- Tipton
Infobox UK place
official_name= Tipton
country= England
region= West Midlands
population= 47,000
os_grid_reference= SO9592
map_type= West Midlands
latitude= 52.5259
longitude= -2.0751
post_town= TIPTON
postcode_area= DY
postcode_district= DY4
dial_code=
constituency_westminster=
civil_parish=
metropolitan_borough=Sandwell
metropolitan_county= West MidlandsTipton is a town in the
Sandwell borough of the West Midlands,England , with a population of around 47,000.Tipton is located about halfway between
Birmingham andWolverhampton . It is a part of the West Midlandsconurbation , and is a part of theBlack Country .Tipton was an urban district council in
Staffordshire , until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. The vast majority of Tipton borough was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, although the Tividale part of the town became part of Warley. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974 and remains within this local authority to this day.It is a poor area with around half of all households in Tipton not owning a car and around 40 per cent of residents have incomes of less than £20,000 a year.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the
Black Country . But most of its factories closed during the 1980s and new housing estates have been built on the site of many former factories, the new private homes have seen an upturn in Tipton's fortunes by rising house prices.The far right
British National Party is popular among voters in the town, currently having three elected councillors; one inPrinces End , one in Great Bridge and one inTividale . Tividale has a relatively high percentage of ethnic minority residents, mostly Muslims ofPakistan i origin, but the Princes End and Great Bridge areas are predominantly occupied by white British residents, which has made the BNP's popularity all the more unusual.History
Until the 18th century, Tipton was a collection of small hamlets. Industrial growth started in the town when
ironstone andcoal were discovered in the 1770s. A number ofcanal s were built through the town, and laterrailway s, which greatly accelerated the pace of industrialisation.The engineer
James Watt built his firststeam engine in or very near Tipton in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines. In 1780,James Keir andAlexander Blair set up a chemical works there, making vast quantities of alkali and soap.The massive expansion in iron and coal industries led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century, going from 4,000 at the beginning of the century to 30,000 at the end. Tipton gained a reputation as being "the quintessence of the Black Country" because chimneys of local factories belched heavy pollution into the air, whilst houses and factories were built side by side. Most of the traditional industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared.
The
Black Country Living Museum in nearbyDudley re-creates life in the early 20th century Black Country, in original buildings which have been painstakingly rebuilt and furnished. There is a residential canal basin at the museum - Tipton was once known as the "Venice of the Midlands" because it had so many canals, although some of the 'minor' canals in the town were filled-in during the 1970s. The canals today form a vital cycling, wildlife and leisure facility.The area has a distinctive spoken dialect, different from the Birmingham accent. The richest of Tipton speech is very similar to that which
Shakespeare , or evenChaucer , would have spoken. Those who grew up here can often tell the difference between Tipton speech and the speech of people from otherBlack Country towns.The town has retained a traditional horse-keeping culture; private horses are kept freely on public land, and are occasionally 'trotted' on roads (pulling a rider on a lightweight racing cart). There are also tatters (i.e. rag-and-bone men), who also have links to the horse culture. Despite persistent council attempts to clear horses off public land, horses still appear in parks and on canal banks from time to time.
Public transport
Buses
Tipton has direct bus links with the towns of
Dudley ,Walsall ,Stourbridge ,Brierley Hill ,Sedgley ,Coseley ,West Bromwich ,Oldbury ,Bilston ,Wednesbury andDarlaston , though not all buses reach the town centre.Railway
Tipton has a direct rail link with the areas of
Wolverhampton ,Birmingham andCoventry . There are passenger stations,Tipton railway station in the town centre and atDudley Port railway station .It is currently served by just one railway line, as the line from Walsall to Stourbridge closed in 1964. This line served passenger stations at Dudley Port Lower Level and Great Bridge North, both of which closed in 1964 due to the
Beeching Axe , though the line remained open to goods trains until 1993. It is set to re-open in 2011 as aMidland Metro expansion on one side and a freight track on the other.A railway line existed between
Great Bridge and Swan Village in nearbyWest Bromwich , but was closed in 1968 under theBeeching Axe .Another line existed between
Princes End andOcker Hill , being closed to passenger trains in 1916 but remaining open to freight traffic until 1980. The closure of the railway was followed with the construction of a pedestrian walkway on the trackbed. The final stub of the line, which linkedWednesbury with Ocker Hill Power Station was closed in 1991.Outsiders' opinion of Tipton
The
Newcastle upon Tyne based adult comic "Viz" used Tipton as a perennial butt of jokes throughout the 1990s, involving a fictitious councillor, Hugo Guthrie. Guthrie may, however, have been based on the real inter-war figure of Councillor Doughty who forbade any more pubs to open until one was opened carrying his name — now renamed thePie Factory .Tipton was described by the BBC during the 2000 West Bromwich West by-election as, "One of the few places in Britain with no middle-class".
Notable people
Steve Bull , who was born on the town's Moat Farm estate on 28 March 1965, was a professional footballer. Other footballers born in Tipton includedIsaac Clarke (1915-2001),Joe Mayo (born 1953), andMick Hoban (born 1952). Arthur Hooper was an amateur sprinter withTipton Harriers and a member of the England Schoolboys team. However, he stopped training for Tipton Harriers and he became a professional footballer withWolverhampton Wanderers amongst others. Other sportsmen from Tipton include William Perry, a Victorian bareknuckle boxer Champion of England from 1850-57. There is a statue to Perry, known as 'the Tipton Slasher' in Coronation Gardens, in central Tipton.Jack Holden (1907-2004) was a runner forTipton Harriers and Great Britain.Shaun Perry was aRugby Union player forBristol Shoguns and England A.Norman Kendrick was a resident of Prince's End, Tipton. He was an early pioneer of the Coach Travel Industry and a civic leader for over 50 years up to his death at 75. Known as 'Ten Men' Kendrick because of his 6' 7", 21 stone frame.
The Tipton Three
Shafiq Rasul ,Ruhal Ahmed andAsif Iqbal were inmates of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba from 2002 to 2004. They were captured during the invasion of Afghanistan whilst, apparently, operating with the defending Taliban forces. They are popularly known as the "Tipton Three ", following ameme whereby victims of an allegedmiscarriage of justice have come to be known by the name of a city or town, followed by a number. See theBirmingham Six and theGuildford Four . In 2006, aMichael Winterbottom film claiming to be a historically accurate representation of the theirtorture andimprisonment was released, called "The Road to Guantánamo ".Although they were released without charge, they allege that people in their home town of Tipton still think they're terrorists, and that there's too much
racism in Tipton for them to be able to return. [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=16783380&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=we-can-never-go-home---tipton-trio-name_page.html]Peake Drive murders
Tipton hit the headlines once again on
27 September ,2004 , when a fire at a house in Peake Drive,Dudley Port , claimed the lives of four members of an Asian family. A fifth member of the family survived the blaze after jumping out of an upstairs window.Gurmej Rai, the estranged husband of one of the victims, was found guilty on four charges of murder and a charge of attempted murder on
20 February ,2006 . He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended minimum term of 35 years, although he had not actually started the blaze. He had paid two other men, Rajiv Sahonta and Ravinder Bedhan, to dowse the house with petrol and set it alight, as well as giving them a key to enter the house. They were cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years in prison, though they had already spent a year in custody and the terms of their sentence means they will be eligible for parole in2012 .Local industry
Tipton was one of the key towns in the
Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. In 1800, it was a predominantly rural area with just a few coal mines. By the final quarter of the century, it was a heavily populated area with thousands of houses as well as numerous coalmines, factories and blast furnaces.Notable firms to have been based in Tipton include
British Steel , Bean Industries (who owned a huge site which actually crossed the border withCoseley ) andAngle Ring . However, most of these factories had closed by the year 2000. The huge rolling mills on Bloomfield Road closed in 2005 and were demolished in the autumn of 2006; the site is now being developed for private housing. The Angle Ring, however, still stands opposite the rolling mills site. Vono only recently moved to a new base on thePatent Shaft site inWednesbury .Neighbourhoods
*
Tipton Green
*Princes End
*Tibbington
*Toll End
*Ocker Hill
* Great Bridge
*Tividale
*Tividale Quays Education
econdary schools
* RSA Academy (formerly
Willingsworth High School )
*Alexandra High School and Sixth Form Centre
*Tividale High School Primary schools
*
Tipton Green Junior School - located in Park Lane West, Tipton Green. Current building was constructed in 1976, replacing a late 19th century building in Sedgley Road West.
*Joseph Turner Primary School - located in Powis Avenue, Tipton. .
* Victoria Infant School - located in Queen's Road, Tipton Green. Was opened in 1995 to replace the interwar Manor Road Infant School.
*Summerhill Primary School - located in Central Avenue, Tibbington, on the merger of Locarno Primary School and Prince's End Primary School.
*Tividale Primary School - located in Dudley Road West, Tividale.
*Great Bridge Primary School - located in Mount Street, Great Bridge.
*Ocker Hill Primary School - located in Gospel Oak Road, Ocker Hill.
*Glebefields Primary School - located on the Glebefields Estate, Prince's End.
*Sacred Heart RC Primary School - located in Victoria Road, Tipton Green, and is Tipton's only Roman Catholic school.
*Wednesbury Oak Primary School - located off Wednesbury Oak Road.Religion
[http://www.tiptonfamilychurch.org Tipton Family Church] was established in November 1992. It is an evangelical Christian fellowship.
In popular culture
The area is notable for being the location of filming for the British comedy film "Anita and Me", set in the 1970s.
External links
* [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/THE_TOO/TIPTON.html Tipton] -
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
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