Editing Coseley (section)

==History==
{{Further|Coseley Swimming Baths}}
Coseley was originally a village in the ancient [[Manorialism|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 of health|Local Board District]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=23269|page=3706|date=2 July 1867|access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref> In 1875, the name was changed to Coseley Local Board District by order of the board and, in 1895, became [[Coseley Urban District]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24307|page=2018|date=21 March 1876|access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref> At this stage, most of the Coseley area was occupied by industrial and agricultural land; it was known during this time for its [[Carboniferous]] fossils.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Russell Garwood, Jason A. Dunlop & Mark D. Sutton |year=2009 |title=High-fidelity X-ray micro-tomography reconstruction of siderite-hosted Carboniferous arachnids |journal=[[Biology Letters]] |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=841–844 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2009.0464 |pmid=19656861 |pmc=2828000}}</ref>

[[File:Christ Church, Coseley - geograph.org.uk - 1084259.jpg|thumb|left|[[Christ Church, Coseley]], built 1827{{nbndash}}1830]]
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.

Coseley gained a [[movie theater|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 had a direct road link with [[Birmingham]] and Wolverhampton. The ''Birmingham New Road'', a dual carriageway, was laid out at this time.

[[Bean Cars]] opened a factory at Coseley in 1919, with another being in operation in central Dudley. The new factory was situated in the south-east of the district 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, as were its offices in Sedgley Road West, which had been taken over by Tipton Urban District Council by the end of the 1930s. 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 October 2005. Its demise was largely blamed on the closure of its key client MG Rover six months earlier. 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 redeveloped. The former Newey Goodman site, which was divided into industrial units after the company was broken up during the 1990s, was completely abandoned by 2014, but remains undeveloped.

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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB145_D8/ |title=Black Country History |website=blackcountryhistory.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725080910/http://blackcountryhistory.org/collections/getrecord/GB145_D8/ |archive-date=2011-07-25}}</ref> The original factory in Darkhouse Lane lay abandoned for many years but was demolished in 2018 and the site redeveloped for housing. The access road to the new housing development has been named Cannon Park Way.

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.

===Civic history===
{{See also|Coseley Urban District}}
Coseley was originally part of [[Staffordshire]]. Coseley was formerly a [[chapelry]] in the parish of [[Sedgley]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/633|title=History of Coseley, in Dudley and Staffordshire|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=1 October 2024}}</ref> in 1894 Coseley became an urban district, on 30 September 1903<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10276536|title=Relationships and changes Coseley CP/PA through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=1 October 2024}}</ref> Coseley became a [[civil parish]], being formed from the part of Sedgley parish in [[Coseley Urban District]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/dudley.html|title=Dudley Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=1 October 2024}}</ref> Coseley had unsuccessfully bid for [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough status]] in 1937.<ref>{{cite journal|title=London Gazette online archive|journal=The London Gazette|date=20 August 1937|issue=34428|page=5325|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34428/pages/5325|access-date=23 July 2013}}</ref> On 1 April 1966, the south of Coseley became part of the [[County Borough of Dudley]], part also went to the [[County Borough of Wolverhampton]], the [[County Borough of West Bromwich]] and the [[County Borough of Walsall]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Coseley UD through time|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10109050|publisher=Vision of Britain|access-date=6 April 2013}}</ref> The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 and merged with Dudley, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Walsall.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/rowley%20regis.html|title=Rowley Regis Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=1 October 2024}}</ref> In 1961 the parish had a population of 39,535.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10276536/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Coseley CP/PA through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=1 October 2024}}</ref> In 1974 it became part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Dudley]] in the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]]. However, the north of the Brierley area and most of [[Ettingshall]] were merged into the [[Wolverhampton]] County Borough instead, while a smaller area bordering [[Tipton]] was transferred into the expanded borough of [[West Bromwich]], in turn becoming part of [[Sandwell]] in 1974.

Numerous council housing estates were built by Coseley Urban District Council. Some of the first council estates to be built during the 1920s and 1930s included Ward Grove at Lanesfield, Hartland Avenue at Hurst Hill, Norton Crescent at Wallbrook and the Batmanshill Road estate near Princes End. The first sections of the Woodcross Estate were built in the 1930s, but most of Woodcross was built in the 1950s, along with a further housing estate at Hilton Road in Lanesfield and in the south of the district at Central Drive. A large section of the Wallbrook area was redeveloped with houses and three- and four-storey blocks of flats and maisonettes during the 1950s and 1960s. This includes the area around Spencer Avenue and Chaucer Close, which is now affected by high levels of crime, particularly graffiti, vandalism and drink-fuelled anti-social behaviour.

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 the Urban District Council in April 1966. They were demolished in about 1970.