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Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
The
Birth
of
Redditch
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
The
community
of
Redditch
did
not
exist
in
Anglo-Saxon
times
and
it
was
not
recorded
in
the
Domesday
Book.
However,
many
familiar
names
and
landmarks
did
exist.
The
roman
road,
Iknield
Street,
was
still
an
important
route
and
there
were
well
established
Salt
Ways
from
Droitwich
and
the
ancient
Ridge
Way.
Many
communities
and
homesteads
within
the
area
appeared
in
the
Domesday
Book.
Many
had
the
familiar
Anglo-Saxon
‘ley’
ending
(leah
=
‘clearing’)
which
we
still
recognise
in
local
villages
and
areas.
The
River
Arrow
was
an
important
waterway
and
a
number
of
communities
were
sited
close
by.
The
future
Redditch
town
centre
is
identified
by
the
Red
star.
The
area
before
Redditch
existed
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
Redditch
developed
as
a
market
centre
with
urban
characteristics
in
the
13th
century,
located
at
the
cross-roads
of
an
east-west
road
between
Warwick
and
Kidderminster
and
a
north-south
road
from
Staffordshire
to
Evesham.
Documentary
evidence
indicates
that
tenements
were
small,
reflecting
commercial
and
industrial
activity,
and
surnames
in
the
period
from
1274
to
1341
indicates
a
range
of
non-agricultural
trades,
including
baxter,
cooper,
glazier,
hostler,
plumber,
smith,
tailor,
tiler
and
wheeler.
Redditch
-
at
the
crossroads
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
The
town
was
developed
around
a
large
triangular
green
at
the
road
junction.
The
earliest
map
we
have
of
the
town,
above
left,
is
from
1776
and
is
based
on
a
description
by
Joseph
Monk.
The
recent
Google
view
of
the
town
centre,
above
right,
shows
that
the
basic
form
of
the
town
centre
has
little
changed
over
the
years.
Redditch
-
the
Green
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
Bordesley
Abbey
had
some
effect
on
the
small
community
of
Redditch
by
provided
work
in
renovating/constructing
building
(stone
masons
etc.),
farming
in
Abbey
precinct
and
granges,
working
in
the
metalworking
mill,
keeping
ditches
open
and
preventing
silting
up,
etc.
However,
the
most
important
aspect
for
the
community
was
the
Abbey’s
gateway
chapel
which
was
used
as
a
place
of
worship.
Even
after
the
dissolution
in
1538,
the
chapel
was
retained
as
the
local
place
of
worship
for
the
townspeople
until
1805,
when
it
was
moved
to
the
town’s
green,
where
it
became
the
chapel
on
the
green.
St
Stephens
Chapel
JM
Woodward
Redditch
-
Influence
of
Bordesley
Abbey
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
The
Chapel
was
extended
a
number
of
times
to
allow
for
the
increasing
population
of
the
town
until
1853,
when
it
was
demolished
to
be
replaced
by
a
new
and
much
larger
church,
the
current
St
Stephen’s
Church.
Redditch
was
also
made
a
parish
in
its
own
right.
The
year
of
1859
was
a
time
of
further
changes
for
the
town.
The
railway
had
arrived,
the
town
had
its
first
regular
newspaper,
the
town
had
a
new
larger
gas
works
and
the
Redditch
Building
Society
was
formed.
The
town
now
had
a
population
of
about
5,000
-
the
modern
town
had
arrived!
Redditch
-
Chapel
Green
Drawing
looking
fron
top
of
Prospect
Hill
(then
called
Fish
Hill)
towards
Chapel
Green.
Pocket
Histories
of
Redditch
-
Birth
of
the
Community
Designed
and
Produced
by
Anthony
Green
2015
Designed
and
produced
by
Anthony
Green
The
Birth
of
the
town
of
Redditch