Oldbury, West Midlands
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Oldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.
Local government
Oldbury was a parish in the county of Shropshire (surrounded by Worcestershire and Staffordshire) until the late 19th century. Then it became an urban district and was incorporated into the county of Worcestershire.In 1966, Oldbury (which had become a municipal borough in 1934) merged with the County Borough of Smethwick and the Municipal Borough of Rowley Regis to form the County Borough of Warley, also taking in part of Tipton and a tiny fragment of Dudley. The county boundaries were also changed to include the whole of Warley as part of Staffordshire.
In 1974, Oldbury became part of the new Sandwell Metropolitan Borough (a merger between the county boroughs of West Bromwich and Warley) and is now in the West Midlands Metropolitan County. Sandwell's headquarters are situated in Oldbury Town Centre.
Frank Skinner
The comedian Frank Skinner, who was born in the Bristnall Hall area of the town in 1957, is from Oldbury.Transport Links
For over thirty years there were three railway stations in the parish named Oldbury; only one is still open, but under a new name.The oldest surviving one is on the Stour Valley line (former LMS Railway), at Bromford Road. It has been there since the 1850s. It was originally called Oldbury & Bromford Lane Station, then Oldbury Station, but it is now known as Sandwell and Dudley.
The nearest railway station to the centre of Oldbury is at Langley Green, at Western Road, on the Stourbridge Extension Line, now the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line. It opened in April 1867 and was originally called Langley Green & Rood End Station. However a short half-mile long branch line, the Oldbury Railway, was linked to the station with its own (third) platform. It opened in November 1884; and Langley Green & Rood End Station was then renamed Langley Green. The Oldbury Railway, which also linked to Albright and Wilson, had both a passenger station, called Oldbury Station, on Halesowen Road; and a goods station, Oldbury Goods Station, at the Birmingham Canal Navigations wharf in Oldbury. Passenger services ran to Oldbury Station until March 1915; and the line closed completely other than as a freight line for Albright and Wilson. All traces of its viaduct and embankment beyond Tat Bank Road were destroyed when the M5 motorway was built.
The M5 passes by Oldbury on an elevated section built on reinforced concrete pillars. Access is from junctions 2 and 3.
Neighbourhoods
- Langley
- Warley
- Brandhall
- Bristnall
- Rood End
- Brades Village
Etymology
The bury part of the town's name is a form of borough.
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