The Tilted Barrel Public House, High St, Princes End - geograph

Princes End is an area of

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the West Midlands in England with a population of around 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham. Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country, w ...

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 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, near the border with

Coseley Coseley ( ) is a village in the north of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it is situated approximately north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton. Though it is a part o ...

(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 population of the Sandwell ward taken at the 2011 census was 12,981. Several hundred terraced houses were built around the same time to accommodate the factory workers. Many council houses were built in the area between 1920 and 1980, as well as many private houses.

Neighbourhood

The centre of Princes End is situated on the A4037 Dudley - Wednesbury main road. It includes shops, flats and houses. The established residential area of Ocker Hill including the Glebefields, Tibbington and Moat Farm estates "Lost City" are part of Princes End ward but not actually in Princes End itself. Wednesbury Oak, originally a small settlement on the main road leading towards

Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of 3 ...

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 ...

, was expanded in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of a large private housing estate, which was originally in the Urban District of Coseley.

Railway

Princes End had two railway stations, but neither are in existence now. One was

Princes End and Coseley railway station Princes End and Coseley railway station was a station built by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1853. It was one of two stations in Princes End, but was situated closer to Coseley, which influenced the decision in 1936 to ad ...

, which was situated on the line between

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

and

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

. It closed in 1962 under the Beeching Axe and by the end of the 1960s the line was in total disuse. The other station, Princes End railway station, closed in 1916 under a wartime economy measure, although the line - which ran to

- remained open to goods trains until 1981, with the final stub leading up to Ocker Hill Power Station remaining open until 1991. The former section of line between Princes End and Ocker Hill also marks the divide between Princes End and The Tibbington Estate, The Glebefields Estate and Moat Farm Estates "LOST CITY" That come under Ocker Hill and was converted into a public walkway at the end of the 1980s.

Industry

Bloomfield Road has been home to the

Angle Ring The Angle Ring Company Limited is an engineering firm based in Tipton, West Midlands, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish S ...

factory since 1951. The factory's buildings and land have been gradually expanded over the years, taking over a section of the

railway which closed in 1968. Opposite the Angle Ring factory stood the British Rolling Mills, which opened in the 19th century and remained in use until 2005 as part of Brymill. The buildings, including the offices and laboratories built in 1959, were demolished in the autumn of 2006 and gave way to housing. However, one of the more modern Brymill factory and office units still stands and although currently disused, has been retained for eventual sale due to its age.

Bloomfield Infants School

Bloomfield Infants School was opened on Bloomfield Road in 1873, later becoming an annexe of Princes End Infants School. However, it closed in July 1967 after 94 years in use as a school and was briefly annexed into Princes End Infants School, but this was short-lived and the building was closed in the early 1970s and demolished a short time afterwards. The site of the school is now a scrapyard, which expanded in 2000 when the neighbouring Kings Arms public house (closed in the mid 1990s) was demolished.

Unemployment

In the 2001 census, it was revealed that 10.9% of economically active people in Princes End were unemployed - more than double the national average at the time. The figure rose substantially after 2007 due to the

Late 2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

, but was falling by 2015 as the economic recovery accelerated.

Boundary changes

Although the bulk of Princes End was situated within the Tipton borders, until 1966 a significant percentage of the area formed part of

urban district council until 1966, when the borders were rationalised and the whole area became part 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, c ...

borough (which most of Tipton had become part of) and from 1974 Sandwell, which was formed by a merger of West Bromwich and Warley. The historic boundary of Coseley and Tipton had seen at least one building in Princes End being divided between the two towns.