Introduction to Highley

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History of Highley

Highley is a small parish, bounded on its east side by the River Severn and to the west by the Borle Brook. It sits on coal measure rocks belonging to the Wyre Forest Coalfield.

The prehistoric period in Highley is so far represented by a single flint. Some shards of probable Roman pottery have been found in the north of the parish, (suggesting the presence of a Romano-British farm); a less convincing fragment has been discovered in the south. The name “Highley” is Saxon, the ley element is from leah meaning a woodland clearance. Thus when the village got its name in the Middle Saxon period, it was surrounded by woodland. This would probably have been continuous to the south with the Wyre Forest. It is most likely that the Romano-British settlement had either vanished or at least shrunk considerably in size by the time of the Saxon takeover. The first part of the village’s name is hard to translate; it may be the name of an individual (Huga) who perhaps first held the settlement.

Highley first appears in the historical record in the Domesday book, as a small village belonging to the Countess Godifgu, better known as Lady Godiva. Godiva had been the wife of the late Leofric, Earl of Mercia. It is likely that she held Highley as part of her Dower; land that belonged to the Earls of Mercia but which had been granted to Godiva for her life, to provide her with an income after the death of her husband. Godiva held one more local village; Chetton, a few miles to the north east. Chetton was a much more substantial settlement than Highley at the time of Domesday. Woodland was an important resource in medieval times, as a source of fuel, building materials and for grazing but it is likely that Chetton itself was not particularly well wooded. It is possible that Highley became associated with Chetton in Middle Saxon times to give the larger parish a share in the Wyre Forest and access to woodland.

After the Conquest, Highley eventually became part of the estate of Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury. Roger in turn let it to a tenant, Ralph de Mortimer. When Roger’s son, Roger de Belleme, unsuccessfully rebelled against King Henry I in 1104, the Mortimer’s obtained Highley directly from the King. In turn, they let it to tenants of their own; around 1150 the manor belonged to William de Highley and it was probably this individual who granted the church to Wigmore Abbey. By 1200 the de Highley family had no male heirs and the manor had become fragmented with several different owners. Subsequently the Mortimers re-established direct control over most of the village. In 1267, Highley was one of the Mortimer holdings in south-east Shropshire included in the Liberty of Cleobury. Following his support for King Henry III at the battle of Evesham, Roger de Mortimer was allowed to consolidate some of his Shropshire manors into this new district. Mortimer had virtually free reign to do as he wished within the liberty; it was outside the normal government of the county and the Sheriff of Shropshire, responsible for enforcing the king’s writ in the rest of the county, had no powers within it. At this period, Highley was often grouped with Earnwood and indeed the Park of Earnwood (effectively the deer farm responsible for stocking the Mortimers’ private hunting grounds in the Chace ot Wyre) extended into Highley. In compensation, a small part of Earnwood was within the manor of Highley. It was probably Highley’s position at the northern flank of the Wyre Forest that was the reason why the Mortimers wished to control it directly.

The Mortimers became increasingly involved in national politics and so it is unlikely that any of the male heads of the family ever spent time in Highley, apart from the odd hunting expedition (their lodge was in Earnwood). Their interests in the village would have been looked after by a steward. By late medieval times Highley, along with the rest of the Mortimer possessions, had become the property of the crown and the manor farm was leased out to a tenant. This pattern continued into later periods; the manor was owned by a series of absentee landowners, with the farms in the village all being held on leases.

At the start of the 17th Century, Highley belonged to the Littleton family of Hagley. The latter were short of money and most of the farms in the village were sold off. These were initially purchased by local families, but by the end of the century they were almost all held by outsiders and let to tenant farmers. Also at the start of the 17th Century, the medieval open fields were enclosed and the common, an area of wood-pasture in the north of the village called Higley Wood, was divided up amongst the chief villagers.

The early 18th Century saw the arrival of the Jordin family in Highley. They were based at Netherton, where Richard Cresswell, an absentee Lord of the Manor, had rebuilt an old house as a new dwelling for his steward. Over a period of around 100 years, the Jordins purchased much of the land in the south of the village to the extent that they became self-styled squires of Highley. By this date the title was meaningless; the real power that the Jordins had came from their ownership of property. In mid Victorian times, Samuel Du Pre, the vicar established a substantial estate in the north of Highley, although this was not as large as that of the Jordins and their remained areas of the village owned by neither man. The Jordin estate passed to the Beddard family in the 1880s and remained intact until 1945.

There had been a substantial colliery on the banks of the River Severn at Stanley at the start of the 19th Century, but this had closed by the early 1820s. However, mining returned in the late 1870s and in 1877 the Highley Mining Company was formed. They found coal in their new sinking in 1879 and the Highley Colliery soon flourished. It was joined in the 1890s by a second pit at Kinlet. The first terrace for miners at Highley was erected around 1884 by a speculative builder called John Webb and it was followed by new shops along the High Street. At the turn of the Century, three new terraces were built in the village centre, largely by the efforts of a spin-off from the Highley Mining Company called the Highley Land and Building Company. In 1910 a company was formed to redevelop Billingsley Colliery and they began work on a model “garden village” in the north of Highley in 1914. Although this was never developed to anything like the planned extent, by 1921 Highley had grown from 363 inhabitants to 1985 in just 40 years.

Subsequent growth was slower. Billingsley Colliery closed in 1921 but Highley and Kinlet remained open. In 1935 the Highley Mining Company started work on a new mine at Alveley, thereby ensuring continued employment. In the 1960s there was again further growth in the village as new housing estates were constructed. Mining ceased in 1969 but by there was relatively little long-term employment, with men finding new jobs in Bridgnorth, Kidderminster and Telford. Highley successfully re-invented itself as a commuter village. Today it has around 3500 inhabitants, making it one of the largest villages in Shropshire.

Introduction to Highley

History of Highley

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