Wednesfield’s well-known local historian Ray Fellows is set to publish his new book covering the history of Wednesfield this month.

In the book, entitled ‘Wednesfield Our Heritage’ Ray not only deals with local history, but also talks about heritage sites and buildings that Wednesfield has lost over the years and those that we are in danger of losing.

Covering buildings from the regal Cinema in 1962, the Ideal Cinema (Smack) in 1990 and Sidebothams’s in the 1990′s, to Alcock’s Farm / Larry’s Tyres in 2011 and the soon to be demolished Tivoli Theatre / Temperance Hall as part of Sainsbury’s car park extension.

Book available 26th January

‘Wednesfield Our Heritage’ will be on sale at High Street News (Wednesfield) and Waterstones (Wolverhampton) from Thursday 26th January and Ray will be promoting the book in-store at Waterstones at 1pm.

The following in an excerpt from the book, describing Wednesfield around 1948-1950…

A stranger approaching Wednesfield for the first time will probably do so via the main Wolverhampton – Bloxwich Road. The distance is only two miles – a three penny ride on the trolley bus and the feeling of turning ones back on Wolverhampton was not immediately apparent. Just beyond New Cross Hospital however, a hump backed bridge over the canal affords a momentary glimpse of the general lie of the town, and very soon the narrow high street and the cluster of houses built around the parish church unmistakeably reveal Wednesfield’s village origin. 

A brief stay in the town will also reveal equally unmistakeably, that Wednesfield was in every sense a separate community, exhibiting sturdy independence and a strong sense of civic pride. These virtues, desirably in any town have been stimulated in Wednesfield by threats of encroachment and absorption by neighbouring towns. Wednesfield is one of the oldest, if not the oldest of the Black Country townships, for it has had a separate existence and identity for upwards of a thousand years.

After recent news stories about heritage buildings in Wednesfield facing uncertain futures, we’re pleased to be able to report that the future of a historic building has been secured.

The Black Country Bugle reports that the former Trap Maker’s premises at 43 Taylor Street, Wednesfield has been designated as a heritage asset by the City Council after a campaign by Erica Williams.

Erica submitted an application for a local listing of the premises with Wolverhampton Council and Sue Whitehouse, the Historic Environment Officer has put the site on the Historic Environment Record. This has given it status as a heritage asset and this will need to be given consideration should any planning applications come in that would affect the site.

Source / Photo: Black Country Bugle.

Sainsbury‘s were today awarded planning permission to extend their store in Rookery Street Wednesfield, despite objections from local a historian. 80 extra jobs are set to be created but a local heritage building will be demolished to make way for a car park extension.

The new 21,600 sq feet extension which is set to include a new restaurant and bakery, as well as 74 new parking spaces has been given the go ahead by planners, but will see a 19th Century heritage building demolished.

The Temperance Hall opposite Sainsbury’s dates back to the 1860s and was used by the Salvation Army before becoming a theatre and cinema, going by the name of the Tivoli.

Wednesfield Historian Ray Fellows wrote to Prince Charles concerning the plans to demolish the hall and also put forward his objections to planners.

Ray called upon the Sainsbury’s to drop their proposals to demolish the hall saying “Wednesfield as a community has suffered more than most Black Country towns from the loss of it’s ancient heritage. Delivering an innovative planning proposal which incorporates a use for the building just as Sainsbury’s did at the former St. Georges Church in Wolverhampton City Centre would be applauded.“

Mr Fellows asked Sainsbury’s whether it was possible to use the building in some way, but the company wish to demolish the hall in order to extend their car park to include a total of 472 spaces, including 29 disabled spaces and 20 parent and child spaces, an increase of 74 spaces. Motorcycle and cycle parking is also proposed.

Planners at Wolverhampton City Council ruled that although the hall was a heritage asset to Wednesfield, it was not deemed significant enough to deny Sainsbury’s proposals to demolish it.

Duncan Nimmo, Treasurer of the Wolverhampton Civic and Historical Society added, “The problem is that it is not reasonable to try to preserve every bit of heritage; that would mean stagnation, and preventing new things which may become the heritage of the future.

“What is necessary is to strike the right balance between preservation and demolition. At least now this is formally recognised in the planning process, with developers required to assess any heritage damage and to justify it in terms of the benefits brought by their proposals.“

The car park extension requires the demolition of a nearby builders yard and the former Temperance Hall, with Hall Street being extinguished and incorporated into the car park.

The existing petrol station is also set to be demolished and relocated to allow for the extension of the supermarket building. The silver-lining is that extension will bring 80 new jobs to the area.

Do you think supermarkets should be allowed to demolish heritage buildings in order to increase profits? Or should planners make more effort to incorporate our history into buildings of the future? Let us know in the comments!

In related news, rumour has it that an ASDA Living store may be coming to Bentley Bridge.

Photo: Sainsbury’s

The next meeting of the Wednesfield History Information Partnership (what a mouthful!) will be held at The Vine Inn (which as has been listed since 2001) on Lichfield Road, Wednesfield on Friday 21st May.

The meeting kicks off at 7pm, but be sure to arrive early as it often gets busy. Local historian and author Ray Fellow will once again host the event, which will include guest speakers.

Discussion will include Picture Houses and plans for a trip to Tamworth Castle, home of Aelfleda, Conquerer of the Vikings at the Battle of Wodensfield/Wednesfield in 910 AD. The Castle will be hosting the Staffordshire Hoard from August 27th to September18th.

Local Historian Ray Fellows will be giving one of his local history talks  at The Vine Inn on Lichfield Road on Saturday 26th February at 7pm.

Ray and several other locals are interested in setting up a local history /heritage society in Wednesfield where residents could take part in regular local history events – if you’d be interested in joining, or would like to find out more about Wednesfield’s rich history, why not pop along?

It’s sure to be busy so arrive in plenty of time and enjoy one of Wednesfield’s hidden gems – The Vine Inn.

Local historian and author Ray Fellows has recently published a new book entitled “This is Wednesfield, our Wednesfield“.

Ray will be signing copies of his book at Wednesfield Library (Well Lane) on Friday 17th December between 2-4pm. Books will be available to buy and everyone is welcome.

Copies of This is Wednesfield, our Wednesfield are now available from High Street News and Waterstones (Wolverhampton) and can be bought directly from Ray who will deliver locally for free. Email Ray or phone him on 01902 739592 to order your copy.

Ray has kindly given our visitors a sneak peak of his new book by making a short segment available for download – click here to download it.

Local historians Ray Fellows and Tony Gough are holding a local history talk in November and want to hear your memories of Wednesfield‘s past.

The talk which will take place at The Vine Inn on Lichfield Road on Saturday 27th November begins at 7:30pm and follows Ray’s previous talk about the Battle of Wodensfield back in August.

Ray and Tony would love to hear stories from local residents, so please come along and take part.

For further information contact Ray Fellows on (01902) 739592 or email fellows.raymond@yahoo.co.uk.

Address: The Vine Inn, 35 Lichfield Road, Wednesfield, WV11 1TN.

Local Historian Ray Fellows is holding a history talk about Wednesfield and the Battle Of Wodensfield at The Vine Inn on Lichfield Rd this Friday.

Ray’s talk marks the 1,100th anniversary of the battle which was reported to have taken place on the 4th and 5th of August in the year 910. The Battle took place where Wednesfield (or Wodensfield as it was then called) now stands and was crucial in helping to forge the unification of England as one Kingdom.

Wednesfield born former Mayor of Wolverhampton, Phil Bateman recently said:

“The first written references to Wednesfield come in the Anglo Saxon chronicles where there is reference to a great battle at Wednesfield in which the Mercians and their allies inflicted a defeat on the Danes which lead to effective end of their power. It has always been an important part of Wednesfield’s traditional history that this great battle was fought here and a reference to it appeared on the Wednesfield Urban District Council’s coat of arms.” (as seen above).

Ray’s talk begins at 7:30pm on Friday 6th August at The Vine Inn on Lichfield Rd and all are welcome.

Here are the events coming up this week…

Monday 7th – Friday 11th June

Venue: New Wednesfield Community Library

• Artifacts loaned by the Wolverhampton Art Gallery will be on display throughout the week.
• History time lines created by local schools will be displayed
• A free drinks Sainsbury’s voucher will be given to all users who borrow a book from the new Community Library for use in the café area of the Wednesfield store.

Monday 7th June

• The Mayor of Wolverhampton will officially open Trap Makers Bridge at 11 am, including a short walk and refreshments at the new Wednesfield Community Centre.
• The meeting point for the event/walk will be at the Trap Makers Bridge. Enter Wednesfield Park via the side of the Snooker Hall by St Patrick’s School on Graisley Lane. Click here for a map showing the route of the walk.

Tuesday & Wednesday 8th & 9th June

• Short history talks will take place at Wodensfield & St Patrick’s Primary Schools for pupils by Mr. Rhodes (Grandson of the Founder of Sidebothams Trap Makers Company) and Ray Fellows (Local Historian/Author)

Thursday 10th June

Venue: New Wednesfield Community Library / New Wednesfield Community Centre Hall
Time: 11 am – 12:15 pm

• Wodensfield, St Patrick’s & Edward the Elder Primary School choirs will be performing in the new Wednesfield Community Centre.
• Emma Purhouse (Poet) will be performing a collection of poems.
• A dance of the Battle of Wodensfield will be performed by Wodensfield Primary School.

Friday 11th June

Venue: Wednesfield Library
Time: 1:30pm – 5pm

• Local historian Ray Fellows will be signing copies of his new book ‘Wednesfield Our Village’

Former Mayor of Wolverhampton Phil Bateman is leading calls for Wolverhampton City Council to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Wodensfield (Wednesfield) which took place between the Anglo Saxons and the Danes on the 4th & 5th of August 1100 years ago.

Phil said: “There is a strong local opinion that the City Council should be celebrating this most important of battles. This battle which was reported to have taken place in Wednesfield (or Wodensfield as it was called then) in the year 910 was crucial in helping to forge the unification of England as one kingdom. Indeed if the Danes had won, we all would have been likely to have been speaking Danish now!”

“Since the finding of the Staffordshire Hoard there has been huge interest in the local history of the area. The City are missing a trick if it allows another year to slip by without recognising the importance of this battle that is unique to Wednesfield and Wolverhampton.”

“The first written references to Wednesfield come in the Anglo Saxon chronicles where there is reference to a great battle at Wednesfield in which the Mercians and their allies inflicted a defeat on the Danes which lead to effective end of their power. It has always been an important part of Wednesfield’s traditional history that this great battle was fought here and a reference to it appeared on the Wednesfield Urban District Council’s coat of arms.”

Do you think we should mark the anniversary of the battle of Wodensfield/Wednesfield? Let us know in the comments!