Dudley
Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the 2011 census, it had a population of 79,379. The wider Metropolitan Borough had a population of 312,900. In 2014, the borough council adopted a slogan describing Dudley as the capital of the Black Country, a title by which it had long been informally known. Originally a market town, Dudley was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and grew into an industrial centre in the 19th century with its iron, coal, and limestone industries before their decline and the relocation of its commercial centre to the nearby Merry Hill Shopping Centre in the 1980s. Tourist attractions include Dudley Zoo and Castle, the 12th century priory ruins, and the Black Country Living Museum. History Early history Dudley has a history dating b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
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 Stourbridge and Halesowen. The borough's main settlement is Dudley but it also includes the outlying towns of Brierley Hill, Halesowen, Kingswinford, Lye, Netherton, Sedgley, and Stourbridge. The borough borders Sandwell to the east, the city of Birmingham to the south east, Bromsgrove to the south in Worcestershire, South Staffordshire District to the west, and the city of Wolverhampton to the north. History The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley was created in 1974 from the existing boroughs of Dudley, the Municipal Borough of Stourbridge and the Municipal Borough of Halesowen. This followed an earlier reorganisation in 1966, as per the provisions of the Local Government Act 1958, which saw an expansion of the three boroughs from the ab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dudley (UK Parliament Constituency)
Dudley is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency centred on the town of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 by Sonia Kumar, a member of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It returns one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system. The constituency existed between 1832 and 1974 and was re-established by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for the 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024 general election, It is based on the abolished Dudley North (UK Parliament constituency), Dudley North, with the addition of one ward from the also abolished Dudley South constituency. Boundaries 1918–1950: The County Borough of Dudley, and t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruins, ruined castle, fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Originally, a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortification during the twelfth century but subsequently demolished on the orders of Henry II of England. The rebuilding of the castle took place in the second half of the thirteenth century. It culminated in the construction of a range of buildings within the fortifications by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley. The fortifications were slighting, slighted by order of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War and the residential buildings were destroyed by fire in 1750. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the site was used for fêtes and pageants. Today, Dudley Zoo is located on its grounds. Its location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Indus ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dudley Zoo
Dudley Zoo & Castle (previously Dudley Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within a 200-acre densely-wooded site located within the grounds of Dudley Castle in the town of Dudley, in the Black Country region of the West Midlands, England. The zoo opened to the public on 18 May 1937. It contains 12 modernist animal enclosures and other buildings designed by the architect Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group. The zoo went into receivership in 1977 and was purchased by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. Dudley Zoo is now operated by Dudley and West Midlands Zoological Society, founded in 1978 and a registered charity. History The owner of Dudley Castle, William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley, decided to create a zoo in the castle grounds in the 1930s. The initial Board of the Dudley Zoological Society was made up of the Earl, Ernest Marsh (director of Marsh and Baxter) and Captain Frank Cooper, owner of Oxford Zoo, who wanted to sell his animals and it was Oxford Zoo, which closed in 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Black Country
The Black Country is an area of England's West Midlands. It is mainly urban, covering most of the Dudley and Sandwell metropolitan boroughs, with the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton. The road between Wolverhampton and Birmingham was described as "one continuous town" in 1785. The area was one of the Industrial Revolution's birthplaces. Its name was first recorded in the 1840s, and derives either from the thick coal seam close to the surface or the production of coal, coke, iron, glass, bricks and steel which produced high levels of soot and air pollution. Extent The Black Country has no single set of defined boundaries. Some traditionalists define it as "the area where the coal seam comes to the surface – so West Bromwich, Coseley, Oldbury, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Bilston, Dudley, Tipton, Wednesbury, and parts of Halesowen, Walsall and Smethwick or what used to be known as Warley." There are records from the 18th century ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Merry Hill Shopping Centre
Merry Hill (formerly Intu Merry Hill, Westfield Merry Hill and The Merry Hill Shopping Centre) is a large Shopping center, shopping complex in Brierley Hill near Dudley, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several subsequent expansion and renovation projects. The centre is anchored by Harvey Norman, Marks & Spencer, Primark, Asda, Next plc, Next and Hollywood Bowl Group, Hollywood Bowl. The centre has over 200 shops, a retail park, Movie theater, cinema, food court, arcade and over 10,000 parking spaces. Adjacent to the main shopping mall is a marina called The Waterfront accommodating a number of bars, restaurants, the studios of Black Country Radio, and the Headquarters and Control Room of West Midlands Ambulance Service. The Dudley Canal, Dudley No.1 Canal passes through The Waterfront and along the edge of the shopping centre before descending to Delph Locks. The centre's original developers and owners were Don Richardson (businessman), Richardson Develo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is located in the centre of the Black Country, west of Birmingham. The museum occupies of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns, canal arm and former coal pits. The museum opened to the public in 1978, and has since added over 50 shops, houses and other industrial buildings from around the metropolitan boroughs of Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, Dudley, Sandwell and Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, Walsall and the City of Wolverhampton (collectively known as the Black Country); mainly in a specially built village. Most buildings were relocated from their original sites to form a base from where demonstrators portray life spanning 300 years of history, with a focus on 1850–1950. The museum continues to evolve, as further buildings and other ex ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dudley Priory
Dudley Priory is a dissolved priory in Dudley, West Midlands (formerly Worcestershire), England. The ruins of the priory are located within Priory Park, alongside the Priory Estate, and is both a scheduled monument and Grade I listed. The ruins received this status on 14 September 1949. History The priory was founded in 1160 by Gervase Paganel, in memory of his father. It was established as a dependency of the Cluniac Priory of Much Wenlock and was dedicated to Saint James. The priory was built from local limestone, quarried from Wren's Nest. The first known prior, mentioned in Gervase Paganell's charter, was named Osbert. A bull was issued by Pope Lucius III and the possessions included the Church of St. Edmund, Church of St. Thomas and the churches of Sedgley and Northfield with the chapel of Cofton Hackett. In obedience to a papal mandate in 1238, the bishop of Worcester and the bishop of Coventry and Lichfield came to an agreement as to the bounds of their res ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Priory Estate
The Priory Estate is a housing estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England, which has largely been developed since 1929. History The Priory Estate is so named because it is located near the Priory ruins and Priory Park. It stands on the land which once straddled the border of Dudley County Borough and Sedgley Urban District, which were in the counties of Worcestershire and Staffordshire respectively. The borders were moved back several hundred yards in 1926 when Dudley Council purchased the land with a view to building council houses to rehouse more than 2,000 families from town centre slums. Hundreds of council houses had already been built across the Dudley Borough in the last decade, but the Priory Estate was to be the largest council housing development yet in the area as the town's slum problem was still far from being solved. The boundary changes also meant that Dudley Castle was finally transferred to the borough of Dudley after centuries in Sedgley. The foundation stone ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
West Midlands (county)
West Midlands is a Metropolitan county, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north and west, Worcestershire to the south, and is almost surrounded by Warwickshire to the east. The largest settlement is the city of Birmingham. The county is almost entirely urban, with an area of and a population of 2,953,816, making it the List of ceremonial counties of England, second most populous county in England after Greater London. After Birmingham (1,144,919) the largest settlements are the cities of Coventry (345,324) and Wolverhampton (263,700), Solihull (126,577), and Sutton Coldfield (109,899). Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to the West Midlands conurbation, West Midlands and Coventry and Bedworth urban area, Coventry built-up areas, though the 'Meriden Gap' between them is rural. For Local government in Engl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county to the north, Warwickshire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south, and Herefordshire to the west. The city of Worcester, England, Worcester is the largest settlement and the county town. The county is largely rural, and has an area of and a population of 592,057. After Worcester (103,872) the largest settlements are Redditch (87,036), Kidderminster (57,400), and Bromsgrove (34,755). It contains six local government Non-metropolitan district, districts, which are part of a two-tier non-metropolitan county also called Worcestershire County Council, Worcestershire. The county Historic counties of England, historically had Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries since 1844, complex boundaries, and included Dudley an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |