Lye or The Lye is a town in the

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 ...

district, in the county of the West Midlands, England, east of

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 southwester ...

and borders with

Pedmore Pedmore is a residential suburb of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district of the West Midlands, England, bordering Lye, Wollescote and Oldswinford. It was originally a village in the Worcestershire countryside until extensive housebuilding during ...

and

Wollescote Wollescote is a residential area of Stourbridge, in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It falls within the ward of Cradley and Wollescote and the parliamentary constituency of Halesowen. It is situated three mil ...

History

Lye was formerly a village historically situated within the boundaries of the county of

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 ...

. 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 rights as a result of the passing of the Inclosure Acts from 1604 onwards, and it became thickly built upon. ''Bentley's History, Guide and Classified Directory of Stourbridge'' of 1841, describes the district of Lye and Lye Waste as "almost one continued series of humble dwellings and work-shops interspersed at intervals with others of a more respectable appearance". Nailmaking was the main occupation but anvils, chains, vices, bricks and tobacco pipes were also made. The writer observes that the "poor artizan in many of the trades appears to get a very small remuneration for his labour, and to make an improvident use of much of even the little he gets." Lye was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

and

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the parish of

Old Swinford Oldswinford or Old Swinford is an area south of the centre of Stourbridge, in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. History Originally, Oldswinford was an exten ...

, in 1866 Lye became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. In 1951 the parish had a population of 4769. 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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed chapels. Lye is also home to Lye Town F.C., 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 games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

club. Lye railway station serves the community, and is situated on the

–

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

mainline.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Lye is the birthplace of the actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke, 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 ...

by Tim Tolkien, commissioned by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. 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'', '' 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-u ...

''. 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 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

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