Netherton, West Midlands

Netherton means "lower farm" in Old English (the corresponding upper farm may have been Dudley itself).[2] For most of its history, Netherton was a small village centred around the point where a brook crossed the Baptist End Road, near the boundary of Pensnett Chase, a partially wooded common.[3] Netherton is mentioned in legal records dating from 1420 and the first mention of a Netherton nailor, an occupation that became very important locally in later years, is dated 1559.[4] The village is called 'Nederton' in the earliest available documents.[4] The village was included in the Manor of Dudley, a Lordship of the Barons of Dudley[5] who once owned a manor house in the area. This property is mentioned in documents dating from the 15th–17th centuries.[6]

In the 17th century, a Baptist Congregation (the Messiah Baptist Church) started meeting in Netherton.[7] The church book for this congregation lists the names of those baptised from the year 1654.[8] Netherton is shown in Joseph Browne's 1682 map of Staffordshire, although like all of Dudley at the time, it lay in a small exclave of Worcestershire.[9] In 1684, King Charles II of England granted a charter to allow the village to hold an annual market fair.[4] The fair was held in Netherton's central square in the last week of October until 1848.[6]

Although records of historic local government in Netherton are rather scarce, records exist of the procedures of the Court Leet of the barons of Dudley from the year 1701. Two juries were sworn in: one to deal with the town of Dudley itself, and one to oversee the 'foreign', the name given to areas of the manor outside the town. In 1729 the court ordered the construction of a pair of stocks at Netherton to 'punish such as the Law directs'.[5]

Bumble Hole Nature Reserve, a former industrial area of Netherton

Following the Inclosure Acts of the late 18th century, allowing construction in Pensnett Chase, the present-day settlement began to develop further up the hill than its original site.[2] Netherton expanded rapidly in the industrial age and the thick seams of coal underlying the region were extensively mined. Blast furnaces were constructed in for iron making, and the area became home to many industries including chain making, anchor making, nail making, brick making, enamelling, and the construction of boilers.

In 1874, Dr. Ballard, sent by the Local Government Board to inspect the sanitary conditions of the Borough of Dudley, described Netherton as 'a village of such size it almost deserves to be termed a town'.

In the mid-19th century, the area was notorious for its bad sanitary conditions. In 1852 an inquiry into the sewerage, drainage and supply of water was carried out, reporting to the General Board of Health. Its conclusions were very damning for Netherton. A typical comment was: 'Old Netherton Town, Mr. Thomas Woodall's buildings.- Drainage very horrible, with privies and piggeries as usual, and no pavement. Procure water from a horse-pit nearly half a mile, and it has to be carried up hill, mostly by girls, in little pails of about three gallons, on their heads. This was a bad place for cholera'.

In 1844, Netherton became an ecclesiastical parish, and was made an Electoral ward of the Borough of Dudley in 1865 after the town's incorporation as a municipal borough.

The 20th century saw the gradual decline of mining and the heavily polluting industries such as iron-making. At the same time, Dudley Council sought to redevelop areas of Netherton for housing, either by demolishing existing older housing and rebuilding, or by reclaiming abandoned industrial areas.[10] Other former industrial sites were transformed into parkland (Netherton Park) or nature reserves (e.g. Bumble Hole).

Some of the first council houses in Dudley were constructed around Netherton Park in the early 1920s, around the same time as the Yew Tree Hills area, to rehouse families from older and dilapidated houses around the town.

Netherton Arts Centre

The local parish church, St Andrew's, was consecrated in 1830 and is situated on Netherton Hill, the highest point in Netherton. It was originally a chapel-at-ease to St Thomas's of Dudley, only becoming Netherton's parish church in 1844.[11] The church is surrounded by the gravestones of many of the former residents of the area. The churchyard also contains the mass unmarked graves of the victims of cholera that struck Dudley in 1831 and 1832.[12]

Possibly the most notable public building in Netherton is the Victorian Netherton Arts Centre on Northfield Road, which serves as a performance venue for the area.[13] A fire station and a number of police houses were constructed at the same time on an adjacent site, though these buildings have since been converted for commercial and community use.[14]

Another local landmark is the Old Swan pub on the A459 Halesowen Road. The current building dates from the 1860s, but there has been a pub on the site since at least 1835.[15] 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 at the age of 85. Such was its fame among lovers of real ale, that when the pub came up for sale in 1985, a company was set up by CAMRA to purchase and run the pub.[15] Although this company was short-lived, the pub and brewery survived and is now one of only a handful of pubs in the West Midlands that still brews beer on its own premises.[16] As well as for its beer, the pub is known for its decor including a ceiling decorated with vitreous enamelled iron plates.[16] The pub has been designated a Grade II listed building.

Two old landmarks of Netherton can be viewed at the Black Country Living Museum - Harold Emile Doo's chemist shop[17] and Providence Church.[18]

Netherton Park

Saltwells Nature Reserve is situated in the south of Netherton near Brierley Hill. 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 19th and early 20th centuries.[19] Doulton's Claypit, a Geological Site of Special Scientific Interest, lies within the reserve.[20]

Netherton Park 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,[21] which lies east of Netherton adjacent to Warrens Hall Park, in the neighbouring Sandwell borough. A canalside visitor centre provides information on both nature reserves. The Dudley No. 2 canal runs through the area and is the site for an annual narrowboat festival. A rare Timber Gallows crane, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, stood in the reserve but is currently (2008) undergoing restoration.

Netherton Cricket Club was founded in 1866. It is situated on Highbridge Road and celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2006.[22]

Netherton Reservoir is a popular resort for speedboat enthusiasts as well as scuba divers. Dudley Water Ski Club meet regularly at the reservoir.[23]

The majority of Netherton's shops lie along or just off the A459 Halesowen Road. Aldi, Asda, and Lidl supermarkets are in the area.

Netherton's former triangular-shaped marketplace was situated in the fork of the junction of Halesowen Road and Northfield Road. Old photographs show it to be still in use at the beginning of the 20th century.[11] The area is now a small public garden, on which has been placed a full-sized replica of an anchor of the RMS Titanic, manufactured at local ironworks, Hingley's.

Netherton Health Centre is on Halesowen Road. The Savoy Centre (named for the cinema which used to occupy the site) lies adjacent to the Arts Centre on Northfield Road and provides training, adult education and conference facilities as well as housing the local public library. Netherton's Conservative club is on Halton Street, while Netherton Sports & Social Club can be found in St. Thomas Street.

Mining in the Netherton area took place since at least the 14th century.[19] According to the Rent Rolls of Lord Dudley and Ward, the income from coal mining on Knowle Hill (the former name for Netherton Hill) formed a large fraction of the total income of the Dudley Estate in 1701.[35] In the 19th century mining was particularly extensive. Collieries included Baptist End, Dudley Wood, Netherton, Netherton Old, Saltwell and Yew Tree Hill.[36] Mining was still being carried out as recently as the 1970s, when an open cast mine was situated on Netherton Hill.[19]

Nailmaking in Netherton had been recorded since the 16th century.[4] The area became one of the Black Country's centres of the hand-made nail trade, which reached its peak around 1830.[37] As the hand-made nail trade went into decline, mainly due to the availability of cheaper machine-made nails, wages for nailmakers were decreased, leading to industrial unrest such as the 'Blackcountry Nailer's Riots' of 1842[38] and the Nailmakers' Strike of 1852.[4] The last type of nail to be made by hand were those used to shoe horses. The Midland Counties Express reported in 1904: 'a few horse-nailers at Netherton and about a dozen female workers at Cawney Hill are the only remaining representatives of the nail trade'.[37] Some nailmakers in the area turned to chainmaking. A working chainshop is preserved in Mushroom Green.

Sculpture commemorating the local anchor and chain industry in Netherton

Netherton chainmakers N. Hingley & Sons were famous for making the anchors for the ocean liner RMS Titanic.[39] The firm's founder, Noah Hingley, started making chain cable for ships in nearby Cradley in 1820.[40] The company N. Hingley & Sons was set up in 1837,[41][42] and anchor manufacture commenced in 1848. The Netherton works were set up in 1852 on the banks of the Dudley No. 2 canal.[42][43] The main anchor for the Titanic weighed fifteen and a half tons and, on completion, was hauled from the factory to the rail head at Dudley by 20 Shire horses.[44] A replica of the anchor now stands in the old village square.[45]

Hingleys also produced anchors for the Lusitania and a number of other ocean liners.[42] Their success in international markets and use of the Netherton name for trademarked wrought iron products resulted in Netherton becoming widely known both in the UK and overseas.[42] A sculpture of an anchor stands at the junction of Castleton Street and Halesowen Road, commemorating the local anchor and chain industry, and the anchor motif can be found in a number of places around Netherton (e.g. on benches in Netherton Park). An anchor was also featured on Dudley's former coat of arms,[46] which is featured on public buildings throughout the area.

Immediately adjacent to the works of N. Hingley & Sons on the Dudley No. 2 canal was Lloyds Proving House, where chain was subjected to a variety of tests to show it was of suitable quality.[40]

A Boulton & Watt blowing engine re-erected on the Dartmouth Circus roundabout (at 52.492537°N 1.888189°W / 52.492537; -1.888189), on the A38(M) in Birmingham. It was built in 1817 and used in Netherton, at the ironworks of M.W. Grazebrook.

Brewing was a major industry in 19th-century Netherton.[47] Some of the large scale brewers were William Hotchkiss at Castle Street, William Smith at Simms Lane, John Rollinson of St Andrew's Street, and Samuel Bagley at Cole Street. The largest, Netherton Steam Brewery, belonged to Thomas Plant. Plant's malthouse was on Raybould's Fold, and the brewery in St John's Street. The only brewing in Netherton today takes place at the Old Swan pub. However, two of the remaining Black Country brewers, Holdens and Bathams, have Netherton links.[48] Edwin Alfred and Lucy Blanche Holden, founders of the Holdens brewing concern, had their first pub in Netherton; whilst Daniel Batham, son of Daniel and Charlotte Batham who had started the family beer production, brewed at the King William in Cole Street, before moving the brewery to its present location at the Vine on the Delph.[49]

One of the earliest manufacturing firms established in Netherton was Samuel Lewis & Co. Ltd., which was established in 1750.[4] Other notable firms included H. & T. Danks, manufacturers of boilers; John Barnsley and Co., specialists in cranes and hoists; and Grazebrook's, which had furnaces for iron-making.[11] The latter firm was established in 1800 by Michael Grazebrook.[5]

Though not on the same scale as historically, much industry remains in Netherton; for example, in the Washington Centre between Halesowen Road and Cradley Road, and in the Blackbrook Business Park, which was developed in the 1980s as part of the Dudley Enterprise Zone.