Stowheath
Encyclopedia
Stow Heath is an area and ancient manor in the city of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

, West Midlands, 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
Battle of Tettenhall
The Battle of Tettenhall took place, according to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle near Tettenhall, on the 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Northumbrian Vikings in Mercia...

 (910). Stowheath was one of the two main royal manors in the Wolverhampton area. It included east Wolverhampton, Bilston
Bilston
Bilston is a town in the English county of West Midlands, situated in the southeastern corner of the City of Wolverhampton. Three wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town: Bilston East and Bilston North, which almost entirely comprise parts of the historic Borough of Bilston, and...

 and part of Willenhall
Willenhall
Willenhall is a town in the Black Country area of the West Midlands of England, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is situated between Wolverhampton and Walsall, historically in the county of Staffordshire...

, and was in the direct ownership of the King. The first lord of Stowheath manor was Robert Burnell
Robert Burnell
Robert Burnell was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, he served as a minor royal official before entering into the service of Prince Edward, the future King Edward I of England...

 in the 13th Century
13th century
As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 through 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era...

, 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 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
Wednesfield lies at , and is located to the northeast of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation...

, 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
Duke of Sutherland, derived from Sutherland in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the head of the Leveson-Gower family. It was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford...

, and TW Gifford, Esq.
By the end of the 19th Century
19th century
The 19th century was a period in history marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Holy Roman and Mughal empires...

, almost the whole of Stowheath Manor was held by local family, the Levesons.

Today

Most of the area consists of 20th Century
20th century
Many people define the 20th century as running from January 1, 1901 to December 31, 2000, others would rather define it as beginning on January 1, 1900....

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.
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