A market town built on wool, pottery and a 1616 charter

By the Tudor period Kings Norton Village had developed beyond a purely agricultural settlement. Birmingham City Council records it as a trading and manufacturing centre for wool and pottery.

Its links with larger and growing towns expanded, and a market charter was awarded in 1616. That charter sits behind the picture of Kings Norton as a small but locally important centre of exchange rather than an isolated rural village.

The story also helps explain why substantial buildings and institutions accumulated around The Green.