Halesowen

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:GBmap Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in West Midlands, England.

The centre of Halesowen is home to a Norman church, a football ground (where non-league Halesowen Town F.C. play) and a College of Further Education which was founded in 1939.

Most of the housing stock in Halesowen is privately owned and was built in the 30 years which followed the end of the Second World War, although some parts of the town are still made up of Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses. The town centre was almost completely rebuilt during the 1960s. Halesowen is a part of the West Midlands metropolitan county and conurbation, located south-west of Birmingham.

Although predominantly urban or suburban in character, Halesowen borders on green belt land, with excellent access to the countryside, for example the Clent hills. It has extensive road links including junction 3 of the M5 motorway, which allow easy commuting to Birmingham, other areas of the Black County or nationwide.

In the eastern part of Halesowen is Leasowes Park which was originally a garden owned by the eighteenth century poet William Shenstone. Although he has been dead for some 200 years, Shenstone is still one of the most famous names associated with Halesowen: the local theatre and a Wetherspoon's watering hole are both named after him. Nearby are the ruins of Halesowen Abbey. Somers Forge industries is the premier industry in Halesowen.

History

Halesowen was recorded in the Domesday Book as larger than Birmingham. Until the thirteenth century it was known as Halas, but it was then gifted to a Welsh prince called Owen and became known as Halas-Owen; in modern times it has always been called Halesowen. The parish of Halesowen, which incorporated other townships later to become independent parishes, was an exclave of the county of Shropshire, but grew to become a town and was transferred to the jurisdiction of Worcestershire by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844.

Halesowen became the centre of a poor law union in the 19th century, which later became established as a rural sanitary district and later the Halesowen Rural District in 1894. With increasing urbanisation of the area, in the early 20th century, it became the Halesowen Urban District in 1925, and obtained a grant of charter to become a municipal borough in 1936.

In 1973, under the Local Government Act 1972, it was incorporated into the new Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the metropolitan county of West Midlands.

Neighbourhoods

• Lapal
• Hawne
• Cradley
• Tanhouse
• Hasbury
• Squirrels Estate
• Hayley Green
• Olive Hill
• Hurst Green