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260 million years ago – Permian
The Bridgnorth Sandstone Formation, is laid down, this is created in a very hot dry desert the dunes of which eventually form Kinver Edge.
250 million years ago - Triassic
The overlying conglomerates of the Kidderminster Formation (the ‘Bunter Pebble Beds’), which are flash flood deposits, are laid down.
10,000-3000 years ago
Scatters of worked flints show that Mesolithic hunters lived on and around Kinver Edge which was then covered in dense forest. The tools of Neolithic and Bronze Age farmers have also been found nearby.
1150 - 300 BC – the Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age
A promontory hillfort (one of three in the immediate area) was constructed at Solcum Aylesbury above the Drakelow site. This fort was protected by the massive ditches which are still visible today.
Late Iron Age and Roman Periods
Pottery and implements found in the vicinity show that the area was densely settled. The hillfort may still have been in use during and after the Roman period (as were nearby Kinver and Arley Wood hillforts).
866 and 964 AD – Anglo-Saxon
Two Anglo-Saxon charters describe land in Wolverley and Cookley. The hillfort at Solcum is mentioned in the charters as a boundary marker.
1067 – Post-Norman Conquest
William the Conqueror grants land at Cullacliffe to Worcester Abbey.
1067-1500 Medieval
Drakelow In 1240 the site belonged to the Priory of Saint Mary at Worcester. Records from the 13th and 14th centuries detail people with names which suggest they live in caves, eg Edwin Cave (late 12th century),William of Hale or Hole (1280) or Agnes in the Hole mother of John in the Hole (1325) Richard in the Holie and Thomas Le Hollow (1327). “Cave Clearing” in mentioned in 1143.
Nearby Holly Austin Rock (like Holy Austin Rock in Kinver or the rock cut hermitages of Stourport, Bewdley and Bridgnorth) suggests that medieval monks are creating cave dwellings.
1377
In 1377 there is a Reference to taking stone from “Colkeles Cregg”.
1649-50 –English Commonwealth.
Parliamentary Survey of Church Livings lists common land at Cookley Wood. “Burr Oaks” are mentioned as is the right of locals to use the land.
1711
Indenture for a “ancient cottage or tenement” at Cookley Wood probably refers to an already “ancient” cave dwelling.
1774
Common Land at Blakeshall Common enclosed by Sebright and Knight families. Maps of this time show outlines of the cave house gardens. People whose livings relied on use of the Common Land will have struggled to survive.
1800s
Field maps show the site as “North Cookley Wood” and “South Cookley Wood”
1824
Site visited by naturalists recording wild flowers in Worcestershire.
1845
Site purchased by William Hancock of Blakeshall Hall.
1850’s
Brick obelisk erected on a knoll in honour of the 17th century preacher Richard Baxter. The “Swiss Village” built on the south side of the site.
1855
Schoolhouse built on site later occasionally used as a church.
1920
Blakeshall Estate purchased by the Grazebrook family.
1941-48
The Drakelow part of the Blakeshall estate compulsorily purchased and the underground Rover factory built beneath the site. Factory remained partially in use until 1948. Most of the cave dwellers are evicted and will never return.
1958-1980
Part of the tunnel complex becomes a Regional Seat of Government, an emergency base for use in the event of war.
1981
The surface buildings of the Swiss Village are partially demolished as are the most of the Second World War surface buildings (these were clustered in the south west of the site).
1981-1993
The Regional Seat of Government is much reduced in size and is restricted to the northern part of the site.
1993
Ministry of Defence dispose of the Drakelow site to a private purchaser.
2006
Drakelow Preservation Trust formed to prevent the destruction of the site
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