Low Hill
| Low Hill | |
|---|---|
 Low Hill
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| Low Hill shown within the West Midlands | |
| Population | 2,888 (2001 Census - Low Hill Priority Neighbourhood) |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WOLVERHAMPTON |
| Postcode district | WV10 |
| Dialling code | 01902 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Low Hill is in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, within the Bushbury South and Low Hill ward.
The place name, Low Hill comes from Old English 'hlæw', meaning tumulus or mound - often those used for burial, with hill added at a later date. The antiquary, John Huntbach, noted that the Battle of Tettenhall / Wednesfield was likely fought in the vicinity of Low Hill, quoting the names of several lows in the vicinity - the North Lowe, the South Lowe, Horslowe (in the area of Horseley Fields - where the name comes from), Little Lowe, Tromelow (the more recent local name 'Rumbelows' comes from this), and so on.
The land was purchased by Wolverhampton council for housing development in 1924 to enable the construction of new homes to let to families being rehoused from town centre slums. More than 2,000 houses were built at Low Hill between 1925 and 1929, making it one of the largest housing estates in the country at the time, and by far the largest in Wolverhampton.
Prior to the 1920s, the area was very rural, with scattered farms and houses such as Showell Farm, Low Hill House, Old Fallings Farm and Old Fallings Hall connected by a series of ancient bridleways. When the new estate was built, a completely new road layout was put down with it, obliterating the old route systems and changing the landscape almost completely.
The estate was conveniently located for people working in the local manufacturing industry, particularly the Guy Motors bus factory in Park Lane and the Goodyear plant in Stafford Road. As late as 1971, unemployment in Low Hill was a mere 4%, although there was concern among local residents about the deteriorating condition of housing on the estate, largely blamed on the council's alleged failure to maintain the properties to an adequate level.
Low Hill was a popular destination for Wolverhampton's Commonwealth immigrant population, with more than 200 such families living there by the 1970s.
However, the recession of the mid 1970s saw unemployment on the estate rise, and unemployment rose again in the early 1980s as a result of another recession. The closure of the Guy Motors factory in 1982 was easily the biggest blow to hit the workforce of Low Hill. By this stage, local crime rates were rising and Low Hill was widely regarded as one of the worst districts of Wolverhampton.
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Wikipedia