Brownhills is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
and former administrative centre in the
Metropolitan Borough of Walsall
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, ...
, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry E ...
and close to the large
Chasewater
Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...
reservoir, it is northeast of
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
, a similar distance southwest of
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...
and miles north-northwest of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
. It is part of the
Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency and neighbours the large suburban villages of
Pelsall
Pelsall is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Forming part of the borough's border with Staffordshire, Pelsall is located 4 miles north of central Walsall, midway between the towns of Bloxwich and Brown ...
and
Walsall Wood
Walsall Wood is a suburb split between both Brownhills and Aldridge in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England.
History
In the late-18th century and early-19th century, the workers of Walsall Wood were primarily involved in ...
. It lies within the boundaries of the
historic county of
Staffordshire.
The town lies close to the route of the ancient
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...
, and although there is no record of its existence before the 17th century, Ogley Hay – a district of the town today – is recorded as a settlement in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
. Brownhills quickly grew around the
coal-mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting 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 ...
industry, especially after the town became linked to the
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...
and
railway networks in the mid-19th century. By the end of the century, Brownhills had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town of more than , of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s; the subsequent closure of the pits led to a severe economic decline that has continued until the present. The local authority instituted a regeneration programme in 2007, which was hoped would revive the town's fortunes, but there has been little subsequent development.
History
Brownhills is on the ancient
Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...
and there is evidence of early settlement in the area, including an ancient burial mound and a guard post believed to date from
Roman times
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
and later dubbed Knaves Castle.
The name Brownhills, however, is not recorded before the 17th century. The most popular suggestion for the origin of the name is that it refers to the early mining
spoil heaps which dotted the area.
The settlement is first recorded (as "Brownhill") on
Robert Plot
Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – 30 April 1696) was an English naturalist, first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum.
Early life and education
Born in Borden, Kent to parents Robe ...
's 1680 map of
Staffordshire, at which time it was a hamlet within the
manor of Ogley Hay, which in turn was part of the parish of
Norton Canes
Norton Canes is an industrial village, civil parish and ward of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England.
It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394, and an area of of which 86% is gre ...
.
Ogley Hay itself had existed since at least the 11th century and is mentioned in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
,
although the
1801 census lists it as having a population of only 8 people. Beyond Ogley Hay lay Catshill, another hamlet which pre-dated Brownhills and which lay within the parish of
Shenstone.
During the 17th century, shallow mine workings began to develop in the area, and in 1759 a
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
was erected in the Catshill area.
A local legend claims that
Dick Turpin
Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ea ...
once vaulted the barricade on his horse to avoid paying the toll, although this is demonstrably false as Turpin was executed in 1739, twenty years before the turnpike's construction. In 1794 Brownhills (now in the plural) was included in a list of local settlements mentioned in an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
concerning canals in Staffordshire,
and three years later the
Wyrley & Essington Canal
The Wyrley and Essington Canal, known locally as "the Curly Wyrley", is a canal in the English Midlands. As built it ran from Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction near Lichfield, with a number of branches: some parts are currently derelict. P ...
, nicknamed the "Curly Wyrley" by the locals due to its winding course, was opened.
In 1799 Norton Pool, later to be renamed
Chasewater
Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...
, was created to serve as a reservoir for the canals.
Early in the 19th century, a horse-drawn tram system connected the mines to the wharves on the canal. In response to the growing population of the area open land in Ogley Hay, up until then merely heathland was enclosed and converted to farmland in 1838, the same year in which the area was first declared a parish, although no church was built for another 13 years.
Charles Foster Cotterill, a former mayor of
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
who had purchased the manor of Ogley Hay in 1836 upon the death of former lord Phineas Hussey, saw the potential of the area and sold off large tracts of his land for private farming and the construction of a
flour mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
and a
foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
.
The remaining land of the former manor was progressively sold off through a series of
indentures of questionable legality until 1846 when Cotterill sold the last and moved to London.
The
South Staffordshire Railway
The South Staffordshire Railway (SSR) was authorised in 1847 to build a line from Dudley in the West Midlands of England through Walsall and Lichfield to a junction with the Midland Railway on the way to Burton upon Trent, with authorised share ...
reached Brownhills in 1850 and led to a huge expansion of the local mining operation and with it a population explosion in the area,
with the population increasing from 305 in 1801 to over 13,000 in 1891.
In 1858 a branch line was constructed through the heart of what was then the hamlet of Brownhills, which led to a migration of the population eastwards, leading to the formation of mining slums in the Ogley Hay area. Eventually, a new town centre developed, complete with library and theatre.
This led to the gradual amalgamation of Brownhills, Ogley Hay, and Catshill into one town.
Mining was to remain the principal industry of Brownhills until the last pit closed in the 1950s. During the 18th and 19th centuries the area known as Coppice Side was the hub of the mining industry, and the
census of 1841 showed that over 80% of the population of the area which makes up modern Brownhills lived and worked there,
with up to ten pits active in the area at any one time.
As in other mining areas, several men lost their lives in the Brownhills pits. Seven miners, including a boy aged 11, died in an accident in 1861, and in October 1930 an
explosion at the Grove Colliery killed fourteen miners, ten of them from Brownhills.
In 1877 the town of Brownhills was officially recognised for the first time after a new Act authorised the amalgamation of rural districts into larger local government areas. An order was issued on 29 September stating:
After 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 ...
, the Urban District Council, which was based at the
Council House
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...
and had replaced the District Board in 1894, began a programme of urban improvement. Large areas of open farmland were purchased for the building of
council house
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...
s, and a notorious slum area, Ogley Square, which had been declared unfit for human habitation, was demolished after a long legal dispute and the tenants rehoused. The final farmland within the boundaries of Brownhills was sold for redevelopment in 1952.
By the time of the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
the mines of Brownhills, being amongst the oldest in the area, were largely exhausted,
and following the
nationalisation of the mining industry the final pit on the Common was closed in the 1950s. Following the demise of the coalfield the town experienced a severe economic slump, with many
high street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
shops closing down. A wave of new development in the 1960s and 1970s saw a new shopping precinct planned, which it was claimed would incorporate a cinema, bowling alley, hotel, and bus station and would completely revitalise the town. Despite the developers' grandiose claims, the project was not a success and ultimately consisted solely of shopping units, many of which stood empty for up to five years.
There was little further development in the 1980s and 1990s, and the feeling of the local council is that the town centre needs improvement. In 2007, the council created a "Townscape Masterplan" for the redevelopment of the town,
but more than a decade later the most problematic areas had seen little redevelopment.
Governance
Brownhills is represented by two tiers of government,
Walsall Borough Council ("local") and UK Parliament ("national").
The Brownhills District established in 1877 remained in existence until 1894 when it was superseded by Brownhills Urban District. In 1966 the Urban District merged with that of
Aldridge
Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield. ...
to form the
Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District
Aldridge-Brownhills was an urban district in Staffordshire, England from 1966 to 1974.
The district was formed in accordance with a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England on 1 April 1966. It was created by the amalgamatio ...
, in accordance with a recommendation of the
Local Government Commission for England. The district was amalgamated in 1974, under the
Local Government Act 1972, into the newly formed
Metropolitan Borough of Walsall
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, ...
, under whose jurisdiction the area remains to this day. As a result of this amalgamation Brownhills also became part of the
West Midlands county
West Midlands is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England, with a 2021 population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 by the Local Government Act ...
, having previously been part of
Staffordshire.
Today Brownhills constitutes a
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
within the Borough of Walsall and has three seats on the Borough Council. As at the
2019 local elections two of these seats were held by the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and one by
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
.
Wendy Morton
Wendy Morton (born 9 November 1967) is a British politician who served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member ...
, representing the Conservative Party, has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of
Aldridge-Brownhills since 2015. Before the creation of the Aldridge-Brownhills seat in 1974, the town had been part of the
Walsall North
Walsall North is a constituency created in 1955 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Eddie Hughes, a member of the Conservative Party. The local electorate returned a Labour MP in the seat's first seventeen ...
constituency since 1955, when it had been transferred from the now-defunct Cannock constituency.
Brownhills was part of the Walsall council counting area of the
West Midlands European Parliament constituency, which elected seven
MEPs
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
. In the
2019 election the
Brexit Party
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant ...
gained 42.7% of the vote in this counting area, followed by Labour with 21.5%.
Geography
Brownhills is located at on the edge of
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry E ...
and lies mostly at a height of approximately 150 metres (492 ft) above sea level, although there is a sharp incline to nearly 180 metres (590 ft) at the eastern end of the town.
The highest point of Cannock Chase, standing at 244 metres (801 ft) above sea level,
lies approximately from the town.
Although a small river called Crane Brook flows slightly to the east of Brownhills, the only significant bodies of water in the area are human-made, namely the canal and the reservoir
Chasewater
Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...
, which lies to the north, between Brownhills and Cannock Chase.
The reservoir was constructed in the 18th century and reshaped by reclamation schemes as recently as the 1970s.
Immediately to the west of the town is Brownhills Common, a heathland which once formed part of Cannock Forest (also known as "Canke Wood").
Although the forest was felled in the 15th and 16th centuries, the spread of
heather and the grazing of
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...
led to the creation of a huge area of heathland. The area was affected by mine workings but has now returned to a more natural state, and lizards and
dragonflies
A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...
may be observed. The area now supports various habitat types, with the heathland mixing with marshy grassland, with scattered scrub and pools. In 1926, when ownership of the Common was transferred to the local Council, a large area of barren land at the eastern end, closest to the town, was landscaped, with new trees planted.
Lying south of the Common, Birch Coppice is a large area of predominantly
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...
woodland, which, although crossed by a now-dismantled railway line, mostly escaped the destruction caused to other wooded areas by mining and other industry.
To the south, Brownhills is separated from the nearby village of
Clayhanger by Clayhanger Common, which is designated a
Site of Special Scientific Interest and considered "one of the best wetland sites in the county". In 2007, a new £445,000 bridge was erected across the canal at Brownhills, providing pedestrian, disabled and cycling access to the Common and to the village of Clayhanger beyond. To the east lies the village of
Stonnall and a large area of
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which ...
land.
The geology of Brownhills comprises mainly red clay
marl overlying
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
and deposits of coal.
The town is on several
fault lines
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
, the main one being the Vigo Fault, a branch of the larger Eastern Boundary Fault, which runs from
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
to
Rugeley
Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...
. On the western side of the fault, in the area of Brownhills Common, the marl is over thinner than on the eastern side, bringing the coal seams significantly closer to the surface.
The presence of the faults and the effects of mining mean that subsidence has been a major problem in the area for many years.
Since the 19th century, trade in Brownhills has been centred on the High Street. As the canal and Clayhanger Common lie immediately to the south of the High Street, the town's housing areas are mainly to the north and at the eastern and western ends of the town.
In 2011, Brownhills had 5,173 residential dwellings, of which 49.4% were
semi-detached
A semi-detached house (often abbreviated to semi) is a single family duplex dwelling house that shares one common wall with the next house. The name distinguishes this style of house from detached houses, with no shared walls, and terraced hou ...
houses.
In late 2020 the average selling price of a domestic property in the town was £182,700, compared to £112,000 ten years earlier, a rise of 63%. Two housing associations, Walsall Housing Group (whg) and WATMOS Housing Co-operative (WATMOS), manage those properties formerly owned as
council house
A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 ...
s by Walsall Council.
In the West Midlands, the warmest time of the year is July and August, when maximum temperatures average around 21 °C (70 °F); the coolest months are January and February, when minimum temperatures average around 1 °C (39 °F).
The area's average maximum and minimum temperatures are almost exactly in line with the
national average.
The average annual rainfall is about , the wettest months being September to January.
This is lower than the national average annual rainfall of 838 mm (33 inches).
Demography
At the
2011 UK census, Brownhills
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
had a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 12,676,
and a population density of 17.5 persons per hectare. Of the town's 10,081 residents aged 16 and over, 47.7% were married or in a civil partnership and 14.3% were
cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increas ...
couples.
The ethnicity of the town was 95.8% white, 1.2% mixed race, 1.9% Asian, 0.95% black and 0.2% other. The country of birth of residents was 97.0% United Kingdom, 0.4%
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, 1.0% European Union and 1.6% other.
Religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
was recorded as 67.9%
Christian, 0.4%
Muslim, 0.4%
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 0.2%
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
and 0.63%
Sikh. Additionally, 24.2% were recorded as having no religion and 5.8% did not state their religion.
For every 100 females, there were 98.7 males. The age distribution was 6.0% aged 0–4 years, 13.5% aged 5–15 years, 5.1% aged 16–19 years, 32.2% aged 20–44 years, 25.8% aged 45–64 years and 17.3% aged 65 years and over. The mean population age was 39.8.
The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 37.0% in full-time employment, 15.0% in part-time employment, 7.8% self-employed, 5.8% unemployed, 3.9% economically inactive students, 16.2% retired, 4.6% looking after home or family, 5.5% long-term sick or disabled and 2.3% economically inactive for other reasons.
Economy
At the 2011 census, 5,769 people in Brownhills were employed, with the largest percentages in retail (19.8%) and manufacturing (15.8%).
This represented a shift from a decade earlier, when manufacturing had been the largest sector, employing 28.5% of the workforce.
In 2011, 2.7% of usual residents aged 16 to 74 were classified as long-term unemployed.
The decline of the mining industry in the 1950s caused a severe economic slump in Brownhills.
In 2007, the local authority created a "Townscape Masterplan" for the regeneration of Brownhills, which involved increased leisure provision, the improvement of the town centre's shopping facilities, a new transport interchange incorporating Park and Ride facilities and cycle links to the town centre and the
National Cycle Route
The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...
, and the refurbishment of run-down properties.
The plan involved the potential construction of a bypass to relieve the heavily congested High Street. Among the areas highlighted for redevelopment was the Ravens Court shopping precinct. After many years of legal wranglings, including the collapse of a plan to build a supermarket on the site, a planning application was submitted in 2017, but by late 2018 the precinct was still disused and a frequent target for anti-social behaviour.
The headquarters of the
One Stop
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
convenience store chain, a subsidiary of
Tesco plc
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
, is located in the town. Brownhills was formerly home to the wirings manufacturer Electrium's last UK-based factory, but this has closed, with manufacturing shifted overseas and commercial staff moved to a new site in
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...
. Many people are employed at the town's Tesco store, which is open 24 hours a day on weekdays and is large enough to have its own petrol station. Before being taken over by Tesco, the store was a branch of
Hillards
Hillards plc was a small supermarket chain from the North of England, bought out in a hostile takeover by Tesco in May 1987.
History
The company was founded by John Wesley Hillard in 1885, in the West Yorkshire town of Cleckheaton. The first ...
, and an earlier Tesco store in the town had been forced to close as it could not compete with Hillards.
Plans to double the size of the current store were put forward but abandoned in 2013.
Transport
Roads
Brownhills is served by the
A5 and lies close to a junction of the
M6 Toll
The M6 Toll, referred to on signs as the Midland Expressway (originally named the Birmingham Northern Relief Road or BNRR), and stylised as M6toll, connects M6 Junction 3a at the Coleshill Interchange to M6 Junction 11A at Wolverhampton with ...
motorway.
National Express West Midlands
National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, s ...
bus services 936, 937, 937A connect the town with
Kingstanding
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes and Wyrley Birch. The other part of Kingstanding falls ...
and
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
. They also run service 8 linking Brownhills with
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
, Burntwood and
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...
.
D&G Bus
D&G Bus is a local bus operator owned by Centrebus Group and is based in Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
History
D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two routes ...
operates services to Norton Canes and
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolv ...
under the Chaserider brand.
Railway
Brownhills formerly had two railway stations.
The first, on the
South Staffordshire Line (later part of the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway), opened in 1849 but was closed as part of the
Beeching Axe in 1965. The line remained open for freight until 1983, but the track was lifted in 1987.
The other
In phenomenology, the terms the Other and the Constitutive Other identify the other human being, in their differences from the Self, as being a cumulative, constituting factor in the self-image of a person; as acknowledgement of being real; h ...
, on the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
, was open for passengers between 1884 and 1930 and for freight until 1960, when the track was lifted.
Andy Street
Andrew John Street (born 11 June 1963) is a British businessman and Conservative Party politician who was the managing director of John Lewis from 2007 to 2016, when he resigned to run for Mayor of the West Midlands. Street won the May 2017 ma ...
, the
Mayor of the West Midlands
The Mayor of the West Midlands is a directly elected political post who chairs the West Midlands Combined Authority, covering the Birmingham metropolitan area and Coventry.
The first election took place on Thursday 4 May 2017. Andy Street, ...
, put forward a 20-year plan for the improvement of the region's transport infrastructure in 2020 which included the re-opening of a station in Brownhills.
Canals
The
Birmingham Canal Navigations
Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions. It was owned and opera ...
'
Wyrley and Essington Canal passes through Brownhills and meets the
Daw End Branch Canal
The Wyrley and Essington Canal, known locally as "the Curly Wyrley", is a canal in the English Midlands. As built it ran from Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction near Lichfield, with a number of branches: some parts are currently derelict. ...
at
Catshill Junction
Catshill Junction () is a canal junction at the northern limit of the Daw End Branch Canal where it meets the Wyrley and Essington Canal main line, near Brownhills, in West Midlands, England.
History
When the Wyrley and Essington Canal was a ...
. The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust has been involved in restoring the
Lichfield Canal
The Lichfield Canal, as it is now known, was historically a part of the Wyrley and Essington Canal, being the section of that canal from Ogley Junction at Brownhills on the northern Birmingham Canal Navigations to Huddlesford Junction, east of ...
since its formation in 1988 and, in 2003, created an
aqueduct over the M6 Toll road near Brownhills.
Education
The town's main
secondary school is
Brownhills Ormiston Academy (formerly Brownhills Sports College, Brownhills Community Technology College, Brownhills Community School and Brownhills Comprehensive), a mixed-gender school with approximately pupils,
which is part of the
Ormiston Academies Trust
Ormiston Trust is a charitable trust based in London, England. It is a grant-making trust that chiefly assists schools and organisations supporting children and young people.
The trust was established in the memory of Fiona Ormiston Murray who d ...
.
In 2019, the school's
progress 8 benchmark
The Progress 8 benchmark is an accountability measure used by the government of the United Kingdom to measure the effectiveness of secondary schools in England. It bands pupils into groups based on their scores in English and mathematics during t ...
score was ranked "below average".
Watling Street Primary School, situated on the
A5 at the western end of town, has approximately 200 students between the ages of 3 and 11 as of 2021. In 2019, 77% of its
Key Stage 2 pupils were deemed to have met the expected standard.
There are four other primary schools in the town: St James' Primary School, St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School, Brownhills West Primary School, Millfield Primary School and one in Clayhanger, Holy Trinity Church of England Primary School.
Religious sites
Brownhills has 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 Britai ...
church (St James), a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
church (St Bernadette),
two
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
churches (including one in Clayhanger), two
Spiritualist Church
A spiritualist church is a church affiliated with the informal spiritualist movement which began in the United States in the 1840s. Spiritualist churches are now found around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, while in ...
es, and a
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement church. Brownhills has had strong links with the Methodist faith since the 19th century.
The current Silver Street Methodist church was built in the 1960s when two other churches were compulsorily purchased and demolished due to their sites being identified as prime locations for additional town-centre car parking under a council redevelopment scheme.
Culture
Attractions and landmarks
One of Brownhills' most prominent landmarks is a stainless steel sculpture of a
coal miner
Coal mining is the process of extracting 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 ...
, erected in May 2006 on a roundabout at one end of the High Street, where the A4124 Pelsall Road and High Street A452 cross. The colossal sculpture, by
John McKenna
John McKenna ( ga, Seán Mac Cionnaoith; 3 January 1855 – 22 March 1936) was an Irish businessman, professional rugby player, and the first manager of the Liverpool Football Club which has since gone on to become one of the most successful ...
ARBS, commemorates the town's mining tradition. A competition was organised to choose an official nickname for the statue. The winning name was Jigger after Jack "Jigger" Taylor who died when the roof of Walsall Wood pit collapsed in 1951. The town is also home to what is reputed to be the oldest
fingerpost
A fingerpost (sometimes referred to as a guide post) is a traditional type of sign post primarily used in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, consisting of a post with one or more arms, known as fingers, pointing in the directio ...
in the United Kingdom.
[ (PDF document)]
Chasewater
Chasewater is a reservoir located in the parish of Burntwood and the district of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Originally known as Norton Pool and Cannock Chase Reservoir, it was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797. The reservoi ...
in Staffordshire lies on the edge of Brownhills, with the area surrounding it, which is designated as a country park, officially falling within the Brownhills postal area. The reservoir supports a variety of activities including water-skiing, sailing, angling and bird watching. The
Chasewater Railway
The Chasewater Railway is a former colliery railway running round the shores of Chasewater in Staffordshire, England. It is now operated as a heritage railway.
The line is approximately in length, contained entirely within Chasewater Countr ...
operates a
heritage rail service on the line of the former
mineral railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British ra ...
around Chasewater between Brownhills and
Chasetown
Chasetown is a village in the town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. It is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich.
History
Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village wa ...
, north of the
former Brownhills Watling Street station. The railway's main station is designated
Brownhills West
Brownhills West is a suburban village of Brownhills in the Walsall Metropolitan Borough and forms part of the border of the West Midlands and Staffordshire. It is an unparished area of Brownhills, lying on the border with Cannock and Burntw ...
.
On the opposite side of the A5, Brownhills Common, where a wide variety of birds can be observed, is a designated nature reserve, as is Shire Oak Park, approximately from the town centre. Holland Park, on the edge of the Common, has a skate park and multi-sports area, which were created as part of a £95,000
environmental regeneration project and opened in 2002.
Cultural events and venues
One of the major concerns of the local council in 2007 was that the town was "particularly lacking in leisure provision".
At one time the town had two cinemas, but the last of these closed in the 1960s and a plan to build a new one never came to fruition.
Although the town's theatre had closed down many years prior, the Brownhills Academy's theatre has staged productions by local groups such as the Aldridge Musical Comedy Society and the Walsall Gilbert and Sullivan Society.
Brownhills holds an annual canal festival in June with stalls, entertainment and boat trips, and there is an active Community Association which organises a range of events and activities. The town had a weekly market for many years, but it closed down in 2010 due to lack of traders and the site was subsequently redeveloped for housing.
Brownhills has several
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
s. Although some older ones, such as the Victorian-era Jolly Collier in Coppice Side, were demolished in the 1980s,
several dating from the 19th century still stand comparatively unchanged, including the Shoulder of Mutton, which still bears windows etched with the emblem of the brewery which owned it in the 1850s.
The Station Hotel in the High Street hosted concerts, including an appearance by
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...
in 1968.
Sport
Brownhills does not have a Saturday men's
football team; in the 1990s Brownhills Town F.C. competed in the
Midland Football Combination
The Midland Football Combination was an English football league covering parts of the West Midlands. It comprised five divisions, a Premier Division, Divisions One and Two and two Reserves Divisions. The league was one of three official feeder l ...
but folded during the
2003–04 season. During the 1950s Ogley Hay F.C. were a strong local team, reaching the final of the
Walsall Senior Cup on three occasions. Brownhills Community Colts Football Club fields teams in various age groups up to under-17.
The Brownhills Canoe and Outdoor Centre opened in 2006, funded by
British Waterways
British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotlan ...
with the assistance of partners such as
Sport England
Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...
, the
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and s ...
and
Walsall Council
Walsall Council, formerly Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was assessed by the Audit Commission in 2008 and judged to ...
, and offers
canoeing and
kayaking lessons on the canal, close to the centre of town. Nearby Chasewater is a prominent watersports site, with the Watersports Centre offering a variety of
water skiing
Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...
facilities, and the sailing club providing year-round
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
and
dinghy sailing
Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:
* the sails
* the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth)
* the trim (forward/rear angle o ...
.
Media
Brownhills has no dedicated local newspaper, but is covered by newspapers published in
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 "Wulfrunians ...
and
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield.
Walsall is th ...
. The most popular paid-for local newspaper is the ''
Express & Star
The ''Express & Star'' is a regional evening newspaper in Britain. Founded in 1889, it is based in Wolverhampton, England, and covers the West Midlands county and Staffordshire.
Currently edited by Martin Wright, the ''Express & Star'' publish ...
''. Free newspapers with significant circulation in the town include the ''Walsall Chronicle'', ''Walsall Advertiser'', and ''Walsall Observer''. Similarly, the town has no dedicated local radio station but receives the stations broadcast from the
Sutton Coldfield transmitting station
The Sutton Coldfield transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, England. In terms of population covered, it is the third most important transmitter in the UK, after Crystal Pa ...
.
Notable people
Three members of the Dorsett family from Brownhills played professional
football.
George Dorsett (1881–1942) and his brother
Joe
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
(1888–1951) both played for
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
and
Manchester City in the early years of the 20th century.
Their nephew
Dicky Dorsett (born 3 December 1919, died 1999) played over 250 times for
Aston Villa between 1946 and 1952 and also played for
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
in the
1939 FA Cup Final
The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested by Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley. Portsmouth won 4–1, with goals from Bert Barlow, John Anderson and two by Cliff Parker. Dicky Dorsett scored Wolves' effort.
As a result of the suspe ...
. Fashion model
Erin O'Connor (born 9 February 1978) grew up in Brownhills.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Towns in the West Midlands (county)
Walsall