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Top Attractions in West Bromwich

Oak House

The Oak House is an historic building located in Greets Green, West Bromwich. It is thought to have taken its name from an oak which stood on the green in front of it and was burnt down around 1800, though it could have been named after the oak woodland that once surrounded the house. The last John Turton advised William Whyley to fell the trees, and in 1768 many were used to make lock-gates for the Birmingham Canal, which was then being built through West Bromwich. Very few oaks remained in 1836. The original owners of Oak House are not known, but the family most closely associated with it are the Turtons who were living there by 1634. The house remained in the Turton family until 1768 when it passed to William Whyley, the “natural son” of John Turton. John Wesley preached at the house on two occasions in the late 18th century when it was in the ownership of William Whyley. It remained in the Whyley family until 1837. Following a succession of owners, Reuben Farley purchased the property. Alderman Reuben Farley was one of the towns greatest benefactors. He purchased the Oak House with the intention of making it his private residence, but resolved to present it to the town as a museum. The leading architects in West Bromwich, Messrs. Wood and Kendrick, were employed with the task of restoring the house. Skilled craftsmanship ensured the outstanding quality of the restoration and the museum was formally opened on 25 July 1898; gardens and a bowling green were also laid out. In 1949 the house was protected as a Grade II* listed building. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the gift, the corporation decided to convert the Oak House into a period house with antique furnishings; the formal reopening took place in 1951.

Sandwell Valley

Sandwell Valley is an area of green belt in the West Midlands of England, on the border of Birmingham and West Bromwich, with Walsall at its northern end. It is a valley on the River Tame of which 720 hectares are owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, with the RSPB leasing 25 acres as RSPB Sandwell Valley nature reserve. Within this large area, is the 270 hectares Sandwell Valley Country Park, which contains two visitor centres, Forge Mill Farm and Sandwell Park Farm, the former using modern farming techniques, the latter with a walled kitchen garden and rare breeds of farm animals, one of 16 farm parks approved nationally by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Sots Hole is one of three Local Nature Reserves in the Country Park, and lies on the edge of the site on Dagger Lane/Church Vale, West Bromwich. In an effort to protect and restore the reserve, a group of local people joined together in November 2005 and formed the Friends of Sots Hole. The earliest evidence of people in Sandwell Valley is in the form of flint tools from the Mesolithic period, but evidence of later periods is also present in the landscape, including the site of Sandwell Hall and Priory Ruins . Exhibitions at Sandwell Park Farm tell the story of the people who lived here. The M5 motorway bisects the Country Park, with the intersection between it and the M6 at the northern end, and junction 1 of the M5 to the south. The latter junction surrounds a surviving gatehouse from the hall. The Birmingham-Walsall Line, part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837, runs through the northern end of the valley, with Hamstead railway station being the nearest. The former Newton Road railway station having closed some years ago. The highest point of Sandwell Valley is in Birmingham and is known as Hill Top, where the remains of a World War II gun emplacement can still be found there. The Country Parks fauna and flora are studied by the Sandwell Valley Naturalists Club . Adjacent areas include Great Barr, Hamstead and Handsworth Wood.

The Public

The Public was a multi-purpose venue and art gallery in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, at the forefront of a regional regeneration programme which was – by late 2013– to also bring Europes biggest Tesco, a multiplex cinema, restaurants and a new retail centre. It closed in November 2013. Despite indications that the arts centre would be at the forefront of West Bromwichs Golden Future on 9 May 2013 it was announced that Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council were in discussion with Sandwell College to potentially lease The Public for use as a sixth-form college. The Colleges own sixth-form is oversubscribed with six applicants for every place. In 2012–13 there were 380,000 visitors to the building from all sections of society – an increase of over 40% from the previous year. The Publics mission is to be a place where people come to create and make things for themselves and to enjoy other peoples creativity – an echo of Cedric Prices concept of a Fun Palace. In 2012, The Guardian‍ ​s Robert Clark described The Public as "a playground" and that "maybe thats a not a bad role for modern galleries to embrace". It is also home to 27 small companies as well as the Sandwell Arts Trust, who manage the building. Between them they employ around 120 people with a further 120 digital media apprentices. An article in the previously critical Express and Star in 2012 demonstrated that The Public was finally winning local people over and had found its purpose, and that the odds of it having become one of the regions success stories had been quite remote in the recent past. The Public closed on November 23, 2013.
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