Netherton, West Midlands
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Netherton is a town in the West Midlands within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It lies around 1.5 miles (2.5 km) south of the town of Dudley. Netherton means 'lower farm' in Old English (the corresponding 'upper farm' may have been the original settlement in present-day Dudley) [1].
Its parish church, St Andrew's, consecrated in 1830, is situated on Netherton Hill at the highest point in Netherton. Its most notable public building is probably the Victorian-era Netherton Arts Centre and Library at the top of Northfield Road. Another local landmark is a pub on the A459 Dudley-Halesowen Road called the Old Swan. It has been known as Ma Pardoe's since the interwar years, as its long-term landlady was Doris Clare Pardoe (born 1899) who owned it until her death in 1984, when she was 85 years old. It is one of only a handful of pubs in the West Midlands that still brews beer on its own premises[2].
The town has a postwar comprehensive school, Hillcrest School and Community College, which was one of the worst secondary schools in the West Midlands during the 1990s but has improved dramatically under the management of new principal Maureen Brennan. She became Dame Maureen Brennan DBE in 2005 for her outstanding efforts which saw Hillcrest School become one of the most successful schools in the borough just five years after an OFSTED report had slammed its weak management and placed it in special measures. In 2002, it was mentioned in parliament for its substantial turn-around.
Netherton is also home to Saltwells Education Development Centre, the Dudley EDC which was Saltwells Secondary School until 1986.
Saltwells Nature Reserve stands on the Netherton - Brierley Hill border, next to Netherton Reservoir. It takes its name from Saltwells Wood, now just part of the reserve, named for its saline springs where people came to bathe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[3]
Netherton Park is located near the town centre and was laid out in about 1900 on an area that had once been colliery waste. Another old industrial area that has been reclaimed for public recreation is the Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve [4]. This region lies to the east of the town adjacent to the boundary with the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.
To the north of the town centre lies the locality of Baptist End. A Baptist Church was built here in 1654 (probably near the junction of Baptist End Road with Swan Street) and it is thought that the locality was so named because of its association with Baptist activities. The church itself was destroyed during riots in 1715 and a new church was built on the nearby Cinder Bank.[5]
Once located in Netherton, was a firm of chainmakers called N. Hingley & Sons, which was famous for making the anchors for the Titanic ocean liner.[6] The main anchor for this ship weighed fifteen and a half tons and, on completion, was hauled from the factory to the rail head at Dudley Port by 20 shire horses. [7] A sculpture of an anchor stands at the junction of Castleton Street and Halesowen Road commemorating the local anchor and chain industry. [8]
Netherton was the birthplace of spring-jumping champion Joe Darby, born in 1861. A statue showing the athlete in a crouched position, about to leap, stands on the junction of the Halesowen Road and Church Road.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council - A Brief History of Dudley Town, accessed 5 April 2007
- ^ Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council - Eating and drinking, accessed 3 March 2007
- ^ Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council - History of Saltwells Local Nature Reserve, accessed 3 March 2007
- ^ Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council - Bumble Hole and Warrens Hall Local Nature Reserves, accessed 5 April
- ^ Ebenezer Chapel, accessed 29 March 2007
- ^ Black Country Chamber - Dudley, accessed 3 March 2007
- ^ Express and Star, accessed 31 March 2007
- ^ Public Monument and Sculpture Association, accessed 2 April 2007
- ^ Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, accessed 3 March 2007
