Hagley

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, but the whole village had a population of perhaps 5,600, including the part in Clent parish. It is in Bromsgrove District.

The name Hagley refers to the area of the original village, near Hagley Hall. The majority of what is today known as Hagley is strictly West Hagley. This area grew up in the late 19th century near the railway station and contains the shopping area and 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, and is joined to Stourbridge and the Black Country by the A491; The village lies at the foot of the Clent Hills.

Hagley 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, 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), Hagley lacks the essential characteristics of a market town. 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, 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.