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The first documentary evidence relating
to Aldridge is the entry in the Domesday Book which refers
to the village of ‘Alrewic’, a Saxon name meaning Alder Village.
This suggests that in Anglo-Saxon times, a small hamlet
existed at Aldridge, in close proximity to a number of Alder
trees.
After the Norman invasion in 1066,
William the Conquerer made it known that he personally owned
all of the land in the country. He appointed around 200
barons as tenants in chief, and allowed them to hold large
areas of land, in exchange for the payment of taxes, and the
provision of soldiers when necessary. The system, known
later as feudalism, was the key to the Norman’s success.
Staffordshire came under the control of
a Norman baron called Ansculf de Picquigny who must have
played a significant role in the invasion because he became
tenant in chief of eighty manors situated in Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Northants,
Oxfordshire, Rutland, Surrey, Worcestershire, and
Warwickshire. He was known as the Sheriff of Buckingham, and
in 1070, after Earl Edwin's revolt, was given some of
Edwin’s land in the West Midlands including Dudley, where he
built his castle, a motte and bailey structure, consisting
of an earthen mound topped with a timber tower, surrounded
by a defensive timber palisade. He became Lord of the Manor
of Great Barr and Aldridge, and died in the mid 1080s. This
began a close relationship between Aldridge and neighbouring
Great Barr, which has continued throughout the centuries.
Ansculf de Picquigny was succeeded by his son William fitz
Ansculf (William son of Ansculf), who appointed Robert
(which is a Norman name) as Lord of the Manor of Great Barr
and Aldridge.
In 1085 when the Danes threatened to
invade, William commissioned a detailed audit of the
country, to extract all of the taxes owed to him, and to
ensure that the maximum number of soldiers were available to
deal with any invasion. The survey was so detailed that an
entry in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle states that ‘not even an
ox, or a cow, or a swine was not set down in his writ.’ It
seemed so invasive, and all-seeing, that it felt as though
judgement day had come. As a result it became known as the
Domesday Book which was completed in 1086.
The Domesday entry for Aldridge (Alrewic)
indicates that there were about 360 acres of ploughed
fields, one acre of meadow, and an area of pasture in
woodland, around 1,000 metres long by 600 metres wide. There
were two plough teams, each with eight oxen and a plough,
and five villagers, one smallholder, and one slave. It
could raise seventy five pence in tax. The entry also states
that Robert was appointed as tenant in chief by William fitz
Ansculf.
Robert is also included in the entry
for Great Barr, which like Aldridge had about 360 acres of
ploughed fields. There was one acre of meadow, and an area
of woodland covering around 800 square metres. There was one
plough team with eight oxen, two villagers, and one
smallholder. It could raise twenty five pence in tax.
The manor would have had an open field
system, of communal fields, worked in strips. Some of the
old names survived until the eighteenth century including
Brantial Field, Daniel Field, Drewed Field, Middlemore
Field, and Wetstone Field.
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