Stow Heath is an area and ancient manor in the city 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 in the east half of the city.

Place name and origins

The first known recording of the place name Stowheath was in c.1272 as ''Stowheth'', from Old English ''stow'' - place of assembly / holy place and ''hæth'' - level, open, uncultivated land, so 'the heath of a place called Stow'. An Earl Kenwulf of Stowheath was said to have fallen at the

Battle of Tettenhall The Battle of Tettenhall (sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield or Wōdnesfeld) took place, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', near Tettenhall on 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Kingdom of Nort ...

(910). Stowheath was one of the two main royal manors in the Wolverhampton area. It included east Wolverhampton,

Bilston Bilston is a market town, ward, and civil parish located in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The nearest towns are Darlaston, Wednesbury, and Willenhall. Historically in Staffordshi ...

and part of

Willenhall Willenhall is a market town situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England, with a population taken at the 2011 census of 28,480. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of St ...

, and was in the direct ownership of the King. The first lord of Stowheath manor was

Robert Burnell Robert Burnell (sometimes spelled Robert Burnel;Harding ''England in the Thirteenth Century'' p. 159 c. 1239 – 25 October 1292) was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, h ...

in the 13th century, Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Bath and Wells.

History

It is thought that the original manor house was built in Bilston in 1450, a John De Mollesley being the first incumbent. This building exists to this day, as The Greyhound and Punchbowl Inn pub. A hill or tumulus is said to have existed in Stowheath on the Willenhall road, half a mile south west of Neachells, called ''Stowman's Hill''. Thought at various times to be a boundary marker between Wolverhampton, Willenhall, Bilston and

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 ...

, or a low (burial mound). In Isaac Taylor's map of Wolverhampton (1750), the two manors of Deanery and Stowheath are named. In 1851 the manor was held by the

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made th ...

, and TW Gifford, Esq. By the end of the 19th century, almost the whole of Stowheath Manor was held by local family, the Levesons.

Today

Most of the area consists of 20th Century housing, including the Stowlawn and East Park estates. Stowlawn Primary School is also in the area, as are the pubs, the 'Happy Wanderer' the 'Cleveland Arms' and 'The Angel Inn'. The Stowheath Lane Kitchens delivered meals service is in Stowheath, next door to the Stowheath Garden Centre.

Demography

Almost a quarter of Stowheath's population (21.2%) are of Indian ethnicity, with the majority of the population (65.3%) classed as White British (English with a possible number of Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish). 60.2% of residents class their religion as Christian, followed by 13.4% as Hindu. 10.5% of Stowheath's population have no religion.http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5138E56F-28C8-48EC-85D9-CCAEFBDB587B/0/Stowheath.pdf 2001 Census

References

{{Reflist Areas of Wolverhampton