Hagley

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For the hamlet of the same name in Herefordshire, see Lugwardine.
Coordinates: 52°26′N 2°07′W / 52.43°N 2.12°W / 52.43; -2.12
Hagley

The Lyttleton Arms
Hagley

 Hagley shown within Worcestershire
Population 4,283 (2001) for Civil Parish; approximately 5600 for the whole village
Civil parish Hagley
District Bromsgrove
Shire county Worcestershire
Region West Midlands
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town STOURBRIDGE
Postcode district DY8/9
Dialling code 01562
Police West Mercia
Fire Hereford and Worcester
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands
UK Parliament Bromsgrove
List of places
UK
England
Worcestershire

Hagley is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is located on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the towns of Dudley and Kidderminster. The parish had a population of 4,283 in 2001,[1] but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish.[citation needed] It is in Bromsgrove District.

The parish of Hagley used to consist of Top Hagley, Lower Hagley and Blakedown. The main focus of the village was Top Hagley where Hagley Hall and the parish church of St. John The Baptist (with its origins in Anglo-Saxon times[2]) reside, but with the arrival of the railway in 1852 and the building of a "proper" station and its iconic GWR footbridge (finished in 1884), Lower Hagley started to expanded.[3] [4] With the expansion of Lower Hagley (now known as West Hagley) the focus of the village started to move.[4] This was recognised in 1906 with the building of a subsidiary parish church in Lower Hagley dedicated to St. Saviour,[2] and today West Hagley contains the shopping area and the schools. The precise dividing line between the two areas is undefined and is therefore debatable. Nevertheless, both settlements lie within the parish of Hagley.

Hagley is part of the West Midlands Urban Area as defined by the Office for National Statistics,[5] and is joined to Stourbridge and the Black Country by the A491 and B4187; The village lies at the foot of the Clent Hills, and is served by its own railway station on the Kidderminster to Birmingham line.

It is situated on the A456 Birmingham to Kidderminster road, which is known as the Hagley Road in Birmingham, because it was once administered by a turnpike trust,[6] whose responsibilities ended at the former boundary of the parish (now in Blakedown).

Despite having a population larger than some market towns (such as Tenbury Wells) and once having its own cattle market, Hagley lacks the essential characteristics of a market town.[lower-alpha 1][7] While it has a shopping street and many local services, it is a fundamentally unbalanced community economically, in that there is little local employment (other than in local services). However, unemployment is low,[8] because of the ease of commuting to work. Accordingly Hagley is essentially a dormitory village. The population of Hagley greatly increased after the arrival of the railway in 1862, which enabled people to commute into Birmingham or the adjacent Black Country.

Landmarks

Hagley is known for

  • Hagley Hall, the home for several centuries of the Lyttelton family, whose head is Viscount Cobham, and
  • Wychbury Hill with its 'monument' (an obelisk). The body of "Bella" was believed to be found in a wood near the hill, sparking the murder mystery "Who put Bella in the Witch Elm?" about which a play was written by the local drama society. However contrary to the urban myth the body was found in Hagley Wood off a lane on the side of nearby Clent Hill.[citation needed]
  • St. Saviour's Church, a stone-built church near the centre of West Hagley, dedicated in 1908 and consecrated in 1957. The church consists of a nave and chancel without a tower.[2] It has a series of windows by Francis Skeat.[9]

Significant events

Hagley Obelisk before it was restored in 2010

The parish register of Hagley is the oldest in England. It dates from 1 December 1538, being the year in which registers were ordered to be kept in all parishes.[10]

Three tragic events during the late 20th century drew media attention to Hagley.

Murder of a student

In 1983, Susan Renhard from West Hagley, a student at Manchester Polytechnic, was murdered while taking photos in the Peak District. Her body was discovered showing indications that she had fought violently to defend herself before being strangled. The murder made national headlines and Norman Hugh Smith, a 17 year old computer student, was found guilty of the crime and described by the judge a "very wicked man". Susan's father, a retired law lecturer, became heavily involved in two charities that seek to help relatives who have lost loved ones through homicide.

Child murder

In January 1988, Stuart Gough, a 14-year-old newspaper delivery boy was found murdered some 20 miles away near Worcester. Serial paedophile Victor Miller later admitted murdering Stuart and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge said that he didn't know whether it would be safe ever to release him. An article in the Daily Telegraph listed Miller as one of 35 murderers that the Home Secretary had recently recommended never to be released from prison.

School minibus crash

In November 1993 a serious collision occurred on the M40 motorway near Warwick, approximately 30 miles from Hagley, resulting in the deaths of twelve pupils and a teacher. Only two girls survived the accident that made national headlines and caused moves for new legislation to improve safety and driving standards for school vehicles.

Notable residents

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ According to the definition in West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy, policy RR3.
  1. ↑ Census 2001
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Smith 2006.
  3. ↑ English Heritage 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pritchard, pp. 10, 14 (PDF 12, 16).
  5. ↑ "Census 2001: Key Statistics for urban areas in the Midlands". Office for National Statistics. ISBN 0-11-621745-6. Retrieved 2012-05-20. 
  6. ↑ Local Statute, 26 Geo. II, c.47
  7. ↑ HHFS staff 2013.
  8. ↑ 2.6% of the population were unemployed at the time of the 2001 census: Hagley census profile
  9. ↑ "West Window". St. Saviour's, Hagley. flickr. Retrieved 1 January 2011. 
  10. ↑ Valentine 1891, pp. 265–266.
  11. ↑ Lundy 2011, p. 1084 § 10838.

References


External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hagley.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hagley.
Settlements in the Bromsgrove district
Towns
Villages
Civil parishes
  • List of civil parishes in the Bromsgrove district
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