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Earl Of Dudley's Railway
The Earl of Dudley’s Railway or Pensnett Railway, was a railway that developed from a single line opened in 1829 to, at its maximum extent, a long network around the Earl of Dudley’s Iron Works at Round Oak near Brierley Hill. History Origins In the 19th century, the Ward family, owners of Dudley Castle, had large holdings of land in the Black Country region of England. They had added to their possessions in the 18th century by the enclosure of Pensnett Chase which had formerly been common land and, much further back in time, a hunting ground for the Barons of Dudley. Much of this land covered coal seams and deposits of industrial material including iron ore and fire-clay. Canals had been cut into the Black Country region in the second half of the 18th century but not all were conveniently close to the mines of the Dudley Estate. It was therefore decided to construct a railway linking coal mines near Shut End to a purpose-built canal basin at Ashwood on the Staffords ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locomotive 'Agenoria' Built By Foster Rastrick In Stourbridge For The Earl Of Dudley’s Railway
A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight trains, companies are increasingly using distributed power: single or multiple locomotives placed at the front and rear and at intermediate points throughout the train under the control of the leading locomotive. Etymology The word ''locomotive'' originates from the Latin 'from a place', ablative of 'place', and the Medieval Latin 'causing motion', and is a shortened form of the term ''locomotive engine'', which was first used in 1814 to distinguish between self-propelled and stationary steam engines. Classifications Prior to locomotives, the motive force for railways had been generated by various lower-technology methods such as human power, horse power, gravity or stationary engines that drove cable systems. Few such systems are still i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stourbridge
Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwestern edge of the Black Country conurbation. Historic counties of England, Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 UK census recorded the town's population as 63,298. Geography Stourbridge is about west of Birmingham. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley at the southwestern edge of the Black Country and the West Midlands conurbation, Stourbridge includes the villages and suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, West Midlands, Lye, Norton, Dudley, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore], Stambermill, Stourton, Staffordshire, Stourton, Wollaston, West Midlands, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley. Much of Stourbridge consists of residential streets inte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Round Oak Steelworks
The Round Oak Steelworks was a steel production plant in Brierley Hill, West Midlands (formerly Staffordshire), England. It was founded in 1857 by Lord Ward, who later became, in 1860, The 1st Earl of Dudley, as an outlet for pig iron made in the nearby blast furnaces. During the Industrial Revolution, the majority of iron-making in the world was carried out within 32 kilometres of Round Oak. For the first decades of operation, the works produced wrought iron. However, in the 1890s, steelmaking was introduced. At its peak, thousands of people were employed at the works. The steelworks was the first in the United Kingdom to be converted to natural gas, which was supplied from the North Sea. The works were nationalized in 1951, privatized in 1953 and nationalized again in 1967 although the private firm Tube Investments continued to part manage the operations at the site. The steelworks closed in December 1982. History The Round Oak Iron Works The Ward family, Lords of Dudley Castl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pensnett Canal
The Pensnett Canal, also called Lord Ward's Canal was a private long canal near Brierley Hill, West Midlands, England, which opened in 1840 and served the industrial enterprises of Lord Dudley's Estate. The engineer was Mathew Frost. Since its closure to navigation in 1950, much of it has been lost by overbuilding, but a small section at its junction with the Dudley Canal was restored in 1995, and the section through Brierley Hill remains in water, although it is polluted and not navigable. History In the early 1800s, the Earl of Dudley owned a large number of mines, from which coal, ironstone, limestone and fireclay were extracted. Although many were leased to other operators, there was a trend to bring control of them back to a central agency. John William, who had been Earl of Dudley since 1827, died in 1833, and control of his estate passed to his executors, of which the Earl of Stafford was one. The mineral agent at the time was Francis Downing, but he was replaced by Ric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838 with the initial route completed between London and Bristol in 1841. It was engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who chose a broad gauge of —later slightly widened to —but, from 1854, a series of Consolidation (business), amalgamations saw it also operate Standard gauge, standard-gauge trains; the last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The GWR was the only company to keep its identity through the Railways Act 1921, which amalgamated it with the remaining independent railways within its territory, and it was finally merged at the end of 1947 when it was Nationalization, nationalised and became the Western Region of British Railways. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Himley Park
Himley Hall is an early 17th-century country house situated in Staffordshire, England. It is situated in the south of the county in the small village of Himley, near to the town of Dudley and the city of Wolverhampton. Himley Hall is a Grade II* listed building. Its park and garden, which were extended in the 1770s by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, are Grade II listed with the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. History In early days, it was a moated manor house, standing beside the medieval church. For over four centuries it served as a secondary home to the Lords of Dudley and their knights. Its occupants included Dud Dudley, whose 17th-century experiments in smelting iron ore with coal were carried out nearby. In 1645, King Charles I encamped in the grounds on his way to defeat at the Battle of Naseby during the English Civil War. In 1628, the Ward family inherited the title Lords of Dudley through the marriage of Humble Ward to the heiress to the Dudley estat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baggeridge Colliery
Baggeridge Colliery was a colliery located in Sedgley, West Midlands England. Colliery History The Baggeridge Colliery was an enterprise of the Earls of Dudley, whose ancestors had profited from mineral extraction in the Black Country area of the West Midlands for several centuries. The site of Baggeridge Colliery, adjacent to Gospel End Village and more than a mile west of Sedgley village centre, was significant since it was just outside the geological boundary that delineated the South Staffordshire Coalfield. This boundary is known as the Western Boundary Fault of the South Staffordshire Coalfield. In an edition of the ''Engineer'' from 1869, a description of a visit by the Dudley and Midland Geological Society to the Earl of Dudley's No. 3 pit at the Himley Colliery is given. The visit took place 'to examine the peculiar formations of strata connected with the above fault.' The journal article speculated that coal might be found across the boundary at 'a much greater dep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltwells Local Nature Reserve
Saltwells Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Netherton area of Dudley Metropolitan Borough in West Midlands, England. The reserve, created in 1981, covers 247 acres and includes Saltwells Wood and part of Netherton Hill within its boundaries. The reserve encloses two Sites of Special Scientific Interest and one scheduled ancient monument. History Saltwells Local Nature Reserve was created in 1981 and was the first such reserve created in the county of West Midlands. Although now mainly woodland and grass-covered areas, the reserve was once the scene of extensive industrial activity, particularly the extraction of coal, which took place from medieval times until the second half of the 20th century. For example, Saltwells Wood, in the centre of the reserve, contains the remains of medieval coal-mining activity, and part of it was designated as a scheduled ancient monument in 2002. Much more recently, the side of Netherton Hill in the reserve, now covered in gorse and grassla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford, Worcester And Wolverhampton Railway
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot JunctionThe nearby settlement is spelt ''Wolvercote'' and a later station on the LNWR Bicester line follows that spelling. The OW&WR and GWR consistently used the spelling ''Wolvercot''. near Oxford to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley and Wolverhampton, as well as some branches. It was known locally as the "Old Worse & Worse" due to the perpetual mismanagement of the line leading to poor public perception, and due to the acronym of its name (OW&W). Its main line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1853. When the West Midland Railway (WMR) was formed by amalgamation in 1860, the OW&WR was the dominant partner, but the West Midland company amalgamated with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1863. Several branches and extensions were built in the West Midlands, and the main line was developed as an important trunk route. Much of the original main line is in us ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Barrow Hill Local Nature Reserve
Barrow Hill Local Nature Reserve is a local nature reserve situated in Pensnett in the county of West Midlands, England. Its most distinctive feature, Barrow Hill, is the eroded remnant of a high level igneous intrusion that was formed 315 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. The reserve was created in 2005. History Barrow Hill is the only proven example of surface volcanic activity in the Black Country area. The earliest evidence of human presence at the area were two burial chambers (known as barrows) that were found on the northern side of Barrow Hill. These burial chambers are believed to date back to the Bronze Age of around 2000BC to 700BC. The area was once woodland inside Pensnett Chase, which was mainly common land under the lordship of the Barons of Dudley. The hard volcanic rock (dolerite) that forms Barrow Hill was quarried in the 19th century for use as road stone. Another reminder of the industrial age in the reserve is a footpath that follows the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
