Wednesfield () is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, in the county of the West Midlands, England; it was historically within the county of Staffordshire. It is east-north-east of Wolverhampton city centre and about from Birmingham. Local areas include Ashmore Park and Wood End. There is a formal garden at Wednesfield Park.

Toponymy

Its name comes from the Old English Wōdnesfeld, meaning "Woden's field", open land belonging to, or holy to, the high god of the Germanic Pantheon.

History

On 5 August 910, the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex defeated an army of Northumbrian Vikings in the Battle of Tettenhall (sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield or Wōdnesfeld).

Wednesfield was formerly known for making all kinds of traps, from mousetraps to mantraps and locks. Many of the factories that dominated the area have been cleared to make way for houses and other buildings.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%;width:90%;border:0px;text-align:center;line-height:120%;margin:1em auto;"

| colspan="19" style="text-align:center;"|Historical population of Wednesfield

|-

! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Year

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1801

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1811

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1821

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1831

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1841

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1851

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1861

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1871

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1881

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1891

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1901

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1911

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1921

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1931

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1939

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1951

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 1961

! style="background: #FFFFFF; color:#000080;" | 2001

|- Align="center"

! style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" height="17" | Population

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 1,088

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 1,248

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 1,468

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 1,879

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 3,168

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,858

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 8,553

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 8,998

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 10,801

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 14,538

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 4,883

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 6,488

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 7,446

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 9,330

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 14,894

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 17,418

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 33,048

| style="background: #FFFFFF; color: black;" | 33,555

|-

| colspan="19" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Township 1801–1891 Urban District 1901–1961 LANA 2001

|}

Transport history

left|thumb|Map of Wednesfield in 1921

The first railway within the township was the Grand Junction Railway, where Wednesfield Heath railway station (opened in 1837) was the primary station for Wolverhampton, and was located on Station Road, Heath Town. The station was replaced by Wolverhampton High Level in the city centre, and closed to passengers in 1873 whilst remaining open for goods traffic until 1965. The siting of this station at Heath Town has been cited as a reason for the separation of Wednesfield and Heath Town. It closed to passenger traffic in 1931, although it remained open for goods traffic until the 1980s.

The Wyrley and Essington Canal running through the town was opened in 1797. It was constructed to allow coal traffic to travel between mines near Great Wyrley and Wolverhampton, and was constructed following the contours of the land. This meant that the centre of the town was surrounded on three sides by the canal and that almost all of the pre-existing roads required hump-backed bridges. Despite the improvement in communications and the potential for transporting goods via the canal, it is recorded that some local residents felt that it actually obstructed the development of the town, rather than assisting it.

A second canal through the town, the Bentley Canal, opened in 1843 between Wednesfield Junction, near the modern New Cross Hospital, and Walsall. The canal was abandoned in the 1960s, and only a short section at Wednesfield Junction is extant.

Geography

Wednesfield lies at (52.5998°, −2.0827°) and is located to the north-east of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation. It was historically part of the county of Staffordshire and, since 1974, has been part of the West Midlands metropolitan county.

The south of the town lies over coal measures whilst the town centre has dolerite deposits; the area to the north lies over mudstone and sandstone. The town lies on generally flat land between 130m and 140m above sea level, rising to around 170m in the north.

There are no navigable rivers within the town, although the original course of the River Tame crossed the south-east of the town. in 1866, Wednesfield became a separate civil parish.

Following the Local Government Act 1894, the rump of the parish (minus Wednesfield Heath and part of what became Short Heath Urban District) became an urban district within the administrative county of Staffordshire.

The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 and merged with Wolverhampton, Essington and Walsall. In 1961 the parish had a population of 33,048.

In the early 1950s, when Wednesfield was still independent from its larger neighbour, Wolverhampton council developed two overspill estates – Ashmore Park and Long Knowle – in Wednesfield to rehouse families from slums in the town.

For electoral purposes, Wednesfield is represented by the wards of Wednesfield North, Wednesfield South and Fallings Park, which together make up the Wednesfield and Fallings Park LANA (Local Area and Neighbourhood Arrangements).

The Guru Nanak Gurdwara was opened in 1979 and is also located in the town centre, and caters for the local Sikh community, many of whom are descendants of those who immigrated to the area in the 1950s and onwards. A part of the Gurdwara suffered fire damage in 2002 so the committee decided to demolish the original building and the rebuild was ready by 2004. It has lifts for the elderly.

Economy

{| class="wikitable" id="toc" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; width: 35%; font-size: 90%; text-align:center" cellspacing="5"

!colspan="3"|Economic status of residents

|-

|2001 UK Census||Wednesfield||Wolverhampton (borough)

|-

|style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" |Full-time||39.4%||37.5%

|-

|style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" |Part-time||12.7%||11.3%

|-

|style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" |Unemployed||3.9%||5.3%

|-

|style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" |Other Active||7.2%||8.0%

|-

|style="background: #99CCCC; color: #000080" |Inactive||37.0%||37.8%

|-

!colspan="3" style="font-size:90%;"|Source: Wolverhampton City Council Whilst the retail park thrives, local independent traders on the high street continue to suffer due to economic circumstances.

The area to the south of the former railway line is characterised by industrial development, mostly with small units although there is some larger development such a steel processing and distribution plant. Historically, the main industries were coal mining and trap making, although mining ceased in the area in the early twentieth century.

Transport

Public transport in Wednesfield is co-ordinated by Transport for West Midlands.

Most bus services within the town are operated by National Express West Midlands, with services from the town centre to destinations including Wolverhampton city centre, Bilston, Bloxwich, Walsall and Willenhall. Key routes include:

  • 9, by National Express West Midlands operates between Walsall, Pelsall, Bloxwich and Wolverhampton
  • 59, which runs from Wolverhampton city centre to Ashmore Park, via New Cross Hospital and Wednesfield High Street, is the most frequent in the city. Both National Express West Midlands and Travel Express operate on this route.
  • 65, by Diamond Bus provides an hourly service between Wolverhampton and Fordhouses via New Cross Hospital and Bushbury Crematorium
  • 71, by Chaserider (previously Arriva), provides an hourly link to Essington, Great Wyrley and Cannock

An extension of the West Midlands Metro through Wednesfield is planned, on the 5Ws route from Wolverhampton to Wednesbury, via Willenhall and Walsall.

Much of the trackbed of the former Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway was reused for the A4124 Wednesfield Way, which bypasses the town centre and opened in 1999.

Sport

thumb|140px|[[Tessa Sanderson, 2010]]

  • Hill Griffiths (1871–1937) footballer who played 161 games for Wolves
  • Eddie Clamp (1934–1995), footballer who played 294 games including 214 for Wolves
  • John Sleeuwenhoek (1944–1989), footballer who played 226 games for Aston Villa F.C.
  • Dave Wilson (born 1944), footballer, played 303 games including 128 for Chesterfield F.C.
  • Martin Cooper (born 1948), England rugby union player with 11 caps
  • John Cosnett (1951–2018), darts player, known as "Cossie"
  • Tessa Sanderson CBE (born 1956), brought up locally, javelin thrower, gold medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics
  • Wayne Jones (born 1965), darts player with the Professional Darts Corporation
  • Hayley Price (born 1966) gymnast, participated at the 1984 Summer Olympics
  • Kristian Thomas (born 1989), artistic gymnast, team bronze medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics
  • Jordan Cranston (born 1993), footballer who has played over 280 games, currently playing for AFC Telford United

References

  • WV11.co.uk – A local community news and events resource
  • Wednesfield Site
  • St Thomas' Church Wednesfield website
  • GENUKI Wednesfield History
  • Wednesfield Community Centre