Site of Anglo-Saxon settlement at Coleshill

Description of this historic site

Sited on a prominent hill on the river Cole, near its confluence with the Blythe and Tame, and close to the Mercian royal centre of Tamworth and Lichfield.

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Notes about this historic site

1 Site of Anglo-Saxon settlement at Coleshill.
The place name ‘Coleshill’ is Anglo-Saxon in origin.
During the early Anglo-Saxon period, Coleshill lay in the area of the Tomesaetan and in the Mercian heartland. Coleshill was a logical place for an administrative and defensive centre, being on a hill above the River Cole, and close to the important royal centre of Tamworth and Lichfied, a bishopric from the 7th century and an archbishopric during the mid Anglo-Saxon period. There is a reference to Coenwulf II of Mercia issuing a charter at Coleshill in 799.
Domesday shows Coleshill was a royal vill (manor) at the centre of the Coleshill Hundred, the largest of the ten Warwickshire Hundreds in 1086.
There was an Anglo-Saxon minster church (which evolved into the Parish church), the centre for the Deanery of Arden which may have roughly corresponded with the Coleshill Hundred extent.
At the time of the Domesday Survey (1086) Coleshill was listed as a royal manor rated at 3 hides.