| Tom
King was by no means the only one to ply his trade on the
neighbouring heaths of Barr, Pelsall, Brownhills and Aldridge.
Aldridge Heath, lying on the old road between Birmingham and
Stafford, was particularly notorious. It is recorded
that on January 30th, 1703, the Shrewsbury coach was robbed
there and three attorneys later the same day, though one of
them managed to retain a refresher of twenty guineas by stuffing
it into the toe of an old boot he had in his bag. Next
month two drovers, returning from Newcastle Fair were robbed
and killed, and two days later the High Sheriff himself, returning
from Lichfield, was robbed of sixty guineas. That sealed
the gang's fate, for the Sheriff had them hunted down and
strung up just to "larn 'em".
In 1746 came John Wesley, on horseback across Aldridge
Heath on his way from Birmingham to Stafford. It was
raining when he left Birmingham early one morning and by
the time he had reached our perilous neighbourhood, always
a tough nut for the "invader" to crack, it had
turned to snow. A cheerful native told Wesley it was
a thousand pounds to a penny he wouldn't reach Stafford
that day, for even on a clear day he was "not sure
to go right across" the common. But Wesley was
no ordinary paratroop and at following a trail he must have
been real hot stuff, for he records in his diary: "However
we went on and I believe did not go ten yards out of our
way till we came to Stafford". No doubt he passed
his map-reading proficiency test first time.
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Brownhills Common
and Pelsall Common are all that is left to remind us of those
spacious days, and we are very glad to have them in our slice
of Staffordshire.
Of notable buildings still standing, perhaps Rushall Hall
is the most interesting. The present hall, or a large
part of it dates from 1402, though the site seems to have
been occupied continuously since Anglo-Saxon times and in
Domesday Book the Manor of Rushall was valued at ten shillings
a year. (Aldridge was worth fifteen shillings).
Rushall Hall played a lively part in the war between Charles
and Parliament. Both sides occupied it in turn, but
the Royalists seem to have held it most of the time and
used it as a sort of base depot for storing plunder taken
from convoys passing between London and Lancashire.
Anyway when it was finally taken for Cromwell's side by
the Earl of Denbigh, ably assisted by the then 32nd Battalion
(!) and their Walsall comrades in arms, in May 1644, the
recovered property was valued at £10,000. No doubt
the respective Comforts Funds benefited accordingly.
And so one could go on - about the Blue Hole and Linley
Caverns (from which the Romans took limestone to build their
fort at Wall on the Watling Street), about Frank James,
Hobshole, Little Aston Hall, Shire Oak, Catshill, Bourne
Vale - but perhaps I've said enough to convince all reasonable
men that we of the 32nd have cause to be proud of the ground
we defend.
(Click
here for MAP)
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