Bloxwich is a
townA town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in the
Metropolitan Borough of WalsallThe Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a local government district in the Black Country part of the West Midlands, England, with the status of a metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes the towns of Aldridge, Brownhills,...
,
West MidlandsThe West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. 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. The...
,
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, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a population of around 40,000 people.
Early history
Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as the Anglo-Saxon period, when the place name evidence suggests it was a small
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
n settlement named after the family of Bloc (Bloxwich, earlier Blochescwic, meaning "Bloc's village").
Some 19th century works suggest that at one time Bloxwich was a settlement in the ancient
manorManorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of
WednesburyWednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
. There is no conclusive evidence for this and Bloxwich has since at least medieval times been associated with the manor and town of
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 part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
(which for reasons unknown does not appear in the
Domesday BookDomesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
of 1086). Bloxwich itself is however mentioned in this book under the name 'Blockeswich'.
Traditionally there has been a strong rivalry between Bloxwich and Walsall with origins as early as the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, when Walsall was Parliamentarian in sympathy and Bloxwich, centre of the Foreign of Walsall, was Royalist. This situation was exacerbated by disputes over local taxation for the
poor rateIn England and Wales, under the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law the poor rate was a tax on property levied on the parish which was used to provide poor relief to the parish poor. The tax was collected by local magistrates or Overseers of the Poor, and later by Local Authorities....
in the 17th and 18th centuries.
18th and 19th centuries
Being part of the
Black CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
, Bloxwich grew rapidly in the 18th century around
coal miningThe goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
, iron smelting and various
manufacturingManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
industries, as part of the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. Manufacturing in the area consisted of bridle bits, stirrups, keys, cabinet locks, plane irons, buckle tongues, chains and saddles. Its most famous product of manufacture were
awlA stitching awl is a simple tool with which holes can be punctured in a variety of materials, or existing holes can be enlarged. It is also used for sewing heavy materials, such as leather or canvas. It is a thin, tapered metal shaft, coming to a sharp point, either straight or slightly bent....
blades, which it is reputed to have surpassed all other places in the United Kingdom in manufacturing. In the early 19th century, Bloxwich was still a village. Most of its inhabitants were employed in the newly founded mining and forging industries, as well as light metalworking. It is also known for its
canalCanals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s.
20th and 21 centuries
Agriculture remained important locally as late as the 1950s.
As it is near
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 part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
, Bloxwich was heavily developed between the wars for council housing. Most were constructed around
Blakenall HeathBlakenall Heath is a neighbourhood in Walsall, West Midlands, England. It straddles the border of Walsall and neighbouring town Bloxwich.It was originally a rural area north of Walsall, but the face of the area changed dramatically between 1918 and 1939....
, as well as Harden and
GoscoteGoscote is a residential area of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. The Goscote name dates back several centuries and as recently as 1920 it was a rural area that had survived the recent Industrial Revolution which dramatically altered the face of the region.But a mile or two away in Walsall...
. In the 20 years which followed the Second World War, the Lower Farm, Beechdale and Mossley estates were also erected as council housing developments, while the southern side of Harden was developed along with the Rivers Estate at Blakenall Heath. Many privately owned houses, mostly in the Little Bloxwich area, were also constructed. In the 1990s and 2000s, many new housing developments have sprung up both in Bloxwich and at Blakenall Heath.
Bloxwich has in recent years completed numerous redevelopment projects. The Bloxwich police station, opened in 1884 on Elmore Green Road, was closed for reconstruction in 2000, and reopened by
The Princess RoyalPrincess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
on 26 September 2002. (It also has responsibility for
WillenhallWillenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire...
and
DarlastonDarlaston is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England.-History:Archaeological evidence of the history of Darlaston has been destroyed by The de Darlaston family owned Darlaston and lived in the manor between the 12th century and 15th century. When the de...
.) The market square, library, and job centres have also been refurbished.
Current appearance
Bloxwich town centre is still mostly made up of
VictorianThe term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
and
Edwardian buildingsEdwardian architecture is the style popular when King Edward VII of the United Kingdom was in power; he reigned from 1901 to 1910, but the architecture style is generally considered to be indicative of the years 1901 to 1914....
and leafy parks and gardens, which maintain its origins as a Staffordshire village. Good built examples are Bloxwich Hospital, Bloxwich Hall, All Saints Church and several private houses in Station Street, Stafford Road, Wolverhampton Street and Sandbank.
From the Georgian period to the 1960s, Bloxwich had more
public houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s than any other town in the
Metropolitan Borough of WalsallThe Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a local government district in the Black Country part of the West Midlands, England, with the status of a metropolitan borough. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes the towns of Aldridge, Brownhills,...
, though these have begun to disappear. A focal point is the well-known Bloxwich Fountain in the Promenade Gardens. The church contains the original cemetery which dates back to the early 18th century. When this stopped being available, a new cemetery was created between the High Street and Field Road, just to the north. The last burial took place in 2000 and a new cemetery was open to the north of Bloxwich on the Turnberry estate, a private estate which was laid out during the 1980s.
Beyond Bloxwich Golf Club, Yieldfields Hall, to the north of the town on the A34 marks the northernmost edge of Bloxwich, Walsall and the West Midlands, currently the border with Staffordshire.
Neighbourhoods
- Houghville
- Blakenall Heath
Blakenall Heath is a neighbourhood in Walsall, West Midlands, England. It straddles the border of Walsall and neighbouring town Bloxwich.It was originally a rural area north of Walsall, but the face of the area changed dramatically between 1918 and 1939....
- Beechdale
Beechdale, originally named Gypsy Lane Estate, is a housing estate in Walsall, England, that was developed predominantly during the 1950s and 1960s....
- Harden
- Little Bloxwich
Little Bloxwich is a residential area of Bloxwich, West Midlands, England. It is situated in the extreme north of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall on the border with South Staffordshire, and is one of the more rural parts of the borough....
- Wallington Heath
- Mossley
The Mossley Estate is a housing estate located in Bloxwich, a town in the West Midlands of England. The vast majority of homes in the area are council properties built by the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall during the 1950s....
- Turnberry Estate
Turnberry Estate is a residential area of Bloxwich in the West Midlands of England. It was developed during the 1980s for the construction of new privately owned homes, and has borders with the countryside which heads away from Bloxwich in the direction of Cannock...
- Dudley Fields
- Goscote
Goscote is a residential area of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. The Goscote name dates back several centuries and as recently as 1920 it was a rural area that had survived the recent Industrial Revolution which dramatically altered the face of the region.But a mile or two away in Walsall...
- Leamore
Leamore is a suburb of Walsall in the extreme north of the town on the border with Bloxwich. It is a mix of private and council housing built since the late 19th century...
- Lower Farm Estate
Lower Farm Estate is a residential area of Bloxwich, a town in the West Midlands of England. It was mostly developed by the local council during the 1950s, and stands in the north side of the town which borders rural land in the direction of Cannock....
The postcode for Bloxwich is WS3, it also covers the suburban centre of
PelsallPelsall is an area of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Parliamentary Constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills.- History :Pelsall was first mentioned in a charter of 994, when it was amongst various lands given to the monastery at Heantune by Wulfrun, a Mercian noblewoman...
.
Primary schools
- Sunshine Infant School
- Blakenall Heath Junior School
- Harden Primary School
- Leamore Primary School
- Hatherton Lane Primary School
- Busill Jones Primary School
- Mossley Primary School
- Little Bloxwich Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Primary School
- Elmore Green Primary School
- St Peter's Catholic Primary School
- Lower Farm Primary School
Secondary schools
- Walsall Academy
Walsall Academy is a Comprehensive Academy secondary school in Bloxwich, West Midlands, England. It opened in September 2003 with 470 students on the roll, and after four years that figure had increased to 1,150 - making it one of the most populated secondary schools in the Walsall borough.The...
- Sneyd Comprehensive School
Sneyd Comprehensive School is a secondary school located in Bloxwich, West Midlands, England. It was built in 1980 to serve the western part of the town, as well as the northern part of Willenhall....
- Frank F. Harrison Community School
Frank F. Harrison Engineering College is a comprehensive secondary school located in Bloxwich, Walsall, West Midlands, England. It serves the south-western side of Bloxwich which includes the areas of Beechdale and Leamore....
Transport
Bloxwich is well served by public transport and is home to two train stations,
BloxwichBloxwich railway station serves the town of Bloxwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.-History:...
and
Bloxwich NorthBloxwich North railway station serves the town of Bloxwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England.The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.-History:...
.
Very regular buses link Bloxwich with
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 part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
, whilst others link the area to the surrounding towns of
WolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
,
BilstonBilston is a town in the English county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and...
,
WillenhallWillenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire...
,
BrownhillsBrownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...
,
WednesfieldWednesfield lies at , and is located to the northeast of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation...
,
CannockCannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
and
HednesfordHednesford is a small town and civil parish in Staffordshire, England, within Cannock Chase District. It adjoins Cannock Chase to the north, and the town of Cannock to the south. It had a 2010 mid-year estimated population of 16,928.-History:...
. Other local services serve nearby estates of
CoalpoolCoal Pool is a housing estate in Walsall, West Midlands, England. Most of the homes in area were built by the local council during the 1930s, with a smaller development taking place in the late 1940s which marked the resumption of council house building in the borough after World War...
, Harden,
MossleyMossley is a small town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. The town is located in the upper section of the Tame valley in the foothills of the Pennines, northeast of Ashton-under-Lyne and east of Manchester.Mossley has the distinction of...
, Lower Farm,
GoscoteNot to be confused with Goscote, WalsallGoscote was a wapentake of Leicestershire, England, consisting of the north and north-west of the county...
,
LeamoreLeamore is a suburb of Walsall in the extreme north of the town on the border with Bloxwich. It is a mix of private and council housing built since the late 19th century...
,
BeechdaleBeechdale, originally named Gypsy Lane Estate, is a housing estate in Walsall, England, that was developed predominantly during the 1950s and 1960s....
, Dudley Fields,
LandywoodLandywood is a village in Staffordshire, England. Landywood forms part of the parish and village of Great Wyrley, and together with Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay, forms a community with a combined population in 2001 of almost 20,000....
,
EssingtonEssington is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, England. It is considered by the Office for National Statistics to be part of the Wolverhampton Urban Subdivision, and is within the West Midlands conurbation....
and
PelsallPelsall is an area of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Parliamentary Constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills.- History :Pelsall was first mentioned in a charter of 994, when it was amongst various lands given to the monastery at Heantune by Wulfrun, a Mercian noblewoman...
. Three peak only services link Bloxwich with
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
.
The main operator of bus services in the area is
National Express West MidlandsNational Express West Midlands , formerly known as Travel West Midlands , is the trade name of West Midlands Travel Ltd , a company which operates bus services from depots in the cities of Birmingham, and Wolverhampton, as well as the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall in the West...
, but
Arriva MidlandsArriva Midlands is a division of Arriva. It operates bus services around the Midlands area of England and is made up of various previous bus operators.-Arriva Midlands North:...
, Thandi Bus Services & Green Bus Services also operate on routes in the area.
Roadwise, the A34,
SouthamptonSouthampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
/
OxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
/
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
road, goes straight through the town and forms its High Street. Most shops are based on this linear development. The A4124
WolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
to
BrownhillsBrownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...
road crosses to the north of the town. Bloxwich is four miles from the
M6 motorwayThe M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
between junctions 10 and 11.
Famous residents
Famous people from Bloxwich include
Pat CollinsPatrick Collins was a Liberal MP for Walsall and Mayor of Walsall , but is chiefly remembered for his involvement in the fairground industry. His name remains in the company "Pat Collins Funfairs". He was also an early presenter of moving pictures both in travelling shows and cinemas...
, a 19th century funfair owner; the site of his house and Wakes grounds are now the location of an
AsdaAsda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
supermarket that was built during the 1970s.
- Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
(born 1951), lead singer of seminal Heavy MetalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Judas PriestJudas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
, who still owns a house in Walsall despite being resident in the USA.
- Phil Drabble
Philip Percy Cooper Drabble OBE was an English countryman, author and television presenter. Raised in the Black Country, he later lived in – and wrote mostly about – the countryside of north Worcestershire and at Abbots Bromley in south Staffordshire, where he created a nature reserve.-Early...
(1914–2007), author and television presenter
- Tom Major-Ball (1879–1962), music hall performer and father of former Prime Minister John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
.
- Lee Naylor (footballer) (born 1980)
Also the birthplace of
Arthur TolcherArthur Tolcher , born Arthur John Stone-Tolcher in Bloxwich, Staffordshire, England, was a virtuoso British harmonica player and child star who started his career in the British Music halls in the 1930s. He appeared at the London Palladium at 15 and was an early friend and colleague of Morecambe...
.
Comedian
Meera SyalMeera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
grew up there.
External links