WILLENHALL, a chapelry in that part of the parish
of WOLVERHAMPTON which is in the southern division of
the hundred of OFFLOW, county of STAFFORD, 3 miles
(E.) from Wolverhampton, containing 3965 inhabitants.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction of
the court of the royal peculiar of Wolverhampton, and in
the patronage of the inhabitants who possess lands of inheritance.
The chapel, dedicated to St. Giles, was built
about 1748, There are places of worship for Baptists
and Wesleyan Methodists. The Wyrley and Essington
canal passes through the parish, in which are extensive
collieries and mines of iron-stone. This place, at the
period of the Norman survey-, was called Winehala, the
Saxon term for victory, probably from the great battle
ftnight near it in 911. The village began to thrive so
early as the reign of Elizabeth, when the iron manufacture
was first established here; at present it is noted
for its flourishing trade in locks, which it possesses
to a greater extent than any other place of its size
in Europe. As an instance of the great ingenuity of
the workmen, it is recorded that, in 1776, one Lees,
aged sixty-three, produced a padlock and key, wrought
by himself, of less weight than a silver twopenny coin.
Many other articles of hardware are made, particularly
curry-combs, gridirons, screws, &c. Courts leet and
baron are annually held; and there is a court of requests
on three Mondays in every alternate month, for
the recovery of debts under £5. In the neighbourhood
are the remains of an old hall, formerly the seat of the
maternal ancestors of the Marquis of Stafford.