Mamble in the 10th
Century was known to the Saxons as 'Momela
gemaera' which is probably derived from the old
British name mam, meaning hill. It is later
referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 as
Mamele. Variations on the spelling were recorded
over the centuries until the 17th century when
the current spelling of Mamble became established.
Although stone age
implements and iron age camps have been found in
the area, the earliest known inhabitants of
Mamble are the Romans. Several curious Roman
relics were discovered in 1807 when the old manor
house at Sodington, south of Mamble village, was
taken down. The finds included a complete brick
kiln containing about 10,000 bricks part way
through the baking process, a pavement, and a
considerable aqueduct. The aqueduct was made from
clay tubes, two feet long and four inches in
diameter, which fitted together without the need
for mortar to make the joint airtight. The
aqueduct was used to bring water from a spring
one and a half miles away. At the time of the
find it was proposed that Sodington may have been
the site of a Roman fort in existence at the time
the Romans left Britain in 418.
 With the departure of the Romans
this area may have been left desolate as the
Saxons pushed the Britons westwards. Eventually
this area came under the control of the West
Saxons and bordered the kingdom of Hwicca which
incorporated most of the current county of
Worcestershire. Prior to the Norman invasion of
1066 the territory was arranged into shires and
then subdivided into administrative areas called
hundreds with Mamble in Doddingtree Hundred. Each
hundred possessed a court and officers and the
court was usually held in the open at some
ancient site where a stone or great tree was
prominent, such as at Doddingtree.
After the Norman
conquest of 1066 Mamble came under the
overlordship of the Mortimer family who were said
to be related to William the Conqueror. The
principal seat of the Mortimers was established
at Wigmore (Wigmore Castle), Herefordshire and they built
or rebuilt a castle at Cleobury Mortimer (Mortimer's
Cleobury). By the early 13th century Mamble had
divided into the two manors of Mamble and
Sodington and the Norman's had built the village
church which still stands today. In 1328 the
Mortimers became Earls of March and this
continued
until the earldom merged in the crown on the
accession of Edward IV. Overlordship, by the
Mortimers, of Mamble and Sodington continued
until the 17th century.
If the following report
is to be believed Mamble was not a sleepy village
in the 14th century. In 1344 John Curdwell the
vicar of Mamble parish requested a move to
another parish. The reason for his request arose
from 'the violent hatreds and quarrels that raged
about Mamble; and that, from fear of death, or
some capital injury which he might receive from
his enemies, he could not live there'.
 During
the 14th century ownership of the manors passed
into two families who were to hold them for many
centuries - the Blounts at Sodington and the
Meyseys at Mamble who also held Shakenhurst at
nearby Bayton. The ancient manor house at
Sodington has long since disappeared. Nash in the
18th century refers to the ruins as having the
appearance of a house formerly of some strength
with four drawbridges over a moat. It is unlikely
to have been a defensive moat, however, it would
have served as a deterrent to robbers and
vagrants and illustrate the status of the manor.
The house was burnt down during the Civil War.
The Blounts were notable
for their faithful adherence to the Roman
Catholic faith and they gave their most zealous
support to the Crown. Tradition has it that in
1645 a considerable number of Cromwell's
Parliamentarian soldiers were quartered in and
about Cleobury. Sir Walter Blount would not allow
them to make use of his forges at Mawley for the
repair of their arms and shoeing of their horses.
The Parliamentarians consequently burnt down
Sodington and Blount was later imprisoned in the
Tower of London and his estates confiscated by
Cromwell. A cluster of trees today shows where
the old manor was sited.
The Sun
& Slipper Inn at the centre of the village
was built in the late 16th or early 17th century.
It was formerly known as the Sun Inn, the sun is
believed to be the heraldic device featured in
the arms of the Blount family. A local story
tells of a bloodstain on the stairs of the
village pub, where a duel was fought, which can
be never be cleaned off.
 As you might anticipate in rural
Worcestershire, many of Mamble's inhabitants
worked in agriculture including dairy and sheep
farming and the growing of crops such as wheat,
barley, oats and fruit. However, coal mining
commenced in the area in the 14th century and the
West Worcestershire Coalfield once had village
centres at Mamble, Bayton and Pensax with the
pits known locally as 'dilly-holes'. The local
coal was used for household fuel and brick making
and was found to be especially good for yellowing
and preserving hops due to it's high sulphur
content. By the early 18th century there were
mines on the Shakenhurst Estate and on the Blount
lands where the main activity was on either
side of the Marlbrook valley, at Footrid, to the
south west of Mamble. These early mines were
typically bell-pits were a miner would dig a hole
down several feet to the coal seam and then work
the coal surrounding the hole until imminent
collapse prevented further digging. Remains of
these mines can still be seen in the fields
around Mamble in the form of a raised spoil heap
with a circular hollow in the middle.
 In
1791 construction began on a canal route to link
Herefordshire, via the River Severn at Stourport,
to the rapidly growing canal network. The first
section from the Wharf House at Marlbrook, near
Mamble, to Woofferton opened in 1794. The first
boat carried coal from the Blounts' mine at
Mamble and arrived at Tenbury where the coal was
distributed amongst the poor. For the Blounts the
canal meant that they were no longer limited to
supplying coal to the immediate locality but
could now transport and sell their coal
competitively to Herefordshire. A tramway, using
horse-drawn vehicles, was constructed to connect
the Blount's mines with the canal. It consisted
of several tramways emanating from the mines at
Mamble that converged into one tramway at Footrid
which continued down the Marlbrook valley to the
Wharf House where the coal was loaded on to
barges.
Construction on the
rest of the canal continued and the Southnet
Tunnel from the wharf at Marlbrook towards Frith
Common was nearing completion when part of the
tunnel collapsed. By 1797 the money had run out
to repair the still unused Southnet tunnel and
complete the canal. With the emergence of the
railways in the mid 19th century the canal had
insufficient traffic to make it profitable. In
particular, cheaper and better quality coal was
now available in Herefordshire. Eventually, in
1859, the canal was closed and the Blount's mines
were again dependant on local trade. By the mid
1870s the Blounts had relinquished their interest
in coal mining.
 The
1891 Census of Mamble shows that, in addition to
agriculture and mining, the remaining inhabitants
were employed in the following occupations:
butcher, general labourer, laundress, dressmaker,
domestic servant, inn keeper, bar maid,
blacksmith, carpenter, grocer, tailor, groom,
coachman, and game keeper.
Coal mining continued
at Mamble into the 20th century. The Blounts had
leased two collieries to Thomas Aston in the 1870s.
Buckets Leasow Colliery worked the area to the
south of Mamble and employed up to 26 workers and
closed in 1921. Mamble Colliery worked the area
to the south west of Mamble and employed up to 30
workers until the Astons abandoned the mine in
1925. Both mines continued to wind men and coal
up the shafts with hand winding until their
closure.
The Bayton Colliery
Company, who mined on the Shakenhurst Estate at
Bayton, commenced coal mining at Hunthouse to the
south east of Mamble in 1924. This mine was
rapidly developed and a tramway, and later a
road, were constructed from the mine to the road.
In 1934 the company also opened a mine, known as
New Mamble Colliery, to the west of Upper Moor
End Farm at Mamble. This mine employed about 40
workers. The mine was unsuccessful, losing money
and subject to flooding from old coal workings,
and closed in 1944. After the 2nd World War the
Bayton Colliery Company relinquished control of
the mine at Hunthouse to the National Coal Board
who subsequently closed it in 1950. However,
mining at Hunthouse was revived in 1954 by the
Mole family of Clows Top. The mine, which
employed about 30 workers, was closed in 1972 due
to flooding and with this event coal mining
finally ceased in the Mamble area.
|
Mamble
Village Home Page
