Pensnett
| Pensnett | |
|---|---|
 Pensnett
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| Pensnett shown within the West Midlands | |
| Population | 12,923 (2011. Ward. Brockmoor and Pensnett) |
| OS grid reference | SO912890 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BRIERLEY HILL |
| Postcode district | DY5 |
| Dialling code | 01384 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Pensnett is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, situated 2.3 miles (3.7 km) south-west of central Dudley. Pensnett has been a part of Dudley since 1966, when the Brierley Hill Urban District, of which it was a part, was absorbed into the County Borough of Dudley, later the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley from 1974.
The present Pensnett covers a small portion of what was a large common called Pensnett Chase in Kingswinford parish, but contiguous with Dudley Wood in Dudley. As such, it belonged to the lords of the manor, descending as part of the Dudley estate from medieval times. With Dudley Wood, it is probably the woodland mentioned in the Domesday Book, as belonging to those manors. There is a rifle range on the chase at barrow bank which was being used for practice firing by volunteer regiments from at least 1860 through till 1920 with lots of martini henry bullets being found by local metal detectorists.
The name pensnett is from the Celtic 'pen', for hill and the Anglo-Saxon 'snaed' for 'a piece of woodland'. For many years, it was used as commonland, for animal grazing although also a hunting reserve of the lords of Dudley. Pensnett Chase was inclosed, under the Pensnett Chase Inclosure Act of 1784. This reserved mining rights to the lord of the manor, but included a clause to compensate people for mining subsidence, indicating the industry was well established in the area. The mining of coal and ironstone was long established, and probably goes back to medieval times.
The present settlement of Pensnett dates only from the period after the inclosure of Pensnett Chase. Pensnett was made part of the parish of St Mark's, Pensnett in 1844. Towards the end of the 19th century the face of the area began a period of dramatic change. Several factories were built in Pensnett and the factory workers were mostly employed in the iron and steel industries. Many terraced houses with shop fronts were developed along the village's High Street around the start of the 20th century, but the biggest changes were yet to come.
After World War I, Brierley Hill Urban District Council followed the example of almost every other local authority in Britain and built houses which were to be rented out to working-class families. Several hundred council houses were built in the Pensnett area between 1920 and 1966, although a large percentage of the village's homes were privately owned.
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Wikipedia