Cradley, Worcestershire
| Cradley | |
| Worcestershire | |
|---|---|
 St Peter's Church, Cradley | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 52°27’36"N, 2°5’10"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
Cradley is a village in the Black Country of Worcestershire, near Halesowen and the banks of the River Stour. It is locally known as "Colley Gate" after the name of the short road in the centre of the town. Cradley was part of the ancient parish of Halesowen, but unlike much of the rest of that parish, which was an exclave of Shropshire loacally situate in Worcestershire, Cradley is firmly a Worcestershire town.
The town is a heavily urbanised, industrialised place, in remarkable contrast to its namesake, Cradley, Herefordshire 30 miles southwest, near to the Malvern Hills.
In the 19th century a new settlement grew up in heathland on the other side of the river, and became known as Cradley Heath. This was in the ancient parish of Rowley Regis. Previously the residents of Cradley had had the right to graze their animals on that heath, subject to a small annual payment to the lord of the manor.
History
Cradley appears in the Domesday Book thus:
- CRADELEIE. Pagan holds it under William son of Ansculf. Withgar held it. There is one hide, no part in Demesne, 4 villagers and 11 smallholders with 7 ploughs. The value was 40 shillings; now 24 shillings.
The manor of Cradley was bought and sold over the centuries, and also changed hands as a result of forfeiture and political favours. In 1473, following the forfeiture of it by James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, it passed to the Crown, and Edward IV gave the largest part of it to his Queen. She had built a chapel, dedicated to Erasmus, the Dutch philosopher, adjoining the abbey church at Westminster, and endowed it with the manors of Cradley and Hagley. However the manor reverted to Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, when the attainder was reversed by Henry VII. In 1564, the 7th Earl's grandson sold it, together with Oldswinford, Hagley and Clent, to Sir John Lyttleton of Frankley.[1][2] The boundary of Cradley, as re-surveyed in 1733, has remained virtually unchanged ever since.
During the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops were quartered in Cradley.
Renowned typeface designer William Caslon is believed to have been born in Cradley in 1693, although there are those who maintain that he was born in Halesowen.
The Revival
In 1770, John Wesley visited Cradley, and wrote:
Monday, 19, March 1770 - I rode to Cradley (from Wednesbury). Here also the multitude obliged me to stand abroad, although the north wind whistled about my head. About one I took the field to Stourbridge. Many of the hearers were as wild as colts untamed; but the bridle was in their mouths. At six I began in Dudley. The air was as cold as I had almost ever felt, but I trust God warmed many hearts.
The local Church of England church, St Peter's, was actually built by a group of Dissenters who gathered together to form the Independent Congregational Society. However, a special Act of Parliament (39 Geo. III. 1799), passed on 12 July 1799, took St. Peter's into the Church of England.
The Dissenting tradition remained strong, and many local Wesleyan, Methodist and Baptist churches flourished.
Industrial history
Cradley achieved prominence in the 19th century as a centre of iron chain making, though the most important centre was the adjacent (but distinct) Cradley Heath. The chain was made on a hearth by hammering cut lengths of red-hot wrought iron rod into oval links, one link passing through the next to form a cable. The anchor chain for the Titanic was made at Cradley Heath.
Chain making was not the first or only iron trade carried on in Cradley and the neighbouring towns. For hundreds of years nails had been made in the Black Country, and many thousands of men and women were employed in the trade. It was the staple industry until the mid-19th century. Nail making by hand went into decline after the introduction of machine made nails in about 1830 and many nail makers adapted their smiths and forges, and redirected their skills to making chain.
Cradley is less famous for coal mining than chain making, but between 1850 and 1950 the collieries were no less important than the chain works in the local economy and for the legacy they left.
The coal mining and chain making that made Cradley famous are now in the past, and most of the other iron-based trades have declined to a shadow of their former selves.
Shaping the town today
Many local pubs have been demolished in recent years,"The Black Horse" and "The Bulls Head" were both situated in Overend and have made way for private housing. More recently (2008) "The Top Crown" was razed to the ground.
Although Cradley was historically a village in its own right, increasing residential development during the first half of the 20th century has been it swallowed up into Halesowen. Cradley's old High Street is located along what is now known as Colley Lane.
A number of pre-1900 homes remain in Cradley, but most of the housing stock dates from after the First World War, and there is a substantial mix of private and council properties.
It has good transport links. There are several buses connecting Cradley with Halesowen, Stourbridge and Birmingham as well as the area being close to Cradley Heath and Lye train stations.