In the beginning....
One thousand years ago, the area now known as Weoley Castle was, like most of the British Isles, covered in forest and woodland. Small areas had been cleared for farming by the Anglo-Saxons who had also settled in Nordfeld (Northfield).
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Wulfwin,
a rich Saxon, became the owner of the land about the year 900. He
and his family had not been the owners long when William the Conqueror,
a Norman king in France, invaded and conquered England. The year
was 1066.
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William gave a lot of land to his own loyal barons and the "Weoley Castle" area was taken from Wulfwin and given to one of the king's barons William Fitz Ansculf. He became the Baron of Dudley and we know ·that he liked to come to this area to hunt for deer and wild boar. Although there is no trace of any building put up by the Saxon Wulfwin the name "Weoley" comes from the Old English WEOH-LEAH which means "a wood or clearing with a heathen temple", (a Saxon holy place), so perhaps he did! Archaeologists have not explored this yet. Perhaps there are remains of a heathen temple that have yet to be discovered. |
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The
arms of Williams Fitz Ansculf
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| In the year 1086 King William decided to make a full survey of all the lands he controlled so that he could work out how much tax everyone should pay. The records from this survey became known as "The Domesday Book". Weoley is not mentioned but experts believe that it was included in the area called ESCELIE (Selly Oak). |  |
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A
Norman Knight and his Lady
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