---

 

 

Wolverhampton Leasing

Did You Know?

The story of Wolverhampton begins in 985 when a Saxon lady named Wulfruna was given land at Heanton. In 994 she founded a minster church (a church with a monastery attached). The settlement by the monastery grew larger and in time its name changed to Wulfruna’s Heanton and later to Wolverhampton.

In 1258 Wolverhampton was granted the right to hold markets and fairs. In the Middle Ages, there were few shops so if you wanted to buy or sell anything you usually went to a market. Fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year and they attracted buyers and sellers from far and wide. From that time Wolverhampton was a small market town.

In the 18th century, Wolverhampton was on the main road from London to Holyhead from where people traveled to Ireland. As a result, many stagecoaches passed through the town and it grew larger and busier. Then from the late 18th century, the industrial revolution transformed Wolverhampton. It grew from a market town into an important city.

As early as the late 17th century Wolverhampton was noted for making steel buckles and sword hilts as well as steel jewelry. The industry expanded rapidly during the 18th century. Other important industries in Wolverhampton in the 18th century were lock making and from the late 18th century japanning (making enamel for knick-knacks such as snuff boxes).

The earliest known date of the existence of some form of market in Wolverhampton is 1179 and there is another reference in 1204 when King John took great exception to the existence of a market without a royal charter. It was on the fourth day of February 1258 that King Henry III granted a charter for a market and fair to the Lord of the Manor.

While there is little corroborative evidence it has been traditionally held that Wolverhampton was one of the 'staple' towns involved in the wool trade of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Indeed, in 1859 the coats of arms of the City of London, the Drapers' Company and the Merchants of the Staple were found on a building in Lichfield Street during its demolition.

The fire began in Barn Street (Salop Street) and resulted in the destruction of 104 houses, 30 barns and a large quantity of grain. The fire lasted for five days and left nearly 700 people homeless. It is known that "Lindy-Lou's" was the Hand Inn, Tunwall Street and was owned by Sir Walter Leveson who received an annual rent of £2.17.4d from his tenant Nicholas Worthington.

In 1750 Isaac Taylor produced the most detailed map of early Wolverhampton depicting a town very much smaller than its modern counterpart. The map shows a cluster of houses around St. Peter's Church stretching out for some short distance along the lines of the present main roads leading from the centre.

Wolverhampton was honoured by the presence of Queen Victoria on only one occasion, in November 1866. However her presence was particularly important since it marked possibly her first public appearance after the death of Prince Albert.