Birmingham and its suburbs have dramatically changed over the years, from being towns in their own right to part of Birmingham.
Starting way back in Saxon times when Birmingham was just a tiny settlement, it grew due to its location. The de Bermingham family held the Lordship of the manor of Birmingham for around four centuries from 1150. In 1166 Peter de Birmingham manged to obtain a market charter from Henry II and in 1250 William de Bermingham obtained permission to hold a four day fair at Whitsun.
By the start of the industrial revolution Birmingham became a major centre with coal, iron and goods all passing through. The city of ‘1000 trades’ was crucial to the success of the country.
Read more: What Birmingham used to look like at Christmas before the German Market arrived
Areas like Northfield, Acocks Green, Sparkhill were only villages in their own right and we taken into Birmingham. Northfield became part of Birmingham in 1911 and rapidly expanded after being part of north Worcestershire. Aston Manor and Erdington also became part of Birmingham under the Greater Birmingham scheme, joining from Warwickshire in the same year. Perry Barr in Staffordshire became part of Birmingham a little later in 1928.
Birmingham became part of the West Midlands when the county was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act of 1972 and is the reason why we have Warwickshire Cricket Club in the heart of the West Midlands and not Warwickshire.
Each suburb has its own little quirks and individual areas but together we all make the great city we live in today.