Glimpses of Medieval Birmingham A medieval oven was found in
Sutton Coldfield town centre during a dig before an office on
Coleshill Street near Holy Trinity church was extended. It is
oval, about 1.2 metres across, and was constructed in a hollow
by building up a clay wall into a dome on a framework of twigs.
The clay was hardened by firing. The oven had collapsed but
still contained charred rye grains. Pottery fragments show that
the oven dates to the 13th or 14th centuries. The oven would
have been in the back yard of a house. The house would have been
timber, so there was always a fire risk and it made a lot of
sense to have the oven outside. The oven could have been used
for baking bread, drying grain or malting grain to make ale.
Primrose Hill Farm in Meadowsweet Road is a 15th century timber
framed building consisting of a hall with a cross-wing running
at right angles to its east end. A small excavation to the east
of the hall revealed a stone sill wall constructed of large
sandstone blocks, which cou