Stoke Prior

Descriptive Notes

Salt had been mined in the Droitwich area since before the Romans came to England, but in the mid-1880s John Corbett transformed what was basically a cottage industry into a major industrial business at Stoke Prior.
The fascinating Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, based at Stoke Heath, is well worth a visit.

Status

Ancient Parish [25]

Location

O.S. Ref: SO949677
2½ miles South of Bromsgrove & 4½ miles N.E. of Droitwich
Finstall, formerly a district of this parish, is now a separate ecclesiastical parish. [57]

Parish Church

St. Michael

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction

Archdeaconry & Diocese of Worcester until 1921, Archdeaconry of Dudley & Diocese of Worcester (1921 - *) [25]

Hundred

Middle Oswaldslow [15] [11] [25] [28]

Poor Law Union

Bromsgrove [3] [25]

Adjoining Parishes

Bromsgrove; Tardebigge; Hanbury; Dodderhill; Upton Warren; Grafton Manor [1]

Parish Registers at Worcestershire Archives

[Contact details]

		Coverage	Source
Microform	Christenings	1564-1944	[5]
	Marriages	1574-1953	[5]
	Burials	1557-1929	[5]
	Banns	1754-92, 1851-79, 1896-1927	[5]
Originals	Christenings	1564-1976	[12]
	Marriages	1574-1973	[12]
	Banns	1900-36, 1928-[46]	[12]

Bishops' Transcripts

Begin 1615 Worcestershire Archives [22]

International Genealogical Index (IGI)

[19]

		Coverage
Parish Registers	Births / Christenings	1564-1710; 1813-1875
	Marriages	1574-1710; 1755-1882

Register Copies

At Society of Genealogists [68]
STOKE PRIOR : Christenings 1678-1891, Marriages 1678-1753, 1813-36, Burials 1678-1912 [Microfilm.] Published , 1989 Author Hereford CRO

STOKE PRIOR : Marriages(Index) 1740-53 (Bishops' Transcripts): Bertram Merrell's marriage index of Herefordshire [Microfiche.] IN: Bertram Merrell's marriage index of Herefordshire Published : Bertram Merrell, 1996 Author Merrell, Bertram

At [FreeREG]
Free Internet searches of baptism, marriage and burial records, transcribed from parish and non-conformist registers of the U.K., are available at: http://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl

FreeREG is a new project. The database currently contains a few million records only, so you should not expect to find all your ancestors in the database.

The coverage for this parish currently stands at: Christenings: 1780-1812

Further records may have been added since this posting

Monumental Inscriptions and Associated Documents

At BMSGH Shop
St.Michael

At BMSGH Reference Library [7]
St.Michael

At Worcestershire Archives [51]
St.Michael

At Society of Genealogists [59]
STOKE PRIOR (St. Michael) : Monumental Inscriptions [Microfiche.] Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, Nd. Author Hepworth, V (transcription.) Source D: J Todd.

STOKE PRIOR (St. Michael) : Monumental Inscriptions: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 2 [Typescript.] IN: Worcestershire monumental inscriptions, vol. 2 Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1982 Author Hepworth, V (transcription.)

War Memorials

For the names of those included on a War Memorial at St Michael's Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/stoke-prior-st-michaels-church/

For a War Memorial to Cecil Oliver Eachus Price at St Michael's Church see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/stoke-prior-st-michaels-church-price-memorial/

For the names of those included on a War Memorial for Stoke Works Council School now in Stoke Prior First School see:
http://www.rememberthefallen.co.uk/memorial/stoke-works-council-school-now-in-stoke-prior-first-school/

Census Records

All the censuses between 1841 and 1901 are now available on a number of fee-paying (Subscription or PayAsYouGo) sites including Ancestry.co.uk, FindMyPast.co.uk, thegenealogist.co.uk and genesreunited.co.uk. The 1911 census is available in full or in part on some of these sites. We are unable to advise on the choice of site since researchers' personal preferences will be influenced by the content and search facilities offered by each site. Some sites offer a free trial.

Access to the library edition of Ancestry.co.uk is widely available at most record offices, including Worcestershire Archives, and some libraries. You are advised to book time on their computers before making a visit.

A free-to-view site is being developed at freecen.org.uk for the 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1891 censuses. Coverage of Worcestershire parishes is rather sparse at this time.

Census returns can usually be viewed at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Family History Centres.

Some repositories offer census details on microform, disc or printed copy. These include:

1841-1901 at Worcestershire Archives [14]

1851 Census Worcestershire, vol. 10 Bromsgrove transcript & surname index : part 1 Stoke Prior & Bromsgrove (part); part 2 Belbroughton, Clent, Hagley, Pedmore, Frankley, Hunnington, Romsley, Tutnall & Cobley, Bromsgrove (part); part 3 Tardebigg, Tutnal & Cobley, Bentley Pauncefoot, Webheath, Redditch & Alvechurch - Published Birmingham : Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, 1993-5 - Author Friend, A F (trans.) Society of Genealogists

Search Services (Fee paying) - BMSGH and Independent

Burial 1660-1840 Worcestershire Burial Index
Marriage see Worcestershire Marriage Index

Manorial Records

Worcestershire Archives [50]
Court books 1669-89, 1694-1832, 1869-41

Parish Records on microform

At Worcestershire Archives [13]
Transcript of Parish Registers with Index 1574-1710

Schools Records

The following school records are original documents. Note reference number and contact staff at Worcestershire Archives:
Stoke Prior Council School
Mixed School. Log book - 1922 - 70 - Ref: BA 9051/2 (ii)
Note this school was subsequently known as Stoke Prior C P School and then Stoke Prior First School
Stoke Works Council Schools
Log books Note - These schools were also known as Stoke Works Infants' School and Stoke Works Junior School and subsequently as Stoke Works C P School. In 1961 - 62 it was amalgamated with
Stoke Prior C P School - 1873 - 1961 - Ref: BA 9051/1 - 2 (i)

The records of schools and other educational establishments in this parish are detailed in a handlist available at Worcestershire Archives. The list refers to original documents so you will need to note the reference number and contact staff.

Directories

An extract from the Topographical Dictionary of England 1831 by Samuel Lewis:

STOKE-PRIOR, a parish in the middle division of the hundred of OSWALDSLOW, county of WORCESTER, 1¾ mile (S.) from Bromsgrove, containing 900 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at £ 12, and in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. The Birmingham and Worcester canal passes through the parish. In the great civil war, the court-house was almost destroyed by the royalists.

An extract from Kelly's Directory (1884)

"This place is the principal centre of the salt manufacture: "The Stoke Prior Salt Works", belonging to John Corbett Esq., M.P., cover an extent of about 30 acres, and have been erected at a cost of about half a million sterling; the great chimney, 312 feet high, serves as a landmark: the brine is pumped up from the salt springs (the source of which lies at a depth of many hundred feet below the surface) and deposited in reservoirs, to which heat is applied to evaporate the water, when the salt rises in crystals to the surface, and is thence collected and pressed into moulds, or dries in bulk: ..... the works comprise four pits ..... yielding 4,000 tons of salt per week."

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