Book on Stourbridge park goes on sale

Beauty For Everyone: The Story Of Mary Stevens Park has been written by the park's history group with local historians Roy Peacock and Stephen Howard compiling much of the work.

The book was launched on Thursday and reveals the park's historic links to the glass industry in the 1600s. It also explores how the well-known beauty spot has played an important part in life in the surrounding area for several centuries.

Volunteers from the park's well-established history group also contributed to the work.

The group provided photographs, testimonials, memories and research, so the book includes some rarely seen images of the area.

Mr Peacock, aged 82, of Whitehall Road, Stourbridge, said: "We were trying to look at the history of the building and the people that lived in the park under its previous names. And it turns out the families were very important. For example, parts of the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park, were built by a family who lived in Studley Court, as it was known then.

"If we go back into the 19th century, the chap who built the first railway to come to Stourbridge, a man called Rufford, he lived there. That was the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway.

"It was a military hospital in the First World War too."

People can buy a copy of the book at the Mary Stevens Coffee Lounge in the park and Oldswinford Coffee Lounge No92. The book costs £7.99.