Swindon is a village and

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 ...

located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. It is 6 miles (6 km) west of

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 ...

, 2 miles (6 km) northwest of Kingswinford and 2 miles (6 km) southwest of Wombourne. Swindon is located just outside the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

of the West Midlands. It borders the

metropolitan boroughs A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropol ...

and

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

to the east and northwest. The parish which includes Swindon and the neighbouring villages of Hinksford and Smestow had a population of 1,279 recorded in the 2021 Census.

History

Swindon was formerly part of the parish of Wombourne, A manor belonged to Englefield family, the lords of Englefield, Berkshire, as part of the manor of Himley. This manor was demised to John de Somery, Baron Somery the tenant in chief ub c.1316 and by 1346 passed to his nephew John de Sutton II, who had succeeded to the barony of

. The manor then descended as part of the family estates in the area at least until William Humble Eric Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley sold his local estates in 1947. Chasepool is mentioned in

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

as part of the property of William Fitz-Ansculf, lord of Dudley, but was waste on account of the forest. It was one of the hays (enclosed areas for hunting) of Kinver Forest. The area passed into the hands of the lords of Dudley in the 15th century, initially as lessees of the herbage and

pannage Pannage is the practice of releasing livestock- pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on fallen acorns, beechmast, chestnuts or other nuts. Historically, it was a right or privilege granted to local people on common land or in royal forests ...

. It was granted to Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley when the family property was restored to him in 1555 and devolved as part of the family estates until 1947 in the same was as Swindon. By 1600 there was a lodge (Chasepool Lodge), leased to Edward Green, who probably gave his name to the adjacent Greensforge. his son also Edward gave a lease for lives of it to his son Dud Dudley.

Demographics

The parish of Swindon including the villages of Hinksford and Smestow had a population of 1,279 in the 2021 Census. The gender makeup of the parish is 51.7% females and 48.3% males. Of the local population, around 1,251 were born in the UK, followed by 12 residents being born in the EU, 8 were born in Africa and 2 residents were born in the Middle East and Asia and 5 were born from other countries. The ethnicity makeup of the parish is 97.5% White residents, followed by 1.2% Mixed Race, 1% Asian and 0.2% Black residents. The religious makeup of the parish was 71.3% Christians, followed by 27.4% irreligious and other religions were less than 0.5% of the overall population of the parish.

Amenities

The village has a small range of shops including: *The Green Man Pub *The Old Bush Inn Pub *Swindon Community Centre *Boutique shop *General Practice *Fish and Chips Shop *Hairdressers *Convenience Shop The village is also home to two churches, Swindon United Reform Church and St John's Church of England Parish Church which also includes a

Primary School A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. The church of St John's was built in 1854 and is currently not a listed building but is part of the Smestow Vale Team which also includes St. Michaels Church in Himley and the Anglican churches in Womborne, Trysull and Bobbington. The village has seen a slight demand for developments of housing on the greenbelt but this has been met with backlash from residents and councilors.

Transport

Swindon is nestled in the Staffordshire countryside and as a result, it is not near any immediate A-roads or Motorways. It is however, served by bus route 16, which links it to

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 ...

, Kingswinford, Wordsley and Wombourne. The service is operated by National Express West Midlands. As well bus route 242S (operated by Diamond Bus) links it to nearby Kinver and its high school, that runs from Hyperion Road in the village and to other villages including Stourton, Enville, Potters Cross, Wall Heath and Himley. The nearest railway stations to the village are Stourbridge Junction and

. The village was close to the now-closed, Wombourne Branch Line that ran between

and

via Wombourne. The nearest railway station on the line to the village would have been at Himley which was located on Himley Lane around a mile to the east of the village. This opened in 1925 but closed in 1932 with the line ceasing operations between Pensnett and Wolverhampton. The line is now the South Staffordshire Railway Walk.

Iron Works

Swin or Swindon Forge was once a

fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...

mill then a corn mill belonging to Halesowen Abbey. This was converted into a

finery forge A finery forge is a forge used to produce wrought iron from pig iron by decarburization in a process called "fining" which involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and decarburization, removing carbon from the molten cast iron through Redo ...

, perhaps in the 1620s. This was leased to Thomas Foley in 1647 and passed to his son

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

with many of his other ironworks in 1669. After he sold it in 1674, it passed through various hands, coming into the hands of Francis Homfray of Oldswinford by the 1720s, remaining in the hands of this family until 1820. The works were much enlarged in the 19th century, so that in 1859 there were 13 puddling furnaces. It was leased in 1866 to E. P. and W. Baldwin, the owners of the Wilden Ironworks. Their successor company amalgamated to form Richard Thomas & Baldwin Ltd, which became part of the

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...

British Steel Corporation, who closed the works in 1976. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

many of the village males who worked there were given reserved occupation status as the works was considered vital to the war effort. The works were demolished in the early 1980s to make way for new housing, the developments were named Swin Forge Way and Baldwin Way, Baldwin coming from the name of the works. All that remains today is the canteen which is now used as the village community centre.South Staffordshire District Council 2005

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Staffordshire Civil parishes in Staffordshire