Halesowen is a town in the Black Country with a rich and ancient history, its name originating from ‘Halh’ the Saxon word for ‘hollow’ owing to it nestling amongst several hills. The town sits on the very edge of the South Staffordshire coal seam and is also known for the distinctive red sandstone that was quarried throughout it’s history to make some of the towns most iconic buildings – like the unique Church. The current main church was built in 1077, with extra additions through the centuries. Though there were churches on this site even before that and the curved edge to the churchyard is speculated to be the extent of an ancient stone circle.
The source of the river Stour is just south of Halesowen and the river flows through the town. This (for its mill powering properties) along with the coal to be found just below the surface, led Halesowen to develop industrially with the rest of the Black Country and the trades of nail making and button making were prominent. Interestingly enough the only workable mine left in the Black Country is to be found in the Hawne area of Halesowen. Despite industrialisation Halesowen never lost it’s rural feel and even at the height of the industrial age in the early 20th Century, Halesowen was famously described as “the green border to the Black Country”.
The town has produced some great people and institutions. Thomas Attwood, the political campaigner for the reform law and Birmingham’s first MP was a Halesonian, as was William Shenstone; an 18th Century leader in English landscape gardening and poet, praised by none other than Rabbie Burns. More recent figures include novelist Francis Brett Young and musician Robert Plant. Halesowen can also boast a football team founded in 1873 and a school dating back to the 17th Century.
The school, now the Earls High School, is a good example of the fact that Halesowen already has some strong visual symbols. The coat of arms for the school has influenced many subsequent institutions in the town – like Old Halesonians rugby club. However, the school arms themselves are heavily modelled on the earlier Abbey arms, which can now be seen displayed in Halesowen church. These arms being a royal blue
back ground with three golden fleur-de-lys, with a white chevron in the middle of the design. The blue and gold is a reference to the French origin of the monks when they first arrived in the town in the 13th Century. The school, when designing its arms, added a golden sun in the middle to represent enlightenment.
Royal blue has consequently become the sporting colour of Halesowen, with either yellow or gold traditionally being the contrast colour. So when designing the official Halesowen tartan products, it was easy to find inspiration by following Halesowen’s unofficial brand guidelines. Blue had to be the main colour but a strong white line would naturally represent the chevron and three golden yellow lines denote the fleur-de-lys. As a finishing touch Philip Tibbetts, himself a native of Halesowen, elected to add a darker blue to part of the design as an aesthetic touch – balancing out the brightness of the yellow, white and royal blue.
The result is a fine design that has received praise from customers, tartan hobbyists and industry experts alike. Below is a photo of Philip wearing his Halesowen tartan kilt, in a more informal mode of dress, with the city of Edinburgh shown majestically behind him.