Old Hill

Old Hill is a small town, originally just a hamlet in mediaeval times, about half way between Dudley and  Halesowen.  The centre of the town, a crossroads between the Halesowen to Dudley and Cradley Heath to Rowley roads was known unsurprisingly as "The Cross".  The Halesowen to Dudley road originated as the 12th century Hales to Duddeleye pilgrim track running through Abbey lands and Royal forest from Halesowen Abbey to Duddleye Priory: the boundary between Abbey lands and the forest being marked by a stone cross on Hayseech Common near the current day Haden Cross Inn.  This track is mirrored in the A459 Halesowen to Dudley Rd. although later on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map the main route follows the high ground, leaving Halesowen by Furnace Lane, running up Combs Rd and Station Rd to rejoin the A459 route at Old Hill. The road from Old Hill up to Rowley, through Pike (Powke) Lane was another ancient mediaeval track.  The whole area then would have been forested, the river Stour rising in the Clent hills and running through to the lowland area of Old Dell (Old Hill) which was wooded with beech, hornbeam and oak, watered by the Mouse-sweet and Springfields brooks which then joined the Stour on its way through the Crada heath (Cradley Heath) and onwards to join the Severn (1).  The natural wooded scene at this time would have been very different from the industrial landscape which developed later in the 18th and 19th centuries, Old Hill is shown on Plott's 1686 map of Staffordshire so must have developed a sufficient importance by this date to justify its presence.  The enclosure map of 1821 gives more detail of how Old Hill was before it began to change with its collieries, brick making, and metal working industries.  From Pig Lane (now Barrs Rd.) down to Mousesweet Brook there were 16 farms, barns and houses in a still agricultural setting of largely open cultivated fields.  The centre of Old Hill between what were the Trinity Schools to the Cross was called Old Hill meadows, belonging to the Haden family.  Mousesweet Brook, which crosses the current A459 Halesowen near Mousesweet Lane in Old Hill, has an interesting history in that its name originates from Mootsmeet which is a place where an Anglo-Saxon Moot, or local village parliament, met to settle disputes and arrange community actions.  Interestingly at this time Readhall Hill (now Reddal Hill) was more populated than Old Hill itself and its McMillans Charity School, built in 1790, was substantial with annual subscriptions as well as number of free scholars (1).  By this time industries were just beginning to appear with Baremoor and Old Lion collieries and works such as Hayseech Forge and Corngreaves Iron works on the river Stour.  The Old Lion colliery in particular was the first coal pit of importance in the area and was developed from more primitive workings going back to the late 17th century but employing the latest technology with a Boulton & Watt steam engine in 1810.  The New British Iron Company became the most important industrial undertaking in the area growing with its iron and steel works, collieries. Running from its origin at the Corngreaves Iron works a mineral railways ran through the coke ovens near present day Cokeland Place, crossing Corngreaves Rd., Plant St. and Lawrence Lane to finally cross Halesowen Rd. by a bridge near the end of Mace St. on its way to Fly Warf on the Dudley Canal.  This was not the only railway associated with the New British Iron Company: other railways ran to under Reddal Hill Rd. to Cinderbank at Netherton and the Timbertree railway ran across Bell Vale carrying slag waste (1).

Old Hill, together with neigbouring Cradley Heath then became a centre of the chain making industry from the mid-nineteenth century (2), a period of industrial expansion and, simultaneously worker exploitation [3].   The production of small chain was largely done in small workshops known as "chain shops" at the rear of the terraced houses as "outwork".   The raw materials,  e.g. iron rods were provided by a chain manufacturer who often had their own chain works.  They collected the product of their outworkers for storage in their local warehouse and onward sale, there being a large demand for small chain in the transport and agricultural industries.  Shamefully, although there seems to be a lack of written records it is probable that chain and collars were exported to the United States and the Caribbean for use in the slave trade (5): not that the chain makers would have been aware of this, working as they did in conditions not dissimilar to slavery themselves.  The manufacturing of  chain in backyard workshops was at its maximum in the 1800s.  An example of this was the Eliza Tinsley Company of Reddal Hill Rd. (3) who had approximately 2000 outworkers in 1896.  Numbers declined in the 1900s as machine manufacturing was introduced but by 1934 there were still 72 chain shops and chain works in Old Hill, about a third of the total in Great Britain.  The development of Old Hill from 1798 can be seen in the series of map images; if you are from Old Hill you may be able to spot where you were born on the modern map and match it to the roads on the older maps, or see where your birthplace was just fields!

The strike rapidly became an international cause célèbre rallying public support across all sections of society, from trade unions to politicians and members of the aristocracy (6,7).  Donations flooded in, providing crucial strike pay that allowed the women, who had no personal savings, to survive (6,7).  The strike officially ended on October 22, 1910, when the last employer finally conceded (7).

Old Hill's other claim to fame is Haden Hill Park, a public park of historical and architectural interest, containing two remarkable buildings: the late 17th century Haden Old Hall and the Victorian Haden Hill House (8).  The Haden Hill estate potentially has roots in the 12th century, built up over hundreds of years by the Haden family beginning with the Norman gentleman Ricardo Haden who, it is thought, did service for King William in the Norman conquest.   Known as atte Haudene or De la Haudene they lived at or near the present Haden Old Hall (8).  Extension to the estate in the Rowley and Old Hill area began in 1270 and by 1660 names recongisable today such as Pigg's Lane (now Barrs Rd.), Tymbertree Pasture and Blackmore were included.  Henry Haden (1633–1675) was styled Yeoman but his eldest son, also Henry (b. 1658) was the first Haden to adopt the title of Gentleman (8).  Henry married Elizabeth Fullwood of Studley who brought a considerable dowry of £650, part of which was used to buy more land such as Old Hill Meadows (where Trinity Schools in the centre of Old Hill stood until recently) and Foleys Ground (the site of the present Cherry Orchard in Old Hill).  Henry died in 1736, the Haden line culminated with his grand-daughter Anna Eliza Haden (1790–1876), who died childless, leaving the estate to her half-brother’s nephew, George Alfred Haden Best in 1877 (9), on the condition that he incorporate the Haden name into his surname, thus he became George Alfred Haden Haden-Best who embarked on a major transformation of the estate, shifting it from a farm to a grand-style residence with parkland (10).  The residence, the large Victorian Haden Hill House next to the Old Hall, was designed with the modern conveniences of the era, including underfloor heating, piped water, flush toilets, and a gas supply (9).  The grounds were also landscaped to create walks and gardens that cleverly emphasised the scenic views south toward the Clent Hills while concealing the less attractive industrial landscape of the Black Country to the north (10).   George Alfred Haden Haden-Best was a local benefactor known for his philanthropy, funding education and supporting the local Sunday School.  He notably adopted two local girls, Emily Bryant and Alice Cockin, raising them as his own with an upper-class lifestyle (10).  George Haden-Best died in 1921 and Rowley Regis Urban District Council purchased Haden Hill House, Haden Hall, and the parkland following a public subscription.  This is not quite the end of the story: in 1934 the ancient hall built in its current style around 1531 had been unoccupied for over 50 yrs., considered dangerous and ready for demolition; but a great opposition grew up and following an appeal the hall was restored and re-opened (8).  Haden Hill House and Hall is now a museum, open to the public together with the park.   You can learn more of the history of the Haden Best and Bassano families and their houses in the High Haden area in an excellent YouTube video 

Near to Haden Hill is the historic Corngreaves Hall, a late 18th century building which fell into disrepair but more recently has been refurbished into luxury apartments.  The History of Corngreaves Hall by Margaret Bradley (11) has fascinating detail of the Attwoods and other families who lived at the hall as well as the associated mines, forges and steel works in the Corngreaves location.  The most prominent landmark in the town itself is the Church of the Holy Trinity on Halesowen Road (12) which has an interesting origin: its foundation in the early 1870s was a direct result of local religious discord within the Church of England:  group of worshippers, including Walter Bassano, nephew of George Alfred Haden Haden-Best, sought a more Protestant liturgy and evangelical style of worship than that practised at the existing St Luke’s Church in Cradley Heath, which had adopted a High Church form of worship (12).   Walter Bassano, in his top hat and gold watch chain, represented the old class of "squire" and when he went to church in his carriage drawn by black horses the locals would doff their caps as he passed (8).   His involvedment led to the construction of Holy Trinity, completed circa 1875 and the Trinity Schools on Halesowen Rd. in the centre of Old Hill in 1879.  Following the Elementary Education Act of 1870 making education compulsory for children betwen 5 and 13 School Boards were established to take over the running of schools from these charitable foundations.

Other notable benefactors to education in the Old Hill area were Lady Monnin of Rowley, Mr. George McMillan and the Rev. C. Stephenson, curate of Rowley, who founded Reddall Hill School in 1720, later rebuilt by Miss Haden of Haden Hall on the same Raddall Hill site and forming a model for one built at Rowley by Mr. Alfred Barr.  The Rev. Stevenson and Lord Ward (1) who gifted the land for the school had foreseen the rapid population growth in the area due to industrialisation and the need for early access to education for the children of the common people; education having previously been limited to the gentry e.g. at Halesown Grammar School. 

Much of the content of this page has been sourced from the book "The History of the Black Country" by J. Wilson Jones and the excellent website "Brief history of Old Hill by Mollymae" both referenced in the Bibliography.  Also in the Bibliography is a fascinating YouTube video by David England called simply "Old Hill".  There is an introduction by David England himself for about the first third of video with the actual content of Old Hill following.  You can find it here; if you look closely you might see the street you were born in!

References

1. The History of the Black Country by  J. Wilson Jones.  Publised by Cornish Bros, Birmingham, 1950.  OCLC Number (WorldCat): 1353185

2. Mollymae (July 10, 2015). "Brief history of Old Hill by Mollymae". Best's Angels. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

3. "Eliza Tinsley". Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

4. Moss, Ron (2006). Chain and Anchor making in the Black Country. Stroud: Sutton. pp. 15–17. ISBN 0750942215.

5. https://www.heritagecrafts.org.uk/craft/chain-making/#:~:text=Cradley%20Heath%20in%20the%20Black,anchor%20chain%20to%20dog%20chain.

6. "The women chainmakers of Cradley Heath". University of Warwick. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

7. "Women Chainmakers". TUC - Trades Union Congress. June 10, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

8. The History of the Black Country by  J. Wilson Jones.  Publised by Cornish Bros, Birmingham, 1950.  OCLC Number (WorldCat): 13531853 

9. "Haden Hill Park". Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

10. "Best's Angels". Best's Angels. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

11. The History of Corngreaves Hall by Margaret Bradley. https://static.wikitide.net/cradleylinkswiki/e/e9/History_of_corngreaves_hall.pdf

12. "Old Hill". Wikipedia. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

Bibliography

Mollymae (July 10, 2015). "Brief history of Old Hill by Mollymae". Best's Angels. Retrieved October 17, 2025.

Britain in Old Photographs: Cradley Heath, Old Hill & District by Ron Moss and Bob Clarke, 1998.  Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-7509-2066-1.

Old Hill by David England https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7wCs_MM-6Q