Tipton Green
Encyclopedia
Tipton 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 Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. It is represented by three Labour
councillors.
, Parliamentary forces attacked nearby Dudley Castle
(a Royalist garrison), aided by Edward Dudley of Tipton Green Hall, which resulted in the Battle of Tipton Green. At this time, Tipton Green was still a very rural area.
With the development of factories around Tipton Green in the 19th century, came hundreds of houses to provide homes for the workers. By 1843, Tipton Green had a population of approximately 8,000 people. However, virtually all of these houses had been demolished by the early 1970s to be replaced by a modern mix of private and council housing.
Tipton Green was home to several key factories until recently. Bean Industries occupied a large site - which straddles the border with Coseley – in the area from the 1930s until the firm went bankrupt in 2005. Some of the buildings were demolished the same year, but the Coseley section of the site was not cleared until 2008. A housing estate containing more than 200 homes was built on the Tipton half of the site in 2005 and 2006. This also incorporated some of the land previously occupied by more than 20 houses on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane from about 1902 until demolition in 1994.
Victoria Park was laid out on land to the east of Tipton Green in 1901, and the local area developed for housing extensively over the next ten years and again in the 1930s, although some properties in the area have been demolished since, including almost all of Peel Street in the second half of the 1990s.
Some of Tipton's first council houses were built on Park Lane West in the early to mid 1920s, with the largest interwar council development in Tipton Green occurring on the Shrubbery Estate around the end of the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s; nearly 200 three-bedroomed houses were built on land between Dudley Road and the embankment of the Dudley-Bilston railway line.
A local landmark for many years was the 19th-century Park Lane Methodist Chapel, which was known locally as the "cathedral" due to its size and appearance. This building was demolished in the 1970s to be replaced by a smaller building.
Nepture Health Park opened on a former factory site on Sedgley Road West in 1998, replacing Birch Street Health Centre that had opened in 1971 as an extension to the 1950s clinic, which was the practice of Dr James Milligan for more than 30 years until his death in December 1990. The health centre at Birch Street became obsolete following the opening of Neptune Health Park, as did the adjacent ambulance station and care home. All of these buildings were demolished in 2000 and the site was swiftly developed for housing. One of the new streets on the site is Cathedral Close, which takes its name from the "cathedral" which was the old Tipton Green Methodist Church.
Coronation Gardens was erected in 1953 alongside the canal in Tipton Green, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Coronation House multi-storey council flats were completed in 1957 opposite side of the road, but these eventually became unpopular and dilapidated, and were demolished in late 1997, being redeveloped for housing a decade later. A similar-aged block of flats and shops nearby was also cleared in 2001. A 1960s maisonette block in the shadow of the tower block was demolished in 1995 and replaced by a new complex of houses and flats the following year.
When Tipton received borough status in 1938, a new public house on Baker Street called The Tipton Arms was built to commemorate this new status, opening the following year. However, this was demolished in 1994 and the site is now occupied by housing. This particular housing estate which borders Tipton/Dudley comprises Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue, Madin Road and the more recently built Tippstone Close, proving very popular with and attracting house purchases by professional working couples and families.
(a 19th century boxer
), although its top storey was removed in the 1950s and it is now a two-storey building.
The parish church for Tipton Green is St Matthew's. It was opened in 1876 and the original church survives to this day. The vicarage is also intact, but it is now a nursing home as a new vicarage was constructed in the late 1980s. The church was designed by J. H. Gibbons and consists of English bond brickwork with a tiled roof. It received Grade II listed status on 29 September 1987.
Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory public house is located in Tipton Green on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane. It was built in 1923 as the Doughty Arms and took on its present name in 1987 upon a takeover by The Little Pub Company. The Pie Factory is significant for its "cow pies" and the fact that comedian Frank Skinner
performed some of his first gigs there.
Victoria Park is the largest open space in the ward, covering an area of 13.78 hectares (34 acre). It hosts a 19th century wedding arbour and is now a Grade II listed park.
and Wolverhampton
. There was a second station in the area at Five Ways (on the border with Coseley
between 1850 and 1962, but this station was one of the first victims of the Beeching Axe
and the line upon which it was situated (between Dudley
and Bilston
) closed in 1968.
The section of old railway between Sedgley Road West and Birmingham New Road was redeveloped for housing in 2002. The new development was constructed by Kendrick Homes Ltd and is known as Fox's Hollow.
Old Main Line Canal
passes through Tipton Green. At the Tipton Green Locks, the first house constructed out of iron was assembled prior to 1830. The house was moved in 1876 to a new location at the locks and was eventually demolished in 1926, apparently in the same condition it was in when first constructed.
Tipton Green Junior School is the adjacent junior school which was opened in 1976 to replace the original school, which opened in 1880, on Sedgley Road West.The school underwent a major modernisation in 1994. Whilst the external appearance remained the same, the interior was completely redesigned. Classrooms were enlarged to average 55.4 square metres (596 sq ft). The library was refitted to become the visual heart of the school whilst a new entrance was added to the building. However, a complete rebuild on the junior school began in April 2010 and the old school closed in July 2011, with pupils set to move into the new buildings in September. Both schools are covered by the Sandwell
Local Education Authority
.
Park Lane Secondary School was opened in 1904 on the site now occupied by Victoria Infant School. It merged with Tipton Grammar School in 1969 to become Alexandra High School
, but the Park Lane buildings remained in use as the Alexandra lower school until 1990. The building was demolished shortly afterwards.
, it was reported that 9.6% of Tipton Green's residents were unemployed - well above the national average of 5.8% but not as high as the 10.9% rate in neighbouring Princes End
. As the recession has seen national unemployment rise by around 70% since then, it is now anticipated that unemployment in Tipton Green stands at around 10%.http://cmis.sandwell.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=33414
Tipton
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....
, a town in the West Midlands
West Midlands conurbation
The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the large towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge, Halesowen in the English West Midlands....
of 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...
. It was heavily developed for industry during the 19th century, as Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution
Industrial 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...
. Tipton Green is one of three electoral wards covering Tipton for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. It is represented by three Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillors.
History
In June 1644, during the Civil WarCivil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
, Parliamentary forces attacked nearby Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
(a Royalist garrison), aided by Edward Dudley of Tipton Green Hall, which resulted in the Battle of Tipton Green. At this time, Tipton Green was still a very rural area.
With the development of factories around Tipton Green in the 19th century, came hundreds of houses to provide homes for the workers. By 1843, Tipton Green had a population of approximately 8,000 people. However, virtually all of these houses had been demolished by the early 1970s to be replaced by a modern mix of private and council housing.
Tipton Green was home to several key factories until recently. Bean Industries occupied a large site - which straddles the border with Coseley – in the area from the 1930s until the firm went bankrupt in 2005. Some of the buildings were demolished the same year, but the Coseley section of the site was not cleared until 2008. A housing estate containing more than 200 homes was built on the Tipton half of the site in 2005 and 2006. This also incorporated some of the land previously occupied by more than 20 houses on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane from about 1902 until demolition in 1994.
Victoria Park was laid out on land to the east of Tipton Green in 1901, and the local area developed for housing extensively over the next ten years and again in the 1930s, although some properties in the area have been demolished since, including almost all of Peel Street in the second half of the 1990s.
Some of Tipton's first council houses were built on Park Lane West in the early to mid 1920s, with the largest interwar council development in Tipton Green occurring on the Shrubbery Estate around the end of the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s; nearly 200 three-bedroomed houses were built on land between Dudley Road and the embankment of the Dudley-Bilston railway line.
A local landmark for many years was the 19th-century Park Lane Methodist Chapel, which was known locally as the "cathedral" due to its size and appearance. This building was demolished in the 1970s to be replaced by a smaller building.
Nepture Health Park opened on a former factory site on Sedgley Road West in 1998, replacing Birch Street Health Centre that had opened in 1971 as an extension to the 1950s clinic, which was the practice of Dr James Milligan for more than 30 years until his death in December 1990. The health centre at Birch Street became obsolete following the opening of Neptune Health Park, as did the adjacent ambulance station and care home. All of these buildings were demolished in 2000 and the site was swiftly developed for housing. One of the new streets on the site is Cathedral Close, which takes its name from the "cathedral" which was the old Tipton Green Methodist Church.
Coronation Gardens was erected in 1953 alongside the canal in Tipton Green, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Coronation House multi-storey council flats were completed in 1957 opposite side of the road, but these eventually became unpopular and dilapidated, and were demolished in late 1997, being redeveloped for housing a decade later. A similar-aged block of flats and shops nearby was also cleared in 2001. A 1960s maisonette block in the shadow of the tower block was demolished in 1995 and replaced by a new complex of houses and flats the following year.
When Tipton received borough status in 1938, a new public house on Baker Street called The Tipton Arms was built to commemorate this new status, opening the following year. However, this was demolished in 1994 and the site is now occupied by housing. This particular housing estate which borders Tipton/Dudley comprises Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue, Madin Road and the more recently built Tippstone Close, proving very popular with and attracting house purchases by professional working couples and families.
Places of interest
Tipton Green's main shopping area has always been Owen Street, which was a busy and popular shopping area for approximately 100 years leading up to the late 1960s, when many of its key retailers were relocated or liquidated. The area was almost completely redeveloped in the late 1970s, with the historic "Fountain Inn" public house being one of the few old buildings to survive. This is now a listed building due to its association with the Tipton Slasher William PerryWilliam 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 19th century 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...
), although its top storey was removed in the 1950s and it is now a two-storey building.
The parish church for Tipton Green is St Matthew's. It was opened in 1876 and the original church survives to this day. The vicarage is also intact, but it is now a nursing home as a new vicarage was constructed in the late 1980s. The church was designed by J. H. Gibbons and consists of English bond brickwork with a tiled roof. It received Grade II listed status on 29 September 1987.
Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory public house is located in Tipton Green on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane. It was built in 1923 as the Doughty Arms and took on its present name in 1987 upon a takeover by The Little Pub Company. The Pie Factory is significant for its "cow pies" and the fact that comedian Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner is a British writer, comedian and actor. He is best known for his television presenting, often alongside David Baddiel, with whom he also collaborated for the football song "Three Lions."He is a radio presenter on the Saturday morning slot on Absolute Radio.-Youth and early career...
performed some of his first gigs there.
Victoria Park is the largest open space in the ward, covering an area of 13.78 hectares (34 acre). It hosts a 19th century wedding arbour and is now a Grade II listed park.
Transport
Tipton Green has been home to the town's railway station since the mid 19th century, giving it direct passenger train links with BirminghamBirmingham
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...
. There was a second station in the area at Five Ways (on the border with 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....
between 1850 and 1962, but this station was one of the first victims of 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...
and the line upon which it was situated (between 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...
and 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...
) closed in 1968.
The section of old railway between Sedgley Road West and Birmingham New Road was redeveloped for housing in 2002. The new development was constructed by Kendrick Homes Ltd and is known as Fox's Hollow.
Old Main Line Canal
Birmingham Canal Navigations
Birmingham Canal Navigations is a network of navigable canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country...
passes through Tipton Green. At the Tipton Green Locks, the first house constructed out of iron was assembled prior to 1830. The house was moved in 1876 to a new location at the locks and was eventually demolished in 1926, apparently in the same condition it was in when first constructed.
Education
The local infant school is Victoria Infant School, opened on Queens Road in 1995 to replace a 60-year-old building in Manor Road. It was constructed with a capacity of 270 with a nursery unit for 40 children attached to the side of it. To the south of the building is a kitchen designed to serve approximately 400 meals for the pupils at the infant and junior school as well as staff.Tipton Green Junior School is the adjacent junior school which was opened in 1976 to replace the original school, which opened in 1880, on Sedgley Road West.The school underwent a major modernisation in 1994. Whilst the external appearance remained the same, the interior was completely redesigned. Classrooms were enlarged to average 55.4 square metres (596 sq ft). The library was refitted to become the visual heart of the school whilst a new entrance was added to the building. However, a complete rebuild on the junior school began in April 2010 and the old school closed in July 2011, with pupils set to move into the new buildings in September. Both schools are covered by the Sandwell
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,...
Local Education Authority
Local Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
.
Park Lane Secondary School was opened in 1904 on the site now occupied by Victoria Infant School. It merged with Tipton Grammar School in 1969 to become Alexandra High School
Alexandra High School
Alexandra High School is a Semi-Private public high school in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.-History:The school is named after Queen Alexandra Caroline, Queen Consort of England, and first opened on 23 February 1960. Though it was initially a whites-only, all-boys school, the first...
, but the Park Lane buildings remained in use as the Alexandra lower school until 1990. The building was demolished shortly afterwards.
Unemployment
In July 2008, as the British economy was sliding into recessionLate 2000s recession
The late-2000s recession, sometimes referred to as the Great Recession or Lesser Depression or Long Recession, is a severe ongoing global economic problem that began in December 2007 and took a particularly sharp downward turn in September 2008. The Great Recession has affected the entire world...
, it was reported that 9.6% of Tipton Green's residents were unemployed - well above the national average of 5.8% but not as high as the 10.9% rate in neighbouring 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...
. As the recession has seen national unemployment rise by around 70% since then, it is now anticipated that unemployment in Tipton Green stands at around 10%.http://cmis.sandwell.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=33414