Local Author and Historian Ray Fellows will be hosting a history talk to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Wodensfield/Wednesfield this weekend.

The battle which took place between the Saxons and the Vikings on 5th/6th August in 910ad will be marked with a talk from Ray Fellows and Phil Bateman at Wednesfield and Woodend Royal British Legion, Vicarage Road, Wednesfield.

The talk takes place on Saturday 6th August at  7:30pm and all are welcome. For more details call Ray Fellows on 01902 739592.

Report by: Phil Bateman

Tonight the fledgling Wednesfield Heritage Society is visiting the Mayor’s Parlour in Wolverhampton where the Mayor Councillor Bert Turner, will display the former Chairman of Wednesfield Urban District Council chains of office.

Wednesfield UDC was subsumed by Wolverhampton in 1966 when the Government of the day legislated for boundary changes.

The fiercely independent Urban Districts of Wednesfield, Tettenhall and Bilston joined Wolverhampton on that date in 1966, forming the metropolitan area of what is now Wolverhampton City Council.

They didn’t agree to the merger, they were forced into the arrangement!

The Wednesfield chains of office are kept on display in the Mayor’s Parlour. Though the current Mayor Councillor Turner is himself a Bilstonian, and he has arranged for the Bilston Civic Regalia to be repatriated to Bilston so that today’s Bilston residents can see their own history in that part of the City.

Tonight is a good time to view the civic regalia of Wednesfield as we are once again approaching the anniversary of one of the most important battles of British history. It was on August 5/6, in the year 910 when the great battle of Wednesfield took place:

Because it was here in our noble village of Wednesfield that the West Saxons and Mercian’s defeated the Northumbrians Danes.

That is why we have our uniquely named village – Wednesfield. In the Anglo Saxon world we live in today, there are many places with similar sounding names. But there is only one Wednesfield.

The battle that took place here is one of the great historic facts. I am very keen to see this famous battle recognised not only by the City but the region.

Edward the Elder in August 910 sent an army that took on the Danes in a battle at Wednesfield. The battle gave the name to Wednesfield. Woden was the God of War. Hence Wodensfield became Wednesfield in modern times.

“Reconquest of the Southern Danelaw

Nothing is reported of English / Danish hostilities between the battle of the Holme in late 902 and 906. That there were hostilities is suggested by the fact that Edward made peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes in 906; one manuscript of the Chronicle says he made peace “from necessity”, a formula which suggests he had to pay the Vikings to cease ravaging. A cryptic note from 907 that Chester was restored suggests more fighting in that year.

The first clear action of the reconquest came in 909, when Edward sent an army of West Saxons and Mercians into Northumbria, where it ravaged for five weeks. The following year the Northumbrian Danes descended on Mercia, and the army of the West Saxons and the Mercian’s overtook them at Wednesfield near Tettenhall and killed a great many of them, including two or three kings and, according to the Chronicle, “many thousands of men”.

After this defeat the Northumbrian Danes stayed north of the Humber, which allowed Edward and his Mercian allies, Æthelred and Æthelflæd, to concentrate on the Danish armies south of the Humber.”

I like to think that this hugely historic victory on the battlefields of Wednesfield, stemmed the Viking tide. If they had won that battle – perhaps today we would be shopping in a modern Wednesfield, and instead of speaking Anglo Saxon, we would be ordering our goods in Danish! Our history I believe was that important to this great Country of ours!

So tonight as we gather in the Mayors Parlour in Wolverhampton, led by Wednesfield Historian Ray Fellows, just a few months from the August 910 battle anniversary. Our little group will lead calls once again for Wolverhampton as a City to do much more than it currently has done to date, to recognise this hugely historical moment in the United Kingdom’s history.

We recently received an email from former Mayor of Wolverhampton and Labour councillor Phil Bateman…

Recently during some research into my wife’s Family history we found out that a member of my wife Mary’s family had been killed whilst defending the island of Singapore from the Japanese during World War Two.

Following research we found that George Hill’s brother- Frank Hill was commemorated at Kranji War Cemetery, 22 kilometres north of the city of Singapore, on the north side of Singapore Island overlooking the Straits of Johore.

Following arrival in Singapore we made straight for the cemetery then the task of finding the grave of Frank Hill.

Frank was a Wednesfield man. He died in Singapore fighting a defensive battle for the island at the tender age of 22.

We found his resting place and the memorial in the neatest of war graves cemetery imaginable! It was a beautifully looked after and after some local help we found what we were looking for- after being taken to the site.

Whilst we had never met Frank it was nonetheless hugely emotional for the three of us who were gathered at his graveside 69 years on.

Frank Hill was a Gunner in 5 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery and he died defending our democracy on the 10th February 1942. He was a 22 year old man born in Wednesfield and deserves like the many thousands of others who gave their lives for their Country to be remembered.

We felt very proud of this young man- who none of us had ever met.

Thanks to Phil for sending us this touching story – you can read the extended article on Phil’s website.

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.

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!

Wednesfield resident and former Mayor of Wolverhampton Phil Bateman finally got what was coming to him this week when National Express staff unveiled a 22ft Happy Birthday advert on a bus.

The advert included the free bus pass which Phil, who has worked in the public transport sector for the past 20 years will be entitled to on his 60th Birthday.

Read more at the Express & Star.

]]> http://www.wv11.co.uk/2010/03/04/phil-bateman-gets-whats-coming-to-him-a-bus-pass/feed/ 0 http://www.wv11.co.uk/2009/12/04/local-school-backs-community-centres/ http://www.wv11.co.uk/2009/12/04/local-school-backs-community-centres/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:00:20 +0000 James http://www.wv11.co.uk/?p=1127

Phil Bateman, the Chair of Governor’s of Ashmore Park Nursery School and The Park’s Children Centre has recently written Wolverhampton City Council concerning their proposals to limit or curtail Community Centres in the Wednesfield area.

You can read Phil’s letter to the Council on his website.