The Story of Finstall: The 1640s to the 1940s

This light-hearted, liberally illustrated book tells of the way that the tiny Finstall hamlet of the seventeenth century grew, as more and more wealthy business men took over the farms. The farmland changed and their farmhouses became ‘gentlemen’s properties’, as the incomers such as Arthur Albright from Birmingham and Richard Brettell from Stourbridge bought up more and more land. There are chapters on the histories of The Oakalls, Rigby Hall, Grimley Hall and Dusthouse Lane. The Cross Inn, which was selling ale from the 18th century, and the Village Hall built in 1904, are still at the centre of the village. There was a nationally known Stud Farm where racehorses were bred for William Everitt, and later, heavier farm horses were bred for John Boultbee Brooks. This book follows From Bromsgrove to Aston Fields which Jennie McGregor-Smith wrote in 2008.