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"Great Barr, three miles SE of Walsall, is a pleasant village, seated on the declivity of the lofty Barr Beacon, which stretches itself out to a considerable extent, and seems like a vast barrier to the country beyond it. The township and chapelry of Great Barr is now a separate ecclesiastical district, and contains 4960 acres and 1087 souls.
It includes many scattered houses, and the hamlets of Hardwick, Margaret's Lane, Scott's Arms, Snail's Green, Little Aston and Questlett, extending eastward to the extensive heath of Sutton Coldfield. Lord Leigh is lord of the manor, but most of the soil belongs to other proprietors, the largest of whom is Sir Edward Dolman Scott, Bart, who resides at Barr Hall, formerly called Nether House.
Red House, near Snail's Green, is a neat seat belonging to Robert Scott, Esq but occupied by Thomas Bagnall, Esq. On the north side of the chapelry is Aldridge Lodge, the seat of the Rev TB Adams, and near it is a small lake called Bourn Pool, an ancient moated house, and the Hayhead lime works, from which there is a branch to the Wyrley and Essington Canal "
[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]
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'The Barr Story. A Short History of Great Barr...'
by Richard Dudley Woodall
Published 1951, by Norman A Tector, Streetly.
'History of the Forest & Chase of Sutton Coldfield, including the border districts of
Great Barr, Perry Barr, Erdington, etc (with Genealogical Tables)'
by L Bracken
Published 1860, London, Birmingham.
'A Short History of Holy Name Church, Great Barr'
by Elisabeth Chattell
Published 1982, by Holy Name Church, Great Barr.
The population of Great Barr township was as follows:
1831 -- 859
1841 -- 1087
A full transcript of the 1851 census for Aldridge parish which includes Great Barr has been published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH.
Great Barr, Church of England |
"Great Barr Church, (St Margaret), is an elegant structure, standing on an eminence, shaded by a number of lofty elms. It was founded by a Mrs Bromwich, and the six bells were a gift of a Mrs Whitby, but it has since been nearly rebuilt, and ornamented with beautiful painted glass windows.
The benefice is a perpetual curacy, or donative, in the patronage of Sir ED Scott, Bart, and incumbency of the Rev. Wm Hy Scott, MA."
[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851)
The church was entirely rebuilt, with the exception of the tower and spire in 1860.
Postcard of St Margaret's Church, c1906
The church of St Margaret, Great Barr, was a chapelry of Aldridge parish, details of which can be found on the Aldridge parish page.
Church of England Registers
The register of St Margaret commences in 1654. The original registers for the period 1654-date are with the incumbent.
Bishops Transcripts, 1664-1870 (with gaps 1810-12 & 1853-63) are deposited at Lichfield Record Office.
A manuscript copy of the register for the period 1654-1749 is available at the William Salt Library, Stafford. An indexed copy for this period is held at the Society of Genealogists Library.
A transcription of the section on Great Barr from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)
Conservation Area Appraisals for Little Aston - interesting accounts of the area, with excellent historical detail, numerous photographs and map
The transcription of the section for Great Barr from the Topographical Dictionary of England (1859)
The transcription of the section for Great Barr from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.
The transcription of the section for Great Barr from the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72)
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Great Barr to another place.
Ron Duckett's Little Aston website includes a wealth of information on the history of the village.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SP047948 (Lat/Lon: 52.551026, -1.932116), Great Barr 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.
A transcription of the Muster Roll of 1539 for Aldridge & Great Barr (Folio 1)
A transcription of the Muster Roll of 1539 for Aldridge & Great Barr (Folio 2)
A transcription of the Muster Roll of 1539 for Aldridge & Great Barr (Folio 3)
A transcription of the Muster Roll of 1539 for Aldridge & Great Barr (Folio 4)
(Aldridge & Great Barr were recorded across 4 folios in the original)
The parish became part of Walsall Union following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.