Sedgley

Template:GBmap Sedgley is a town in the West Midlands of England. It was originally a series of villages: Sedgley, Cotwall End, Upper Gornal, Lower Gornal, Gospel End, Gornalwood, Woodsetton, Ettinghsall, Coseley and Brierley Hill.

In 1897, the villages of Coseley, Ettingshall and Brierley broke away from the Manor of Sedgley to form the Urban District Council of Coseley. At the same time, Sedgley Urban District Council was formed to include the rest of the manor.

Sedgley Urban District Council survived until 1966 when it became part of Dudley County Borough, which at the same time also took in the urban district councils of Coseley and Brierley Hill. Some parts of Coseley became part of Wolverhampton County Borough.

Sedgley really developed from a village into a town after the Second World War when thousands of residential and commercial properties were developed across the area. Most of the houses in Sedgley were built in the 1950s and 1960s.

Many pre-1900 buildings in Sedgley survive to this day. They include Queen Victoria Primary School (1897), All Saints Church (1805) and the early 19th century Court House which was originally the local court of law but is now a public house. Sedgley used to have a pleasant image but it was ruined in the 1990s after several wine bars opened in the town centre and revellers began to desecrate property.

Sedgley U.D.C built its fair share of council properties after the Great War. The first major development was the Beacon Estate, in the shadow of the Beacon Hill, which was constructed in the late 1920s. The town's largest postwar housing development is the Northway estate which is almost totally privately owned houses built between the late 1950s and mid 1970s.

Sedgley Beacon Hill is 777ft. above sea level and is the second highest point in the West Midlands. It is well-known for fossils. The hill was once the site where beacons were lit to warn local people of invaders. Sedgley Beacon Hill offers outstanding views across The Black Country, Cannock Chase and Birmingham to the east and to the Wrekin, Clee Hills and Mal;vern Hills to the west, and on very clear days it is possible to see the hills of North Staffordshire and Derbyshire, as well as the mountains in both North and South Wales

A £4million lottery grant made up most of the £5.5million spent on building an arts/sports complex at the town's Dormston School. The complex was opened in 2000, housing a theatre, sports hall, gymnasium and art gallery. Dormston School was opened in 1935 and although the main building survives, several more modern buildings have been built to accommodate the ever increasing number of pupils.

In 1961, Sedgley U.D.C built a grammar school about half a mile from the town centre called High Arcal School. It was a grammar school for 17 years until 1978, when it became a comprehensive school controlled by the new Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.

Cotwall End Nature Reserve was for many years a popular attraction for young children because of its free entry, but it was recently bought off the council and it now costs money to visit the place.

In spite of all the modern housing developments which have changed the face of Sedgley since 1920, the town still has many reminders of its origins as a Staffordshire village. Sedgley, which is in the DY3 postal district, is the birthplace of a handful of famous people. They include the former BBC newsreader Sue Lawley and former England goalkeeper Phil Parkes.

In May 2005, Sedgley was named by the Express and Star newspaper as one of the most popular towns in central England among homeowners.