Redditch
From Freepedia
| Borough of Redditch | |
|---|---|
| Image:WorcestershireRedditch.png Shown within Worcestershire | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Borough |
| Region: | West Midlands |
| Admin. County: | Worcestershire |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 295th 54.25 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Redditch |
| ONS code: | 47UD |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density | Ranked 294th 79,216 1,460 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 94.8% White 2.7% S.Asian |
| Politics | |
| Redditch Borough Council http://www.redditchbc.gov.uk/ | |
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Labour |
| MP: | Jacqui Smith |
Redditch is a town and local government district in Worcestershire, England, just south of the West Midlands urban area. The district has a population of about 80,000 and is represented in Parliament by Jacqui Smith.
The first recorded mention of Redditch is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. During the Middle Ages it became a centre of needle-making. It was designated a new town in 1964 and the population increased dramatically from 32,000 to around 77,000. Entire new estates such as Church Hill, Matchborough, Oakenshaw and Winyates were created to accommodate the large overspill from an industrially expanding Birmingham. Now mainly a dormitory town with one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the country, it has some light industry and is also well-known in the region for its speciality Batchley Cheese. With the redevelopment of the flagship Kingfisher Shopping Centre in 2002 Redditch is undergoing an economic and cultural renaissance.
Contents |
Transport
Located in the heart of England, Redditch is an ideal point of departure for destinations in the surrounding region. The M42 motorway is a short drive away and it is linked by dual carriageways and A-class roads to surrounding towns such as Bromsgrove and Evesham. The Cross-City Line provides a regular train service via Birmingham New Street to Lichfield. There are regular bus services to Studley, Bromsgrove, Catshill and Birmingham.
There is an extensive network of local bus services run by First and other operators. Many services run from the bus station in the town centre, a postcard of which was voted Britain's most boring postcard in a competition run by the photographer Martin Parr.
Redditch is locally well known for its confusing road system dominated by a system of dual carriageways built when it became a "New Town". Due to their similar appearance drivers easily become disorientated, although the story of an elderly couple admitted to hospital with severe dehydration after spending more than sixty hours trying to navigate the highway system is an urban legend. Redditch was briefly famous for a tongue-in-cheek calendar featuring its "picturesque" roundabouts created by a local printing company, which proved so successful it has sparked a national series (http://www.roundaboutsofbritain.com/).
Places of Interest
- Bordesley Abbey: remains of a former Cistercian abbey, later used as a Royal Swannery.
- Forge Mill Needle Museum: exhibition of traditional needle making
The Kingfisher Shopping Centre, opened in 1978, is the town's primary retail centre and was well-known for its palm trees in the centre's main square. Originally a small troupe of spider monkeys inhabited these trees, but this marketing gimmick was dropped after protests from animal rights groups and from the parents of small children injured by items of fruit thrown by the monkeys. Unfortunately, however, these trees, and their accompanying fountain, have been removed by the Centre's management after health and safety fears relating to the central lowered section in the square.
Redditch is the home of the Royal Enfield motorcycle. This is where the factory of the original company was located. It kept manufacturing through the sixties, the last model being the Interceptor. In the mid fifties it established a partner Madras in India, who manufactured the Bullet model. The Indian factory is still very successful, with new Indian models. It has taken Royal Enfield into its third century of manufacturing. The English manufacturing ended in 1970.
Notable residents
- John Bonham (1948–1980) of Led Zeppelin was born in Redditch.
- Rik Mayall (1958–) (comedian) spent his early life in Redditch.
Local Dialect
Due to its geographical location Redditch was isolated from the Worcestershire vernacular, instead developing a distinguishable local mode of speech which owes more to the influence of nearby Warwickshire and Birmingham. The establishment of Redditch as a new town and the accompanying influx of migrants from the West Midlands area, along with the influence of national television, mean that particularly amongst the younger generation virtually all traces of a local dialect have been lost.
External links
- Redditch Advertiser
- Bus service information
- Brief history of Redditch
- Kingfisher Shopping Centre
- Redditch Standard
References
- Bonham, Mick. Bonham by Bonham: My Brother John (Solihull: Icarus Publications, 2003). ISBN 0954571703
| Districts of England - West Midlands | Image:England flag large.png |
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Birmingham | Bridgnorth | Bromsgrove | Cannock Chase | Coventry | Dudley | East Staffordshire | Herefordshire | Lichfield | Malvern Hills | Newcastle-under-Lyme | North Shropshire | North Warwickshire | Nuneaton and Bedworth | Oswestry | Redditch | Rugby | Sandwell | Shrewsbury and Atcham | Solihull | South Shropshire | South Staffordshire | Stafford | Staffordshire Moorlands | Stoke-on-Trent | Stratford-on-Avon | Tamworth | Telford and Wrekin | Walsall | Warwick | Wolverhampton | Worcester | Wychavon | Wyre Forest | |
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Administrative Counties with multiple districts: Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire |
