Kingswinford

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Kingswinford
Staffordshire

Cottage and vicarage, Kingswinford
Location
Location: 52°29’53"N, 2°9’57"W
Data
Post town: Kingswinford
Postcode: DY6
Dialling code: 01384
Local Government
Council: Dudley
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Dudley South

Kingswinford is a town in Staffordshire, within the Black Country, at the very western edge of the Black Country conurbation.

Kingswinford is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Suinesford and it is recorded as the land of the King. The name is just as it seems: swine's ford, and the prefix from ownership by the King. Which stream had the ford that names the town is unclear under today's townscape; presumably the bourne the still flows from The Village; the old heart of Kingswinford.

There are also nearby Swindon, and some miles to the south engulfed in Stourbridge is Oldswinford.

The ancient parish of Kingswinford spanned Wordsley, Brierley Hill and Quarry Bank.

The current economic focus of Kingswinford is tourism, education and housing for commuters. Positioned at the western edge of the Black Country conurbation it looks out on the fields of farms of rural Staffordshire. It is however a Black Country town which has had had significant industrial influence in the past.

Town centre

The town flag

Kingswinford has a busy town centre with local shops, along with five public houses and bars.

Once a town centre with a cinema, modern 1960s precinct and local quality butcher's, baker's and grocer's.

The town centre saw decline in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the opening of Merry Hill Shopping Centre. In contrast to Dudley town centre, Kingswinford has succeeded in bringing many locals back to the town centre by concentrating on quality shops and attractions, and drawing outside folk in too.

Popularity can have drawback and Kingswinford still awaits a bypass as local roads are now jammed 7 days a week. House building continues in the area notwithstanding the congestion.

Churches

Parish church

The parish church of St Mary dates back to the 11th century, although much of the main body of the building is from the 17th century. It contains a notable Norman carving of St Michael slaying the dragon.

The church also has a well-regarded two manual Nicholson and Lord pipe organ. It remained the church of the huge parish of Kingswinford until it was closed because of mining activities in 1831, when a new parish church was built, Holy Trinity Church in Wordsley. It reopened in 1846, initially as a chapel of ease, before regaining parochial status with a smaller parish and is today the parish church for the Kingswinford Team of churches. The building is Grade II listed.[1]

Other churches

Churches in Kingswinford include:

  • Church of England: St. Mary (see above)
  • Independent evangelical:
  • Methodist: Kingswinford Methodist Church
  • Roman Catholic: Our Lady of Lourdes

Modern development

Recent house building, commencing in the 1950s and 1960s, has largely destroyed the original rural character of Kingswinford, the result being the complete absorption of the former village into the large urban area that is the Dudley borough. This turn of events is lamented by some but has also brought considerable economic wealth into the area through the arrival of upmarket housing estates.

Kingswinford is where food retailer Julian Graves has its head office and distribution centres.

Gunpowder Plot

Near the town is Holbeach House, a small country house which has now been turned into a nursing home. It was here in 1605 that justice caught up with the Gunpowder Plotters of 1604. Most of the conspirators were found at Holbeach House and a bloody gunfight ensued, resulting in the deaths of at least four of the conspirators, including their leader Robert Catesby. Bullet holes can still be seen in the house's walls, but it is not open to the public.

Many of the streets of the Charterfields housing development, built during the 1970s, adopted in a somewhat forgiving manner the names of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, such as Catesby Drive (Robert Catesby), Digby Road (Sir Edward Digby), Keyes Drive (Robert Keyes), Tresham Road (Francis Tresham), Ambrose Crescent (Ambrose Rokewood), Monteagle Drive (Lord Monteagle - William Parker) and Rokewood Close (Ambrose Rokewood).

Townsend

There is an area at the end of Kingswinford which has been known as Townsend dating back to 19th century maps of the area. It was centred on Townsend House, the family seat of the Badley family from the 17th until the early 20th century. The Georgian house was demolished in the 1950s to build a shopping centre. John Badley of Townsend (1678–1768) was an ancestor of John Badley, FRCS and John Haden Badley the centenarian educator and founder of Bedales School.

Places of interest

Ashwood Marina on the canal

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal runs just outside Kingswinford and provides delightful walks on its towpath.

Broadfield House Glass Museum, Compton Drive, is housed in a splendid Grade II listed building set in its own grounds and located in the historic Stourbridge Glass Quarter. It has a magnificent collection of British glass, much of it made locally, from historic 18th century pieces to contemporary works from Britain's leading glass artists. A programme of lectures and events, and support for the work of the glass museum is organised by the friends of Broadfield House Glass Museum.

Kingswinford today

Despite its roots as a small village, Kingswinford is now better described as a dormitory town to Dudley, containing as it does a large number of commuting communities, small industrial businesses and several schools. The area is considered by local residents to be a good place to live and work. There are however, increasing congestion and over-population problems coherent with those that exist throughout the Dudley borough.

There are two major industrial trading estates in Kingswinford, the Dawley Brook Estate and the Pensnett Estate. These provide good local employment opportunities.

In 2005, work began on a project which is expected to bring around 2,000 new homes to the Kingswinford area, in order to create enough supply to accommodate the high demand for properties in and around Kingswinford - which is now one of the most favoured localities in the Black Country.

There are a few annual traditions in Kingswinford that have emerged in recent years and grown in popularity, such as fancy dress attire every Christmas Eve, particularly amongst young adult residents, often resulting in various pub crawls through the town. Another infamous tradition is for football fans to wear a retro or classic football shirt on the day of the FA Cup final.

Kingswinford's more colourful side

  • Kingswinford's most notorious resident is the mysterious author known as Captain Lazonby-Threpwell. His reputation was built on a series of bizarre letters to local newspapers and the fantastical book "Gulleys, Alleyways and Shortcuts of Kingswinford". Believed to have been written under a pseudonym, his writing has been favourably compared to that of J D Salinger.
  • In 1987, Kingswinford adopted the Ocean Quahog (Arctica Islandica) as the official town shell.
  • Sri Lankan born double murderer Senthamil Thillainathan lived in Kingswinford for a short time before his arrest in 2002.
  • In 2004, Kingswinford was put on red alert when it was announced that a crocodile had been sighted in a local park. No such beast was found.
  • Sunday Times bestselling author, Miranda Dickinson, was born in Kingswinford and mentions the town's library in her biography included in her first novel "Fairytale of New York" (2009).
  • On 1 December 2010 Ralph's Surf Shack - The Alternative Guide to Kingswinford - celebrated its 10th anniversary by launching a new Kingswinford Social Portal.

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Kingswinford)

References

  1. ↑ National Heritage List 1228790: St Michael, Kingswinford
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