St. George’s Church and graveyard. The church was built in Classical style, between 1828 and 1830 and designed by James Morgan. It was consecrated on Thursday 2nd September, 1830 by the Bishop of Lichfield. During the 1849 Cholera epidemic, the graveyard was used to bury the dead. Burials ended in 1851. The church, which was built to accommodate the expanding population, was not a great success. By the 1960s the nearby population had moved away and the church closed in 1978. It was derelict until it became the entrance and coffee shop of a Sainsbury's Supermarket, in 1986.

St. George’s Church and graveyard. When Ring Road St Georges was built across part of the graveyard in 1981, the human remains were reburied in the grounds of Bushbury Crematorium. The other human remains were removed in 1986 and reburied beside Holy Trinity Church, Heath Town. In 2014, Sainsbury's moved to the new store off Ring Road St Marks and the store in St George's Parade closed.

West Park’s boating lake and conservatory. The conservatory was built  in 1896, from the proceeds of the Wolverhampton Floral Fetes, to the design of Thomas Mawson and his architect partner Dan Gibson. The builders were Richardson & Sons of Darlington and Wolverhampton based Henry Gough.


St. Peter's Church with the old wholesale market on the left.

Wolverhampton's fine wholesale market is sadly missed. It was designed by J. W. Bradley, and built in 1902 in brick and terracotta. The elegant building lay along the northern side of the old market place, known as the "Market Patch", opposite the Retail Market Hall. It was adjoined by the Municipal Cold Stores and Ice Factory, which could produce 10 tons of pure clear ice per day. The building was demolished in April 1974 as part of the Civic Centre project.


A final view of the lovely old wholesale market during demolition.

The Wulfrun Centre in its original form with the lovely Littlewoods shop in the background. Construction began in 1966 and was completed in September, 1968. In the 1970s there were 84 units to let, some of which were occupied by Littlewoods, Sainsburys, C&A, Mac Fisheries, Meesons, Marley Tiles, Eastern Carpet Stores, Fosters wines, Thorntons, Lawleys, Sketchleys and Laskys. There was also The Gondolier public house and a cinema, seating 450 people.

C Block and the old St. Peter's School. C Block was the Polytechnic's tallest building, just a little higher than the School of Art and Design. It had seven storeys and began life in 1968 when the structural steelwork was in place. It housed the Polytechnic's main lecture theatre, the staff dining room, the staff bar, students union office and the underground staff car park. It continued in use until the summer of 2000 when it was emptied in readiness for demolition, to make way for the larger MC Building.

The view from C Block in Wolverhampton Polytechnic, looking towards Heath Town. In the foreground is the empty St. Patrick’s Church, awaiting demolition in readiness for the extension to the ring road. The church, which could seat around 500 people, opened on Wednesday 22nd May, 1867. In 1972 a replacement church opened in Heath Town.


A view from the Polytechnic's School of Art and Design, shortly after the demolition of St. Patrick's Church.

A view from C Block looking across the Black Country towards Ocker Hill Power Station, with Commercial Road Power Station on the right.

Molineux football ground and North Street, seen from C Block in the early 1970s. The chimneys in the background are part of Courtaulds' Dunstall Hall Works, which was demolished in 1973.

The view of Ring Road St Peters from C Block, with Bath Road in the distance. On the right is Bankfield House, during construction. It is now Novotel Wolverhampton, a 3 star hotel.

Broad Street Basin and the row of late 18th century cottages alongside top lock. On the right, next to the cottages was the Hay Basin and on the far side of the cottages, alongside Lock Street, was a boatman’s mission room. This was demolished and rebuilt as a workshop for the Sablon Welding Company, producers of ornamental ironwork. In the mid 1970s when Ring Road St Patricks was built, the whole area changed into what’s there today.

The derelict Chillington Interchange Basin, which was purchased from the Chillington Tool Company by the London and North Western Railway in 1902. It had previously been called the Chillington Canal Basin.

The Cheese and Butter Warehouse, dating from the early 19th century has three storeys and 8 bays with three loading doors, one of which opens directly onto the canal at water level. In 1845 it was occupied by James & William Barrow, corn and butter merchants, cheese factors and tallow chandlers, until the end of the century when it was owned by A. E. Beresford, a merchant grocer. The main building then became a warehouse. In the distance to the right is John Hill & Sons cupola furnaces.

The Low Level Station was originally planned as a part of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway, which opened on the 1st July, 1854. The station was also used as part of the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway. It became part of the Great Western Railway and was known as Wolverhampton Low Level Station from April 1856. It continued in this form until the 1960s when the local railways were reorganised as part of the West Coast Mainline electrification scheme. In 1970 the station was converted to a Parcels Concentration Department and handled up to 8,000 parcels per day. It closed on the 1st June, 1981 and was Grade 2 listed on the 25th March 1986. It was soon purchased by the town council and is  now in private hands as a venue for weddings and parties etc.

The Union Inn opened in about 1818 and was originally owned by the Birmingham Canal Company. The photograph was taken in October 1973, about 6 months before it was demolished to make way for the development around the ring road extension. In the late 1960s it was kept by the Bloor family.

The Central Arcade in Dudley Street opened in 1902 and contained a wide variety of shops, which for many years were well used. By the mid 1960s trade was falling off a little and some of the shops were looking slightly run-down. The photo was taken a little while after the arcade had been redecorated in readiness for its new role as an entrance to the Mander Centre.

The Central Arcade after the disastrous fire that took place on the 20th May, 1974. It was so fierce that little was left. It had been planned to retain the arcade as one of the entrances to the newly built Mander Centre, which opened on the 6th March, 1968. Restoration work on the arcade was carried out and its future seemed bright, but sadly it was not to be.

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