Date: 1/1/2006

"Willenhall is a populous village and township, with a railway station and a canal wharf, on the turnpike midway between Walsall and Wolverhampton, being three miles from each of these towns. It is in the south division of Offlow Hundred and is an ancient chapelry in the parish and parliamentary borough of Wolverhampton, but it has lately been divided into three district parishes. It is in the manor of Stow Heath, of which the Duke of Sutherland and TW Gifford, Esq, are joint lords, but the land (about 1980 acres) belongs to a number of freeholders. It is an improving place, and since 1801, its population has increased from 3143 to upwards of 10,000 souls. Its inhabitants are mostly employed in the manufacture of locks, keys, bolts, latches, chafing dishes, gridirons, currycombs, etc. It is said that more locks, of all kinds, are made here than in any other town of the same size in England or Europe.
In Domesday Book, this place is called Winehala, from the Saxon word for victory, and it was probably so designated in commemoration of the great battle fought in its vicinity in 910.
Little London, a large village half a mile N, and New Invention, three miles N of Willenhall, are both in this township, except a small part of the latter, which is in Wednesfield.
Portobello, a large and improving village, half a mile W of Willenhall, and Lane Head, about a mile N of the village, near the canal, are in this township, which also contains other populous hamlets. A branch canal was cut here in 1841."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]

The first record of the settlement of Willenhall is from the eighth century when a treaty was signed there by King Ethelbald of Mercia. Willenhall was then referred to as Willenhalch which in Anglo-Saxon meant 'the meadowland of Willan'. Willenhala 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.

In the Middle Ages, Willenhall was included in the parish of 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.

Willenhall was a small agricultural village throughout the Middle Ages, in 1666 the population was only about 300. 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.

To make trading easier, New Road was opened in the early 19th century. Outside the town itself, settlements grew up around local industries. The area around Lane Head and Sandbeds had a thriving mining community and Portobello grew around the brickmaking industry. There was a lot of coal mining in the Willenhall area until the 19th century when the industry came to a dramatic halt after a strike when the mines were flooded and lost forever. The main industry in Willenhall, for which it has become famous, is lockmaking. Lockmaking began in the area in Elizabethan times mainly in Wolverhampton, Willenhall and Bilston. It was concentrated in Willenhall by the mid 19th century; one source quotes 340 lockmakers in Willenhall in 1855, mostly in small workshops. Locks at this time were made entirely by hand. Young apprentices filed the metal which resulted after many years in their having hump backs. This deformity was so prevalent that Willenhall became known as 'Humpshire'. Famous lockmakers in Willenhall include Josiah Parkes & Sons, Yale & Towne and John Harper & Co.

Poor housing and lack of any proper sanitation led to a cholera epidemic in 1849 when 292 people died. The epidemic shocked the town into improving conditions and in 1854 the Willenhall Local Board of Health was founded, a forerunner of Willenhall Urban District Council which took over in 1894. To reflect a growth in civic pride several municipal buildings were erected, the Town Hall and Library building in Clemson Street in 1866, a public baths in 1938. The memorial park was opened in 1922 in honour of those killed in World War 1.

Willenhall became part of Walsall Metropolitan Borough in 1966 but remains very much a town with its own identity.

Walsall Local History Centre

The local availability of coal, iron ore and limestone encouraged the growth of the iron industry in the Black Country which together with other metal trades such as brass manufacture provided materials for the many specialist metalworking industries in the area, such as the lock and keymaking trades. The lock trade was carried on chiefly in Wolverhampton and Willenhall, although there were also lock makers in Bilston, Wednesbury, Darlaston, West Bromwich and Birmingham.

A huge variety of locks were produced. The most important types were padlocks, till and chest locks, cabinet locks and house door locks. Door locks could be of two main types: mortice, which were fitted into the woodwork of the door, and rim locks, which were screwed to the surface of the door. Towns and villages in the lock-producing area would specialise in certain types.

In the early part of the nineteenth century keymakers and locksmiths in general worked in small isolated groups of ones and twos, independent of each other, but all engaged in one aspect or other of providing locks and keys. Many of these locksmiths and keymakers made use of apprentices and when the latter had served their time they were replaced by new ones so that the ‘master’ did not have to pay the much higher wages of a journeyman. As a result the apprentice would be almost forced to become a small master himself. This accounts for the relatively small number of large manufacturers in the West Midlands at that time.

The conditions in the numerous workshops were often poor. Young children would set to work as soon as they were strong enough to hold a file. The fact that Willenhall was known colloquially as ‘Humpshire’ is evidence, of course, of the toll that this took in causing deformity. A contemporary observer of this characteristic gave the following grim details:

"The right shoulder blade becomes displaced and projects. The right leg crooks and bends inwards at the knee like the letter ‘K’, this is the leg which is hindermost in standing at the vice. The right hand also has, frequently, a marked distortion, almost everything it holds takes the position of the file. If the poor man carries a limp lettuce or a limper mackerel from Wolverhampton market they are never dangled, but always held like the file. If he carries nothing, his right hand is in just the same position."

Work was hard and hours were long. In the middle of the nineteenth century the average weekly wage for lockmakers in Willenhall was 18s – 30s a week. Hours at that time were 6 a.m. – 7 p.m.in summer, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. in winter, although they were often exceeded.

The factory age of mechanisation led to the decline of the small independent master, with his manual skills, giving rise to large manufacturers. John Harper & Co. was one of the first, Josiah Parkes was established in 1840. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the old hand press began to disapppear, and the power press replaced it, while steel sheet replaced wrought iron.

Today, Willenhall is still the most important lock making town in the country and has become home to many of the most famous names in the British lock making industry, including Josiah Parkes, Legge, Century Locks and Yale.

"Bobbington parish, on the western verge of the county, nine miles SW of Wolverhampton, has 418 souls and 2630 acres of land, of which 22 souls and about 500 acres, with part of the hamlet of Halfpenny Green, are in Shropshire. The Earl of Stamford and William Moseley, Esq, are the principal proprietors of the soil, and the latter, who has a pleasant seat here, called Leaton Hall, is lord of the manor and impropriator, having purchased the tithes of the late Thomas Whitmore, Esq, of Apley.
The Right Hon Sir L Shadwell, the Rev John Pratt, Mr Thomas Bowen, and a few smaller owners have estates in the parish."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]

Census

The population of Bobbington parish was as follows:
1801 -- 381
1811 -- 366
1821 -- 393
1831 -- 426
1841 -- 418

"Bobbington Parish Church is a small ancient structure, and is in the diocese of Hereford. The perpetual curacy is in the patronage of TC Whitmore, Esq, and incumbency of the Rev George Hilder Betterton Gabert, MA, of Claverley."
[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]

Bobbington was originally a chapelry to Claverley parish in Shropshire until it became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1726. It was in Lichfield diocese as a part of Bridgnorth peculiar until it was transferred in 1846 into Hereford diocese. It was transferred back into Lichfield diocese in 1905

"Trysull, a small village, five miles SW of Wolverhampton, comprises within its parish 3310 acres of land, and 541 inhabitants, of whom 213 are in Seisdon hamlet. Lord Wrottesley is lord of the manor, but a greater part of the soil belongs to John Pudsey, Henry Jesson, John Perry, and D & W Banton, Esqrs, who have neat houses in the parish.
Seisdon, a pleasant hamlet, gives name to Seisdon Hundred and Union, and lies near the borders of Shropshire, one mile W of Trysull, where there is a narrow bridge of several arches over the River Smestow. Upon a lofty height, which forms the boundary line between the two counties, is the ancient entrenchment of Apewood Castle. Daniel Banton, Esq, owns and occupies several farms here, and was the first agriculturalist in the county who used guano, which in these 'free trade times' may be called the farmers' sheet anchor. Upon one of his farms, Mr Benton has a mill employed in thrashing the grain, and in grinding for his livestock. His thrashing machine performs at one time the operations of thrashing, winnowing, shaking the straw, piling the barley, bagging up the grain, and weighing ready for market."

"The Parish Church, All Saints, is a small ancient edifice, having the figure of a bishop carved on its north wall. It was enlarged, and beautifully restored, in 1844.
The living is a vicarage, annexed to that of Wombourn. The patronage is in certain trustees, and incumbency of the Rev William James Heale, MA."

[From History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851]

Census: The population of Trysull parish was as follows:
1831 -- 562 1841 -- 541