Tettenhall, Staffordshire

A history of Tettenhall, Staffordshire and the Williams family

Tettenhall Clock Home of Williams family from 1920s

The family of William Thomas WILLIAMS (known as Bill) and Ethel WILLIAMS (nee Jones) moved Tettenhall, Staffordshire in the 1920s, Bill originally being from Swindon, Staffordshire and Ethel coming from Pattingham. I do not know how they came to meet - Bill's family werre ironworkers and Ethel's family were farm labourers. They married in 1917 at Pattingham and then moved to Tettenhall by the time of their first child in 1921. They remained in Tettenhall Wood until their respective deaths in 1970 and 1971.

Tettenhall history

The name of the village is thought to derive from the personal name Teotta and halh, meaning valley. The first mention is 910AD with the Battle of Tettenhall, fought between the Saxons and the Vikings, although the exact location of the battlefield is unknown and there are suggestions that it could be outside the village towards Wednesfield. Mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, Tettenhall village developed around the two centres of Upper and Lower Green, separated by a sandstone ridge. A cutting through the ridge was made in the early 1820s and the main A41 London-Holyhead road now passes through 'The Rock'.

Prominent in the village are the paddling pool and Tettenhall Clock. Postcards of Upper Green Farm show the village pond, before it was turned into a paddling pool in 1933. The conversion was paid for by the Graham family. The clock is properly known as the 'George V Coronation Memorial Tower' and was given to the village by Mr & Mrs Edward Swindley, being unveiled on 22nd June 1911. There is an inscription on each of the four sides:

I labour here with all my might to tell the hour by day and night;
For every hour that passes there is a record;
For every hour that strikes there is a joy;
For every hour that comes there is a hope.

The village became part of Wolverhampton on 1st April 1966, despite Tettenhall Urban District Council's view that 'naturally and historically' the village formed no part of the Black Country and there was no 'community of interest' between it and Wolverhampton, apart from physical proximity.

You can see some of my photos of Tettenhall below.