Cradley Heath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (February 2008) |
Coordinates: 52°28′23″N 2°04′45″W / 52.47302°N 2.07908°W
| Cradley Heath | |
  Cradley Heath shown within the West Midlands |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Shire county | West Midlands |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | B64 6xx |
| Dialling code | 01384 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| European Parliament | West Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • West Midlands | |
Cradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Crayd-ley", not "Crad-ley"; in the Black Country accent it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith". Cradley Heath is often confused with neighbouring Cradley in Halesowen, although the two places have long been in separate local authorities.
Cradley Heath is one of several towns in central England still recognisable from their early 20th century appearance. Many of the shops and houses in the town's High Street are still standing after 100 years. Some of these were demolished in the mid-2000s to make way for a long-awaited by-pass, which finally opened in 2007 to relieve the town's severe congestion problem which had been getting worse for decades.
Contents |
[edit] Location, history and geography
Cradley Heath was originally an area of heath, between Cradley and Netherton, in the Staffordshire parish of Rowley Regis. The residents of Cradley had grazing rights, subject to an annual payment to the lord of the manor. The River Stour forms the boundary, not only between Cradley and Cradley Heath, but also between the modern MBCs of Sandwell and Dudley.
As on other commons in the Black Country, cottages were built encroaching on the heath. These were occupied by nailmakers and other smiths. The anchor on the RMS Titanic was produced by chainmakers in Cradley Heath.
One landmark in the growth of Cradley Heath as a separate community was the beginnings of Cradley Heath Baptist Church in December 1833. This was the first Christian Church meeting in Cradley Heath, and others followed.[1] This has the distinction of having had the first Afro-Caribbean Minister in the Black Country if not in England, Rev. George Cousens in 1837. He was very popular, and served as Minister in several other Black Country Churches before returning to Cradley Heath in 1867. He came from Jamaica to study in London, and was disowned by his family after his conversion to Christianity.[2]
From the introduction of machine-based nail-making around 1830, Cradley Heath developed two prolific industries - chainmaking and nailmaking - which would remain strong for decades afterwards. It was only during the 1980s recession that the iron-working industries based in Cradley Heath began to decline.
The Papers of the Cradley Heath Chainmakers' Trade Union are housed at the University of Birmingham Special Collections.
Cradley Heath had its own Town Council. The former Council House still stands in a corner of Haden Hill Park, and is now used as local offices of Sandwell MBC.
The Workers Institute which stood in Lower High Street for almost 100 years will be rebuilt at the Black Country Living Museum. It is being demolished to make way for a bypass that was originally proposed in the 1960s.
[edit] Cradley Heath today
The town is probably most famous nationally for the Cradley Heath Heathens, a Speedway team, which originally operated as Cradley Heath Cubs. They participated in British speedway until the 1980s, featuring World Champion riders such as Erik Gundersen and Bruce Penhall. The track was situated in Dudley Wood Road which was neither in Cradley or Cradley Heath and was reputed to be the hardest circuit to find in the UK. The site was lost to redevelopment but there are hopes a replacement venue will be found. Tony Mole, former owner of Workington Comets and who resurrected Birmingham Brummies last year, has submitted a planning application to Dudley Borough Council in a bid to return the sport to Cradley. The site he has proposed is a site on Oldnall Road. However, speedway teams, for example Buxton, Stoke, Edinburgh, Eastbourne, Mildenhall, operate some distance from the towns they are named after and the proposed location is not a valid impediment to calling the team Cradley Heath Heathens.
Cradley Heath High Street is marked by two road junctions, Four-Ways at the east end, and Five-Ways at the west end. Four-Ways is the most altered by the new bypass, running parallel to the High Street, with the Tesco store at this end.
Cradley Heath town is a traditional shopping centre, offering an alternative to modern malls. It has two markets and numerous privately owned shops and businesses. The Big Market has recently gained a new children's clothes stall. The Big Market has been there for over 100 years.
With the recent construction of a large Tesco Extra store (which opened in October 2007) many of the local businesses and stalls have been forced to close or take serious cutbacks to compete, it is expected that the neighbouring town of Halesowen will suffer similar consequences when ASDA opens a supermarket next to the now halved Cornbow shopping centre, to compete with the Cradley Heath Tesco Extra.
The Black Country Bugle newspaper is based in Cradley Heath. It has two main parks: Haden Hill and Mary McArthur memorial gardens (known locally as Lomie Town park).
An enterprise zone was developed in the deindustrialised eastern part of the town, near the border with Rowley Regis. Among the businesses based in this area is Footman James co-founded by Darrell Sloan, Thomas Cartwright, Joel Baynham, Saleem Mahmood, Pat Jasper, and Sara Robinson that has been based on Waterfall Lane since its formation in 1983. It is now a part of the huge American AON group.
[edit] Education
The LEA is Sandwell.
There are several primary schools in the districts of Cradley Heath.
Heathfield Foundation Technology College is the local secondary school, in Wright's Lane, Old Hill, which has served the area since the 1960s. Other nearby secondary schools are just over the border in Netherton and Halesowen.
[edit] Transport
Cradley Heath has good bus and rail links, and a major landmark is the Cradley Heath Interchange at the west end of the town. This is based upon Cradley Heath railway station, and a bus station was added so as to facilitate connections between the two. The railway is on the route from Birmingham, Snow Hill station to Stourbridge Junction.
Cradley Heath is on some of the main bus routes from Birmingham and West Bromwich to Merry Hill Shopping Centre.
[edit] Parks and leisure facilities
The main parkland is Haden Hill, the former home of the Haden family and now in the care of Sandwell MBC. Alongside Haden Hill House are Haden Hill Leisure Centre, housing a swimming pool and other facilities, and Cradley Heath Cricket Club.
The Cradley Heath Liberal Club has substantial facilities on Upper High Street, just east of Four-Ways. The Regis Restaurant, Old Hill, was for many years a community hall but the future has been in doubt after Sandwell MBC found it uneconomic.
Voices In Harmony, a local choir, originated in Cradley Heath as "Sandwell COmmunity Choir" to perform Handel's The Messiah in October 1997 as part of the BT "Voices For Hospices" event.[3]
[edit] Places of worship
Although some have closed, Cradley Heath like much of the Black Country has many current and former Church buildings. The main Anglican buildings are St Luke's, Four-Ways, Cradley Heath, and Holy Trinity, corner of Lawrence Lane and Halesowen Road, Old Hill. The Grainger's Lane Methodist Church closed in 2007, but the building is still a landmark. A number of other Methodist buildings in the area, mostly around Old Hill, amalgamated to build a new building at Lawrence Lane. There is also a Wesleyan Reform Union Chapel, St James', relocated from Cradley Heath to Old Hill because of the bypass.
Four-Ways Baptist Church is the only General Baptist in Cradley Heath. The congregation rejected a proposal to close the building, and continues to meet. There are several Strict and Particular Baptist Churches including Spring Meadow, and Station Road, both in Old Hill.
The Salvation Army were also relocated because of the Tesco store, the building being moved from Four-Ways to a new site 1/4 mile away.
[edit] Neighbourhoods
- Old Hill
- Timbertree
- Newtown
- Haden Hill
- Lomie Town
