Tettenhall's name derives from the Old EnglishTeottanhalh, meaning "nook of land belonging to a man named Teotta".[1] The original halh was likely situated in the sheltered area below the ridge where the church stands. This area, around Lower Green, was the original inhabited area of Tettenhall.[2] In early English (Anglo-Saxon) times, as the place name evidence tells us, there were many cleared woodland areas – areas where field and settlement would have been commonplace. These can be seen today by the place name ending "ley", from early English "lēah", meaning woodland clearing; Wrottesley being one such example in the local area. Where most of the land was wooded, below the ridge ran, as it does today, the river Smestow - though at this time, it was a larger stream than it is today, running through extensive marshy ground.[2]
The Battle of Tettenhall in 910 was the turning point in the battle against the Danish Viking invaders by the united forces of Edward the Elder of Wessex and Ealdorman Æthelred of Mercia.[3] It saw the crushing defeat of the last of the large Danish Viking armies to ravage England, including the deaths of the Danish Kings, Eowils and Healfdan. In more recent times, the north part of the village became known as "Danescourt".
Tettenhall has an old parish church, St Michael and All Angels, located at the base of the ridge, leading off Lower Green. An exact founding date for it is not known, though records of a fourteenth-century dispute over village land tell us that the church had been founded during the reign of King Edgar, at some point between 959 and 975 AD.[4]:9 The Domesday Book of 1086 informs us that before the Norman conquest, Tettenhall was held by three Englishmen – Hunta, Wulfstan, and Godwin. Of course, as with the majority of England, post-conquest, William the Conqueror gave the land to his followers.
There is a variety of pear known as 'Tettenhall Dick', named after Tettenhall, originally found in the hamlet of Perton and dating to earlier than the 18th century.[5] These small, dry pears are traditionally used for the making of perry. The Bees & Trees charity began a scheme to plant 2,000 Tettenhall Dick trees across the Midlands in a bid to save them, as very few of them existed any more. These trees were grafted from existing Tettenhall Dick trees, and the scheme has proven to be a success, with trees being planted in a variety of different locations. The variety is now part of the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale in Kent.[6]
The original route of the London to Holyhead road ran through Tettenhall, though on a different course from the current A41 Tettenhall Road. The road, when heading north east from Wolverhampton, ran behind the shops at Newbridge, on bridges over the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (when built in 1772) and the river Smestow, then across to Old Hill, where a steep climb was had for any carriages on route. The road then cut across Upper Green, swayed left into Wrottesley Road as far as Woodthorne Road, and then continuing on as the present Wergs Road.[7][4]:39 This route, because of the problems associated with carriages traversing the steep Old Hill, was looked at in the early 19th century by the Wolverhampton Trust and Thomas Telford, with a view to engineering a new route – either around, under, or through the ridge. Due to a dispute, Thomas Telford dropped out of the plans, leaving the Wolverhampton Trust to go it alone. The preferred method was a cutting through the ridge, with the course of the road sloping up on a gradual gradient from near the Newbridge area, cutting through and rising above Lower Green, before the direct cutting through the ridge to come out next to Upper Green. The spoil from the cutting through the ridge is what was used to create the incline of the road. Work was completed in 1823.[4]:41
Tettenhall became an urban district in 1894, the district only contained the civil parish of Tettenhall. On 1 April 1966 the district was abolished and merged with the County Borough of Wolverhampton and Seisdon Rural District.[8] The parish was also abolished on 1 April 1966 and merged with Wolverhampton, Codsall, Lower Penn and Wrottesley.[9] In 1961 the parish had a population of 14,867.[10]
Tettenhall today
The Swan Hotel, Lower Street, Tettenhall
Tettenhall is one of the few places in England to have two village greens. Tettenhall Upper Green is situated on high ground near the edge of a ridge that runs in a broadly east–west direction, from Aldersley to Perton. The Upper Green has a large paddling pool, an extensive open grass area, a cricket pitch, practice nets and the Wolverhampton Cricket Club Ground, where W. G. Grace visited and played. The area is common land that was donated by the Swindley family to the people of the parish.[citation needed] A clock tower, built in 1912 by the local Swindley family and donated to the parish to celebrate the coronation of King George V, is a key landmark in Upper Green.
Tettenhall Lower Green is at the bottom of The Rock, near St. Michael and All Angels Church. It is a sloping grassy area that is popular for sledging on snowy winter days.[citation needed]
The A41 road runs through the village green as a single-carriageway road. Despite the relatively close proximity to Wolverhampton's city centre, Tettenhall retains its rural village character and a strong sense of identity among its residents.[2]
The village has tried to gain independence from Wolverhampton Council and has made plans to return to a parish council but this has no longer been pursued.
Francis Smith of Warwick (1672–1738), the architect, was son of Francis Smith of The Wergs near Tettenhall. (He became identified with Warwick through setting up business in that town, which he helped rebuild after the Great Fire of Warwick in 1694.)[11]
Married former Olympic competitors Hugh Porter (1940–), professional track cyclist and commentator, and his wife Anita Lonsbrough (1941–), swimmer, live in Tettenhall.[14]
Children's television presenter Mark Speight (1965–2008), was from Tettenhall. His ashes are interred in the parish churchyard.[15]
Christ Church Infants and Juniors are linked to the church of the same name, situated in Tettenhall Wood.
St Michael's CofE School and Woodthorne Primary School are also located here.
Transport
Tettenhall has strong connections to Wolverhampton and Dudley with bus service 1 running every 9 minutes in the week and a 20-minute frequency on evenings and Sundays. Service 1 is operated by National Express West Midlands and also Let's Go. There are also buses to Compton (10/10A) and Telford (891).
The Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre is the first transport museum in the City of Wolverhampton and is found in Tettenhall.[16]
Related Research Articles
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.
The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Newport, Whitchurch, Chester and Ellesmere Port.
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.
Wightwick is a part of Tettenhall Wightwick ward in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is named after an ancient local family the "de Wightwicks". It is on the western fringe of Wolverhampton and borders the rural South Staffordshire area that includes neighbourhoods such as Perton.
Codsall is a village and civil parish in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It is situated 5 miles northwest of Wolverhampton and 13 miles east-southeast of Telford. It forms part of the boundary of the Staffordshire-West Midlands County border, along with Perton, the village is almost contiguous with Wolverhampton with very small amounts of greenbelt still separating the two settlements.
Bilbrook is a village and civil parish in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It is situated close to the border of the West Midlands, just outside Wolverhampton. Bilbrook is classed as part of the Codsall built-up area by the Office for National Statistics, but retains its own parish council. The village gets its name from billers, which grew in the local Moat Brook until recent times. The Moat Brook rises in Chillington Estate and Oaken Village, it runs into the River Penk in Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve. The river continues, where it joins the River Sow, which joins the River Trent which joins the Humber estuary and eventually flows into the North Sea near Grimsby, Lincolnshire. The village is connected to Wolverhampton by bus service 5 operated by Banga Bus Services 5 while the evening and Sunday journeys are operated by Chaserider. Banga also run a 5A between Wolverhampton and Codsall but this does not serve Bilbrook.
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.
Newbridge is a suburb of the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands in England. It is situated north-west of the city centre, on the A41 Tettenhall Road.
Tettenhall Wightwick is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 census was 10,872.
Tettenhall Regis is a ward of Wolverhampton City Council, West Midlands. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 11,911.
Aldersley is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is north-west of Wolverhampton city centre, within the Tettenhall Regis ward. Aldersley is a relatively modern part of Wolverhampton, with most of the housing stock – both private and council – dating from after World War II.
Perton is a large estate and civil parish located in the South Staffordshire District, Staffordshire, England. It lies 3 miles to the south of Codsall and 4 miles west of Wolverhampton, where part of the estate is conjoined to the estate of Tettenhall. The name Perton is derived from 'Pear Town' due to the number of pear trees that once grew there.
Pattingham is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Pattingham and Patshull, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England, near the county boundary with Shropshire. Pattingham is seven miles west of Wolverhampton and seven and a half miles east of Bridgnorth. In 2021 it had a population of 1773.
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Birmingham. The population in 2021 was 263,700.
Trysull is a rural village in the county of Staffordshire, England approximately five miles south-west of Wolverhampton. With the adjacent village of Seisdon, it forms the civil parish of Trysull and Seisdon, within the South Staffordshire non-metropolitan district. Until 1974 it formed part of Seisdon Rural District. The 2011 census recorded a usually resident population for the parish of Trysull & Seisdon of 1,150 persons in 455 households.
Smestow Academy, also known as simply Smestow is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in the Castlecroft area of Wolverhampton, England.
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.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tettenhall.
↑ Mills, David (2011). A Dictionary of British Place Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-960908-6.
↑ Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840, 3rd ed. (Yale University Press) 1995, s.v. "Smith, Francis".
↑ "Great Lives: Roguish ironmonger became a founding father of the States". Shropshire Star. 20 December 2021. pp.22–23. article by Mark Andrews, part of series on worthies associated with the West Midlands.
↑ "No medal for Hugh, but he got the girl instead!". Shropshire Star. 2 August 2021. pp.8–9.Report by Mark Andrews, on couple's memories of 1964 Summer Olympics and life since.
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