Smethwick

Smethwick [ smɛðɪk ] is located in the West Midlands of England town. It borders Birmingham and West Bromwich.

Smethwick was originally an urban district and since 1894 a Municipal Borough in the county of Staffordshire. In 1907 it became a county borough, which was subordinate only to the previous county administration in police matters. 1966 Smethwick was merged with the adjacent town west Oldbury and Rowley Regis to the County Borough of Warley. Warley in turn merged in 1974 with West Bromwich to the Metropolitan Borough Sandwell. Oldbury - Smethwick has 139 529 inhabitants ( 2006).

Smethwick was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Smedeuuich. Until the late 18th century, Smethwick was one associated to the municipality Harborne hamlet. In the 18th century was the rise of community through the construction of several channels. Matthew Boulton and James Watt built in Smethwick end of the 18th century, a foundry was built in 1802 by William Murdoch equipped with a gas lighting. In Smethwick, near the Bridge Street, originally stood in the oldest working engine in the world, built by Boulton and Watt Smethwick Engine; today it stands in the new Science Museum Birmingham, the think tank. 1829 was the Galton Bridge, with a span of 46 meters was a canal and a railway bridge and at the time the longest single arch bridge in the world. In Smethwick also a waggon, a work of company Guest Keen and Nettlefolds in which, among other screws were produced, the mechanical engineering factory Tangye, as well as a number of other industrial enterprises emerged.