Tamworth, Staffordshire
Tamworth is a market town and borough in Staffordshire, England, north-east of Birmingham. The town borders North Warwickshire to the east and south, Lichfield to the north, south-west and west. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through it. The population of Tamworth borough was. The wider urban area had a population of 81,964.
Tamworth was the principal centre of royal power of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It hosts a simple but elevated 12th century castle, a well-preserved medieval church and a Moat House. Tamworth was historically divided between Warwickshire and Staffordshire until 1889, when the town was placed entirely in Staffordshire.
The town's industries include logistics, engineering, clothing, brick, tile and paper manufacture. Until 2001 one of its factories was Reliant, which produced the Reliant Robin three-wheeler car and the Reliant Scimitar sports car.
The Snowdome, a prototype real-snow indoor ski slope is in Tamworth and south is Drayton Manor Theme Park and one of the many marinas serving the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal which combine south of the town.
History
Romans
When the Romans arrived in Britain, the Trent Valley was home to the British Coritani tribe. Evidence of Roman activity in the area of Tamworth consists of fragments of Roman building materials found near Bolebridge Street. Tamworth was near the Roman road, Watling Street and a few miles from the Roman town of Letocetum.Anglo-Saxon
Following the end of Roman rule, the area around the Tame valley was occupied by Anglo-Saxons from northern Germany and Jutland. Stephen Pollington states that the settlers that reached Tamworth were Angles, who left their homelands after rising sea levels flooded much of the land. Britain offered an attractive option as its landscape was similar to their homelands, but was more fertile and had a more moderate climate. The Angles arrived from the north, navigating inland via the River Humber, River Trent and the River Tame.The settlers established themselves in "an open meadow by the Tame" which they called Tomworðig. Nearby they established an "enclosed estate" called Tomtun – Tame-town – fortified with a palisade wall. These people called themselves the Tomsaete: Tame-settlers. Tomtun was initially "not much more than a fortified manor". The settlement straddled the River Anker and contained a "large hall for public gatherings" as well as individual homes and agricultural buildings such as stables and granaries. The Lords of Tame-Settlers quickly became wealthy and Tamworth was thus able to be fortified further.
The Tomsaete were a military tribe; however, soldiers eventually reached an age where they retired from military duty and were then allotted parcels of land to farm, manage and defend. Fertile lands surrounding the rivers were allotted first, then the hill lands; this land spreading further and further, spreading the power and influence of the tribes. The Tomsaete were one of countless tribes "all vying for power and influence", however the Lords of the Tomsaete came to control and to "dominate" the area known as English Midlands. The tribes initially ruled through unions and alliances of leading families and there is evidence of contact with families across England and also back in the Anglo-Saxon homelands. However, this "warlord" form of government developed and the Tomsaete's lands became a Kingdom with a single leader.
Mercian 'capital'
The Tomsaete lived in the heartland of what by the late 6th century had become the Kingdom of Mercia, the largest of the kingdoms in what is now England. A fortress built by King Creoda would later, under King Penda in the 7th century, become the most powerful. The King was not static and would not have a single residence; instead he travelled round his territories "to be seen by his people, to give legal judgments, to reward loyalty and to try offenders". Tamworth was probably a stopping place on the royal circuit, becoming a royal vill from the seventh century, with an early minster church and river crossing. It was fortified as a burh in the late 8th century, with an earthen rampart and timber palisade surrounded by a ditch.By the end of the 8th century it had been established by King Offa of Mercia as the stable centre of royal power for his expanding political ambitions – more like a capital than had previously been seen anywhere in Anglo-Saxon England. One of the earliest surviving written records mentioning Tamworth dates from Offa's reign; a grant of land to monks at Worcester dating from 781, signed by Offa, King of Mercia, addressed from his royal palace at Tamworthie. Offa built what was described as a Royal palace at Tamworth, however this was almost certainly a timber and thatch construction which left little physical trace, and so the location of Offa's palace has never been identified, although excavations north of Bolebridge Street in 1968 revealed what appeared to be the outline of a large Saxon building.
Between 790 and 850 Tamworth was the main location for the signature of Mercian royal charters. In 868 the Great Heathen Army invaded England and in 874 they drove out King Burgred, who fled to Rome. Tamworth was then a frontier town between Viking ruled east Mercia and Anglo-Saxon ruled west Mercia until 913, when Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, made Tamworth her capital, and re-fortified the town against Viking attacks. Æthelflæd led a successful military campaign to win back territory from the Danes, driving them back to their stronghold at Derby which was then captured. She died at Tamworth on 6 June 918.
During the reign of Æthelstan the Kingdom enjoyed a period of relative peace and prosperity. In Tamworth church in 926, a sister of King Æthelstan, perhaps Saint Edith of Polesworth, was married to Sitric Cáech, the squint-eyed Norse King of York and Dublin. It was during this period that a mint was established at Tamworth producing silver coins, many stamped with the name of a local moneyer called Manna. Many coins produced in Tamworth during this period have appeared in Scandinavian museums, as much of it was used to pay Danegeld, a tribute paid in an attempt to buy off invading Vikings. This however proved fruitless, as following Æthelstan's death in 939, Tamworth was again plundered and devastated by Viking invaders led by Sitric's son Olaf. It was soon recovered and rebuilt by Æthelstan's successors, but Tamworth never regained its pre-eminence as a Royal centre.
In the early 10th century the new shires of Staffordshire and Warwickshire were created, and Tamworth was divided between them, with the county border running through the town centre along the streets of Gungate, Church Street, Silver Street and Holloway, with the castle on the Warwickshire side of the border. The reason for this division was probably so that the town would be divided between the two separately administered Hundreds of Offlow and Hemlingford to ensure that sufficient manpower would be available to man the town's defences.
Norman and Medieval
Following the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, the Normans built a large motte and bailey castle, the forerunner of the present Tamworth Castle, partly on the site of the Saxon fort which still stands to this day. Unusually Tamworth wasn't mentioned in the Domesday Book; this may have been due to its division between two counties confusing the surveyors.From around 1093, the Marmion family became lords of the manor, and eight generations of Marmions inhabited Tamworth Castle until 1294. It was the Marmions who were largely responsible for building the present sandstone fort at Tamworth Castle, replacing the original wooden Norman structure. During the period of The Anarchy in the 12th century, Robert Marmion supported King Steven in his fight with Empress Matilda. In the ensuing struggle, Tamworth Castle was taken and occupied by the forces of Matilda, but was returned to the Marmions when Steven finally prevailed in the war. In 1215 King John threatened to have Tamworth Castle destroyed, in revenge for the 3rd Baron Marmion's support for the baronial revolt against the King. However, this threat was not carried out.
In the Middle Ages Tamworth was a small market town. However, the king gave it charters in 1319. In 1337 Tamworth was granted the right to hold two annual fairs. In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year and they attracted buyers and sellers from great distances. In 1345 Tamworth suffered a disastrous fire, and much of the town burned. This was followed by the Black Death which arrived in England from 1348, which reduced the population by at least a third. However, the town eventually recovered from these disasters.
In 1877 a hoard of silver pennies of William I and William II was found during construction of the town's board school. Many were minted in Tamworth. 294 coins were recovered, approximately four or five having been sold by the finder before the hoard's significance was realised. Many of the coins are now in the British Museum.
16th and 17th centuries
granted Tamworth another charter in 1560 confirming the town's existing rights and privileges, and incorporating it as a unified borough with a single municipal corporation. Prior to this there had been separate corporations for the Warwickshire and Staffordshire sides of the town. The charter enabled Tamworth to elect a representative to Parliament. Another charter was granted in 1588, further consolidating the town's rights of self-government.Tamworth suffered from outbreaks of plague in 1563, 1579, 1606, and 1626. Many died but each time the population recovered.
James I, the first Stuart king of England, visited Tamworth on three occasions, with his first visit in 1619, and was accommodated by Sir John Ferrers at Tamworth Castle. The king was accompanied by Prince Charles, who was entertained by William Comberford at the Moat House.
During the English Civil War from 1642, Tamworth Castle was initially garrisoned for the Royalists under William Comberford, however in June 1643 it was captured by a detachment of Parliamentarian forces under the command of William Purefoy after a short two-day siege, and remained in Parliamentarian hands for the remainder of the conflict, despite unsuccessful attempts by Royalists who controlled nearby Lichfield to recapture it. In 1646, a large Parliamentarian force, backed by soldiers from Tamworth captured Lichfield after a four-month siege. After the conflict was over, the castle was again threatened with destruction, when an order was issued for it to be destroyed, but again this was not carried out.
Tamworth continued to grow and remained one of the most populous towns in the Midlands by 1670, when the combined hearth tax returns from Warwickshire and Birmingham list a total of some 320 households. Its strategic trade advantage lay with control of the two vital packhorse bridges across the Anker and the Tame on the route from London to Chester. As today, a market town, it did a brisk trade providing travellers with at least staple bread, ale and accommodation, maintaining trading links as far afield as Bristol. Charles II's reconfirmation of its borough's privileges in 1663 gave the town an added boost, as confirmed by Richard Blome's description of its celebrated market, well served with corn, provisions and lean cattle.