| Tipton | |
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Tipton
Tipton shown within the West Midlands |
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| Population | 47,000 |
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| OS grid reference | SO9592 |
| Metropolitan borough | Sandwell |
| Metropolitan county | West Midlands |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TIPTON |
| Postcode district | DY4 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| List of places: UK • England • West Midlands | |
Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country.
Historically within Staffordshire, Tipton was an urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. The vast majority of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, although the Tividale part of the town became part of Warley. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton became part of the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974 and remains within this local authority to this day.
Tipton was once one of the most heavily industrialised towns in the Black Country. But most of its factories closed during the 1980s and new housing estates have been built on the site of many former factories, the new private homes have seen an upturn in Tipton's fortunes by rising house prices.
The far right British National Party has recently performed well in municipal elections in Tipton, currently having two elected councillors; one in Princes End and one in Tividale, as well as a third councillor, Simon Smith, who was elected in Great Bridge but has since left the party and serves as an independent member. Tividale has a relatively high percentage of ethnic minority residents, mostly Muslims of Pakistani origin, but the Princes End and Great Bridge areas are predominantly occupied by white English residents. Select parts of Tipton are fast becoming much sought after by house buyers. The housing estate situated just off the Birmingham New Road, consisting of Tippstone Close, Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue and Madin Road is a very popular area attracting house purchases from young professional couples and families alike.
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Until the 18th century, Tipton was a collection of small hamlets. Industrial growth started in the town when ironstone and coal were discovered in the 1770s. A number of canals were built through the town and later railways, which greatly accelerated the pace of industrialisation.
The engineer James Watt built his first steam engine in or very near Tipton in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines. In 1780, James Keir and Alexander Blair set up a chemical works there, making vast quantities of alkali and soap.
The massive expansion in iron and coal industries led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century, going from 4,000 at the beginning of the century to 30,000 at the end. Tipton gained a reputation as being "the quintessence of the Black Country" because chimneys of local factories belched heavy pollution into the air, whilst houses and factories were built side by side. Most of the traditional industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared.
The Black Country Living Museum in nearby Dudley re-creates life in the early 20th century Black Country, in original buildings which have been painstakingly rebuilt and furnished. There is a residential canal basin at the museum - Tipton was once known as the Venice of the Midlands because it had so many canals, although some of the 'minor' canals in the town were filled-in during the 1970s. The canals today form a vital cycling, wildlife and leisure facility.
The area has a distinctive spoken dialect, different from the Birmingham accent. The richest of Tipton speech is very similar to that which Shakespeare, or even Chaucer, would have spoken. Those who grew up here can often tell the difference between Tipton speech and the speech of people from other Black Country towns.
The town has retained a traditional horse-keeping culture; private horses are kept freely on public land and are occasionally 'trotted' on roads (pulling a rider on a lightweight racing cart). There are also "tatters" (i.e. rag-and-bone men), who also have links to the horse culture. Despite persistent council attempts to clear horses off public land, horses still appear in parks and on canal banks from time to time.
Until 1966, the town had its own council. The headquarters were originally based in a 19th century building on Owen Street, near the railway station, until 1935 when it relocated to the former Bean offices site on Sedgley Road West, straddling the border with Coseley. The council remained at this site for the next 31 years, until the dissolution of the borough council in April 1966. The building was later taken over by Dudley College who retained it until about 1993. It has since been occupied by various businesses.
The bulk of the Tipton borough was absorbed into an expanded West Bromwich borough, although a fragment of the town near the border with Coseley was absorbed into Dudley and most of the Tividale area became part of the new County Borough of Warley. In this reorganisation, the township of Tipton was expanded around Princes End to take over a section of the former Coseley urban district.
Since 1974, Tipton has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, which was created by a merger of the former West Bromwich and Warley boroughs.
Tipton was one of the key towns in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, and even during the 18th century it had established its first key industries. This included the world's first successful steam pumping engine, which was erected at Conygre Coalworks in 1712 by industrialist Thomas Newcomen. A full size replica of the engine now exists at the Black Country Living Museum just over Tipton's borders in Dudley.[1]
In 1800, it was a predominantly rural area with just a few coal mines and some 4,000 residents. However, mass building of factories and digging of coal mines took place, and resulted in Tipton becoming a heavily built up and industrialised area with more than 30,000 residents by the end of the 19th century. The town's population grew further in the 20th century as new housing developments, mostly by the local council but with a significant number in the private sector as well, took place.
However, coal mining had disappeared from Tipton by the mid 20th century, and the town lost a large percentage of its factories during the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s, which contributed to a rise in unemployment and poverty in the Tipton, although living conditions continued to improve.
Further industrial sites have been abandoned since the 1980s, paving the way for mass private house building on the land previously occupied by factories.[2]
Tipton has direct bus links with the towns of Dudley, Walsall, Stourbridge, Brierley Hill, Sedgley, Coseley, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Bilston, Wednesbury and Darlaston, though not all buses reach the town centre.
Tipton has a direct rail link with the areas of Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Coventry and from 14 December 2008 this now links to Walsall. There are two railway stations - Tipton railway station in the town centre plus Dudley Port railway station.
Tipton railway station started a multi-million pound refurbishment on 14 September 2009 with an estimated completion date of May 2010. The station was reopened on 28 March 2010 and all services have been resumed.
It is currently served by just one railway line, as the line from Walsall to Stourbridge closed in 1993. This line served railway stations at Dudley Port Lower Level and Great Bridge North, both of which closed in 1964 due to the Beeching Axe, though the line remained open to goods trains until 1993. It is set to re-open during the mid to late 2010s as a Midland Metro expansion on one side and a goods track on the other.
A railway line existed between Great Bridge and Swan Village in nearby West Bromwich, but was closed in 1968 under the Beeching Axe.
Another line existed between Princes End and Ocker Hill, being closed to passenger trains in 1916 but remaining open to goods traffic until 1980. The closure of the railway was followed with the construction of a pedestrian walkway on the trackbed. The final stub of the line, which linked Wednesbury with Ocker Hill Power Station was closed in 1991.
Steve Bull, who was born on the town's Moat Farm Estate on 28 March 1965, was a professional footballer. Other footballers born in Tipton included Isaac Clarke (1915–2001), Joe Mayo (born 1953) and Mick Hoban (born 1952). Arthur Hooper was an amateur sprinter with Tipton Harriers and a member of the England Schoolboys' team. However, he stopped training for Tipton Harriers and he became a professional footballer with Wolverhampton Wanderers amongst others. Other sportsmen from Tipton include William Perry, a Victorian bareknuckle boxer Champion of England from 1850-57. There is a statue to Perry, known as 'the Tipton Slasher' in Coronation Gardens in Tipton centre. Jack Holden (1907–2004) was a runner for Tipton Harriers and Great Britain. Shaun Perry is a rugby union player for Bristol Rugby and England.
Norman Kendrick was a resident of Prince's End, Tipton. He was an early pioneer of the Coach Travel Industry and a civic leader for over 50 years up to his death at 75. Known as 'Ten Men' Kendrick because of his 6' 7", 21 stone frame.
Tipton boasts a couple of nineteenth-century composers, one of them, Joseph Williams, was a coalminer who lived in Watery Lane.
Tipton Town football club were formed in 1948 as Ocker Hill United, adopting their current name in 1967. They currently play in the non-league Midland Alliance and made history in the 2010-11 football season by reaching the FA Cup first round proper for the first time in their history, earning a trip to Carlisle United, the League One (third highest English division) club.[3] They were the first club that Steve Bull played for; he joined them on leaving school in 1981 and remained with them until he signed for West Bromwich Albion, then a top division club, in 1985. However, it was after signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 1986 that Bull achieved fame; by the time he retired in 1999, he had scored more than 300 goals for the club. He was also capped 13 times by the England national football team between May 1989 and October 1990, scoring four goals.[4]
The Newcastle upon Tyne based adult comic Viz used Tipton as a perennial butt of jokes throughout the 1990s, involving a fictitious councillor, Hugo Guthrie. Guthrie may, however, have been based on the real inter-war figure of Councillor Doughty who forbade any more pubs to open until one was opened carrying his name — now renamed the "Pie Factory".
The town has three secondary schools, though in the Tipton Green area of the town a significant percentage of children attend High Arcal School in the borough of Dudley, which has been a popular choice with children living in the area since 1990. Ormiston Sandwell Academy, formed in September 2009 from Tividale High School, also takes in pupils from parts of Dudley and Oldbury.
The town has no less than 13 schools which serve the 5-11 age range, 11 of them covering the whole age range, one nursery and infant school for children aged 3-7 years, and a 7-11 junior school. In the Tipton Green area of the town, a significant number of pupils attend Foxyards Primary School just over the border in the borough of Dudley.
Tipton Christian Church[6] was established around 70years ago and today is a very lively Penticostal Church situated in Waterloo Street Tipton.
The area is notable for being the location of filming for the British comedy film Anita and Me, set in the 1970s.
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