Netherton, West Midlands
| Netherton | |
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 View of St. Andrews Church, Netherton, with nearby Merry Hill Centre in the foreground |
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 Netherton
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| Netherton shown within the West Midlands | |
| Population | 15,017 (2011 Ward. Netherton,Woodside and St Andrews) |
| OS grid reference | SO944881 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DUDLEY |
| Postcode district | DY2 |
| Dialling code | 01384 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Netherton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, around 1.5 miles (2 km) south of Dudley town centre in the West Midlands of England but historically in Worcestershire. In the Black Country, Netherton is bordered by nature reserves to the east and west, and an industrial area and the Dudley Southern By-Pass to the north. The southern border is formed by the Mousesweet Brook.
The town's Anglo-Saxon origins can be deduced from the fact that Netherton means 'lower farm' in Old English (the corresponding 'upper farm' may have been the original settlement in present-day Dudley). For most of its history, Netherton was a small village centred around the point where a brook crossed the Baptist End Road, near the boundary of Pensnett Chase, a partially wooded common. Netherton is mentioned in legal records dating from 1420 and the first mention of a Netherton nailor, an occupation that became very important locally in later years, is dated 1559. The village is called 'Nederton' in the earliest available documents. The village was included in the Manor of Dudley, which was a Lordship of the Barons of Dudley who once owned a manor house in Netherton. This property is mentioned in documents dating from the 15th–17th centuries.
In the 17th century, a Baptist Congregation (the Messiah Baptist Church) started meeting in Netherton. The church book for this congregation lists the names of those baptised from the year 1654. Netherton is shown in Joseph Browne's 1682 map of Staffordshire, although like its larger neighbour Dudley, it lay in a small enclave of Worcestershire completely surrounded by Staffordshire. In 1684, King Charles II of England granted a charter to Netherton allowing the village to hold an annual market fair. The fair was held in Netherton's market place in the last week of October until 1848. Although records of local government in the early years of Netherton are rather scarce, records exist of the procedures of the Court Leet of the barons of Dudley from the year 1701. Two juries were sworn in: one to deal with the town of Dudley and one to oversee the 'foreign' which is the name given to areas of the manor outside of Dudley town. Netherton was part of the foreign. In 1729 the court ordered the construction of a pair of at Netherton to 'punish such as the Law directs'.
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