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Bentley is an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall located around Junction 10 of the M6 Motorway. It is also a rural village of houses towards its eastern sides. It shares borders with the areas of Willenhall, Beechdale, Ashmore Park, Pleck, Darlaston and Alumwell.
Bentley is noted for its involvement in the English Civil War, when in 1651, after the Battle of Worcester, King Charles II took shelter with the Lane Family in Bentley Hall while attempting to escape to exile. Jane Lane famously helped the King escape by disguising him as her servant, and riding with him to Somerset. Bentley Cairn marks the location of Bentley Hall upon the hill. The Cairn has recently undergone improvements, carried out by the Bentley Cairn Restoration Group.
In addition to these improvements, the remains of another manor house near the Cairn were discovered during May 2006, and an archaeological survey will take place by the Bentley Cairn Restoration Group, funded by the Darlaston Local Neighbourhood Partnership, in order to confirm and restore the remains of the house.
Bentley was originally developed between the late 1940s and early 1960s, where new local authority housing was built as part of the post Second World War housing construction boom, when it came within the borders of Darlaston Urban District Council; this now-defunct authority built several hundred homes at the north side of the Walsall to Wolverhampton road. Most of the roads on the estate took their name from Second World War heroes or from members of the British Royal Family. Further development took place from the late 1970s to the early 1980s with construction of the Old Hall estate, a development of several hundred local authority houses and apartments.
Bentley is locally well known for its points of interest. They include Bentley Cairn, Emmanuel Church (denomination: Church of England), the ABC park, the lake and the dis-used railway line which runs through Bentley from Walsall and into Willenhall.
More recently Bentley has become well known because of its proximity to the M6 motorway, a multi-screen cinema, casino, and a variety of restaurants.
Several bus routes serve Bentley, linking it to Bilston, Darlaston, New Invention, Walsall, Willenhall and Wolverhampton. These services are operated by National Express West Midlands and Travel Express.
There was a proposed expansion on West Midlands Metro linking Walsall, Beechdale, Bentley, Willenhall, Wednesfield, New Cross Hospital and Wolverhampton. This has since been ruled out due to "lack of local support" for the move and have shifted focus to reopening train stations in Willenhall and Darlaston [1]
There was a station around half a mile east of Bentley near Bloxwich Lane which served Bentley until its closure in 1898 although the line from Walsall to Wolverhampton continued to be used by freight and goods traffic until 1960s when the section from North Walsall to Willenhall was closed. The station is now under the M6 motorway near junction 10. Although inaccessible, one can make out where the embankment was should they try to pinpoint the location near Bloxwich Lane and the motorway.
Bentley has one Secondary School and several primary schools. These are:
Additionally, Jane Lane Special School is located in Bentley.
Walsall is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Birmingham, 7 miles (11 km) east of Wolverhampton and 9 miles (14 km) from Lichfield.
Willenhall is a historic market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire. It lies upon the River Tame, and is part of the Black Country.
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Darlaston, Pelsall and Willenhall.
Bloxwich is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills.
Darlaston is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England. It is located near Wednesbury and Willenhall.
Moxley is a village near Darlaston in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands County, England. It was first developed during the early part of the 19th century when a handful of terraced houses were built to accommodate locals working in factories and mines and the area was created in 1845 out of land from Darlaston, Bilston and Wednesbury.
New Invention is a large estate around three miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Willenhall and four miles (6.4 km) east of the city of Wolverhampton in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is halfway between Walsall and Wolverhampton on the busy main A4124 and A462 roads.
The A454 is a major road in central England. It runs 28.9 miles (46.5 km) from Bridgnorth to Sutton Coldfield and is an important primary route linking Wolverhampton and Walsall with the M6 motorway.
Essington is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, England, located near the city of Wolverhampton and towns of Walsall, Bloxwich, Cannock and Brewood. The villages of Cheslyn Hay, Great Wyrley, Coven, Penkridge and Featherstone are also nearby. The village forms part of the Staffordshire/West Midlands border.
The Walsall–Wolverhampton line is a railway line in the West Midlands, England. It connects the town of Walsall to the city of Wolverhampton. The complete line does not currently have any regular scheduled passenger services: The line's local passenger service was withdrawn in 1965, it was restored in 1998, only to be withdrawn again in 2008. At present, the main use of the line is by freight trains, and it is also used as a diversionary route when engineering works are carried out on the West Coast Main Line.
Bentley railway station was a railway station built by the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway in 1872, and was operated by the Midland Railway from 1876 onwards. Situated on Bloxwich Lane, it served the area of Bentley, located between Willenhall and Walsall in the English West Midlands. The station closed in 1898.
Darlaston James Bridge railway station was a station built on the Grand Junction Railway in 1837, serving the James Bridge area east of the town centre of Darlaston, near the junction of Walsall Road and Bentley Mill Way.
Short Heath is a residential area situated north of the market town of Willenhall, in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. Short Heath is a ward in the Walsall North constituency, and is bordered by the neighbouring wards of Bentley and Darlaston North, Birchills Leamore, Willenhall North, and Willenhall South.
Sneyd Comprehensive School was a secondary school located in Bloxwich, West Midlands, England. The building of the school started in 1978, to serve the western part of the town and the northern part of Willenhall, with students moving into the School at the start of the new academic year in September 1979.
The Lodge Farm estate is located in the area of Short Heath in the town of Willenhall, which is in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
The Walsall trolleybus system once served the town of Walsall, then in Staffordshire, but now in West Midlands, England. Opened on 22 July 1931, it gradually replaced the Walsall Corporation Tramways network.
The Walsall Silver Thread Tapestries are a set of eleven artworks, in the form of tapestries, designed by the artist Hunt Emerson in conjunction with the various communities of Walsall, England and hand stitched by local people there during 2016. They depict the people, places, history and wildlife of the towns and districts that, since 1974, have formed the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
