Chapter Fifteen

Old Swinford

The history of the school raises questions about the history of Oldswinford itself. How did the relatively poor village of nailers and glassmakers of the 1860’s turn into the relatively affluent residential area of today?

In medieval times Swinford [then spelt Swynford] was an extensive manor bordering the extensive manor of Swinford Regis [Kingswinford]

Swinford is mentioned in a Saxon charter of 950 AD [spelt Suineforde]. It is also mentioned in William the Conqueror’s Doomsday Survey when the manor was in the possession of William Fitz Ansculf a powerful Norman Lord who resided in his hilltop castle at Dudley.

‘Old’ was added to Swynford to distinguish it from the adjacent Swinford Regis.

The Manor of Old Swinford changed hands many times during the Middle Ages. In 1482 Henry VII granted the manor, then held by the Dean and Canons of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, the right to hold a weekly market with two fairs each year. In 1486 the charter was renewed by Edward IV to the Earl of Ormond, who then held the manor, as a reward for his services in the Wars of the Roses.

In 1564 the Lyttelton family moved to the superior manor of Old Swinford following the destruction of their Frankley home during the Civil War.

During the times of the Stuarts the Lyttelton’s lost their wealth through involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

The Foleys, whose wealth was based on the expanding iron industry, took control of Old Swinford Manor and brought with them their substantial family fortune.

In 1666 Thomas Foley founded a charity school for boys at Old Swinford. He set aside the majority of the parish of Pedmore to form part of the endowment of his Old Swinford Hospital.

Mentioned in the 1255 Worcestershire assize roll, in the Manor of Old Swinford, lay a township called Sturbrug {Stourbridge}. Sturbridge’s first recorded ‘school’ was founded in 1548; Lower High Street by the stipendiary priest at the Chantry of the Holy Trinity. The school’s Chantry was suppressed at the command of Henry VIII but was later continued and granted a charter by Edward VI  [later to become the King Edward VI Grammar School for Boys, Stourbridge]

Old Swinford Church School [originally housing a Boys, a Girls and a Mixed Infants School] was opened in 1860 when Stourbridge Town was a thriving commercial centre and Oldswinford largely consisted of traditional Black Country industries. The School Log Books tell us that many of the glassmakers moved away, probably to the north side of Stourbridge in Amblecote where the glassmaking industry continued, following the closure of the Heath Glassworks in the 1880’s. The fate of the nail makers was more painful and prolonged. Nailing was a slowly dying industry following the introduction of manufactured nails from Belgium. Nevertheless there are references in the Log Books to nailers even in the early twentieth century. Eventually the trade died out completely and no doubt many were helped in finding other employment by the education that they had received in the school.

The History of the school also gives us clues as to how the new role as a residential area developed. Among the original well-to-do subscribers in the 1860’s are a number of Black Country industrialists who had moved to Oldswinford. They no longer wished to live in close proximity to their business interests in the coal mines and brick factories, but they wanted to remain fairly close at hand. Oldswinford was chosen by many of them as a suitable place to build their grand houses. Maps of 1885 clearly show these Houses and their grounds around the perimeter of Oldswinford village.

Most of these residences have been demolished but a few exceptions remain to give us an insight into the once affluent buildings that surrounded the village. Such examples, which still stand, are the Houses once named Parkhill and Thornhill, Love Lane. They now house Elmfield School: ‘The Tall House’, at the junction of Hagley Road and Field Lane. This was originally the home of the Barrar family, a family associated with the glass industry of Amblecote. Following the Second World War the ‘Tall House’ was converted into flats and the land at the rear used by the school as a playing field. Today the ‘Tall House’ is used for offices and the rear grounds is the site the new Oldswinford School buildings and playing field: Oldswinford Castle, Church Road. This was once the home of The Reverend Craufurds’ wife, Eliza [nee Hickman]. It still stands but its extensive grounds have been developed into a residential development including Castle Green: The Laurels, Rectory Road. The House and its grounds have recently been developed into a residential housing estate: The Cedars, Hagley Road. This grand house is now the home of West Hill Clinic and flats: Thornleigh, Hagley Road, now the Oldswinford Public House: Whitehall and Lodge, off the Hagley Road, now the Mary Stevens’ Hospice.

Unfortunately many of the grand houses of Oldswinford have been demolished and have, on the whole, been replaced with further residential developments. Oakleigh, where Charles King, the school treasurer lived for over 40 years is now a residential area: Henry Corser’s House, Farlands House, is now the site of Oldfield Drive at the west end of Field Lane: Prescot House, Wollescote Road, the House of Mr. F. T. Rufford, Firebrick Manufacturer and an original member of the Fund Raising Committee in 1857, [also the home of Ernest Stevens and  used in the 1960’s to house Queens College School - a private school established by Dr. Johnson Ball in 1953] is now a residential estate including Greenfinch Road: Swinford House, Swinford Road is now the site of Marlborogh Drive and Winchester Drive: The Beeches and Hill Villa, Glass House Hill, have both been demolished to make way for residential developments where Swincross Road is now situated: The site of Beech Tree House and grounds, Red Hill, is now residential housing that includes Arlington Court: Red Hill House, Red Hill is now a residential area known as the Heathlands: The Uplands and The Limes, Hagley Road and The Chestnuts, Red Hill, is now the site of Cranbourne Road which connects the two roads with residential housing:  Catherwell House, Hagley Road is the site of Danford Close: Clifton House and its grounds is now the site of residential housing known as Yarnborough Hill and Redholme, Red Hill, is now the site of flats and Ibstock Drive.

Given that Oldswinford does not overlie coal or fireclay and did not have the attraction of canal transport it developed very much as a residential area for the Grand Houses of Black Country industrialists. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, with the Railway and Motorway links, many of these properties were replaced with further residential developments, albeit on a less grand scale. Today Oldswinford continues to develop as a residential area with many of the small pockets of land being used for residential properties. In 1987 Dudley Council sold the east section of the school’s playing field. This is now the site of terraced housing and a petrol station. The tall trees adjoining the south side of the school field, are the original trees of Swinford House and are over 100 years old.