Ashmore Park

Ashmore Park
Ashmore Park
Ashmore Park shown within the West Midlands
Population 6,734 
OS grid reference SJ9601
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Wednesfield
Postcode district WV11 2
Dialling code 01902
Police West Midlands
Fire West Midlands
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands

Ashmore Park is a large housing estate which was part of Wednesfield, Staffordshire, England. It is now in the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands. It forms most of the Wednesfield North ward of city of Wolverhampton council.

Places of interest

At the heart of the estate is a large green park consisting of a children's play area and multiple sports facilities which include a skate park, all weather multi sports pitch BMX track and bowls green. The park is also home to the Wednesfield Aces and Wednesfield Dragons speedway teams. This park was built on a slag heap, the remains of mining in the area. A good percentage of the estate was built before this land was reclaimed so the Estate was not named after the park.

There are two main shopping areas, known locally as the 'top' and 'bottom' shops due to their geographic location.

The 'bottom shops', precinct, house a mix of local and independent businesses. This underwent an extensive facelift during the early 2000s that included work to preserve the historic moat site.[1]

A new purpose built Co-op Food convenience store was opened in November 2016 on waste land adjacent to the Ashmore Inn public house and opposite the bottom shops shopping parade.

Many people originally opposed the plans of the new store as it risked the closure of The Ashmore, public house, however after an extensive campaign by locals and users of the pub, the store was built on the adjacent waste land and car park.

The 'top shops' has a small One Stop Newsagents, Fish and Chip Shop and Hairdressers.

In 2014 the estate's Library, Community Centre and Youth Club moved to a purpose built community hub on the site of the old Youth Club. In light of the 2013/14 funding cuts The Hub at Ashmore Park is run by volunteers with support of Wolverhampton City Council staff for library services.

The estate has three churches, St Alban's Church (C of E), Corpus Christi Church (R.C.) and a Baptist church, all three are on Griffiths Drive - the circular road that encompasses much of the estate.

Two public houses and a club are on the estate.

The Ashmore Inn On the corner of Griffiths Drive and Peacock Avenue, next to the Co-op Food store and opposite the bottom shops.

The True Briton, On Snape Road.

The Corpus Christi Club, On Ashmore Avenue, which is members and guests of members only club.

History

Ashmore Park was originally one of the wooded estates which Lady Wulfruna gave over to St. Peter's Fold in order for it to generate income and food for itself. A moat surrounded farmhouse was built here, sometime in the mid-14th century. Three-quarters of the moat still exists today, at the 'bottom shops'.

The housing estate was originally built as an overspill estate for Wolverhampton, but was built within Wednesfield Urban District. The estate consists predominantly of 1950s council houses, flats and bungalows.

The home stead is viewed as being used by the Dean of Wolverhampton in his role as Dean of Ashmore Park (basically landlord). Generally the house was probably used as a farm and hostel for visitors and/ or workers utilized on the land and in the woods. Such things were common medieval uses for outlying city/ town estates. However, there is little to no actual evidence of such use here. The old farmhouse was probably taken down when a new one was built in the early 19th century; that new one was demolished in 1957 and a library was built near its site.

Demographics

The latest census to take place in the neighbourhood was in 2001, where it was recorded as having a population of 6,734. 25-44 year olds represented the highest proportion of the estate's population at 27.6% with 60- to 74-year-olds being the second highest at 24.3%. The neighbourhood is not an ethnically diverse area with 97.2% of the population being classed as White. Black Caribbean is the largest ethnic minority group in the neighbourhood, representing 0.9%. Christianity is the predominant religion in the area with 81.6% of the population stating that they were Christians. 9.4% said that they did not have a religion.[2]

There was a total of 2,968 households in the neighbourhood, of which 54.5% are owner occupied and 39.4% are council houses. 1.4% of the population live in communal establishments, 84% of which suffer from a long term illness. Of all the households, only 11.1% are considered to not be deprived at all and 7.2% are considered to be overcrowded.[2]

Ashmore Park had an unemployment rate of 7.1%, above the Wolverhampton average of 5.3%. Of the economically inactive, 24.4% are retired.[2]

Transport

Several bus services serve Ashmore Park. 28E, 57, 59 and 69.

The 59 bus is the most frequent, operated by National Express West Midlands and provides regular access to the estate from Wolverhampton via Heath Town, New Cross Hospital and Wednesfield with services roughly every 6–8 minutes Monday-Saturday and 9–12 minutes, evenings, Sundays and bank holidays.

The 59 operates a circular route around Ashmore Park, Griffiths Drive then down Peacock Avenue leading onto the main lichfield road.

The 69 bus operated by National Express West Midlands, provides a service to the bottom area of the estate (rather than a circular service around Griffith's Drive) between Wolverhampton and Walsall via Heath Town, New Cross Hospital, Wood End, Coppice Farm, New Invention and Reedswood Retail Park, at a frequency of every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday daytime.

Likewise the 28E bus operated by Diamond Bus only serves the bottom area of the estate and runs from Wolverhampton to Willenhall via Heath Town, Wood End and New Invention at an hourly frequency Evenings, Sundays and Bank Holidays.

The 57 bus service operated by Diamond Bus also only serves the bottom area of the estate and runs from Wolverhampton to Bilston via Heath Town, Park Village, Wednesfield, Wood End, Lyndale Park and Willenhall, hourly service operates Monday to Saturday daytime.

Diamond Bus operated a 59 service from May 2011-21 October 2012. In January 2012 Diamond started operated the 59H route which followed the 59 route but served the actual hospital grounds instead of just the main gates. On 21 October 2012, Diamond stopped operating on the 59 and withdrew their 59H route completely due to Low passenger numbers.This Leaves National Express West Midlands the sole operator of the 59 service once more.

Nearest rail stations are Bloxwich North and Wolverhampton.

Education

The estate is served by Coppice Performing Arts School, a secondary school. Three primary schools also situate on the estate: Oak Meadow Primary School, Corpus Christi Catholic School and St Alban's Primary School. When the estate was first built it was served by two primary schools, Ashmore Park County Primary School and Danesmore Primary School, both have been demolished in the recent past.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/listed/localist/ashmore.htm
  2. 1 2 3 "Area Profile of ASHMORE PARK NEIGHBOURHOOD" (PDF). Wolverhampton City Council. Archived from the original (pdf) on 2011-06-12. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
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