1603 - 1714

The Stuart period began when, in 1603, King James the Sixth of Scotland, the First of England, succeeded to the throne of England in the absence of any direct Tudor claimant, and came south to claim his right to rule and - more importantly to him - English revenues. The troubled dynasty that he founded, whilst it created the beginnings of Great Britain by unifying the crowns of Scotland and England, also beset it with myriad troubles including a devastating civil war. Nevertheless the recorded history of Amblecote flourishes in this period, with many surviving archives on which to build the narrative. Glass making first came to the area during this time and, as as result of expanded administration, there are maps and estate records which tell us a great deal about how this proto-industral revolution did much to influence the general industrialisation that followed. Amblecote also played a tiny but significant role in the great English Civil Wars of the mid 17th century - when King Charles the First fled the field at Worcester north by means of Stourbridge and Amblecote.