Warley

Warley gets its name from "Waer-wulf's Ley" which later became corrupted to Werneleye and then Wernley. Warley used to be a county Borough in its own right before its merger into the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 1974. Prior to that the re-organisation of local government in the West Midlands on 1st April 1966, saw the County Borough of Smethwick and The Municipal Boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis being incorporated into the newly formed Borough of Warley.

Warley would have consisted of a series of scattered villages of which many can trace their origins back to the twelfth century or earlier. The Industrial Revolution and growth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centureis ensured that these village became towns and important industrial centres of the West Midlands. The motto of the County Borough of Warley was that of Unity and Progress and this has been passed on to the Sandwell MBC who still use this motto today on the new Coat of Arms.

Warley was the centre of glass, iron, brass and engineering industries and noted for producing scales and weighing machines, steel tubes, chemicals and tar, nails and screws, plastics, electrical appliances, castings and other engineering products. Many world class firms operated from Warley. A high proportion of these have long gone or moved on as manufacturing suffered in the 70's and 80's. An important development for industry in Warley was the building of the Birmingham to Wolverhampton canal which passed through the area in the mid eighteenth century.

Now part of Sandwell and struggling to establish its individual identity against the nearby Birmingham, Warley has a significant history of tradition and contribution to the West Midlands region.

The Sandwell Council Website can be found at http://www.smbc.sandwell.gov.uk/