Oldbury is a town in Sandwell, West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country, and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell. The town's name comes from the Old English 'Ealdenbyrig', which shows that Oldbury was old even in early English times over 1000 years ago. Eald is Old English for 'old', and Byrig is the plural of 'burh' in Old English, with a burh being a fortification or fortified town. In accordance with the 2011 Census, the town has a permanent population of around 13606 people. Oldbury belonged to the ancient parish of Halesowen, a detached part of Shropshire surrounded by Worcestershire and Staffordshire, until the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, when it was integrated back into Worcestershire after an absence of nine-hundred years. It ended up being an Urban District in 1894, receiving Municipal Borough status in 1935. In this time, Oldbury council built several thousand houses, flats and cottages for some 40 years till its disbandment, the 1000th of which was completed in 1933 at Wallace Road near the border with Rowley Regis. Since the 1980s, the town has actually seen sustained development, specifically the development of more retail opportunities. This features Oldbury Green Retail Park, found on the town's ring road, which was developed in the middle of the 1990s. This, as well as the development of the Merry Hill Shopping Centre found about 6 miles away throughout the 2nd half of the 1980s, has actually contributed to a decline in the functioning of nearby West Bromwich town centre as a retail centre for residents. For all of your home remodelings, make sure to find reputable contractors in Oldbury to make certain of quality.