| Bushbury | |
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Bushbury
Bushbury shown within the West Midlands |
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| Population | 4,356 (2001 Census - Bushbury North) |
|---|---|
| Metropolitan borough | Wolverhampton |
| Metropolitan county | West Midlands |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WOLVERHAMPTON |
| Postcode district | WV10 |
| Dialling code | 01902 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Wolverhampton |
| List of places: UK • England • West Midlands | |
Bushbury is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It lies two miles north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, divided between the Bushbury North and Bushbury South and Low Hill wards.
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Bushbury was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Biscopsberie'. Topynmists believe that the name comes from the Old Engish 'biscop' (bishop) and 'burh' (fortification), so Bushbury possibly means 'Bishops fortification'.[1]
St Mary's Church lies on Bushbury Lane. In the churchyard lies the base of a cross, believed to date to the 10th or 11th Century.[2] Other buildings of historical significance include the 17th Century Northycote Farm on Underhill Lane.
The area, along with a wide tract of Mercia, was assigned by William the Conqueror to Ansculf de Picquigny, who built a motte and bailey fortress at Dudley. By 1087, the time of Domesday Book, the area belonged to Ansculf's son, William Fitzansculph. He had installed in Bushbury a tenant called Robert, who also held lands from him in Penn, Ettingshall, Moseley and Oxley.
In medieval times, Bushbury was divided into several manors, each with a manor house - Bushbury, Essington, Moseley, Elston, Showell (Seawall or Sewell from an earlier unrecorded Old English name - likely Seofan Wealles meaning 'Seven Wells'), Oxley, Wobaston (Wybaston - from an early unrecorded Old English name - likely Wigbeald's tun).[3]
Bushbury was very rural, with a population of just 488 in 1801,[4] but this was to change with the coming of the railways and increasing industry in the 19th Century, with large housing estates transforming the area completely from the 1920s onwards. In 1927, the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company opened its Bushbury plant. Twelve years later, it was employing 1700, many of which were Bushbury men. Previous to this, many of Bushbury's population was employed at either the Electric Construction Company, or one of the railway companies operating nearby in the Gorsebrook area. The Stafford Road was only made into a dual carriageway during the 1930s, and this saw much of the terraced and older housing on the left hand side as you travel from Wolverhampton towards Stafford, demolished to make way for the road.[5]
Bushbury is a mixed area of private and council owned houses, built since the 1920s, and lies in the shadow and on the slope of Bushbury Hill. The large Bushbury Cemetery/Crematorium, with two chapels, east and west, is in Underhill Lane.
The Northicote School is located in this area, where previous headteacher Geoff Hampton received a Knighthood in 1998 in recognition of his services to the improvement of the school and his services to education.
Bushbury steam locomotive depot accommodated LMS and British Railways London Midland Region locos until closure in 1966 and was located where Bushbury Lane crosses the railway line to Stafford.
In 2008, the iconic blue and yellow Goodyear chimney was demolished, as part of wider work to clear a section of the Goodyear site, which is to make way for a new housing estate. It was reported that around 1000 people attended the demolition.[6]
There is a former AMF bowling alley in Bushbury, called Strykers. During the 1990s, it was home to a Quasar laser arena and a SEGA World arcade.
Today, Bushbury has just a handful of pubs and bars. The Staffordshire Volunteer being the most central of them on the corner of Collingwood Road and Rushall Road. It has a bar and a function room, though was closed and boarded up for a while.[7] On the corner of Elston Hall Lane and Wood Lane is The Woodbine, which spent time under the name the 'Red Rooster' in the early 2000s before reverting back to The Woodbine. On Northwood Park estate is a newer Banks's pub, the King Charles. On Bushbury Lane, close to its Stafford Road junction - though not strictly a 'pub' in the traditional sense is the Bushbury Working Mens Club. Despite the Electric Construction Company closing in September 1985,[8] there is still a club bearing its name on Showell Road, the ECC Sports & Social Club. Gone is the Oxley Arms, previously on Bushbury Lane, it was demolished during the 1990s.[9]