by AndrewPardoe » Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:02 pm
Hello Everyone,
I want to take this oportunity to introduce my self. My Interests are Pardoes, Westwoods, Chances,Taylors, Hills, Rounds and Perks. Whilst researching these famillies I noticed how many appeared to first move into the Lye area between about 1630 and 1650. This made me curious as to what was happening in Lye then.
I found the following reference in Nigel Perry's History of Stourbridge:-
At the beginning of the 17th Century Lye Waste on the Eastern boundary of the parish had only aa few cottages and little importance other than as a common on which the people of Lye could graze their animals. In October 1627 Samuel Addenbrooke surrendered one meadow of land at le Waste Hayes with ditaches and hedges on which he had recently built one cottage, to the use of Henry Addnebrooke and his wife Elenor. By October 1638 fines were being levied at one court sitting on no less than10 persons for encroaching on Lye Waste, namely John Perkes de Lye, William Bach, John Buffery, William Hill John Westwood, William Round, John and Thomas Siddaway, John Milward and Henry Addenbrook.
I think we have hear the origins of the Lye Waste Community. Note that the Westwood, Hill, Perks, Round, Syddaway and Bache family are all shown as resident on the 1781 Enclosure Map of Lye Waste. I think we can conclusively say that they are decendants of these 1638 settlers.
The interesting question is then who were these settlers and where did they come from?
Milwards:- Extensive landowners in Lye. Owners of Wollaston Hall
Addenbrokes:- The Addenbrooks were a wealthy Stourbridge family who owned Lye Mill and had coal and clay
and mining interests.
Westwoods:- The Westwoods were Scythesmiths. Samuel Westwood owned Westwoods mill in Cradley.
There are references to John, Richard and William Westwood:-All Scythesmiths.
Sydaways:- Customary Tenants of Cradley Manor. They have marriage connections with the Perks and
Darby Families. The Darby Family were Mill owners @ Oldnall. They sold out to the
Hill Family who were Scythesmiths.
Perks:- John Perks is described as a lock smith he employed John and Francis Westwoods as apprentices circa
1670. He was related to the Sydaways by marriage.
Bufferys:- Family of Dudley Yeomen. They helds land there. They are probably related
to the Bufferys who lords of the manor of Lower Penn in the 15th Century.
Hills:- There are several families of Hills in Lye. One family purchased Oldnall from the Darby's
and became prosperous Scythe smiths.
Baches:- The Bache were nailors from Dudley. They were connected
with the Darby Family of Oldnall.There also appears to be a connection between the Bache Family
of Oldswinford and the Bache Family of Churchill Forge.
Conclusions:- The early settlers of Lye Waste were a socially mixed group ranging from minor gentry and yeoman to
skilled work men. They were mostly local and probably settled there to exploit new economic
opportunities. One possibility is that the more prosperous gentry and yeomen were developing water
power along the Stour. This could be used to power forge hammers and grind scythes. This development
would have opened up opportunitues for Scythesmiths, Lock smiths and nailors ect.
Andrew Pardoe