort obtained seisin. (fn. 77) In 1411 or 1412, however, the estates of the younger Sir Roger Hillary
(d. 1400) were divided and Goscote was assigned to
Robert and Joan Roos, Margery, widow of Frederick
Tylney, and John Gibthorp. Joan and Margery were
Hillary's great-nieces and John was their nephew. (fn. 78)
Later Goscote was apparently assigned to the
Rooses and from 1423 presumably descended with
Stretton on Fosse (Warws.) to Robert Whittlebury,
who held it in 1498. Robert died in 1506, leaving
the estate settled on his wife Anne for life; she,
however, sold it in 1508 to Edmund Dudley. (fn. 79)
After Dudley's forfeiture in 1510 the estate, then
described as the manor of Goscote, passed to John,
Lord Berners, and Ellen, wife of Sir Robert
Sheffield. They were the heirs respectively of Margery Tylney and John Gibthorp. (fn. 80) In 1520 Berners
sold his share to Sir John Skeffington of London. (fn. 81)
It then descended with the manor of Shelfield. (fn. 82)
By 1516 Sir Robert Sheffield (d. 1517) was holding the other share of the manor by the courtesy. (fn. 83)
His son Sir Robert obtained possession in 1518 and
was succeeded on his death in 1531 by his son
Edmund (d. 1549), created Baron Sheffield in 1547.
Edmund's son and heir John, Lord Sheffield, sold
the property (described as a moiety of the manor)
to John Skeffington in 1565. (fn. 84) The two halves
were thus reunited, and when Skeffington died in
1604 he was holding the whole manor. (fn. 85) He was
succeeded by his son William, who in 1631 sold it to
John Birch of Goscote. (fn. 86)
Birch's property had been sequestered for recusancy by 1648. (fn. 87) He died c. 1651 and his right
to the manor passed to his widow Mary (or Joan),
also a recusant, who died in 1652. She was succeeded by John Birch's nephew, another John, who
immediately sold the right to Francis Gregg of
Clement's Inn, London. Between 1652 and 1654
Gregg attempted to have the sequestration reversed,
apparently without success. (fn. 88) John Birch recovered
the manor after the Restoration and was living at
Goscote in 1666. (fn. 89) In 1674 he settled the estate on
his son Henry, (fn. 90) who conveyed it to his son Charles
in 1703. (fn. 91) Charles was still in possession in 1710, (fn. 92)
but by 1745 it had passed to his widow Anne and his
son Thomas. Anne was dead by 1763, leaving Thomas
as sole lord of the manor. (fn. 93) In 1776 he sold it to
Thomas Huxley of Rushall Hall. (fn. 94)
Huxley died in 1790 and was succeeded by his
daughter Dorothy. (fn. 95) In 1794 she sold the manor to
Joseph Bradley and Francis Edwards of Leominster
(Herefs.) and Elijah Waring of Tipton, who had
entered into a partnership to mine and work iron
and coal at Goscote. (fn. 96) The full purchase price was
not paid, however, until 1810 when Dorothy's
cousin and heir Thomas Green of Liverpool reconveyed the manor to Edwards and Bradley. (fn. 97) In the
same year they dissolved their partnership and
Bradley conveyed his share in the manor to Edwards in trust for the sale of the whole. (fn. 98) In 1816
the estate passed to a trustee for Dr. Samuel
Hughes. (fn. 99) Joseph Smith, a Rushall corn-miller,
bought it in 1819, (fn. 1) and in 1843 he owned 117 a. in
Goscote. (fn. 2) By will of 1858 Smith left the property to
his son Joseph Crowther Smith of Wolverhampton,
who died in 1886. The property then passed to
trustees for his niece Harriet Cooke of Aldridge. (fn. 3)
She and her trustees sold 45 a. to R. T. Bradley in
1925, (fn. 4) and he conveyed it to the corporation in
1933. (fn. 5) Part of the estate passed with the Goscote
sewage farm to the Upper Tame Main Drainage
Authority in 1966; the corporation still held most of
the remainder in 1973. (fn. 6)
The lords of the manor were absentees until the
17th century, and there seems to have been no
manor-house before that period. In 1649, however,
John Birch held a house and garden in Goscote,
perhaps formerly part of his original tenement there.
He sold them with the manor to Francis Gregg in
1652. (fn. 7) The house was still part of the estate in 1819
and apparently stood in Goscote Lane on the site
of the present Barley Mow inn. (fn. 8) The inn, though
dating largely from the 19th and 20th centuries, incorporates remains of an earlier building.
By 1810 the estate also included Goscote Lodge
Farm between Slacky Lane and the present Hildick's
Crescent. Joseph Bradley was living there in 1810
and Joseph Smith in 1834 and probably in 1854; in
1843, however, it was occupied by a tenant. It descended with the estate and was demolished in the
earlier 1940s. (fn. 9)
In 1557 George Hawe held a lease of what was
called half the manor of HAY HEAD. The other
half was apparently held by his brother Nicholas,
to whom George left his share on his death in 1558. (fn. 10)
In 1560 Nicholas left the lease to Thomas Wollaston
and John Curteys, his brothers-in-law. (fn. 11) The
manor is probably identifiable with Hay Head
farm, which formed part of Walsall manor demesne
between at least 1763 and 1843 and was let to
tenants. (fn. 12) By 1860 it had passed to the Revd.
Thomas Burrowes Adams. In 1861 he conveyed it
to Samuel Priestley, an Aldridge lime-master, who
sold it to Robert Myers Wood in 1864. Wood was
living there by 1868 and sold it to James Rooker
Mason in 1871. Mason died in 1877 and the estate
passed to his trustees, who conveyed it in 1903 to
Mary, wife of Dr. Tom Longmore of Walsall. In
1937 she sold it to the corporation, which still held
it in 1974. The farm continued to be occupied by
tenants in the late 19th and the 20th centuries. (fn. 13)
There was no farm-house at Hay Head in 1763,
but one had been built by the late 1770s. (fn. 14) The
present farm-house dates from after the Second
World War.