Caldmore ( ) is a suburb of

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in the West Midlands, England. It is a historic village formerly in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

History

The settlement of Caldmore grew up around an important road junction, the shape of which defined an open space of roughly triangular shape called Caldmore Green and, in the course of the 19th century, this became the principal focus for the development of a social and commercial area. Later, the area surrounding Caldmore Green underwent considerable redevelopment in the 1950s with the removal of Victorian

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

s and their replacement by new flats.

Caldmore House

Caldmore House is the surviving segment of Victorian

terraced house A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

s in Caldmore. Located on Carless Street (Oxford Street until 1923), it was part of a row of three houses which were built in 1886. The houses remained until the 1950s and 1960s when the street was bulldozed with only one house remaining. This was saved from demolition and modernised. It is now a museum open to the public with the original Victorian features still remaining in the house.

Noddy Holder

Noddy Holder Neville John "Noddy" Holder (born 15 June 1946) is an English musician, songwriter and actor. He was the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the English rock band Slade, one of the UK's most successful acts of the 1970s. Known for his disti ...

, actor, guitarist and vocalist for

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

, was born in Caldmore.

Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome, late Victorian novelist, essayist, humourist and playwright, best known for his classic

comic novel A comic novel is a Novel, novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's liter ...

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous novel by English writer Jerome K. Jerome describing ...

'', was born at Belsize House on the corner of Bradford Street and Caldmore Road.

Present

Caldmore Green is the centre of the Caldmore Shopping area with Caldmore Housing HQ base. The area is home to restaurants and fashion and jewellery outlets. In addition, Caldmore Housing annually host The Caldmore Carnival which is based on different themes with the most recent being space. Many late 19th and early 20th century terraced houses are still in existence around Caldmore. But clearance of the tower blocks began in 2004 and most of the high-rise flats have since been demolished. When one of the first tower blocks was demolished, the body of a man was discovered in one flat; he had not been seen for six years and was believed to have died of natural causes shortly after his last reported sighting, but the council had not served an eviction order because the flats had already been earmarked for demolition. The man's brother did arrive at the flat on at least once occasion, only to be told by a neighbour that his brother had either died or moved away. Between 1950 and 1970, hundreds of immigrant families from the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

settled in Caldmore, and today it has a strong

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n community. In 2016, residents complained of an increase in

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

in the area, blaming police cutbacks.

National Express West Midlands National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is bus operator in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. It is a subsidiary of Mobico Group (formerly National Express Group) and is the largest bus operator in the region, as well as one of ...

and Diamond West Midlands operate the frequent bus routes 4/4H/4M through the village every few minutes Monday to Saturday daytime.{{Cite web , url=http://diamondbuses.com/services/WestMidlands_5/4-WalsalltoWestBromwich_248.html , title=West Midlands - 4: Walsall to West Bromwich , access-date=2017-06-20 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170715152918/http://www.diamondbuses.com/services/WestMidlands_5/4-WalsalltoWestBromwich_248.html , archive-date=2017-07-15 , url-status=dead, website=www.diamondbuses.com

References

External links

Caldmore Area Housing AssociationCaldmore House informationLiving in Caldmore
Walsall