67-713: Galton Valley Canal Museum is a small museum, located in Smethwick , England, on the border with Birmingham and alongside the BCN Main Line canals. The Museum tells the story of the development of the Galton Valley canals and those who designed, built and worked on them. In 2009 it won the Silver award in the 'Best Small Visitor Attraction' at the Black Country Tourism Awards. In 2011
134-445: A Chapel of Ease in the parish of St Peter, Harborne . The building was originally known as "Parkes' Chapel" in honour of Mistress Dorothy Parkes who bequeathed the money for the church and also for a local school. The chapel was later known as the "Old Chapel", and the public house next to it is still called this. In the church there are several fine memorials, including one to Dorothy Parkes. The Grade I listed Galton Bridge spans
201-487: A hamlet within the parish of Harborne, Staffordshire , Smethwick was made into an urban district in 1894, on 31 December Smethwick became a civil parish , in 1899 the district became a municipal corporation , and the district became county borough within Staffordshire in 1907 with its base at Smethwick Council House . On 1 April 1966, Smethwick was merged with the boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis to form
268-651: A majority of the men being veterans of the war. After the Second World War, Smethwick attracted a large number of immigrants from Commonwealth countries beginning in 1945, the largest ethnic group being Sikhs from the Punjab in India, the majority of whom had served in that War. The ethnic minority communities were initially unpopular with the white population of Smethwick, leading to the election of Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Griffiths at
335-548: A military equipment. Soho railway station closed in 1949, followed by Spon Lane station in 1968. In 1972 the section of line between Smethwick West and Birmingham Moor Street , as well as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley railway, was closed, with the exception of a single line between Smethwick West and Coopers Scrap Metal in Handsworth; and all Stourbridge services were diverted into Birmingham New Street. In 1995
402-597: A more recent interpretation has suggested the name means "the settlement on the smooth land". Smethwick was recorded in the Domesday Book as Smedeuuich , the d in this spelling being the Anglo-Saxon letter eth . Until the end of the 18th century it was an outlying hamlet of the south Staffordshire village of Harborne . Harborne became part of the county borough of Birmingham and thus transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire in 1891, leaving Smethwick in
469-649: A number of high rise blocks of flats. Other estates and areas include Black Patch, Cape Hill, Uplands, Albion Estate, Bearwood, Londonderry and Rood End. In July 2013, a major fire occurred at the Jayplas plastics and paper recycling plant on Dartmouth Road. The oldest surviving building in Smethwick is the Old Church which stands on the corner of Church Road and the Uplands. This was consecrated in 1732 as
536-450: A vote for Tory, Labour or Liberal is a vote for more Blacks!". Jordan would also use similar campaign tactics against Gordon Walker in the 1965 Leyton by-election . The election of Griffiths led to Smethwick becoming notorious as 'Britain's most racist town'. Historian Rachel Yemm argues that the anti-immigration sentiment in the town was the result of a housing shortage, which local newspapers, such as The Smethwick Telephone , blamed on
603-577: Is a Grade II listed building built in brick in the Moderne style . The town is notable for a somewhat turbulent political history. It was first created as a separate parliamentary constituency in 1918, having previously been part of the Handsworth constituency . At that year's general election , Christabel Pankhurst , standing as a Women's Party candidate, narrowly failed to become one of Britain's first woman Members of Parliament. She lost to
670-494: Is designed by Yeoville Thomason . Matthew Boulton and James Watt opened their Soho Foundry in the north of Smethwick (not to be confused with the Soho Manufactory in nearby Soho ) in the late 18th century. In 1802, William Murdoch illuminated the foundry with gas lighting of his own invention. The foundry was later home to weighing scale makers W & T Avery Ltd. Rolfe Street public baths were among
737-537: The 1964 general election , who campaigned by appealing to the racist element and whose supporters had used the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Labour". This came two years after race riots had hit the town in 1962; it was also set against a background of local factory closures. In 1961, the Sikh community purchased the unused Congregational Church on the High Street in Smethwick. Soon after, this
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#1732780577830804-580: The Birmingham Corporation Tramways in 1906 and trams eventually ran from both the Dudley Road and Hagley Road direction. Dudley Road trams operated to Cape Hill and then diverged to either take the route towards Dudley (Route 87) via the High Street or towards Bearwood (Route 29) via Waterloo Road, terminating near the site of current Bearwood Bus Station and Kings Head public house. Route 34 from Birmingham to Bearwood along
871-825: The Labour candidate by 775 votes in a straight fight. Labour held the seat until 1931; from 1926, the MP was Sir Oswald Mosley , future founder of the British Union of Fascists . Mosley resigned the Labour whip in March 1931, but continued to represent the constituency until it was taken by the Conservatives at that year's general election . Labour won it back at the UK general election of 1945 , held on 26 July that year. However,
938-571: The Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, which was incorporated into the new West Midlands county. In 1888, there had been plans for Smethwick to be incorporated into the city of Birmingham, but the urban district council voted against these plans by a single vote. The archives for the Borough of Smethwick are held at Sandwell Community History and Archives Service . Smethwick has a long association with canals, which were
1005-470: The Smethwick Engine on Rabone Lane and the other was near Spon Lane. New Smethwick Pumping Station next to Brasshouse Lane was added later in 1892. Because of the locks, the canal through Smethwick became a bottleneck and Thomas Telford was commissioned in 1824 to look at alternatives. The new main line through Smethwick was completed by 1829 and completely bypassed all six remaining locks of
1072-558: The 1980s, levels of crime and unemployment on the estate were high, and by the early 1990s, Sandwell Council had decided to demolish it. Between 1993 and 1997, the estate was entirely redeveloped with modern low-rise housing, and was renamed Galton Village. Another local housing estate called the Windmill Lane Estate, located near Cape Hill, was also redeveloped. There is a collection of red brick turn-of-20th century terrace, 1930s semi-detached, newly built modern housing and
1139-551: The 87 in fact uses the same number. The West Midlands Metro , opened in 1999, is more of a light railway than a tramway. It follows the former Great Western Railway track bed from Birmingham Snow Hill station to the former Wolverhampton Low Level via West Bromwich until Priestfield in Wolverhampton. After that, it becomes a tramway proper and runs along the Bilston Road into Wolverhampton city centre. From late 2015
1206-640: The Birmingham Old and New Main Line Canals. It first opened in 1892 with the purpose of pumping water from the lower Birmingham New Main Line to the high Old Main Line Canal to replace the water lost from the higher level when boats went through the Smethwick locks. The station only had a short working life, closing in the mid 1920s due to reduced traffic on the canals. Apart from a short period during
1273-637: The County of Staffordshire. The world's oldest working engine, the Smethwick Engine , made by Boulton & Watt , originally stood near Bridge Street, Smethwick. It is now at Thinktank , the new science museum in Birmingham. One notable company was The London Works, manufacturing base of the Fox Henderson Company which made the cast-iron framework for the Crystal Palace . This was founded by Charles Fox , whose inventions included
1340-543: The Hagley Road and terminated at the top of Bearwood Road next to the route from Cape Hill, despite terminating so close to each other there was no physical link between route 29 and 34 in Bearwood. Route 34 was the first route in Smethwick to disappear, in 1930; the last tram route was closed in 1939 and replaced by motor buses. Both the current National Express West Midlands routes 82 and 87 are former tram routes and
1407-495: The Indian Workers' Association. The BBC had been intending to make a feature about a new black-led newspaper, and a BBC News journalist had a view to X having a debate with Griffiths outside a council house in Smethwick. Griffiths declined at late notice, and so an interview with X was conducted on the streets of Smethwick. This was to be one of X's last TV interviews before his assassination nine days later. The footage
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#17327805778301474-586: The Midland Red, West Bromwich and Birmingham. In the early 1970s, all local bus transport was taken over by the WMPTE until deregulation in the 1980s. Since then, National Express West Midlands has been the primary operator in the West Midlands. Steam trams started through Smethwick in 1885 operated by Birmingham and Midland Tramways. These were replaced by electric trams in 1904 and then merged into
1541-581: The New Line canal and railway. When built in 1829 by Thomas Telford , it was the highest single-span bridge in the world. Its name commemorates Samuel Galton , a local landowner and industrialist. It is identical to Telford's bridge at Holt Fleet over the River Severn built in 1828 and opened in 1830. The public library in the High Street was originally built as the Public Hall in 1866–67 and
1608-751: The North West, Rolfe Street and Spon Lane opened that year followed by Soho in 1853. In 1867 the Stourbridge Railway opened a link between the Great Western Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway (of 1852) near the current Hawthorns and Stourbridge with a station at Smethwick West and a link to the Stour Valley line towards New Street called Smethwick Junction, the Stourbridge Railway
1675-552: The PFI contract for construction of the hospital, leaving it with a lengthy search for new investment and pushing the completion date back to at least 2022. In the meantime, the NHS trust started tendering for an interim contractor to deliver a £13m programme of works to protect the site until a replacement construction contractor is appointed; the OJEU notice for the £13m early works contract
1742-731: The Second World War the building sat empty until it was restored and opened as part of the Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre in the late 1980. When new the Pumping Station replaced two wooden beam engines which were situated at Bridge Street and Spon Lane in Smethwick. The site in Bridge Street was the original home of James Watt's Smethwick Engine . While Watt's engine can now be seen in the Think Tank Museum in Birmingham, tours of
1809-818: The artist John Ruskin , was in Oldbury Road. Many English churches have stained glass windows made by Hardman Studios in Lightwoods House, or, before that, by the Camm family. During the Second World War , Smethwick was bombed on a number of occasions by the German Luftwaffe . A total of 80 people died as a result of these air raids. After the First World War about 50+ Sikh families settled in Smethwick beginning in 1917, with
1876-548: The centre of Birmingham near the International Convention Centre, National Indoor Arena and Broad Street. The old main line was completed through Smethwick by 1769. It required 12 locks to climb over the hill through the town; Brindley had found the earth too soft to dig a cutting through at the time. Water was supplied by two steam engines. One of them was located on the Engine Arm which led to
1943-577: The company manufactured steel window systems, roof glazing, gearings and metalwork. Council housing began in Smethwick after 1920 on land previously belonging to the Downing family, whose family home became Holly Lodge High School for Girls in 1922. The mass council house building of the 1920s and 1930s also involved Smethwick's boundaries being extended into part of neighbouring Oldbury in 1928. The Ruskin Pottery Studio, named in honour of
2010-534: The complete separation of African Americans from whites, but he now showed his opposition to racial segregation , telling the press: I have come here because I am disturbed by reports that coloured people in Smethwick are being treated badly. I have heard they are being treated as the Jews were under Hitler . I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens. Malcolm X had been invited to Smethwick by Claudia Jones on behalf of Avtar Singh Jouhl of
2077-577: The contractor, the total cost to the taxpayer would be very similar to the original plan. In October 2021, the NHS Trust was told that the 2022 opening date was likely to be missed as a result of materials shortages and workforce availability delaying completion. In July 2022, the Trust said the hospital would open in spring 2024. In October 2023, this date was pushed back to autumn 2024; in August 2024,
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2144-563: The county of the West Midlands , England. It lies 4 miles (6 km) west of Birmingham city centre . Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before being placed into West Midlands county. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider built-up area subdivision has a population of 53,653. It was suggested that the name Smethwick meant "smiths' place of work", but
2211-408: The famous Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company (BMMO or Midland Red) was based on Bearwood Road on the site of the current Bearwood Shopping Centre until 1974. The garage later saw use as an indoor market until it was demolished in 1979. Smethwick never had its own Corporation Transport Department, like West Bromwich or Birmingham . Most bus services until the earlier 1970s were provided by
2278-606: The first patented railway points. His notable employees included William Siemens , the notable mechanical and electrical engineer. The company was bankrupted in 1855 by the failure of an overseas railway to pay for work done. The site was later used by the GKN company. In 2015 the site was being cleared to build the new Midland Metropolitan University Hospital which aims to combine the Sandwell General Hospital at West Bromwich and City Hospital , Dudley Road. Work at
2345-595: The first public swimming baths in the country when opened north of the town centre in 1888. The baths remained open for nearly a century before closing. In the late 1980s, the Black Country Museum expressed interest in transferring the building to its site in Dudley and so the transfer of the building began in 1989. It was finally opened to visitors at the museum in 1999, housing the museum's exhibition gallery and archive resource centre. Thimblemill Library
2412-585: The glazing for the Crystal Palace (the London works, in North Smethwick, manufactured its metalwork). Phillips Cycles , once one of the largest bicycle manufacturers in the world, was based in Bridge Street, Smethwick. Nearby, in Downing Street, is the famous bicycle saddle maker, Brooks Saddles . The important metalworking factory of Henry Hope & Sons Ltd was based at Halford's Lane where
2479-418: The government announced it would provide funding to complete the hospital. In November 2018, it was reported that the NHS Trust was struggling to find a contractor to complete the hospital, with the possibility that the hospital might be delayed beyond 2022. In January 2019, firms - some previously involved with the project - were formally invited to apply for shortlisting to complete the half-finished hospital;
2546-518: The hospital's completion further. The hospital opened to the public on 6 October 2024. The Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust was granted a compulsory purchase order to buy the land at Grove Lane, which had previously been used for industrial purposes by GKN , in January 2011. At that time, the hospital was planned to be open by 2016. The hospital was designed by HKS , Cagni Williams and Sonnemann Toon Architects. The new hospital
2613-440: The hospital's construction, with the project 18 months late and likely to cost an additional £125 million. In May 2018, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust had yet to confirm Skanska to complete the project, and with the unfinished site deteriorating, completion was likely to be pushed back an additional two years, to 2022. In June 2018, a consortium of banks financing the project withdrew their support, and HM Treasury cancelled
2680-526: The line between Birmingham Snow Hill and Smethwick West was restored and a new station called Smethwick Galton Bridge was constructed over both the Snow Hill and Stour Valley lines to provide an interchange. Smethwick West was due to close when Galton Bridge opened, but due to a legal error British Railways had to maintain a parliamentary train service to the station. Most local trains from Stourbridge to Birmingham were diverted into Snow Hill although it
2747-594: The main industry. A water mill named Briddismylne is recorded in 1499 as belonging to Halesowen Abbey , thought to be on the more recent Thimblemill site. In 1659, a mill in the Hockley Brook is recorded as belonging to a Mr. Lane. The mill which led to the street name "Windmill Lane" was built on land bought in 1803 by William Croxall, a miller. The last part of the windmill building was demolished in 1949. The Soho Foundry , opened in 1796 by James Watt and Matthew Boulton , trading as Boulton, Watt & Sons,
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2814-422: The median age of Smethwick residents was 32. In terms of ethnicity: In terms of religion, 39.5% of Smethwick residents identified as Christian , 21.8% were Muslim , 15.7% were Sikh , 14.0% said they had no religion , 5.8% did not state any religion, 2.3% were Hindu , 0.3% were Buddhists , and 0.6% were from another religion. Until the end of the 18th century, Smethwick was largely rural, with farming as
2881-543: The migrants. Griffiths not only drew on these fears, but also raised racist concerns about ' miscegenation ' and argued for the repatriation of migrants. At the beginning of 1965 Smethwick Council was planning "to purchase all available houses on Marshall Street to prevent their sale to immigrants". This made national headlines, and the plan was later stopped by the government. In February 1965, American black activist Malcolm X visited Marshall Street just days before his assassination . Earlier in his career he had advocated
2948-631: The museum moved from premises on Brasshouse Lane Smethwick to the New Smethwick Pumping Station, which is opened occasionally by Sandwell Museum Service and The Friends of Galton Valley. Because of the limited space at the pumping station, many of the artifacts from the original museum were moved to the Smethwick Heritage Centre in Victoria Park. The New Smethwick Pumping Station is situated between
3015-496: The new County Borough of Warley , part also went to the County Borough of West Bromwich and the County Borough of Birmingham , Smethwick was transferred into the county of Worcestershire . The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 to form Warley , part also went to West Bromwich and Birmingham. In 1961 the parish had a population of 68,390. Warley county borough in turn was merged with West Bromwich in 1974 to form
3082-493: The new and old main line diverged at one end at Smethwick Junction near Bridge Street and rejoined at Bromford Junction near Bromford Road in Oldbury. Today Galton Valley is a nature area and of more historical interest than commercial, and used mainly for leisure rather than transporting commercial goods. The LNWR was the first to construct a railway through Smethwick in 1852 from New Street towards Wolverhampton and
3149-535: The original site can be organised through the museum in Galton Valley. 52°29′55″N 1°58′20″W / 52.4987°N 1.9723°W / 52.4987; -1.9723 This article relating to a museum in the United Kingdom is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Smethwick Smethwick ( / ˈ s m ɛ ð ɪ k / ) is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in
3216-619: The planned opening date was confirmed as 6 October 2024. Despite initially planning on breaking the UK record for fastest construction of a hospital, the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital was six years late upon opening on 6 October 2024. The Accident & Emergency department at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital replaced the A&;E at Sandwell General Hospital, which closed on 6 October, and
3283-463: The school. However, O'Connor was well liked by both parents and children; he eventually retired in 1983. In the mid- to late 1960s, a large council estate in the west of Smethwick was built. It was officially known as the West Smethwick Estate, but as all of the homes were constructed from concrete the estate was known locally as the "concrete jungle". The homes, mostly three or four storey townhouses, were prone to damp and other construction faults. By
3350-456: The service was extended from its former terminus at Snow Hill through the city centre to Grand Central . The metro can be caught at the Hawthorns railway station . Smethwick borders West Bromwich and Oldbury to the north and west, and the Birmingham districts of Handsworth , Winson Green , Harborne , Edgbaston and Quinton to the south and east. At the 2011 census , there were 48,765 residents in Smethwick in 18,381 households, and
3417-456: The site later came to a standstill because of a crisis in the construction industry. Other former industry included railway rolling stock manufacture, at the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company factory; screws and other fastenings from Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN); engines from Tangye ; tubing from Evered's; steel pen nibs from British Pens; and various products from Chance Brothers ' glassworks, including lighthouse lenses and
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#17327805778303484-435: The slogan "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour." Griffiths refused to condemn the slogan. Colin Jordan , a British Neo-Nazi and later leader of the British Movement , claimed that members of his group had produced the initial slogan as well as spread the publicised poster and sticker campaign which contained it; Jordan's group in the past had also campaigned on other slogans, such as: "Don't vote -
3551-430: The successful bidder was expected to start in October 2019 and complete the project in late 2021. A wrangle over proposed changes to local authority boundaries threatened to delay the contractor appointment, with Balfour Beatty reportedly the sole bidder for the project. In September 2019, it was reported that Balfour Beatty was still awaiting approval to start work, possibly in December 2019, with completion scheduled for
3618-614: The summer of 2022. The £267m contract was finally signed, and work was expected to start, in December 2019. A delayed National Audit Office report into the government's handling of the Midland Metropolitan and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital was published in January 2020. The report warned of possible further significant cost increases, and blamed Carillion for pricing the jobs too low to meet specifications. The two projects were expected to cost more than 40% more than their original budgets, and to be completed between three and five years late. However, due to effective risk transfer to
3685-400: The summit with a deep cutting. The Engine Arm and Stewarts aqueducts were built to carry their respective canals over the new mainline. The cutting was built through the land of the local businessman Samuel Galton and thus this cutting created the Galton Valley and Galton Bridge was named in his honour. The bridge was the longest single-span iron bridge in the world at the time. The canals of
3752-418: The town's first major transport links from a time before decent roads and of course railways. The Birmingham Canal Navigation Old and New Main Line Canals run through the industrial areas and right past the High Street, running parallel to the Stour Valley Line : all three end up in Wolverhampton . James Brindley was the engineer charged with building the canal, a man who gives his name to the busy district in
3819-411: The victorious MP, Alfred Dobbs , was killed in a car crash the very next day. He is thus the shortest-serving Member of Parliament (MP) in British history, if one discounts a few cases of people being elected posthumously. In the resulting by-election , Patrick Gordon Walker won again for Labour. The seat remained held by Labour until 1964. At the 1964 general election , sitting MP Gordon Walker, who
3886-425: Was Shadow Foreign Secretary , was defeated in highly controversial circumstances in the constituency by the virulently anti-immigration Conservative Party candidate Peter Griffiths . Smethwick had attracted immigration from the Commonwealth in the economic and industrial growth of the years following the Second World War and Griffiths ran a campaign critical of the government's policy. His supporters had circulated
3953-484: Was being built by Carillion who were also to provide hard facilities management and life-cycle maintenance services. On 15 January 2018, Carillion went into liquidation , partly due to its problems with the hospital contract, and delaying the project still further; 70 Carillion staff lost their jobs. On 26 March 2018, it was reported that the project had been costing over £17m more than Carillion had officially reported. In March 2018, Skanska negotiated to take over
4020-405: Was built to produce complete steam engines to Watt's designs. Waste dumped from the foundry gave rise to the name Black Patch to the field to the east. The Soho Foundry is now the headquarters of the Avery Company . Midland Metropolitan University Hospital Midland Metropolitan University Hospital is an acute general hospital on Grove Lane in Smethwick , near Birmingham . The hospital
4087-421: Was converted into a gurdwara , today known as the [Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick]. Bearwood Primary School appointed Tony O'Connor as head teacher in 1967. He was the first black head teacher in the UK, having been born in Jamaica and moved to Britain with the RAF in 1943. Smethwick received bad publicity when, the day after the announcement of his appointment, racist slogans and swastikas were daubed around
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#17327805778304154-415: Was designed by HKS , Cagni Williams and Sonnemann Toon Architects. Its emergency department replaced those at Sandwell and City hospitals. Already behind its original target completion date of October 2018, it was being built by Carillion . However, the company went into liquidation in January 2018, causing the PFI contract to be terminated. This, plus later materials and manpower shortages, delayed
4221-490: Was initially planned to have 670 beds and 15 operating theatre suites, although this had increased to 700 beds by the time it opened. The total capital cost was forecast to be £297 million of which £100 million would be provided by HM Treasury with the remainder privately financed. Work on site started in January 2016 and construction was due to be completed in October 2018, but the project became delayed, with completion initially rescheduled for 2019. Until January 2018, it
4288-400: Was merged into the Great Western in 1870. Not until 1931 was a railway station was constructed at the Hawthorns, although it was a 'halt' primarily for the football ground; this station closed in 1967. From 1854 the Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company was based in Smethwick until its closure in 1963. The company not only built trains, but also London Underground stock, buses and
4355-455: Was never screened until Stephen C Page, a community artist, uncovered the footage in 2005. Labour candidate and actor Andrew Faulds defeated Griffiths in the 1966 general election , remaining as an MP until his retirement at the 1997 general election , 23 years after Smethwick became part of the Warley East constituency. Griffiths subsequently moved away from the area and later served as Conservative MP for Portsmouth North . Originally
4422-428: Was not until 2004 that the last regular service used the route into Birmingham New Street via Smethwick Junction. Soho TMD is located next to Soho rail junction; road access is just off Wellington Street. It is the principal train depot for West Midlands Trains ' Class 323 train fleet, which are often seen providing local train services in the area. The town of Smethwick has a long association with buses. From 1914
4489-407: Was published on 9 August 2018; in October 2018, this work was awarded to Balfour Beatty . In August 2018, market testing with contractors showed there was little appetite to bid under a private finance model, and that a PF2 bid would be over £100m more expensive and take six months longer. As a result, the NHS trust sought direct government funding to complete the project, and on 16 August 2018,
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