About the Society

West Bromwich Local History Society was founded in 1999 with a membership of 16. It now has over 90 members.

We organise monthly meetings at All Saints Church Hall, All Saints Way, on the first Friday evening of each month except January and August.

We have a range of speakers with presentations from a broad range of history and also to reflect interest in local trends. We have been involved in a number of projects in the past – for example, working with the West Bromwich Paupers Memorial Committee to help establish a lasting memorial in Heath Lane Cemetery with related educational work, and creating a Paupers Memorial Trail in West Bromwich.

More recently we have produced a book about the life of local Victorian industrialist and philanthropist Reuben Farley, five times Mayor of West Bromwich and a book ‘West Bromwich at War 1939-45’.

In 2022 we worked on a joint project with Sandwell M.B.C. to restore Lyne Purl Well which had become very neglected.  A new plaque has now replaced the one erected by J. Grant which had become so eroded that the inscription could no longer be read.  We consider this project to be a great success and have a group of volunteers who regularly check the site to remove any litter or debris etc. from the historic site.