William Dargue  A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames from A to Y

Frogmill

B45 - Grid reference SO997782

Froggemulle: first record 1373

 

Frog Mill was a post-medieval watermill which stood until the early 19th century on the River Rea near the lane of the same name. There are now no visible traces. The location is now in modern Frankley.

 

Names with a 'frog' element are common in England and many date back to the Middle Ages. Frogs are generally land dwellers outside the breeding season. In early spring they look for the still water where they themselves hatched to mate and lay their eggs. The implication of frog placenames is of wet marshland.

 

See also Frankley.

 

Above right: Frogmill Farm 1900

Below: Harvest-time at Frogmill Farm 1898

Thanks to Local History Digital Archive of the History Department of King Edward VI Grammar School, Five Ways, Bartley Green.

 

William Dargue 13.11.2008/ 02.08.2010

 

For 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Birmingham go to British History Online.

See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.aspx?compid=55144&sheetid=9255&ox=2878&oy=542&zm=2&czm=2&x=527&y=256

 

Map below reproduced from Andrew Rowbottom’s website of Old Ordnance Survey maps Popular Edition, Birmingham 1921. Click the map to link to that website.