Place:Churchill and Blakedown, Worcestershire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

Churchill and Blakedown was formed as a merger in 1888. From 1894 until 1974 it was a parish in the Kidderminster Rural District. Since 1974 it has been part of the Wyre Forest District, first in the county of Hereford and Worcester, and then, since 1998, in Worcestershire again.

Blakedown

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Blakedown is a village in the Wyre Forest District in the north of the county of Worcestershire, England. Due to its road and rail links it serves mainly as a dormitory village for Kidderminster, and the cities of Birmingham and Worcester. Originally part of its eastern neighbour Hagley Parish, it was merged in 1888 with the small adjacent parish of Churchill, with the altered parish becoming Churchill and Blakedown.

Much of Blakedown was originally an area of common land, enclosed in the 19th century. However Harborough Hall, which once belonged to the family of William Shenstone, the poet, is probably the successor of a house that goes back to medieval times. (The Victoria County History of Worcestershire (see below) notes that Harborough Hall had previously belonged to the family of William and Ann Penn, and that William Shenstone was a descendant of theirs.)

The main road that runs through the village was part of the turnpike road from Birmingham to Kidderminster. The turnpike trust was established in 1753.

Blakedown railway station was opened in 1852 and originally called Churchill station. Later it was called Churchill and Blakedown before adopting its current name.

The village has a small church dedicated to St. James the Great.

Churchill

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Churchill (near Kidderminster) is a village in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England, near to Kidderminster. It is in the civil parish of Churchill and Blakedown and is one of the few surviving water-powered plating forges in the United Kingdom - Churchill Forge Mill. Until the early 1970s was operated as a working business, producing metal tools such as spades, shovels and ladles. It is now a museum.

end of Wikipedia contribution

(The Victoria County History of Worcestershire (see below) traces the ownership of the manor of Churchill through the families of Dickens and Dudley.)

The map of Worcestershire circa 1944 labels the civil parishes in Bromsgrove Rural District.

• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales - Revised: Worcestershire illustrates the parish boundaries of Worcestershire when rural districts were still in existence and before the West Midlands came into being. The map publication year is 1931. The map blows up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use.
• British History Online has a large collection of local maps from the Ordnance Survey 1883-1893. These blow up to a size that permits viewing of individual hamlets, farms, collieries, but there is no overlapping of one map to the next, and no overall map to tie the individual ones together.
• British History Online also has three volumes of the Victoria County History of Worcestershire online. Volume 3 (published in 1913) deals with the Halfshire Hundred; Volume 4 (published in 1924) deals with the City of Worcester, as well as parishes in the hundreds of Pershore and Doddingtree. Volume 2 covers religious houses in the county. The remainder of the county is not represented in the British History Online series.
• GENUKI makes a great many suggestions as to other websites with worthwhile information about Worcestershire as well as leading to a collection of 19th century descriptions of each of the ecclesiastical parishes.
• The FamilySearch Wiki provides a similar information service to GENUKI which may be more up-to-date. An index of parishes leads to notes and references for each parish. The auxiliary website English Jurisdictions can also be helpful.
• Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, The Hive, Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester WR1 3PD (Telephone: 01905 822866, e-mail: archive@worcestershire.gov.uk) The Archives Collections Catalog Summary outlines the contents of the Archives Collection and also notes on what has been transferred to the national online service Access to Archives
• The Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry has a branch in Bromsgrove which deals in Worcestershire family history. There are also branches at Stourbridge and Worcester.
• The Midlands Historical Data project produces searchable facsimile copies of old local history books and directories of interest to genealogists. It specialises in the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, working closely with libraries, archives and family history societies in the area. Digital images are made freely available to participating organisations to improve public access. Free search index on its web-site to all its books. In many cases payment will be required to see the extract.
• A Vision of Britain through Time has

1. organization charts of the hierarchies of parishes within hundreds, registration districts and rural and urban districts of the 20th century
2. excerpts from a gazetteer of circa 1870 outlining individual towns and parishes
3. reviews of population through the time period 1800-1960

• Brett Langston's list of Worcestershire Registration Districts and parishes within each registration district from 1837 to the present can indicate where to find details of civil registration entries since the process began in England.
• More local sources can often be found by referring to "What Links Here" in the column on the left.

• Victoria County Histories, Worcestershire, Volume 3 on Churchill provided by British History Online.
• Victoria County Histories, Worcestershire, Volume 3 on Hagley (with references to Blakedown) provided by British History Online.