Old Swinford, Worcestershire Family History Guide

Old Swinford is an Ancient Parish in the county of Worcestershire.

Other places in the parish include: Stourbridge, Wollescott, Wollescote, and Upper Swinford.

Alternative names: Oldswinford

Parish registers begin:

Old Swinford: 1602
Stourbridge: 1846

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Independent/Congregational, Methodist New Connexion, Presbyterian, Presbyterian Unitarian, Primitive Methodist, Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

Old Swinford

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

SWINFORD (Old), a parish in Stourbridge district; comprising Stourbridge, Lye, Wollaston, Wollescott, and Upper Swinford townships in Worcestershire, and Amblecoat hamlet in Staffordshire.

Old S. proper adjoins the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton railway, 1 mile SSE of Stourbridge; and has a post-office under Stourbridge. Acres of the parish, 3,315. Real property, £48,270; of which £550 are in mines. Pop. in 1851, 20,238; in 1861, 22,958. houses, 4,676. Useful minerals abound; manufactures of iron, glass, and fire-clay utensils are carried on; and ample communications, by the river Stour, by canals, and by railways, exist.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £781. Patron, the Earl of Dudley. The church is good. The p. curacies of Stourbridge-St. John, Stourbridge-St. Thomas, Lye, Wollaston, and Amble-coat are separate benefices. There are numerous dissenting chapels, several endowed schools with aggregately £3,029 a year, and charities £130.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822

Old-Swinford – a parish in the hundred of Halfshire, lower division, 1 mile S.S.E. from Stourbridge, 7 from Kidderminster, and 128 from London; containing 932 houses, exclusive of the town of Stourbridge, which is in this parish.

The church is a noble gothic structure, with a lofty handsome spire, containing a good ring of bells. Here is a free school, founded by Thomas Foley, Esq. who endowed it with about 1500 acres of land, and other emoluments. There were originally 60 boys on the foundation, but some of the leases having expired, by which the funds have been considerable increased, 10 more boys are admitted. The charity is under similar regulations to those of Christchurch, London. The living is a rectory; Rev. Thos. P. Foley, incumbent; instituted 1797; patron, Lord Foley. Population, exclusive of Stourbridge, 1801, 3766 – 1811, 4380 – 1821, 4980.

Source: Worcestershire Delineated: Being a Topographical Description of Each Parish, Chapelry, Hamlet, &c. In the County; with the distances and bearings from their respective market towns, &c. By C. and J. Greenwood. Printed by T. Bensley, Crane Court, Fleet Street, London, 1822.

Amblecote

The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales 1851

AMBLECOAT, a hamlet in that part of the parish of Old Swinford, which is in Staffordshire, in the union of Stourbridge; 1 mile north of Stourbridge. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the collieries, and earthenware, and iron-works, in the vicinity. Pop., in. 1801, 1,002; in 1831, 1,236. Houses 244. Acres 570. A.P. £3,186. Poor rates, in 1837, £679. There are an infant-school, and four daily schools, here.

Source: The Parliamentary Gazetteer of England and Wales; A Fullarton & Co. Glasgow; 1851.

Stourbridge

Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850

Stourbridge, 129 m. N.W. London. Market, Fri. P. 7481

Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850

Worcestershire Delineated C. and J. Greenwood 1822

Stourbridge – a market town in the hundred of Halfshire, lower division, 6 miles from Dudley, 7 from Kidderminster, 13 from Birmingham, and 123 from London; containing 979 inhabited houses. It derives its name from the river Stour, which divides this part of the county from Staffordshire for several miles, and over which, at the north end of the town, is a good stone bridge.

This place is noted for the manufacture of crown glass, which was first introduced here in 1557, but not carried on to any extent, till about a century afterwards, when the use of coal was substituted for that of wood. The articles manufactured here are very superior, some of which are cut with an extreme degree of elegance, as appears from some fine specimens at Hagley-house, the seat of Lord Lyttleton.

The manufacture of iron is likewise carried on in the neighbourhood of Stourbridge to a very great extent, in articles of every description, but more particularly in that of nails, and it appears, from a M.S. in possession of the Lyttleton family, that coal and iron-stone were worked here as early as the reign of Edward the Third. The Staffordshire canal, which passes the end of the town, and communicates with the Severn at Stourport, has proved of infinite advantage to this place, the trade being almost exclusively in heavy articles.

Stourbridge, though situated in the parish of Old-Swinford, is by an act of Parliament, passed many years since, become independent with respect to parochial assessments. It has also a chapel of its own, built in 1742, by voluntary contributions, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Bishop, not having been consecrated. It is a modern building of brick, in a good style of architecture, standing on the western side of the town: the Rev. Mr. Taylor is the present minister. Here are likewise several places of worship for Dissenters.

In the High-street is a free school, founded by Edward the Sixth, for the classical education of all the boys in the parish, under the government of special trustees, who, with the consent of the Bishop, are empowered to make rules for the regulation of the same. At present there are no boys on the foundation, but as the funds are sufficient to support an English master in addition to the two grammar ones already chosen, the appointment would be very beneficial, as it would not then remain a useless institution. The market, which is well attended, is on Friday, and there are 2 fairs annually, viz. 29th March and 8th Sept. Population, 1801, 3431 – 1811, 4072 – 1821, 5090.

Parish Registers

Marriage Licences and Allegations

London Marriage Licences and Allegations 1521 to 1869

The following have been extracted from London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869.

Abbreviations. — B. Bishop of London’s Office; D. Dean and Chapter of Westminster; F. Faculty Office of Archbishop of Canterbury; V. Registry of the Vicar-General of Canterbury.

Johnson, Peter, of St. Botolph, Aldgate, cowper, and Johanna Pemerton, spinster, of same, daughter of Richard Pemerton, of Sturbridge, co. Worcester, yeoman, deceased — at St. Botolph, Aldgate. 7 Oct. 1583. B.

Source: London Marriage Licences 1521 to 1869; Edited by Joseph Foster; London 1887

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Bankrupts

Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.

Brook John and Thomas, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, drapers, Dec. 7, 1841.

Ealand Richard, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, hatter, March 1, 1823.

Edwards Basset Clarke; & Robt. Blakeway; Stourbridge, drapers, Jan. 25, 1833.

Edwards William Evan, Cradley, Stourbridge, anvil maker, March 28, 1837.

London Gazette

John Bayley – Stourbridge Worcestershire – London Gazette April 1850

In the Matter of the Petition of John Bayley, residing now and for fifteen calendar months or thereabouts next immediately preceding the time of filing this petition, at a house known by the sign of the Foley Arms, High street, Stourbridge, in the county of Worcester, Licensed Victualler, and for the first twelve calendar months or thereabouts of such period, also occupying a room in a house in the New-road, Stourbridge aforesaid, as a School master, and previously thereto residing for three calendar months or thereabouts in the Heath-road, Stourbridge aforesaid, out of business, and previously thereto residing for three calendar months or thereabouts, first with my son, John Bayley, at Wolverhampton, in the county of Stafford, and then with my son, George Bayley, at Walsall, in the said county of Stafford, out of business, and previously thereto residing fifteen calendar months or thereabouts, at a house known by the sign of the Chapel Inn, Smethwick, in the county of Stafford, Licensed Victualler and Farmer, and previously thereto residing four years or thereabouts at Ryecroft Farm, near Walsall, in the said county of Stafford, Farmer. NOTICE is hereby given, that Benjamin Parham, Esq. the Judge of the County Court of Worcestershire, at Stourbridge, acting in the matter of this Petition, will proceed to make a Final Order thereon, at the said Court, on the 13th day of May next, at ten of the clock in the forenoon precisely, unless cause be then and there shown to the contrary.