1985 Handsworth riots 1500 police officers drafted into the area, about 45 shops looted and burnt, and a trail of damage running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. As well as racial tension, unemployment was seen as a major factor in the riots; by the time of the riots, fewer than 5% of the black population to have left school that summer had found employment. The riots were the first of a series of similar riots across the country during the autumn of 1985, notably the Broadwater Farm riot in London which also resulted in a fatality (the murder of policeman Keith Blakelock).
Middleton on the Hill and "tūn" "farm, village, estate, enclosure, manor (which gives us the modern English "town") as with most places of the name (e.g. Middleton, Greater Manchester: instead the etymology derives from Old English" micel" "large (related to modern English much" and "tūn" "farm, village, estate, enclosure, manor", here in the sense "estate" meaning "large village" (i.e. one that is broad in size). The name was recorded in 1086 in the Domesday Book as "Miceltune" when it was reported as part of the lands belonging to Leominster "TRE". After 1086 it belonged to Durand, the Sheriff, and was worth ten shillings. Saint