Aston village
Besides the church and Aston Hall, Aston village consisted of only a few houses, taverns, the Holte almshouses completed in 1656 and a fine Georgian rectory unhappily demolished when Aston Expressway was built, some scattered farms, a mill and Aston Furnace.
The area began to expand in the early nineteenth century and this is when Lozells and the area between Aston and Â鶹ÊÓƵ began to develop into a mix of workers' housing, small factories and workshops and small shopping centres such as High Street, Newtown, Six Ways, Aston and Lozells Road.
A few larger factories such as Aston Manor Brewery, Hercules Cycles, Hudson & Co. Whistles, Norton Motorcycle Works, Martindale's Crocodile Works in Alma Street and the HP Sauce factory helped to give the area its industrial character.