Gorsebrook is an historic area of
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
,
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, located alongside the
Stafford Road between the areas of
Dunstall
Dunstall is a small village and civil parish in the borough of East Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England. It lies between Burton upon Trent and Barton-under-Needwood. The population of the parish at the 2001 census was 215, decreasing to 209 ...
,
Oxley Oxley may refer to:
Places
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
* Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia
Queensland
*Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia
** Oxley railway station, Brisba ...
and
Bushbury
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 a ...
.
Place name and origins
The first mention of Gorsebrook is in the 985 AD Charter where
King Æthelred
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
grants 10 hides of land to
Wulfrun
__NOTOC__
Wulfrun(a) (-) was an Anglo-Saxon (early English) noble woman of Mercia and a landowner who held estates in Staffordshire.
Today she is particularly remembered for her association with ''Hēatūn'', Anglo-Saxon for "high or principal ...
primarily in the Wolverhampton area. The place name appears in the bounds of the grant, in
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
at both the beginning and the end as ''gose broc''. The modern translation for this is ''goose brook''. The brook in question likely refers to the section of the
Smestow Brook
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 developm ...
that winds east to west through this area.
History
![Blue Plaque, Wolverhampton Science Park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Blue_Plaque%2C_Wolverhampton_Science_Park.jpg)
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. 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', 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.
Gorsebrook House
During the early 19th Century, Gorsebrook House was the home of a solicitor, John Corser and his wife Elizabeth. The
Ordnance Survey
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First Series - Sheet 62, which covers Wolverhampton, shows Gorsebrook as ''Gosbrook''. 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.
World Altitude Balloon Record
On Friday 5 September 1862, a world altitude balloon record was set by
James Glaisher
James Glaisher FRS (7 April 1809 – 7 February 1903) was an English meteorologist, aeronaut and astronomer.
Biography
Born in Rotherhithe, the son of a London watchmaker, Glaisher was a junior assistant at the Cambridge Observatory from 1 ...
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
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
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.
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.
Today
![Wall at Wolverhampton Science Park, Gorsebrook](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Wall_at_Wolverhampton_Science_Park%2C_Gorsebrook.jpg)
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
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
'' 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
Costa Coffee is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Dunstable, England.
Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. ...
'' 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.
Wolverhampton Science Park
![Wolverhampton Science Park, Gorsebrook](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Wolverhampton_Science_Park%2C_Gorsebrook.jpg)
Wolverhampton Science Park, constructed in phases between 1995 and 2003, 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
Advantage West Midlands was established in 1999 as one of nine regional development agencies (RDAs) in England. RDAs were created by the UK Government to drive sustainable economic development and social and physical regeneration through a bus ...
and the
European Regional Development Fund
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...
. The entire site occupies 55,000 square feet of land.
External links
Wolverhampton Science ParkWikid Pets Animal Adventure
References
{{reflist
Areas of Wolverhampton