232 KING'S NORTON.

Baroness Windsor and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The Iknield Street passes through the parish.

James I granted to the place a Saturday's market and two fairs in the year. Among the gentlemen fined by Charles I for not accepting knighthood were Robert Gower, William Field, Richard Rotten, and Thomas Green, all of this place; and George Middlemore was one of those who compounded for their estates. The ancient family of Greves, once the owners of Moseley Hall, and the Greswoldes were also among the long past generations of King's Norton. The Middlemores were zealous Royalists during the civil wars. Miss Middlemore, now residing in the Pershore Road, is still the owner of Hawksley, in this parish, where stood the house of that name which was besieged and burnt in 1645. There are Greveses hereabout, but supposed not to be direct descendants of that ancient family which fell into poverty. The Fields were clerks and beadles of the parish for upwards of two centuries, two alone of that name holding office for 102 years between them!

At the Bull's Head Inn, in this parish, are two old pictures, one representing the Rev. Mr. Knight, a former incumbent of Stoke Prior, and the other a youth, said to have been the parson's jester. On the back of the picture are the words, "Painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller, London." If Mr. Knight died about 1751, as supposed, was not this a late period for a professional jester to be kept!

There are the following curious names of places in the parish:- Tin Meadow, Hob Irons, The Dole, Hobbis's Piece, Pucklin's Meadow, Warstock Piece, Upper and Lower Dobbins, and Barrow Field.