Development The earliest mention of the village was in AD817. In 1086, there was already a priest and a
Saxon church, which stood on the same site as the present Holy Trinity church. The church was later rebuilt by
the Normans and some remnants of this structure still remain. The church has been altered over the years with large scale restorations in the 1890s. The tower clock was erected in celebration of
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and the
lychgate was built in 1912 and dedicated to Henry Charles Goodyear, who was a missionary from the parish. The Church is a
Domesday Book Church. The present Churchyard is believed to have been the site of early Pagan religious ceremonies, The base of the existing Woodgate memorial is believed to be a Pagan preaching stone. After conversion to Christianity, it is thought a wooden Church was erected, to be replaced in Norman times with a substantial stone structure. Little of this remains but there is a Norman Chapel in the grounds of Bell Hall. The present Church was built at the beginning of the 14th century. However, the
Black Death of 1348-9 had a decimated its activity and claimed the lives of three Priests. The Church at that time was highly decorated and traces of the original colours can still be seen. Many of the mills of the area were formerly
blade mills used for sharpening them, after a scythesmith had forged them from iron, with a thin strip of steel along the cutting edge. From the late 18th century until about 1870, the Waldron family of Field House
Clent were the leading manufacturers. They were succeeded by Isaac Nash, whose business finally closed in 1967. Scythes were formerly not just made in Belbroughton, but also several adjacent parishes, including
Chaddesley Corbett. In Belbroughton in 1831, with a population of 1,476, 68 weekly payments for
poor relief were made. Poor relief however was only due to residents of a parish, provable through a certificate of residence. At the crossroads in the nearby hamlet of Bell Heath, there is a boulder that was brought by glacial process from
Arenig Fawr, a mountain within
Snowdonia, in
Gwynedd. A plaque reads "Boulder from Arenig Mountain in N. Wales, Brought here by the Welsh Ice-Sheet in the Glacial Period".
2008 flooding On 7 September 2008 heavy rain caused Belne Brook, which runs through the village, to swell. The rising water was held back by a seven-foot wall but the pressure of the water caused it to break. The surge of water tore through the village sweeping away cars and causing severe water damage (and in some cases structural damage) to many properties. The current was so strong, it made
tarmac ripple. ==Politics==