The origins of Walsall are lost in the mists of time. The etymology of the town's name suggest a surviving settlement of Celtic speaking inhabitants during the period of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Mercia during the early medieval era.
Apart from a possible mention as Walesho in a will of 1002-4 the name of Walsall does not again occur in the historical record until 1159.
In common with a number of important royal centres Walsall is absent from the Domesday Survey of 1086, though the meeting of several Anglo-Saxon through routes at the foot of Church Hill suggests an early settlement occupying a defended position on the hill.
By the early 1200s a borough had been created with the establishment of a broad planned High Street leading from Digbeth to Church Hill.
