Visit Oldbury, West Midlands Places

Welcome to Visit Oldbury, West Midlands Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Oldbury, West Midlands

  

Oldbury, West Midlands Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Oldbury, West Midlands

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Oldbury, West Midlands history

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Oldbury was part of the ancient parish of Halesowen, a detached part of Shropshire surrounded by Worcestershire and Staffordshire, and the manor was owned by the Oldbury family until the 17th century when Alderman John Oldbury had no male heir and his two daughters, Mary, Countess of Warrington and Dorothy, Baroness Herbert, married into the aristocracy. By the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, Oldbury was reincorporated into Worcestershire after a nine-hundred-year absence. It became an Urban District, based at the Municipal Buildings, in 1894, receiving Municipal Borough-status in 1935. In 1966, Oldbury was merged with the County Borough of Smethwick and the Municipal Borough of Rowley Regis to form the County Borough of Warley, which also included most of the Tividale area of Tipton and the eastern section of Oakham in Dudley. The geographical county boundaries were also changed to include the whole of Warley as part of Worcestershire; formerly, both Rowley Regis and Smethwick had been in Staffordshire. Oldbury council built several thousand houses, flats and bungalows for 40 years from 1893 until its disbandment, the 1,000th of which was completed in 1933 at Wallace Road near the border with Rowley Regis. In 1974, Oldbury became part of the new Sandwell Metropolitan Borough (a merger between the county boroughs of West Bromwich and Warley), and was transferred into the West Midlands Metropolitan County. Since 1986, after the abolition of the West Midlands County Council, Sandwell effectively became a unitary authority. Sandwell Council’s headquarters are situated in Oldbury Town Centre. Oldbury comes within the B68 and B69 postal districts, the latter of which also covers part of Tipton. The postal town is Oldbury, although it previously came under the Warley post town, along with Smethwick, Rowley Regis, and Cradley Heath.

Oldbury, West Midlands etymology

The place name Oldbury, comes from the Old English ‘Ealdenbyrig’, – signifying that Oldbury was old even in early English times over 1000 years ago. Eald being Old English for ‘old’, Byrig is the plural of ‘burh’ in Old English – a burh being a fortification or fortified town.

You can visit Oldbury, West Midlands places with Walkfo Oldbury, West Midlands to hear history at Oldbury, West Midlands’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Oldbury, West Midlands has 96 places to visit in our interactive Oldbury, West Midlands 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 Oldbury, West Midlands, 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 Oldbury, West Midlands places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Oldbury, West Midlands & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 96 audio facts unique to Oldbury, West Midlands places in an interactive Oldbury, West Midlands map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Oldbury, West Midlands Places Map
96 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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

  

Best Oldbury, West Midlands places to visit

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Oldbury, West Midlands has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Oldbury, West Midlands’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Oldbury, West Midlands’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 .

West Midlands conurbation The West Midlands conurbation includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the towns of Sutton Coldfield, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge and Halesowen. According to the 2011 Census the area had a population of 2,440,986, making it the third most populated in the United Kingdom behind the Greater London and Greater Manchester Built Up Areas. Not to be confused with the region or metropolitan county of the same name.

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.

Kates Hill Kates Hill, or Kate’s Hill, is a residential area in Dudley, West Midlands, England. The area is known for its hillsides and hillsides.

St John’s Church, Dudley The Church of St John the Evangelist, also known as St John’s, opened in 1840 and closed in 2002 on safety grounds. It was Grade II listed by English Heritage on 21 May 2009. The church reopened in 2016.

Visit Oldbury, West Midlands plaques