Penn, West Midlands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Penn (population 12000) is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located on the extreme edge of the border with South Staffordshire. Originally it was a village in Staffordshire, and has existed since at least around 1200 when St. Bartholomew's Church was first established. Nowadays, the Parish of Penn contains part of suburban Wolverhampton and part of rural South Staffordshire, where the village of Lower Penn is situated about one mile to the west.

The urban Penn forms the south-west corner of the City of Wolverhampton corresponding to the Penn ward of Wolverhampton City Council. Penn ward borders the wards of Merry Hill, Graiseley and Blakenhall as well as South Staffordshire. It forms part of the Wolverhampton South West constituency.

There are three focal points where shops and other facilities are located, all of which are situated on the A449 Penn Road, which runs south-west from Wolverhampton City Centre: Upper Penn (which is closest to Wolverhampton), Penn itself, and Springhill (which is adjacent to the city's boundary with Staffordshire).

There are four Primary schools within Penn: Springdale, St Bartholomew's C of E, Warstones and Woodfield, all of which have Nursery schools included. There is one Secondary school: Highfields. Penn Library is situated in Upper Penn. In addition to St. Bartholomew's Church (Anglican), there is St Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Penn United Reformed Church and Springdale Methodist Church.

Food writer Nigel Slater grew up in Penn, as did soul chantress Beverley Knight MBE.

Penn Ward is represented by three Conservative Councillors on Wolverhampton Council. They are Paddy Bradley (group leader of Wolverhampton Conservatives), Pat Patten and Alan Hart.