Lye or The Lye is a suburban area of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands of England. It was formerly a village within the parish of Oldswinford, historically situated within the boundaries of the county of Worcestershire. It used to be famous for the manufacture of nails, anvils, vices, chain, crucibles and firebricks. Lye Waste, adjacent to the original village of Lye, was an area of uncultivated common land but it was settled by people who, by building houses including a fireplace within 24 hours by using mud and clay as the main building materials, acquired freehold rights as a result of the passing of the Inclosure Acts [sic] from 1604 onwards, and it became thickly built upon. The village of Careless Green, now part of Lye but once a separate village immediately to the south-east, was noted for insurance clubs called Stewpony societies and the Stewpony Allotment Society which tried to improve conditions for the labouring classes.