Church of st john the divine willenhall coventry 24n07

Willenhall is a suburb of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Willenhall is in the south-east of the city adjacent to the suburbs of Binley,

Ernesford Grange Ernesford Grange is a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands. It is in the southeast of the city and borders the Binley, Stoke Aldermoor and Willenhall areas. It is part of the Coventry South Constituency. The district was built in the 1960s and t ...

and Whitley. It covers the area bounded by the Rugby to Coventry railway line, the

River Sowe The River Sowe is a river in Warwickshire and West Midlands, England. It is a tributary of the River Avon, and flows into it just south of Stoneleigh about 5 miles (8 km) south of Coventry. The Sowe is about long. The Sowe rises in B ...

and the city's boundary with

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. For general election purposes it is part of the Coventry South

Constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

and for local elections it forms part of the Binley and Willenhall

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Coventry City Council Coventry City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the city of Coventry in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Coventry has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasi ...

. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 16,991.

History

Willenhall was originally a small village that was absorbed into the city as it expanded. Willenhall was formerly in the parish of Coventry-Holy Trinity, in 1866 Willenhall became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Coventry and

Baginton Baginton is a village and civil parish in the Warwick district of Warwickshire, England, and has a common border with the City of Coventry / West Midlands county. With a population of 801 ( 2001 Census), Baginton village is south of central Cove ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 348. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Chace National Service Hostel was built in the area to accommodate the influx of munitions workers to the City. After the war the estate became established with the building of a large number of council houses. The area today remains mainly residential though to the south-east there is 9

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s of woodland called Willenhall Wood which has been designated a nature reserve. Willenhall is the location of the Chace Avenue

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

that forms part of the Coventry Local Policing Team of the

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of ...

and houses the Binley and Willenhall neighbourhood team.

Education

Willenhall has three

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s: *St. Anne's RC *Stretton Church of England *Willenhall Community For

Secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

the pupils of the above primary schools normally advance to: * Bishop Ullathorne RC School * Ernesford Grange School & Community College *

Whitley Abbey Community School Whitley Academy (formerly Whitley Abbey Community School) was a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Whitley, Coventry, England. The school was rebuilt and opened on 13 October 2000, replacing the former Whitley Abbey Compre ...

Religion

The

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church for Willenhall is St John the Divine, which was designed by

Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...

and consecrated in 1957. Spence used this as a trial for his later

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midla ...

. The area is also served by St Anne’s

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and Willenhall Free Church which is affiliated with the FIEC.

Rioting

In May 1992, rioting that began in the Wood End and

Hillfields Hillfields is a suburb of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. It is situated north of Coventry city centre, and has undergone a series of name changes throughout its history originally called "Harnall" and has seen itself change from a ...

areas of the city spread into Willenhall.

Air crash

Aircraft crash 21 Dec 1994 plaque coventry 16f08

Willenhall was the site of a major air crash when at 9:52 a.m. on 21 December 1994 an aircraft approaching

Coventry Airport Coventry Airport is located south-southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England. The airport is operated and licensed by Coventry Airport Limited. Its CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P902) allows flights ...

, in poor visibility, crashed into Willenhall Wood, killing all five crew on board. The aircraft was a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

that was owned and operated by Air Algerie but leased by Phoenix Aviation to undertake a number of live veal calf export flights from the airport. A brass plaque remembering the event is now located in Middle Ride, close to the crash scene, which was erected on the crash’s 10th anniversary by the Willenhall Wood Residents Association.

Gallery

File:Willenhall robin hood rd 24n07.JPG, Robin Hood Road, Willenhall File:Cottages St James Lane Willenhall.jpg, Cottages in St James Lane, Willenhall

References

External links

Virtual Museum, Willenhall, CoventryChace Avenue (M2) operational command unit
{{Authority control Suburbs of Coventry Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England Former civil parishes in the West Midlands (county)