Wednesbury: born and bred #photography

I live in Wednesbury, the town that Jeremy Clarkson, formerly of Top Gear, hates. It is well known for it’s two churches, St Bartholomew’s and St Mary’s, that stand on the hill overlooking the town. St Bartholomew is the patron saint of Wednesbury. St Bartholomew’s day is the 24th of August, we should celebrate!

This is Hydes Pool in Woden Road South. Woden was the Anglo-Saxon God the town was named after. Where those two churches are now it’s said Ethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great built a Buhr, a sort of fort or castle. She fought against the Vikings around the year 916.

Wednesbury has a Victorian Park, Brunswick Park, where the annual carnival is held. There are also fairs held there and bonfire night fireworks. There was even a circus a couple of years ago.

Before the days of motor cars, a trip to the park was quite a treat. Many of the original features like the water fountain, paddling pools and the pavilion are long gone. The newer features include, keep fit equipment and a skateboard thingy.

Wednesbury is now part of the six town Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell and governed from Oldbury. It’s in decline and it’s best features seem to be falling in to decay. It’s where I was born and have always lived, so I’ll stick around for a bit longer. One really good thing about Wednesbury; you won’t run into Clarkson or his mate Dave or any of the other Chipping Norton set! .

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