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Walsall

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New Art Gallery Walsall
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New Art Gallery Walsall

Walsall is an industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Walsall is a part of the West Midlands conurbation, is traditionally within the county of Staffordshire, and is sometimes described as part of the Black Country.

Walsall is the administrative headquarters of the Walsall Metropolitan Borough. In the 2001 census, the town had a population of 170,994 with the surrounding borough having a population of 252,800. Neighbouring towns in the borough include Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge.

Contents

History

The name Walsall is thought to have derived from the words "Walh halh", meaning "valley of the foreigners" (referring to the Celts). By the first part of the 13th century, Walsall was a small market town, with the weekly market being introduced in 1220. The Mayor of Walsall was created as a political position in the 14th century. Walsall is known as "the town of a hundered trades".

Walsall suffered greatly in the hands of the town planners in the 1970s with much good old and medieval property being flattened to make way for a concrete town centre like so many other Midland towns. The town further suffers with misguided attempts to reverse this damage to this day with ill thought out office and retail zone schemes brought about by external experts. The two new Asda and Tesco superstores, together with council apathy and a scheme to reduce and relocate, will finally see the end of the once famous Walsall Market, which was once the reason for the town's existence.

Queen Mary's Grammar School was founded by Mary I of England in 1554, and the school carries the queen's personal badge as its emblem; the Tudor Rose and the sheaf of arrows of Catherine of Aragon tied with a Staffordshire knot.

The industrial revolution changed Walsall from a village of 2,000 people in the 16th century to a town of over 86,000 in approximately 200 years. It is a local story, although perhaps not accurate, that Walsall declined a railway line, which was later given to Birmingham, now England's second city. Walsall finally received a railway line in 1847, 48 years after canals reached the town.

Neighbourhoods

Economy

Walsall has had many industries, from coal mining to metal working, but in the late 19th century the coal mines ran dry, and Walsall became internationally famous for the leather trade. Walsall still manufactures the Queen's handbags, and Walsall leather products have been found as far afield as Italy, which prompted some embarrassment when a husband gave one to his wife as a present after a business trip, when she realised she immediately assumed that the handbag had been bought when the husband returned. Walsall is the traditional home of the English saddle manufacture industry, thus the nickname of Walsall FC: The Saddlers. Apart from leather goods, other industries in Walsall include iron and brass founding, limestone quarrying, small hardware, plastics, electronics, chemicals, and aircraft parts.

Transport

Walsall has two Bus stations, St Pauls and Bradford Place. Services from St Pauls leave Walsall in many directions; there are services south-east to Birmingham; west to Wolverhampton, Willenhall and Bloxwich; north to Cannock and Brownhills; and east to Sutton Coldfield and Aldridge, with many to the latter. In addition, more infrequent services to Lichfield are run. St Pauls is also home to the Walsall Information Centre. Bradford Place operates buses mainly to the south and south-west, to West Bromwich,Oldbury, Dudley and Stourbridge.

Walsall also has a busy railway station; services operate to Birmingham, Shrewsbury via Wolverhampton, and Stafford. See Walsall railway station for more details.

Twin Towns

Mulhouse since 1953.

Politics

The local council is presently Conservative controlled. The Mayor is Liberal Democrat Councillor John Cook. For further details, see Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.

Facilities and culture

The Walsall Memorial Gardens and Arboretum opened in 1952 and holds the second biggest Illuminations in the country. Originally white bulbs in trees for courting couples in the autumn, the 1960's and 70's saw them purchase their lights second hand from Blackpool, but over they years they have been increasingly made 'in house' - indeed they all are now, and it has been said that Blackpool is no longer willing to sell lights to Walsall as it is too much of a competitor.

The New Art Gallery Walsall opened in the year 2000. It contains a large number of works by Jacob Epstein as well as works by Van Gogh, Monet, Turner, Renoir and Constable.

Near to the Art Gallery and St Pauls Bus Station, Walsall's College of Arts and Technology can be found. The Town is also the home to one of the University of Wolverhampton's Halls of residence accommodating students studying teaching and sports related subjects.

Walsall is also famous for its relationship to John Wesley and Francis Asbury who began the Methodist movement in the United States. The latter was born in Handsworth, Birmingham and lived for a large part of his life close to the Sandwell/Walsall border.

Walsall Leather Museum documents the town's leather industry.

Walsall's football club, Walsall F.C., The Saddlers, was founded in 1888 when Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. merged. They won their first game against Aston Villa F.C.. The club currently play in Football League One and for the next season will be playing in League 2, and are managed by newly appointed Richard Money.

Pork scratchings are the most famous local snack.

A local landmark is Barr Beacon, which is reportedly the highest point following its latitude Eastwards until the Ural Mountains of Russia. There was a plaque on the summit attesting to this, unfortunately it has been repeatedly stolen.

One of the more amusing pieces of public art which has been on display in the town centre was the infamous concrete hippo, which once stood proudly opposite the statue of Sister Dora, but has now been replaced by a water fountain, the hippo lurking in the corner of the square.

Famous people

The writer Jerome K. Jerome was born in Walsall, as was the Coronation Street actress Sue Nicholls, Olympic swimmer Nick Gillingham, screenwriter Mark Oakley and the BBC Radio 2 presenter Alex Lester. Rebecca Cooper a famous obese person who went on the S.S Poseidon and managed to sink both it and the S.S Titanic when she ran up an iceberg and called Bruce Forsythe a moronic freak

Comedienne , Meera Syal is from the district, and went to Queen Mary's High School.

Noddy Holder, lead singer of 70's rock band Slade, was born and lived on the Beechdale estate in Walsall. Another famous musical resident of 'The Beechdale' was Boy George, who spent much of his youth in the town.

Drum 'n' Bass legend, Goldie, was born in Wolverhampton but lived in the Stroud Lane orphanage in Willenhall, and attended St. Francis of Assisi RC Secondary School in Aldridge.

Also from Walsall was the exciting 1930s Northamptonshire batsman Fred Bakewell. Comic book creator John Byrne was born in Walsall but grew up in Canada. Sister Dora, another local, is honoured by a status in the centre of town, next to the legendary Concrete Hippo (known locally as George). Colin Charvis, British and Irish Lion and Welsh International studied at Queen Mary's Grammar School and played for Walsall RUFC. England Women's football star Rachel Unitt was born in Bentley.

External links

 

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