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England Birmingham

Guide to Birmingham history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Birmingham's early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centers of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the densely wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden

In the Middle ages, Birmingham was only a medium sized market town, with Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Worcester being much larger and more important towns.

Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world".

Today, it is the most populous British city outside London with 1,092,330 residents (2013 est.), and its population increase of 88,400 residents between the 2001 and 2011 censuses was greater than that of any other British local authority.

LOCATION
Birmingham is located in the center of the West Midlands region of England on the Birmingham Plateau – an area of relatively high ground, ranging between 500 and 1,000 feet (150–300 m) above sea level and crossed by Britain's main north-south watershed between the basins of the Rivers Severn and Trent.

Birmingham is drained only by minor rivers and brooks, primarily the River Tame and its tributaries the Cole and the Rea. This makes it ideally suited for the network of canals built during the Industrial Revolution, discussed later in the section on Industry.

RELIGION
Birmingham has no unique activities relative to the religion of the area, even in ancient times. The population seemed to follow the whims of the clerics, and were basically following the Roman Catholic persuasion until the times of Henry VIII. They accepted the royal decree without any major indications of rebellion, and thence were mainly adherents of the national Church of England.

INDUSTRY
Birmingham was essentially a backwater until the start of the Industrial Revolution in the mid 17th. century.

Because of its central location in the country, and also the essentially flatland surrounding the city, it rapidly became the hub of a national network of canals. These canals were used to transport materials and goods both in and out of the city conurbation. Horse drawn barges pulled these items on canals that reached London in the south, the River Severn in the West, and the Potteries and Liverpool and Manchester in the north.

These canals were not simple engineering feats but included lock building and tunnels far ahead of their times. For example, the huge Waste Hills tunnel was drilled at a length of about 1.5 miles, and the great Tardebigge flight of locks, with 30 locks in a 2.5 length of canal.

CEMETERIES
Greater Manchester cemeteries

St Joseph's cemetery

Southern Cemetery

Phillips Park

Gorton Cemetery

Mill Lane Cemetery

GENEALOGY AND FAMILY HISTORY
Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society

City of Manchester, Tracing your History

Manchester Genuki

Manchester Archives

[[Category:England Cities]