Kings Norton

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See also: King's Norton, Leicestershire

Kings Norton

Coordinates: 52.4072° N 1.9272° W
Population	20,729 (2001 Population Census)
OS grid reference	SP049788
Metropolitan borough	Birmingham
Metropolitan county	West Midlands
Region	West Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BIRMINGHAM
Postcode district	B38
Dial code	0121
Police	West Midlands
Fire	West Midlands
Ambulance	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Birmingham Selly Oak
	Birmingham Northfield
	Birmingham Hall Green
European Parliament	West Midlands
List of places: UK • England • West Midlands

Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.

1 History
2 Notable buildings
3 Transport
4 Industry
5 Redevelopment
6 Local organisations
7 Famous residents
8 Administration
9 References
10 External links

[edit] History

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 centre, based around the village green, still intact.

[edit] Civil war

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”).

[edit] Markets and fairs

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] Industrialisation and expansion

In 1796 the Birmingham and Worcester Canal was built through Kings Norton, linking Birmingham to the River Severn. This was linked to the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal by a junction at Kings Norton, allowing access to Stratford and more significantly the Grand Union Canal. Just beyond the junction is a rare example of a guillotine lock.

Kings Norton, along with many of the small towns near Birmingham, expanded considerably in the nineteenth century with a rail link into Birmingham passing by the new Bournville factory just to the north. Historically, Kings Norton had been part of Worcestershire, but 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.

[edit] Urbanisation

During the twentieth century the area grew further with additional private and public housing.

Kings Norton Park - a gift from The Birmingham Civic Society

In October 1920 25½ acres of land at Kings Norton (just below St Nicolas' 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.

With the clearance of city centre slum housing there was a pressing need for additional social housing in Birmingham. As part of this programme the City Council built several new housing estates in Kings Norton, including the Wychall Farm and Pool Farm estates in the 1960s and the Primrose and Hawkesley estates in the 1970s. These new estates occupied land that had previously been open farmland, most notably the area known as the Three Estates (Pool Farm, Primrose and Hawkesley) which occupy land mostly to the East of the Birmingham and Worcester canal and the A441 Redditch Road.

[edit] Notable buildings

St Nicolas' Church dates from the 13th century, and the spire dates from the 15th century. In addition, the Green contains three later medieval building from the 15th century, the Old Grammar School, the Saracen's Head, and the Spar shop. In the Summer of 2004, two of these 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.

[edit] Transport

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 area 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.

[edit] Industry

Kings Norton is home to the world-famous glass manufacturers Triplex (now part of Pilkington).

[edit] Redevelopment

A number of redevelopment projects have proved necessary because of the deteriorating quality of the social housing in Kings Norton.

In 1999 the 'three estates' in Kings Norton (Pool Farm, Primrose and Hawkesley) were awarded a regeneration grant as part of the government's New Deal for the Community programme (NDC). The award is for £50 million and is designed to run over ten years. Unlike earlier government regeneration programmes, NDC is able to focus on issues such as health and employment as well as on housing.

Following considerable consultation a major rebuild of the estates is planned.^[1]

A major rebuild of the Wychall Farm estate in the west of Kings Norton was started in 2001. The previous housing was built using a system build approach that had exceeded its projected life-span. Bromford Housing Association have led the redevelopment.^[2]

[edit] Local organisations

Kings Norton Royal British Legion Youth Marching Band^[3] - A local marching band consisting of bugles, fifes and both tuned and un-tuned percussion. The band attends several events across the UK including competitions in which they were extremely successful throughout the 2006 season. The band came away from each event with first place. Due to this success, in November 2006, the band were invited to the Traditional Youth Marching Band Association (TYMBA) National championships and were made TYMBA National Champions 2006 and 2006 league winners. The band will be reassuming competitions in the 2007 season in the contest class. On the 4th March 2007, the band entered a Drill Squad in to the Royal British legion Brentwood Drill Competition. This was the first time anyone from Kings Norton had entered such a contest however won the overall best drill display trophy also picking up second place in the best dressed category.

Kings Norton Royal British Legion Youth Marching Band	KN RBL YMB - Halesowen Competition 2006	KN RBL YMB - Manchester Competition 2006	KN RBL YMB - TYMBA National Finals 2006
KN RBL YMB - Birmingham International Tattoo 2006	KN RBL YMB - Birmingham City v Barnsley football Match 11/11/06

[edit] Famous residents

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

The Rev. W. V. Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, was a curate at King’s Norton from late 1940 to 1946.

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

[edit] Administration

Kings Norton is a ward of Birmingham City Council, a metropolitan unitary authority. Three councillors are elected for Kings Norton; these are currently Laura Ross (Labour), and Geoff and Margaret Sutton (Conservative).

Kings Norton became part of Northfield district in 2006, having formerly been part of Selly Oak. In 2004 the ward boundary was changed as part of city-wide boundary alterations overseen by the Boundary Commission. 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 West Heath area.

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. Owing to the boundary changes, 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 Ward has adopted a Ward Support Officer with the current holder of the title being Bob Barr.