Tividale

Coordinates: 52°30′45″N 2°03′11″W / 52.51238°N 2.05300°W / 52.51238; -2.05300

Tividale is a village in Sandwell, West Midlands.

History

The village was in the parish of St Michael named after the church built there. It was created in 1878 as an extension of the town of Tipton in the county of Staffordshire, England. It was originally set around the main Dudley to Oldbury road, with several hundred terraced houses with shop fronts on the main road, as well as many more on the side streets running off.

Rattlechain Brickworks were opened in about 1895 on a site near Sedgley Road East, in the shadow New Main Line Canal which links Wolverhampton with Birmingham. Quarrying of land next to the brickworks led to a section of the Main Line Canal into the marlhole of the Brickworks, emptying out six miles of canal and causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, although nobody was injured. Another marlhole was created in 1948 and despite the subsequent closure and demolition of the brickworks, the marlhole remained in use as a disposal site for local factories, and is still known locally as Rattlechain Lagoon. Since the late 1990s, there has been growing local concern about Rattlechain Lagoon, with numerous dead birds being found at the site. Their death was linked to poisoning from chemicals disposed of in the water, which included white phosphorus. Nearby residents, including those of a recent new housing development by Barratt Homes, feared that the proximity of their homes to Rattlechain Lagoon could render them unsellable.