New Invention, Walsall

New Invention is a small, suburban commuter village three miles north of the town of Willenhall and four miles east of the city of Wolverhampton in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, although formerly South Staffordshire, England. It is situated halfway between Walsall and Wolverhampton on the main A4124 and A462 roads.

About the name "New Invention", Timmins notes:

This hamlet owes its strange name to a simple circumstance. The tennant of the first house erected there was annoyed by a smoky chimney, and he contrived an ingenious apparatus to remedy the evil. ... he invited every visitor to see his 'new invention' as he called it. ... it was applied to distinguish his house ... and others ... adopted it also.

Hackwood states that the invention was "a hawthorn bush which was pushed out the top of his chimney."

It has rich coal deposits and a significant mining past, with many extensive mines being located in the area during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including primarily 'The Sneyd Colliery'. One present day landmark still running through the village, having extensive ties with the coal mining history of the area, is the Wyrley and Essington Canal. The 'Curly Wyrley' was once used to transport coal via narrowboat to fuel industry in the neighbouring industrial havens of Walsall, Wednesbury and Dudley, seeing that New Invention, and Black Country, coal played a key part in the success of the British Empire. The coal and industry has now disappeared and the canal serves as a scenic walk through woods and green belt land toward the factory lined towpaths of Walsall.

The village also has strong links to the area's lock and key making history, with two major factories formerly being located here, 'Yale' locks and 'Squires' locks. Yale closed during the 1980s and Squires was demolished during the mid-2000s, due to the age of the building, and relocated in Essington. A new housing development has now been built on the land of the former factory.

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