Kings Norton

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See also: King's Norton, Leicestershire

Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a ward within the formal district of Northfield having been part of Selly Oak until 2006. Kings Norton derives its name from the Norman period, when Kings Norton was part of the King’s forest, however the Domesday Book records the village as ‘Nortune’, noting that even in Anglo-Saxon England immediately before the Conquest the land the village stood on was owned by the King. Therefore Bromsgrove was the King’s town and Kings Norton the King's North Town. Kings Norton is now divided into several parts with the ancient village green still intact.

During the twentieth century the area grew as the City Council built Hawkesley a housing estate to the south-east, largely on the far side of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal and entirely on the far side of the A441 Redditch Road. Kings Norton is home to the world-famous glass manufacturers Triplex (now part of Pilkington). Modern Kings Norton lies on the A441 Pershore Road South which runs between Birmingham and Redditch to the south. It also has a railway station on the Cross-City Line, although this station is actually located just inside Cotteridge, the neighbouring district to the north, and on the opposite side of a valley. The line of Icknield or Ryknild Street, a Roman road running northwards from Alcester via Metchley fort in Edgbaston towards Sutton Coldfield and beyond, can be traced through the eastern edge of the district.

Historically, it was part of Worcestershire, and from 1898 it was part of the King's Norton and Northfield urban district until added to Birmingham in 1911 by the Greater Birmingham Act.

St Nicolas Church dates from the 13th century, and the spire dates from the 15th century. In addition, the Green contains two later mediaeval building from the 15th century, the Old Grammar School, and the Saracen’s Head Inn. In the Summer of 2004, these two ancient buildings were the winners of the BBC’s Restoration competition and were awarded over £3 million towards the cost of major refurbishment. In 2006 planning permission was granted for the restoration of these buildings, and work started.

Kings Norton Park - a gift from The Birmingham Civic Society

In October 1920 25½ acres of land at Kings Norton (just below St Nicholas's Church) were purchased by The Birmingham Civic Society and afterwards presented to the city for the benefit of the citizens of Birmingham. The Society also designed and paid for the formal gardens, gates on the Pershore Road side and stone benches.

Kings Norton was the scene of a couple of minor episodes from the English Civil War. In the first of these, a force led by Prince Rupert of the Rhine, numbering some 300, was resting on Kings Norton Green. There, they were surprised by a smaller group led by Lord Willoughby of Parham. A skirmish took place, in which fifty of Prince Rupert’s men were killed, and twenty were taken prisoner. The Parliamentarian force lost twenty men. This took place on the 17th October, 1642. In a later episode, Queen Henrietta Maria arrived in Kings Norton with an army of around 5,500 men that she had raised in Yorkshire. It is believed that she stayed the night in the Saracen’s Head, while the army camped on land behind the church, now Kings Norton Park (giving rise to the modern road name “Camp Lane”).

In 1616 King James granted permission to hold markets and fairs at Kings Norton. Both the original fairs and the market eventually fell into disuse. At some later date a Mop Fair began to be held on the Green, on the first Monday of October. A Mop Fair was a hiring fair where people would go looking for employment. After the decline of hiring fairs the Mop became a village fete, organised by the Round Table and raising money for local people. More recently the Round Table handed over running the Mop to a commercial fun fair. A new Farmers' Market was set up in 2005, operating on The Green once a month.

[edit] Famous residents

George Dawson, Non-Conformist Preacher and advocate of the Civic Gospel

The Rev. W. V. Awdry, creator Thomas the Tank Engine, lived in King’s Norton from late 1940 to 1965.

Thomas Hall, Non-Conformist Preacher, pamphleteer, author of 'The loathsomeness of long hair", appointed to Kings Norton Parish in 1629.

[edit] Local Politics

Most of the Kings Norton ward is represented by Birmingham, Selly Oak MP Lynne Jones, though at the next election the ward will be transferred in its entirety to the Birmingham, Northfield seat. In 2004 the ward boundary was changed as part of city-wide boundary alterations. This saw the addition of a small area of the Birmingham, Hall Green constituency in the east of the ward, and a small area of the Birmingham, Northfield constituency at the south of the ward in the area known as West Heath. This means that, until the next general election, residents of the ward may be represented by one of three MPs - Lynne Jones, Steve McCabe, or Richard Burden - depending on where they live.

Kings Norton already sends its councillors to the Northfield District Committee, contiguous with the new Northfield constituency, which has responsibility for some local services.

The councillors elected to represent the ward on Birmingham City Council are Laura Ross (Labour), and Margaret and Geoff Sutton, both Conservatives.