Oldswinford

Oldswinford or Old Swinford[1] is an area south of the centre of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England.

Originally, Oldswinford was an extensive ancient parish, covering the whole of the former Municipal Borough of Stourbridge except Pedmore.

It is questionable whether these great feudal lords ever visited this manor, the supervision of the peasants' customary service and the collection of dues and fines being left to their stewards.

The Lytteltons, seated a few miles away at Frankley until their house there was destroyed during the Civil War causing them to move to Hagley, acquired the superior manor of Old Swinford in 1564 and they were the dominant local family until the 17th century when, having fallen from favour and lost much of their wealth through involvement in the Gunpowder Plot and the Royalist and Roman Catholic causes in Stuart times, they were superseded by the Foleys whose wealth was based on the rapidly expanding iron industry.

This spelling is still used for Old Swinford Hospital, a voluntary-aided school with boarding houses, founded and endowed by the ironmaster, Thomas Foley.