Dudley, West Midlands【4K】| Town Centre Walk 2021

Join me for a walk of the historic town of Dudley, capital of England's famous 'Black Country'. By some measures one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution, Dudley is home to some incredible history from a variety of historical eras, dating back as far as medieval times.
On our walk around town, we pass a number of interesting landmarks, including the statue of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, St. Edmund's Church (Bottom Church), Market Place, the statue of Duncan Edwards, Dudley Market Place Fountain, St. Thomas and St. Luke's Church (Top Church), the former Crown hotel & pub, the former Dudley County Court, the former Glass House, Dudley Museum & Art Gallery, Dudley Town Hall, Dudley Council House, Dudley Castle and Dudley Priory.
Thank you to the following sites which really helped me in my research of Dudley:
www.localhistories.org/dudley....
topchurch.co.uk/
www.timeref.com/places/dudley...
0:00 Statue of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley and Bottom Church
0:13 Statue of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley
0:28 St. Edmund's Church, AKA 'Bottom Church'
0:53 Castle Street
2:17 Market Place
2:25 Statue of Duncan Edwards
2:40 Market Place
3:28 Dudley Market Place Fountain
4:06 Market Place
4:38 High Street
7:01 St. Thomas & St. Luke's Church, AKA 'Top Church'
8:20 Walking down the hill towards Wolverhampton Street
10:08 Wolverhampton Street
10:16 The former Crown hotel & pub
10:30 Wolverhampton Street
10:40 Priory Street
12:13 The old Glass House
12:30 Dudley Museum & Art Gallery
12:41 Dudley Town Hall
12:54 Stone Street
13:10 Priory Street
14:02 Priory Road
14:24 Dudley Council House
14:35 Priory Road
14:51 Coronation Gardens
15:26 Statue of Apollo
15:47 Coronation Gardens
16:20 The Broadway
18:23 Paganel Drive
18:45 Dudley Priory
19:54 Thank you for watching!
Stats for nerds:
Distance walked: 1.1 miles/1.8km
Step count: 2200 steps (approx.)
Time taken: 19 mins 34 secs
Average speed: 3.3mph/5.4kmh
Please do not use any footage from this video without my permission.

[@dasc0yne]

I was an American medical student in the 1990's and had the opportunity to study abroad in the UK. I didn't want to stay in London and requested some place more remote. I was sent to train at Russell's Hall Hospital right there in Dudley. I was there for a year and it is full of fond memories for me. Thank you for making this video.

[@dasc0yne]

@bknimwakin Fish and Chips at the Blue Submarine. I'm not an expert but, unless they changed from the 1990s, they're the best Fish and Chips I've ever had in my life. I was happy to find they are still around. It is best to let everything rest for about 5-10 minutes wrapped up in paper marinating in malt vinegar before eating. Are you staying in the flats?

[@royalqueen2434]

Nice to see my home town. Born in Sedgly raised in Dudley. Migrated to USA 38 years ago.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thanks! I'm really glad you liked the video - hopefully it's interesting to see how Dudley has changed over the years :) Thank you so much for watching!

[@Eoin6661]

Great vid, took me back as haven't been back to the place I grew up in for a while. One the reasons Dudley town suffered so badly was the opening of the Merry Hill Shopping Centre a couple of miles away with its free parking. Created jobs I guess, just as well as closure of the giant Round Oak Steel Works caused over 25% unempolyment in the mid 80's. Engineering jobs for service jobs.....same old story.

[@amandashare1281]

When I look at this footage it makes me really sad. I am Black Country bred (not born) and grew up a few minutes away from Dudley Town centre. We had all of the big stores, BHS, Greys, Burtons, Beatties, Woolworths, Marks & Spencers, Cooks, Littlewoods to mention a few. People would come from miles away for our market. We had butchers shops fish mongers, grocers and so much more. Then Merry Hill arrived at it all went to Hell. Dudley is a small Medieval town that deserves some respect and help. Dudley Council please take note Dudley is dying a death that it does not deserve!!!

[@monteceitomoocher]

That's the dudley of the fifties and sixties that i remember well, i lived down on burnt tree island opposite the roman mosaic, my old iron house is in the black country museum, the closure of the round oak and the subsequent merry hell centre were the worst things to happen there, all those boarded up shops are testament to that calamity, dudley and its people should be making stuff to sell to the world not flogging other folks goods, and the greatest indignity of all, my lovely dear old primary school St Edmunds is now the mosque.

[@kelechiagu8691]

I am an original Dudlian, who attended The Dudley School as it was known then. I enjoyed your video and was impressed at how clean Dudley is. Thank you for sharing this informative information, truly appreciated ❤

[@jumpin99]

Thats where I live. Nice and quiet town.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Nice! I really like Dudley, lots to see and lots of great history - a really underrated place. Thanks for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@crewy41]

Must be tripping out fam

[@martinh1309]

The statue of Duncan is fantastic, his mother Sara Ann must have been very proud when she unveiled it with Sir Bobby Charlton. Dudley knows how to remember one of footballs greatest players.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Absolutely! I really love a statue with an action pose as dynamic as that - and as you mention it's a great way to celebrate a proud Dudley man and England footballer :) Thank you so much for watching - I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

[@lorraine5494]

indeed, the map was very helpful! Thanks so much for that. So interesting to walk and learn about this part of the country.

[@LetsWalkUK]

I'm glad to hear it! Dudley's a fascinating place and one of the most vibrant towns in the Black Country - stay tuned for more videos from the region as well :) And thank you for watching the video - I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

[@sunlightpictures8367]

Great tour! My father's ancestor was from Dudley, he emigrated to the US in 1864. Not surprisingly, he was a coal miner.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Interesting to know! I hope this video brought you some extra nice perspective on the town - as you mention coal mining certainly played a big part in Dudley's history :) Thank you so much for watching - I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

[@ScrewyLoops]

Great video! And very informative too 🙂 didn't even realise my home town has this much history! Thanks for reviving my appreciation of the town 👍 Dropped you a sub

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! Dudley really is a fascinating place - and definitely one of the most underrated towns in the country with the amount of history it has behind it :) I'm really glad to hear that this video has sparked your interest in the local history - there's certainly even more to discover than what I've managed to cover here!

[@anthonylong9067]

Im an american and currently living in solihull. But i go to black country every week to play for a non-league football club in Dudley. (Even though the home ground is in Breirley Hill). I havent had the time to visit this part of Dudley, but im planning on it. I love history especially when it predates my home country.

[@johnbird2586]

The video is very useful for people who don't wish to go out of there home due to illness. It means that they can still go around the GREAT town of Dudley without much effort. Thanks very much 👍

[@joemom1012]

thank you love the vid cant wait to go visit dudley for the first time

[@grayug3762]

I went to school at 14 at what was then Dudley Tech College( now broadway ?) I worked in Dudley opposite the crown pub and what was then banks brewery later on .At Alfred Preedy and sons Wholesale warehouse. Dudley then was a thriving town, with 5 cinemas and the Hippodrome. They then built Merry Hill, so sad, now that is becoming a dead place now the big stores have gone. A very nice video

[@williamraybould8393]

Hi you might know my late uncle John hickling he used to work at preedys in the office

[@tyroneevan7356]

Great video, great place, with friendly and wonderful helpful people. Thanks for your upload..

[@LetsWalkUK]

Very much so! Dudley really is a lovely place to visit - and one of the hidden gems of England in my view, particularly with its wealth of history and gorgeous buildings :) Thank you so much for watching - I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

[@charliefarlie2884]

Very interesting thank you. I haven't been to Dudley for nearly 40 years. My Grandmother lived in Aston Road (I remember there being a hill up to the main road from there and a church if you turned right at the top of it). We used to go to the Zoo and get in free as one of her lodgers worked there. Have always been aware of the Industrial Revolution history there due to relatives being chainmakers and working in bucket shops etc, but had no idea of the history before that. My father left to join the RAF when very young so I wasn't brought up there myself.

[@james_dy2]

Great video 👍 was fascinating to learn about a place I've lived all my life and know very little about its history thanks

[@LetsWalkUK]

Ha ha thank you! It's amazing just how much history is right on our doorstep, or how much we might walk past every day, and Dudley really is chock-full of amazing heritage :) Thank you so much for watching - I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

[@sdaonline]

Love Dudley!

[@LetsWalkUK]

It's a top town! And full of great history too :) Thank you so much for watching - I really hope you enjoyed the video!

[@michellebruce5092]

Nice walk it was enjoyable 😉 hope to see more soon 😀

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video - Dudley is a fascinating place :)

[@vimbaimaffy6619]

Thank you for the video

[@LetsWalkUK]

And thank you for watching - I really hope you enjoyed this walk around Dudley :)

[@cheyannewoodall]

This is actually so interesting never knew so much about my town!👊🏾

[@LetsWalkUK]

Dudley really is a fascinating town - one that certainly surprised me with all its heritage when I first visited and learned about it :) Thank you so much for watching - I'm so glad you enjoyed the video!

[@hiiiofficial8306]

Yom an out sider ay ya

[@cheyannewoodall]

I doe know i ay that smart ffs

[@will94305]

Great video, yes with over 1000 years of documented history and the Castle, Priory and Black Country Museum its well worth a visit. T

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! Dudley and all of the Black Country is full of history - and those museums are a great way to learn a bit about it :) Thank you for watching - I'm really glad you enjoyed the video!

[@grahamwalls9379]

I live a few miles from Dudley in Halesowen But have worked in the town . Dudley is a nice little town & it’s historical history is very interesting . Enjoyed the video . Hope you have done one of Halesowen too .

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video - Dudley certainly has a fascinating history, and it's one of the hidden gems of the Black Country :) I've not filmed a walk in Halesowen before, but I'll put it on my list of future destinations for when I return to the Midlands in the future, so do stay tuned!

[@vijaypajni3343]

Nice visit

[@streetrambler134]

Never been to the Priory, looks a great place to visit. Great walk. Would recommend Bridgnorth or Shrewsbury as great places to walk.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video - there's a lot to Dudley that makes it a great place to visit! I'm looking forward to a visit to Shropshire some time soon - and I'll definitely be visiting Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth - both are great towns indeed!

[@mazdaheb1823]

I love walking round the backstreets of Dudley looking at the old architecture and seeing the castle on the horizon. Lovely building. The Town entre High Street though is Tacky and the buildings have been ruined with shop faces. Needs cleaning up.

[@mikemallen9378]

Thanks for posting but so sad to see, I moved away over 30 years ago, back then it was thriving with a good range of quality shops now unfortunately it looks dead and so run down, what have the council planners done to the place?

[@sarribel]

great walk, I went one to dudley market & castle and a few years later has the chance to visit the black country museum as well, that said I did know nothing about the town´s history and I missed the walk down the top church towards the priory, which means that I missed quite a lot actually. anyway hope that the council spendt some money tidying up some bits of an otherwise pretty town centre. some let´s walk

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you liked the video - Dudley has a fascinating history that is really underrated in Britain! And as you say with a little bit of TLC it's a really lovely place! Thank you for watching as always - I really appreciate your insightful comments :)

[@johnhaggerty4396]

The Black Country has interested me ever since reading Caroline Hillier's 1973 book, *A Journey to the Heart of England*. The past is another country and Dudley is very different today as your lively film demonstrates : Let's Walk is a real discovery. Here in the West of Scotland we had our own Black Country (as an English writer described it in the 1930s) but that too is history.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the video - the history of the Black Country really is a fascinating one, and much like the many industrial hubs from all over the country, it's riveting to see where that heritage is still visible today :)

[@gordonsmith8899]

Thank you for a great walking tour however, I have to correct you on one , to me, important fact. "Bottom" church, is dedicated to a St Edmund, King & Martyr, an Anglo-Saxon saint and England's original Patron Saint. It's highly possible that there has been a church in the site for over a thousand years. It stands at a point at the top of Castle Hill opposite the original entry to the castle, the focal point of the town until the High Street was laid out. "Top" church is first mentioned as an endowment in the foundation charter of St James' Priory around 1170. Mediaeval St Edmunds was badly damaged in 1646 when Colonel Leveson, the Royalist commander of Dudley Castle ordered the tower to be demolished to deny the advancing parliamentarians a gun platform. The demolition proved quite unnecessary as the castle surrender without a fight in 1647. Following the ruin of St Edmunds, St Thomas' became the only parish church in Dudley. St Edmund's was rebuilt in 1724 and remained a "Chapel of Ease" until it regained parish status. Today St Thomas' follows an evangelical form of public worship - St Edmund's continues a traditional 'High Church' tradition.

[@malachidrake7777]

They could make Dudley a great town again. We have seen some movement towards that goal, with the end of Cavendish House, need to get rid of whole streets sadly though and open the town up some.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Dudley has all the ingredients of a really great town, and a fascinating tourist destination too! As you said, there's been some great work in regenerating the town centre, and I'm sure that progress will continue through the years! Thank you so much for watching :)

[@davidjones8680]

The restaurant that you say was an "old glasshouse" was actually one of Dudley's old Fire Stations. There is another in Tower Street, with the current Fire Station now situated about a mile out of the town. You also missed many many old and interesting buildings.

[@LetsWalkUK]

Oh no! I'm sorry to have missed out on some of Dudley's other interesting buildings in the town centre - there really is so much heritage that it's impossible to fully cover in just the one walk :) Thank you very much for watching and for your comment - I do hope you enjoyed the rest of the video!

[@henryharesdene4164]

When 'Dudley' is mentioned. I think of my only contact - the canals and the BCLM. I once poked my head above the canal bridge and what I saw was unappealing. I should have done more research. Too late now I'm unlikely to pass that way again. Now where was that huge cinemal (knovked down last wek)...

[@melanyhope6153]

🙏🙏💙

[@imranzazai7404]

Beautiful place.

[@LetsWalkUK]

It is indeed! Thank you so much for watching!

[@PAUL-ge1kl]

No tour of the lovely old bus station?😅

[@micheal1066]

I'm from Gornal, Dudley the town has been distroyed by Merry Hill. Knock it down ( Merry hill or Dudley) and build houses, the market has many vaccant stalls, the high street has been killed by the public who choose to shop else where. If black coutry folk get fed up with merry hell thet travel to Telford. (age 52) what chance does the high street have., oh Amazon ad ebay

[@valeriehoward6088]

Dudley town is nothing how I remember it ehen I was a child and a young person. The dhops I used to know no longer exist, where the market was we had BHS, Woolworths, Littlewoods, MarksandSpencers, two cinema's. Then on up the high street we had Greys, cooks Debenhams. And the Cooperative. Opposite top church. All youve got now are cheap shops, Poundland. We used to have lovely shops in the Fountain Arcade. And lovely beatique shops. Its a shame ro see the town has it is today.

[@valeriehoward6088]

I also used to go to Blue Coat School in Bean Road in the late 40s early 50s. Such a shame his the town as gone down hill all because of The Merry Hill Centre.

[@quintoflyer]

i used to live in dudley till 1968

[@sohaibmuhammad3700]

I go there every Saturday with my support worker

[@LetsWalkUK]

I'm glad to hear it - Dudley's a fascinating place, hopefully you have a nice time when you visit :) Thank you so much for watching - I really hope you enjoyed the video!

[@johnbird2586]

Why not do more videos like this one, but use "the contents of my flip book"😉. I would very much enjoy seeing them. Thanks.

[@des11487]

I had my wedding photos taken in the old priory

[@LetsWalkUK]

That must have looked spectacular! The old priory ruins are absolutely fascinating, and it was a great idea to have your wedding photos there :)

[@des11487]

@@LetsWalkUK thank you yes it was ...I really enjoyed your video brings back old memories..

[@quintoflyer]

i lived in a brewery slum in wolverhampton street

[@ShahZaib_Raja]

Loved your work......but i appreciate more if u do voice over instead of subtitles

[@LetsWalkUK]

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed the video - Dudley is a fascinating place, and I'll look towards using a voice over narration in future :)

[@ShahZaib_Raja]

@@LetsWalkUK keep working hard.......i see millions of subscribers ahead ❤😍

[@ashleywilkins1390]

As I was Brough up in dudley on the wrenna we was never taught this in school or was it just me lol

[@quintoflyer]

i lived in a

[@micheal1066]

Dudley is a ruin, like the castle, but he people of Dudley allowed this to happen, no one to blame but themselves.;people of London would not do this.

[@dayriderschat]

It was called the black country because the coal was black ..... (not the residents)

[@jamessmith913]

Absolulty horrible town with run down shops and about 3 fast food shops to every non fast food shop. ALL have been fined for food hygiene. The local council have been a disgrace to this once thriving town. There "big regeneration" was basically wasting millions moving the market slightly to the left and randomly moving the Duncan Edwards statue 200 yards. Then closing the town centre police station so after 7pm the town is full of gangs and boy racers. Come to Dudley if you enjoy pound shops and food poisoning.