The south of the town lies over coal measures whilst the town centre has dolerite deposits and 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.[3][4][5]
There are no navigable rivers within the town, although the original course of the River Tame crossed the south-east of the town.[4]
Governance
The coat of arms of the former Wednesfield Urban District Council.
Following the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, Wednesfield formed part of the Wolverhampton Poor Law Union, an inter-parish unit established to provide social security. This replaced an earlier arrangement where the Parish had operated a workhouse on Old Heath Road since 1723. In 1863 the Wednesfield Local Board of Health was established.[6] With reference to the Local Government Act 1858, it was a regulatory body responsible for standards of hygiene and sanitation in the township, and replaced an earlier Sanitary Committee that was established in 1856. The Local Board was only in existence for three years before being split into two, one for Wednesfield itself, and one for Wednesfield Heath.[6]
Wednesfield was formerly a township in the parish of Wolverhampton,[7] in 1866 Wednesfield became a separate civil parish.[8]
With the exception of a loss of 24 acres (with a census population of 224) to the County Borough of Wolverhampton in 1933, the Urban District remained intact until 1 April 1966, when due to the provisions of the Local Government Act 1958, most of the Wednesfield Urban District was merged into Wolverhampton County Borough, though some parts were incorporated into Walsall County Borough and others into Cannock Rural District, now part of South Staffordshire district.[9] The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 and merged with Wolverhampton, Essington and Walsall.[10] In 1961 the parish had a population of 33,048.[11]
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.[12]
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).[13]
Wednesfield was formerly well 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.
Historical population of Wednesfield
Year
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901
1911
1921
1931
1939
1951
1961
2001
Population
1,088
1,248
1,468
1,879
3,168
4,858
8,553
8,998
10,801
14,538
4,883
6,488
7,446
9,330
14,894
17,418
33,048
33,555
Township 1801–1891[6] • Urban District 1901–1961[15] • LANA 2001[13]
Religion
The Church of St Thomas is located in the town centre. It was originally consecrated in August 1750, as a chapel of ease of St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton and known as the Chapel of St. Thomas in Wednesfield. It became a separate parish in 1849. It was almost completely destroyed by fire on 18 January 1902, as a result of which the tower is the only remaining part of the original building. The church was reconstructed in similar style to the original and continues in active use as a place of worship.[16]
The Guru NanakGurdwara was opened in 1984 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.[17]
Wednesfield Village or 'the village' as it is still referred to by many residents provides a range of shopping, office and community facilities for residents in the north east of Wolverhampton and some adjoining parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, along with services for the major industrial areas to the south of the town and New Cross Hospital. Just to the west of the town centre, there is a large Sainsbury's supermarket and the Bentley Bridge Retail Park. There is also a retail market.[18]
Bentley Bridge consistes of both leisure and retail components. The leisure component is in the form of a multiplex cinema and bowling alley together with fast food outlets, a pub, numerous restaurants, whilst there is 14,700 m2 of retail space which includes a fitness gym.[18]
The proximity to Wolverhampton city centre has been a major constraint on retail economic growth within the town. Wednesfield is part of a network of lower order Black Country town centres, providing principally convenience shopping facilities for a local catchment area and it is surrounded by centres with a similar role including Bilston to the south, Willenhall to the south east and Bloxwich to the east.[18]
However, since 2009 the Bentley Bridge Retail Park has thrived with empty units being filled by national retailers. In September 2011 retailer TK Maxx announced plans to close its city centre store in Wolverhampton and relocate to Bentley Bridge.[19] 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.[4]
Transport
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, and 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.[20] 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,[21] and only a short section at Wednesfield Junction is extant.
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.[24] The siting of this station at Heath Town has been cited as a reason for the separation of Wednesfield and Heath Town.[20]
The 59 bus route which runs from Wolverhampton city centre to Ashmore Park via New Cross Hospital and Wednesfield High Street is the most frequent in the city.
National Express West Midlands service 9 (previously 60) operates between Walsall, Pelsall, Bloxwich and Wolverhampton half hourly.
The 71 bus route by Chaserider (previously Arriva) provides an hourly link to Essington, Great Wyrley and Cannock. Diamond Bus tendered service 65 provides an hourly service between Wolverhampton and Fordhouses via New Cross Hospital and Bushbury Crematorium.
This article's list of residents may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are residents, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(October 2018)
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