Guide to sources held

We collect material relating to the area of the present Dudley Metropolitan Borough. This includes:

 

 

There is also some coverage of Cradley Heath and Old Hill, although these are in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, and some parts of South Staffordshire, in particular Himley.

 

 

 

To search the A2A (Access to Archives) online catalogues and indexes, please click here.  The A2A database contains catalogues describing archives held locally in England and Wales.

 

 

Types of Material Held

 

Holdings cover the records of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, and some of its predecessors, including:

 

 

Some records may be with the county record offices of Worcestershire or Staffordshire, as some functions, such as education would have been dealt with at a county level. We do hold school records for some schools in the Borough. Please enquire for further details.

 

Holdings cover the whole of the present Borough area, although some areas are better covered than others. Holdings are particularly patchy for the Halesowen area, which joined Dudley MBC in 1974.

 

Ordnance Survey maps are available, 6":1 mile; 25":1 mile; and some 50":1 mile. The first edition for this area dates from around 1880.  Dudley Archives and Local History Service holds all but the current edition, which can be seen at Dudley Reference Library. The first four editions, to c.1938, of  25" maps are, in most cases, produced on microfiche, so advanced booking is essential. Some geological maps are also held (1":1 mile).

 

We also hold a number of manuscript maps, mainly from the Dudley Estate archive, but covering much of the present Borough, as well as other areas, such as Tipton and Rowley Regis. These date from the early 18th century to the middle of the 20th century.

 

Tithe maps are only held for Pedmore and Halesowen, although we do hold Fowler's maps for Kingswinford and Sedgley, which are believed to have been used as tithe maps. They also have books of reference, but these do not contain all of the same information as a tithe appointment. Tithes for Dudley town were commuted before the Tithe Commutation Act and, therefore, no tithe map exists.

 

Dudley Union plans, dating from the 19th century, cover those areas which were part of the Dudley Poor Law Union (Dudley, Sedgley, Rowley Regis and Tipton). They are very detailed, even numbering individual houses.  See catalogue reference GDU.

 

Dudley Archives and Local History Service also holds some parish and enclosure maps and plans of abandoned non-coal mines. Members of staff are not qualified to comment on these mining plans and it is advised to engage the services of a mining surveyor to interpret them.

 

The Ward family, Viscounts Dudley and Ward, and later Earls of Dudley, were the major landholders in the area. The Dudley Estate archive, which has been deposited here (catalogue Ref: DE), dates from the 12th to the 20th century, and covers: Dudley, Sedgley, Kingswinford, Rowley Regis, Tipton, Himley, Wombourne and some areas further afield, such as holdings in Brighton, London and Essex. It includes title deeds, leases, wills, settlements, mortgages, manorial and  estate records and material relating to mining. The Viscounts Dudley and Ward were lords of the manors of Dudley, Kingswinford, Sedgley and Rowley Regis, and much manorial material survives. There are very few personal record, of either family or their staff.