Wiggins Hill (sometimes spelled Wigginshill) is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

situated in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. It lies within the City of Birmingham on its northeastern outer fringe, where it forms part of the Sutton Walmley and Minworth electoral ward and borders the North Warwickshire district. It is about halfway between Minworth and Curdworth, and was first documented in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as one of Turchill de Arden's manors. It was spelt then as 'Winchicelle', which meant 'The Farm of Wicga's People'. It also had a seal of antiquity in ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

'', and during that time was known as ''Wincelle''. Wiggins Hill in the Domesday book

In the fields nearby,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

coins of the third and fourth centuries have been found, also earthwork features of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times. The main buildings in Wiggins Hill date to the 17th century. There is a half-timbered cottage with a large barn and a farmhouse with a Dutch gable. Wiggins Hill was a major meeting place for

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

, with a meeting house and cottage being built there in 1724 by the group. Construction cost £100, of which £40 was raised by collections in the county. However, by the 19th century, the number of those attending was low resulting in the closure of the meeting house, which eventually fell into dilapidation. Wiggins Hill did consist of a 15th-century timber-framed house named ''Wincelle'' (the name of the hamlet in ''Magna Carta''); however, in 1910, it was dismantled and reassembled at its current site overlooking

New Hall Valley Country Park New Hall Valley Country Park is a country park located in New Hall Valley between Walmley, Wylde Green and Pype Hayes in the Sutton Coldfield area of north Birmingham. It is the first new country park in the United Kingdom, UK for over a decade. ...

, in

New Hall Valley New Hall Valley Country Park is a country park located in New Hall Valley between Walmley, Wylde Green and Pype Hayes in the Sutton Coldfield area of north Birmingham. It is the first new country park in the UK for over a decade. The park is sp ...

on the Wylde Green Road in

Walmley Walmley is a suburban village situated in the civil parish of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. It lies within the City of Birmingham on its northeastern outer fringe, where it forms part of the Sutton Walmley and Minworth electoral ward. It is i ...

. The nearby Birmingham and Fazeley Canal was built in 1789 and brought passing trade.

References

*''Walmley and its surroundings'' (Chapter VI: Wigginshill), Douglas V. Jones, 1990, Westwood Press () *''The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield - A Commemorative History'', Douglas V. Jones, 1994, Westwood Press () *https://suttoncoldfieldtowncouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Sutton_Walmley_and_Minworth_Ward_2-1.pdf {{authority control Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands Sutton Coldfield