C of E
Northfield – St Laurence (was Worcestershire) Rectory Road / Church Hill ( O.S GR SP 025794 )
Ancient Parish
He following parishes have been formed out of Northfield parish; St Mary, Selly Oak (1862 ); part of St Francis, Bournville (1926); part of St Gabriel, Weoley Castle (1933); and part of St Bartholomew, Allens Cross (1938). In 1933, part of Northfield was transferred to Bournville and in 1939 the parish was enlarged by the addition of part of the parish of St Chad, Rubery (Worcestershire) Places in the parish licensed for public worship, were the Woodland Park Mission and the Shenley Fields Homes, licensed from 1928 until the Second World War.
Neighbouring parishes
Harborne, Edgbaston, Kings Norton, Frankley, Halesowen
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives
Baptisms 1560-1984
Marriages 1560-1981
Burials 1560-1990
Banns 1754 – 1973
confirmations 1924 -1944
Churchyard List of Burials and fees received 1857 – 1880.
Notebook of Thomas Dutton, Parish Clerk, with guide to graves in the churchyard c.1890.
Clerk’s register of vaults and graves with table of fees and regulations respecting burials, monuments etc 1881 – 1947.
Registers of graves in the churchyard with plan
B.M.S.G.H.- Register Copies
Fiche M120 – Part 1 – Baptisms& marriages 1560 – 1741, burials 1560 – 1757
Fiche M121 – Part 2 – Baptisms 1758 – 1841,marriages 1742 – 1837, burials 1750-1850
Book B044 – Register supplement to Part 1 baptisms 1742 – 1757
Bishop’s transcripts at Worcester
Commence 1612
Non Conformist
Baptist – Bristol Road Northfield
Chapel was completed in 1937. Baptist in Northfield appears to have begun in 1911. In 1915 a temporary building was opened in Bunbury Road Northfield and continued to be registered for public worship until 1937.During First World War mission work was begun at Longbridge from which the church at Turves Green derives.
Brethren – St Helier’s Road Northfield
Heliers Hall was registered for public worship in 1940.
Christadelphians – Longbridge Lane
The Christadelphians bought Longbridge Lane, Northfield meeting house formerly a friends meeting house, in 1953. It was first used for Christadephian meetings in 1911.
Friends – Church Road Northfield
Meetinghouse, opened in 1931. The first meeting place of the Friends in Northfield is said to have been a disused malt house, near the Bell Inn on Bunbury Road Northfield In 1892 George Cadbury built the Northfield institute on land acquired in Bunbury Lane. 1899 the Institute premises contained, as well as the main hall, a post office, a “Cyclists Arms” temperance coffee house, a social club and schoolrooms.
Friends – Station Road Northfield
Mission hall, opened in 1909, and was preceded by a meeting room in use in 1906. It appears to have been taken over by the Brethren in 1943.
Methodists – Bristol Road Northfield ( Primitive Methodist )
The Chapel, a building near the Bell Inn, had been registered for public worship by 1856. It was possibly the former malt-house later used as a meeting-place by the Friends.
Methodists – Bristol Road Northfield
Chapel is said to have been built by the Wesleyans in 1841, although the first registration of a chapel for Methodist worship in Northfield was made in 1838.
Methodists -Halescroft Square, Shenley Hill
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriage 1966 -1977
Other Churches and Missions – Bristol Road Northfield
Holiness Mission was registered for public worship in 1939.
Roman Catholic
Our Lady & St Bridget Frankley Beeches Road ( O S GR SP 0178 )
The mission was established in Steel Road in 1918. The permanent church opened in 1936. In 1954 mass was also celebrated at Rubery County School.
Gazetteer / Directory Entries
NORTHFIELD, a parish in the upper division of the hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 6 miles (S. W. by S.) from Birmingham, containing 1567 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, with the curacy of Cofton-Hacket, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king’s books at £14. 15. 24.1 and in the patronage of the Rev. John Thomas Fenwick. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is partly in the early English, and partly in the decorated, style, with a Norman door. The small river Rea, also the Birmingham and Worcester, and the Netherton canals, run through the parish, in which there are quarries of freestone. Here are some remains of Weoley castle, formerly belonging to the Jervoise family. A charity school is supported with the income arising from a bequest of £150 by William Worth, and another of £100, in 1779, by the Rev. Mr. Soley. [Lewis 1831]
NORTHFIELD is a parish, in the Western division of the county of Worcester, hundred of Upper Halfshire, King’s Norton union, Birmingham county court district, diocese and archdeaconry of Worcester, and rural deanery of Droitwich, 6 miles south – west- by-south from Birmingham, and 2 west from King’s Norton station. ‘ The small river Rea, and the Birmingham and Bristol Railway, and the Birmingham and Worcester and the Netherton Canals run through the parish, in which are quarries of freestone. The church of St. Michael is partly in the Early English and partly in the Decorated style, and has nave, aisle and chancel, w square embattled tower containing 6 bells, with a Norman door: there are eight stained glass windows; one was erected in 1838 by the widow and daughters of the late John Johnstone, M.D., who died in 1836 and seven of these within the last twenty years : subjects, St. Michael and All Angels, The Ascension, the Resurrection, Christ Turning the Water into Wine, The Raising of Lazarus The Transfiguration: the subject of the east window in the aisle is the Epiphany; it was erected to the memory of the late Major General Sir William Clarke, Bart. The register dates from the year 1560. The living is a rectory. including Cofton Hackett, rated in parish register at £1,170 per annum, with residence, in the gift of the Fenwick family and held by the Rev. Henry Clarke, M.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. There is a Chapel of ease at Bartley Green, likewise named St. Michael’s. A charity school is supported with the income from the bequest of £433 6s. 8d. by the late Mr. Lloyd, and another of £100, in 1770. by the Rev. Mr. Soley. The Primitive Methodists have a Chapel at Woodgate. Most of the people are employed in nail making . The principal landowners are Rev. F. J. Clarke, Mr. M. Grove, Miss Ryland, Mr. A. S. Evans, Mr. H. Atkins, Mr. W. Greenway, and Mr. W. H. Dawes. The soil is loam ; subsoil, clay and sand. The chief crops are wheat, oats, and barley. The parish is, for local purposes, divided into the Yields of Selly, with 452 inhabitants, 2 miles north-east, Hay, 563 Shendley, 569 and Bartley, 617. The population in 1861 was 3,130, and the area is 5,880 acres.
