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Dudley
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Dudley 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. It is the 19th largest settlement in England, measured by Urban Sub-Area, the second largest town in the United Kingdom, behind Reading and the largest settlement in the UK without its own university.
Dudley, part of the West Midlands conurbation, is located south of Wolverhampton and is the largest town in the Black Country.
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Encyclopedia
Dudley 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. It is the 19th largest settlement in England, measured by Urban Sub-Area, the second largest town in the United Kingdom, behind Reading and the largest settlement in the UK without its own university.
Dudley, part of the West Midlands conurbation, is located south of Wolverhampton and is the largest town in the Black Country. The town centre, for many years, formed part of an exclave of Worcestershire entirely surrounded by Staffordshire - which has determined the fact that, in ecclesiastical terms, it has remained part of the Anglican Diocese of Worcester.
History
Dudley has a history dating back to medieval times. Dudley Castle has stood on a hill overlooking the town since the 11th century, and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The present castle dates from the 13th century, and provided the centre around which the town grew. The oldest condoms found (rather than just pictures or descriptions) were discovered in Dudley Castle and date from 1640. Dating from the 12th century are the ruins of St James Priory, set within the Priory Park.
The town industrialised rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and its population grew dramatically. Due to its heavy and highly polluting industries it became a central part of the Black Country. The main industries in Dudley included coal and limestone mining. Other industries included iron, steel, engineering, metallurgy, glass cutting, textiles and leatherworking. Most of these industries have declined in recent decades.
Of historical significance, the first Newcomen steam engine was installed at the Conygree coalworks a mile east of Dudley Castle in 1712.
Dudley was mostly made up of farms and factories surrounded by the occasional cottage until the 19th century, when many rows of terraced houses with terrible sanitation were built. These in turn were cleared between the 1920s and 1960s to make way for council owned houses and flats. The Dudley area also consists of many privately owned houses including some late 19th/early 20th century homes which are still standing but have been modernised to keep up with modern sanitation standards.
The first major council housing development was the Priory Estate, near the border of Sedgley, where more than 2,000 houses were built between 1929 and 1939. The Wrens Nest Estate followed soon afterwards. It stands in the shadow of Wrens Nest Hill, where many Silurian fossils can be found including crinoids, corals and trilobites.
The village of Lower Gornal, just outside Dudley, was the epicentre for the Dudley earthquake of 2002, the largest earthquake to hit the United Kingdom in nearly 10 years.
Civic history
Dudley became a municipal borough in 1865. In 1889, it became a County Borough. The County Borough of Dudley included the town of Dudley and the villages of Woodside and Netherton. In the 1961 census, the County Borough had a population of 62,965.
In 1966, the county borough was expanded to include the majority of the urban district councils of Brierley Hill and Sedgley, about half of Coseley along with small areas of Amblecote and Rowley Regis, as well as a fragment of rural Seisdon. As the majority of these areas were part of Staffordshire, Dudley was transferred from Worcestershire to the county of Staffordshire. The part of Tividale which existed within Dudley was at this time transferred into Warley County Borough. These changes meant that the population of Dudley County Borough at the time of the 1971 census increased to 185,592; an increase of almost 300% from the 1961 figure.
Dudley's borough boundaries were further expanded in 1974 to become a Metropolitan Borough, having taken in the boroughs of Halesowen and Stourbridge (both formerly in Worcestershire). This meant a further increase in population, which by the time of the 1981 census was 298,511 - an increase of five times the population of only twenty years before.
Since 1974, Dudley has been part of the West Midlands county.
Places of interest
The town is home to Dudley Zoo, and the Black Country Living Museum. Visitors to the museum may also take a narrowboat trip from the adjacent canal, through the Dudley Tunnel. The ruined Dudley Castle is within the grounds of the zoo, and there is an extensive wooded ridge that runs north from the castle. Dudley Zoo is to be regenerated under proposals by Dudley Zoo in partnership with Dudley Council, St Modwen and Advantage West Midlands, which will see a former freightliner site redeveloped with a tropical dome, Asiatic forest, two aquatic facilities and walkthrough aviaries. It is expected to cost £38.7 million.
Dudley is home to a former Odeon Cinema and a former music hall, the Dudley Hippodrome, both from the Art Deco period in the 1930s. The Dudley Hippodrome was built on to the side of the now-demolished Opera House (built in 1900 and burnt down in 1936) and is now a bingo hall. There is a Showcase Cinema in a retail park between the zoo and museum.
The Odeon Cinema became a Kingdom Hall for Jehovah's Witnesses in 1976.
The Plaza Cinema was built on Castle Hill in 1938 next to the Hippodrome, and remained open until October 1990. The building was then taken over by Laser Quest, who used it until it was demolished in 1997. The site of the cinema remains undeveloped.
Since the 1970s, there has been a nightclub on Castle Hill situated on the corner of Station Drive; this has changed ownership several times since first opening.
There are many canals in and around Dudley, the main one being the Dudley Canal (most of which passes beneath Dudley in a tunnel. These are popular with walkers, cyclists, fishermen, and narrowboat users. Many of the canalside towpaths have been upgraded for cycling, and some sections are part of the National Cycle Network.
The Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) considered to be one of the most notable geological locations in the British Isles and home to the Calymene blumenbachi trilobite nicknamed the Dudley Bug or Dudley Locust by 18th century quarrymen. Dudley Museum and Art Gallery has a large collection of its well-preserved Silurian coral reef fossils, plus numerous displays relating to the history of the town.
Established in 1260, Dudley Market in Dudley town centre is a major shopping area for the town. It has undergone numerous developments in its history. One major development was in 1982 when the area was pedestrianised and the 12th century cobblestones were removed. Other developments have included the addition of a new roof and new toilet facilities, with the new ground level block having replaced underground toilets in the early 1990s.
Dudley is also the location of several churches. These include the Church of St. Edmund, Church of St. James the Great, and Church of St. Thomas.
The old St Edmund's Church School, a 19th century building near the town centre, was closed in 1970 on a merger with St John's Church School on Kates Hill, and later converted into a mosque for the town's growing Islamic community, which is mostly concentrated around Kates Hill, Queen's Cross, Eve Hill and The Buffery. During the mid 2000s, plans were unveiled for the construction of a new mosque on the site of a derelict factory near the Dudley Southern By-Pass. These were shelved in early 2007, but were revived a year later.
St James's Church at Eve Hill also had a church school from the mid 19th century, but this was closed during the 1970s and was used as a community centre for several years before being transferred to the Black Country Museum in 1989. The site of the school remained vacant until 2008, when work began on a new health centre that is due to open by 2010.
Politics
National government
Dudley is covered by two parliamentary constituencies, Dudley South and Dudley North, which also represent some other towns within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. The current MPs elected from these seats and to the House of Commons are Ian Pearson and Ian Austin respectively. Both represent the Labour party.
Other
Law enforcement in Dudley is carried out by the West Midlands Police and fire and rescue by the West Midlands Fire Service.
Dudley Police Station is situated on New Street, in a building that opened in 1939 to replaced a 19th century structure on Priory Street which now forms part of the local council offices.
The Fire Station is situated on Burton Road just before the border with Sedgley, it relocated to this site (part of the site once occupied by Burton Road Hospital) in 1998 from a 1930s building on Tower Street.
The current Ambulance Station was opened in the late 1980s on Burton Road, on part of land that formed the site of the hospital six years before its demolition.
Transport
Rail
The nearest railway stations are all a mile or more from Dudley town centre; Tipton railway station and Dudley Port railway station are served by local services operated by London Midland, and Sandwell and Dudley railway station which is served by both local London Midland services and Virgin Trains West Coast services from London Euston to Wolverhampton.
Dudley railway station, in the town of Dudley itself, opened in 1850, and closed under the Beeching Axe in 1964. In its heyday it was a hub of services east to Birmingham (via a junction at Great Bridge), Walsall and Lichfield; north to Wolverhampton, Tipton and Coseley; and south-west to Stourbridge, as well as a line that served the small communities on the way to Old Hill and Halesowen. This site was then used as a Freightliner terminal by Freightliner UK until an unpopular closure on the 26 September 1989.
Both of the town's railway stations (Dudley and Blowers Green) were closed in 1962 under the Beeching Axe, although the line through Dudley remained open to goods trains until 1993. In the early 2010s the town is set to regain a rail link for the first time in almost half a century when an extension to the Midland Metro opens between Brierley Hill and Wednesbury, although the Midland Metro is a Light Rail system, and does not feature through ticketing to the national rail network.
Road
There is a large bus station on the outskirts of the town centre which has a plethora of connections to surrounding towns and communities, including:
From the end of April 2008, the new Dudley Bus Network is coming into effect. This is seeing the withdrawal of several bus routes as well the introduction of several others. Those which are not changing are seeing several timetable changes.
The bus station also sees limited service from National Express, whose services call at the bus station mostly for London or Wolverhampton. Other places served include holiday destination Blackpool and London Heathrow and London Gatwick Airports. There is also a bus station at Russells Hall Hospital.
Dudley itself is well-served by main roads which give a direct route to neighbouring towns. The longest of these roads are the B4176 (which runs to Wombourne, Bridgnorth and Telford) and the A461 (which passes through Wednesbury and Walsall, finally reaching Lichfield).
Air
The nearest international airport is Birmingham International Airport, around 25 miles to the east. The nearest local airport is Wolverhampton Airport, which is about 10 miles to the west of the town.
Demography
The 2001 Census gives the Dudley Urban Subdivision as the third most populous in the West Midlands conurbation, with a total resident population of 194,919.
Education
Primary schools
Dudley is served by a range of primary schools. Several of these are Church of England primary schools. For example, Jessons Church of England Primary School, St Chads Roman Catholic School, St Edmund's and St John's Church of England Primary School and Netherton Church of England Primary School are all Church of England primary schools.
Other primary schools in the town include Priory Primary School, Kates Hill Primary School, Sledmere Primary School, Russells Hall Primary School, Milking Bank Primary School, Highgate Primary School, Northfield Road Primary School, Dudley Wood Primary School, Foxyards Primary School, Netherbrook Primary School and Blowers Green Primary School. Many of these schools are named after the housing estates they are located within.
Primary schools throughout the Dudley borough currently all provide education for pupils aged 5 to 11 years. Some schools also have nursery units for pupils aged 3 and 4 years. From 1972 to 1990 (1982 in the southern part of the borough), schoolchildren in the borough stayed at primary school until the age of 12.
Wrens Nest Primary School
Wrens Nest Primary School is a primary school that was built during the late 1930s to serve the new council housing estate which was being built at the time. The school expanded in September 2006 to accommodate pupils transferred from the nearby Sycamore Green Primary School, which had closed due to falling numbers on the school roll.
Secondary schools
There are four secondary schools in central Dudley. Castle High School is a visual arts college and secondary school. It was formed as a result of a merger between The Dudley School, Sir Gilbert Claughton School and The Blue Coat School. It also occupies the buildings which once consisted of Dudley Boys Grammar School and land that was once used for Dudley Girls High School. It is one of the newest schools in the town.
Holly Hall School is comprehensive school in Dudley and has computing and mathematics college status. Bishop Milner Roman Catholic School is a Roman Catholic secondary school in Dudley. Constructed in 1958, it became one of the first Roman Catholic secondary schools in the region and is the oldest existing school in Dudley. Hillcrest School is another secondary school in Dudley.
A major shake-up of secondary education took place across the Dudley borough in 1989 and 1990. Several schools, including two in Dudley town itself, were closed due to falling numbers. The secondary school starting age, which had been 12 since 1972, had already been lowered to 11 for the 1982-83 academic year in Stourbridge, Halesowen and Kingswinford. Schools in Dudley, Sedgley, Coseley and Brierley Hill followed suit for the 1990-91 academic year. Several secondary schools also closed their sixth form centres at this time, as the local authority encouraged pupils to attend further education colleges such as Halesowen College, Dudley College, Stourbridge College and King Edward VI College. There were also several school closures in the borough at this time; The Blue Coat School merged with The Dudley School to form Castle High (on the Dudley School site), Sir Gilbert Claughton School closed with pupils being split between Castle High and Holly Hall, while Mons Hill closed with pupils being split between Castle High and the Coseley School. In Stourbridge, The Longlands School and High Park School merged to form Ridgewood High School on the High Park site. In 1985, the last single sex schools in the borough had closed when Walton Girls School merged with Richmond Boys School to form Windsor High School on the Richmond site.
Special schools
There are three special schools within Dudley. Old Park School serves pupils from the age of 3 to 19. Rosewood School also caters for children within the age range.
The Sutton School, built 1962, caters only for pupils from 11-16.
Defunct schools
As well as The Dudley School, Sir Gilbert Claughton School and The Blue Coat School which merged to form Castle High School which also occupies the land and buildings of Dudley Boys Grammar School and Dudley Girls High School, other defunct schools in the town include Rosland Secondary School, which became part of The Blue Coat School in 1970, and Park Secondary School. Mons Hill School also shut down as a result of falling pupil numbers, it had originally opened in 1965 to replace another school; Wolverhampton Street School.
Primary schools that no longer exist include St James' School (erected in 1842), St John's Primary School and St Edmund's Primary School which both merged together to form St Edmund's and St John's Church of England Primary School in the 1970s. The St Edmund's Primary School building still exists and is currently used as Dudley Central Mosque.
Sycamore Green Primary School shut down in July 2006 following a consultation period which ended in the decision that it was no longer necessary to keep the school open as a result of falling pupil numbers. Staff and pupils were transferred to the Wrens Nest Primary School and the school buildings are currently used as a Pupil Referral Unit for students studying at Key Stage 3.
Further education
Dudley College is a college of further education and lies mainly to the north of the town centre, with further campuses at Castle View and Wren's Nest. It is Dudley's only college of further education, having opened in 1936.
Until the summer of 2002, there was a campus of the University of Wolverhampton within the town. The newer part of the campus, built during the 1960s, was retained as part of Dudley College. The older buildings, which were originally a teacher training college built in 1905, were demolished soon afterwards and the site redeveloped for private housing. Dudley is now the largest town or city in the UK without university facilities.
Medical
In October 2006, Dudley Beacon and Castle Primary Care Trust and Dudley South Primary Care Trust merged to become Dudley Primary Care Trust. It is chaired by Mark Cooke.
Dudley is served by two major NHS health facilities. Dudley Guest Hospital was the first to be constructed however began as a charity to accommodate blinded local miners in 1849. The charity did not become popular and it was taken over by a local chainmaker who turned it into a hospital in 1871. As a result of the loss of the Emergency department, the hospital has become a less important facility compared with the Russells Hall Hospital, also in Dudley.
Russells Hall Hospital was constructed in 1976 but immediate problems meant that it could not open until 1983. A major expansion of the hospital was completed in 2004 following the downgrading of Wordsley Hospital, Dudley Guest Hospital and Corbett Hospital. Another hospital serving Dudley is Bushey Fields Hospital.
Burton Road Hospital stood on Burton Road approximately one mile to the west of the town centre, but this was not part of Dudley until 1966 having previously been in Sedgley. It was built in the mid 19th century as a workhouse and became a hospital in 1859. The hospital was demolished in 1994, having closed some time earlier.
Dudley Health Centre was opened in Cross Street in 1979. There are currently four GPs employed there, as well as numerous administration staff. There are also doctor's surgeries in Bean Road, and the clinic on the Priory Estate was demolished in the mid-2000s after serving the local community for some 70 years. Another surgery was built in the extreme west of the town (on the border with Sedgley) around 1990, to serve the new Milking Bank housing estate.
Media
Dudley is served by a number of local newspapers. The town has its own version of the Express & Star, published daily Monday to Saturday. There are also Dudley News, which is published weekly, and the Black Country Bugle, which looks at the history of Dudley and the rest of the Black Country. Dudley was also served by the Dudley Evening Mail until its absorption into the Birmingham Evening Mail in late 1986. Televised local news is provided through Midlands Today and Central Tonight, which also serve the wider area of the West Midlands.
BBC Radio WM, 100.7 Heart FM, Kerrang! 105.2 FM, and Saga 105.7 FM are some of the local radio stations that can be received in Dudley, also serving the wider West Midlands. MXR West Midlands also serves Dudley, as well as the rest of the West Midlands region.
Business and industry
The town centre is home to numerous high street retailers including Beatties, Wilkinsons, Clinton Cards, WH Smith, Argos and New Look. There is also a Subway restaurant. McDonalds, British Home Stores, Marks and Spencer and Pizza Hut have all had branches in Dudley town centre in the past. Most of Dudley's shops are concentrated along the main shopping street (named High Street apart from a short length at the foot of the Castle called Castle Street)and two side streets: Stone Street and Wolverhampton Street.
Dudley Market is situated on a wide part of High Street. There are three small shopping centres or arcades with entrances on High Street: the Churchill Shopping Centre, the Trident Shopping Centre and the Fountain Arcade.
Dudley retailing was particularly hard hit by the opening of the Merry Hill shopping centre in the 1980s, losing a number of major retailers including:British Home Stores, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, C&A and Littlewoods.
The Bean Cars factory was opened in the first years of the 20th century and remained in use until the 1930s, but survives to this day for other industrial use.
Localities
- Brierley Hill † - Still regarded as a separate town, and dominated by the Merry Hill Shopping Centre which was mostly developed between 1985 and 1989. For some 150 years prior to 1982, the town was dominated by the Round Oak Steel Works, which was situated on part of the site now occupied by Merry Hill.
- Coseley † - One of the local area's smaller towns, was originally part of Sedgley before becoming a town in its own right in 1897. Until its absorbment in Dudley nearly 70 years later, the town became increasingly more densely developed for housing. Its industry has declined considerably in recent decades, with the most recent major loss being the huge Bean car component factory (once the home of Bean Cars) which closed due to financial problems in 2005.
- Holly Hall - In the south-west of Dudley town, situated around the road towards Brierley Hill and Stourbridge. Local landmarks include Holly Hall School and Dudley Cemetery (the resting place of local soccer legend Duncan Edwards).
- Kates Hill - Situated on a hill to the east of the town centre. Parliamentary soldiers fired cannons from Kates Hill during the Civil War of 1648 in their attack on the Royalist garrison at Dudley Castle. When the local area was developed for housing some 200 years later, many of the local streets took their names from Parliamentary figures. The parish church and church school (though no longer in use as a school) are about the only buildings left on Kates Hill from this era, as many council houses were built between 1920 and 1980.
- Kingswinford † - A suburban area of the borough which was originally a parish in its own right until becoming part of Brierley Hill and finally Dudley. Unlike many other towns in the borough, it still has a very rural atmosphere despite having been extensively developed for private housing since the 1920s. Is now considered as one of the most desirable residences in the Black Country.
- Milking Bank - A modern private residential area which was mostly developed in the 1980s on open land more than a mile west of the town centre. Was further expanded in the mid to late 1990s, mostly on land previous occupied by Burton Road Hospital, this development being known as Earls Keep.
- Gornalwood † - A village in the Sedgley township which was a largely rural area until the early 20th century, and has retained much of its original character despite extensive private and council housebuilding since the 1920s.
- Lower Gornal † - Another village in the Sedgley township, which is very similar to neighbouring Gornalwood and is very difficult to differentiate from its close neighbour, with the boundary between the two villages being very difficult to determine.
- Netherton - Originally a village, but now more of a small town, which has always been part of Dudley. It grew in size during the Industrial Revolution, and 150 or so years later it retains its Black Country character to a greater extent than most other local towns.
- Oakham - A suburban and mostly upmarket eastern area of the town which has mostly been developed since the 1920s, and part of which was absorbed into the County Borough of Warley (now Sandwell) in 1966. Is home to Dudley Golf Course, which since 1966 has actually existed beyond Dudley's boundaries.
- Priory Estate - Situated beyond the ancient Priory Ruins to the north of the town centre. Was developed in the 1930s with a mixture of council houses to rehouse people from town centre slums as well as a few streets of more desirable private houses. Includes a public park, primary school, shopping parade and public house. The north part of the estate, consisting of 266 homes, is due to be demolished in 2009 and will be redeveloped with more than 300 new homes.
- Russells Hall - Situated to the west of the town centre and mostly developed between 1958 and 1966 for a mix of private and council housing. Consists of one primary school and three special schools, and since 1983 has been home to Russells Hall Hospital.
- Sedgley † - A town in its own right which is situated some four miles north of Dudley in the direction of Wolverhampton. Was originally a manor of villages, but developed into a town between 1920 and 1970 following extensive housebuilding in the private and public sectors.
- Upper Gornal † - A village within the Sedgley township that is situated around the main road between Dudley and Wolverhampton. As with Lower Gornal and Gornal Wood, Upper Gornal features a wide range of building types.
- Wall Heath † - A village within the Kingswinford suburban area that is among the most popular and desirable residential areas in the Black Country, and a sharp contrast to many other parts of the borough.
- Woodsetton † - A village situated about two miles east of Sedgley town centre near the border with Coseley, most notable for Holden's Brewery that dates back to the 19th century and is one of the local area's biggest and best known brewers.
- Woodside - Originally a separate manor from Dudley that also bordered with Brierley Hill, but was merged into Dudley towards the end of the 19th century as new developments began along the Stourbridge Road.
- Wren's Nest - Dominated by a huge hill that contains numerous underground caverns as well as a huge collection of fossils, which according to local legend "will never run out". The rural land beneath the hill was developed for council housing during the 1930s. By the 1980s, it was one of the most rundown and deprived estates in the West Midlands, but European Union funding in the early 1990s saw living conditions improve and many of the area's other problems solved.
Notes :† – Areas added to Dudley County Borough in 1966. Some of these areas were split between Dudley and other County Boroughs. Those parts within the present Metropolitan Borough of Dudley are considered by the ONS to be part of the Dudley Urban Sub-Area.
Notable people
In popular culture
- The front and inner photographs for the 1971 Led Zeppelin IV album were taken in the Eve Hill area of town; the main tower block, shown side on, is Butterfield Court, off Salop Street, and still stands today. There were two other blocks in the Eve Hill area, all constructed during the 1960s, but they were both demolished in controlled explosions on 18 July 1999. Private housing, in a development known as Squire's Gate, was constructed on the site of the flats in 2002.
- In an episode of popworld, Pete Wentz claimed his favourite town in the UK was Dudley.
Sport
Dudley is the largest town in England never to have had a league football club. The town's key football teams, Dudley Town F.C and Dudley Sports F.C. have never progressed beyond the Southern League. They are both currently at Level 10 of the Football League pyramid.
Dudley Town are the oldest of the town's two clubs, and have enjoyed the most success. Their most notable success came in 1985 when they won promotion to the Southern Premier League, but in the same year their difficulties began with their stadium situation as they were forced to quit Dudley Sports Centre (at the junction of Tipton Road and Birmingham Road) due to mining subsidence. They played at Round Oak Sports Ground in Brierley Hill for the next 11 years, and then spent a season ground-sharing at Halesowen Town, before resigning from the Southern League due to financial difficulties. The club was reformed in 1999 to compete in the West Midlands Regional League, and currently ground-share with Stourbridge at the War Memorial Athletic Ground.
In 1981, when still playing at Dudley Sports Centre, Dudley Town played a prestigious game against Wolverhampton Wanderers to commemmerate a refurbishment of the stadium, with the new floodlights being switched on by legendary former Wolves player Billy Wright.
For some time after leaving Dudley Sports Centre, there were hopes that it could be made safe for Dudley Town to return, but these plans never materialised and the site was instead redeveloped as a business and leisure complex which has been developing since 2000.
External links
- Dudley NHS Primary Care Trust
- Local Dudley weekly newspaper
- Local branch of Mind, a mental health charity.
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