Bromsgrove
Bromsgrove is the major town in the
Bromsgrove District Council area in the north east of
Worcestershire,
England. It is the main settlement in the district.
Bromsgrove currently has a fast growing population with its excellent links to the
A38 that cuts through the town, the
M5 motorway bordering the west side and the
M42 motorway starting at the north of the town. Bromsgrove also benefits from a relatively low crime rate. It is now a
dormitory town for
Birmingham.
History
The name
Bromsgrove may derive from the
Old English Brommsgraf, meaning a small wood frequented by highway robbers.An alternative source comes from the
Domesday book of
1086 where the town is mentioned as
Bremesgrave. Breme may have been a famous person and grave is a fortified clearing.
In its early days, Bromsgrove was a centre for the woollen trade, which went into decline before the 17th century.
The Bromsgrove Union
Workhouse, on the Birmingham Road, was opened in
1838 and closed in 1948 and is in use as offices.
Nail making was introduced by the
French Huguenots in the 17th Century and became a thriving industry. At one point Bromsgrove was the world centre of nail making. Mechanisation quickly put the industry into decline. In
1840, the
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway built a
maintenance facility.
Bromsgrove was home for many years to the world-famous "Bromsgrove Guild", a company of craftsmen who produced many fine works of sculpture, ironwork, etc., including the gates of Buckingham Palace (whose locks are stamped with the Guild's name), the lifts on the Lusitania and the famous statue adorning the
Fortune Theatre in Drury Lane. Details of these and other works are available in a recent book on the subject.
Major restoration of the
Norman and 13th century St John the Baptist church was carried out in 1858 by Sir
George Gilbert Scott.
[ The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 Penguin. p109]St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Worcester Road was built by
Gilbert Blount in 1858.
[The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968 Penguin. p110] The fish and chip shop above which
Lord Lucan was rumoured to have hidden in during the late
1970s has been demolished.
Born in Bromsgrove
*
Alfred Edward Housman,
1859,
poet.
*
Geoffrey Hill,
1932, poet.
*
Mark Williams,
1959,
actor.
*
Alan M. Smith,
1962,
footballer.
Bromsgrove is home to Bromsgrove Rugby Football Club, one of the oldest clubs in the country. Bromsgrove also hosts
Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. (
football) and Bromsgrove
Cricket Club.
Many of Bromsgrove's residents find employment in
Birmingham,
Redditch,
Worcester and other places along the motorway network.
MG Rover was a major employer of Bromsgrove residents until its collapse in May
2005.
Bromsgrove is still home to LG Harris Ltd, a maker of quality paint brushes. Though now most brushes are made in China to save the company money.
New business parks in Aston Fields, Buntsford Hill and Harris's Business Park are helping to revitalise the local economy. Bromsgrove District Council is aiming to create a technology corridor along the
A38 to take advantage of the area's excellent road links, partly to mitigate the effects of the MG Rover collapse.
The
Avoncroft Museum of Buildings has its home in Bromsgrove. This museum includes the National Telephone Kiosk Collection.
Since 2005, Bromsgrove has its own arts centre, the
Artrix.
Bromsgrove's nightlife scene was dominated by "Euphoria" (known to some locals as "Euph" or "Euthanasia"), a nightclub featuring a mixture of styles ranging from pure pop to commercial dance. As of
20 February 2006, Euphoria is now undergoing refurnishing, it will be opening
6 July 2006 and now called Aura. Popular pubs in the town-centre include The Red Lion, The Golden Cross Hotel, The Hogs Head and the Wishing Well. A Barracuda called the Rousler has opened in the High street. This large number of restaurants and pubs is beginning to make Bromsgrove a popular "night out" location.
Bromsgrove is close to the
Lickey Hills,
Clent Hills,
Waseley Hills, and to rural
Worcestershire and
Birmingham.
Schools
Bromsgrove schools use a three-tier education system (
First school,
Middle School,
High School). However, there are plans for this to be changed to a two-tier system in the future.
There are two high schools,
North and
South Bromsgrove High Schools. South Bromsgrove is a specialist school in foreign languages and I.T, noted for its extensive use of information technology. The outgoing headteacher, Philip "Big Phil" McTague was heavily involved in political action to correct the gap in funding between Worcestershire
state schools and others across the country. North Bromsgrove High School is currently preparing a bid for
specialist status in arts.
Most of the state schools, including the two high schools, are now being rebuilt in a PFI scheme. Most of this work should be finished by 2009.
Private Schools
Bromsgrove is also home to '
Bromsgrove School' (founded in 1553) a private, co-educational
independent school with three campuses catering for pupils from nursery to
sixth-form that offers boarding facilities.
Digby Jones, head of the CBI for many years, went to Bromsgrove School.
Further Education
Bromsgrove is the main site of
North East Worcestershire College, better known as NEW College.
Bromsgrove's MP is
Julie Kirkbride (Conservative). As a largely rural constituency with affluent residential areas, Bromsgrove is strongly conservative, swinging further to the Tories during Labour's major election win in 1997. The population has a small ethnic minority.
*
Bromsgrove District Council*
NEW College in Bromsgrove and Redditch*
Bromsgrove School*
Bromsgrove Advertiser (newspaper)*
Bromsgrove Rugby Football Club*
Bromsgrove Rovers FC*
Bromsgrove CAMRA Bromsgrove branch of CAMRA
(Campaign for Real Ale)*
The Red Lion No.1 pub in Bromsgrove for Real Ales.
(CAMRA Award winner for the last 2 years)*
North Bromsgrove High School*
The Artrix* Bromsgrove (Images of England) - ISBN 0752411462
* Glory Gone: The Story of Nailing in Bromsgrove - ISBN 0951352512
