Cradley Heath

Coordinates: 52°28′23″N 2°04′45″W / 52.47302°N 2.07908°W / 52.47302; -2.07908

Cradley Heath
Cradley Heath  Cradley Heath shown within the West Midlands
OS grid reference	SO947861
Shire county	West Midlands
Region	West Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Postcode district	B64 6xx
Dialling code	01384
Police	West Midlands
Fire	West Midlands
Ambulance	West Midlands
EU Parliament	West Midlands
List of places: UK • England • West Midlands

Cradley Heath Council House, now Sandwell MBC offices.

Cradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Craid-ley", not "Crad-ley", but in the Black Country accent, it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith". Cradley Heath is often confused with neighbouring Cradley in Halesowen, although the two places have long been in separate local authorities.

Cradley Heath is one of several towns in central England still recognisable from their early 20th century appearance. Many of the shops and houses in the town's High Street are still standing after 100 years. Some of these were demolished in the mid-2000s to make way for a long-awaited by-pass, which finally opened in 2007 to relieve the town's severe congestion problem which had been getting worse for decades.

Location, history and geography

Cradley Heath was originally an area of heath, between Cradley, Netherton and Old Hill, in the Staffordshire parish of Rowley Regis, which subsequently received borough status in 1933. The residents of Cradley had grazing rights, subject to an annual payment to the lord of the manor. The River Stour forms the boundary, not only between Cradley and Cradley Heath, but also between the modern MBCs of Sandwell and Dudley.

As on other commons in the Black Country, cottages were built encroaching on the heath. These were occupied by nailmakers and other smiths. The anchor on the RMS Titanic was produced by anchor smiths at Noah Hingley & Sons Ltd., in Netherton.

Cradley Heath Baptist Church

One landmark in the growth of Cradley Heath as a separate community was the beginnings of Cradley Heath Baptist Church in December 1833. This was the first Christian Church meeting in Cradley Heath, and others followed.^[1] This has the distinction of having had the first Afro-Caribbean Minister in the Black Country if not in England, Rev. George Cousens in 1837. He was very popular, and served as Minister in several other Black Country Churches before returning to Cradley Heath in 1867. He came from Jamaica to study in London, and was disowned by his family after his conversion to Christianity.^[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.

Cradley Heath had its own Town Council. The former Council House still stands in a corner of Haden Hill Park, and is now used as local offices of Sandwell MBC.

The Workers Institute which stood in Lower High Street for almost 100 years was be rebuilt at the Black Country Living Museum after being dismantled in 2006 to make way for a bypass that was originally proposed in the 1960s and finally opened in 2007.

Cradley Heath today

The town is probably most famous nationally for the Cradley Heath Heathens, a Speedway team, which originally operated as Cradley Heath Cubs. They participated in British speedway from 1947 until 1995, featuring World Champion riders such as Erik Gundersen and Bruce Penhall.^[3]

The track was situated in Dudley Wood, which is a suburb of Netherton, Dudley, on Dudley Wood Road which is neither in Cradley or Cradley Heath and was reputed to be the hardest circuit to find in the UK. The site was lost to redevelopment by Barratt Homes in the mid 2000s but there are hopes^{[by whom?]} a replacement venue will be found. Tony Mole, former owner of Workington Comets and who resurrected Birmingham Brummies in 2008, attempted to submit a Planning Application to Dudley MBC in a bid to return speedway to the Cradley area. A greenfield site off Oldnall Road in Cradley, Halesowen (over the border in Dudley) was adjudged to be suitable and plans were drawn up. Opposition was immense from local residents and councillors as the site reputedly contained a prehistoric settlement and also was very close to surrounding houses. The planning application was withdrawn as a result of this opposition and the failure of the speedway consortium to finalise their plans by the required deadline. Dudley MBC have agreed to work with them to find a suitable site and central Dudley, near the former steel terminal and sites in Sandwell have been mentioned but without tangible progress to date (November 2009).

Cradley Heath Library, Upper High Street

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^{[citation needed]} to close or take serious cutbacks to compete; it is expected^{[by whom?]} that nearby Halesowen will suffer similar consequences when ASDA 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. It is now a part of the huge American AON group.

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.

The Corbett Hospital was demolished in 2007 and sadly this included the small part of the eighteenth century mansion known as ‘The Hill’. The Parish Church of St Luke had the turrets removed around 1912 but still today looks as good as it did then.

Education

The LEA is Sandwell.

There are several primary schools in the districts of Cradley Heath.

Heathfield Foundation Technology College is the local secondary school, in Wright's Lane, Old Hill, which has served the area since the 1960s. Other nearby secondary schools are just over the border in Netherton and Halesowen.

Transport

Cradley Heath Interchange

Cradley Heath has good bus and rail links, and a major landmark is the Cradley Heath Interchange at the west end of the town. This is based upon Cradley Heath railway station, and a bus station was added so as to facilitate connections between the two. The railway is on the route from Birmingham, Snow Hill station to Stourbridge Junction. The current interchange facility was built in about 1990.

Cradley Heath is on some of the main bus routes from Birmingham and West Bromwich to Merry Hill Shopping Centre.

Parks and leisure facilities

The main parkland is Haden Hill, the former home of the Haden family and now in the care of Sandwell MBC. Alongside Haden Hill House are Haden Hill Leisure Centre, housing a swimming pool and other facilities, and Cradley Heath Cricket Club.

The Cradley Heath Liberal Club has substantial facilities on Upper High Street, just east of Four-Ways. The Regis Restaurant, Old Hill, was for many years a community hall but the future has been in doubt after Sandwell MBC found it uneconomic.

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]

Places of worship

St Luke's Church, Cradley Heath. This stands at Four-Ways junction, alongside the Baptist Church which pre-dated it.

Although some have closed, Cradley Heath like much of the Black Country has many current and former Church buildings. The main Anglican buildings are St Luke's, Four-Ways, Cradley Heath, and Holy Trinity, corner of Lawrence Lane and Halesowen Road, Old Hill. The Grainger's Lane Methodist Church closed in 2007, but the building is still a landmark. A number of other Methodist buildings in the area, mostly around Old Hill, amalgamated to build a new building at Lawrence Lane. There is also a Wesleyan Reform Union Chapel, St James', relocated from Cradley Heath to Old Hill because of the bypass. The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses can be found opposite the Holy Trinity Church in Old Hill.

Four-Ways Baptist Church is the only General Baptist in Cradley Heath. The congregation rejected a proposal to close the building, and continues to meet. There are several Strict and Particular Baptist Churches including Spring Meadow, and Station Road, both in Old Hill.

The Salvation Army were also relocated because of the Tesco store, the building being moved from Four-Ways to a new site 1/4 mile away.

Neighbourhoods

• Old Hill
• Timbertree
• Newtown
• Haden Hill
• Lomie Town

References

1. ^ Rev. Idris Williams, A History of the Four Ways Baptist Church, Cradley Heath, Staffs. Centenary Souvenir, 1933.
2. ^ Idris Williams, op. cit., p. 35.
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ VIH web site, About us.

External links

• Cradley Heath and Old Hill Ward on ONS site
• Sandwell MBC web site
• River Stour
• Cradley Heath Amateur Operatic Society
• Black Country Images