|
|
| |
Smethwick
- A Surprising Place!
Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement, Smethwick was an insignificant
hamlet in the parish of Harborne, Staffordshire, for most of its existence.
The sparse population lived on small farms and in cottages, scattered
between the heaths and woodland. Metalworking was present from at
least the 16th century, with many residents maintaining a small plot
of land and a few animals while also producing nails. During the 18th
century and early 19th centuries it was a popular location for the
country residences of Birmingham bankers and lawyers, before the Industrial
Revolution transformed Smethwick into a teeming 19th century boom
town specialising in engineering.
James Brindley's canal, cut in 1768-69 from Birmingham to the Black
Country, passed through northern Smethwick. The canal architecture
created by the requirements of taking the waterway over the rising
ground here remains largely Intact. Most notable are the 70ft deep
cutting created by Thomas Telford in 1827-29, spanned by his 154ft
Galton Bridge; and his Engine Arm Aqueduct, which carried coal to
the steam engine installed by Boulton & Watt in 1779 to re-circulate
the water through the lock system.
The presence of the canal attracted manufacturing industry, foremost
was Boulton, Watt & Co's Soho Foundry of 1796, from which the
steam engines powered the modern industrial development were exported
world-wide.Other prominent engineering companies, collectively employed
thousands of people, were Tangye's (hydraulic pumps and engines);
Guest Keen & Nettlefolds (screws, nuts & bolts); The Birmingham
Railway Carriage & Wagon Co, (premier quality rolling stock);
and the Birmingham Aluminium Casting Co. Ltd, later part of the Birmid
Qualcast group, There were also numerous ironworks.
Glassmaking was the second most important industry, most notably by
Chance's, who
made all the glass for the Crystal Palace In 1851 and provided lighthouse
equipment for
every maritime power in the world. Craftsmanship of the highest order
was achieved at
T.W. Camm's stained glass works, and at William Howson Taylor's Ruskin
ware art pottery
studio.
Men working in the fierce heat of foundries and glassworks needed
to drink in large
quantities to replace the body fluids that they lost. Brewing and
public houses have
therefore played a significant part in Smethwick's history! The key
figure in the brewing
industry was Henry Mitchell, especially after he moved his operation
to Cape Hill in 1878,
20 years later he went into partnership with William Butler and the
brewery underwent
massive expansion, Mitchells and Butlers were acquired by Bass Charrington
Ltd and sadly they were closed down at the end of 2003.
Almost all of the industrial giants closed during the upheavals of
the 1950-1970s, which saw the whole district transformed as housing,
roads and shopping facilities were modernised.
One survivor is Avery's (now called Avery-Berkel), who have a distinguished
record as the
world's largest manufacturers of machines for weighing, counting,
measuring and testing.
Today they are part of the GEC combine, and interest is awaking in
the significance on a
national scale of the derelict Soho Foundry buildings on their site.
Smethwick became a borough in 1899 and a county borough in 1907, gaining
a
reputation as a far-sighted and well run authority, Its independent
existence, in which the
town took great pride, ceased in 1966 on its absorption by the new
County Borough of
Warley, which became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell
in 1974.
|
|
