Tipton
Encyclopedia
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell
borough of the West Midlands
, England
, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham
and Wolverhampton
. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation
and is a part of the Black Country
.
Historically within Staffordshire
, Tipton was an urban district
until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. The vast majority of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, although the Tividale part of the town became part of Warley
. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974 and remains within this local authority to this day.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country
. But most of its factories closed during the 1980s and new housing estate
s have been built on the site of many former factories, the new private homes have seen an upturn in Tipton's fortunes by rising house prices.
The far right British National Party
has recently performed well in municipal elections in Tipton, currently having two elected councillors; one in Princes End
and one in Tividale
, as well as a third councillor, Simon Smith, who was elected in Great Bridge
but has since left the party and serves as an independent member. Tividale has a relatively high percentage of ethnic minority residents, mostly Muslims
of Pakistan
i origin, but the Princes End and Great Bridge areas are predominantly occupied by white English
residents. Select parts of Tipton are fast becoming much sought after by house buyers. The housing estate situated just off the Birmingham New Road, consisting of Tippstone Close, Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue and Madin Road is a very popular area attracting house purchases from young professional couples and families alike.
Until the 18th century, Tipton was a collection of small hamlets. Industrial growth started in the town when ironstone
and coal
were discovered in the 1770s. A number of canal
s were built through the town and later railways, which greatly accelerated the pace of industrialisation.
The engineer James Watt
built his first steam engine
in or very near Tipton in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines. In 1780, James Keir
and Alexander Blair
set up a chemical works there, making vast quantities of alkali
and soap
.
The massive expansion in iron and coal industries led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century, going from 4,000 at the beginning of the century to 30,000 at the end. Tipton gained a reputation as being "the quintessence of the Black Country" because chimneys of local factories belched heavy pollution into the air, whilst houses and factories were built side by side. Most of the traditional industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared.
The Black Country Living Museum
in nearby Dudley
re-creates life in the early 20th century Black Country
, in original buildings which have been painstakingly rebuilt and furnished. There is a residential canal basin at the museum - Tipton was once known as the Venice of the Midlands because it had so many canals, although some of the 'minor' canals in the town were filled-in during the 1970s. The canals today form a vital cycling, wildlife and leisure facility.
The area has a distinctive spoken dialect, different from the Birmingham accent. The richest of Tipton speech is very similar to that which Shakespeare, or even Chaucer, would have spoken. Those who grew up here can often tell the difference between Tipton speech and the speech of people from other Black Country
towns.
The town has retained a traditional horse-keeping culture; private horses are kept freely on public land and are occasionally 'trotted' on roads (pulling a rider on a lightweight racing cart). There are also "tatters" (i.e. rag-and-bone men), who also have links to the horse culture. Despite persistent council attempts to clear horses off public land, horses still appear in parks and on canal banks from time to time.
Until 1966, the town had its own council. The headquarters were originally based in a 19th century building on Owen Street, near the railway station, until 1935 when it relocated to the former Bean offices site on Sedgley Road West, straddling the border with Coseley. The council remained at this site for the next 31 years, until the dissolution of the borough council in April 1966. The building was later taken over by Dudley College who retained it until about 1993. It has since been occupied by various businesses.
The bulk of the Tipton borough was absorbed into an expanded West Bromwich borough, although a fragment of the town near the border with Coseley was absorbed into Dudley and most of the Tividale area became part of the new County Borough of Warley
. In this reorganisation, the township of Tipton was expanded around Princes End to take over a section of the former Coseley urban district.
Since 1974, Tipton has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, which was created by a merger of the former West Bromwich and Warley boroughs.
of the 19th century, and even during the 18th century it had established its first key industries. This included the world's first successful steam pumping engine, which was erected at Conygre Coalworks in 1712 by industrialist Thomas Newcomen
. A full size replica of the engine now exists at the Black Country Living Museum
just over Tipton's borders in Dudley
.
In 1800, it was a predominantly rural area with just a few coal mines and some 4,000 residents. However, mass building of factories and digging of coal mines
took place, and resulted in Tipton becoming a heavily built up and industrialised area with more than 30,000 residents by the end of the 19th century. The town's population grew further in the 20th century as new housing developments, mostly by the local council but with a significant number in the private sector as well, took place.
However, coal mining had disappeared from Tipton by the mid 20th century, and the town lost a large percentage of its factories during the recession
s of the 1970s
and 1980s
, which contributed to a rise in unemployment and poverty in the Tipton, although living conditions continued to improve.
Further industrial sites have been abandoned since the 1980s, paving the way for mass private house building on the land previously occupied by factories.
, Walsall
, Stourbridge
, Brierley Hill
, Sedgley
, Coseley
, West Bromwich
, Oldbury
, Bilston
, Wednesbury
and Darlaston
, though not all buses reach the town centre.
, Birmingham
, Coventry
and from 14 December 2008 this now links to Walsall
. There are two railway stations - Tipton railway station
in the town centre plus Dudley Port railway station
.
Tipton railway station
started a multi-million pound refurbishment on 14 September 2009 with an estimated completion date of May 2010. The station was reopened on 28 March 2010 and all services have been resumed.
It is currently served by just one railway line, as the line from Walsall to Stourbridge
closed in 1964. This line served railway stations at Dudley Port Lower Level and Great Bridge North, both of which closed in 1964 due to the Beeching Axe
, though the line remained open to goods trains until 1993. It is set to re-open in 2011 as a Midland Metro
expansion on one side and a goods track on the other.
A railway line existed between Great Bridge
and Swan Village
in nearby West Bromwich
, but was closed in 1968 under the Beeching Axe
.
Another line existed between Princes End
and Ocker Hill
, being closed to passenger trains in 1916 but remaining open to goods traffic until 1980. The closure of the railway was followed with the construction of a pedestrian walkway on the trackbed. The final stub of the line, which linked Wednesbury
with Ocker Hill
Power Station
was closed in 1991.
, who was born on the town's Moat Farm Estate on 28 March 1965, was a professional footballer. Other footballers born in Tipton included Isaac Clarke (1915–2001), Joe Mayo (born 1953) and Mick Hoban
(born 1952). Arthur Hooper was an amateur sprinter with Tipton Harriers
and a member of the England Schoolboys' team. However, he stopped training for Tipton Harriers and he became a professional footballer with Wolverhampton Wanderers amongst others. Other sportsmen from Tipton include William Perry
, a Victorian
bareknuckle boxer
Champion of England from 1850-57. There is a statue to Perry, known as 'the Tipton Slasher' in Coronation Gardens in Tipton centre. Jack Holden
(1907–2004) was a runner for Tipton Harriers
and Great Britain
. Shaun Perry
is a rugby union
player for Bristol Rugby
and England.
Norman Kendrick was a resident of Prince's End, Tipton. He was an early pioneer of the Coach Travel Industry and a civic leader for over 50 years up to his death at 75. Known as 'Ten Men' Kendrick because of his 6' 7", 21 stone frame.
Tipton boasts a couple of nineteenth-century composers, one of them, Joseph Williams
, was a coalminer who lived in Watery Lane.
were formed in 1948 as Ocker Hill United, adopting their current name in 1967. They currently play in the non-league Midland Alliance and made history in the 2010-11 football season by reaching the FA Cup
first round proper for the first time in their history, earning a trip to Carlisle United
, the League One (third highest English division) club. They were the first club that Steve Bull played for; he joined them on leaving school in 1981 and remained with them until he signed for West Bromwich Albion
, then a top division
club, in 1985. However, it was after signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers
in November 1986 that Bull achieved fame; by the time he retired in 1999, he had scored more than 300 goals for the club. He was also capped 13 times by the England national football team
between May 1989 and October 1990, scoring four goals.
based adult comic Viz used Tipton as a perennial butt of jokes throughout the 1990s, involving a fictitious councillor, Hugo Guthrie. Guthrie may, however, have been based on the real inter-war figure of Councillor Doughty who forbade any more pubs to open until one was opened carrying his name — now renamed the "Pie Factory".
The town has three secondary schools, though in the Tipton Green area of the town a significant percentage of children attend High Arcal School
in the borough of Dudley
, which has been a popular choice with children living in the area since 1990. Ormiston Sandwell Academy, formed in September 2009 from Tividale High School, also takes in pupils from parts of Dudley and Oldbury
.
The town has no less than 13 schools which serve the 5-11 age range, 11 of them covering the whole age range, one nursery and infant school for children aged 3-7 years, and a 7-11 junior school. In the Tipton Green area of the town, a significant number of pupils attend Foxyards Primary School just over the border in the borough of Dudley.
Tipton Christian Church was established around 70years ago and today is a very lively Penticostal Church situated in Waterloo Street Tipton.
, set in the 1970s.
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands with a population of around 289,100, and an area of . The borough is named after Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of both the Black Country, and the West Midlands conurbation, encompassing the urban towns of Blackheath,...
borough of the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The 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...
, England
England
England 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 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham 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...
and Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton 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...
. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
and is a part of the Black Country
Black Country
The 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...
.
Historically within Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, Tipton was an urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. The vast majority of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, although the Tividale part of the town became part of Warley
County Borough of Warley
Warley was a county borough and civil parish forming part of the West Midlands conurbation, England, and geographical county of Worcestershire. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis Warley was a...
. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974 and remains within this local authority to this day.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country
Black Country
The 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...
. But most of its factories closed during the 1980s and new housing estate
Housing estate
A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...
s have been built on the site of many former factories, the new private homes have seen an upturn in Tipton's fortunes by rising house prices.
The far right British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
has recently performed well in municipal elections in Tipton, currently having two elected councillors; one in Princes End
Princes End
Princes End is an area of Tipton, West Midlands, England, near the border with Coseley , which was heavily developed during the 19th century with the construction of factories. Several hundred terraced houses were built around the same time to accommodate the factory workers...
and one in Tividale
Tividale
- History :The village was in the parish of St Michael named after the church built there. It was created in 1878 as an extension of the town of Tipton in the county of Staffordshire, England...
, as well as a third councillor, Simon Smith, who was elected in Great Bridge
Great Bridge, West Midlands
Great Bridge is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It is situated in Tipton, near the border of West Bromwich, and it is within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands.-Origins and history:...
but has since left the party and serves as an independent member. Tividale has a relatively high percentage of ethnic minority residents, mostly Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin, but the Princes End and Great Bridge areas are predominantly occupied by white English
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
residents. Select parts of Tipton are fast becoming much sought after by house buyers. The housing estate situated just off the Birmingham New Road, consisting of Tippstone Close, Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue and Madin Road is a very popular area attracting house purchases from young professional couples and families alike.
History
Ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...
and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
were discovered in the 1770s. A number of canal
Canal
Canals 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 were built through the town and later railways, which greatly accelerated the pace of industrialisation.
The engineer James Watt
James Watt
James Watt, FRS, FRSE was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer whose improvements to the Newcomen steam engine were fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.While working as an instrument maker at the...
built his first steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
in or very near Tipton in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines. In 1780, James Keir
James Keir
James Keir FRS was a Scottish chemist, geologist, industrialist, and inventor, and an important member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham.- Life and work :...
and Alexander Blair
Alexander Blair
Alexander Blair was a British industrialist who was notable for his major influence on the Industrial Revolution across Britain during the late 18th century and early 19th century....
set up a chemical works there, making vast quantities of alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
and soap
Soap
In chemistry, soap is a salt of a fatty acid.IUPAC. "" Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. . Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford . XML on-line corrected version: created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN...
.
The massive expansion in iron and coal industries led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century, going from 4,000 at the beginning of the century to 30,000 at the end. Tipton gained a reputation as being "the quintessence of the Black Country" because chimneys of local factories belched heavy pollution into the air, whilst houses and factories were built side by side. Most of the traditional industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared.
The Black Country Living Museum
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The museum occupies a urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation...
in nearby Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
re-creates life in the early 20th century Black Country
Black Country
The 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...
, in original buildings which have been painstakingly rebuilt and furnished. There is a residential canal basin at the museum - Tipton was once known as the Venice of the Midlands because it had so many canals, although some of the 'minor' canals in the town were filled-in during the 1970s. The canals today form a vital cycling, wildlife and leisure facility.
The area has a distinctive spoken dialect, different from the Birmingham accent. The richest of Tipton speech is very similar to that which Shakespeare, or even Chaucer, would have spoken. Those who grew up here can often tell the difference between Tipton speech and the speech of people from other Black Country
Black Country
The 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...
towns.
The town has retained a traditional horse-keeping culture; private horses are kept freely on public land and are occasionally 'trotted' on roads (pulling a rider on a lightweight racing cart). There are also "tatters" (i.e. rag-and-bone men), who also have links to the horse culture. Despite persistent council attempts to clear horses off public land, horses still appear in parks and on canal banks from time to time.
Until 1966, the town had its own council. The headquarters were originally based in a 19th century building on Owen Street, near the railway station, until 1935 when it relocated to the former Bean offices site on Sedgley Road West, straddling the border with Coseley. The council remained at this site for the next 31 years, until the dissolution of the borough council in April 1966. The building was later taken over by Dudley College who retained it until about 1993. It has since been occupied by various businesses.
The bulk of the Tipton borough was absorbed into an expanded West Bromwich borough, although a fragment of the town near the border with Coseley was absorbed into Dudley and most of the Tividale area became part of the new County Borough of Warley
County Borough of Warley
Warley was a county borough and civil parish forming part of the West Midlands conurbation, England, and geographical county of Worcestershire. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis Warley was a...
. In this reorganisation, the township of Tipton was expanded around Princes End to take over a section of the former Coseley urban district.
Since 1974, Tipton has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, which was created by a merger of the former West Bromwich and Warley boroughs.
Local industry
Tipton was one of the key towns in the Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution
The 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...
of the 19th century, and even during the 18th century it had established its first key industries. This included the world's first successful steam pumping engine, which was erected at Conygre Coalworks in 1712 by industrialist Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen
Thomas Newcomen was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He was born in Dartmouth, Devon, England, near a part of the country noted for its tin mines. Flooding was a major problem, limiting the depth at which the mineral could be mined...
. A full size replica of the engine now exists at the Black Country Living Museum
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings, located in Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The museum occupies a urban heritage park in the shadow of Dudley Castle in the centre of the Black Country conurbation...
just over Tipton's borders in Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
.
In 1800, it was a predominantly rural area with just a few coal mines and some 4,000 residents. However, mass building of factories and digging of coal mines
Coal mining
The 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,...
took place, and resulted in Tipton becoming a heavily built up and industrialised area with more than 30,000 residents by the end of the 19th century. The town's population grew further in the 20th century as new housing developments, mostly by the local council but with a significant number in the private sector as well, took place.
However, coal mining had disappeared from Tipton by the mid 20th century, and the town lost a large percentage of its factories during the recession
Recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
s of the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
and 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, which contributed to a rise in unemployment and poverty in the Tipton, although living conditions continued to improve.
Further industrial sites have been abandoned since the 1980s, paving the way for mass private house building on the land previously occupied by factories.
Buses
Tipton has direct bus links with the towns of DudleyDudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, Walsall
Walsall
Walsall 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...
, Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
, Brierley Hill
Brierley Hill
Brierley 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...
, Sedgley
Sedgley
Sedgley is an urban village within the West Midlands county of England. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Sedgley was formerly an ancient manor composed of several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley and Brierley...
, Coseley
Coseley
Coseley is a town located mostly within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it lies south east of Wolverhampton and north of Dudley....
, West Bromwich
West Bromwich
West 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...
, Oldbury
Oldbury, West Midlands
Oldbury 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:...
, Bilston
Bilston
Bilston 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...
, Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury 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:...
and Darlaston
Darlaston
Darlaston 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...
, though not all buses reach the town centre.
Railway
Tipton has a direct rail link with the areas of WolverhamptonWolverhampton
Wolverhampton 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...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham 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...
, Coventry
Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
and from 14 December 2008 this now links to Walsall
Walsall
Walsall 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...
. There are two railway stations - Tipton railway station
Tipton railway station
Tipton railway station is located in the town of Tipton in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England and was known as Tipton Owen Street until 1968. It is situated on the West Coast Main Line...
in the town centre plus Dudley Port railway station
Dudley Port railway station
-History:There was a Low Level Station on the former South Staffordshire line that had opened in 1850. The line had reasonable passenger usage until about the early 1880s, when it began to slump at several stations, leading to the line becoming a largely freight only operation in 1887...
.
Tipton railway station
Tipton railway station
Tipton railway station is located in the town of Tipton in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England and was known as Tipton Owen Street until 1968. It is situated on the West Coast Main Line...
started a multi-million pound refurbishment on 14 September 2009 with an estimated completion date of May 2010. The station was reopened on 28 March 2010 and all services have been resumed.
It is currently served by just one railway line, as the line from Walsall to Stourbridge
South Staffordshire Line
The South Staffordshire Line was a railway line that connected Lichfield in Staffordshire, England with Dudley, formerly in Worcestershire. However, it joined the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway's line just north of Dudley Station, where it, in essence, continued to Stourbridge, in...
closed in 1964. This line served railway stations at Dudley Port Lower Level and Great Bridge North, both of which closed in 1964 due to the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
, though the line remained open to goods trains until 1993. It is set to re-open in 2011 as a Midland Metro
Midland Metro
The Midland Metro is a light-rail or tram line in the West Midlands of England between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. It is owned and promoted by Centro, and operated by West Midlands Travel Limited, a subsidiary of the National Express Group , under...
expansion on one side and a goods track on the other.
A railway line existed between Great Bridge
Great Bridge, West Midlands
Great Bridge is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It is situated in Tipton, near the border of West Bromwich, and it is within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands.-Origins and history:...
and Swan Village
Swan Village
Swan Village is a village, now part of West Bromwich, England.It is now divided by the Black Country New Road and was the site of the Swan Village Gas Works. Nearby was the junction of the Ridgacre Branch with the Wednesbury Old Canal, both now disused....
in nearby West Bromwich
West Bromwich
West 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...
, but was closed in 1968 under the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
.
Another line existed between Princes End
Princes End
Princes End is an area of Tipton, West Midlands, England, near the border with Coseley , which was heavily developed during the 19th century with the construction of factories. Several hundred terraced houses were built around the same time to accommodate the factory workers...
and Ocker Hill
Ocker Hill
Ocker Hill is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands of England.It is situated in the northern part of the town, on the main A461 road between Dudley and Wednesbury...
, being closed to passenger trains in 1916 but remaining open to goods traffic until 1980. The closure of the railway was followed with the construction of a pedestrian walkway on the trackbed. The final stub of the line, which linked Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury 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:...
with Ocker Hill
Ocker Hill
Ocker Hill is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands of England.It is situated in the northern part of the town, on the main A461 road between Dudley and Wednesbury...
Power Station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
was closed in 1991.
Notable people
Steve BullSteve Bull
Stephen George "Steve" Bull, MBE, is an English former footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers...
, who was born on the town's Moat Farm Estate on 28 March 1965, was a professional footballer. Other footballers born in Tipton included Isaac Clarke (1915–2001), Joe Mayo (born 1953) and Mick Hoban
Mick Hoban
Michael “Mick” Hoban is an English-U.S. soccer midfielder who began his career with Aston Villa in 1969 before moving to the North American Soccer League in 1971. He earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973.-England:Hoban attended St...
(born 1952). Arthur Hooper was an amateur sprinter with Tipton Harriers
Tipton Harriers
Tipton Harriers were created in September 1910, when the members of the Tipton branch of Birchfield Harriers resolved to end their connection and become independent. Soon, over 40 members were meeting and training regularly from a former painters' workshop and store in a loft behind a shop and...
and a member of the England Schoolboys' team. However, he stopped training for Tipton Harriers and he became a professional footballer with Wolverhampton Wanderers amongst others. Other sportsmen from Tipton include William Perry
William Perry (boxer)
William Perry was a British prize fighter of the 19th century.A statue stands in the town of Tipton, yards away from the Fountain Inn public house, which was once his headquarters...
, a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
bareknuckle boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
Champion of England from 1850-57. There is a statue to Perry, known as 'the Tipton Slasher' in Coronation Gardens in Tipton centre. Jack Holden
Jack Holden (athlete)
John Thomas Holden was a long-distance runner from England, who won four consecutive national titles in the men's marathon . He represented Great Britain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where he did not finish...
(1907–2004) was a runner for Tipton Harriers
Tipton Harriers
Tipton Harriers were created in September 1910, when the members of the Tipton branch of Birchfield Harriers resolved to end their connection and become independent. Soon, over 40 members were meeting and training regularly from a former painters' workshop and store in a loft behind a shop and...
and Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. Shaun Perry
Shaun Perry
Shaun Perry is an English rugby union footballer, who plays for Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership. His usual position is at scrum half....
is a rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player for Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
and England.
Norman Kendrick was a resident of Prince's End, Tipton. He was an early pioneer of the Coach Travel Industry and a civic leader for over 50 years up to his death at 75. Known as 'Ten Men' Kendrick because of his 6' 7", 21 stone frame.
Tipton boasts a couple of nineteenth-century composers, one of them, Joseph Williams
Joseph Williams (composer)
Joseph Williams was a coal-miner and composer of sacred music, known today as West gallery music. Very little is known about his life, other than he lived in Watery Lane, Tipton, Staffordshire. During his short lifetime he published a collection of his compositions, Sacred Music Joseph Williams...
, was a coalminer who lived in Watery Lane.
Sport
Tipton Town football clubTipton Town F.C.
Tipton Town F.C. is a football club based in Tipton, West Midlands, England, currently playing in the Midland Football Alliance.-History:The club was originally formed in 1948 under the name of Ocker Hill United and played in the Wolverhampton and District Amateur League...
were formed in 1948 as Ocker Hill United, adopting their current name in 1967. They currently play in the non-league Midland Alliance and made history in the 2010-11 football season by reaching the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
first round proper for the first time in their history, earning a trip to Carlisle United
Carlisle United F.C.
Carlisle United F.C. is an English football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, where they play at Brunton Park. Formed in 1904, the club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system....
, the League One (third highest English division) club. They were the first club that Steve Bull played for; he joined them on leaving school in 1981 and remained with them until he signed for West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
, then a top division
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....
club, in 1985. However, it was after signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...
in November 1986 that Bull achieved fame; by the time he retired in 1999, he had scored more than 300 goals for the club. He was also capped 13 times by the England national football team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
between May 1989 and October 1990, scoring four goals.
Outsiders' opinion of Tipton
The Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
based adult comic Viz used Tipton as a perennial butt of jokes throughout the 1990s, involving a fictitious councillor, Hugo Guthrie. Guthrie may, however, have been based on the real inter-war figure of Councillor Doughty who forbade any more pubs to open until one was opened carrying his name — now renamed the "Pie Factory".
Districts
- Tipton GreenTipton GreenTipton Green is the central area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It was heavily developed for industry during the 19th century, as Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution. Tipton Green is one of three electoral wards covering Tipton for...
- Princes EndPrinces EndPrinces End is an area of Tipton, West Midlands, England, near the border with Coseley , which was heavily developed during the 19th century with the construction of factories. Several hundred terraced houses were built around the same time to accommodate the factory workers...
- TibbingtonTibbingtonTibbington is a residential area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It takes its name from the original 11th century name of Tipton - Tibbingtone....
- Toll EndToll End-Toll End:Toll End is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands of England. It was developed during the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution which saw previously rural Tipton developed as one of the most prolific manufacturing and mining towns in the country...
- Ocker HillOcker HillOcker Hill is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands of England.It is situated in the northern part of the town, on the main A461 road between Dudley and Wednesbury...
- Great BridgeGreat Bridge, West MidlandsGreat Bridge is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell. It is situated in Tipton, near the border of West Bromwich, and it is within the metropolitan county of the West Midlands.-Origins and history:...
- TividaleTividale- History :The village was in the parish of St Michael named after the church built there. It was created in 1878 as an extension of the town of Tipton in the county of Staffordshire, England...
- Tividale QuaysTividale QuaysTividale Quays is a residential area of Tipton in the West Midlands, England, centred on Monins Avenue.It was developed in the early 1990s on derelict and former industrial land in the Tividale area of the town...
Secondary schools
- RSA Academy (formerly Willingsworth High SchoolWillingsworth High SchoolThe RSA Academy is one of the new academies opened in the UK in 2008. The Academy is sponsored by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce and is located in Tipton, West Midlands, England...
) - Alexandra High School and Sixth Form CentreAlexandra High School and Sixth Form CentreAlexandra High School and Sixth Form Centre is a secondary school in Tipton, West Midlands, England.-Admissions:It mainly serves children aged 11-18 years living in the Great Bridge, Tibbington, Horseley Heath and Tipton Green areas of the town....
- Orminston Sandwell AcademyTividale High SchoolOrmiston Sandwell Community Academy is an academy for secondary aged pupils located in Tividale, Sandwell, in the West Midlands of England.It was built by Tipton County Borough Council in 1956 as Tividale Secondary Modern School to serve the expanding Tividale area which by this date had expanded...
The town has three secondary schools, though in the Tipton Green area of the town a significant percentage of children attend High Arcal School
High Arcal School
High Arcal School is a comprehensive secondary school situated in Sedgley, West Midlands, England. It was opened in 1961 as a grammar school and became comprehensive in 1975. The school holds Specialist Science College status...
in the borough of Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, which has been a popular choice with children living in the area since 1990. Ormiston Sandwell Academy, formed in September 2009 from Tividale High School, also takes in pupils from parts of Dudley and Oldbury
Oldbury
Oldbury may refer to:*Oldbury, Western Australia, a district south of Perth, Australia*Oldbury, Shropshire, a village near Bridgnorth, England, UK*Oldbury, South Gloucestershire, a village south of Bridgnorth, England, UK...
.
Primary schools
- Tipton Green Junior School - located in Park Lane West, Tipton Green. Started life in 1880 at a site on Sedgley Road West before relocating to Park Lane West in 1976, a new building opening that building's grounds in 2011.
- Victoria Infant School - located in Queen's Road, Tipton Green. Opened in 1995 to replace Manor Road Infant School, which was built in the 1930s. The current school exists on the site of the former Park Lane Secondary Modern School, which was later an annex for the younger pupils of Alexandra High School and Sixth Form Centre.
- Summerhill Primary School - located in Central Avenue, TibbingtonTibbingtonTibbington is a residential area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It takes its name from the original 11th century name of Tipton - Tibbingtone....
, on the merger of Locarno Primary School and Prince's End Primary School. - Tividale Primary School - located in Dudley Road West, Tividale.
- Great Bridge Primary School - located in Mount Street, Great Bridge.
- Ocker Hill Primary School - located in Gospel Oak Road, Ocker Hill.
- Glebefields Primary School - located on the Glebefields Estate, Prince's End.
- Sacred Heart RC Primary School - located in Victoria Road, Tipton Green and is Tipton's only Roman Catholic school.
- Wednesbury Oak Primary School - located off Wednesbury Oak Road.
- St Paul's Church of England Primary School - located off Robert Road.
- St Martin's Church of England Primary School - located on Upper Church Lane.
- Joseph Turner Primary School - located on Powis Avenue.
- Jubilee Park Primary School - located on Highfield Road.
The town has no less than 13 schools which serve the 5-11 age range, 11 of them covering the whole age range, one nursery and infant school for children aged 3-7 years, and a 7-11 junior school. In the Tipton Green area of the town, a significant number of pupils attend Foxyards Primary School just over the border in the borough of Dudley.
Religion
- Tipton Family Church was established in November 1992. It is an EvangelicalEvangelicalismEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian fellowship.
Tipton Christian Church was established around 70years ago and today is a very lively Penticostal Church situated in Waterloo Street Tipton.
Public parks
- Jubilee Park - situated in Powis Avenue
- Victoria ParkVictoria Park, TiptonVictoria Park is a public park situated in Tipton, West Midlands , England.It was opened on 29 July 1901 and named in honour of Queen Victoria, who had died in January of that year....
- situated on Victoria Road in the Tipton GreenTipton GreenTipton Green is the central area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It was heavily developed for industry during the 19th century, as Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution. Tipton Green is one of three electoral wards covering Tipton for...
area
In popular culture
The area is notable for being the location of filming for the British comedy film Anita and MeAnita and Me (film)
Anita and Me is a British comedy-drama film released in 2002 based on the book Anita and Me by Meera Syal. It was released during a period of popularity for British Asian films, alongside films like East Is East, and Bend It Like Beckham....
, set in the 1970s.
External links
- Tipton - 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article
- Facebook.com