William Dargue A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames from A to Y
Farmons, Farmons Green
B13 - Grid reference SP065824
First record 1597
The location of Farmons in Moseley is not known but it may have lain in the Moor Green area as Moor Green Forge on the River Rea was earlier known as known as Farmons Mill. Indeed it may have been the estate later known as Moor Green. Farmons was referred to as a manor in a deed of 1607 and almost certainly derived its name from a surname. A John Farmon lived in Kings Norton in 1327. The manor later belonged to James, Earl of Wiltshire but was seized by the King on Wiltshire's attainder at the accession of Edward IV in 1461.
In 1607 Joh (Joseph?) More of Moseley, yeoman, was referred to as lord of half the manor of Farmons. An indenture of 1661 relating to a marriage settlement referred to John Moore of Farmons
Greene, Farmons in the parish of Kings Norton. In 1777 the manor was in the hands of Richard Chambers and his wife Anna Maria who sold it after 1780 to William Taylor. In 1903 it was still held
by member of the Taylor family as manorial lord of Kings Norton.
Moor Green Forge, also known as Farmons Mill, was built in Tudor times. It stood on the River Rea near Holders Lane, and was first recorded in 1597 when it was sold by the Middlemore family to
the More/ Moor family along with the manor. From c1780 the Sarjeant family held the lease to the mill until 1841 when a Sarjeant's widow surrended the lease to James Taylor. The freehold was sold
to Charles Umpage, a metal roller. In 1860 William Betts & Co operated the mill until c1880 after which it fell into disuse.
William Dargue 27.04.2009/ 02.08.2010