A little fun puzzle for my readers today.
In the course of researching my post on the Hailstone in April, I came across and mentioned this quote:-
Stone Pillar Worship (Vol. vii., p. 383.) [Date not known but certainly prior to 1879 and probably much earlier.]
“—The Rowley Hills-near Dudley, twelve in number, and each bearing a distinctive name”
This quote has kept coming back to me since writing the post and I wondered whether it was possible still to name the twelve hills today.
Ist Edition OS Map, surveyed between 1814 and 1827. Copywright David & Charles. The hatching of the area of the hills may be a useful clue!
Some are easy. Turners Hill, Darbys Hill, Hailstone Hill and Hyams or Highams Hill spring immediately to mind and are clearly marked on OS and earlier maps.
Was The Knowle one of the hills? The original spelling seems to have been The Knoll which is another term for a Hill so perhaps this was one of the old names.
There was a Rock Hill quarry marked on the 1902 OS Map, near to Darbys Hill, along with Rough Hill shown on the map above Springfield. Hawes Hill, also on the OS maps, lay just below the village.
Surely the hill on which the main street of the village was built, on which the church stands to this day, was Rowley Hill? When I walked to school in Hawes Lane, I certainly knew I was walking up Rowley Hill and if a stranger asked where Rowley church was, you would say that it was at the top of Rowley Hill but that name doesnot appear on any maps. And what happened to Dobbs Bank, shown on the First Edition OS Map? Is a Bank a Hill?
The OS map also shows a Bare Hill Farm, near Oakham and Bare Hill is shown on a map of 1820. The names Rough Hill, Bare Hill and Rock Hill quarry do tell us something of what the terrain looked like.
Was there a Portway Hill – it is still referred to as such today but the road was always just called Portway, rather than Portway Hill and the OS Map labels the hill there Turners Hill, rather than Portway Hill.
Allsop’s Hill is mentioned in documents occasionally but that may have been a later name associated with the owner of the quarry.
Are Haden Hill and Old Hill just too far away? Is Gorsty Hill counted as part of the range of hills? Moving over the county boundary, are Kates Hill or Cawney Hill part of the range, too or Tansley Hill which is just below Oakham and appears to be part of the same range of hills? I did not know that there was a Warrens Hill until I looked at this map. (I wonder whether there were rabbits there?)
Does Bury Hill fall within the group? Was Waterfall Lane ever known by name as a hill? There is plenty to consider.
Goodness, the whole area is hilly!
On a recent trip back to the area, I was struck by how hilly the whole area is, every road seemed to go up or down hills, right over to Merry Hill and Brierley Hill and to Furnace Hill in Halesowen.
So this is my list of the possible candidates. The first twelve appear on OS maps and I personally would regard as part of the range of Rowley Hills. The others are listed in my order of probability and proximity.
- Turners Hill
- Darby’s Hill
- Hailstone Hill
- Highams Hill
- Hawes Hill
- Rough Hill
- Bare Hill
- Rock Hill
- The Knowle/Knoll
- Timmins Hill
- Warrens Hill
- Dobbs Bank
- Rowley Hill
- Portway Hill
- Allsop’s Hill
- Tansley Hill
- Cawney Hill
- Kates Hill
- Gorsty Hill
- Haden Hill
- Old Hill
- Bury Hill
So I would be very interested to know what others think, and would welcome some group participation! Especially, I would welcome thoughts from local people who may know of names I have not found on maps. Answers on a postcard please or better still, please comment if you have views on which were the twelve hills of Rowley or if you know of more possibilities, either here on the blog or on the ‘I remember Blackheath and Rowley Regis’ Facebook page where I will put a link to this article.
rowleyregislosthamlets.co.uk 