Telling Tales – Sources for local & family history

The next meeting of the Society takes place on Thursday 13th November at 7:30 pm in Sedgley Community Centre, Ladies Walk, Sedgley.

The speaker is Christine Buckley who has a passionate interest in family history. She will be talking about the challenges of tracking down local families using sources common to local historians and genealogists.

Christine’s presentation will highlight the need to consult original documentation and even then question evidence and entries. No doubt she will be sharing her research tips and mentioning pitfalls in the quest to help others on the ancestral trail.

The fabric of Sedgley and its inhabitants are closely entwined. Christine’s research has turned up fascinating links and there are stories to tell.

As usual visitors are invited to come along. Individual talks cost £1 or take a full year’s membership – a bargain at £4 with free access to the programme of talks.

2008 Autumn Teaser

Poignant memorials can be found throughout the Manor. Check out the significance and location - send us an email with your answers.

2008 Summer Teaser Answer

This place of worship has nearly reached its 160th birthday, but what is its name and location?

This view of the interior of Upper Ettingshall Methodist Church was taken in October 2004. Built on Upper Ettingshall Road in 1850 to hold 300[!], it was once known as Sodom Primitive Methodist. The organ dates from 1924.

Sedgley Local History Society [SLHS]

Sedgley Local History Society [SLHS] is a Black Country group based in the village of Sedgley, which is situated at the northern tip of Dudley Metropolitan Borough and just 3 miles south of the centre of Wolverhampton.

Here, the heritage of the Manor of Sedgley, in south Staffordshire, is focused through its nine villages - Sedgley, Gospel End, Cotwall End, Upper Gornal, Lower Gornal, Woodsetton, Coseley, Ettingshall and Brierley. A history of people, places and events.

Please contact us if you have any comments, suggestions, contributions or questions.

2008/2009 Programme

The current programme of talks is available here. Additional details will be added throughout the season.

Sedgley Journal - Number 2 - November 2008

The Society is printing an occasional news-sheet cribbing part of a title from a weekly Victorian newspaper.

The news is new even if the name is old. 'Read all about it' here.

Note this document is a PDF download: to read PDFs you will need Adobe Reader - reliable, safe, and available free from Adobe at this site.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... The Grand Junction

The High Holborn pub closed in 2006 and was put up for sale in May 2008. The building has a certain amount of protection as it is locally listed and situated in Sedgley’s All Saints conservation area, but future use is more problematic.

The toll road to Tipton was opened in 1843 suggesting the Gornal stone property dates from the 1830s/40s. It was most likely named after George Stephenson’s Grand Junction Railway [opened in 1837].

Although inside is much changed, externally it is interesting with ‘blind’ windows constructed to avoid a window tax lasting until 1851. One cunningly designed vertical window, overlooking Tipton Street, allowed light downstairs and upstairs – two for the price of one!

Sedgley’s last tram left from the Junction on November 6th 1926 for a journey to the Struggling Man pub in Dudley. This marked the end of an era started with horse drawn double-deckers in 1882.

The Junction’s location at the meeting of the Tipton road with the main Wolverhampton/Dudley road and a few steps away from a tram stop, [later two bus stops], made the bar a natural meeting place. However, lack of car parking and room to expand have left the pub under developed in recent years and custom has drifted away. Last orders may have been called.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... Woodsetton Methodist Church

Opened on December 5th 1882 the Wesleyan chapel and Sunday school had a clear view of Parkes Hall Road joining Tipton Road. Now hidden behind houses and an electricity substation both buildings are easily missed.

Known locally as ‘The Little Chapel’ or ‘The Rhubarb Chapel’ and latterly as ‘The Chapel under the Hill’ the neat brick buildings originally cost £841, paid to John Jones & Sons of Sedgley. Over the years dedicated congregations funded upgrades to heating and lighting, donated stained glass windows, and contributed to extensions and the never-ending cycle of redecoration and repairs.

Sadly this locally listed chapel closed in December 2007 bringing Methodist traditions in Swan village to an end. [The last service at nearby Mount Tabor Methodist was Easter 1998.] Mounting maintainence costs took their toll – an oft-repeated story throughout the Black Country. Now the future is bleak. Rumours of demolition always overshadow such closures. The Society will follow the news hoping a suitable reuse, as in the case of Mount Tabor, will save the Victorian buildings.

The north-east views, taken in January 2008, show the church and the Sunday school at the rear.