Old Hill
| Old Hill | |
| Staffordshire | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO956862 |
| Location: | 52°28’26"N, 2°3’55"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Cradley Heath |
| Postcode: | B64 |
| Dialling code: | 01384 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Sandwell |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Halesowen and Rowley Regis |
Old Hill is a town in Staffordshire, within the Black Country and contiguous with the surrounding towns of the Black Country conurbation. It is close by Cradley Heath. Old Hill is found on the Halesowen Road about 2 miles north of Halesowen.
The famous Old Hill Cricket Club has its ground here.
Shops are found along the High Street, where there is the usual range of takeaways, ladies' clothes shop, pet food shop and so forth, and six different churches. Old Hill has undergone redevelopment.
Churches
The Parish Church is Holy Trinity, situated at the junction of Lawrence Lane and Halesowen Road (the main street).
Churches include:
- Church of England:
- Holy Trinity
- Baptist (Strict Baptist):
- Spring Meadow
- Station Road
- Independent mission church: The Masefield Mission, in Claremont Street
- Methodist:
- Old Hil Methodist Church
- St James' Church (Wesleyan Reform Union)
- Roman Catholic: Our Lady of Lourdes
Development of the town
In the 1940s and 1950s the High Street was very different and contained some desirable shops typical of many main streets in the Black Country at that time. Thomas' Butchers and slaughterhouse was next door to the Grand. It was a family business as most shops were and old Mrs Thomas worked tirelessly well into retirement age. Needhams was a small family grocer's and was spotlessly clean. Old Guy's sweetshop and tobacconist was a joy to visit. Old Mr Guy was a tiny man who stocked all the best sweets and sold ice cream cornets with chocolate sprinkles. The greengrocer's on The Cross was called 'Timmies' and was completely open at the front like a market rather than a shop.
In 1945 prefabs were built to house young families. They were in Cherry Orchard and Spring Meadow. Although they were meant to be temporary housing they were much loved family homes for twenty years or more.To most of the people who moved into them they were the ultimate luxury with big rooms, large windows, indoor toilet and a bathroom. Kitchens with built-in cookers and fridge a real luxury for people moving from tiny terraced houses with the privy in the back yard and only the brewhouse to do the washing and get hot water. They all had gardens big enough for flowers and vegetables and plenty of room to play.
The Riddins Mound council estate was built near the Halesowen Road railway overbridge in the 1960s, consisting of 547 homes across three tower blocks, seven three-storey blocks of flats, nine maisonette blocks and four bungalows. However, the estate had fallen into decline by the early 1990s, and in August 1996 one of the tower blocks was demolished in a controlled explosion while the remained properties were refurbished and community facilities improved.[1]
The Eliza Tinsley factory was sold off in 2005 due to the firm's financial difficulties and has now become a housing estate.
Old Hill's market hall closed down in 2006. In December 2010 it reopened as a Cost Cutter store.
The old Plaza bingo hall, formerly a theatre, has been redeveloped and reopened April 2010. The building now called the Plaza was originally The Grand, a cinema, and then became the Plaza, a dance hall where many stars of the day performed including The Beatles, Joe Brown and Lulu. When it first opened only soft drinks and snacks were available at the bar.
The Waterfall Pub on Waterfall Lane [2] is regularly included in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide.
The town centre was by-passed with the construction of a new single-carriageway road (Heathfield Way) in 1991, relieving the town centre of some of its heavy congestion. The new road runs alongside Heathfield Foundation Technology College, built as the Heathfield High School in the 1970s.
Haden Hall and Haden Hill House
Haden Hill House, a Victorian gentleman's residence set in a park is found to the south of the town centre. The house and park are owned by the local council and are open to the public.
Haden Hall, a building dating from the Tudor period is next to Haden Hill House.
Transport links
Old Hill is served by Old Hill railway station on the main line from Birmingham, Snow Hill, to Stourbridge.
A branch of the Dudley Canal runs to the east of the town.