Coseley ( ) is a village in the north of the
Dudley Metropolitan Borough
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourb ...
, in the English
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. Part of the
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of the West Midlands county, England covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised during its ro ...
, it is situated approximately north of
Dudley itself, on the border with
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
. Though it is a part of Dudley for statistical and administrative purposes, it is divided between the
Bilston and
Tipton postal districts, and mostly falls within the
Wolverhampton South-East parliamentary constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
.
History
Coseley was originally a village in the ancient
manor
Manor may refer to:
Land ownership
*Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England
*Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism
*Man ...
of
Sedgley. In 1867, it joined with Brierley and Ettingshall to break away from the parish of Sedgley and formed Lower Sedgley Local Board District. In 1875, the name was changed to Coseley Local Board District by order of the Council and, in 1895, became
Coseley Urban District
Coseley Urban District was a local government district in Staffordshire which was created in 1894.
It was made up of the villages of Brierley (now Bradley), Ettingshall and Coseley, which had previously been part of the ancient manor of Sed ...
. At this stage, most of the Coseley area was occupied by industrial and agricultural land; it was known during this time for its
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
fossils.
Coseley Urban District Council built several thousand
council houses and flats over a 40-year period from the mid-1920s which changed the face of the area. Most of these were built around Woodcross, Lanesfield, Wallbrook, and Brierley.
Coseley gained a
cinema, on the corner of Mason Street and
Birmingham New Road
The A4123, is a major road in the West Midlands of the UK linking Wolverhampton with Birmingham via Dudley, also known as the Birmingham New Road (Wolverhampton to Dudley) and Wolverhampton Road (Dudley to Birmingham). It was one of the first ...
, during the 1930s, part of the Clifton chain, but this closed in January 1963 as a result of the postwar decline in cinema audiences brought on by the rising popularity of home television. The building was later demolished and a veterinary surgery now occupies the site.
Since 1927, Coseley has also had a direct road link with Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The ''Birmingham New Road'', a dual carriageway, was laid out at this time, though it has become plagued with traffic congestion in recent years.
Bean Cars
Bean Cars was a brand of motor vehicles made in England by A Harper Sons & Bean, Ltd at factories in Dudley, Worcestershire, and Coseley, Staffordshire. The company began making cars in 1919 and diversified into light commercial vehicles in 192 ...
opened a factory at Coseley in 1919, with another being in operation in central Dudley. The new factory was situated in the south-east of the district near the border with Tipton, and a subsequent second phase of the factory (at the other side of a now-defunct railway line) was actually situated ''in'' Tipton, as were its offices in Sedgley Road West, which had been taken over by Tipton Urban District Council by the end of the 1930s. Bean ceased production of passenger cars in 1929, and for the next two years switched to commercial vehicles. After 1931, Bean switched ventures again - this time to making car parts. It was a key supplier for the largest independent British carmaker -
British Motor Corporation
The British Motor Corporation Limited (BMC) was a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, formed in early 1952 to give effect to an agreed merger of the Morris and Austin businesses.Morris-Austin Merger Company Named. ''The Times'', Friday, 29 February ...
,
British Leyland
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
,
Austin Rover
The Austin Rover Group (abbreviated ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was created in 1982 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). Previously, this entity had been known as BL Cars Ltd (formerly Leyland C ...
,
Rover Group and most recently
MG Rover
MG Rover Group was the last domestically owned mass-production car manufacturer in the British motor industry. The company was formed when BMW sold the car-making and engine manufacturing assets of the original Rover Group to the Phoenix Consor ...
- until the business closed due to financial problems in October 2005. Its demise was largely blamed on the closure of its key client MG Rover six months earlier. The Tipton part of the Bean site was demolished shortly afterwards and developed for housing, but the Coseley section was not demolished until the summer of 2008. The land has yet to be redeveloped. The former Newey Goodman site, which was divided into industrial units after the company was broken up during the 1990s, was completely abandoned by 2014, but remains undeveloped.
Cannon Industries, famous for producing gas and electric cookers, was based in Coseley from 1861 until the closure of its Havacre Lane factory in 1993. However, the bulk of the factory buildings were retained as Cannon Business Park, a mix of industrial and commercial ventures. The original factory site in Darkhouse Lane lay abandoned for many years but was demolished in 2018 with a new housing development currently being built on the site. The access road to the new housing development has recently been named Cannon Park Way.
The main "high street" in Coseley is Castle Street. Most of the current buildings have been built since the 1960s. A by-pass was opened on 23 August 1989, incorporating a widened section of Green Street, to relieve congestion in the town centre.
Civic History
Originally an
urban district
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, Coseley had unsuccessfully bid for
borough status
Borough status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, s ...
in 1937. In 1966, the south of Coseley became part of the
Dudley County Borough
The County Borough of Dudley was a local government district in the English Midlands from 1865 to 1974. Originally a municipal borough, it became a county borough in 1889, centred on the main town centre of Dudley, along with the suburbs of Ne ...
, and since 1974, the
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. However, the north of the Brierley area and most of
Ettingshall were merged into the
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
County Borough instead, while a smaller area bordering
Tipton was transferred into the expanded borough of
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...
, in turn becoming part of
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...
in 1974.
Numerous council housing estates were built by Coseley Urban District Council. Some of the first council estates to be built during the 1920s and 1930s included Ward Grove at Lanesfield, Hartland Avenue at Hurst Hill, Norton Crescent at Wallbrook and the Batmanshill Road estate near Princes End. The first sections of the Woodcross Estate were built in the 1930s, but most of Woodcross was built in the 1950s, along with a further housing estate at Hilton Road in Lanesfield and in the south of the district at Central Drive. A large section of the Wallbrook area was redeveloped with houses and three- and four-storey blocks of flats and maisonettes during the 1950s and 1960s. This includes the area around Spencer Avenue and Chaucer Close, which is now affected by high levels of crime, particularly graffiti, vandalism and drink-fuelled anti-social behaviour.
The Coseley Urban District Council Offices were opened in 1897 on the corner of Green Street and School Street, and remained in that building until the dissolution of the Urban District Council in April 1966. They were demolished in about 1970.
Geography
* Roseville - central area of Coseley, situated on the main Birmingham New Road. Local landmarks include Silver Jubilee Park, St Chad's Church, the Old Windmill, and Coseley Canal Tunnel.
* Hurst Hill - situated in the west of Coseley near Sedgley, contains many housing types of different ages.
* Wallbrook - situated in the east of Coseley, near Dudley's boundary with Sandwell.
* Highfields Estate - situated in the north of Coseley near the Dudley MBC boundary with the City of Wolverhampton, and was mostly developed between 1920 and 1970.
* Foxyards Estate - a housing estate in the south of Coseley on land straddling the Dudley/Sandwell boundary. It was mostly developed in the mid-1960s. Foxyards Primary School has served the estate since 1971.
George Andrews, who scored
Walsall FC's winning goal against
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
in a 1975
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
giant-killing feat, lives on the estate.
* Deepfields - Area of Coseley near the Coseley school. Local landmarks include Coseley School, Coseley railway station, Christ Church, and Coseley Tunnel North portal. The first bridge Wolverhampton-side of the tunnel is named 'Deepfields footbridge'.
Lanesfield
Lanesfield is a district now within the boundaries of Wolverhampton, specifically in the city council's Spring Vale ward. Lanesfield lies within the Ancient Manor of Sedgley and was a rural village for many years until the growth of the Black Co ...
,
Woodcross
Woodcross is a residential area of Coseley, West Midlands, England. It is set within the City of Wolverhampton, though the area traditionally existed within the boundaries of Sedgley and later Coseley until 1966.
History
The first known record ...
, and
Ettingshall were all part of Coseley until 1966, when being incorporated into the borough of Wolverhampton. Part of
Princes End
Princes End is an area of Tipton, West Midlands, England, near the border with Coseley (of which approximately half of the area was part of until 1966), which was heavily developed during the 19th century with the construction of factories. The ...
was also in Coseley until this date, then being transferred into the borough of
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...
(
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...
from 1974) and the township of
Tipton.
Transport
![Coseley Railway Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Coseley_Railway_Station.jpg)
Coseley is served by
Coseley railway station
Coseley railway station is located in the Coseley area of the borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is situated on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford branch of the West Coast Main Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated ...
, formerly called Deepfields & Coseley station. It is situated on the
West Coast Main Line, between the and stations, and provides a direct rail link to Wolverhampton and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
. The area has been served by a railway station since 1852, although the station didn't move to its current site until 1902. The station is currently operated by
West Midlands Trains. Previously Coseley had a station on the Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton railway line.
Bus services in Coseley are operated by
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
,
National Express and Banga Buses. Services travel to Sedgley, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Moseley and Bilston on a regular schedule. These include:
* 8 , Wollaston Farm - Wolverhampton
* X8 , Birmingham - Wolverhampton
* 52 , Coseley - Wolverhampton
* 81/82 , Dudley - Wolverhampton
* 229 , Dudley - Bilston
Sport
In October 2006 a
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
club was started in Coseley, which competes in the West Midlands Volleyball League
Coseley Volleyball Clubinitially trained and played matches at Dudley Leisure Centre, but from 25 February 2007 moved to Coseley Leisure Centre.
Coseley also has
cricket clubwhich has been in existence on a site on Church Road since 1870. They currently have 3 teams playing in the Staffs Club Championship on a Saturday, and two teams that play in the Worcester Borders Sunday League. A Youth section has also been recently introduced.
At the end of the 1950s, plans were announced to build a public swimming pool in Coseley. A site to the east of the centre, in Peartree Lane, was identified, and work began on the site on 25 August 1962, the foundation stone being laid by local councillor and future Mayor of
Dudley, John T. "Jack" Wilson. It was opened on 30 November 1963 by fellow councillor John Pointon. A "Supachute" slide was added in the late 1980s, but over the following 20 years the building's condition gradually deteriorated, resulting in closure by Dudley Council in August 2009, with demolition taking place in March 2010.
Education
Current secondary schools in Coseley
There hasn't been any secondary schools in Coseley since
The Coseley School closed in 2017.
Former secondary schools in Coseley
* Mount Pleasant Senior School - was a
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
built in 1913. The school was merged into the new Coseley School in 1969 and survived as that school's annex until July 1972, but the buildings had been used from March 1992 until the early 2010s as the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley's records office and archive service.
* Manor Secondary School - opened in 1933, on Ettingshall Road in the Woodcross area, which was then in its first stages of development, growing rapidly after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
However, the growth of the surrounding area after 1945 put pressure on places at the Manor, and by the late 1950s Coseley UDC had decided to build a new secondary modern school on Lawnswood Avenue in the extreme north of the district. The school, Parkfield Secondary Modern School, opened in April 1962, but Manor continued as a secondary school until July 1969, with the buildings being retained to form the new Manor Primary School for the autumn term that year. Parkfield School came under control of Wolverhampton council as a result of boundary changes in April 1966, becoming the
South Wolverhampton and Bilston Academy in September 2009 and moving to a new site at
Bilston three years later, with the old school buildings being retained as the Orchard Centre, a special school for secondary-aged children.
*
The Coseley School - opened off Ivyhouse Lane in 1969. However, Dudley Council put pressure on the school by restricting its funding in the mid 2010s, which led to a decline in pupil numbers, which ultimately ended in the council deciding in early 2016 to close it a year later (with it only open to Year 11 in the final year) because of the low numbers caused by the council.
Current primary schools in Coseley
* Christchurch Primary School - has one of the oldest school buildings in Dudley Borough, which is still used as a school, dating from the 19th century.
* Foxyards Primary School - situated on the Foxyards Estate, it was built in 1971 to serve the new Foxyards housing estate and its surrounding area. The first head teacher was Joseph Jones. Jones retired in about 1985 to be succeeded by Mr David Cox, the former deputy head of
Cotwall End Primary School
Sedgley is a town in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.
Historically part of Staffordshire, Sedgley is on the A459 road between Wolverhampton and Dudley, and was formerly the seat of an ancient ...
in Sedgley. Mr Cox was seconded to the local authority in September 1989 for an academic year, during which time Mrs Evans was acting head teacher. Mr Cox finally left in March 1999 to become head of
Alder Coppice Primary in Sedgley. Mrs Pam Greenhalgh was acting head of one term before the appointment of Mrs Sandra O'Gorman, who has been at the helm ever since. Foxyards was built as a one-form entry school for pupils aged from 4 to 11 years, and a nursery unit was added in the mid-1980s. Due to a growing demand for places which saw more than 40 pupils in some year groups, it changed from one-form entry to vertical streaming (up to three classes in two years) in the early 1990s. There are still some mixed age classes in the school, and a new building at the school was opened in 2007 to accommodate growing pupil numbers.
* Hurst Hill Primary School - opened in November 1986 on a new site on Paul Street. It was formed from a merger of St. Mary's Primary School and Mount Pleasant Primary School. The school's first headteacher was Mr Michael Harvey (who had been head of St. Mary's since 1978), with his deputy being Mr Eric Tibble. Mr Tibble became head in the early 1990s on Mr Harvey's retirement, and was succeeded himself by Mrs Joy Powell in 2003, before the appointment of the current headteacher Mr Kevin King in 2007.
The school was officially opened on 2 March 1987 by
Neil Kinnock, leader of the
Labour Party.
* Wallbrook Primary School - located in Bradley's Lane, in the east of Coseley near the Dudley/Sandwell boundary. There are an estimated 275 pupils aged from 3 to 11 on the school roll. The majority of Wallbrook pupils move to
The Coseley School on leaving. The school was established in 1954 under headmaster A R Gowland - who was succeeded by L Clarke. The current head is Mrs C Longden.
*
Manor Primary School - located on the A4126/Ettingshall Road; in-between Woodcross and the A4123/Birmingham New Road. The school was originally a senior school, until it was turned into a primary school. It is now under the control of
Wolverhampton City Council.
Former primary schools in Coseley
* Highfields Primary School - opened in September 1972 as a one-form entry primary school to serve the north-eastern part of Coseley. The last head teacher of the school was Leonard Hazelhurst, appointed in September 2003 to replace Mrs Angela Hambrook. The school closed in July 2006 after Dudley MBC decided that falling numbers on the school roll made it no longer viable, and most of the school's remaining pupils were transferred to Wallbrook Primary School. The building has been retained, however, and since March 2008 has housed Rosewood Special School, which relocated from the
Russells Hall Estate
The Russells Hall Estate is a residential area of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is situated approximately one mile to the west of Dudley town centre.
The area was extensively mined for coal during the Industrial Revolution and would remain ...
in southern Dudle
* Hurst Hill County Primary school (known locally as the 'Board school') was located in Hollywell Street. Although on a single site the school operated as separate infants and juniors, each with their own classrooms, halls and playgrounds. At the start of the autumn term 1964 the school relocated down the hill to the Manor School and the buildings were then used by St. Mary's C of E Primary School.
* Mount Pleasant Primary School - its history can be traced back to October 1879, when a 500-pupil Board School was opened on Mount Pleasant Street by Sedgley School Board. It moved onto a neighbouring site in 1904, with the old infant and junior schools becoming a senior school, but by the early 1980s these buildings were becoming outdated and plans were unveiled to build a new primary school in the area, to replace both this and the nearby St. Mary's Primary School. The school finally closed in November 1986, when Hurst Hill Primary School opened. There were initial plans to retain the Mount Pleasant buildings for community use, but it was ultimately demolished in late 1990 after standing empty for four years. Private housing was later constructed on the site.
* St. Chad's Mixed Infant School - was a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
school located on Portland Place, at the top of Oak Street near to St. Chad's Church.
* St. Mary's Primary School - was a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
school built during the 19th century to serve the expanding Hurst Hill area of Coseley, and was twinned with the local
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
. Originally located in two buildings in Hurst Road, the primary school was at the corner of Hurst Road and Clifton Street, and the junior school was located in front of St. Mary's Church. It relocated to the old "Board Schools" in Hollywell Street and Horace Street, though was very outdated by the early 1980s and plans were announced for a new school to be built nearby, to replace both St. Mary's and Mount Pleasant schools. Hurst Hill Primary School opened in November 1986 as the replacement, and the St. Mary's buildings were demolished soon afterwards to be redeveloped for private housing.
Notable residents
*
George Andrews - former
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
,
Shrewsbury Town and
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
footballer.
*
Viv Aston
Walter Vivien Aston (born 16 October 1928 in Coseley, Tipton, Staffordshire, England) was a footballer who played in The Football League for Bury and Oldham Athletic. He also played for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic
AFC Bournemouth () i ...
- footballer
*
Thomas Barratt - posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. His Victoria Cross is on permanent display at the Museum of the
Staffordshire Regiment.
*
Kelly Groucutt - the late bass-guitarist/singer from the band
Electric Light Orchestra
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...
.
*
Daniel Hunt - Classical and Jazz pianist.
*
Joseph Nicholds
Joseph Nicholds (ca.1785–1860) was a player of the keyed bugle and a composer of sacred music, today known as West gallery music.
Early life
Nicholds was born in Coseley, Staffordshire, around 1785. and worked as a limestone-breaker in the Deep ...
- 19th-century composer of sacred music, best known for his
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
''Babylon''
References
{{authority control
Towns in the West Midlands (county)
Areas of Wolverhampton
Areas of Dudley
Areas of Sandwell