Spon Lane Junction

Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands (formerly in Staffordshire), in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology. The Chance family originated in Bromsgrove in Worcestershire as farmers and craftsmen, before setting up business in Smethwick in 1822. Situated between Birmingham and the Black Country in the agglomeration of the Midlands industrial heartland, they took advantage of the skilled workers, canals and many advances that were taking place in the industrial West Midlands at the time. Throughout its almost two centuries of history many changes affected the company which, now in private ownership, continues to function as Chance Glass Limited, a specialised industrial glass manufacturer in Malvern, Worcestershire at one of its small subsidiary factories. The social and economic impact of the company on the region is the subject of a project sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Stewart Aqueduct (or Steward Aqueduct) in Smethwick, West Midlands (but formerly in Staffordshire), England carries the BCN Old Main Line Canal (1770) over the BCN New Main Line Canal (1828). Alongside and above the New Main Line Canal is the Stour Valley section of the West Coast Main Line (1852), all three being bridged by the M5 motorway (c. 1970).The Grade II listed aqueduct was built by Thomas Telford in 1829 when he bypassed James Brindley's earlier Birmingham Canal (at the Wolverhampton Level) with his New Main Line (at the Birmingham Level). Both canals contributed to the Industrial Revolution in the Midlands by conveying coal and raw materials to Birmingham, and finished products to the country and ports. It is located at the edge of the former Chance's Glass Works (1824) and is close to Spon Lane Canal Junction, the point where the Wednesbury and Wolverhampton routes of the BCN Old Main Line (former Birmingham Canal) meet.

Spon Lane railway station was a railway station in England, built by the London and North Western Railway on their Stour Valley Line in 1852. It served the western part of Smethwick. The station closed in 1964, although the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford line/Birmingham Loop from the West Coast Main Line still runs through the site of the station today. There is little evidence of the location of the station on the ground today, and Smethwick Galton Bridge, which opened in 1995 a short distance to the east, now serves the area.

The Ruskin Pottery was an English art pottery studio founded in 1898 by Edward R. Taylor, the first principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art, to be run by his son, William Howson Taylor, formerly a student there. It was named after the artist, writer and social thinker John Ruskin, as the Taylors agreed with, and followed the tenets of Ruskin. The pottery was situated at 173-174 Oldbury Road, Smethwick, then in Staffordshire (now part of Sandwell, in the West Midlands county). The pottery produced was notable for the innovative glazes used on a range of brightly coloured pots, vases, buttons, bowls, tea services and jewellery. The ceramic glazes devised by William Howson Taylor included misty soufflé glazes, ice crystal effect glazes - 'crystalline', lustre glazes resembling metallic finishes, and the most highly regarded of all, sang-de-boeuf and flambé glazes which produced a blood red effect. The sang-de-boeuf glazes were created using reduction of copper and iron oxides at high temperature. This was a difficult technique, first developed in China in the 13th century and reinvented by several art potters in Europe in the late 19th century. William Howson Taylor was one of the principal exponents of 'high fired' techniques, producing a range of colours and unique 'fissured' glaze effects. Having exhibited at home and at international fine art exhibitions, the award of a "grand prize" in 1904 at the St Louis International Exhibition, gave them the recognition they needed. Further awards were gained at other international exhibitions, including Milan 1906; Christchurch, New Zealand, 1907; London 1908; Brussels 1910; Turin 1911; Ghent 1913. When the studio closed in 1935 the formulae for the glazes and all the pottery documentation were deliberately destroyed, so that the unique Ruskin products could never be replicated. A large collection of Ruskin Pottery is on public display at Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery, Wednesbury, about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of the factory. The collection is owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and is managed by Sandwell Museum Service. The site of the factory is now an industrial estate, "Ruskin Place". A blue plaque marking the site, erected by the Smethwick Local History Society, was subsequently stolen.

The Spon Lane Locks Branch is an 800-yard section of the BCN Main Line canal in Oldbury, England, which forms a connecting canal "sliproad" where the Old BCN Main Line crosses the New BCN Main Line at the Stewart Aqueduct. It runs westwards from Spon Lane Junction (underneath the M5 motorway) via the three Spon Lane Locks to Bromford Junction. It was originally part of the Wednesbury branch of Birmingham Canal which opened in 1769. At the top lock, there is a rare example of a split bridge, which enabled a horse to cross the canal without being detached from the barge. The rope passed through a gap at the centre of the bridge between its two halves. However, this particular example is a modern reconstruction, dating from 1986. These are probably the oldest working locks in the country. There is pedestrian access to a tow path for its entire length, but being narrow and muddy, it is not suitable for cyclists. On the north-west corner of Spon Lane bottom lock can be found a rare example of an Ordnance Survey rivet benchmark, this one indicating a height of 140.4336 metres (460.740 ft) above sea level at Newlyn. This is one of two rivet benchmarks on this branch, the other being at Smethwick Middle Lock.

Warley was a short-lived county borough and civil parish in the geographical county of Worcestershire, England, forming part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis, by recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England. It was abolished just 8 years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with its area passing to the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.

Rood End railway station was on the former Great Western route from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stourbridge Junction. The station opened in 1867 and closed some 18 years later. It was located about one mile north of the current Langley Green railway station. The line is still in use, although there is no sign of the former station.

Trinity Way tram stop is a tram stop just off the A4031 (Trinity Way) in West Bromwich in the West Midlands, England. It was opened on 31 May 1999 and is situated on West Midlands Metro Line 1.

Sandwell College is the only College of Further Education in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It predominantly serves Sandwell, West Birmingham and adjacent areas of Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Following seven years of growth in student numbers, some 6000 16–18-year-old students currently study in the college. The college's £77 million 'Central Campus' was opened on Spon Lane in West Bromwich in March 2012; it houses facilities for teaching a wide variety of skills-based courses to school leavers and adults.

Lyng is a residential area of West Bromwich in the West Midlands of England. It is situated in the south of the town near the border with Oldbury - and part of Oldbury's Ring Road actually borders the southern part of the area. Lyng was developed during the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution that bought thousands of jobs to the local area. Hundreds of houses were built, but after the Second World War many of these homes were becoming unfit for human habitation. This resulted in extensive demolition work during the 1960s that saw the old homes replaced with new council-owned properties including several high-rise blocks of flats.

Bromford Junction (grid reference SO996899) is a canal junction at the foot of the Spon Lane Locks where the Spon Lane Locks Branch meets the BCN New Main Line near Oldbury in the West Midlands, England.

West Bromwich Central tram stop is a tram stop in the town centre of West Bromwich in the West Midlands, England. It was opened on 31 May 1999 and is situated on West Midlands Metro Line 1. It occupies the site of the former West Bromwich railway station on the Great Western Railway line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level. The town's main shopping centres are opposite the tram stop, along with the town's main bus station and Sandwell College's main campus. In 2015/16 it was the most heavily used intermediate stop on Line 1.