Lye or The Lye is an area in 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

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 ...

county, England, east of

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

and borders with

Pedmore Pedmore is a residential suburb of Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England. It was originally a village in the Worcestershire countryside until extensive housebuilding during the interwar years saw it gradually merged into Stourbridge. The po ...

and

Wollescote Wollescote is a residential area of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. It is administered by the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It falls within the ward of Cradley & Wollescote and the parliamentary constituency of Stourbridge. It is situated ...

. It was formerly a village within the parish of

Oldswinford The name Oldswinford is now used for a small area of Stourbridge, close to the parish church. History Originally, it was an extensive ancient parish, covering the whole of the former Municipal Borough of Stourbridge, except Pedmore. This include ...

, historically situated within the boundaries of the county of

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. It used to be famous for the manufacture of nails, anvils, vices, chain, crucibles and firebricks. Lye Waste, adjacent to the original village of Lye, was an area of uncultivated common land but it was settled by people who, by building houses including a fireplace within 24 hours by using mud and clay as the main building materials, acquired

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

rights as a result of the passing of the

Inclosure Acts The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...

from 1604 onwards, and it became thickly built upon. The village of Careless Green, now part of Lye but once a separate village immediately to the south-east, was noted for insurance clubs called Stewpony societies and the Stewpony Allotment Society which tried to improve conditions for the labouring classes.

Places of interest

The local cemetery is the Lye and Wollescote Cemetery, which contains a pair of

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed chapels. Lye is also home to

Lye Town F.C. Lye Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in the Black Country town of Lye, West Midlands, Lye, Stourbridge, West Midlands (region), West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sports G ...

, which has competed in the West Midlands Regional League since 1947. Its home ground is The Sports Ground, which it shares with the resident

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

club.

Lye railway station Lye railway station serves the Lye, West Midlands, Lye area of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. The station is managed by West Midlands Trains, who provide the majority of train services; Chiltern Railways ...

serves the community, and is situated on the

–

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 ...

mainline.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Lye is the birthplace of the actor

Sir Cedric Hardwicke Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of William Shakespeare, Shakes ...

, who is commemorated by a

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Tim Tolkien Tim Tolkien (born October 1962) is an English sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning ''Sentinel''. He has a metal sculpture and public Art business at Cradley Heath, West Midlands. He is also a ...

, commissioned by

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC. The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government ...

. The memorial takes the form of a giant filmstrip, the illuminated cut metal panels illustrating scenes from some of his best-known films which include ''

The Hunchback of Notre Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story o ...

'', '' Things to Come'', and ''

The Ghost of Frankenstein ''The Ghost of Frankenstein'' is a 1942 American horror film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Cedric Hardwicke, Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi. It is the fourth film in the ''Frankenstein'' series by Universal Pictures, and the follow-up t ...

''. It was unveiled in November 2005 and is located at Lye Cross near his childhood home.

Sport

The town has an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, Lye Town FC. They currently compete in the , the ninth tier of English football and play at The Sports Ground. The club were

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

Premier Division champions in 2013–14. File:Sir Cedric Hardwicke sculpture - Dudley Road, Lye (38803701042).jpg, Sir Cedric Hardwicke sculpture - Dudley Road, Lye File:LyeSG.jpg, The Sports Ground, home of Lye Town FC

References

External links

{{Commons category, Lye, West Midlands
River Stour

Christ Church and Community Website

LyeTown.co.uk Nostalgic and historical photographs of Lye

Home Webpage of Lye Town Football Club
Areas of Dudley

Places of interest

Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Sport

Further reading

References

External links