Kingswinford, Staffordshire

Historical Description

Kingswinford, a village and a parish in Staffordshire. The village stands 2 miles WNW of the boundary with Worcestershire, 2 NW of Brettel Lane station on the G.W.R., 3 W of Dudley, and 3 N by W of Stonrbridge, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Dudley. The parish contains also the town of Brierley Hill and the hamlets of Bromley and Wall Heath, and the ecclesiastical parishes of Pensnett, Brockmoor, and Quarry Bank. Acreage, 7372; population, 36, 411. The manor belonged anciently to the Saxon kings, and belongs now to the Earl of Dudley. Holbeche House, the ancient seat of the Littletons, was the retreat of Catesby and other conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot Prest-wood and Ashwood Houses are chief residences. Ashwood Heath, on the line of a Roman road, has remains of a Roman camp. There are collieries and brickworks. The parish church of the Holy Trinity is situated at Wordsley. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lichfield; gross value, £700 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Dudley. The church is modern, and was enlarged in 1887. The living of St Mary, Kingswinford, is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield; net value, £240. The church is ancient, and has a square tower. There are Wesleyan, Primitive, and New Connexion Methodist chapels.

Kingswinford Parliamentary Division of Staffordshire was formed under the Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885, and returns one member to the House of Commons. Population, 47, 636. The division includes the following:-Bilston- Bilston; Kingswinford and Wordsley-Amblecote, Arley (Upper), Bobbington, Enville, Himley, Kingswinford, Kinver; Wolverhampton - Bentley, Bnshbury, Codsall, Essington, Oaken, Patshull, Pattingham, Pendeford, Penn (Lower), Penn (Upper), Tettenhall, Trysull and Seisdon, Wednesfield, Wombourne, Woodford, Wrottesley; Willenhall-Willen-hall; Sedgley - Sedgley; Rowley Regis - Rowley Regis; Wolverhampton, municipal borough.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Kingswinford from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Swinford, King's (Holy Trinity))

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Staffordshire is online.

Maps

Online maps of Kingswinford are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Staffordshire newspapers online:

• Staffordshire Advertiser
• Tamworth Herald
• Lichfield Mercury
• Staffordshire Sentinel
• Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser

Villages, Hamlets, &c