Oldswinford Church/Churchyard
Date & Time: 1.30pm Monday 27 August
Start: Oldswinford Church Gates
End: Oldswinford Church Gates
Guide: Roy Peacock
Price: £3.50 Adults and £1.00 children
St Marys Old Swinford predates all other local churches, and indeed Stourbridge itself, by several centuries. As a result it is the ‘mother church’ of the district and amongst its worshipers and officials were some of the earliest known individuals involved in several important local industries including, of course, glass. The seventeenth and eighteenth century ironmasters, mine owners and glassmakers buried and commemorated here represent the so-called ‘proto-industrial revolution’, which took place well in advance of the steam powered Georgian and Victorian innovations which are regarded by historians as the Industrial Revolution ‘proper’.
