GENUKI: Tipton

Staffordshire
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Staffordshire
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Tipton

"Tipton parish is a populous district, bounded by Dudley, Bilston, Darlaston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich parishes, and containing about 3000 acres of land, most of which is either built upon, or occupied by the owners of the extensive and valuable mines of coal and ironstone, or by the public roads and canals. The Birmingham Canal here has many branches which completely insulate a large portion of this parish, which is also crossed by the South Staffordshire Railway, which has stations here at Great Bridge and Dudley Port. The Stour Valley Railway will have a station here at Tipton Green, which is not yet opened. The Marquis of Anglesey is lord of the manor, but it is let to Wyrley Birch, Esq, on a long lease. The other principal owners of the soil are Lord Ward, Sir Horace St Paul, Thomas Fletcher, Esq, Messrs Dixon & Co, and some of the other coal and ironmasters.
Tipton Green, the largest village in Tipton parish, is one and a half miles N of Dudley, and three miles S of Bilston, and consists of a number of populous streets, with several wharfs, manufactories, and retail shops. Branching eastward are the neighbouring villages of Bloomfield, Burnt-Tree, Dudley Port, and Horseley Heath, the three latter of which form one continuous street of houses and manufactories, extending two miles on the Birmingham road, and a little beyond them are the large villages of Toll-End and Great Bridge, the latter of which is partly in West Bromwich, and has a railway station, three miles ENE of Dudley.
Gospel Oak and Princes End are two villages about one and a half miles N of Tipton Green, and partly in Sedgley parish. Within a mile E of the latter, is the hamlet of Lea Brook, and the village of Ocker Hill, at the north end of the parish, one mile SW of Wednesbury."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]

Parishes

Bibliography

'A History of Tipton, Staffordshire'
by John Parkes
Published 1915, by Elton & Brown, Tipton.

'Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry
into the Sanitary Conditions of the Parish of Tipton'
by W Ranger
Published 1855, by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London.

'Any Road Up. Memories of Life in Tipton'
by Heather Wastie
Published 1998, by Moving Finger, Smethwick.

'Tipton, Wednesbury & Darlaston in Old Photographs'
by Robin Pearson
Published 1989, by Alan Sutton, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

'Tipton in Old Photographs'
by John Brimble & Keith Hodgkins
Published 1995, by Alan Sutton, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

'Tipton in Old Photographs. A Second Selection'
by John Brimble & Keith Hodgkins
Published 1997, by Alan Sutton, Stroud, Gloucestershire.

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Census

The population of Tipton parish was as follows:
1801 -- 4,280
1811 -- 8,407
1821 -- 11,546
1831 -- 14,951
1841 -- 18,891
1851 -- 24,872
1861 -- 28,870
1871 -- 29,445
1881 -- 30,013
1891 -- 29,314
1901 -- 30,543

A surname index only of the 1851 census for Tipton is included in the 1851 Staffordshire Census Surname Index Vol 16, Dudley District, Part 1 (Rowley Regis & Tipton) published by the Birmingham and Midland SGH.

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Church History

Church of England History
For Anglican church history see individual Parishes

Nonconformist Church History
In various parts of the parish are no fewer than 15 dissenting places of worship.
There are five Wesleyan Methodist Chapels at Dudley Port, Great Bridge, Bloomfield, Lower-Green, and Gospel Oak.
The New Connexion Methodists have two chapels, at Dudley Port and Canal Street.
The Primitive Methodists have four chapels at Toll-End, Dudley Port, Chapel Street, and Waterloo Street.
There are two Baptist Chapels at Princes End and Toll-End, one Independent Chapel in Union Street, and one Unitarian Chapel in Waterloo Street.

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Church Records

Church of England Registers
For Anglican church records see individual Parishes

Nonconformist Church Registers
The original registers are deposited at Sandwell Archives (SA), Staffordshire Record Office (SRO) or the Public Record Office (PRO) as indicated below:
Bell Street, Tipton, Primitive Methodist, Baptisms 1843-47, 1859-1978 (SA)
Bloomfield, Tipton, Wesleyan Methodist, Baptisms 1823-1837 (PRO), Baptisms 1846-1977 (SA), Marriages 1932-1970 (SRO)
Canal Street, Tipton, New Connexion Methodist, Baptisms 1868-1965 (SA), Marriages 1960-63 (SRO)
Coppice Street, Tipton, Wesleyan Methodist, Baptisms 1918-1964 (SA)
St Paul's, Dudley Port, New Connexion Methodist, Baptisms 1858-1966 (SA), Marriages 1944-1966 (SRO)
Dudley Port, Primitive Methodist, Baptisms 1847-1870 (SA)
Dudley Port, Wesleyan Methodist, Baptisms 1847-1894 (SA)
Gospel Oak, Tipton, Wesleyan Methodist, Baptisms 1841-1987 (SA), Marriages 1899-1981 (SRO)
Horseley Heath, Tipton, Methodist, Baptisms 1860-1926 (SA)
Ocker Hill, Tipton, Wesleyan Methodist, Baptisms 1841-1970, Marriages 1877-1912 (SA)
High Street, Princes End, Tipton, Primitive Methodist, Baptisms 1876-1971 (SA)
Summerhill, Tipton, Primitive Methodist, Baptisms 1865-1972 (SA)
Tipton Green, Wesleyan Methodist, Births & Baptisms 1809-1837 (PRO)

'Tipton Nonconformity' published by the Birmingham & Midland SGH, includes baptismal registers of Bloomfield and Tipton Green Wesleyan Methodist Chapels and other nonconformist material.

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Directories

'The Trades Directory of Wolverhampton, Wednesfield, Bilston, Willenhall, Sedgley, Tipton, Wednesbury, Darlaston & Moxley' was published by Jones & Co, London, in 1862.

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Occupations

"The parish is celebrated for the richness of its coal and ironstone, and for the number and extent of its iron furnaces, forges, and rolling and slitting mills, where immense quantities of pig, bar, rod and sheet iron are produced weekly. Many of the inhabitants are also employed in the manufacture of cast iron articles, steam engines, boilers, chain cables, anchors, fire irons, hinges, screws, nails, etc.
For the World's Exhibition in London, in 1851, a large piece of coal, weighing no less than from five to six tons, was got out of Mr Round's colliery, at Tividale. It was cut in a circular shape, and measured six feet high, and 18 feet in circumference, and the surface was remarkably smooth, and bright as a looking glass.
At Ocker Hill are five powerful steam engines, employed in pumping water from the lower to the higher level of the Birmingham Canal, a height of 60 feet. The parish is supplied with gas from the works at West Bromwich."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851)

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Poorhouses, Poor Law etc

Tipton parish became part of Dudley Union following the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.
Dudley Union had its principal workhouse at Dudley in Worcestershire, but the union also used the old Tipton workhouse for the reception of children. .