of Park Hall in Castle Bromwich. John Arden had fallen in love with Alice Bracebridge. John's father, Sir Walter, did not approve. John was kidnapped and taken to Bracebridge Hall. Sir Walter appealed to King Edward IV, who appointed Sir Simon de Montford of Coleshill and Sir Richard Bingham of Middleton to arbitrate. John and Alice were married in February 1474. In 1502 John inherited Park Hall in Castle Bromwich, while his younger brother Thomas settled at Wilmcote near Stratford-upon-Avon. Thomas had a son Robert who was the father of Mary Arden, William Shakespeare's mother. The stones of the church porch show evidence of arrow-sharpening grooves, sometimes said to have been done by soldiers but more probably by hunting parties or locals waiting their turn for the nearby village butts, as all males had to be proficient with a longbow. In 1686, Thomas Coton established one of the first poor schools in Kingsbury. Until the 19th century Kingsbury was a small hamlet, and the main landowner in the area was the Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The Birmingham and Derby Railway was built through Kingsbury in 1839 and industry was soon established, most notably coal mining and gravel extraction, which fuelled the expansion of the village. Governance The village of Kingsbury forms part of a larger civil parish of the same name which includes the nearby settlements of Foul End, Hurley, Hurley Common, Piccadilly and Wood End. In the 2001 Census, the parish had a population of 7,523. The urban area of Kingsbury village itself had 4,168 inhabitants. Kingsbury today The mine, Kingsbury Colliery, has now gone and the railway station was closed in 1968 under the Beeching cuts. although the station building has gone, the station master's house (built by LMS in 1926) still exists alongside the site. The large Kingsbury Oil Terminal, which serve the whole of the Midlands, were established in the late-1960s to the north-east of Kingsbury. Diamond West Midlands service 76/76A which begins in Tamworth provides a regular link to Kingsbury with occasional journeys extended to Sutton Coldfield. Kingsbury Water Park, which is situated between Kingsbury and Bodymoor Heath, is a series of 15 lakes, situated in of land. It was reclaimed from the old gravel pits. It is now home to a camp site, children's play areas, a sailing club, model boat club and jet ski and power boat racing clubs. Kingsbury is now