Brierley Hill

'Brierley Hill Church and Parish. A Bi-centenary Scrapbook'
by Herbert William Woodwood.
Published 1965, by Parochial Church Council, Brierley Hill.

'Brierley Hill in Old Photographs'
by Stan Hill.
Published 1995, by Sutton, Stroud, Gloucester.

A transcript of the Monumental Inscriptions of Brierley Hill, Baptist Chapel, South Street, has been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.

A full indexed transcript of the 1851 census of Kingswinford (PRO Ref. HO 107/2036) has been published in two parts (A-Lad & Ladd-Z) by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.

"Brierley Hill Church (St Michael), was erected by subscription, as a chapel of ease, in about 1767.
The benefice is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the rector of Kingswinford, and incumbency of the Rev. Robert Harris, MA, who is assisted by two curates.
The Wesleyans have a large chapel at Gosty Green, the Independents have one in Mill Lane, built in 1839, and the Primitive Methodists have one built in 1831, and enlarged in 1838."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851)

The church of St Michael, Brierley Hill, was a chapelry of Kingswinford parish, details of which can be found on the Kingswinford parish page.

Postcard of St Michael's Church c1950

Postcard of St Michael's Church (Interior view) c1950.

Church of England Registers
The register of St Michael commences in 1766. The original registers for the period 1766-1896 (Bapts), 1837-1899 (Mar), and 1766-1898 (Bur), and Banns for the period 1766-1781 (listed under Holy Trinity, Wordsley) are deposited at Dudley Archives & Local History Service.
Note that a few marriages performed here before 1837 are entered in the register of St Mary, Kingswinford.
Bishops Transcripts, 1766-1864 (with many gaps) are deposited at Lichfield Record Office.
A transcript of the registers of St Michael was published in two parts (1766-1800 & 1800-1812) jointly by the Staffordshire Parish Register Society & the Birmingham & Midland SGH in 1993 & 1986.

Nonconformist Registers
Original surviving registers of Nonconformist chapels in Brierley Hill chapelry are deposited at Dudley Archives & Local History Service.
A transcript of the Brierley Hill, Round Oak, Methodist Chapel registers, Baptisms, 1827-1850 and membership list for 1827 has been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
A transcript of the Brierley Hill, Round Oak, Primitive Methodist Chapel registers, Baptisms, 1850-1864 has been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
A transcript of the Brierley Hill, Bank Street, Wesleyan Methodist Chapel registers, Burials, 1833-1884 and pew rents from the account book has been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
Note : Baptisms of some Brierley Hill residents can be found in the register of High Street Independent Chapel, Stourbridge (1776-1837) and the register of Stourbridge Wesleyan Chapel (1809-1839). Transcripts of both chapels have been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.

The original registers of the Catholic Church of St Mary commencing in 1859 (Bapts), 1931 (Mar), 1875 (Deaths & Bur), 1866 (Confirmations) remain with the parish priest.
Earlier entries can be found in Stourbridge (Our Lady & All Saints) registers which are deposited at Birmingham Diocesan Archives.

A transcription of the section on Brierley Hill from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

Conservation Area Appraisals for Brierley Hill High Street  - interesting accounts of the area, with excellent historical detail, numerous photographs and map

• Geograph
• Flickr

The transcription of the section for Brierley Hill from the Topographical Dictionary of England (1859)

The transcription of the section for Brierley Hill from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

The transcription of the section for Brierley Hill from the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Brierley Hill to another place.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SO916868 (Lat/Lon: 52.47906, -2.125108), Brierley Hill which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

The chapelry became part of Stourbridge Union following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.