Fatal Transport Accidents in the West Midlands - 1820s to 1920s

The next meeting of the Society takes place on Thursday 14th November at 7:30 pm in St. Andrew's Church, Bilston Street, Sedgley. The speaker is Quintin Watt a retired history teacher and currently minute secretary of the Black Country Society. He is particularly interested in West Midlands history and First World War history.

Quintin's illustrated presentation covers a century of tragic mishaps on road, water and rail in the days when health & safety regulations were non-existent.

Stories of stagecoach incidents, canal drownings, runaway trains and trams reveal fascinating details of everyday life as well as the dangers of using public transport.

This is a chance to hear about accidents in familiar locations such as Wolverhampton, Tipton, Dudley and Brierley Hill as well as farther afield.

Do come along and bring your friends.

Admission is £2 – exact amount appreciated.

The SLHS 2024 / 2025 Programme

The 2024/2025 Programme promises a season of informative and stimulating talks from local experts.

Take your pick from presentations covering the Wren's Nest, transport accidents, short films, Woodsetton's pioneer of the iron industry, women in the glass industry and in May discoveries on local digs..... hopefully there's something for everyone.

Meetings take place at St. Andrew's Church on Bilston Street in Sedgley, and are scheduled for Oct / Nov 2024 and Jan / Feb / Mar / May 2025. The Society is very friendly and, as always, visitors will be most welcome.

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.

2024 – Autumn Teaser

The image shows a chapel built in 1777. It was replaced in 1830 and still welcomes worshippers today.

Send an email if you can name the chapel.

2024 – Summer Teaser Answer

A black horse in an unusual place! We asked what was the story?

In 1987 British Rail commissioned Kevin Atherton to create an art installation to run at the side of the line from Wolverhampton to Birmingham. It was proclaimed as 'the longest sculpture in the world' - 12 black silhouettes of horses titled "Iron Horses".

With the passage of time the metal structures suffered from graffiti, vandalism and rusting. Eventually one horse was recovered by local volunteers, fully restored and installed on Coseley Station, Platform One. Originally erected nearby in the Roseville section of the line it was aptly christened Rosie on relocation in 2023.

The artist returned in the summer of 2024 to see Rosie and thank the Bayer Street Allotments group who had successfully repaired the horse and negotiated with the rail companies for a prime position.

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!