Patent Shaft

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Patent Shaft was a large steelworks situated in Wednesbury, West Midlands, England. It employed hundreds of local people from its opening during the 19th century, and was a key player in the Industrial Revolution that spread across the Black Country at this time, and gave the region its iconic name.

A decline in the manufacturing industry during the 1970s meant that even the largest factories were faced with threat of closure. Patent Shaft closed in 1980 and left hundreds of people out of work. The factory buildings were demolished a few years later.

In the early to mid 1990s the Patent Shaft site was substantially transformed. The construction of the Black Country Spine Road between Bilston and West Bromwich opened up several square miles of previously inaccessible land. The Spine Road actually passed through the site of one of the Patent Shaft buildings, and the rest of the site was developed as an Automotive Component Park - which was designated as a government Enterprise Zone.

The Patent Shaft gates, situated alongside the Walsall Canal, are still in existence today, 27 years after the factory's closure.