Blackheath is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell,
West MidlandsThe West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a population of 2,591,300. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Before 1841,
Bleak Heath or
Blake Heath was a small group of farm houses and inns on the turnpike road from
OldburyOldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
to
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
, within
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
. The changes brought about by the
industrial revolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
led to a
Private ActAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
in June that year that allowed the sale of the
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
glebeIn the Roman Catholic and Anglican church traditions, a glebe was an area of land belonging to a benefice. This was property which was assigned to support the priest. Glebe included a wide variety of properties including farms, individual fields, shops, houses, factories etc...
lands in order to finance the building of a new vicarage.
The land was purchased by developers who, throughout the remainder of the 19th century, expanded
Blackheath as a dormitory town for the surrounding industries, in particular, the coal mine at Coombes Wood and the Hailstone quarry.
Blackheath is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell,
West MidlandsThe West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a population of 2,591,300. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Establishment
Before 1841,
Bleak Heath or
Blake Heath was a small group of farm houses and inns on the turnpike road from
OldburyOldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
to
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
, within
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
. The changes brought about by the
industrial revolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
led to a
Private ActAn act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament....
in June that year that allowed the sale of the
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
glebeIn the Roman Catholic and Anglican church traditions, a glebe was an area of land belonging to a benefice. This was property which was assigned to support the priest. Glebe included a wide variety of properties including farms, individual fields, shops, houses, factories etc...
lands in order to finance the building of a new vicarage.
The land was purchased by developers who, throughout the remainder of the 19th century, expanded
Blackheath as a dormitory town for the surrounding industries, in particular, the coal mine at Coombes Wood and the Hailstone quarry. Workers migrated to Blackheath from across
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and particularly from
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
until the town and its neighbours grew to form the existing
conurbationA conurbation is an urban area or agglomeration comprising a number of cities, large towns and larger urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
with nearby
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
.
Churches
The parish of St Paul was established in 1865 as a distinct entity from that of
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
and the new church consecrated in 1869. There has also been a long tradition of
nonconformismNonconformism refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England.- Origins and use :...
with many Methodist and
BaptistA Baptist is a Christian who subscribes to a theology and may belong to a church that, among other things, is committed to believer's baptism and, with respect to church polity, favors the congregational model...
chapels.
Manufacturing, railways, and industrialisation
A market was established and an extension of the
Great Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835, and ran its first trains three years later...
linking
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
and Worcester opened a station in the town in 1867.
Into the 20th century, manufacturing grew and extractive industries declined with the last coal mine closing in 1919. Major employers were the fasteners business at the Excelsior Works of Thomas William Lench and the
electrical engineeringElectrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after...
business of
British Thomson-HoustonBritish Thomson-Houston was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England. They were known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines. They were merged with the similar Metropolitan-Vickers company in 1928, but the two maintained their own...
(BTH). Manufacturing remained the main source of income up to the start of the 21st century with the BTH works still in operation though in the intervening years it has worked under the successive names of
AEIAssociated Electrical Industries was a British engineering company formed in 1959 by the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company and Metropolitan Vickers. In 1967 AEI was acquired by GEC, to create the UK's largest electrical group....
, GEC,
GEC-ALSTHOMAlstom is a large French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2007-'08 Alstom had annual sales of over €16.9 billion, and employed more than 81,500 people in 70 countries. Alstom's...
, Hawker Siddeley,
BTRBTR plc was a British industrial conglomerate, which merged with Siebe in 1999 to form BTR Siebe plc, later renamed Invensys. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
and Electrodrives.
New Boroughship
Blackheath was part of the borough of
Rowley RegisRowley Regis is a town in the Sandwell metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county, and a part of the Black Country in the United Kingdom...
until 1966, when it became part of the
county boroughCounty borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. The Local Government Act 1972 abolished them in England and Wales, but they are still used in the Republic of Ireland and Northern...
of
WarleyWarley was, from 1966 to 1974, a county borough and civil parish formed by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis, by recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England....
. Since 1974 it was formed part of the metropolitan borough of Sandwell.
Economy
Blackheath has always been a predominantly
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
area dominated by modest housing. The town was hard hit by the economic slow-down of the 1970s and unemployment of the early 1980s. However, in the 1990s the town became more prosperous with improving housing stock and some substantial development in town centre stores and improvement in the road network.
Blackheath has many transport links with buses travelling throughout the borough and
Rowley Regis railway stationRowley Regis railway station serves the Rowley Regis area of Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England. It is located on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line...
is nearby.
FootballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
team Blackheath Town F.C. play in the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One (South).
Judas PriestJudas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, formed in 1969. Judas Priest's core line-up consists of bass player Ian Hill, vocalist Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing. The band has gone through several drummers, though Scott Travis has held the position since...
guitarist
Glenn TiptonGlenn Raymond Tipton is one of the guitarists for the British heavy metal band Judas Priest...
was born in Blackheath.
With rising traffic on local roads after the Second World War, Blackheath became a congestion hotspot. Things improved slightly with the construction of a new road around the north of the town centre towards the end of the 1970s, but this was only of use to traffic coming to and from
Cradley HeathCradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Crayd-ley", not "Crad-ley"; in the Black Country accent it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith"...
and
Brierley HillBrierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined...
. Motorists travelling from
QuintonQuinton may refer to:*Quinton *Quinton Andrews, American football player*Anthony Quinton, a philosopher*A. R. Quinton, an English watercolour artist*Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, an American Mixed Martial Artist...
still had to negotiate the original route that was little better than it had been in the days before cars. This problem was solved in 2006 with a new relief road that circles the eastern half of the town centre and diverts traffic coming from
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
,
QuintonQuinton may refer to:*Quinton *Quinton Andrews, American football player*Anthony Quinton, a philosopher*A. R. Quinton, an English watercolour artist*Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, an American Mixed Martial Artist...
and
OldburyOldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
.
Blackheath has some of the strongest public transport links in the
Black CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham.By the late 19th century, this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
. It has direct bus and rail links with
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
, while the extensive bus network gives locals a direct route to
OldburyOldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
,
HalesowenHalesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
,
DudleyDudley is a large town in the West Midlands, England, with a population of 194,919. Since 1974 it has been the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Dudley; the original County Borough had undergone a lesser expansion in 1966...
,
Cradley HeathCradley Heath is a town in the Black Country, located in Sandwell metropolitan borough, England. The name is usually pronounced "Crayd-ley", not "Crad-ley"; in the Black Country accent it may even sound like "Craig-ley Aith"...
,
West BromwichWest Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
and
WalsallWalsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation, and is sometimes described as part of the Black Country.Walsall...
.