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Sandwell Community History And Archives Service
Sandwell Community History and Archives Service (CHAS) is the archive service for the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands of England. The service is based within Smethwick Library. It collects and preserves original archives and published material relating to the history of Sandwell. It is a local authority archive service, run and funded by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. History Until the early 1990s each of the towns that make up Sandwell kept their own archive and local studies collections; the service was restructured to create community libraries (rather than branch libraries) in 1992. Collections Sandwell Archives holds archive collections created by organisations, families and businesses based in Sandwell. The service is a Diocesan record office, holding Church of England parish records for the Deanery of Warley and All Saints' Church, West Bromwich, as well as numerous non-conformist churches within Sandwell. As a Place of Deposit for Pu ...
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Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council defines the borough as the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, West Midlands, Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich. Rowley Regis includes the towns of Blackheath, West Midlands, Blackheath and Cradley Heath. Sandwell's Strategic Town Centre is designated as West Bromwich, the largest town in the borough, while Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of the local authority) is situated in Oldbury. In 2019 Sandwell was ranked 12th most deprived of England's 317 boroughs. Bordering Sandwell is the Birmingham, City of Birmingham to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley to the south and west, the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the north, and the Wolverhampton, City of Wolverhampton to the no ...
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Oldbury, West Midlands
Oldbury is a market town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, the town had a population of 13,606, while the 2017 population of the wider built-up area was estimated at 25,488. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, which defines Oldbury Town as consisting of the wards of Bristnall, Langley, Oldbury, and Old Warley, gave the population as 50,641 in 2011. Etymology The place name Oldbury comes from the Old English 'Ealdenbyrig', – signifying that Oldbury was old even in early English times over 1,000 years ago. ''Eald'' being Old English for 'old', ''Byrig'' is the plural of 'burh' in Old English – a burh being a fortification or fortified town. History Oldbury was part of the Parish, ancient parish of Halesowen (ancient parish), Halesowen, a detached part of Shropshire surrounded by Worcestershire and Staff ...
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Patent Shaft
Patent Shaft, formerly The Patent Shaft and Axletree Company, established in 1840, was a steel-making company that operated large steelworks situated in Wednesbury, then in Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England, in a region known as the Black Country due to its industrialisation. It was in operation for 140 years, and employed hundreds of local people. History The metalwork for Blackfriars Bridge in London was built by The Patent Shaft, following their takeover of Lloyds, Foster and Company. They provided metalwork for the 1870 rebuild of the road bridge over the River Severn at Stourport. They made the steel girders for the Ibigawa Bridge, Gifu prefecture, Japan; and for Malviya Bridge, then known as Dufferin Bridge, the first metal bridge over the Ganges, opened in 1887. In 1900 they built prefabricated sections for two bridges, one of five spans and one of two, over the Tugela River in South Africa, at Colenso and Frere respectively. These replaced earli ...
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Accles & Pollock
Accles & Pollock is a British tube manipulation company based in Oldbury, West Midlands. History The company was started in 1896 by James George Accles as Accles Ltd, based at Holford Mill in Perry Barr in Birmingham as a producer of cold-drawn steel tubing, with the aim of supplying it to the bicycle industry. Accles, employed by Colt 1867–1886, designed the Accles machine gun circa 1888; this was a modified Gatling gun. This company was liquidated in 1898 and Accles' secretary, Charles Barlow, took over, the company becoming the Accles Tube Syndicate, and being renamed Accles and Pollock in 1901, after financial backing was provided by Mr. Tom Pollock. In 1902 the company moved to nearby Oldbury, and always listed itself as being in 'Oldbury, Birmingham'. Here they produced the first tubular box spanners in 1905, and the first tubular sections for aircraft and the first tubular furniture in 1907. In 1909 two acres of land were acquired in Rounds Green, Oldbury which became P ...
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Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers and Company was an English glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (county), West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance family originated in Bromsgrove in Worcestershire as farmers and craftsmen, before setting up business in Smethwick in 1822. Situated between Birmingham and the Black Country in the agglomeration of the Midlands industrial heartland, they took advantage of the skilled workers, canals and many advances that were taking place in the industrial West Midlands (region), West Midlands at the time. Throughout its almost two centuries of history many changes affected the company which, now in private ownership, continues to function as Chance Glass Limited, a specialized industrial glass manufacturer in Malvern, Worcestershire at one of its small subsidiary factories. The social and economic impact of the company on t ...
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West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwest of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, cultures and Black Country dialect, dialect. West Bromwich had a population of 103,112 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. Initially a rural village, West Bromwich's growth corresponded with that of the Industrial Revolution, owing to the area's natural richness in ironstone and coal, as well as its proximity to canals and Rail transport, railway branches. It led to the town becoming a centre for Coal mining in the United Kingdom, coal mining, Brickworks, brick making, the iron industry and metal trades such as nails, springs and guns. The town's primary economy developed into the engineering, manufacturing and the Automotive i ...
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Wednesbury
Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and is part of the Black Country. Wednesbury is situated 5 miles (8km) south-east of Wolverhampton, 3 miles (4.4km) south-west of Walsall and 7 miles (11.8km) north-west of Birmingham. At the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town's built-up area had a population of 20,313. History Medieval and earlier The substantial remains of a large ditch excavated in St Mary's Road in 2008, following the contours of the hill and predating the Early Medieval period, has been interpreted as part of a hilltop enclosure and possibly the Iron Age hillfort long suspected on the site. The first authenticated spelling of the name was Wodensbyri, written in an endorsement on the back of the copy of the will of Wulfric Spot, dated 1004. Wednesbury (" ...
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Tipton
Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeast of Wolverhampton. It is also contiguous with nearby towns of Darlaston, Dudley, Wednesbury and Bilston. Historic counties of England, Historically within Staffordshire and briefly Worcestershire. It is located between both Wolverhampton and Birmingham. It incorporates the surrounding villages and suburbs of Tipton Green, Ocker Hill, Dudley Port, Horseley Heath and Great Bridge, West Midlands, Great Bridge. Tipton was an Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. Much of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, but parts of the old borough were absorbed into an expanded County Borough of Dudley, Dudley borough and the newly created Cou ...
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Rowley Regis
Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It forms part of the area immediately west of Birmingham known as the Black Country and encompasses the four Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, West Midlands, Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, Tividale and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the combined population of these wards was 50,257. History The history of Rowley Regis can be traced back to the 12th century, when a small village grew around the parish church of St Giles, southeast of Dudley. Rowley was part of the Royal hunting grounds – Regis was added to the name of Rowley in around 1140 to signify it was that part of Rowley belonging to the King. Along with the rest of the Black Country, Rowley Regis began to see substantial development in the early to mid-19th century. Coal was mined at the Earl of Dudley's Ramrod Colliery from 1855, at Rowley Hall Colliery from 1865 and at B ...
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Coroner
A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction. In medieval times, English coroners were Crown officials who held financial powers and conducted some judicial investigations in order to counterbalance the power of sheriffs or bailiffs. Depending on the jurisdiction, the coroner may adjudge the cause of death personally, or may act as the presiding officer of a special court (a " coroner's jury"). The term ''coroner'' derives from the same source as the word '' crown''. Duties and functions Responsibilities of the coroner may include overseeing the investigation and certification of deaths related to mass disasters that occur within the coroner's jurisdiction. A coroner's office typically maintains death records of those who have died within the coroner's juri ...
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West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known traditionally as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities: Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester. The West Midlands region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire which border Wales, and Worcestershire. The region is landlocked; however, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region south-eastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, incl ...
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Nonconformist (Protestantism)
Nonconformists are Protestant Christians who do not "conform" to the governance and usages of the established church in England, and in Wales until 1914, the Church of England. Use of the term ''Nonconformist'' in England and Wales was precipitated by the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, when the Act of Uniformity 1662 renewed opposition to reforms within the established church. By the late 19th century the term specifically included other Reformed Christians ( English Presbyterians and Congregationalists), plus the Baptists, Brethren, Methodists, and Quakers. English Dissenters, such as the Puritans, who violated the Act of Uniformity 1558 – typically by practising radical, sometimes separatist, dissent – were retrospectively labelled as Nonconformists. In Ireland, the comparable term until the Church of Ireland's disestablishment in 1869 was Dissenter (the term earlier used in England), commonly referring to Irish Presbyterians who dissented from th ...
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