It lies just off the Birmingham Outer Circle, and south of a cutting housing the site of the former Handsworth Wood railway station.

In his 1851 History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White records: Handsworth Church, St Mary, is picturesquely situated on the Hamstead road, about two miles (3 km) NNW of Birmingham.

To this end there has been a marked increase in voluntary work in the graveyard while local community leaders have voted neighbourhood renewal funds that they hope will be matched by other regional agencies to implement a plan drawn up by the City Council's Landscape Practice Group to end years of neglect and bring about a rejuvenation similar to the great improvements they have funded in the neighbouring park between 2000 and 2006.

Hall who in March 2006 became chairman of a new group called The Friends of St Mary's Churchyard, which aimed "to be a focus for future hopes for the integrity of St Mary's Churchyard as a special place" – special not only for the respect accorded to the dead which ought to apply to all graveyards, but also because of the association of the church and its grounds with the founding fathers of the industrial age, and more recently with two important figures in the development of football, William McGregor, Director of Aston Villa F.C., who organised the founding meeting of the Football League on 22 March 1888, and George Ramsay, whose headstone reads "Founder of Aston Villa".

James Watt lived in Handsworth and is chiefly remembered as the inventor of the separate condenser, the greatest single improvement ever made to the steam engine.

On the north wall of the sanctuary is a marble bust of Matthew Boulton, set in a circular opening above two putti, one holding an engraving of the Soho Manufactory.

Conrad Küchler, a German refugee and engraver who worked for Boulton at his Soho Mint and who designed several British coins, was also buried in the churchyard.

This record comprises six volumes, titled Monumental Inscriptions, St Mary's Church Handsworth Birmingham.

Photocopies of this record, which contains sketches of various headstones and detailed maps showing their position in the graveyard, are held by the BMSGH Library (Fiche number 11054), Margaret Street, Birmingham, the Society of Genealogists (London), the Archives & Collections section of the Library of Birmingham, and Staffordshire Record Office.

[18] Brian Hall observes this piece of research has "brought to light once again the fascinating social history of this side of the emerging City of Birmingham during the Victorian and Edwardian period".

[19] Webster Booth (1902–1984), largely remembered today as the duettist partner of Anne Ziegler, joined his two older brothers in the choir of St Mary's.

[20] William McGregor (13 April 1846 – 20 December 1911) was the founding member of the Football League, and one-time manager and club administrator (then day chairman), of Aston Villa FC.