.^'>. \;^-V'' "V**"- /' ^J'^S-V"^ "V^^V' X'^^V"" "V*^^V c^^, A ^- •" • . • * *• ^^ "o, ^- ^ ■vV 'rf^SSA ■*'(s i:|* ^7 ^ome (Recotbe of })/ HI) >■'!> 'ii'iiniiiniwniiinrTrTj .. - 1 6 O I, i^,^r-rrrVr<^^//^/^/V///^y//V^^^;^^ '^/^^^ of Elizabeth's reign, by Ambrose otton, whose initials, with those of his wife, Bridget, are also cut above the door, as shown in the INSCRIPTION OVEf^ DOORWAY. engraving. The earliest document in my possession, relating to the house, is dated the 6th March, 1633, and is an attested copy of a Letter of Attorney to give possession of the property to Ambrose Rotton, apparently the son of the builder of the house. This Ambrose, in 1636, executed a deed whereby he barred an entail created by his father, and resettled the property. It is therein described as "All that messuage * See Willetts's Hist of West Bromwich, //> i6, 94, 163, 164, 185, 186, 205, 207, &c., &c. ^|gg^g^^^;5^%s^5^^^^^^S^//^ SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE or tenement with all houses edifices and buildings thereto belonging, with the appurtenances And all that meadow or meadow ground and one close or piece of land or pasture with the appurtenances to the said messuage near adjoining and belonging and therewith now or late used occupied or enjoyed, and all that close or piece of land or pasture with the appurtenances commonly called by the name of Moone Field, and all that close or piece of land or pasture with the appurtenances commonly called or known by the name of Well Crofte, and all those three closes or pieces of land or pasture with the appurtenances commonly called or known by the name of Fawcon Fields, and all that close or piece of land or pasture with the appurtenances commonly called or known by the name of Blakefield, all which said premises are situate lying and being in Bordesley aforesaid and now or late in the several tenures or occupations of the said Ambrose Rotton and Katherine Rotton, Wyddow, or their assignees." I have other deeds of this family, dated 1647, 1669, 1676, and 1694. In connection with the perusal of some of these old documents, it may be remarked, parenthetically, that it would probably come as somewhat of a shock to the unprofessional reader, especially if he prided himself on possessing a fair knowledge of historical chronology, to find himself face to face with such a date as I encountered early in my investiga- tions, viz: "28 Car. II."; seeing that "Car. II.," according to all historians, only reigned twenty-five years in all. But, according to our loyal legislators, he was king, de Jure, from the time of the death of SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE his father, which puts another eleven years on to his reign. Happy was the fiction which enabled them thus to extend the sovereignty of so excellent a man, and to ignore Cromwell and all his works. Nevertheless, there might be "a few words" about this and other matters, should the shade of Charles chance to foregather with the shade of Oliver among the meads of asphodel, and it would be just like Oliver's nasty way to remark that England would have suffered little had the whole of Charles's reign been as imaginary as the first eleven years of it. But enough of f this, '•''Sat Jiujus," as Tertullian hath it. SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE On July 2nd, i6g6, the house and lands came into our family, being conveyed by Thomas Rotton and his mortgag-ee to Trustees, for the benefit of William Simcox (therein described as of West Bromwich, Yeoman) then about to be married to one Mary Tomlinson, and the said Mary and their children, William's father, George (also of West Bromwich, Yeoman) finding the greater part of the purchase money, and the young lady's father the remainder. An abstract of this deed is given in the appendix. The entail created by the above settlement was barred in 1725, and the property resettled (John Turton, therein described as of The Brades, Rowley Regis, Ironmonger, being one of the Trustees) upon uses in favour of William Simcox and Elizabeth his wife, and their children. I have many other deeds, copies of wills, &c., showing the subsequent devolution of the property, but they cannot well be dealt with in a sketch like this. The old house seems to have been always the family residence, to which the son went on the death of his father ; and it con- tinued in this course down to the death of my grandfather, who resided there with his three sons, John, Thomas, and Edwin. He left his widow, Mary Simcox, a life estate in it with remainder to his eldest son, my father, John Simcox. My grandmother died there in 1854. Since that time the place has been let to various tenants, and always used as a school. It now belongs to my brother — long resident in New Zealand — my sister^living in North Carolina, and myself, as tenants in common. SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE The land originally attached to the house was apparently some twenty acres in extent, and was, previously to the makings of the Midland Railway, bounded by the Alcester Road, Kyrwicks Lane, and, in part, by the Stratford Road, which ran througfh the remainder of it as far as the Black Horse Inn, Among the deeds in my possession is a conveyance, dated 1784, by the Trustees of "the roads from Birmingham through Warwick to Warmington, and from Birmingham through OLD BELt., Stratford upon Avon to Edgehill," to my great grandfather, John Simcox. In this deed, after reciting that a part of the above road "had been adjudged to be in a ruinous condition and in a situation very ill-convenient for travellers and that the said Trustees had therefore under the powers vested in them purchased from the said John Simcox and others divers parcels of land lying contiguous to the said old road," the said Trustees convey to the said John Simcox "a piece of land being a parcel of the said old road containing 1098 square yards situate in Bordesley at or SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE near a certain place there called Kyotts Lake, otherwise Ffoul Lake " (my birthplace). Conveyances of other portions of the said old road were made to John Lowe of the Ravenhurst, Sampson Lloyd, and others. We subsequently acquired additional land on the east side of the road, reaching from the present Kyotts Lake Road to Henley Street, with the exception of a small piece at the corner of the last-named street, and adjoining at the back to the old estate of "The Farm," belonging to the Lloyd family, pretty nearly where the Sampson Road now runs. One of the fields, west of the road, called in my time "The Sand-pit Meadow," through which the present Auckland Road was made, was, as its name indicates, deeply excavated, the sand therefrom, which was of peculiarly fine quality, having been sold, I have heard my father say, in the old times, at a guinea a load for casting purposes. A substitute for it has, I am told, since been found, but I have some idea that sand was not without value, even as recently as twenty-five years ago. My reason for this belief arises from the fact that, having let this meadow in lots under an agreement for future building leases to an individual who was represented to me as being of exceptional probity, I was somewhat surprised, after an absence from home, to find no sign of bricks or mortar on the premises, but in their place a huge and cavernous hole, out of which a number of men were engaged in shovelling and carting away loads of sand. It occurred to me then that the lessee had taken the same view of the property as was taken by the American horticulturist, who said that though his garden was small in superficial area it was about 4,000 miles deep, and SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE therefore a possession not to be lightly esteemed. As, however, I could not see where my share of the profit of this transaction was to come from, I promptly ordered the men off. The lessee, with equal promptitude, filed his petition, and an aged but enterprising solicitor of Redditch, who had advanced him money upon the agreement {semel insanivimus omnes) mingled his tears with mine, "So that day there was dole in Astolat." The cellars of the houses now built on this site probably stop somewhat short of central fire, but I am unable to say the exact distance. In 1838 the Midland Railway cut the estate in two. After my father's death I laid out various roads across it, and it is now nearly all built upon, but we have never sold any of it, except two pieces, both of which the Railway Company took, rather more than twenty years ago — one a small nursery garden adjoining the bridge over the Stratford Road, and the other part of a field adjoining Kyrwicks Lane. The earlier members of our family who owned the house are, for the most part, described as Yeomen, which meant, I take it, people who lived on, and farmed, their own land. In various documents they figure also as Headboroughs (of the Liberty of Bordesley), in which capacity they seem to have had, among other duties, the pleasant one of collecting window-taxes. They are lastly described as Gentlemen, which may mean anything or nothing. One of them, at all events, though living long before the blessed days of Board Schools, had some glimmering ideas of the advantages of a good education, since he took the trouble to endorse in 17 19 (in execrable handwriting) on a deed of 1709, with the custody of which he certainly ought never to have been entrusted, the following valuable lines : II SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE IC^OZCI^ /- /^7'i/^'?>r i /^/^ ^ /v ^^ r r-7 fc, Cjoh ^z£ filjn ^-^ac-^ SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE My grandfather was the first of the family who, about the year 1795, adopted the law as his profession. He was sometime High Bailiff of Birmingham, and was known, I am thankful to record, as "the honest lawyer." Since his time we have all been lawyers, and as honest as we could possibly be with any sort of convenience to ourselves. When I first remember anything about the old place, my grand- mother was living there. The meadows belonging to it, and others above- mentioned, were farmed by her old bailiff, Henry Chillingworth — a reliable man, who never failed, either in his duty to his mistress or in his evening visit to "The Salutation," an old inn, formerly standing opposite the Ship Inn at Camp Hill. In connection with this latter fact I may mention that my grandmother was small, active, and abstemious, while H. C. was large, heavy, and not infrequently "much bemused with beer." They both, as far as I am aware, enjoyed excellent health, and died at about the same age, 83. There was a huge open chimney in the kitchen, with oak settles on either side. I remember sitting there as a child at night, and hearing the wind roar in the chimney, while old Chillingworth droned monotonously from the other side of the fire, "like the murmur of many bees," old tales of which I now recall nothing. There was a legend, which I may, or may not, have heard from him, but which certainly did obtain some credence, and, as I have lately learned, exists to this day, of a sub- terranean passage from the old house to the Ship Inn above-mentioned, 13 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE some two or three hundred yards away. This was, when I first remember it, a long", low, thatched cottage-looking place : it is now an uo-Iy pretentious "hotel" — a word which I detest— dignified by the name of "Prince Rupert's Headquarters," with a statuette of that scientific cavalier (I think I have read that he invented mezzotint) over the doorway, representing him as consisting of three parts hat and boots, and the rest sword. As respects this passage, however — unless it was the original "burrow of Birmingham "—I fail to see its value, except possibly to "proscribed Royalists," of the Roger Wildrake type, in the time of the Civil War. The idea of one of these, seated in his tunnel — medio tutissimus, but without supplies, and full of loyalty but of nothing else— with his house at one end, and his hostelry at the other, both filled with festive enemies, is not without pathos. As some compensation, however — to contemplate him under precisely opposite circumstances— he might, finding himself at that ancient tavern in the small hours in the condition known, Scotice, as having "the malt abune the meal," have utilized this passage in lieu of a latch key, for which comfortable implement, even if then invented, his front door, being of iron-studded oak several inches thick, was ill adapted. One can but hope (feebly) that this arrangement would commend itself to his wife, particularly if he brought several other proscribed Royalists in a similar condition home with him. But, considering the digging and delving which has been going on for so many years in the neighbourhood, in connection with gas, sewerage, and other civilizing agents, without disclosing the existence of any passage, I shall begin before long to tremble for the truth of this legend. 14 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE IIQ L D D OKW AYf and I especially remember that bordered the walks were full Lancaster" roses, which had allowed to spread everywhere, too, grew there in masses. I Another recollection is of one of the parlour ceiling's which had been painted by an Italian artist, of the highly decorative school, in a pattern which included four large and apparently hungry griffins. I do not remember much about the pattern, but I remember the griffins — no child with the slightest play of imagination in the direction of bogies could possibly forget them. I recall my brother and myself as small boys, riding on the wagon horses bringing home to Camp Hill the loads of hay from the far meadows. The barns and out-buildings were extensive, though then somewhat ruinous, and abutted on the Alcester Road. The garden, which was divided from the meadows by a sunk fence, was a pretty place, the high and broad box edgings which of the old damask and " York and sprung from the runners which were The old sweet-scented white bush rose, recall also, with deep satisfaction, the 15 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE memory of a quince tree, the fruit of which is supposed, I believe, to be properly appropriated to the flavouring of apple pies, but which I consumed " neat," and a large fig tree by the library window. From my remembering this latter plant with satisfaction, I am disposed to think that I cannot have eaten largely of its produce ; the fig, at all events in the present climate of Bordesley, seldom attaining the luscious- ness which attached to it, we are led to believe, in the gardens of Bendemeer. Here this little memoir ends. It is brief and imperfect, yet I am glad to have had the thought of writing it, for I am a lover of all old houses, and especially of this one, which for so long sheltered my people, and whose days, it may be, draw near their close. Not from decay, for, though it has stood for nearly three centuries, its strength, the workmen tell me who are from time to time employed upon it, is practically unimpaired ; the oak timbers are as sound as ever, and the walls as solid as stone. Nevertheless, it has now fallen upon evil times, and, were it sentient at all, must bewail its present condition. For men's works, as for men, in the lapse of years, " Una manet nox, Et calcanda semel via leti." But I honour its old builder, for he wrought well and faithfully, as men once did who loved truth and honesty, and had in their hearts, if not in their minds, those noble words of John Ruskin, "Therefore, when we build, let us think that we build for ever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone ; let it be such work as our descendants i6 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE will thank us for, and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look at the labour and wrought substance of them, 'See! this our fathers did for us.' For, indeed, the greatest glory of a building is not in its stones, nor in its gold. Its glory is in its age, and in that deep sense of voicefulness, of stern watching, of mysterious sympathy, nay, even of approval or condemnation, which we feel in walls that have long been washed by the passing waves of humanity. It is in their lasting witness against men, in their quiet contrast with the transitional character of all things, in the strength which, through the lapse of seasons and times, .... maintains its sculptured shapeliness for a time insuperable .... it is in that golden stain of time that we are to look for the real light and color and preciousness of architecture ; and it is not until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted with the fame, and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been witnesses of suffering, and its pillars rise out of the shadows of death, that its existence, more lasting as it is than that of the natural objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even so much as these possess, of language and of life."! J. W. SiMCox, M.A. * Seven Lamps, pp 186-7. Kyotts Lake, Hall Green. 17 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE i8 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE APPENDIX, id July, i6g6. (^P jTt^^UlUt^ of this date between Thomas Rotton of Bordesley Gentleman and Richard Scott of Birmingham Linen Draper of the first part, George Simcox of West Bromwich Yeoman and William Simcox Yeoman his son and heir apparent of the second part, John Tomlinson of Great Barr Weaver and Mary Tomlinson his only daughter of the third part, Thomas Dudley the younger of West Bromwich Wheelwright and John Eaves the younger of Hampton in Arden Yeoman of the fourth part, and John Colwicke of West Bromwich Yeoman and Joseph Tomlinson of Delves in the Parish of Wednesbury Weaver of the fifth part %t 18 (^ttneeeei t^at the said Thomas Rotton in consideration of ;^6oo paid to him by the said George Simcox and John Tomlinson ^400 thereof being paid by the said George Simcox and ^£^200 by the said John Tomlinson and in consideration of a marriage to be solemnized between the said William Simcox and Mary Tomlinson did grant bargain sell &c. unto the said Thomas Dudley and John Eaves cSff that messuage farm house or tenement with the appurtenances wherein the said Thomas Rotton then dwelt and all that meadow thereunto adjoining and belonging jRni all that little close of land and meadow then or late called Parke Field adjoining to the lower end of the said meadow containing together about eight acres 19 SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE jRnb all that other close of land or pasture commonly called Mount Field or Moone Field then into two parts divided jRnb one other little close of land thereunto adjoining containing together about twelve acres SXl which said messuage land and premises were situate in Bordesley aforesaid and were then or late in the tenure of the said Thomas Rotton ^0 6of6 unto the said Thomas Dudley and John Eaves and their heirs To uses therein declared until the marriage and after its solemnization. To the use of the said Thomas Dudley and John Eaves during the life of the said William Simcox Upon trust to permit him to receive the rents during his life Remainder To the use of the said Mary Tomlinson for life for her jointure in lieu of dower Remainder To the use of such son of the said William Simcox by the same Mary as he should by will appoint and the heirs of the body of such son Remainder To the use of the first second and other successive sons of the said William Simcox and Mary Tomlinson in tail male Remaindef; To the use of the daughters of the said William Simcox and Mary Tomlinson Remainder To the use of the heirs of the body of the said William Simcox Remainder To the use of the said George Simcox his heirs and assigns for ever. Powers of sale and leasing. Then follows an Assignment (on trust to attend the inheritance) of a satisfied Mortgage term of 1,000 years created by an SOME RECORDS OF AN OLD HOUSE Indenture dated the ist day of November 1694 between said Thomas Rotten and Anne his wife and William Pritchett of Birmingham aforesaid Long Cutler and Elianor his wife sole daughter of the said Thomas Rotton by his first wife Elianor Bradnocke deceased of the first part, Robert Rotton of Balsall Heath in the Parish of Kings Norton in the County of Worcester Gentleman brother of the said Thomas of the second part, and the said Richard Scott of the third part. Usual Covenants for title. (B;cecutc6 by all parties and attested. (Receipt for consideration money and memorandum of livery of seizin indorsed signed and witnessed. u ^k(. 79^1 -^^^^' ---.-i^' : -^..^ 0^ 4 •"■'-• ♦ o >..^ 0" ♦ ■ay C* *' >VNi)J" • O "~»^ * ' "■"v^'-^.V" /— ■ *" N. MANCHESTER, I INniANA 46962 o V - ■««H VVVN3- ' ''^ ' "^-...'^■^