Coseley - History

History

Coseley was originally a village area in the ancient manor of Sedgley. In 1867, it joined with Brierley and Ettingshall to break away from the parish of Sedgley and formed Lower Sedgley Local Board District. In 1875, the name was changed to Coseley Local Board District by order of the Council and, in 1895, became Coseley Urban District. At this stage, most of the Coseley area was occupied by industrial and agricultural land.

Coseley Urban District Council built several thousand council houses and flats over a 40-year period from the mid-1920s which changed the face of the area. Most of these were built around Woodcross, Lanesfield, Wallbrook and Brierley.

1966 saw the south of the urban district become part of Dudley County Borough, and since 1974 has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. However, the north of the Brierley area (pron. "Brearley" not to be confused with Brierley Hill), and most of the Ettingshall area were incorporated into Wolverhampton County Borough instead, while a smaller area (the south of the Brierley area) bordering Tipton was transferred into the expanded borough of West Bromwich, in turn becoming part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974. This area has been designated as being part of the town of Tipton rather than Coseley since 1966.

The Coseley Urban District Council Offices were opened in 1897 on the corner of Green Street and School Street, and remained in that building until the dissolution of Coseley Urban District Council in April 1966. They were demolished in about 1970.

Coseley has been served by a railway station since 1852, although the station didn't move to its current site until 1902. For more than 150 years, the people of Coseley have had a direct rail link to Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

The town centre gained a cinema, on the corner of Mason Street and Birmingham New Road, during the 1930s, part of the Clifton chain, but this closed in January 1963 as a result of the postwar decline in cinema audiences brought on by the rising popularity of home television. The building was later demolished and a veterinary surgery now occupies the site.

Since 1927, Coseley has also had a direct road link with Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The Birmingham New Road, a dual carriageway, was laid out at this time and on its completion was one of the finest new roads in the area, although it has become plagued with traffic congestion in recent years.

Bean Cars opened a factory at Coseley in 1919, with another being in operation at Dudley. The new factory was situated in the south-east of the town near the border with Tipton, and a subsequent second phase of the factory (at the other side of a now-defunct railway line) was actually situated in Tipton. Bean ceased production of passenger cars in 1929, and for the next two years switched to commercial vehicles. After 1931, Bean switched ventures again - this time to making car parts. It was a key supplier for the largest independent British carmaker - British Motor Corporation, British Leyland, Austin Rover, Rover Group and most recently MG Rover - until the business closed due to financial problems in late 2005. The Tipton part of the Bean site was demolished shortly afterwards and developed for housing, but the Coseley section was not demolished until the summer of 2008. The land has yet to be developed.

Cannon Industries, famous for producing gas and electric cookers, was based in Coseley from 1861 until the closure of its Havacre Lane factory in 1993. However, the bulk of the factory buildings were retained as Cannon Business Park, a mix of industrial and commercial ventures.

The main "high street" in Coseley is Castle Street. Most of the current buildings have been built since the 1960s. A by-pass was opened on 23 August 1989, incorporating a widened section of Green Street to relieve congestion in the town centre.