Bloxwich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Map sources for Bloxwich at grid reference SJ9902
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Bloxwich is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England, with a population of around 40,000 people.
The town grew rapidly in the eighteenth century around coal mining and various manufacturing industries. It is also known for its canals. Famous people from Bloxwich include Pat Collins, who was a Funfair owner during the 19th century. The site of his house and Wakes grounds are now the location of an ASDA supermarket.
The A34, Southampton/Oxford/Manchester road, goes straight through the town and forms its High Street. Most shops are based on this linear development. The A4124 Wolverhampton to Brownhills road crosses to the north of the town. Bloxwich is currently involved in numerous redevelopment projects - Bloxwich police station, the new market square and copious amounts of new job centres are examples. Bloxwich Golf Club to the north of the Town on the A34 marks the northern most edge of Bloxwich, Walsall and the West Midlands.
Bloxwich was originally formed hundreds years ago as a settlement in the ancient manor of Wednesbury. While still a village during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, most of the local people were employed in the newly founded mining and forging industries.
Being part of the County Borough of Walsall, Bloxwich was heavily developed between the wars for council housing on the Blakenall Heath, Harden and Goscote estates. In the 20 years which followed the Second World War, the Beechdale and Mossley estates were also erected as council housing developments. Many privately owned houses, mostly in the Little Bloxwich area, were also constructed.
The town centre is still mostly made up of Victorian and Edwardian buildings which maintain Bloxwich's origins of a Staffordshire village. Good examples are Bloxwich Hospital, Bloxwich Hall, All Saints Church and several private houses in Station Street. The church contains the original cemetery which dates back to the early 1700s. When this stopped being available a new cemetery was created in land between the High Street and Field Road, just to the north. This was closed in 2000 and a new cemetery was open to the north of Bloxwich on the Turnberry estate.
Near by estates include Lower Farm Estate, Mossley, Harden and Turnberry Estate.
[edit] Neighbourhoods
- Blakenall Heath
- Harden
- Little Bloxwich
- Wallington Heath
- Mossley
- Turnberry
- Dudley Fields
- Goscote
The postcode for Bloxwich is WS3, it also covers the suburban centre of Pelsall.
[edit] Transport
Bloxwich is 4 miles from the M6 Motorway between junctions 10 and 11. It has 2 train stations, Bloxwich and Bloxwich North, along the Chase Line which runs from Birmingham to Stafford.
