| Gorsebrook | |
|---|---|
  Gorsebrook Location within the West Midlands | |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Wolverhampton |
| Postcode district | WV |
| Dialling code | 01902 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
Gorsebrook is an historic area of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located alongside the Stafford Road between the areas of Dunstall, Oxley and Bushbury.
The first mention of Gorsebrook is in the 985 AD Charter where King Æthelred grants 10 hides of land to Wulfrun primarily in the Wolverhampton area. The place name appears in the bounds of the grant, in Old English at both the beginning and the end as gose broc. The modern translation for this is goose brook. [1] [2] The brook in question likely refers to the section of the Smestow Brook that winds east to west through this area.
Not much is known about Gorsebrook throughout most of its history. The early English place name relates to the brook running through the centre of the area. In 1849, the Stafford Road Works opened in Gorsebrook, to build and maintain locomotives. The works had what was at one time regarded as Wolverhampton's best football club, Stafford Road F.C., founded in 1876 by works manager Charles Crump. [3] By the 1902 Ordnance Survey, the area represented the northern edge of Wolverhampton's industry, with terraced houses running along the west side of the Stafford Road opposite the earlier Gorsebrook House, and into Jones Road. North of this area were fields and the odd small settlement. From the 1920s onwards, the area to the north was considerably developed, with housing estates springing up, as the area took on a look that is still familiar to us today. In 1934, an Odeon cinema was opened in Gorsebrook, known as the 'Dunstall Odeon', [4] though it was to close in 1960 becoming a bingo hall. Opposite the cinema stood The Croft pub. In February 1964, Stafford Road works closed. The widening of the Stafford Road in the 1980s saw the clearing of many terraced properties and other buildings on the west side including the Bushbury Garage and Dunstall Cinema building, for the creation of the north bound carriageway.
During the early 19th Century, Gorsebrook House was the home of a solicitor, John Corser and his wife Elizabeth. [5] The Ordnance Survey First Series - Sheet 62, which covers Wolverhampton, shows Gorsebrook as Gosbrook. [6] At the time, Gorsebrook House stood alongside the Stafford Road in a very rural area. In the 1890s, the Electric Construction Corporation Ltd (ECC) built their workshops on land belonging to Gorsebrook House to the east, the House becoming the companies head office. In 1900, the building was home to the first Works Manager of the Electric Construction Corporation, a Richard Jones. Gorsebrook House was demolished in the 1950s. [7]
On Friday 5 September 1862, a world altitude balloon record was set by James Glaisher and Henry Coxwell, launching from the site of Stafford Road Gas Works. The balloon was filled with coal gas from the site, and reached an altitude of c30,000 feet without use of Oxygen by the pilots. This feat is commemorated by a blue plaque on the wall of a Wolverhampton Science Park building, as well as the naming of three roads - Coxwell Avenue and Glaisher Drive after the balloon pilots, and Mammoth Drive after the name of the balloon. [8] The Aeronauts, released in 2019, includes a fictionalised account of the 5 September 1862 flight, though omits Gorsebrook and the Wolverhampton area altogether, replacing Coxwell with a female character called Amelia Wren. [9]
Only sections of wall and mature trees indicate that an older building once stood alongside the east side of the Stafford Road in this area. The section of the Smestow Brook bearing the name 'Gorsebrook', is now culverted, disappearing in Fowlers Park to the east and resurfacing at the other side of Dunstall Park racecourse to the west. A memorial to the Stafford Road Works exists on the south side of Gorsebrook Road near the junction with Stafford Road.
Local amenities include Jones Road Working Men's Club, a McDonald's drive through, Jones Road Newsagents, Tastebuds Café, Bushbury Working Men's Club, Strykers bowling alley (now closed), Wikid Pets (now closed), Dunstall Park Garage, Eurofit, Rainbow office furniture, and a café and Costa Coffee on Wolverhampton Science Park. The Croft pub was renamed The Island House upon the creation of the dual carriageway, this is now The Island House fish and chip restaurant and takeawy. A new traffic island was put in recently as part of the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise on the same site. The only remaining remnant of the Electric Construction Company is its sports club, on Showell Road.
Wikid Pets on Gorsebrook Road (now closed and the building belongs to the Eurofit group) often features in the local press for its variety of animals and attractions. [10] [11] [12] [13]
Wolverhampton Science Park, constructed in phases between 1995 and 2003, [14] [15] occupies the site of the old House and Electric Construction Corporation. The Science Park is a joint operation between the University of Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton City Council, to promote and support the development of innovative businesses by providing a working environment and support services. Businesses based at the Science Park include the Healthcare Improvement Partnership (Wolverhampton City & Walsall) Ltd, Hutchison Scientific Services Ltd and SPRUNG Ltd amongst many others.
Wolverhampton Science Park was constructed with the help of funding from Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund. [16] The entire site occupies 55,000 square feet of land. [17]
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is 46 miles (74 km) long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood Junction by Great Haywood.
James Glaisher FRS was an English meteorologist, aeronaut and astronomer.
Compton is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is located to the west of Wolverhampton city centre on the A454, within the Tettenhall Wightwick ward.
Oxley is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and a ward of the City of Wolverhampton Council. Its area code is WV10. It is situated in the north of the city, bordering South Staffordshire and the Bushbury North, Bushbury South and Low Hill, St Peter's and Tettenhall Regis wards. It forms part of the Wolverhampton North East constituency.
Bushbury is a suburban village and ward in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. It lies two miles north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, divided between the Bushbury North and Bushbury South and Low Hill wards. Bushbury also lies near to the villages of Coven, Featherstone and Four Ashes which are in South Staffordshire.
Wombourne is a village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is 4 miles (6 km) south-west of Wolverhampton and on the border with the West Midlands County.
Wolverhampton North East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was most recently represented by Jane Stevenson of the Conservative Party, who was elected at the 2019 general election.
Whitmore Reans is in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is situated to the north-west of the city centre, in the city council's Park and St Peter's wards.
Wolverhampton railway works was in the city of Wolverhampton in the county of Staffordshire, England. It was almost due north of the city centre, and is commemorated with a small display of level crossing gates and a plaque. Known as the Stafford Road Works, it was opened by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway in 1849 to maintain bought-in locomotives.
Park Village is an inner city area of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is situated in the north-east of the city on the A460 Cannock Road, which at that point is the border between the city council's Bushbury South and Low Hill and Heath Town wards.
St Peter's is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. It has two parts: the city centre, and the inner-city areas immediately to the north and north-west, including Dunstall Hill and part of Whitmore Reans.
Fordhouses is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is situated to the north of the city centre, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire, within the Bushbury North ward of Wolverhampton City Council. It is the most northerly part of the city alongside Pendeford, adjacent to the M54 motorway.
Low Hill is in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, within the Bushbury South and Low Hill ward.
Henry Tracey Coxwell was an English aeronaut and writer about ballooning active over the British Isles and continental Europe in the mid-to late nineteenth century. His achievements included having established and led two military balloon companies in Cologne, Germany at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, leading the first aerial trip in England for purposes of photography, piloting a British Association flight from Wolverhampton, England that achieved a record altitude with James Glaisher in 1862, reaching at least 29,000 ft (8,800 m), and perhaps as high as 35,000 to 37,000 ft, as well as founding The Balloon, or Aerostatic Magazine and collecting his experiences in an autobiography, My Life and Balloon Experiences. He was referred to as the foremost balloonist of the last half of the nineteenth century by the English-language periodical, Illustrated London News, in January 1900.
Springfield is an area of Wolverhampton, England immediately north east of the city centre. It was the home of the Springfield Brewery from 1873 until 1991. The brewery site has been redeveloped by The University of Wolverhampton for its architecture and built environment 'super-campus', which includes the National Brownfield Institute. There are modern student residential blocks, one of which is the tallest structure in Wolverhampton. For local government, Springfield is within the ward of Heath Town.
Swindon is a village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is 6 miles (6 km) west of Dudley, 2 miles (6 km) northwest of Kingswinford and 2 miles (6 km) southwest of Wombourne. Swindon is located just outside the county and conurbation of the West Midlands. It borders the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley and Wolverhampton to the east and northwest. The parish which includes Swindon and the neighbouring villages of Hinksford and Smestow had a population of 1,279 recorded in the 2021 Census.
The Smestow Brook, sometimes called the River Smestow, is a small river that plays an important part in the drainage of Wolverhampton, South Staffordshire, and parts of Dudley in the United Kingdom, and has contributed to the industrial development of the Black Country. It is the most important tributary of the River Stour, Worcestershire and part of the River Severn catchment.
The Wom Brook is a stream in South Staffordshire, England. It flows through the large village of Wombourne, and has played an important part in its industrial history. It is an important tributary of the River Smestow and part of the Severn catchment.
The Leicester balloon riot took place at Leicester's Victoria Park on 11 July 1864. It occurred at a test flight of a new hydrogen balloon by aeronaut Henry Tracey Coxwell, for which 50,000 spectators attended. The crowd were enraged by rumours that the balloon was not the largest and newest of Coxwell's balloons and because a woman was allegedly struck by a police officer. Coxwell's balloon was damaged, upon which he caused the gas envelope to collapse and fled, under attack from the crowd. The balloon was subsequently torn to pieces and its basket burnt. The event caused considerable expense to Coxwell who had to build a replacement balloon and set back progress in scientific high-altitude flights.