Rowley Regis

The dominant feature of Rowley Regis are the Rowley Hills; this is where the historic township of Rowley, a small ancient village ontop of the hills, is found together will the hamlets of Perry’s Lake, Gadds Green, Tipperty Green and Turners Hill, all within a mile of Rowley Church (1). Below the hills are the industrial towns of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill which together with Rowley were originally in South Staffordshie in the Rowley Regis Urban District which was formed in 1894. Since a number of local authority reorganisation it is now one of the four council wards in the municipal borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands: Rowley Regis, Cradley Heath, Old Hill and Tividale - but more on some of these in later pages.

The history of Rowley Regis began in the 12th century, when a small village grew around the parish church of St. Giles. Rowley was part of the Royal hunting grounds and Regis was added to the name of Rowley in around 1140 to signify it was that part of Rowley belonging to the King.

Rowley Hills, which form part of a watershed between the Severn and Trent rivers, were important geologically and economically as the source of a hard stone known as Rowley Rag, a hard grey dolerite rock which has been used since Roman times as a road stone (2). Its hardness is why the Rowley Hills stand above the surrounding landscape: the rock erodes only slowly. Rag is an abbreviation of ragstone, a rock with a ragged shape used as an aggregate in road building. It was also used as rough blocks for buildings such as St Giles Church, Rowley, and field walls, kerbstones, gutters and sets.

After producing Rowley Rag on an industrial scale for about 200 years the last quarry closed in 2008.

Coal seams lay under the Rowley Rag geological formations and these were exploited too although coal mining was much more common in the lower land around the hamlets of Old Hill and Cradley Heath below the hills. Coal mining on the hills themselves was particularly demanding because the coal lay below a thick overlayer of the hard rag stone.

As well as quarrying and coal mining the locals made wrought iron nails and chain, mostly carried out in small workshops behind the houses; the whole family were involved with the children often starting work at the age of six! The importance of these trades can be seen from the Rowley Regis Borough Coat of Arms shown in the header of this page.

As you can see below, not all of Rowley Hills are an industrial site as the photos from Portway Hill and Warren's Hall nature reserve (4) show.