Hagleyis a village andcivil parishinWorcestershire,England. It is on the boundary of theWest Midlandsand Worcestershire counties between theMetropolitan Borough of DudleyandKidderminster.Its estimated population was 7,162 in 2019.[1]
| Hagley | |
|---|---|
 St John the Baptist Church | |
  Hagley Location withinWorcestershire | |
| Population | 4,283 (2001) for Civil Parish; approximately 5600 for the whole village |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | STOURBRIDGE |
| Postcode district | DY8/9 |
| Dialling code | 01562 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Development
editFrom the time of theDomesday Bookuntil the 1933 boundary changes, the parish of Hagley extended southwards from the village to include the present parish ofBlakedown.The main focus of the village, on the lower slopes of theClent Hills,was on the outskirts, whereHagley Halland the parish church of St John the Baptist can be found. Theparish registerof Hagley is the oldest in England. It dates from 1 December 1538, which was the year in which registers were ordered to be kept in all parishes.[2]
Lower Hagley lies downhill and started to expand with the arrival of theOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railwayin 1852 and the eventual building ofHagley railway station.The growth of what is now known as West Hagley initiated a shift in the focus of the village.[3]Today it includes the shopping area and the schools, although the precise dividing line between the two areas is not formally defined.
Civil status
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Hagley is part of theWest Midlands Urban Areaas defined by theOffice for National Statistics,[4]and is joined toStourbridgeand theBlack Countryby theA491and B4187 (formerly part of the A450). It is also situated on theA456BirminghamtoKidderminsterroad. This is known as the Hagley Road inBirmingham,as it was once administered by aturnpike trust[5]whose responsibilities ended at the former boundary of the parish (now inBlakedown). There is also a frequent rail service betweenKidderminster and Birmingham.
Although Hagley has a population larger than some market towns (such asTenbury Wells) and once had its own cattle market, it lacks the marks of amarket town.[a][6]While it has a shopping street and many local services, it has little local employment beyond these, although unemployment is low: 2.6 per cent of the population at the time of the 2001 census.[7]Hagley is essentially adormitory villageforBirminghamor the adjacentBlack Country.
Prior to the creation of the Parish Council by theLocal Government Act 1894,village affairs were run by the ratepayers of avestrycommittee based on St John the Baptist Church. Presently, Hagley falls within the boundary ofBromsgrove DistrictCouncil, but it also has aParish Councilthat is responsible for some local sites and services. On this sit the elected District Councillors for Hagley East and West and a number of co-opted members; it also employs a Parish Clerk and Assistant Parish Clerk.[8]
History
editEvidence of previous habitation of the area is found inBronze Ageburial mounds in a field on Stakenbridge Lane which were excavated in the 18th century, and the laterIron Agehill fort onWychbury Hill.A Romansalt roadrunning fromDroitwichcrossed the Hagley parish to the west and there have been discoveries of Roman pottery and a coin hoard in the area. But the earliest written reference to the village is as Hageleia in the Domesday Book, when it formed part of the ClentHundred,later to be amalgamated into theHalfshireHundred.[9]
De Hagley lords of the manor first appeared in 1130, a connection lasting until 1411.[10]Intermittent ownership followed until the 1590s, when members of theLyttelton familytook up residence, a connection that has lasted until the present day. Among these,Sir John Lytteltonwas implicated inEssex's Rebellionand his brotherHumphreywas hanged, drawn and quartered for sheltering men involved in theGunpowder Ploton his Hagley estate, including his nephew Stephen. The most notable member of the family was the statesman and poetGeorge Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton,who landscaped the grounds at Hagley and replaced the old half-timbered hall with the presentPalladianmansion. His brotherCharles,eventually Bishop of Carlisle, was also born at Hagley and was buried there in the family church of St John the Baptist. Another of the family,William Henry,served as rector there from 1847 to 1884.[11]
Churches
editThe Domesday Book recorded that Hagley had a priest. The original wooden church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist was eventually rebuilt in stone under the De Hagley family, of which there are still traces. These include a mediaeval tomb, now incorporated into the north wall; a stone with an incised lion set into the back wall of thelady chapel;and two sandstone angels added to the 19th-century porch. From 1747 datesLouis-François Roubiliac’s memorial to Lucy Lyttelton; there is also an oval immersion font from this period, which was discarded after the virtual rebuilding of the church in Gothic style byGeorge Edmund Streetin the second half of the 19th century. It was then too that a red sandstone tower and spire were added to the building.[12]
While the church of St John the Baptist served the old village of Hagley, the development of West Hagley after the coming of the railway initiated the building of an overspill Mission church there in 1882, after which Church Street is named. In 1906 it was replaced by St Saviour’s Church on the corner of Park Road and Worcester Road. This consists of a towerless stone-built nave and chancel in whatNikolaus Pevsnerdescribes as "uninspired"Perpendicularstyle[13]and has a series of windows byFrancis Skeat.[14]There was also a nearbyPrimitive Methodist chapel,which gave Chapel Street its name. Built in 1857, it was replaced in 1905 by the Free Church now on Worcester Road, whose new building continues to play a central role in the community.[15]This union (non-denominational) church was the second such in the country.[16]
Rural industry
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Three watercourses starting from the slopes of the Clent Hills run through the village: Hagley Brook, rising within the bounds ofHagley Park;[17]Gallows Brook, dividing the former parish boundaries of Clent and Hagley;[18]and Clent Brook, on which lay the former Spout Mill, near where the Worcester and Kidderminster roads diverge south of the village. The brooks combined lower down to create Sweetpool (now encroached on by the railway line and silted up); beyond that was the 18th-century Brake Mill, where the stream was dammed to create the mill pool. Before the boundary changes of 1888, a number of ironworking mills established further downstream during theIndustrial Revolutiongave Hagley an industrial hinterland.[19]
Apart from the abortive Wassell Grove colliery opened during 1866–7, there was little heavy industry in the area. There is early evidence of glass-making in the village but this was probably only a cottage industry.[20]The inhabitants were predominantly engaged in agriculture; thirteen farms are recorded in the 18th century, eighteen in the early 20th, although by the end of it only two remained.[21]The soil is sandy and poor, so there was a greater emphasis on livestock than on arable farming.[22]Hagley had a cattle market by 1600, located just south of the road junction between the Hagley road [to Stourbridge] (A491) and the Birmingham road (A456). This was extended in both the 18th and 19th centuries and was served by the railway until the market closed in the 1960s.
Landmarks
edit- Hagley Hall,the home for several centuries of the Lyttelton family, whose head isViscount Cobham
- Hagley Park,which immediately surrounds Hagley Hall, consists mainly of 350 acres (1.4 km2) of landscaped deer park, although it also has a ruined Grade II* listedfollyand a recently restored Palladian bridge on the grounds.
- Wychbury Hillwith its "monument",anobelisk.
Notable residents
edit- Jon BentleyofChannel Five'sFifth GearandThe Gadget Show,lives in Hagley[23]
- Jude Bellingham,English national and international footballer, lived in Hagley during his childhood[24]
- Redditch-bornJohn Bonham,drummer forLed Zeppelin,lived in Hagley in 1969–1972.[25]
- William and Henry Bowles, 17th century poets and churchmen, were both born in Hagley and eventually became rectors inEnville, Staffordshire.[26]
- Adrian Chiles,presenter ofMatch of the Day 2and formerly ofThe One Show,grew up in Hagley[27]
- Andrew Downes,composer[28]
- Clive Everton(MBE),snookerprofessional and commentator[29]
- Jon Ford,professionalfootballerwith Swansea AFC,Bradford Cityetc.[30]
- Birmingham-bornDoug Hele,motorcycle engineer, died in Hagley in 2001.
- Jason Koumas,professional footballer, lived in Hagley when playing forWest Bromwich Albion[citation needed]
- TheLyttelton family,owners ofHagley Hall:
- Meriel Lyttelton,letter writer
- Emily Pepys,child diarist,[31]became the first wife of the rector, Rev.William Henry Lyttelton.
- Lucy Cavendish,née Lyttelton, advocate of women's education, was born at Hagley Hall.
- Dan O'Hagan,television football commentator andAlzheimer's diseasefundraiser[32]
- John Richards (MP),politician, sat in the House of Commons in 1832–1837 and served asHigh Sheriff of Worcestershirein 1844.[33]
- Halesowen-bornLee Sharpe,professional footballer withManchester Unitedetc., studied atHagley Catholic High School.[34]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^According to the definition inWest Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy,policy RR3.
- ^City Population. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
- ^Valentine 1891,pp. 265–266.
- ^Pritchard 1999,pp. 10, 14 (PDF 12, 16).
- ^Census 2001: Key Statistics for urban areas in the Midlands(PDF).Office for National Statistics.ISBN0-11-621745-6.Retrieved20 May2012.
- ^Hagley and Birmingham Road Act 1753(26 Geo. 2.c. 47)
- ^HHFS staff 2013.
- ^Hagley census profileArchived16 July 2011 at theWayback Machine
- ^Council site
- ^Pagett 1997, pp. 7–18.
- ^Pagett 1997, pp. 19–26.
- ^Pagett 1997, pp. 27–34.
- ^Church of St John the Baptist,British Listed Buildings
- ^Alan Brooks, Nikolaus Pevsner,Worcestershire,Yale University 2007, p. 340.
- ^"West Window".St. Saviour's, Hagley.flickr.Retrieved1 January2011.
- ^The Street Names of Hagley and their Origins,Hagley Field and Historical Society 2000.
- ^Don Moss,"Hagley Free Church",Hagley Field and Historical Society.
- ^Peter W. King, "The North Worcestershire scythe industry",Historical Metallurgy41 (2), 2007,p. 133
- ^Victoria County History - Worcestershire A History of the County of Worcester:Volume 3 (1913), Parishes: Hagley,pp. 130-36
- ^Watermill Sites in North Worcestershire,Hagley Historical and Field Society, 1993,pp. 29–30.
- ^Pagett 1997, pp.55-7
- ^Pagett 1997, p.50
- ^"Parishes: Hagley",A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 3 (London, 1913)
- ^Jon Bentley Ltd,VAT Record
- ^Adrian Chiles, "Jude Bellingham went to my school!",The Guardian,7 December 2022
- ^"Drumming",Biography on dedicated website
- ^John Chambers,Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire,Worcester 1820,pp.248-9
- ^Adrian Chiles, "Most teenagers seem to accept staying at home – I don't think my younger self would have",The Guardian,2 April, 2020
- ^"Justice for Hagley composer left disabled in hospital blunder",Stourbridge News,11 May, 2012
- ^"Why Birmingham is the real home of World Snooker Championship",Birmingham Live, 4 May, 2018
- ^Birmingham Mail,10 May, 2008
- ^The Journal of Emily Pepys,intr. Gillian Avery (London: Prospect, 1984).
- ^Stourbridge News,5 November, 2009
- ^Historic Hagley(HHFS),p. 25
- ^Craig Birch interview,Express & Star,10 September, 2016
References
edit- HHFS staff (2013),Industry and Transport,Hagley Historical and Field Society,retrieved4 May2013
- Pagett, Tom:An Introduction to the History of Hagley,Hagley Historical and Field Society, 1997
- Pritchard, Jean (1999),Hagley & Blakedown in the 19th Century: Domestic Service and Social Background(PDF),Occasional papers, Hagley Historical and Field Society 1999
- Smith, Jacky (2006),A Century of Parish Life,Hagley Church of England (Cofe)
- Valentine, Laura (1891),"Hagley Park",picturesque england its landmarks and historic haunts,London; New York: Frederick Warne & Co., pp. 264–268
External links
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