Lapal is a residential area of Halesowen in the West Midlands of England (part of Worcestershire until 1974). It is situated in the east of the town on the border with Birmingham. The Lapal area sits to the East of the Lapal Canal, to the North of Lapal Lane South up to what is now the M5 motorway, to the South West of Carters Lane and Kent Road, and to the South East of Mucklow Hill. Most of the houses were built between 1930 and 1980. In the late 1970s the large Abbeyfields estate was built alongside the currently disused portion of the Dudley Canal, adding to its already extensive owner-occupier housing stock.
It is the most affluent suburb of Halesowen, commanding the largest average house prices of all the suburbs in the town.
The area is served by Lapal Primary School and Leasowes High School, the Royal Oak public house and a small cluster of shops opposite, including a newsagent/post office, bakery, fish and chip shop, Chinese take-away, pharmacy and general grocery store. Also to be found in the area the ruins of the 13th century Halesowen Abbey, located in a field off the Manor Way by-pass.
Smethwick is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England, historically in Staffordshire. It lies four miles west of Birmingham city centre, and borders West Bromwich and Oldbury to the north and west. Formerly a Staffordshire county borough, Smethwick is situated near the edge of Sandwell metropolitan borough and borders the Birmingham districts of Handsworth, Winson Green, Harborne, Edgbaston and Quinton to the south and east, as well as the Black Country towns of West Bromwich and Oldbury in the north and west.
Oldbury is an industrialised market town and administrative centre in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It is a part of the Black Country, and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.
Halesowen is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. It is considered as one of the largest towns in the United Kingdom without a railway station.
Watford Gap is a low-lying area between two hills, close to the village of Watford, Northamptonshire, England. Engineers from Roman times onwards have found it to be an ideal route for connecting the Midlands with South East England. The A5 road, the West Coast Main Line railway, the M1 motorway and a branch of the Grand Union Canal traverse in parallel a space about 400 metres (1,300 ft) wide. It has been written and spoken of as marking the divide between Northern England and Southern England.
Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England, and is situated approximately 2.5 miles south of central Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a heavily industrialised area, it has a population of 13,935 at the 2011 census. It is best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although industry has declined considerably since the 1970s. One of the largest factories in the area was the Round Oak Steelworks, which was closed down and redeveloped in the 1980s to become the Merry Hill Shopping Centre. Brierley Hill was originally in Staffordshire.
Quinton, situated in the west of Birmingham, is a ward that is approximately 5 miles from Birmingham city centre. From the Amber Tavern to Quinton church, the left-hand (southern) side of the Hagley Road is part of the city of Birmingham. The right-hand (northern) side is part of the metropolitan borough of Sandwell. Quinton, along with Bartley Green, Harborne and Edgbaston are a part of the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency. The whole of Quinton is covered by the B32 postal district.
The Bentley Canal is an abandoned canal that was part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations. A very short section still exists where it joins the Wyrley and Essington Canal in Wolverhampton. From there it headed generally southeast through Willenhall and Walsall and connected with the Anson Branch and thus the Walsall Canal. The main line opened in 1843, with the Neachell Hall Branch following two years later. The branch closed in 1953 and the main line in the early 1960s.
The West Midlands region straddles the historic borders between the counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire in the north, and Worcestershire in the south.
The Warwickshire ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit around the West Midlands area of England. The ring is formed from the Coventry Canal, the Oxford Canal, the Grand Union Canal, the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. It is a popular route with tourists due to its circular route and mixture of urban and rural landscapes.
Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies within the Black Country and is situated 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Halesowen, 4 miles (6 km) south of Dudley and 9 miles (14 km) west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with the neighbouring Halesowen district of Cradley, although the two places are separated by the River Stour and have long been in separate local authorities, and until 1966 were in separate counties.
Known as the Hagley Road in Birmingham, the A456 is a main road in England running between Central Birmingham and Woofferton, Shropshire, south of Ludlow. Some sections of the route, for example Edgbaston near Bearwood, are also the route of the Elan Aqueduct which carries Birmingham's water supply from the Elan Valley.
New Invention is a large village around three miles north of the town of Willenhall and four miles east of the city of Wolverhampton in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is situated halfway between Walsall and Wolverhampton on the busy main A4124 and A462 roads.
Netherton is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, 1.5 miles (2 km) south of Dudley town centre in the West Midlands of England, but historically in Worcestershire. In the Black Country, Netherton is bordered by nature reserves to the east and west, and an industrial area and the Dudley Southern By-Pass to the north.
The Dudley Canal is a canal passing through Dudley in the West Midlands of England. The canal is part of the English and Welsh connected network of navigable inland waterways, and in particular forms part of the popular Stourport Ring narrowboat cruising route.
Old Hill is in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands, England. It is a district of Cradley Heath, about 2 miles north of Halesowen.
The Lapal Tunnel is a disused 3,795-yard (3,470 m) canal tunnel on the five mile dry section of the Dudley No. 2 Canal in the West Midlands, England. It takes its name from the settlement of Lapal.
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.
Rumer Hill Junction was a canal junction on the Cannock Extension Canal where the Churchbridge Branch left to join the Hatherton Canal. The junction, along with the northern section of the canal was abandoned in 1963. The Churchbridge Branch and Rumer Hill Junction were subsequently obliterated by opencast mining.
The Ridgacre Branch is a canal branch of the Wednesbury Old Canal, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, in the West Midlands, England. It opened in 1828, to serve collieries and iron works, and was disused by the 1960s. Except for its branches and a small section at the eastern end, which have been filled in, most of it is still in water, but it is not navigable as a low-level bridge carrying the Black Country New Road spans the entrance.
The Wednesbury Oak Loop, sometimes known as the Bradley Arm, is a canal in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN), and was originally part of James Brindley's main line, but became a loop when Thomas Telford's improvements of the 1830s bypassed it by the construction of the Coseley Tunnel. The south-eastern end of the loop was closed and in parts built over, following the designation of the entire loop as "abandoned" in 1954, including the section which was filled in at the beginning of the 1960s to make way for the Glebefields Estate in Tipton.
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