Sandwell’s present urban appearance is largely the result of industrial
development since the eighteenth century. However, the remains of early Sandwell
can still be found in the surviving buildings, earthworks, archaeological
remains, objects, street patterns, maps and documents. The name Sandwell draws
on the core of the area’s history. An ancient spring in sandstone rock provided
people about 8,000 years ago in Mesolithic or “Middle Stone Age” with a constant
source of fresh water and became known as the ‘sand well’. The name stuck and
the area where the spring still flows today is called Sandwell Valley and is the
site of the borough’s top tourist attraction, Sandwell Park Farm.
A lot of remains from the
Medieval period survive in Sandwell. Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Oldbury, and
Rowley Regis were all mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086. Industrial
activities increased rapidly from the mid eighteenth century. The combination of
natural resources such as iron ore, along with the establishment of reliable
transportation provided by the canal system (first built by James Brindley
1769-1772), launched Sandwell into the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.
The railways started to replace the canal network from the 1850’s and, as raw
materials became exhausted, the secondary engineering and fabricating industries
replaced them. Most of Sandwell is now built up and dates from the nineteenth
century and Victorian periods.
Sandwell lies at the centre of the
West Midlands with a population of around 282,904 people. It is one of seven
metropolitan boroughs in the West Midlands. Sandwell is the most densely
populated area in the West Midlands region, covering 8600 hectares, and
incorporates six existing towns namely Rowley Regis, Oldbury, Wednesbury,
Smethwick, West Bromwich and Tipton.
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