Stirchley is in south-west Birmingham, England. The River Rea, which flows through the area and once powered mills at Lifford, Hazelwell, Dogpool and Moor Green, is now a walking and cycle route. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the railways brought industry to the area. Residential developments were established alongside the long-standing Victorian terracing which is associated with the suburb. The restored former Stirchley Baths community hub opened in 2016. Political In 2018, Stirchley separated from the Bournville Ward to become a ward in its own right. It is represented by Councillor Mary Locke (Lab). Stirchley is in the Parliamentary Constituency of Selly Oak represented by Steve McCabe (Lab). Until the Local Provisional Order Bill came into effect on 9 November 1911, the area was administered by the King’s Norton and Northfield Urban District Council in the East Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency) represented by Austen Chamberlain. The event, known as the Greater Birmingham Act, required the ancient county boundaries of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire to be changed. The former county boundary was the Bourn Brook which separates Edgbaston (Warwickshire), from Selly Oak (Worcestershire). Slightly more than 22,000 acres of Worcestershire was transferred to Warwickshire in the extension of the administrative area of Birmingham, and this has grown further with the creation of New Frankley. Nearly 50% of modern Birmingham was formerly in Worcestershire or Staffordshire. The Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries since 1844 is complex as a number of enclaves and exclaves were adjusted. Documentary references need to be researched under the county of origin. An editorial note in the VCH Warwickshire Volume 7 Birmingham refers to the special difficulties created by the change of the county boundaries and states that: "Accounts of the ancient parishes of King’s Norton, Northfield, and Yardley, and the parish of Quinton (in the ancient parish of Halesowen), now within the boundaries of the city, are contained in Volume III of the History of Worcestershire." Toponymy Lock considers the reference to Stercan Lei in the 730 Cartularium Saxonicum applies to Stirchley. A stirk or Styrk is Old English for heifer, and therefore the name signifies the clearing or pasture for cattle. This has been adopted as the meaning of Stirchley in Shropshire. The earliest known reference of a settlement at Stirchley is a deed dated 6 May 1658, where it is described as an "Indenture between Katherine Compton and Daniel Greves and others concerning a