Horseley Fields

Place name origins

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.

History

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. 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). 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.

Today

References

References

1. Horovitz, David. (2005). "The Place-Names of Staffordshire".
2. Clare, David. "Images of Wolverhampton - Horseley Fields".
3. "Minerva Iron & Steel Works".
4. Pendrous, Claire. (1986). "Wolverhampton Bus Station, 1986". flickr.
5. Parker, Bev. "An Exceptional Undertaking - The Story of the Jennings Family Business".