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 Selly Oak. 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, 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.

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”).

Since the 16th century a ‘Mop Fair’ has been held on the Green, on the first Monday of October. A Mop Fair was a hiring fair where people would go looking for employment, but although no longer used to help employment it is an important event each year with its stalls, fairground attractions and the traditional ox-roast.

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