There are no houses left in Castle Bromwich from the Middle Ages.

They are very few medieval houses left in England at all.

Peasants

In the Middle Ages there were a number of small cottages scattered along the Chester Road from the church to the Green. They were the homes of poor peasants who worked on the farmland of richer people. Some peasants were more successful than others. If you had some land next to your cottage, you could grow some of your own food and sell anything that you had left over. You might also have a skill like weaving woollen cloth or making things from leather or iron like the village blacksmith.

Farmers

Not all of the land in Castle Bromwich belonged to the lord of the manor, though most of it did. Other rich people owned land and some rented land from the lord. The rich people had workers to farm the land for them. There were medieval farms at the Firs on Firs Farm Drive and at Haye House on Collingbourne Avenue.

Moats

Some very rich people had a moat dug round their house. This was not really to protect themselves, it was more to show off how rich they were. There were a number of houses with moats in Castle Bromwich:

• Hay Hall moat was at Bromford near the end of Doncaster Way;
  
• there was a moated site on Chipperfield Road near the Coleshill Road;
  
• a moated house stood near the River Tame at Berrandale Road;
  
• Whateley Hall on Whateley Green may have had a moat;
• Park Hall moated site was the home of the ancient Arden family near Parkfield Drive/ Springbrook Close;
  
• and Burton's Farm moat was at Burtons Way/ Windward Way at Smith's Wood. 
  

Castle Bromwich Hall

The lord of the manor, one of the de Bromwich family lived in the castle of Bromwich after the Norman Conquest of 1066. But it is thought that the family soon moved to a grander house nearby. It may have been a house where the Chelmsley Collector Road is now. Or it may have been on the site where Castle Bromwich Hall is now. 

When archaeologists were digging in the Hall Gardens, they found a small piece of medieval tile with a pattern on it. Not much, you might think. But tiles like this were very expensive and could only be afforded by rich people such as the lord of the manor. It may be evidence that the medieval Hall was indeed here. 

Click to enlarge the images below.

This is a picture calendar from medieval France, but the farming year was similar across northern Europe. Books in the Middle Ages were very expensive and for rich people only.

These pictures were made to entertain wealthy people and they do not show a true picture of the hardships of farming life for poor people. 

Here is a list of some of the farming jobs that had to be done, year after year after year after year, each and every year, whatever the weather. 

• January: Clear the ditches, cut wood, spread manure.

• February: Mend the fences, manure the soil.

• March: Plough the fields; sow the wheat seeds.

• April: Plant onions and leeks: piglets will be born.

• May: Weed the wheat field, do home repairs, sow beans, plant garden vegetables.

• June: Start harvesting the hay.

• July: Finish harvesting the hay; start harvesting the wheat.

• August: Finish harvesting the winter crops, begin harvesting the spring wheat and corn, gather in the straw, plant turnips.

• September: Harvest the vegetable garden crops, plough the fields for the winter wheat, sow the winter wheat, take the animals to sell at the market.

• October: Send the pigs into the woods to eat acorns and beechnuts; thresh the wheat.

• November: Collect firewood for the winter.

• December: Kill the pigs; spread manure for next year's crops.
  
  
• January: Start over again.