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 and part of
Willenhall, 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, 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