The city of Birmingham, in England, has a long military history and has been for several centuries a major manufacturer of weapons. It may have been between Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Roman Britain
At Metchley Park, near Harborne, there are the remains of two large 1st century Roman forts, it is believed that they were used as a base during the invasion of Britain and could have been used in the first north-western advance into Cheshire and Wales. Much of the site is now gone; the construction of the banks of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal resulted in part destruction of the southern extremity of the camp, including most of its fort. The most recent excavation took place in 1999 and it was established that the main fort probably housed a cohors equitata milliaria, this comprised a minimum mixed force of 1,000 men who were heavily armoured foot-soldiers with a complement of a lightly armed cavalry unit.
In the 19th century people theorized that the camp was built by the ancient Britons (a theory supported by its being adjacent to the line of Ryknild Street) which runs through the area, others proposed that it was built by the Danes although no factual evidence supports this theory. Some few pieces of ancient weapons, such as swords and battle axes, and portions of bucklers have been found at the site.
Excavations have uncovered Roman granaries, storehouses, barracks, a rampart with timber towers, a guard chamber, various smaller buildings, pottery and tools. These have dated the fort to a few years after the Romans first landed in Kent. It is now thought that the site was abandoned by the end of the 1st century.
Roman discovery
In June 2006 new Roman artefacts were discovered next to a McDonald's in Kings Norton.
Local archaeologist Peter Osborn has suggested that there is a strong possibility that the battle between ancient Briton warrior queen Boadicea and the Romans took place in or around the area now called Birmingham sometime during 61 AD.
"We know for certain that the battle between the 200,000 ancient Britons and the Romans happened somewhere in the Midlands." "This spot is on the route to Metchley, the Roman fort in Birmingham and it's for this reason, if no other, that we think this could be where the battle took place".
However Dr Simon Esmonde Cleary, an archaeology expert at the University of Birmingham, remains sceptical.
Until recently suggestions for the battle field site range from Leicestershire to Warwickshire.
The construction of new apartments has been put on hold until a full excavation is completed.
14th century
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15th century
16th century: the Spanish Armada
By the early 16th century Birmingham was already a centre of metal working for example when Henry VIII was making plans to invaded Scotland in 1523 Birmingham smithies supplied bulk orders for bodkin arrowheads for use by his army.
In 1538 churchman John Leialand passed through the Midlands and wrote:
The two main towns responsible for military weapons at this time were Birmingham and London, Henry VIII however did not look kindly on British made weapons and he turned to Italy for help in the manufacture of bronze cannons, he bought shells and bombs from the Dutch and much of the armoury and swords came from the more experienced Flemish. The majority of gunpowder was delivered from Antwerp until the threatened invasion by the Spanish in 1588. Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake failed to capitalise on an initial victory over Philip II of Spain's fleet and allowed it to sail up the Channel due to low supplies of imported gunpowder, this proved the importance of more British arms manufacture as opposed to relying on imports.
During the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada, the nobility and gentry of Birmingham and adjoining counties, contributed large sums of money which are said to have been sufficient to hire and equip around 43 war ships. A 19th century book of the region's history describes a subscription of £25 each from William Kinge and William Collmer (Colmore), of Burmingham; Richard Middlemore, Edgbaston; Mrs. Margarett Knowlys, Nuneaton; Gabriell Powltney, Knowle and Richard Corbett, Meryden, &c.