Bentley, West Midlands

Bentley is an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall located around Junction 10 of the M6 Motorway. It shares borders with the areas of Willenhall, Beechdale, Ashmore Park, Pleck, Darlaston and Alumwell.

History

Bentley is noted for its involvement in the English civil war, when in 1651 King Charles II took shelter with the Lane Family in Bentley Hall while attempting to escape to exile. Jane Lane famously helped the King escape by disguising him as a servant. Bentley Cairn marks the location of Bentley Hall upon the hill. The Cairn has recently undergone improvements, carried out by the Bentley Cairn Restoration Group.

In addition to these improvements, the remains of another manor house near the Cairn were discovered during May 2006, and an archaeological survey will take place by the Bentley Cairn Restoration Group, funded by the Darlaston Local Neighbourhood Partnership, in order to confirm and restore the remains of the house.

Bentley was mostly developed during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when it came within the borders of Darlaston Urban District Council; this now-defunct authority built several hundred homes at the north side of the Walsall to Wolverhampton road. Most of the roads on the estate took their name from Second World War heroes.

Bentley hit the headlines in 1992 when the body of a man was found buried under the patio of a house in Pugh Crescent. The man's wife, Jill Stubbs, was found guilty of manslaughter the following year and sentenced to five years in prison, having told the jury that he had been abusive towards her during their marriage. This influenced a storyline in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, in which wife and child abuser Trevor Jordache was stabbed to death by his wife Mandy before being buried under the patio of their house.

Local points of interest

Bentley is locally well known for its points of interest. They include Bentley Cairn, Bentley Emmanuel Church (denomination: Church of England), the ABC park, the lake and the dis-used railway line which runs through Bentley from Darlaston and into Willenhall.

More recently Bentley has become well known because of its proximity to the M6 motorway, a multi-screen cinema, casino, and a variety of restaurants.

Public transport

Several bus routes serve Bentley, linking it to Willenhall, Walsall, New Invention, Darlaston and Wolverhampton. These services are operated by National Express West Midlands, A2Z Travel and Arriva Midlands.

If the proposed Midland Metro expansion goes ahead, linking Wolverhampton with Walsall via Wednesfield and Willenhall, the line will pass along the boundary of Bentley.

A train line passes through Bentley, but trains do not stop. The nearest train station is Walsall.

Education

Whilst Bentley does not have any Secondary Schools, it has several primary schools. These are:
* County Bridge Primary
* Bentley West Primary
* King Charles Primary
* Lodge Farm Primary (Officially in Willenhall, but has an entrance from Bentley)Additionally Jane Lane Special School is located in Bentley.

Bibliography

*Chalmers, Aubrey (1993). "Buried under the patio." "Daily Mail". January 13.
*Gardiner, S. R. (1903). "History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1656". London: Longmans.