This article is intended to show a timeline of events in the History of Birmingham, England, with a particular focus on the events, people or places that are covered in Wikipedia articles.
Pre-Norman invasion
Bronze Age – Small farming settlements. AD 48 – Construction of Metchley Fort begins as Icknield Street is constructed by Romans through Birmingham. AD 70 – The Romans abandon Metchley Fort only to return a few years later. AD 120 – The Romans Closed Metchley Fort permanently. Anglo-Saxon period – Beormingas clan present in the area. 7th century – Possible creation of Birmingham as a hamlet. 968 – Duddeston is first mentioned in a charter granted to Wulfget the Thane by Eadgar, King of the Angles.
1000–1099 After 1066 – Area passes into the hands of the De Birmingham family. 1086 – Birmingham recorded as a village in the Domesday Book. William FitzAnsculf is recorded as having the Birmingham, Edgbaston, Aston, Erdington, Witton, Handsworth, Perry, and Little Barr manors.
1100–1199 1154 – Lord of the manor Peter de Birmingham has the charter to hold a market in Birmingham on every Thursday, transforming the village into a town. 1160 – The first stone church building is erected on the site of St. Mary's Church, Handsworth. 1176 – A road passing through Sutton Coldfield is recorded. This is probably part of a highway leading from Birmingham to Richmoned.
1200–1299 1218 – Flaxseeds Farm in Stench ford is mentioned. 1221 – The manorial mill of King's Norton is recorded as being in the possession of Richard Clark. 1231 – A manorial mill at Edgbaston is recorded. 1249 – A ford over the River Cole is recorded. 1250 William de Birmingham is granted permission to hold a four-day fair in Birmingham during Ascensiontide annually. A road from Birmingham to Saltley and Castle Bromwich is recorded in a deed. 1260 – Summer Lane, a road leading to Perry and Walsall, is recorded. 1263 – A church is documented at the site of the modern-day Red Bull. 1273 – Several mills are recorded to be in existence in Northfield. 1276 – Crossing of the River Rea at Deritend is reported. 1282 – Two roads are mentioned as passing through Yardley and converging at Deritend Bridge. 1290 – A man crossing the River Tame at Salford Bridge leading in the direction of Erdington and Sutton Coldfield is mentioned.
1300–1399 1309– William de Bermingham then lord of the manor, showed in a law-suit that his ancestors had a market in the place and levied tolls before the Conquest. 1317 – A mill in Witton and Erdington is mentioned; this is probably located on the Hawthorn Brook. 1318 – A bridge named Bromford Bridge is recorded. 1322 – It is recorded that merchants were selling wool in Birmingham market. By 1327 – Selly Manor constructed. 1333 – A mill in Erdington named Bromford Mill is recorded in a court roll. 1340 – The road from Birmingham to Castle Bromwich is again mentioned in a deed. 1368 – The Old Crown public house in Deritend is believed to have been constructed as a guildhall. If so, it is Birmingham's first school. 1379 – A traveller records a bridge crossing the River Tame at Handsworth. 1381 – Residents of Deritend and Bordesley given permission to build a chapel next to the River Rea. 1381 – Sir John de Birmyneham provides the first reference to Deritend by name, written as Duryzatehende. 1390 – Thomas de Birmingham is recorded as a cloth merchant. 1392 – The Guild of the Holy Cross is established in Birmingham.
1400–1499 1406 – A goldsmith is referred to. 1435 – The last known overlordship of Erdington manor is recorded. 1449 – Three roads are recorded going from Birmingham to Edgbaston. 1460 – Handsworth Old Town Hall in Handsworth is constructed. 1480 – The tower of Church of Saints Peter and Paul, Aston is completed 1492 – The Saracen's Head in King's Norton is constructed.
1500–1599 1511 – The Clerk of the Ordnance orders horseshoes, bits and weapons for the royal army. All the suppliers are from Birmingham. 1517 – St Margaret's Church in Ward End is built by Thomas Bond. 1524 – Lord Middleton refers to a goldsmith from Birmingham who repairs two cups and making nine spoons. 1527 – Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is founded by John Vesey, Bishop of Exeter, as one of his benefactions to his birthplace, Sutton Coldfield. 1528 – 16 December: Royal charter of incorporation granted to Sutton Coldfield, creating it a Royal Town. 1536 The Priory of St Thomas of Canterbury, north of the manor of Birmingham, is dissolved as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A footbridge is mentioned crossing a ford in the River Rea at Deritend. 1542 – Sarehole Mill is constructed as Biddle's Mill on the site of a former pool. 1547 The Guild of the Holy Cross is mentioned as maintaining great stone bridges over the River Rea. Priory of St Thomas of Canterbury buildings are demolished. 1552 – King Edward's School is founded. 1553 – A survey shows that the major industry has become metal-using instead of cloth. 1560 – A road in the direction of Dudley is recorded. 1590 – Blakesley Hall is constructed by Richard Smalbroke.
1600–1699 1612 A road is mentioned from Perry Bridge to Birmingham. It is named the "great way". The Handsworth Bridge Trust is set up by Nicholas Hodgetts. 1616 – King James grants Kings Norton the right to hold a market. 1635 – Construction of Aston Hall (begun in April 1618) is completed for Sir Thomas Holte. 1635–1642 – The first Birmingham Library is founded by the puritan minister Francis Roberts 1642 – 17 October: English Civil War: King Charles passes through Birmingham whilst travelling to the Battle of Edgehill; the townsfolk seize the Kings carriages containing the royal plate and furniture which they convey for security to Warwick Castle, a parliamentary stronghold. Battle of Kings Norton: nine troops of horse and 200 foot under the command of Prince Rupert fight a skirmish with a force of 800 Parliamentarians under the command of Lord Willoughby of Parham. The Parliamentarians lose about 20 men whilst the Royalists lose between 50 and 80 killed, with a further 20 taken prisoner. 1643 3 April (Easter Monday): Battle of Camp Hill, a Royalist victory after which 80 houses in the town are torched. Aston Hall is severely damaged by Parliamentary troops. 1648 – A paper mill is recorded as being in use in Perry Barr. 1656 – New building for the Birmingham Library completed; this will be closed after 1660. 1665 – Birmingham suffers heavy losses by the plague. c. 1687 – Father Andrew Bromwich founds a Roman Catholic mission at Old Oscott, origin of St Mary's College, Oscott. 1695 – First fire engine in Birmingham. 1697 – John Pemberton purchases the land once the site of the Priory of St Thomas of Canterbury.
1700–1799
1700–1709 1700 John Pemberton begins construction of his prestigious Priory Estate on the former site of the Priory of St Thomas. Population: 15,000 (approximate number). 1702 – The Old Cross, Birmingham's first public meeting place, is completed near the Bull Ring. 1704 – 25 May: Church of the Ascension, Hall Green, consecrated as "Job Marston Chapel". 1707 – The timber structure of the Guild Hall on New Street is demolished. 1708 The vacant New Street site becomes King Edward's School and a two-storey brick building is constructed on it. Parliament receives a petition for a new Anglican church as St Martin's is overcrowded.
1710–1719 1713 – Old Square is constructed by John Pemberton on the former site of the Priory of St. Thomas. 1714 – Mobs attack religious Dissenters. 1715 St Philip's Church is consecrated (although the tower is not yet complete). The Jacobite rising sees a mob attack the Lower Meeting House in Digbeth.
1720–1729 1724 – The Blue Coat School on Colmore Row is completed. 1726 – The Bristol Road, which has suffered from intense traffic, is one of the first roads serving Birmingham to be turnpiked. 1728 3 September: Matthew Boulton is born to a toymaker in Snow Hill. A building known as 'Leather Hall' on New Street is demolished "while men slept" and three houses are constructed on it which are later replaced by a prison. 'Leather Hall' contained the town's last dungeon.
1730–1739 1730 – William Westley produces the first documentation of a newly constructed square named Old Square. It becomes one of the most prestigious addresses in Birmingham. 1731 – The first map of Birmingham is produced by William Westley. 1732 – c. 14 November: The Birmingham Journal, Birmingham's first local newspaper, is printed by Thomas Warren. 1733 – The town's first workhouse is constructed on Lichfield Street near the modern-day Victoria Law Courts. 1737 – John Baskerville sets up in the Bull Ring as a writing-master. 1738 – March: John Wesley first visits Birmingham, shortly before his evangelical experience.
1740–1749 1740 – Birmingham's first theatre – the Moor Street Theatre – opens, and the town's earliest known orchestral concerts are organised here by organist Barnabas Gunn, though it will soon be closed down and converted into a Methodist chapel. 1741 Summer: Upper Priory Cotton Mill is opened as the world's first mechanised cotton mill by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt near Old Square, donkey-driven; although this is not a commercial success, other Paul-Wyatt cotton mills follow. 16 November: Thomas Aris launches the Birmingham Gazette. The Birmingham Journal has ceased by this date. 1742 – Sampson Lloyd II purchases Owen's Farm in Sparkbrook for £1,290. 1745 – John Baskerville leases an estate which he names 'Easy Hill' on which he builds a house and workshops on land later occupied by Baskerville House. 1746 John Roebuck begins production of sulphuric acid using his lead chamber process in Steelhouse Lane. Nechells Slitting Mill is completed at a cost of £1,212. 1747 Ann Colmore obtains a private act of Parliament, Colemore's Estate Act 1746 (20 Geo. 2. c. 16 ), to sell land on her estate to Birmingham. This allows a massive expansion of the town to the west and the creation of the Jewellery Quarter.
1750–1759 1751 – Methodist meeting house attacked by Jacobites. 1752 – Two theatres on Smallbrook Street and King Street open to the public. 1757 – John Baskerville's Baskerville typeface is first used in a book, a luxury edition of Virgil. 1758 Summer: Benjamin Franklin first visits Birmingham. The land known as Duddeston Hall is renamed to Vauxhall Gardens after the London pleasure park and is opened to the public as an entertainment venue. 1759 The Quaker meeting house is seriously damaged for not sufficiently celebrating the English victories in Canada. 20,000 people are being employed in Birmingham's "toymaking" industry.
1760–1769 1760 The Protestant Dissenting Charity School is established. John Betts & Sons, refiners of precious metals, is established in Birmingham when Alexander Betts moves from Sheffield; the company will still be in family hands in the 21st century. 1761 – Matthew Boulton acquires a five-year lease on Soho Mill. 1762 – A glassworks is recorded as being in use at Snow Hill by Meyer Oppenheim. 1764 – Charles Wesley's sermon at the opening of a chapel on Moor Street is disrupted by rioting. 1765 Taylor's and Lloyds Bank, an ancestor to Lloyds Bank, is opened on Dale End by John Taylor and Sampson Lloyd. Matthew Boulton's Soho Manufactory on Handsworth heath is completed for the mass production of buckles, buttons and other "toys" and becomes a significant tourist attraction. Lunar Society of Birmingham begins to meet. 1766 Matthew Boulton moves into Soho House following completion of Soho Manufactory. An infirmary wing is added to the Lichfield Street workhouse. 1768 24 February: An act is obtained for Birmingham's first canal, the Birmingham Canal. September: First Birmingham Music Festival held over 3 days to raise funds for a General Hospital. 1769