The Annals of Willenhall by Frederick William Hackwood (13 ebook reader TXT) 📕

[Picture: George Ley Pearce. Prominent Wesleyan and Philanthropic Worker]

Among the justices who have sat on the Willenhall Bench and possessed other connections with the place may be mentioned the late N. Neal Solly, ironmaster, two water-colour drawings by whom hang on the walls of the Free Library; the late Rev. G. H. Fisher, who was chairman; R. D. Gough, a brother of the late Colonel Foster Gough, and who married the rich and benevolent Mary Clemson, daughter of John Clemson, a corn miller, of this township; while among the most recent appointments are Clement Tildesley, Thomas Vaughan, and Thomas Kidson. The present Clerk to the Willenhall Bench is Samuel Mills Slater, in succession to his father, the late James Slater, of Bescot Hall.

A memorial tablet to the local men who fell in the Boer War has been erected at the gateway to the Old Cemetery.

[Picture: Decorative design]

The Manners and Customs of the people of Willenhall have been those held in common with the populace of the surrounding parishes, and which have been dealt with too fully in the published writings of Mr. G. T. Lawley to need more than a brief review here.

The seasonal custom of Well Dressing has been alluded to in Chapter XVII., and of Beating the Bounds in Chapter V. Other ancient customs of minor import existed, but space cannot be found to treat them in a general history.

The social calibre of the people a century or so ago may be gauged by a local illustration of the custom of Wife Selling.

This practice was once common enough everywhere, and amongst the ignorant and illiterate in some parts it is still held to be a perfectly legitimate transaction. From the "Annual Register" this local instance has been clipped:--

"Three men and three women went to the Bell Inn, Edgbaston Street, Birmingham, and made the following singular entry in the toll book which is kept there: August 31, 1773, Samuel Whitehouse, of the Parish of Willenhall, in the county of Stafford, this day sold his wife, Mary Whitehouse, in open market, to Thomas Griffiths, of Birmingham, value one shilling. To take her with all her faults.

(Signed) Samuel Whitehouse. Mary Whitehouse.

Voucher, Thomas Buckley, of Birmingham."

The parties were all exceedingly well pleased, and the money paid down for the toll as for a regular purchase.

So much for the moral status of the people; now to consider them from the industrial side.

The older generation of Willenhall men were accustomed, ere factory Acts and kindred forms of parental legislation had regulated working hours and otherwise ameliorated the conditions of labour, to slave for many weary hours in little domiciliary workshops. Boys were then apprenticed at a tender age, and soon became humpbacked in consequence of throwing in the weight of their little bodies in the endeavour to eke out the strength of the feeble thews and bones in their immature arms.

In those days men worked when they liked, and played when it suited them; they generally played the earlier days of the week, even if at the end they worked night and day in the attempt to average the weekly earnings. In this connection it has been suggested that in pre-Reformation times Willenhall folk duly honoured St. Sunday and well as St. Monday, consecrating both days to the sacred cause of weekly idleness. Or was Willenhall's Holy Well dedicated to St. Dominic, and came by grammatical error to be called St. Sunday? As thus--Sanctus Dominicus abbreviated first to Sanc. Dominic, and then extended in the wrong gender to Sancta Dominica, otherwise Saint Sunday? Who shall say? It may have been so.

It is perhaps in their pleasures, more than in their pursuits, that the character of a people is to be best seen. Allusion has been made to the obsolete Trinity Fair in Chapter XII.; but the Wake has remained to this day, less loyally observed perhaps, but rich in traditions of past glories.

Willenhall Wake falls on the first Sunday after September 11th, the Feast of St. Giles, to whom the old church is dedicated.

Among the wakes of the Black Country none are richer in reminiscence of the old time forms of festivity than that of Willenhall. Although in later times the outward and visible sign of its celebration has dwindled down to an assemblage of shows and roundabouts, shooting galleries, and ginger-bread stalls, it was once accompanied by bull-baitings and cock-fighting, and all the other coarse and brutal sports in which our forefathers so much delighted.

At Wednesfield at one village wake The cockers all did meet At Billy Lane's, the cock-fighter's, To have a sporting treat.

For Charley Marson's spangled cock Was matched to fight a red That came from Will'n'all o'er the fields, And belonged to "Cheeky Ned."

Two finer birds in any cock-pit Two never yet was seen. Though the Wednesfield men declared Their cock was sure to win.

The cocks fought well, and feathers fled All round about the pit, While blood from both of 'em did flow Yet ne'er un would submit.

At last the spangled Wedgefield bird Began to show defeat, When Billy Lane, he up and swore The bird shouldn't be beat;

For he would fight the biggest mon That came from Will'n'all town, When on the word, old "Cheeky Ned" Got up and knocked him down.

To fight they went like bull-dogs, As it is very well known, Till "Cheeky Ned" seized Billy's thumb, And bit it to the bone.

At this the Wednesfield men begun Their comrade's part to take, And never was a fiercer fight Fought at a village wake.

They beat the men from Will'n'all town Back to their town again, And long they will remember This Wednesfield wake and main.

The site of the Willenhall Bull Ring, it may be added for the information of future generations, was opposite the Baptist Chapel, Little London, where Temple Bar joins the Wednesfield and Bloxwich Roads.

Among other Wake observances of the last century were the "Club Walkings" or processioning of the Friendly Societies, whose members first attended a brief service in the church, and then spent the rest of the day in feasting at the Neptune Inn opposite. Tradition hath it that further back, well into the Georgian era, and certainly before Mr. Fisher's time, another Wake custom was that of "kissing the parson," a privilege of which the women were said to be very jealous.

In the year 1857 the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, Member of Parliament for the Borough of Wolverhampton, of which this township was part, inaugurated in Willenhall one of the first exhibitions of fine art and industry ever held in the Black Country. It was opened on the Monday in the Wake week, and Mr. Villiers alluded to the fact that "they met in the midst of one of those old-fashioned wakes which it was the humour of their ancestors to establish and be pleased with," and the right hon. gentleman proceeded to contrast the present with the past conditions of Willenhall Wake-time.

A flourishing Free Library--founded like many another in the face of great local opposition and prejudice--is one of the legacies of that exhibition, from the date of which may be traced the more rational observance of Wake-time.

With the advance of science and art and the spread of popular education, the future prosperity of an ingenious community, like that of the skilled mechanics and deft craftsmen of this township, is assured. Impressed with such certitude it is all but a work of supererogation to echo the patriotic sentiment of the old-time townsfolk--

"LET WILLENHALL FLOURISH!"

* * * * *

THE END.

INDEX

Ablow Field 7, 10

Agmund 8

Aldhelm 18

Ames 75, 77, 137

Anlaf 8

Annes, St. 110-2, 134

Anson (Lichfield) 128, 139, 152

Arley 14, 18, 27-8

Aston 34

Austin 165, 184

Badland 62-4, 95-6

Baker 106, 149

Barnard 128

Barr 114

Bate 132

Beating Bounds 24-6, 187

Beaumont 46, 58-9, 60-1

Beneting 8

Bentley 17, 25, 27-8, 31, 39, 44, 65, 67, 70, 72, 77, 81-82, 109, 110, 120-1, 125, 127-8, 126, 140, 143, 151-2, 175, 182, 184

Beogitha's Stream 29

Bescot 17

Bilbrook 28, 93

Bilston 12, 14, 18, 26-8, 34, 37, 40, 51, 56, 66, 77-81, 85, 93, 135, 137-8, 156, 161

Blakenhall 14

Bloxwich 14, 17-8, 25, 30, 39, 134, 189

Booth 137

Boscobel 69-70

Bradford 74

Bradley 26, 175

Brewood 4, 93, 162

Brideoak 73

Bromehall 51, 95

Browning 34, 95

Burnell 40

Burton 21

Bushbury 4, 9, 14, 24, 27, 38, 46, 56, 66, 68-9, 71, 98, 113

Callendine 74

Canals 127, 133, 155, 157

Cannock 2, 19, 24-5, 38-9, 41, 45, 135, 148, 151

Carpenter 144, 147, 158, 161-3, 165, 178, 184

Carter 96, 164

Catchem's Corner 26

Chartley 83

Chatterton 175

Chillington 14, 84, 121, 149

Chubb 160

Churchwardens 26, 79, 105, 112, 129, 130, 132, 153

Clarke 114

Clement 42, 72

Clemson 139, 186

Clent 37, 64

Cleveland 107, 128

Codsall 14, 30, 56, 93-4, 137

Coseley 145

Cote 28

Courts (Leet, &c.) 23, 148-153, 156, 182

Coven 38

Cozens 175

Cuddlestone 27-8

Darlaston 14, 38, 40, 45, 65, 82, 92, 98, 103, 106, 137, 143-4, 156, 164, 172, 174-5, 180, 184

Davies 114, 125

Dean (of Wolverhampton) 22-4, 28, 30, 34-6, 39, 49, 50-1, 55, 72-9

Delves 2

De Willenhall, John 37, 42

,, Roger 37

Dudley 39, 46, 51-2, 58, 64-6, 69, 90, 137, 172

Duignan 2, 3, 9, 19

Dunstall 14, 17, 21, 39, 93

Ecwills 8

Elfthryth 19

Essington 14, 18, 25, 27, 38, 71, 154, 157

Ettingshall 14

Etymologies 1-5, 9, 11, 13-4

Fairs, Wakes, &c. 57-61, 163, 188, 190

Featherstone, 6, 14, 18, 23-5, 28, 30, 74-6, 80

Fellows 22-3

Fisher 102, 104, 106-111, 125, 127, 134, 139, 186, 189

Fletcher 132-2, 134

Foster 144

Franchises 30

Fytzherbert 52

Garrick 88-9

Gerveyse 32-3, 116

Giffard 30, 52, 69, 71, 97, 112, 121, 123, 139, 149

Giles, St. 36, 57, 103, 105, 110-1, 133, 139, 141, 188

Gilpin 96-7

Goldthorn Hill 20, 26

Goscote 66

Gospelling 25, 26, 93

Gough 46, 66, 137, 139, 140, 147, 186

Gower 30, 47, 97, 139

Graisley 7, 20

Grosvenor 69

Guthferth 8

Halesowen 75

Haling 46-7

Hall 72, 86, 147

Hammerwich 40

Hampton 34, 39, 40, 113

Harper 42, 44, 59, 144, 164, 166

Hartill 102, 107, 111, 114, 125, 133-4, 140-2, 146, 150, 154, 163, 181, 185-6

Hascard 74

Haswic 28

Hatherton 14, 18-9, 23-4, 28, 30, 34, 72, 74-6, 80

Healfden 8

Heath Town 10, 11

Hilton 18-9, 23-4, 28, 30, 38-9, 74-6, 80, 98, 103

Hincks 105, 125, 184

Hind Brook 90

Hinton 74-5

Hobbart 76

Hocintun 28

Holbrooke 97-137

Holyoake 108

Horsley 7-10

Huntbach 6, 7, 10

Industries, Trades 31, 41, 45, 92, 106, 175, 178

Jennings 46

Johnson 88, 101, 114

Kempson 71, 161

Kenwolf 8

Kidson 147, 186

Kinvaston 14, 18, 23-5, 28, 30, 74, 76, 80

Kinver 9, 51, 185-6

Lane, Lone 30, 44, 52, 66-7, 70, 77, 95, 119, 120, 136-7, 139, 152, 175

Lawley 37, 93, 175, 177-8, 187

Leek 37

Lees 114

Leigh 66-7, 119

Leper House 94

Levison 34, 36, 39, 41-52, 55-6, 59, 60-1, 66, 68, 71-4, 97, 121, 123, 149, 150-1

Lewis 98

Lilleshall 46, 49

Little London 145, 148, 189

Little Low 7, 10

Lowhill 4, 9

Lows 6, 7, 9, 10

Loxton 177

Lutley 30, 75

Manlove 83, 85

Manningham 77

Marshall 59, 60

Matilda 37

Maxey 72

Mercia 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 21, 27, 37

Monmore 11, 16, 23-4, 30, 75-6, 93, 143, 145, 156

Moreton 98, 100-4, 106, 110, 184

Moseley 14, 19, 69, 70-1, 136

Mounsell 55, 95

Mumper's Dingle 172, 174

Nechells 9

Neptune Inn 102, 106, 149, 181-2, 189

Neve 96, 98, 103, 138

Newbolds 14

Newbrigge 38

New Invention 145, 148, 154, 183

Nicholls 114

North Low 7, 9, 10

Oakeswell 67

Ocstele, le 39

Odyes 39, 42-3

Offlow 12, 21, 27-8, 148

Ogley Hay 14, 19

Ohter 8

Oldbury 63

Oliver 1, 24, 50, 76, 89, 93, 96

Osferth 8

Padmore 95

Patent Rolls 32-3, 44

Pearce 144, 146

Pedley 130-1, 133, 144, 147

Pelsall 4, 15, 18, 25, 27, 30, 32, 55, 66, 81

Pendeford 15, 38, 40, 162

Penderel 69

Penkhull 37

Penkridge 2, 178

Penn 56, 82

Pensnett 90

Perry 161

Phillips, Claudius 88-9

Pipe Rolls