Kings Norton

Coordinates: 52°24′26″N 1°55′38″W / 52.4072°N 1.9272°W / 52.4072; -1.9272

Kings Norton (sometime King's Norton) is an area of Birmingham, England. Historically in Worcestershire, it is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the Government of Birmingham, England.

History

Kings Norton derives its name from the Norman period, meaning 'north farmland or settlement' belonging to or held by the king, when Kings Norton was part of the King's forest in the district of Bromsgrove. However the Domesday Book of 1086 records the village as 'Nortune', noting that even in Anglo-Saxon England immediately before the Norman Conquest, the land the village stood on was owned by the King. Kings Norton is now divided into several parts with the ancient centre, based around the village green, still intact.

Civil war

Kings Norton was the scene of a couple of minor episodes during 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 17 October 1642.

Birmingham King's Norton (UK Parliament constituency)

Birmingham King's Norton was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1955. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

Boundaries

The Representation of the People Act 1918 provided that the constituency was to consist of the "Northfield and Selly Oak Wards and the part of King's Norton Ward which is not included in the Moseley Division" in the County Borough of Birmingham.

The Representation of the People Act 1948 provided that the constituency was to consist of the "King's Norton and Moseley and King's Heath wards of the County Borough of Birmingham". Moseley and King's Heath wards had previously been part of the Birmingham Moseley and Birmingham Sparkbrook constituencies, as had the part of King's Norton ward which lay to the north of Bells Lane and to the east and south-east of the middle of Monyhull Hall Road and Brandwood Road. Northfield and Selly Oak wards became the constituency of Birmingham Northfield.

Kings Norton RFC

Kings Norton RFC is an English rugby union team.

Established in 1923 in Kings Norton, Birmingham, the club soon moved its base into the Bromsgrove Urban District Council's area of Worcestershire, when it used a ground initially in Masshouse Lane, and later in Bells Lane on Bournville Village Trust land, where it had two pitches laid out.

The team won the inaugural North Midlands RFU Seven-a-Side Tournament in 1930, and a unique double was achieved when its Colts side won a similar inaugural competition at The Reddings in its 1963/4 season.

The club has hosted numerous county matches, and its players have appeared in representative sides over the years. Nigel Horton began his career at Kings Norton and went on to represent England. Nick Baxter has represented The Barbarians, England Students, England Sevens, Worcester Warriors, Pertemps Bees, and Stourbridge.

County boundary changes and housing development forced the club to move away from Bells Lane in 1973, and members worked hard to raise sufficient funds to purchase 12½ acres of agricultural land. A two-storey clubhouse and three rugby pitches were laid out.