West Wulf has launched a new Wolverhampton History and Origins group on social media platform, Facebook. Unlike many of the other local history groups on Facebook that tend to attract people sharing the same recycled images, often from existing books. We’re hoping to attract historians and amateur historians, people with a keen interest in Wolverhampton’s early history and those with snippets of information or unseen photographs from their own collection. We will also focus on available maps and early information from early manuscripts, pipe rolls and the like where they are available.
An amazing history
Despite numerous put downs in recent years, Wolverhampton has a fabulous history. The first known recorded mention of Wolverhampton was in 985 AD, in a charter from King Æthelred II to the Lady Wulfrun. Prior to this, Tettenhall and Wednesfield were mentioned in 910 AD, in relation to the Battle of Tettenhall (or Wednesfield). Some information points to a monastery on the site of St Peter’s Church prior to Wulfrun endowing the collegiate church in 994 AD.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the then small town came to prominence as a player in the wool trade. Street names, particularly ‘folds’ are our modern day legacy of this time. A fabulous piece by the late Keith Farley goes into Wolverhampton’s involvement in the wool trade in a little more depth. Following on from this, Wolverhampton became a major manufacturing player as between the 18th and 19th centuries.
Wolverhampton, of course, was granted city status in the year 2000, one of the Millennium cities.
While we’ve touched on Wolverhampton’s history before, the Wolverhampton History and Origins group will allow everyone with an interest to discuss their ideas and findings.
Join the Wolverhampton History & Origins group and get involved as group members delve into Wolverhampton’s long and interesting history.
Looking for history books? We’ve launched the West Wulf Wolverhampton Shop – with an increasing selection of Wolverhampton related books and merchandise available.