1066 - 1500

The area now known as Warley Woods was originally part of the township of Warley Salop, itself part of the manor of Halas/ Hales at the time of the Norman conquest in 1066. The manor passed to David ap Owen, Prince of Wales in 1177 and his name was added to the name of the manor Hales-owen. In 1214 King John gave the manor of Halesowen to the Bishop of Winchester to found a religious house. The area of land, which was to become Warley Woods Park, was administered by Halesowen Abbey. In the medieval period the area of Warley Woods probably consisted of enclosed fields and woodland. You can see eroded traces of the medieval ridge and furrow within the Park today and from vertical aerial photographs taken quite recently. The area was administered from Warley Hall farm, which lay to the west of present day Harborne Road.