Place:Halesowen, Worcestershire, England

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NameHalesowen
Alt namesHalesowensource: from redirect
TypeTownship, Parish (ancient), Civil parish, Urban district, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates52.45°N 2.05°W
Located inWorcestershire, England     (1844 - 1974)
Also located inShropshire, England     ( - 1844)
West Midlands, England     (1974 - )
See alsoBrimstree Hundred, Shropshire, Englandhundred in which it was located until 1844
Halfshire Hundred, Worcestershire, Englandhundred of which the parish was a part after 1844
Dudley (metropolitan borough), West Midlands, Englandmetropolitan borough which it joined in 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands, England.

Historically in Worcestershire, the town is around 7 miles from Birmingham city centre, and 6 miles from Dudley town centre. The population of the town, as measured by the UK Census 2001, was 55,273. (Since 2001 the reporting areas for the census have been revised and a comparitive figure for 2011 cannot be given.)

Halesowen was a detached part of the county of Shropshire but was incorporated into Worcestershire in 1844 by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act. It became an urban district in 1894, and received municipal borough status in 1935.

Although predominantly urban or suburban in character, Halesowen borders on green belt land with excellent access to the countryside, for example the Clent Hills.

During the 18th century Halesowen developed rapidly as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The manufacture of nails was the staple trade in the town and many mills were used for slitting and iron production. Coal had been mined in the area from at least the reign of Edward I. Dating to 1893, Coombes Wood was the largest colliery in the town; at its peak in 1919 Halesowen had 130 working mines.

Halesowen became the centre of a poor law union in the 19th century, which later became established as a rural sanitary district and later the Halesowen Rural District in 1894. Oldbury was included into the area of Halesowen under an Act of 1829. With increasing urbanisation of the area, in the early 20th century, it became the Halesowen Urban District in 1925, and obtained a grant of charter to become a municipal borough in 1936. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, Halesowen was incorporated into the new Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands.

Halesowen ancient borough and its townships

the following text is based on a separate article in Wikipedia

Halesowen (originally called Hale Manor) was a medieval parish in the central west of England.

Until 1844 the following townships formed a detached part of Shropshire:

A further part of the parish was part of Worcestershire and consisted of the chapelries of

The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 made the entire area part of Worcestershire. Each of these townships, chapelries and hamlets became a civil parish in 1866.

Subsequently

  • Ridgacre (renamed Quinton) was transferred to Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1909, and has formed part of the Birmingham Metropolitan District in the West Midlands from 1974 until 1996 and in Birmingham unitary authority since 1996.
  • Halesowen (with Cakemore, Cradley, Hasbury, Hawne, Hill, Illey, Lapal and Lutley) formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands from 1974 until 1996 and in Staffordshire since 1996
  • Oldbury, Warley Salop and Warley Wigorn became part of the County Borough of Warley in 1966 and then in 1974 formed part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in the West Midlands until 1966 when Sandwell was transferred back to Worcestershire
  • Frankley and Romsley do not form part of any metropolitan district; and are part of the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire; although part of Frankley was added to Birmingham and is now known as New Frankley in Birmingham.

Research tips

  • 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.
  • There is an map drawn circa 1814 in Wikipedia which shows Halesowen and Dudley as detached parts on either side of the Worcestershire/Staffordshire/Shropshire border.


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Halesowen. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Halesowen (medieval parish). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.