Pelsall is a village in the
Metropolitan Borough of Walsall
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, ...
,
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 ...
, England. Forming part of the borough's border with
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, Pelsall is located 4 miles north of central Walsall, midway between the towns of
Bloxwich
Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills.
Early history
Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as th ...
and
Brownhills
Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar distan ...
and 4 miles northwest of
Aldridge
Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield. T ...
. The southern edge of
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase (), often referred to locally as The Chase, is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is managed by Forestry En ...
is 6 miles to the north. Pelsall is also 8 miles southwest of
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
and 8 miles northeast 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 ...
.
History
Pelsall was first mentioned in a charter of 994, when it was among various lands given to the monastery at ''Heantune'' (
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 ...
) by
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 ...
, a
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era=Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ye ...
n noblewoman. At this time it was called ''Peolshalh'', meaning 'a nook' or 'land between two streams belonging to Peol'. The
Domesday
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
entry of 1086 describes Pelsall as being waste, still belonging to the church. A chapel of ease was built in about 1311. The
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
population was small and a return of 1563 lists only 14 householders. The original centre the area is now known as Old Town. In 1760 the remaining
open fields were
enclosed
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
, but some holdings survived into the next century in Hall Field, High Ley, The Riddings Field and Final Field. The
tithe map The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave the ...
of about 1840 records some evidence of the medieval strip farming system.
In the second quarter of the 19th century, clusters of houses were built on the fringes of the extensive common land and at the Newlands. The greatest concentration was in what is now the village centre. This area gradually developed; a Methodist Chapel and school were opened in about 1836, in the modern day Station Road and a new St Michael's Church was built in 1844 – the old one in Paradise Lane had been considered too small for the growing population. Towards the end of the 19th century, shops became established in Norton Road and High Street. The population in 1801 was 477 and by 1901 had grown to 3,626. Pelsall had become a
mining village; in places deposits of coal were found only a few yards from the surface and by about 1800 the shallow and deep seams were 'much worked'. The cutting of the
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
in about 1794 opened up the area for industrialisation, with entrepreneurs and landowners quickly exploiting the mineral wealth. Nailmaking, traditionally a cottage industry, was also carried out locally; in the census of 1841 thirty men stated this as their occupation.
On 14 November 1872, 22 miners died when the Pelsall Hall Colliery was flooded. 21 of the 22 miners were buried underneath a polished granite obelisk in the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels Church.
An ironworks was established on the North Common which grew into a sizeable concern under the ownership of Messrs. Davis and
Bloomer. This, together with Yorks Foundry and that of Ernest Wilkes and Co. at Mouse Hill, gave Pelsall a share of the heavy iron trade during the 19th century. Ernest Wilkes and Co. survived until 1977, but the others ceased trading in the 1890s and the pits became unworkable, mainly due to continual flooding problems. Several working farms survived in the local area until after the Second World War. Since then much land has been used for housing development but the ancient common remains.
Governance
Pelsall is part of the
Aldridge-Brownhills Parliamentary constituency. At the
2015 general election, the seat was held by
Wendy Morton
Wendy Morton (born 9 November 1967) is a British politician who served as Chief Whip of the House of Commons and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from September to October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member ...
(
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
) with a majority of 11,723 over
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
's John Fisher. The seat has been held by the Conservative Party since 3 May 1979.
Pelsall Ward has three seats on
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Walsall Council, formerly Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was created in 1974 to administer the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Walsall.
Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council was assessed by the Audit Commission in 2008 and judged to ...
. The three current councillors, all Conservative, are Garry Perry, former Mayor of Walsall, re-elected in 2012; Marco Longhi, elected in 2011; and Sally Neville, elected in 2018.
Landmarks
The Fingerpost, at the junction of B4154
Norton Norton may refer to:
Places
Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada
*Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan
*Norton Parish, New Brunswick
**Norton, New Brunswick, a ...
Road and A4124
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
Road, is an unusual and possibly unique design, being substantially restored in the 1980s by Bert Kellitt for the local Civic Society. Pelsall Social Club is at the junction of these roads. Since the late 1990s, Pelsall has had a Millennium Stone, marking the 994–1994 millennium of the village.
Pelsall is quite 'green' with a large turf central common around which previously stood several
public houses
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
: only The Railway and The Queens (formerly The Block & Chopper) survive today, with The Old House at Home further up towards the Fingerpost. Pelsall Carnival takes place in July each year, featuring decorated
floats and
bric-a-brac stalls. It has run continuously since 1972 with the exception of 2020.
The main shopping area serving the town is bordered by Norton Road and High Street and includes a range of shops, including a butcher, plus a variety of food outlets. On the northern edge of the village centre there is The Old House at Home public house, while the Fingerpost pub (formerly The Royal Oak) is situated just north of the Fingerpost road junction at Yorks Bridge, near to
Pelsall Junction on the
Wyrley and Essington Canal
The Wyrley and Essington Canal, known locally as "the Curly Wyrley", is a canal in the English Midlands. As built it ran from Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction near Lichfield, with a number of branches: some parts are currently derelict. ...
, and Nest Common and North Common, on the border with South Staffordshire. Pelsall has lost several pubs in recent years, including The Free Trade in Wood Lane, which, though the building remains, has been closed for several years, and The Swan on Wolverhampton Road, which in 2007 was converted to an Indian restaurant. The Red Cow public house and its car park have been converted into flats; the Old Bush stands derelict after several arson attacks and is now subject to a proposal by Aldi to build a supermarket and care home on the site.
In 1997 the Donna Cooper Memorial Garden was created in the village in memory of thirteen-year-old Donna Cooper, who died after being knocked over by a stolen car outside her home in Pelsall Lane,
Rushall on 6 January 1993. The driver and one of his four accomplices were both on bail at the time, after being arrested in connection with a hit-and-run incident in which two men had been injured in December 1992. The driver of the car received a seven-year prison sentence for manslaughter and the front seat passenger received a four-and-half years sentence on a double charge of aggravated vehicle taking, which was later reduced on appeal by one year. Three other defendants (all aged under 18) received non-custodial sentences for their lesser involvement in the car theft which led to the death of Donna Cooper. The garden was commissioned by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council, who also maintain it. The entrance consists of an arched gateway that contains an
owl
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
motif, taken from a design drawn by Cooper shortly before her death. The garden is long and wide.
Transport
Pelsall once had a comprehensive bus network which included bus 89, which connected it to
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 ...
,
Bloxwich
Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills.
Early history
Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as th ...
,
Wednesfield
Wednesfield is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, It is east-northeast of Wolverhampton city centre and about from Birmingham and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was historically wi ...
and
New Cross Hospital
New Cross Hospital is a hospital in the Heath Town district of Wolverhampton, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is located to the east of the city centre in Wednesfield and is managed by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.
His ...
. This allowed passengers to interchange at both
Bloxwich station on the
Chase Line
The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley Line. The name of the lin ...
and at
Wolverhampton station
Wolverhampton station is a railway station in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England 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 ...
for further travel to
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. The bus was axed in a 28 April 2019 bus timetable change by National Express West Midlands. It was cut back to Bloxwich instead of Walsall and to Wolverhampton. This meant passengers having to change at Bloxwich for further travel although bus service is half-hourly. As from 29th August 2021, this link has been restored with service 9 (Walsall-Bloxwich) extended along the route of service 60 which had replaced the 89 between Bloxwich and Wolverhampton.
There is a rapid connection to the nearby towns of
Brownhills
Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar distan ...
,
Cannock
Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...
, and
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
but the nearest rail connections are Walsall,
Landywood
Landywood is a small village in Staffordshire, England. Landywood forms part of the parish and village of Great Wyrley, and together with Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay, forms a community with a combined population in 2001 of almost 20,000. For ...
, Cannock,
Penkridge
Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock and east of Telford. ...
,
Shenstone, and
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...
. There is also a six-journey off-peak service to
Kingstanding
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes and Wyrley Birch. The other part of Kingstanding falls ...
via
Aldridge
Aldridge is an industrial town in the Walsall borough, West Midlands, England. It is historically a village that was part of Staffordshire until 1974. The town is from Brownhills, from Walsall, from Sutton Coldfield and from Lichfield. T ...
and
Pheasey
Pheasey is a residential area of Walsall Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England, often considered to be part of Great Barr. The area was predominantly developed for housing, as the Pheasey Estate, in the 1930s, but work was not co ...
, as well as a direct Brownhills to Bloxwich service, however this only runs from 8am-4pm from Monday to Saturday.
Pelsall previously had a
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
on the
South Staffordshire Line that ran east of the village: this closed to passengers in the 1960s and to freight in the 1980s. Only the main road bridges survive as evidence. The line and station have been mooted for reopening since the early 2000s, but low demand has kept the line and station from being reopened. A study carried out in 2009 by the
Department for Transport
The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
suggested a new station at each of Pelsall and Brownhills. In 2000, the track bed from Walsall to Pelsall was made into part of the SUSTRANS National Cycle Route 5. The line through Pelsall has been identified as a disused rail corridor and this means that it is a long-term ambition to reopen the line in the near future.
Ethnicity and religion
Pelsall is predominately White British with the remainder comprising 1.2% Asian and 2.8% other, making the ward of Pelsall 96% white and 4% non-white minorities. Christianity is the largest religion in the borough at 75% of the population, followed by no religion at 18%.
Places of worship
The parish church of Pelsall is
St Michael & All Angels Church. Other places of worship are Pelsall Evangelical Church and Pelsall Methodist Church.
Education
Pelsall is home to three primary schools: St Michael's C of E Primary, Pelsall Village School and Ryders Hayes School (now an Academy). Additionally, First Friends Day Nursery is located at the Pelsall Education Development Centre.
Pelsall was previously served by
Pelsall Comprehensive School
Pelsall Comprehensive School was a secondary school located in Pelsall, an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands of England.
It opened in September 1963 as Pelsall Secondary Modern (serving pupils aged 11 upwards), be ...
, although this was technically over the border in neighbouring Rushall. It opened in the autumn of 1963 as an 11–15 secondary modern school before adopting 13–18 comprehensive status in September 1972. The transfer age was reduced to 11 in September 1986 under Walsall's reorganisation of education in the former Aldridge-Brownhills area, but falling pupil numbers led to its closure in July 1994.
The old Pelsall Comprehensive buildings are now home to Rushall JMI School, Education Walsall offices, and a teacher training centre.
Sport
Pelsall's main football team was
Pelsall Villa, formed in 1961, which played in the
Midland Football League
The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid.
History
Th ...
until 2018 when it disbanded. The club's former ground on Walsall Road neighbours Pelsall Cricket Club and the derelict Old Bush pub.
References
External links
Common People – local news blogPelsall Pride PartnershipPelsall OnlinePelsall Community AssociationPelsall History Centre's site*
ttp://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk The story of the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion, South Staffordshire Home Guard, 1940–1944
{{authority control
Walsall
Villages in the West Midlands (county)
Conservation areas in England