Cradley Heath
| Cradley Heath | |
| Staffordshire | |
|---|---|
 Cradley Heath High Street | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SO947861 |
| Location: | 52°28’23"N, 2°4’45"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 12,987 (2012) |
| Post town: | Cradley Heath |
| Postcode: | B64 |
| Dialling code: | 01384 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Sandwell |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Halesowen and Rowley Regis |
Cradley Heath is a small town in Staffordshire, within the Black Country. Nearby, across in Worcestershire is Cradley, though the two places are distinct and separate.
Cradley Heath is one of a number of towns in the Midlands still recognisable from their early-20th-century appearance. Many of the shops and houses in the High Street are still standing after 100 years, though some were demolished in the mid-2000s to make way for a bypass, to ease congestion in the town centre.
History
Cradley Heath was originally an area of heathland between Cradley, Netherton, and Old Hill, 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. As on other commons in the Black Country, cottages were built encroaching on the heath. These were occupied by nailmakers, amongst other industries.
One landmark in the growth of Cradley Heath as a distinct community was the creation of Cradley Heath Baptist Church, in December 1833. This was the first Christian Church meeting in Cradley Heath,[1] and has the distinction of having the first Black minister in Britain, the Rev George Cosens, in 1837.[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. Among the metallurgical companies that were active in the area was the British Iron Company and its successor, the New British Iron Company, who operated iron and steel works at Corngreaves from 1825 to 1894. The works subsequently continued under other owners until 1912. 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.
The Workers Institute, which stood in Lower High Street for almost 100 years, was rebuilt at the Black Country Living History Museum in 2006, after being dismantled to make way for a bypass.[3]
Cradley Heath today
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 remains a traditional shopping centre, offering an alternative to modern malls. It has two market halls and numerous privately owned shops and businesses. The old Market Hall has been in Cradley Heath for over 100 years and has recently gained a new children's clothes stall.
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 and traders worry that nearby Halesowen will suffer similar consequences when a supermarket 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, which was set up by Derek Beasley, former chairman of Halesowen Harriers, which focusses on local history and culture of the Black Country and often features articles and poems written in the Black Country dialect.
Cradley Heath has two large municipal parks, Haden Hill Park, which contains Haden Hall and Haden Old Hall (the latter with Tudor origins) which was the ancestral home of the Haden family and the 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, which has been based on Waterfall Lane since its formation in 1983.
The Old Bank Building on Upper High Street which was built in 1908 for the United Counties Bank of Cradley Heath has kept its original place even with the new road layout with the modernisation of Cradley Heath. In 1973 the Old Bank Building became part of Sandwell Insurance and Sandwell Accountancy Services.
Cradley Heath High Street has not changed much since the subsidence in 1914 and the dip in the high street following the subsidence is very prominent and can be seen still today.
Churches
Cradley Heath has many church buildings, including:
- Church of England:
- St Luke's
- Four-Ways
- Cradley Heath
- Holy Trinity
- Methodist: Lawrence Lane. There is also a Wesleyan Reform Union Chapel
- Baptist:
- Four-Ways Baptist Church (the only General Baptist church in Cradley Heath)
- Strict and Particular Baptist: several churches
Parks and leisure facilities
Haden Hill is the main parkland, the former home of the Haden family. Alongside Haden Hill House are Haden Hill Leisure Centre, housing a swimming pool and other facilities, and Cradley Heath Cricket Club.
Big Society
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.[4]
Outside links
References
- ↑ Rev. Idris Williams, A History of the Four Ways Baptist Church, Cradley Heath, Staffs. Centenary Souvenir, 1933.
- ↑ Idris Williams, op. cit., p. 35.
- ↑ "The 'Stute' to be rebuilt". BBC News. 19th January 2006. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/articles/2006/01/19/cradley_heath_workers_institute_feature.shtml. Retrieved 23rd October 2012.
- ↑ VIH web site, About us.