Brierley Hill, Staffordshire Genealogy

England Staffordshire



Parish History
Brierley Hill St Michael was a district chapelry of Kingswinford, Staffordshire from 1767 and later enlarged. It became a separate parish in 1842.

BRIERLEY-HILL, a district chapelry, in the parish of King's Swinford, union of Stourbridge, N. division of the hundred of Seisdon, S. division of the county of Stafford, 2¼ miles (N. N. E.) from Stourbridge. This is a populous village and chapelry, consisting of several streets, and having in its vicinity numerous collieries, and iron-works on a large scale; steam-boilers and various other heavy articles in iron being manufactured here. There are also glass-works, and some potteries. It appears by an old deed, that coal and ironstone were obtained at this place as early as the 46th of Edward III. The living is a perpetual curacy, with a net income of £210; patron, the Rector of King's Swinford; impropriator, Lord Ward. The chapel was erected in 1767, was enlarged in 1823 and again in 1837, and will now accommodate nearly 2000 persons: a magnificent organ has lately been erected at an expense of 400 guineas. In 1834, a national school was built for 500 children, at a cost of £700, whereof £270 were given by the Lords of the Treasury; and in 1846, a handsome infant school was added, the expense of which was £400. The first minister here, was the Rev. Thomas Moss, author of the elegant little poem called The Beggar's Petition; he afterwards removed to Trentham, as domestic chaplain to the Marquess of Stafford.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 369-375. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50829 Date accessed: 26 April 2011.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

See West Midlands BMD and Staffordshire BMD

Church records
For earlier registers see Kingswinford, Staffordshire Holy Trinity Ancient Parish

Brierley Hill St Michael

Dudley Archives has deposited Parish registers Bap 1756-1954 Marr 1837-1952 Bur 1766-1963

Bap 1766-1939 Marr 1837-1933 Bur 1766-1935 (microfilm)

Delph Mission church was within this parish

Dudley Archives has deposited parish registers Bap 1886-1939 and these years are also on microfilm.

Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Poor Law Unions
Stourbridge Poor Law Union, Worcestershire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Staffordshire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain