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A brief history of Willenhall
Willenhall as a hamlet has its history going back into the very
mists of time. Anyone traveling from the south, would stop by the two
rivers [Avon and Sowe], to refresh themselves before continuing on their
way up the hill and through the woods onto the town of Cofus tree, even
as early as the Romans with their fort at Baginton the crossing of the
river at this point would have been well known.
Later a safe place to stay and rest would have been the chapel of Saint
James, which was built around 1150, as a place of rest and prayer on
route to the Coventry Priory and Cathedral. Remember that Coventry at
the time of Lady Godiva, was a place of pilgrimage to the churches which
held holy relics such as;
The arm of St Augustine of Hippo, St Osburg's head, and various other
relics belong to Becket, St Cecilia, St James and St George,
St Jerome, St Andrew, St Lawrence and St Katherine.
The churches in the City were also said to hold a part of the true
cross and a piece of the most holy jawbone of the ass that killed Abel.
The name Willenhall , Wynall or Winall, signifies "a remote
valley containing willows".
The chapel of St James, in Willenhall, is confirmed as the property of
Coventry Priory in 1183-4, and
later when hay was sold from
the estate. The site of the chapel is clearly indicated in the survey
taken at the time, as being [in today's landscape], north of the cottages
at the corner of London Road and St James Lane and south of Chapel Farm.
The Manor of Willenhall was confirmed in 1221, within letters to
the Priory, and in the hands of the Willenhall family, who remained
tenants until the early 15th century. In 1257, the land was held in
two parts, the Priory holding 3/4 of it, and John Hastings, Lord of
Allesley, holding the other 1/4 , the Priory had two free tenants, each
holding half-varage, Robert son of Geoffrey Willenhall, who held the
water mill called Finford Mill, and a John Cross, holding the other
half.
The hamlet consisted at this time of six cottages with eight villen
tenants, living on these lands. During the 13th century, agreements
between the Abbot of Combe and Robert Joilin of Binley, defined the
boundaries and common rights.
The Priory estate was stable for over 250 years of its recorded
history, in 1279 there was 16 tenants on the land, one owner being a
John CROSS, who owned some of the land prior to his son [Henry] selling
it to a Henry BARR of Coventry in 1339, only to buy it back a short
time later. In 1360 the Willenhall family tried to lay claim to the
lands and those of Cheylesmore Manor, when John WILLENHALL died in 1365
the land was held in honor by the Earls of Chester. The Priory retained
wardship of the young heir while Thomas WILLENHALL [apparently John's
brother] unsuccessfully pursed a claim against the estate.
In 1410 the Priory inclosed the wood and the pasture of plain and
wood, between the tenants and the Priory, thus depriving the tenants
of their pasture, only the Willenhall family retained rights within
this area through specific leases of wood and pasture land. But the
tenants rights where not done away with completely, as they still had
Willenhall Green and Willenhall Common to graze their cattle on.
These tenants were made to do work for the Land Lord, and this was in
the Willenhall area, light work. The holders of half and quarter virgates,
did two days mowing, collecting and caring the hay, two days reaping
the harvest. The cottagers did three days stacking, and collecting the
hay, the crop and any other saleable foodstuff was carried to Coventry
for sale.
Other occupations other than farming in the area mentioned in documents
are, two millers at Finford, two carpenters [of Willenhall] who in 1280
took a lease on Alderford Mill in Pinley, a Richard WILLENHALL who was
a cobbler during the 14th century, and the Collins family who were smiths.
The earliest pub [found date] was the Crown Inn on St James Lane, which
appears in 1830.
The Black Death [1348] appears to have had little or no effect
on the village, as the rentals remained the same before and after, so
the villagers must have got away very lightly through this dark period
of history.
The number living on the land also remained stable at around 16
tenants until 1539, when it fell to just 13. With the dissolving of
the Priory in 1544, the estate was given to Sir Richard LEE, who regranted
it until John HALES of Coventry, held possession until the 18th century.
The bridges over the Avon [at the southern boundary] and the Sowe appear
in records dating from 1410, and by 1535, there was a stone bridge with
five arches on the London Road crossing the river Sowe. A line of banks
west of the present Dell Close, suggests that the stretch of this road
which was called Weeping Lane, ran up from the Willenhall Bridge to
the east of the present road and aligned with St James Lane.
The Turnpike Company laid out the modern road in 1724, which was
to become the source of continual augments, between the Company, Coventry
Council [Leet] and the inhabitants of the village, due to the high costs
of upkeep and repair that they were held responsible for. This road
was the main route for traffic from London to the port of Holyhead,
therefore subject to many very heavy loads per day, and all would have
to stop at Toll Bar End, to pay the Toll man the dues.
The population of the village remained from 1539 to 1644 at just
13 houses; in 1730, it rose to 15, and with the opening of the turnpike
slowly increased to 126 in 1801. In 1814 the large Willenhall House
was built, and at the same time it appears that some of the cottages
in the village center disappeared and where replaced by the Manor Cottages
and Grange Cottages.
In the 1830s the farms in the Willenhall area were as follows;
Hall Farm, Upper Farm, [later called Little Farm], Lower Farm, all of
100 to 200 acres. Willenhall House Farm, Packwoods Farm, Chapel Farm,
and Crown Farm, all under 100 acres.
The railway line cutting part of the old estate in two would not
have taken the line it does today if plans by the London & Birmingham
Railway had materialized, as Coventry would have been by-passed by a
southerly route through Oxford and Banbury. George Stephenson's recommendations
and his successful Act of Parliament [6th May 1831] placed the line
in the position it lays today. The first passenger train using the line
was on the 9th April 1838 for the grand opening of the line.
The number of villages stayed around the 100 to 110 mark the period
until 1841 when the census shows a population of 106. The 1851 census
shows 107, the 1861 shows 108, and by 1871 the number had dropped to
104, then increase to 120 by 1881, and drop again to 106 by 1891. The
number of inhabitants appears to have been maintained at this level
until 1921 when a slight increase of 13 took the total to 129 inhabitants,
living in just 25 houses. The narrow London Road and the bridge over
the river Sowe, was widened in 1930 to the present size, at the same
time removing the start of the Folly Lane, which lead all the way up
the present Humber Road into the City.
During the early 1940s, the Chase National Service Hostel was built
to accommodate, with others, munitions workers working in the City.
It was the expansion by Coventry City Council in the 1950s, during the
development of the Willenhall Wood estate that changed village life
forever with the building of the first 100 houses of the present estate,
and the part removal of the ancient woodland.
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