The Castle Hill is not easy to see, squeezed as it is between the slip road of the M6 at Junction 5 and the Chelmsley Collector Road (A452). Now much overgrown with trees and bushes, it is a small hill known locally as Pimple Hill. A natural feature in origin, it became a site of strategic importance, overlooking the ford across the River Tame. And it is from this fortification, built after the Norman Conquest in 1066, that Castle Bromwich takes the first part of its name.
When the Anglo-Saxon King Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 by Duke William of Normandy, the impact was felt very quickly across the whole of England. In this area many manors had belonged to Earl Edwin before 1066. He was an Anglo-Saxon, the lord of Mercia, and his manors were sub-let to other Anglo-Saxon lords. However, in 1068 and then in 1071 Edwin rebelled against King William. As a result, his holdings were forfeit to the Crown and redistributed among the Norman lords who had fought at William‘s side at Hastings. They in turn sub-let most of them to their own Norman followers.
Ansculf de Picquigny was one such overlord. William gave him some 30 estates, many in the west midlands, which had formerly belonged to Edwin. As a result Ansculf built Dudley Castle as his administrative centre. When the Domesday Book was compiled in1086, his son William FitzAnsculf had succeeded to his father’s manors. By now few were sub-let to Anglo-Saxons; most, including Castle Bromwich, had Norman lords of the manor, Brictwin, the Anglo-Saxon lord in the time of King Edward, having been sent packing.
And so the castle of Bromwich was built on the hill alongside the ancient ridgeway and overlooking the ford of the River Tame.
The castle is likely to have been built on the orders of Ansculf or his son soon after the Norman Conquest. Ralph, mentioned in the Domesday Book, could well have been the first Norman lord of the manor and would have been responsible for the subjugation of the area. By the middle of the next century Ralph’s descendants were referring to them as de (of) Bromwich, effectively taking the placename as their surname.
Much of the castle mound was destroyed by the construction of the M6 motorway and the Chelmsley Collector Road. However, before work began on the latter, an archaeological survey was undertaken by W J Ford of Birmingham Museum on behalf of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works.
This was a motte-and-bailey castle and made of timber, the motte being the mound on top of which stood a square castle, perhaps three storeys in height and made of wood. The bailey was the lower part of the castle, in effect an enclosed courtyard where there would have been sleeping quarters, stables, workshops and stores. Evidence was found of defensive palisades and trenches. It seems from the small size of the castle that it may have been more a watchtower than a full-blown occupied castle. Perhaps the lord of the manor had a separate manor house nearby, it is possible that an earlier structure stood on the site of Castle Bromwich Hall whose present form is initially dated from the early 17th century.
Evidence of buildings on the castle site date from the 12th to the 14th century but the timber castle was never rebuilt in stone by the manorial lord. It may be that the Lord of Dudley did not want another castle as a possible power base in a manor of which he was overlord .
The castle mound is now classified as a Scheduled Ancient Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
The Castle Hill is not easy to see, squeezed as it is between the slip road of the M6 at Junction 5 and the Chelmsley Collector Road (A452). Now much overgrown with trees and bushes, it is a small hill known locally as Pimple Hill. A natural feature in origin, it became a site of strategic importance, overlooking the ford across the River Tame. And it is from this fortification, built after the Norman Conquest in 1066, that Castle Bromwich takes the first part of its name.
When the Anglo-Saxon King Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 by Duke William of Normandy, the impact was felt very quickly across the whole of England. In this area many manors had belonged to Earl Edwin before 1066. He was an Anglo-Saxon, the lord of Mercia, and his manors were sub-let to other Anglo-Saxon lords. However, in 1068 and then in 1071 Edwin rebelled against King William. As a result, his holdings were forfeit to the Crown and redistributed among the Norman lords who had fought at William‘s side at Hastings. They in turn sub-let most of them to their own Norman followers.
Ansculf de Picquigny was one such overlord. William gave him some 30 estates, many in the west midlands, which had formerly belonged to Edwin. As a result Ansculf built Dudley Castle as his administrative centre. When the Domesday Book was compiled in1086, his son William FitzAnsculf had succeeded to his father’s manors. By now few were sub-let to Anglo-Saxons; most, including Castle Bromwich, had Norman lords of the manor, Brictwin, the Anglo-Saxon lord in the time of King Edward, having been sent packing.
And so the castle of Bromwich was built on the hill alongside the ancient ridgeway and overlooking the ford of the River Tame.
The castle is likely to have been built on the orders of Ansculf or his son soon after the Norman Conquest. Ralph, mentioned in the Domesday Book, could well have been the first Norman lord of the manor and would have been responsible for the subjugation of the area. By the middle of the next century Ralph’s descendants were referring to them as de (of) Bromwich, effectively taking the placename as their surname.
Much of the castle mound was destroyed by the construction of the M6 motorway and the Chelmsley Collector Road. However, before work began on the latter, an archaeological survey was undertaken by W J Ford of Birmingham Museum on behalf of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works.
This was a motte-and-bailey castle and made of timber, the motte being the mound on top of which stood a square castle, perhaps three storeys in height and made of wood. The bailey was the lower part of the castle, in effect an enclosed courtyard where there would have been sleeping quarters, stables, workshops and stores. Evidence was found of defensive palisades and trenches. It seems from the small size of the castle that it may have been more a watchtower than a full-blown occupied castle. Perhaps the lord of the manor had a separate manor house nearby, it is possible that an earlier structure stood on the site of Castle Bromwich Hall whose present form is initially dated from the early 17th century.
Evidence of buildings on the castle site date from the 12th to the 14th century but the timber castle was never rebuilt in stone by the manorial lord. It may be that the Lord of Dudley did not want another castle as a possible power base in a manor of which he was overlord .
The castle mound is now classified as a Scheduled Ancient Monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
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