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A
brief history of Willenhall
Willenhall
as a hamlet has a history going back into the very mists of time. Anyone
travelling 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, on to the town of
Cofa
’s tree. Even as early as Roman times, when there was a fort at
Baginton, the crossing of the river at this point would have been well
known, and during the building of the A46 by-pass in 1987, a large
amount of Saxon – Roman pottery was found in the Willenhall Woods,
Little Farm area.
Later
a safe place to stay would have been the chapel of Saint James, which
was built around 1130, as a place of rest and prayer on route to the
Coventry
Priory and Cathedral. Remember that
Coventry
at the time of 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, but like much of England’s
history you have to read the fine print.
The
name Willenhall, Wynall or Winall, signifies
:-
“A
remote valley containing willows”.
The
chapel of St James, in Willenhall, is confirmed within documents as the
property of
Coventry
Priory in 1183-4, when hay was sold from the estate. The site of the
chapel is 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. This leaves those who wish to pinpoint the
site with a very large area of farmland to cover. By overlaying all the
available maps which indicate the position of the chapel, the group have
found what may be the possible site for the chapel. Strangely enough, it
is a small area of land in a newly built- up area of the estate, which
has been left grassed.
The Manor of Willenhall
was confirmed in 1221, within letters to the Priory. It was 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, holding the water mill called Finford Mill, and
John Cross, holding the other half.
The hamlet consisted at
this time of six cottages with eight villein 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 were 16 tenants on the land, one owner being John
CROSS, who owned some of the land prior to his son [Henry] selling it to
Henry BARR of
Coventry
in 1339. A short time later, he bought it back again.
In 1360 the Willenhall
family tried to lay claim to the lands, and those of Cheyelsmore Manor.
When John WILLENHALL died in 1365 the land was held in honour by the
Earls of
Chester
. The Priory retained wardship of the young heir while Thomas WILLENHALL
[apparently John’s brother] unsuccessfully pursued a claim against the
estate.
In 1410 the Priory
enclosed 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 their rights within this area through
specific leases of wood and pasture land. However, the tenants’ rights
were not done away with completely, as they still had the common lands
of Willenhall Green and Willenhall Common to graze their cattle on.
The tenants were made to
do work for the Landlord; in the Willenhall area this was light work.
The holders of half and quarter virgates, spent two days mowing,
collecting and carting the hay, and two days reaping the harvest. The
cottagers did three days of stacking and collecting the hay, the crop
and any other saleable foodstuffs, all of which was then carried to
Coventry
for sale.
Occupations other than
farming in the area mentioned within documents are: Two millers at
Finford, two carpenters [of Willenhall] who in 1280 took a lease on
Alderford Mill in Pinley, Richard
WILLENHALL who was a cobbler during the 14th century, and the
Collins family who were Smiths. The earliest pub [found to date] was the
Crown Inn on
St James Lane
, which appears in 1795, and is on Mr Eagles ‘
Toll Road
’ map of 1795.
The Black Death [1348]
unlike many other small villages appears to have had little or no effect
on Willenhall, as the rentals remained the same before and after. The
villagers must have got away extremely lightly through this dark period
of British history, when bubonic plague killed nearly one third of the
county’s population.
The number of people
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 re-granted 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
as far back as 1410. 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. In 1759, a Mr I
Eagle drew up a plan of the road, which also shows the original route
before the seconded turnpiking took place.
The road was to become
the source of continual arguments, between the Company,
Coventry
Council [Leet], Foleshill Rural Council, Warwickshire Council and the
inhabitants of the village, due to the high costs of upkeep and repair
for which they were held responsible. This road was the main route for
the heavy traffic from
London
to the
port
of
Holyhead
and all routes north. The road was therefore subjected to many
overloaded vehicles each day, and all would have to stop at Toll Bar
End, to pay the toll man the dues. The position of toll collector was in
later years auctioned annually, so it appears to have been a profitable
occupation.
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, with its own
extensive walled gardens which supplied the house with fresh vegetables.
At the same time it appears that some of the cottages in the village
centre disappeared and were replaced by the Manor and Grange Cottages. In
the 1830s the farms in the Willenhall area were as follows: Hall, Upper
[later called Little], Lower, each of 100 to 200 acres. Willenhall
House, Packwood’s, Chapel, and Crown Farms were each under 100 acres.
The
railway line cutting part of the old estate in two would not have taken
the route it does today, if plans by the
London
&
Birmingham
Railway had materialised.
Coventry
would have been by-passed by a southerly route through
Oxford
and Banbury. However, George Stephenson’s recommendations and his
successful Act of Parliament [6th May 1831] placed the line in the
position it holds today. The first passenger train made its inaugural
journey on the 9th April 1838, for the grand opening of the
line.
The number of villagers
stayed around the 100 to 110 mark during the period until 1841, when the
census shows a population of 106. The 1851 census shows 107, the 1861
shows 108, but by 1871, the number had dropped to 104. The population
increased to 120 by 1881, then dropped 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, were widened in 1930 to the present
size, at the same time removing the start of the
Folly Lane
, which led all the way up the present
Humber Road
into the City.
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