Tipton Green is the central area of Tipton, a town in the West Midlands of England. It was heavily developed for industry during the 19th century, as Tipton was one of the most significant towns during the Industrial Revolution. Tipton Green is one of three electoral wards covering Tipton for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council. It is represented by three Labour councillors.[1]
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In June 1644, during the Civil War, Parliamentary forces attacked nearby Dudley Castle (a Royalist garrison), aided by Edward Dudley of Tipton Green Hall, which resulted in the Battle of Tipton Green. At this time, Tipton Green was still a very rural area.[2]
With the development of factories around Tipton Green in the 19th century, came hundreds of houses to provide homes for the workers. By 1843, Tipton Green had a population of approximately 8,000 people.[3] However, virtually all of these houses had been demolished by the early 1970s to be replaced by a modern mix of private and council housing.
Tipton Green was home to several key factories until recently. Bean Industries occupied a large site - which straddles the border with Coseley – in the area from the 1930s until the firm went bankrupt in 2005. Some of the buildings were demolished the same year, but the Coseley section of the site was not cleared until 2008. A housing estate containing more than 200 homes was built on the Tipton half of the site in 2005 and 2006. This also incorporated some of the land previously occupied by more than 20 houses on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane from about 1902 until demolition in 1994.
Victoria Park was laid out on land to the east of Tipton Green in 1901, and the local area developed for housing extensively over the next ten years and again in the 1930s, although some properties in the area have been demolished since, including almost all of Peel Street in the second half of the 1990s.
Some of Tipton's first council houses were built on Park Lane West in the early to mid 1920s, with the largest interwar council development in Tipton Green occurring on the Shrubbery Estate around the end of the 1920s and beginning of the 1930s; nearly 200 three-bedroomed houses were built on land between Dudley Road and the embankment of the Dudley-Bilston railway line.
A local landmark for many years was the 19th-century Park Lane Methodist Chapel, which was known locally as the "cathedral" due to its size and appearance. This building was demolished in the 1970s to be replaced by a smaller building.
Nepture Health Park opened on a former factory site on Sedgley Road West in 1998, replacing Birch Street Health Centre that had opened in 1971 as an extension to the 1950s clinic, which was the practice of Dr James Milligan for more than 30 years until his death in December 1990. The health centre at Birch Street became obsolete following the opening of Neptune Health Park, as did the adjacent ambulance station and care home. All of these buildings were demolished in 2000 and the site was swiftly developed for housing. One of the new streets on the site is Cathedral Close, which takes its name from the "cathedral" which was the old Tipton Green Methodist Church.
Coronation Gardens was erected in 1953 alongside the canal in Tipton Green, to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Coronation House multi-storey council flats were completed in 1957 opposite side of the road, but these eventually became unpopular and dilapidated, and were demolished in late 1997, being redeveloped for housing a decade later. A similar-aged block of flats and shops nearby was also cleared in 2001. A 1960s maisonette block in the shadow of the tower block was demolished in 1995 and replaced by a new complex of houses and flats the following year.
When Tipton received borough status in 1938, a new public house on Baker Street called The Tipton Arms was built to commemorate this new status, opening the following year. However, this was demolished in 1994 and the site is now occupied by housing. This particular housing estate which borders Tipton/Dudley comprises Baker Street, Davis Avenue, Lindley Avenue, Madin Road and the more recently built Tippstone Close, proving very popular with and attracting house purchases by professional working couples and families.
Tipton Green's main shopping area has always been Owen Street, which was a busy and popular shopping area for approximately 100 years leading up to the late 1960s, when many of its key retailers were relocated or liquidated. The area was almost completely redeveloped in the late 1970s, with the historic "Fountain Inn" public house being one of the few old buildings to survive. This is now a listed building due to its association with the Tipton Slasher William Perry (a 19th century boxer), although its top storey was removed in the 1950s and it is now a two-storey building.
The parish church for Tipton Green is St Matthew's. It was opened in 1876 and the original church survives to this day. The vicarage is also intact, but it is now a nursing home as a new vicarage was constructed in the late 1980s. The church was designed by J. H. Gibbons and consists of English bond brickwork with a tiled roof. It received Grade II listed status on 29 September 1987.[4]
Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory public house is located in Tipton Green on the corner of Sedgley Road West and Hurst Lane. It was built in 1923 as the Doughty Arms and took on its present name in 1987 upon a takeover by The Little Pub Company. The Pie Factory is significant for its "cow pies" and the fact that comedian Frank Skinner performed some of his first gigs there.
Victoria Park is the largest open space in the ward, covering an area of 13.78 hectares (34 acres). It hosts a 19th century wedding arbour and is now a Grade II listed park.[5]
Tipton Green has been home to the town's railway station since the mid 19th century, giving it direct passenger train links with Birmingham and Wolverhampton. There was a second station in the area at Five Ways (on the border with Coseley between 1850 and 1962, but this station was one of the first victims of the Beeching Axe and the line upon which it was situated (between Dudley and Bilston) closed in 1968.
The section of old railway between Sedgley Road West and Birmingham New Road was redeveloped for housing in 2002. The new development was constructed by Kendrick Homes Ltd and is known as Fox's Hollow.
Old Main Line Canal passes through Tipton Green. At the Tipton Green Locks, the first house constructed out of iron was assembled prior to 1830. The house was moved in 1876 to a new location at the locks and was eventually demolished in 1926, apparently in the same condition it was in when first constructed.[6]
The local infant school is Victoria Infant School, opened on Queens Road in 1995 to replace a 60-year-old building in Manor Road. It was constructed with a capacity of 270 with a nursery unit for 40 children attached to the side of it. To the south of the building is a kitchen designed to serve approximately 400 meals for the pupils at the infant and junior school as well as staff.
Tipton Green Junior School is the adjacent junior school which was opened in 1976 to replace the original school, which opened in 1880, on Sedgley Road West.[7]The school underwent a major modernisation in 1994. Whilst the external appearance remained the same, the interior was completely redesigned. Classrooms were enlarged to average 55.4 square metres (596 sq ft). The library was refitted to become the visual heart of the school whilst a new entrance was added to the building. However, a complete rebuild on the junior school began in April 2010 and the old school closed in July 2011, with pupils set to move into the new buildings in September.[8] Both schools are covered by the Sandwell Local Education Authority.
Park Lane Secondary School was opened in 1904 on the site now occupied by Victoria Infant School. It merged with Tipton Grammar School in 1969 to become Alexandra High School, but the Park Lane buildings remained in use as the Alexandra lower school until 1990. The building was demolished shortly afterwards.
In July 2008, as the British economy was sliding into recession, it was reported that 9.6% of Tipton Green's residents were unemployed - well above the national average of 5.8% but not as high as the 10.9% rate in neighbouring Princes End. As the recession has seen national unemployment rise by around 70% since then, it is now anticipated that unemployment in Tipton Green stands at around 10%.[2]