Sandwell Valley Country Park
Sandwell Valley Country Park (grid reference SP024925) is a country park, run by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, in Sandwell Valley, on the River Tame in the middle of the urban conurbation between Birmingham and West Bromwich in the West Midlands of England.
Location
Sandwell Valley country park stretches from the A41 at West Bromwich to the edge of Walsall, with car parks in Forge Lane and Sandwell Park Farm. The main entrances to the site are at Sandwell Park Farm, Salter's Lane, West Bromwich, B71 4BG. Forge Mill Farm, Forge Lane, West Bromwich B71 3SZ
History
Sandwell Valley Country Park was once the site of Sandwell Priory, a 12th-century Benedictine monastery which itself was founded on the site of an earlier hermitage. The monastery was closed on the orders of Cardinal Wolsey in 1525 and by 1705 the land was redeveloped once more, into Sandwell Hall, built for the Earl of Dartmouth. From the late 19th century the Hall was used as an asylum, and then in 1907, a home for boys, calling itself "Sandwell Hall Industrial School for Mentally Defective Boys".In 1928 Sandwell Hall was demolished due to subsidence caused by mining from Sandwell Park (Jubilee) Colliery which employed over 600 miners. A coal tramway ran from the Jubilee pit through the Sandwell Park to the canal at Smethwick.
Amenities
By the 1960s the site was developed into the Country Park with up to 660 acres (270 ha) set aside for amenities such as a pitch & putt golf course, a Millennium Cycle Route, a Mountain Bike Trail, tennis courts and open spaces close to the heart of a major UK city. The country park receives over 500,000 visit per year. Swan Pool (also known as Wasson or Warstone) is used for sailing.
The RSPB site here attracts over 150 different species of birds.
External links
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