New Invention, Staffordshire
| New Invention | |
| Staffordshire | |
|---|---|
 Sneyd Wharf | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 52°36’40"N, 2°2’26"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Walsall |
New Invention is a small, suburban commuter village in Staffordshire, in the south of the county and within the Black Country. It stands three miles north of the town of Willenhall and four miles east of the city of Wolverhampton, halfway between Walsall and Wolverhampton, on the main A4124 and A462 roads.
Despite its industrial past, the area is blessed with many green spaces including the village green, Coppice Farm open space, the Wyrley & Essington canal, Sneyd reservoir (developed to provide water to the locks of the former Wyrley branch of the canal), Sneyd Wharf and Rough Wood Nature Reserve.
Its proximity to surrounding countryside and greenbelt land on one side of the area, towards Essington and Shareshill, and the urban services of Wolverhampton and Walsall on the other makes it a popular commuter village.
Name
The name "New Invention" has been the subject of many theories and stories, much as has its namesake in Shropshire. The usuall explanation is that the each village is named after a public house or an inn which was named The New Invention.
There is an inventive local story in Staffordshire about 'New Invention'.
This hamlet owes its strange name to a simple circumstance. The tennant of the first house erected there was annoyed by a smoky chimney, and he contrived an ingenious apparatus to remedy the evil. ... he invited every visitor to see his 'new invention' as he called it. ... it was applied to distinguish his house ... and others ... adopted it also.[1]
Hackwood states that the invention was "a hawthorn bush which was pushed out the top of his chimney."[2]
History
The village is in the Black Country, upon rich coal deposits and so it a significant mining past. Many extensive mines were worked in the area during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including primarily 'The Sneyd Colliery'. One present day landmark still running through the village, having extensive ties with the coal mining history of the area, is the Wyrley and Essington Canal. The 'Curly Wyrley' was once used to transport coal via narrowboat to fuel industry in the neighbouring industrial havens of Walsall, Wednesbury and Dudley, seeing that New Invention, and Black Country, coal played a key part in the success of the British Empire. The coal and industry has now disappeared and the canal serves as a scenic walk through woods and green belt land toward the factory lined towpaths of Walsall.
The village also has strong links to the area's lock and key making history, with two major factories formerley being located here, Yale locks and Squires locks. Yale closed during the 1980s and Squires was demolished during the mid-2000s, due to the age of the building, and relocated in Essington. A new housing development has now been built on the land of the former factory.
The urban development of New Invention mainly began during the 1950s; prior to this it was a largely rural settlement dominated mainly by farmland and rural collieries. However, following a population increase in Willenhall and a need for new housing, New Invention was developed. The most recent major housing development to be completed was the Coppice Farm estate, which was mainly built throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Methodist preacher John Wesley once stopped in the village after being stoned and forced out of Willenhall. New Invention being, in those days, considerably more isolated from Willenhall than it is today. According to Wesley "I proceeded thence to New Invention, where I met with civility and kindness." Perhaps in recognition of John Wesley part of the present day A462 road is named Wesley Road.
Churches in and by New Invention
- Church of England:
- Short Heath Holy Trinity
- Short Heath All Saints Worship Centre, Allens Rough
- Methodist: Short Heath Methodist Church
- Roman Catholic: St Edmund Gennings
New Invention Methodist Church closed in April 2014.[3]
Commerce
The main shopping area is based around The Square, a small parade with shops on three sides. There is also a supermarket on Coppice Farm Way.
Several pubs in the locality include The Broadway and The Milestone. A former early 18th century inn, 'The Gate', has been redeveloped, after the building began to fail in its former purpose as a public house, and is now a thriving Chinese take-away, Golden Gate, and award winning Indian restaurant and takeaway, Chilli Peppers.
Transport
The village is well served by transport links, being only 3 miles from the M6 motorway - linking it with the North, South and East of the country, and is also close to the M54 motorway, linking the area to Shropshire and beyond to the west.
Despite its relatively small size a large number of buss routes serve New Invention, due to its location on the main Lichfield Road. The nearest railway station is at Bloxwich and the nearest Midland Metro tram stop four miles off in Wolverhampton.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about New Invention, Staffordshire) |
References
- ↑ Timmins, S., Birmingham and the Midland hardware district, Routledge, 1968, p. 88n.
- ↑ Hackwood, FW., The annals of Willenhall, 1908, Reprinted by Echo publications, 2010, p. 148. [1]
- ↑ New Invention Methodist Church closure - Willenhall Ay We