Brierley Hill (District of) | town

 town, district

Brierley Hill is a town, an electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a former urban district in the West Midlands, England. The place-name Brierley Hill consists of three words of Anglo-Saxon origin. Brer meaning the place where the Briar Rose grew, leah meaning a woodland clearing and Hill meaning – what it does today.

Originally part of Staffordshire, Brierley Hill became an urban district in 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894. Previously, it had had an urban sanitory authority. The attached polygon represents the extent of the former UDC area which expanded greatly in 1934 when it took in part of Kingswinford Rural District and the Quarry Bank urban district. It remained an independent urban district until 1966, when it became part of the County Borough of Dudley and then in 1974 the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It is in the DY5 postal district.

The main neighbourhoods found in the district include : Kingswinford, Wall Heath, Brockmoor, Pensnett, Withymoor, Village, Chapel Street Estate, Quarry Bank, Hawbush Estate. Today these are represented on the Dudley MBC by the electoral wards of Kingswinford North & Wall Heath, Kingswinford South, Wordsley (eastern part), Brockmoor & Pensnett, Quarry Bank & Dudley Wood, Amblecote (east of the railway line)as well as naturally Brierley Hill Ward itself (see outline map above).

It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined considerably since the 1970s. One of the largest factories in the area was the Round Oak Steelworks which closed down and redeveloped to become the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. In recent years, proposals have been drawn up by the local authority to regenerate Brierley Hill, which has suffered as a result of the decline of the manufacturing industry. The Brierley Hill Regeneration Partnership was formed to improve Brierley Hill over a period of 10 years by investing in the infrastructure and increasing the number of homes and job opportunities

for further history see @ :
www.dudley.gov.uk/community-and-living/town-centre-mana...

For detailed map of borough wards in Dudley as used in drawing attached polygon see :
online.dudley.gov.uk/about/tellmeaboutmy/gismo/gismo.as...

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