2025 Barnett-Genge Lecture: A Perfect Place to Live

The tenth Andrew Barnett & Trevor Genge Memorial Lecture takes place on Thursday 9th October at 7:30 pm in St. Andrew's Church, Bilston Street, Sedgley. The speaker is Ned Williams the popular Black Country historian and author of over fifty books recording every aspect of life & times in our villages and towns.

Ned will be exploring 20th century housing projects promising ideal places to live. Locally Wolverhampton's Fallings Park was described as a 'garden suburb' (and even Sedgley featured in the 1930s with 'Goldthorn Hill Garden City' an ambitious private estate!).

Nationally the Garden Cities of Letchworth and Welwyn together with the model villages of Bournville in Birmingham and Port Sunlight on the Wirral were all trailblazers in the drive to build well-planned environments.

At this meeting find out how some of these remarkable schemes developed and if they have stood the test of time.

Admission is £2 – exact amount appreciated. Visitors are always welcome.

[Schoolteachers, Andrew Barnett and Trevor Genge were co-founders of the Society in 1984. Andrew launched the Sedgley Local History Museum (closed 2004) and Trevor published five books on the Sedgley Manor villages. Both were avid researchers and staunch supporters of conservation projects.]

The SLHS 2025 / 2026 Programme

The 2025/2026 Programme promises a season of informative and stimulating talks from local experts.

Take your pick from presentations covering urban housing projects, Home Front reactions to the Great War, short films, the history of Dudley Castle, Birmingham's criminals and gangsters and, in May, Smethwick's famous Soho works. As usual there's something for everyone.

Meetings take place at St. Andrew's Church on Bilston Street in Sedgley, and are scheduled for Oct / Nov 2025 and Jan / Feb / Mar / May 2026. The Society is very friendly and, as always, visitors will be most welcome.

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.

Please note that genealogy isn't a prime interest of SLHS - it's a huge specialist area in its own right. We provide a list of useful sites on our genealogy links page that will help you to begin your research, however if you have a specific query drop us a line!

2025 – Summer Teaser

This was a Black Country landmark for fifty years. Name the location and try to discover the surprising story.

Send an email if you have any ideas.

Sedgley Heritage Trails

During 2019 two trails were researched covering nearly forty places of interest within easy walking distance of Sedgley Bull Ring.

A leaflet was then prepared by Sedgley Evening Townswomen's Guild with support from Sedgley People's Archive and Sedgley Local History Society. There was specialist help and advice from Dudley MBC who printed the final version.

The trails can be followed using the street map alongside notes and pictures.

Follow this link to download a copy of the leaflet and enjoy the trails.