A rich history, a bright future.
Historic.
The history of Smethwick was first recorded in The Domesday Book in 1086, and leads us to the diverse, fascinating, and multicultural town we see today. Smethwick’s past was built on manufacturing, because of its superb canal system, transport links and position in the centre of the country. The world’s oldest working engine was built here – ‘The Smethwick Engine’, now on display at Think Tank, bike saddles, pottery, screws, pen nibs and railways carriages were all manufactured in Smethwick, as well as lenses used in lighthouses around the world.
Diverse.
One of the six towns in the Borough of Sandwell, Smethwick sits on the edge, sharing most of its border with Birmingham, and this placement as part of a whole but looking outwards, can be said to characterise Smethwick and its residents even today. Smethwick’s diversity and ability to embrace difference and look outwards, can also be seen in key events in the last century, when Tony O’Connor became the UK’s first black headteacher at Bearwood Primary School; Thimblemill Baths hosted performances from The Beatles, The Who and The Rolling Stones; Malcolm X spoke at a rally in West Smethwick in February 1965; and it is now home to the Guru Nanak Gurwara, the largest and oldest Gurdwara in Europe.
Smethwick Church Action Network is committed to helping local Churches serve their communities, working together for a better Smethwick. Proudly territorial, not quite in the Black Country, but definitely not Brummies, our rich and diverse neighbourhood of Smethwick faces many challenges, but is united by a sense of belonging and of being part of a distinct community. Despite its rich history and beautiful diversity, Smethwick is an area that faces challenges in many aspects of life from health and the resulting birth and mortality rates, education and employment as well as aspirations and the quality of the environments across Smethwick and beyond into the whole of Sandwell Borough. You can find lots of useful information about the facts and figures of these challenges by exploring the Sandwell Trends Page.
