Horseley Heath is a residential area of

Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...

, in the West Midlands of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is situated around the main A461 road which links the major townships of

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

and

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 ...

, and stands on the banks of the River Tame. Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

of the 19th century and by 1900 was home to numerous significant factories. There was also a railway link which gave passenger services to major towns including

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

, Dudley, Walsall and

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

. There is a fine

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

building with

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

by Gibbs and Canning, located on the corner of Horseley Heath and Horseley Road and built around 1900. Horseley Heath was the home of Tipton's last remaining cinema, the Alhambra, on Dudley Port, which closed in August 1963. Horseley Heath was one of the most hard-hit areas during the fall of the West Midlands manufacturing industry during the 1980s, with many of its factories closing and no new industries replacing them. Many of the former industrial sites have recently been redeveloped for housing, as Tipton's population has surged by around 30% since 1990. Passenger train services have been absent from Horseley Heath since the mid-1960s, when the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

resulted in the closure of the local railway station. The line through Horseley Heath remained open to freight trains until 1993, and is set to re-open in the 2020s as the second phase of the

West Midlands Metro The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The network has List of West Midlands Metro tram stops, 33 stops with a total of of track; it currently consists of a single r ...

. St Martin's Parish Church was opened on Lower Church Lane in 1797, but closed in 1988 after nearly 200 years in use. The church was known locally as the "Pepperbox" due to the dome shaped top of its tower; however this feature was lost when the tower was rebuilt in 1963. It had relocated to that site due to the deteriorating condition of the previous church in Upper Church Lane, where it had been based since the 13th or 14th century. In 2007, the church was converted into a house. Next door to St Martin's, Tipton Police Station was opened in the 1860s, constructed in distinctive Staffordshire Blue Brick. It was completely rebuilt in 2006.

Notable people

Ben Boucher(1769-1851), known as the 'Dudley Poet', was born in Horseley Heath.

References

{{reflist Tipton