Horseley Heath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Horseley Heath is a residential area of Tipton, in the West Midlands of England. It is situated around the main A461 road which links the major townships of Dudley and Walsall, and stands on the banks of the River Tame.
Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century and by 1900 was home to numerous significant factories. There was also a railway link which gave passenger services to major towns including Stourbridge, Dudley, Walsall and West Bromwich. There is a fine Post Office building with terracotta by Gibbs and Canning.[1]
Horseley Heath was one of the most hard-hit areas during the fall of the West Midlands manufacturing industry during the 1980s, with many of its factories closing and no new industries replacing them. Many of the former industrial sites have recently been redeveloped for housing, as Tipton's population has surged by around 30% since 1990.
Passenger train services have been absent from Horseley Heath since the mid-1960s, when the Beeching Axe resulted in the closure of the local railway station. The line through Horseley Heath remained open to goods trains until 1993, and is set to re-open in 2011 as the second phase of the Midland Metro.
