People will be able to step inside some of the borough’s most interesting, historic buildings and join fun family activities, as part of this year’s national Heritage Open Day scheme.

Dudley Council is working with partners to showcase buildings across the borough, many not typically open to the public, through free events and virtual tours from September 6 to 15.

A full list of events, including those below, times of opening and whether you need to book in advance, are available at heritageopendays.org.uk.

In Dudley, there’s tours of Top Church (St Thomas and St Luke) on Saturday 7 from 1.30pm to 4pm where you can learn about its history through a new digital tour and children can take part in drama workshops. Dudley Castle is hosting events on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 September (pre-booking required).   St John’s Church ‘is open on multiple dates, St Edmunds Church (Bottom Church) and the St Augustine’s Church in Hallchurch Road are both open on Saturday 14 and, from Saturday 6 to 14, you can visit the Crown Public House in Wolverhampton Street.

At St Peter’s Church, Cradley, blacksmith demonstrations, wool making, tower tours and a family history event are on Saturday September 7. On Saturday 14 and Sunday 15, visit the 17^th century Stourbridge Quaker Meeting House. On Saturday 14, Stourbridge Glass Museum is hosting a live glass auction and Red House Glass Cone will have a Black Country brass playing on-site between 12.30-3pm.

On Saturday 14 there’s a large programme of events in Brierley Hill. The library is hosting a memory bank where people can record their memories of the town for future generations, view historic artefacts, maps and photographs and also take in their own artefacts to be researched and securely displayed.

Other venues are holding tours or events across the town, including, Albion Street Church, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, the former Library and Technical Institute, Harry’s Café, Brierley Hill Market and St Michael’s Church, the oldest building in Brierley Hill, where you can have a go at ringing one of the 125-year-old bells!

There are also virtual tours of key heritage buildings in Dudley town centre and Brierley Hill, including the former St Edmund’s School (now Dudley Mosque), Priory House, the former Dudley School of Art and Free Library, Dudley Town Hall, Coroner’s Court, former Dudley Police Station, old Dudley Police buildings and Our Blessed Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury Church.

For Brierley Hill there’s drone footage of Brierley Hill War Memorial and Marsh Park, along with downloadable copies of their centenary brochures and virtual tours of St Michael’s Church, St Mary’s Catholic Church, Albion Street Church and the former Brierley Hill Technical Institute and Public library. 

Virtual tours and downloadable brochures can be viewed at dudleyheritageopendays.org.uk - funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Dudley Townscape Heritage Programme and in Brierley Hill by Historic England and the Brierley Hill High Street Heritage Action Zone .

Councillor Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the council, said: “We’re pleased to be working with partners to support the Heritage Open Day initiative once again and to promote the great work achieved through grant funded programmes, such as the Dudley Townscape Heritage scheme and Brierley Hill High Street Heritage Action Zone.

“I’d encourage people to get involved in the family fun activities taking place or take a virtual tour of some our most fascinating and historical buildings.”