Willenhall is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the county of West Midlands, England. At the 2021 Census the town had a population of 49,587. It lies between Wolverhampton and Walsall on the River Tame, and is contiguous with both Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire. The M6 motorway at Junction 10 separates it from Walsall.
The town, formerly in the county of Staffordshire, is historically famous for the manufacture of locks and keys. As early as 1770, Willenhall contained 148 skilled locksmiths and its coat of arms reflects the importance of this industry to its growth. It was home to the National Union of Lock and Metal Workers from 1889 until 2004. Its motto is Salus Populi Suprema Lex – The welfare of the people is the highest law.
The urban district of Willenhall (established by the Local Government Act 1894) was partitioned in 1966 between the county boroughs of Walsall and Wolverhampton (since 1974 the metropolitan boroughs of Walsall and Wolverhampton).
The northern border of Willenhall has always adjoined open land, although the extent of Willenhall's expansion has meant in the last hundred years its northern border has been moved by about two miles.
History Willenhall has been described as "undoubtedly a place of great antiquity, on the evidence of its name it manifestly had its origins in an early Saxon settlement. The Anglo-Saxon form of its name Willanhale may be interpreted as 'the meadow land of Willa' – Willa being a personal name." Alternatively, the name may mean willow halh, the first element of it being the Old English wilgen 'of willows'.Ekwall, E., The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Placenames, 4th edition, 1980. The Old English word halh meaning "a nook or corner of land, often used of land in a hollow or river bend."Mills, AD., A dictionary of English place-names, second edition, OUP, 1998
The first record of the settlement of Willenhall is from the eighth century when a treaty was signed there by King Ethelbald of Mercia, in which Willenhall was referred to as Willenhalch. In 996 the town was referred to as Willenhale, and as Winenhale it was mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) as a very small settlement, and it remained so until the growth of industry in the 18th century.
During the 10th century, Willenhall was in the Shire of Stafford and The Hundred of Offlow (unit of a 100 villages), consisting of 30 households and a population of around 120. In the Middle Ages, Willenhall was included in the parish of St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton. Although there was a church in the village, people would have to travel to Wolverhampton for weddings and funerals. It was not until 1840 that Willenhall had a parish church. St. Giles was the first church to be built. The present church is the third on the site, dating from 1867. The River Tame flows through the churchyard and was until recent years one of the few places where the water surfaced.
Willenhall was a small agricultural village throughout the Middle Ages. From Tudor times, the natural mineral wealth began to be exploited with ore being sent out to charcoal furnaces in nearby Cannock Chase. The iron product was then returned to be turned into small metal goods. Nails were a common product and by the end of 17th century Willenhall had a healthy hand trade, making grid irons, curry combs, bolts, latches and coffin handles. According to the Hearth Tax Returns in 1665, Willenhall comprised 136 households and 894 persons and the largest building in the area was the Leveson Manor House. The population did not increase dramatically until the 18th century when iron and coal began to be fully exploited. The town grew up around the Market Place and Stafford Street with many tiny streets crammed with houses, workshops and pubs. Evidence of the town's growing prosperity is still visible today in the Dale House, once the home of the Hincks family, and 33 Market Place, the home of the Clemsons, both maltsters.
Willenhall suffered its very own great fire in 1659, when most of the town centre was devastated. Most common homes at this time were still made of wattle and daub with glassless wind-eyes (windows), properties easily razed by fire. Rebuilding where money allowed was in brick; The Bell Inn Public House being a good surviving example from 1660, although now closed for business and in the ownership of a local heritage trust (the Willenhall Townscape Heritage Initiative).
Willenhall's first workhouse opened in 1741 adjacent to what is now Upper Lichfield Street; it was in operation for 100 years before merging with Wolverhampton. By 1801, the population was 3,143.
Poor housing and lack of any proper sanitation led to a cholera epidemic in 1849 when 292 people died. Many of those who died were buried in the Cholera Burial Ground "on land at the bottom of Doctors Piece." A commemorative plaque at the site reads:THE PARISH OF WILLENHALL WAS VISITED BY CHOLERA IN 1849.THE FIRST DEATH BY THAT DISEASE TOOK PLACE ON THE 17TH AUGUST, THE LAST ON 4TH OCTOBER. IN 49 DAYS 292 PERSONS DIED, THE CHURCHYARD OF ST GILES BEING TOO CROWDED FOR FURTHER INTERMENT, THIS GROUND, A PORTION OF THE CHURCH ESTATE WAS (WHILE YET UNCONSECRATED) FIRST USED FOR BURIALS ON THE FIRST OF SEPTEMBER. ON THREE DAYS THE BURIALS WERE 15 DAILY THE WHOLE NUMBER INTERRED HERE AND IN THE CHURCHYARD BEING 211.
The epidemic shocked the town into improving conditions, and in 1854 the Willenhall Local Board of Health was founded: to reflect a growth in civic pride, it established a library building in Clemson Street in 1866. The board was a forerunner of Willenhall Urban District Council which took over in 1894.
The clock in the Market Place was erected in 1892 by public subscription to the memory of Joseph Tonks, who was a doctor working in the town post-cholera."Willenhall Through The Ages: Into the 20th Century" Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Retrieved 17 February 2021."Dr. Tonks and the memorial clock" Willenhall History Society Website. Retrieved 17 February 2021. About the clock, Hackwood writes: This was erected, as an inscription upon it testifies, as a memorial to the late Joseph Tonks, surgeon. "whose generous and unsparing devotion in the cause of alleviating human suffering" was "deemed worthy of public record."Hackwood, FW., The annals of Willenhall, Reprinted by Echo publications, 2010, p. 121.
Tonks brought both health and sanitation to Willenhall but died at the age of 35.
Willenhall was formerly a township in the parish of Wolverhampton, in 1866 Willenhall became a separate civil parish, in 1894 Willenhall became an urban district, the district contained the civil parish of Willenhall and from 1934 the parish of Short Heath. On 1 April 1966 the district was abolished and merged with the County Borough of Walsall and the County Borough of Wolverhampton, part also went to Cannock Rural District. The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 and merged with Walsall, Wolverhampton and Essington. In 1961 the parish had a population of 32,352.
20th century
By 1901, the population of "Willenhall, minus Short Heath" was 18,515.Hackwood, FW., The annals of Willenhall, Reprinted by Echo publications, 2010, p. 128.
Football came to Willenhall on 4 September 1905 when Spring Bank Stadium was opened in Temple Road, serving Willenhall Swifts F.C., whose first opponents in a friendly at the stadium were the Football League side Birmingham City. The club merged with Willenhall Pickwicks in 1919 to form Willenhall F.C., who achieved swift success as Birmingham and District League champions in 1922. However, the club soon fell into financial problems and went into liquidation in 1930. Spring Bank Stadium was sold and converted into a greyhound track, which remained open until 1980. It was demolished soon afterwards and replaced by housing.
Football returned to Willenhall in 1953 with the formation of Willenhall Town F.C., who played at a site on Noose Lane until 2013 and played in the local leagues until 2022. Since 2010, the Noose Lane ground has been owned by, and the home of, local league club Sporting Khalsa F.C.
Two war memorials were erected in the town after World War I to commemorate the hundreds of men from the town who lost their lives in the conflict. The memorial park was opened in 1922 in honour of those killed in that war.
The entertainment industry in Willenhall was boosted in 1914 by the opening of the town's first cinema, the Coliseum. It was followed a year later by the Picture House. A third cinema, the Dale Cinema, opened in the town in 1932. However, the closure of The Dale at the end of 1967 signaled the end of cinemas in Willenhall after 53 years. The building was later converted into a bingo hall and since December 1999 has been a J D Wetherspoon public house.
The growing population of Willenhall around the turn of the 20th century led to increased overcrowding and a need for new properties to be built. In 1920, the town's first council houses were built in Temple Road. Over the next 50 years or so, thousands of new private and council houses were built, mostly expanding on developments up to three miles north of the town centre. Willenhall Town Hall was completed in 1935 and public baths were erected in 1939.
Whilst functionally and historically Willenhall has always been part of, or associated with Wolverhampton, the majority of the town was made administratively part of Walsall County Borough in 1966, despite Willenhall Urban District Council recommending that the town should be administered by the then-Wolverhampton County Borough. The Report and Proposals for the West Midlands Special Review Area clearly states that this was not carried out against the principals of the review solely in order to make that authority area smaller.Report and Proposals for the West Midlands Special Review Area, Local Government Commission for England, page 53 However, a percentage, mainly Portobello, came under the jurisdiction of Wolverhampton County Borough, and is now part of the City of Wolverhampton Council.
By the late 1970s, the local industry was in decline, and by the year 2000 most of the town's lock-makers had closed or relocated. The former Yale factory was demolished in 2009 and replaced by a Morrisons supermarket which opened in January 2010.
However, the town's high street retains many of its old buildings which have been local landmarks since the turn of the 20th century or earlier.
Future "Much of the town centre is a designated conservation area and a £2.1 million bid for the Heritage Lottery funding is being prepared ... to fund enhancements to local buildings." So, within the next few years Willenhall Town Centre is set to undergo some regeneration. Currently the outskirts of the town centre are lined with abandoned factories, although most have been demolished and will be replaced with new flats. The part currently includes a Morrisons branch along with Lidl, Tesco and Spar within its borders.
There are plans to reopen Willenhall Bilston Street railway station to passengers in 2026.
Parish churches The town of Willenhall is the home of four different parish churches of the Church of England: St. Giles', St. Stephen's, St. Anne's, and Holy Trinity. St. Giles' did not originally have its own ecclesiastical district: before 1846 it was a Chapel of Ease to the mother church of St. Peter's, Wolverhampton. The chapel was for those who could not afford to go to Wolverhampton to worship, baptize or marry.