Dudley Leasing

Did You Know?

Dudley was Originally a market town, it was one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and grew into an industrial centre in the 19th century with its iron, coal, and limestone industries before their decline and the relocation of its commercial centre to the nearby Merry Hill Shopping Centre in the 1980's.

There was a legend, which stated that Dud, a Saxon lord constructed the wooden castle in eighth century in the castle site. It seems that the historians do not care much about the legend for most of them traced back the castle in 1066 during the Norman Conquest.

The idea to convert Dudley Castle’s grounds into zoological gardens came from its then owner, the third Earl of Dudley, who chose a team of Modernist architects to design the zoo. Using reinforced concrete they created a revolutionary new design of building.

Dudley has a history dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, its name deriving from the Old English Duddan Leah, meaning Dudda's clearing.

Dudley, metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 186,513), W central England. the towns famed iron, coal, and limestone industries began declining c.1870..

There are many canals in and around the town, the main one being the Dudley Canal – most of which passes beneath the town in the Tunnel and is accessible only by boat because there is no towpath.

Like the rest of Britain Dudley began to changed rapidly in the late 18th century. It was helped by the canal, which made it easier to transport heavy goods. The iron industry boomed and ever increasing amounts of chains, nails and goods like fire grates and vices were made in the town.

The Bean Cars factory was opened in the first years of the twentieth century and remained in use until the 1930s, but survives to this day for other industrial use.

Dudley was changed from a village status to a town in the 13th century when the Lord of the Manor started a market there. In the Middle Ages there were very few shops and anyone who wished to buy or sell anything had to go to a market.

St Thomas's Church was rebuilt in 1818 and in 1834 Dudley was provided with a horse drawn fire engine.

In the 1920s trams in Dudley were replaced by trolley buses (which ran on overhead wires like trams but did not need rails). In turn the trolleybuses were replaced by motor buses. The last trolleybus ran in 1967.