| Horseley Fields | |
|---|---|
  Horseley Fields 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 | |
Horseley Fields is an inner city area of Wolverhampton, situated to the east of the city centre, bordering Springfield, Heath Town, Eastfield, Monmore Green and All Saints.
Horseley is from Old English, a conjoint of hors - horse and hlæw - mound, usually associated with a burial mound. Fields was a later addition. Over time, 'hlæw' (low) became 'ley'. The first recorded mention of the place name currently existing was in 1204, as Horselawe. [1]
In Elizabethan times, Horseley Field was a field owned by Thomas Leveson and rented out to a farmer. In around 1750, with the eastwards spread of Wolverhampton, St James' Square was built. It consisted of elegant Georgian buildings. In 1857, the Minerva Iron & Steel Works was founded at Lower Horseley Fields by Isaac Jenks. With the late 19th century came increased transport and passing trade, with much of the area, now thriving, consisting of shops. [2] [3] There were several public houses in the area, such as 'The Swan' at the top of Horseley Fields on the corner of Piper's Row, The Wheel Inn on Union Mill Street, the New Inn on the corner of Horseley Fields and Old Mill Street and The Union. A cinema called The Globe existed, as did the Mount Zion Methodist Church opposite, which opened in 1867. In the 1930s, Wulfruna Coal opened on the site of the former Minerva works. Royal Mail had a sorting office in the area, which had a short lived extension in the 1980s (demolished in the 2000s). [4] In the 1970s, and later in the late 1990s and early 2000s, much of the old Horseley Fields area was demolished - first to make way for the Ring Road and bus station, then later for the building of new apartments around Albion Street.
Not much survives of the old Horseley Fields. The Queen's Building, the High Level Railway Station's original carriage entrance marking the original approach now incorporated into the new transport interchange still exists, as do the Chubb Buildings and Prince Albert public house. There are a few surviving buildings on Union Mill Street, Albion Street and Walsall Street, as well as factory units around Ward Street and St James Street. Wulfruna Coal is still trading on Minerva Wharf / Lower Horseley Fields. The site of St James' Square is no longer recognisable, now the site of the Novotel hotel. Jennings Funeral Directors sits on the corner of Horseley Fields and St James Street, and have existed in the area since 1848. [5] Apartments, built c.2000 line either side of Albion Street. The Chicago Rock Cafe or CRC nightclub is situated in the area, as is Wolverhampton's new bus station on Pipers Row, which opened in 2011. It is on the western edge of the Horseley Fields area, and includes a WH Smith store, Sainsbury's Local and National Express travel shop, as well as a newly opened footbridge providing a fast link to Wolverhampton railway station.
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Wolverhampton railway station in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England is on the Birmingham Loop of the West Coast Main Line. It is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains services, and was historically known as Wolverhampton High Level.
Dudley Freightliner Terminal was opened on the site of Dudley railway station in November 1967, as one of Freightliner's first rail terminals. It was an instant financial success and by 1981 was one of the most profitable Freightliner terminals in Britain, but Freightliner announced plans to close it and transfer the staff to the less successful Birmingham terminal. These plans were shelved in 1983 but resurfaced in 1986, with the terminal finally closing in September 1989. Trains continued to pass the site of the Freightliner terminal until the Wednesbury to Round Oak section of the South Staffordshire Line and Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton line closed in March 1993.
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Edward Perry, was an English tinplate works master and twice Mayor of Wolverhampton.
Moses Ironmonger was a successful rope manufacturer who, although an orphan from humble beginnings, twice became Mayor of Wolverhampton.
Wolverhampton-born William Highfield Jones JP was a successful industrialist, local politician, author and benefactor who, with two of his brothers, built one of the largest businesses in Wolverhampton, Jones Brothers & Co. He became an alderman and the twenty-fifth Mayor of Wolverhampton. The Jones brothers are the only family to have provided three Mayors of Wolverhampton.
John Clarkson Major was a successful manufacturing chemist who, with his partner E. L. Turner, set up the first tar distillery in Wolverhampton, Major & Company Ltd. He served as Mayor of Wolverhampton 1873/74.