West Bromwich was first mentioned as Bromwic ('broom village') in the Domesday Book of 1086. It is believed that it may have originally been part of the Handsworth parish.[12] A Benedictinepriory existed in West Bromwich from the 12th century around which the settlement of Broomwich Heath grew. In 1727, the town became a stop on the coaching road between London and Shrewsbury and the beginning of its growth dates from this time. The prefix 'West' serves to distinguish it from the village of Castle Bromwich, around 8 miles (13 km) to the east on the other side of Birmingham.
Development
In the 19th century, coal deposits were discovered, ensuring that the town grew rapidly as an industrial centre, with industries such as spring, gun and nail making developing. Well before the end of the 19th century, West Bromwich had established itself as a prominent area to match older neighbouring towns including Dudley and Walsall.
Charlemont Hall, built during the 1750s, stood on the west side of the present Charlemont Crescent, in the Charlemont and Grove Vale district of the town. Charlemont Hall was described c. 1800 as "a lofty neat-looking house of brick, faced with stone, with iron palisades etc. in front." An east wing was added in 1855. The last occupant was the widow of Thomas Jones, town clerk of Wednesbury 1897–1921. The house was demolished in 1948, and is now covered by a number of smaller detached homes. Much of the surrounding area was developed during the 1960s as the Charlemont Farm housing estate, which is a mix of private and council housing.
The population of West Bromwich suffered heavily in the Cholera epidemic of 1831 which spread northwards into the town. A temporary board of health was set up and a hospital opened in the former Revivalist chapel in Spon Lane. The natural gradual slope of the land provided drainage within the soil, however, urbanisation made this increasingly difficult and drainage along the streets was described as inadequate. The West Bromwich Town Improvement Commissioners was established in 1854, and they tackled the drainage problem in the town. They appointed members to new titles and in the 1880s bought land in Friar Park for a sewerage farm.
Under the Reform Act 1832, West Bromwich became part of the new southern division of Staffordshire, and under the Reform Act 1867 it was transferred to the parliamentary borough of Wednesbury.[14] Under the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, the borough of West Bromwich became a parliamentary borough returning one member. In 1885, it was held by the Liberal Party but from 1886 to 1906 it was held by the Conservative Party before being held by the Liberal Party again until 1910 when the Conservative Party regained the area which they held until 1918 under the representation of Viscount Lewisham.[14] In 1918, it was won by Labour who held it until 2019, when Nicola Richards [1] was elected as MP. Prior to that the constituency was held by Labour except for the period between 1931 and 1935 when it held by the National Unionists.[14]
West Bromwich Library
20th century
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, many of the older houses built to house workers during the Industrial Revolution were becoming unfit for human habitation[citation needed] Sanitation was inadequate, decay was rife, and the homes were becoming a danger to the health and safety of their inhabitants. After the end of the war, the local council started building new homes to rehouse people from the rundown town centre. However, there are still many late 19th century and early 20th century buildings around the centre of West Bromwich.
The first Council housing in West Bromwich was built in 1920 on the Tantany Estate to the north of the town centre. Within 20 years, several thousand council houses had been built by West Bromwich County Borough Council. The largest developments were mostly in the north of the town, including the Charlemont Farm Estate around Walsall Road, and the Friar Park Estate near the border with Wednesbury.[15]
World War II fund-raising badge, sold during "War Weapons Week", 15–22 March 1941
The town suffered significant damage from air raids in World War II, with 58 civilian deaths, most in the raids of 19 November 1940 around Oak Road and Lombard Street to the west of the town centre. There were a few other less severe raids during the war on parts of West Bromwich including Stone Cross and Tantany, with no fatalities. This occurred on the same night as the Birmingham Blitz, which resulted in thousands of casualties, as well as the less severe raids on nearby Dudley and Tipton.[16]
The first major postwar council housing development was the Harvills Hawthorn Estate near Hill Top, which was completed in 1948.[15]
Mass immigration from the Commonwealth took place in West Bromwich during the 1950s and 1960s, with most of these hailing from the Indian subcontinent, although a significant number of Afro-Caribbean immigrants also settled in West Bromwich. The majority of these immigrants settled in the older parts of the town that were mostly made up of Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses.
The local road network was also greatly increased during the 1960s and 1970s. West Bromwich is at the extreme northern end of the M5 motorway, with junction 1 serving the town on the A41 road. Traffic passing through West Bromwich on the main route from Wolverhampton to Birmingham was soon diverted along the new dual carriageway, the Northern Loop Road (also known as The Expressway), after its opening in 1972, with another dual carriageway being built to link The Expressway with neighbouring Oldbury.
The local government structure within North Worcestershire and South Staffordshire – Prior to the West Midlands Order 1965 reorganisation
West Bromwich County Borough was expanded in 1966 to include the bulk of Tipton and Wednesbury, while a small part of the south-eastern section of the town was absorbed into the new Warley County Borough which was centred on neighbouring Oldbury, Smethwick and Rowley Regis. The actual town boundaries of West Bromwich were also altered at this time, placing the Friar Park estate in Wednesbury, while the Hateley Heath area of Wednesbury was now within the borders of West Bromwich township.
As with many other parts of the Midlands, West Bromwich was hit badly by the recessions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s, resulting in mass unemployment across the town, exceeding 20% in some districts.
Queen's Square shopping centre opened in the town centre in 1971, providing shoppers with a 60-unit indoor shopping centre and an 850-space multi-storey car park. It cost £3million to build.[17] The smaller King's Square shopping centre also opened in the town in 1971.[18] On 8 December 2011, 40 years after the opening of Queen's Square, Sandwell Council announced that Queen's Square would be refurbished at a cost of £5million. By this stage, the centre was falling into disrepair and only 33 of the 61 available units were occupied. Once again, West Bromwich had been hit hard by another recession, with local unemployment running high again, as well as a high vacancy rate for commercial and industrial units.[19]
Bromford Lane, West Bromwich. Photograph looking southwest towards Oldbury. Steam trams ran along the road between 1885 and 1929.
Many local towns, particularly Dudley, lost many of their major stores around the time that the Merry Hill Shopping Centre which was developed at Brierley Hill during the second half of the 1980s as businesses looked to take advantage of the Enterprise Zone incentives that the centre offered. West Bromwich's fortunes as a retail centre were seriously affected by the Merry Hill development. This contributed to the closure of its Marks and Spencer store on 25 August 1990, along with the Dudley store, to be replaced by a new store at Merry Hill, with most of the staff at the new store being transferred from either West Bromwich or Dudley. British Home Stores also pulled out of the town around the same time, and a new store at Merry Hill which opened in November 1989 and also spelled the end of the Dudley store. The town lost another big retail name in 2005 when the Littlewoods store closed as part of the retailer's decision to switch wholly to online shopping; the unit has since been taken over by New Look. Retail developments around Oldbury, beginning with the SavaCentre hypermarket in 1980, have also affected trade in West Bromwich.[20] The recession beginning in 2008 has pushed the town centre further into decline, a notable casualty being the Woolworths store which closed on 30 December 2008 as a result of the retailer going into liquidation; the building was not re-occupied until Home Bargains took it over in 2012.
Several more factories have closed in more recent years as manufacturers look to countries where the labour is cheaper, but West Bromwich remains a relatively busy industrial area despite the decline of the last 35 years.
West Bromwich's road links were further enhanced in 1995 on the completion of the Black Country Spine Road which also by-passes Wednesbury and the east of Bilston. The completion of this new road opened up several square miles of previously inaccessible land, and has allowed several major businesses to set up along the route. This has helped relieve some of the unemployment problems in West Bromwich, although most parts of the town still have the highest unemployment rates in the West Midlands.
21st century
West Bromwich was among the many towns and cities in England affected by the widespread rioting in August 2011. On 9 August, shops closed their doors early to combat looting and vandalism; this was followed by widespread acts of vandalism and violence followed. Police closed the main roads leading into the town until the following morning.[21]
The town has enjoyed something of an economic revival since 11 July 2013, when, after a large scale demolition of an area including the school known as Cronehills, the New Square shopping and entertainment complex opened in the town centre on land adjoining the existing Queen's Square shopping centre. Hundreds of jobs have been created and the town has attracted retailers including Next, JD Sports, Primark and Bank Fashion, as well as an Odeon cinema, several food and drink outlets, and a Tesco Extra superstore.
The mixed success of West Bromwich Albion F.C. has also had a significant impact on the town's economy, particularly during the club's successful era of the 1960s and 1970s when it frequently competed in the top division of English football, won the FA Cup and qualified for European competitions on several occasions. Attendances were high during this era, but slumped during the 1980s when the club's on-the-field fortunes began to decline and culminated in relegation in 1986, at a time which the local economy had already suffered a sharp decline. Albion did not play in the top flight again until 2002, and remained a regular presence in the FA Premier League until 2018, during which time the club attracted a level of average attendance not seen since the late 1970s.
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[23]
The town's football club is West Bromwich Albion. The club was founded in 1878 and in 1888 it became one of the 12 founder members of the Football League. It won the league championship in 1920 and has won the FA Cup five times, most recently in 1968, and won the League Cup in 1966. Albion were based in and around the centre of West Bromwich during their formative years, but moved further out of the town in 1900 when they switched to their current ground, The Hawthorns. All traces of the original structures are long gone; the present structures were added to the stadium in 1979, 1994 and most recently 2001. At an altitude of 551 feet, The Hawthorns is the highest football ground (above sea level) in the country.
Engineering and chemicals are important to the town's economy, as it played a crucial part in the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century and still retains many manufacturing jobs to this day, despite a steady nationwide decline in this sector since the 1970s.
West Bromwich Town Hall, situated in the centre of the High Street, is a Grade II listed building. It was built between 1874 and 1875 in brick and stone to an Italian Gothic design, and its interior reflects the Victorian interest in Gothic and Medieval architecture. Its Grand Organ, built in 1862, is considered to be of historic importance for its musical and technical qualities.[25][26]
The Public, by Will Alsop
West Bromwich Manor House, Hall Green Road, was built by the de Marnham family in the late 13th century as the centre of their agricultural estate in West Bromwich only the Great Hall survives of the original complex of living quarters, agricultural barns, sheds and ponds. Successive occupants modernised and extended the Manor House until it was described in 1790 as "a large pile of irregular half-timbered buildings, black and white, and surrounded with numerous out-houses and lofty walls." The Manor House was saved from demolition in the 1950s by West Bromwich Corporation which carried out an extensive and sympathetic restoration of this nationally important building.
The Oak House is an historic building in the Greets Green area. Its exact date of origin is uncertain, but in 1634 it was owned by the Turtons. John Wesley preached there twice in the late 1700s. Reuben Farley gave it to the town as a museum, with the formal opening on 25 July 1898. In 1949 it was protected as a Grade II* Listed Building.
The lakes and pools within Sandwell Valley are home to a wide range of water fowl and also play host to migrating birds.
In August 2009, The Public arts centre designed by architect Will Alsop fully opened. By 2013, the venue was attracting nearly 400,000 visitors a year and was bringing leading national and international artists to the town. Originally beset by problems before opening, in May 2013, it was revealed that Sandwell Council were considering borrowing a substantial amount of money to repurpose the £70 million building and lease it to Sandwell College to provide a new sixth form centre to complement the recently opened Central Campus in the town.[27]
A large portion of the town centre was procured by Tesco for the development of a Tesco Extra store and shopping centre called New Square, West Bromwich which has been built on top of the old hospital. In the early 2000s the tenants of homes and businesses have slowly moved out of the site to make way for the development. Cronehills Primary School (staff and pupils) relocated to the newly built Eaton Valley Primary School, which opened in September 2009. The police station relocated to a brand new building the other site of the ring road. Major works started on the site during October 2011 and the development was completed by late spring 2013.
West Bromwich is a culturally diverse area with many places of worship for several different religions.
At the time of writing (2023), The Church of England provides the most places of worship across the geographically wider West Bromwich Deanery (taking in West Bromwich, Hill Top, Stone Cross, Carter's Green, Holy Trinity, All Saints, St Andrew's, St Francis, Friar Park and others) which contains nine Anglican churches. Other Christian denominations are present, including Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, Methodist, Baptist, Elim Pentecostal, Assemblies of God and other independent churches. The deanery of West Bromwich is under the Anglican Diocese of Lichfield.
West Bromwich has four mosques. With two on Dartmouth street, one serving the Bangladeshi sunni community and the other, the Pakistani sunni community. The reason for the separate mosques is due to historic differences in opinions between imams of the berelvi community (Pakistani) and other sunni denominations. The largest mosque in West Bromwich is the Madinatul Uloon Al-Islamiyah Madrasa on Moor street which accommodates all Muslim Sunni denominations and follows the Deobandi school of thought. The fourth mosque opened in 2016 and follows the Bangladeshi fultoli teachings.
The Bangladeshi mosque on Dartmouth street (the Jami Masjid and Islamic Centre) is currently fundraising to rebuild a purpose built mosque to accommodate more worshippers. Currently, they have obtained the land they require for this rebuild but are lacking crucial funding required for the ambitious multi-million pound rebuild. The Jami Masjid and Islamic Centre was the first mosque in the area, of Bangladeshi origin. Madinatul Uloom Al-Islamiyah, located at Moor street is based at an abandoned church and was converted into a functioning mosque in 2001. The mosque also functions as a madrasa, meaning that it offers taught classes and hosts Islamic events including an annual jalsa (Islamic gathering). It currently (and since 2003) offers Islamic evening classes to hundreds of children and has plans in the future to offer higher education to adults who desire to pursue Islamic studies at a higher level. The premises consists of two large prayer halls and an assortment of classrooms. This mosque is regularly attended by mostly people of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Arab ethnicity (in order of proportions of worshippers from each ethnicity) - but what sets this mosque apart from others in West Bromwich, is that it is used regularly by people of many ethnicities, unlike other mosques in West Bromwich which are primarily used by people of one ethnicity.
There are also a large[vague] number of Sikhs in the area. There are many Gurudwaras. Sikhs have settled in the area since 1950, when the first influx of immigrants came. The oldest Gurdwara in West Bromwich is the Gurdwara Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji on High Street. Other Gurdwara's include Guru Nanak Gurdwara on Edward Street and Gurdwara Sachkhand Ishar Darbar on Vicarage Road.
Hindus have had a formal place of worship in West Bromwich since the opening of the Shree Krishna Mandir[30] in 1974, in a converted church once called Ebenezer Congregational Chapel, which had closed in 1971.[31] It was damaged by fire on 8 December 1992, the same date that a Mandir in Birmingham and another in Coventry were damaged in arson attacks. It was believed to have been connected to religious violence in India that was spreading into communities in Britain.[32]
In 1875, being locked out of a packed Evangelist meeting in Birmingham caused John Blackham of Ebenezer Congregational Church to start the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Movement.[33]
The M5 motorway between the West Midlands and the West Country and its junction with the M6 motorway passes through the town, making West Bromwich at the hub of Britain's motorway network. Improvements were made at the A41 junction by West Bromwich town centre after a £25 million project grant was awarded to the area to cut congestion for commuters. The junction, which is where The Expressway meets All Saints Way (A4031), currently carries over 60,000 vehicles a day and is close to junction 1 of the M5. The project involved the creation of a dual carriageway underpass beneath an improved roundabout; this work began in June 2010 and was completed in autumn 2012.
Carters Green, High Street and the beginning of Birmingham Road formed the original main route through West Bromwich as part of Thomas Telford's London to Holyhead route in the early 19th century. This later formed part of the A41 road which links London with Merseyside, taking in the Midlands, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire on the way. However, the route through central West Bromwich was by-passed in 1973 on the completion of the Expressway, a two-mile (3 km) dual carriageway beginning at Carters Green and finishing at junction 1 of the recently completed M5 motorway on Birmingham Road. The original A41 road through the centre of West Bromwich was downgraded to an unclassified route.
Around this time, West Bromwich Ringway was opened which circulates the main shopping areas. The section of the Ringway, near the new Tesco, has since had traffic restrictions placed on it prohibiting use by private cars.
Further revolution came to the local road network in 1995, with the completion of the Black Country Spine Road which stretches from Carters Green to Bilston via Wednesbury, forming another new section of the A41.
The largest educational provider in the town is the Central Campus of Sandwell College. This is housed in a £77 million building opened in February 2012. The college is capable of enrolling over 5,000 students each year across many curriculum areas. Central Sixth delivers the college's A-Level programme covering some thirty different subject areas. Facilities in the Central Campus include a Boeing 737 fuselage used for training air cabin crew and a dental surgery used to train dental nurses. Central Campus also offers a wide variety of apprenticeships and a small number of Higher Education programmes.
The town has 21 primary schools in total. Some of which are Lodge Primary School, St. John Bosco RC Primary School, Holy Trinity C of E Primary School, Ryders Green Primary School, All Saints' CofE Primary School, St Mary Magdalene, Hateley Heath and Eaton Valley.
Sandwell Academy serves the whole of West Bromwich (along with the rest of Sandwell), Phoenix Collegiate Academy serves the area around Hateley Heath, Tantany, Charlemont and Grove Vale and Stone Cross, West Midlands. George Salter Academy serves the west of the town near the border with Tipton. Q3 Academy serves the north-eastern part of the town around Great Barr.
The area was also served by Churchfields High School, approximately 1 mile (2 kilometres) north of the town centre. Due to constant closure rumours, less and less pupils began enrolling to attend the school and it was closed in July 2001. The site has since been redeveloped for housing.[36]
Statue of the Three Degrees by Graham Ibbeson, in West BromwichFans spill onto the Hawthorns pitch following West Bromwich Albion's escape from relegation in 2005.
The town's sport scene is dominated by West Bromwich Albion, a football club who were founded in the town in 1878 by workers from George Salter's Spring Works in West Bromwich. They played at a number of sites near the town centre until they moved to their current home, The Hawthorns on Birmingham Road (on the borders of Smethwick and Handsworth) in 1900.
West Brom were among the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888 (the first professional football league in the world), along with their two fiercest local rivals, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Albion have spent the majority of their existence in the top tier of English football.
The club has won nine major trophies; five FA Cups (1888, 1892, 1931, 1954, 1968), one league title (1920), one Football League Cup (1966), and two Charity Shields (1920, 1954). The victory that came in 1968 was their most recent major trophy, when they won the FA Cup with a 1–0 win over Everton at Wembley Stadium. They enjoyed further success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they finished in the top five league positions three times in four seasons as well as reaching a UEFA Cup quarter-final. They currently play in the Championship, the second tier of English football, having been relegated from the Premier League in May 2021.
Notable former players of West Bromwich Albion include Ronnie Allen (who later had two spells as the club's manager), Bryan Robson (who was also later the club's manager), Laurie Cunningham (the first black player to play for the senior England national team, but died in 1989 at age 33), Tony Brown (the club's all-time leading goalscorer) and Jeff Astle (who scored the club's winning goal in the 1968 FA Cup Final and remained a cult figure among Albion fans).
Cricket
The local cricket team is West Bromwich Dartmouth Cricket Club, and is based in the town. The club was founded in 1834. It is a founder member of the Birmingham and District Cricket League, the oldest cricket league in the world. They play their home games at Sandwell Valley, opposite the Hawthorns.
Notable people
This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (October 2018)
The Farley Clock Tower in memory of Reuben Farley first Mayor of West Bromwich.
^"West Bromwich: Economic history". British History Online. A P Baggs, G C Baugh and Johnston D A, 'West Bromwich: Economic history', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17, Offlow Hundred (Part), ed. M W Greenslade (London, 1976), pp. 27-43. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
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