Visit Tividale Places

Welcome to Visit Tividale Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Tividale

  

Tividale Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Tividale

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Tividale history

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Tividale was largely developed from the mid 19th century around the main road from Oldbury and Dudley, on the border of Dudley and Tipton. Coal mining and stone quarrying increased and canals were built across the area, and Tividale became a centre for industries such as iron and brick manufacture, and several terraced streets were built between Tividale Road and Tipton Road, as well as new houses being built along both of these roads. Tividale Park has been known as Derygate (Deer Gate) Park; it can be traced back as far as 1327 when Tividale was known as Derickton Cross. Rattlechain Brickworks were opened in the 1890s on a site near Sedgley Road East, in the shadow of the New Main Line Canal which links Wolverhampton with Birmingham. Quarrying of land next to the brickworks led to a section of the Main Line Canal into the marl hole of the Brickworks in 1899, emptying out six miles of canal and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, although nobody was injured. Another marl hole was created in 1948 and despite the subsequent closure and demolition of the brickworks, the marl hole remained in use as a disposal site for local factories, and is still known locally as Rattlechain Lagoon. Since the late 1990s, there has been growing local concern over Rattlechain Lagoon, with numerous dead birds being found at the site. Their death was linked to poisoning from chemicals disposed of in the water, which included white phosphorus. Nearby residents, including those of a housing development built in 2006, feared that the proximity of their homes to Rattlechain Lagoon could render them unsellable. The Birmingham New Road (linking Birmingham with Wolverhampton and also providing a direct road link with Dudley, Tipton, Sedgley, Coseley and Oldbury) opened in November 1927, dividing the Dudley and Tipton sections of Tividale, and was quickly followed by housing developments along the route and in the areas surrounding it. Tividale began to expand rapidly soon after the completion of the Birmingham New Road, namely with the Grace Mary Estate, which was built by Dudley County Borough Council in the mid 1930s. After the Second World War, further housing developments, mostly by the local authority, saw these two housing estates effectively merged. Private houses began to spring up along the Birmingham New Road during the mid 1930s, and were followed soon afterwards by the Tividale Hall Estate, construction of which was halted around 1940 due to the war effort. Further council housing was built during the 1950s to link the Tividale Hall Estate with Oakham Road. Tividale Tram workshops opened along the main Tividale Road (a tram route) in 1907 and operated until 1930. The tramway closed in 1939, as trams were phased out in favour of motorised buses. City Road Infant and Junior Schools (later renamed Oakham Primary School) opened in 1939, followed in 1953 by Tividale Hall Infant and Junior Schools, and around 1960 Grace Mary Primary School. Burnt Tree Primary School relocated to its current site in Hill Road during the 1960s. There were several air raids on Tividale during the Second World War, including a landmine which on 12 August 1941 destroyed a pair of recently built semi-detached houses on Birch Crescent, killing a six-year-old girl in a house opposite, as well as three people in the two destroyed houses; a 49-year-old woman in a second, and a married couple in a third. Several more people were injured in Birch Crescent. The houses were later rebuilt in the same style, while several surrounding houses suffered damage from the impact of the bombing and were repaired. On 19 November 1940, a landmine was dropped in City Road, devastating a section of council houses. Four houses were completely reduced to rubble and several others suffered severe damage. A total of 10 people died, including all five members of the Roberts family; 11-year-old Ada her 33-year-old mother Mary 37-year-old father Sidney, eight-year-old brother Geoffrey and nine-year-old brother Sidney junior. Samuel and Beatrice Millington, a married couple in their forties, also died at the scene; their 20-year-old son Samuel junior was pulled alive from the rubble but died in hospital from his injuries the next day. The only surviving member of the family was the youngest son, 17-year-old Sidney. Also killed were a 17-year-old man and five-year-old boy, both from different families. According to one source, the bodies of some of the nine people killed outright were never found and one victim’s body was reportedly blown into a nearby tree. Two residents of one badly damaged house escaped injury despite standing on the doorstep of his house when it was half demolished by the landmine. Several other people survived injuries in this attack. The wrecked houses were later rebuilt in the same style. The Luftwaffe are believed to have targeted these areas of Tividale due to their proximity to the “Big Bertha” anti-aircraft gun which was located near City Road and had been erected at the beginning of the war in 1939 to tackle the impending threat of enemy bombers. On 21 December 1940, the Boat Inn on Dudley Road East was struck by a stray anti-aircraft shell from “Big Bertha”, resulting in the deaths of 12 people who were attending a wedding reception there. A 15-year-old boy, along with his 26-year-old brother a 36-year-old woman, 28-year-old man, a married couple and a 38-year-old man died at the scene. A 16-year-old girl died just after arriving at hospital, as did a 19-year-old man. A 30-year-old woman died in hospital from her injuries the next day, and a 19-year-old woman died in hospital from her injuries two days later, as did a 20-year-old woman. A 20-year-old man in a neighbouring house was also injured as a result of the explosion and died in hospital the next day. The Boat Inn was rebuilt several years afterwards but demolished in 2004. A total of 27 people died as a result of air raids at Tividale during the Second World War, and dozens more were injured. The Netherton Tunnel runs under Tividale. Evidence of the tunnel is shown by the ‘pepperpots’ that can be seen near the site of the former Hangsmans Tree site and in Aston Road, Regent Road and Packwood Road on the Tividale Hall Estate. Several quarries on the edge of the Tividale area were a source of stone known as the ‘Rowley Rag’. Turner’s Hill is the site of the only remaining quarry. In 1966, most of Tividale became part of the Warley, although the section between Tividale Road and Burnt Tree was added to an expanded West Bromwich borough which took in the bulk of Tipton. Since 1974, it has been part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands county. The Oakham Green housing estate was built around Oakham Road and Darby’s Hill Road in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with all of these houses being privately owned.

You can visit Tividale places with Walkfo Tividale to hear history at Tividale’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Tividale has 107 places to visit in our interactive Tividale map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Tividale, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Tividale places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Tividale & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 107 audio facts unique to Tividale places in an interactive Tividale map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Tividale Places Map
107 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Tividale historic spots	Tividale tourist destinations	Tividale plaques	Tividale geographic features
Walkfo Tividale tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Tividale

  

Best Tividale places to visit

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Tividale has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Tividale’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Tividale’s information audio spots:

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England . The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory and spans a densely populated part of the Midlands conurbation . At the 2011 census, the borough had a population of 309,000 and an area of 86 square kilometres (33 sq mi) In 2019 Sandwell was ranked 12th most deprived of England’s 317 boroughs .

Portway Hill Portway Hill is part of the Rowley Hills, near Rowley Regis in West Midlands. It is the site of a nature reserve of the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country.

Swan Village Gas Works Swan Village Gas Works, is a historical manufacturing plant in the United Kingdom for the production of coal gas. The works are situated in Swan Village, a part of West Bromwich in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell. Parts of the works are still in operation today as part of the National Grid.

Sheepwash Urban Park Sheepwash Urban Park is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR) situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom. It forms part of the Black Country Urban Forest.

Black Lake Tunnel Black Lake Tunnel is a 412-yard railway tunnel on the West Bromwich and Wednesbury border, in England. The tunnel is located on the west-east border between the West and West-east Bromwich border. It is the longest tunnel in the world.

Horseley Ironworks Horseley Ironworks (sometimes spelled Horsley) was a major ironworks in the Tipton area in Staffordshire, now the West Midlands, England.

Oldbury United F.C. Oldbury United Football Club is a football club representing Oldbury, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the Birmingham & District League Division Four.

Bustleholme F.C. Bustleholme Football Club is a football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands. They are currently members of the West Midlands (Regional) League Division One and play at York Road in Rowley Regis.

Princes End Princes End is an area of Tipton, West Midlands, near the border with Coseley. It was heavily developed during the 19th century with the construction of factories. The population of the Sandwell ward taken at the 2011 census was 12,981.

Church of St Andrew, Netherton The Church of St Andrew, Netherton is an Anglican parish church. It is situated in Netherton in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. The building was designed by Thomas Lee and it opened in 1830.

Visit Tividale plaques