168 FRANKLEY.

Frankley.

NEAR Northfield, in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. "Frank," free; "ley" or "lea," place; signifying a privileged place, probably in the tenure of the lands not being subject to base services, one proof of which exists in the fact that not one villan is mentioned in Doomsday as existing here. Frankley was formerly a limb of the large parish of Halesowen. Its principal Norman possessors were the families of Fitz-Ansculf, Paganel, Somery, Botetourt, De Frankley, and Lyttelton, with others of lesser note. In the hall or manor house here was born "The English Justinian," Sir Thomas Lyttelton, whose memory has been perpetuated by his "Tenures." In the civil wars the manor house was garrisoned for the King by Prince Rupert, and when he could keep it no longer he burnt it to the ground to prevent the enemy using it; since which time it has not been rebuilt, the Lytteltons having fixed their habitat at Hagley. Sir Henry Lyttelton, knight and baronet of Frankley, whose income amounted to the then large sum of £3,000 per annum, was in the year 1660 put on the list to be created a "Knight of the Royal Oak" a new order intended by the second Charles as a reward for some of his followers, but which project was prudently laid aside. Lord Lyttelton is now lord of the manor, patron of the living, and owns nearly all the parish, which is about six miles in extent, with an acreage of 1,730. Soil, a stiff clay, growing wheat, barley, and turnips; watered by the Stour, which takes its rise in a wood here, passing on to Stourbridge and Kidderminster (where it is most vilely used), and falls into the Severn at Mitton. Population, 123, being on the decrease for some years; pursuits chiefly agricultural, with a few nailers. The value