Wolverhampton in 1859

WOLVERHAMPTON (ST. PETER), a market-town, borough, and parish, and the head of a union; comprising the market-town of Bilston, in the N. division of the hundred of SEISDON; the townships of Featherstone, Hatherton, Hilton, and Kinvaston, in the E. division of the hundred of CUTTLESTONE; and Bentley, Pelsall, Wednesfield, and Willenhall, in the S. division of the hundred of OFFLOW; S. division of the county of STAFFORD; the whole containing 70,370 inhabitants, of whom 36,382 are in the town, 16 miles (S.) from Stafford, and 123 (N.W.) from London.

This place, which is of considerable antiquity, was called Hanton or Hamton prior to the year 996, when Wulfrana, sister of King Edgar, and widow of Aldhelm, Duke of Northampton, founded a college here, for a dean and several prebendaries, or Secular canons, and endowed it with so many privileges that the town, in honour of Wulfrana, was called Wulfranis Hamton, of which its present name is a corruption. The college, under the same government, continued till the year 1200, when Petrus Blesensis, who was then dean, after fruitless attempts to reform the dissolute lives of the brethren, surrendered the establishment to Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury; and it was subsequently annexed by Edward IV. to the deanery of Windsor. In 1258, the town obtained from Henry III. the grant of a market and a fair, from which time no circumstance of historical importance occurs till 1590, when a considerable part of it was destroyed by a fire that continued burning for five days.

In the parliamentary war, Charles I., accompanied by his sons, Charles, Prince of Wales, and James, Duke of York, visited Wolverhampton, where he was received with every demonstration of loyalty by the inhabitants, who, in aid of the royal cause, raised a liberal subscription, towards which Mr. Gough, ancestor of the learned antiquary of that name, contributed £1200. Prince Rupert, in 1645, fixed his head-quarters in the town, while the king was encamped at Bushbury; and, immediately after the battle of Naseby, Charles marched into it, and quitted the day following. 

The TOWN is situated on an eminence, in a district abounding with mines of coal, iron, and limestone, and consists of several streets diverging from the market-place to the several roads from which they take their names. Among the improvements effected, is a new entrance on the east from Bilston, constructed by the Holyhead trust, and which, by means of a street crossing the town, nearly in a direct line, communicates on the west with Salop-street, leading towards Shrewsbury. The houses are in general substantial, and neatly built of brick, and many of them are modern and handsome, but in the smaller streets are dwellings of more ancient appearance; the town is irregularly paved, lighted with gas, and at present supplied with water by wells sunk to a great depth in the rock on which it is built, though water-works have been just established, by a company having a capital of £20,000.

A public subscription library was founded in 1794, which contains more than 10,000 volumes, and for which a neat and commodious building was erected in the year 1816, when a newsroom was added: over the library is a suite of rooms in which assemblies and concerts take place. A new theatre was built in 1844, and is well arranged for the purpose: prior to the erection of the old theatre, the celebrated Mrs. Siddons, and her brother, J.P.Kemble, performed in the town-hall, since taken down, where they first developed those talents which procured for them so distinguished a reputation. Races are held in August, in an extensive area near the town on which an elegant stand has been erected.  The town is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold petty-sessions for the north and south divisions almost daily. By the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, it was constituted a borough to return two members to parliament, to be elected by the 10 householders of a district consisting of the townships of Wolverhampton, Bilston, Wednesfield, Willenhall, and Sedgley, and comprising 18,604 acres: the constable of the manor of the deanery is returning officer. A court of requests, for the recovery of debts not exceeding £5, is held every fourth Friday, under an act passed in the 48th of George III; 

The township of Wolverhampton contains 2930a.3r.12p., exclusively of the ground on which the town is built. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, Methodists of the New Connexion, Unitarians, Irvingites, and Roman Catholics. A dispensary, a handsome and commodious building, was erected in 1826. There are numerous charitable bequests for the poor. The union of Wolverhampton includes only a portion of the parish, comprising, with the town itself, the three chapelries of Bilston, Wednesfield, and Willenhall, and containing a population of 68,412. 

An 1859 Gazetteer description of the following places in Wolverhampton is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Bentley
• Featherstone
• Hatherton
• Hilton
• Kinvaston

 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]