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 Hay Hall is the only remnant of mediaeval architecture still extant in the Hay Mills area. How it came to survive the industrialisation of Tyseley and become a listed building remains a mystery, although the present owners T.I.Reynolds Ltd must claim a lot of the credit.

The Hall lies between Tyseley Station and the Grand Union Canal, and is completely surrounded on all sides by industrial premises. It was originally moated, and occupied an excellent defensive position, which was essential as a characteristic of those times. It was originally a half timbered building, but there have been many structural changes at the hall over the seven or so centuries that it has existed, but there is nothing now left of the original building founded by the De La Haye family c.1260. 

 The Este family became the new heads of Hay Hall in 1423, when the De La Haye heiress, Marian, married Thomas Este. They are commemorated in St.Edburgha's Church at Yardley by a wall sculpture depicting Thomas and Marian. Thomas Este was himself, a gentleman at the courts of King Henry V and Henry V1 and was a renowned soldier who fought at the French wars and at Agincourt.

 The Este family continued in residence at Hay Hall until the late seventeenth century. Since then, Hay Hall changed hands frequently over more than two hundred years, until 1917, when the Patented Butted Tube Company headed by Mr A.M.Reynolds purchased Hay Hall and 13 acres of land for ?5,000. New Tube works were built, but fortunately Hay Hall was saved from demolition.

In 1921 Patented Butted Tube Company became Reynolds Tubes Ltd. In 1929 Tube Investments took over the company and it would appear that they also employed the last person to actually reside at Hay Hall ? this was a Mrs Shelley who was employed as a housekeeper and was known to be living in the Hall in 1939.

T.I. (Reynolds) Limited are still the owners of Hay Hall and its surrounding acreage, and have found the time and finances to not only protect the Hall from its natural decay, but also to restore as much as possible the ancient House to its former glory.

Acknowledgements to

James.T.Cooke

?Notes on the History of Hay Mills?

Photos by Colin Hickman

Hay Hall
View From Redfern Road
Tyseley
February-25-2001