Sadly, little survives from those early years. Remains of an ancient moated farm were found near to the old fingerpost, at the junction of Norton Road and Lichfield Road. The farm measured 168 feet by 80 feet. Remains of another moated building could be found in a grove in the Parkfields, opposite Pelsall Hall, but were destroyed in the 19th century by coal mining.

In medieval times the village was centred on Mouse Hill, with a population of 14 households in 1563. The first recorded ale house in the village was opened by William Horton, who obtained his brewing license in 1593. The population continued to grow. In 1665 the Hearth Tax returns list 51 households, 14 of which were not eligible to pay the tax. The pre-industrial community, living on the higher ground around Mouse Hill had a church, a manor house, a smithy, a communal oven, an animal pound, water from several wells, farmsteads, and a village green.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, road transport was difficult because many roads were simply dirt tracks that were almost impassable during wet weather, especially for heavy loads. Pelsall’s economy was greatly boosted by the coming of the canal, which led to a lot of industrial development in the area. The Wyrley & Essington Canal opened in 1797 to overcome the problems of transporting coal from the mines in the Cannock area to Wolverhampton and the Birmingham Canal.

An Act of Parliament was passed on 30th April, 1792 to allow the work to commence. Much of the finance came from Wolverhampton businessmen, principally the Molineux family. Work soon started under the canal company's engineer, William Pitt. There were two branches, one to a colliery at Essington and the other to Birchills near the centre of Walsall. The canal joined the Birmingham Canal at Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton, and opened on 8th May, 1797. The work included the building of Chasewater reservoir, that was built as a canal feeder reservoir. The canal followed the contours of the land, to avoid the building of locks. Some of the canal boats were wider then usual, because they didn't have to pass through narrow locks. They were unique to this canal and were known as 'Amptons' after their destination, Wolverhampton. Being a contoured canal and following an extremely circuitous route, it became known as "The Curly Wyrley".

Gilpin Arm was built in about 1800 by William Gilpin, an edge tool maker at Wedges Mills near Cannock, to transport coal, iron and limestone to his mill. William Gilpin and his son, George, traded as William Gilpin and Son, Wedges Mills, Cannock. They had several pits that were connected to the arm by tramways. By the 1840s the arm was no longer in use. When the area was redeveloped in the 1970s, in the form of the Ryders Hayes Estate, Gilpin Crescent was named after it.

The Hussey family of Little Wyrley were farmers and landowners who acquired a lot of land in the Pelsall area. In about 1790 their land was purchased by Abraham Charles, from Kings Bromley. He also purchased Pelsall Hall, where his descendants lived until 1917, by which time they owned about one third of Pelsall Parish. The Charles family had acquired the mineral rights in some areas and greatly benefited from the growth of the coal mines. They extended the hall and purchased other properties including a house called Peolsford, which was used to house families of Belgian refugees during the First World War. In 1917 the family sold their property in the area including the hall, which was purchased by the Health Authority and converted into a tuberculosis sanatorium.

In 1836 a national system of Poor Law Unions was established under the terms of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. The Unions were groups of parishes that provided for the poor in their area. Pelsall became part of Walsall Poor Law Union.

Industrial Growth

Thanks to the canal, it was now much easier to transport heavy items in and out of the village. This led to the growth of local industries and an increase in the population, as people moved into the area to find employment. In 1801 the population was 477, which increased to 1026 in 1841. By the 1840s nearly thirteen percent of the local population were nail makers, many of whom lived in Allen’s Lane and Heath End. There was also Thomas Otway, who was listed as a nail factor with a large house and a mill, presumably a slitting mill.

Many coal mines opened in Pelsall, both shallow mines, where the seams lay a few yards below the surface, and deep mines. The coal lay between layers of shale and sandstone. The larger mines included Pelsall Hall Colliery, which had a tramway leading to a canal basin and wharf, and Goscote Old Colliery, which was beside a canal wharf. There was also Blue Fly Pit, which was known locally as ‘The Lemmie’. Accidents were common and many people lost their lives. In 1859 the winding machinery at Pelsall Wood Colliery went out of gear, resulting in one fatality, and in 1871 three people lost their lives when part of Highbridge Colliery, owned by Elias Crapper, flooded. In 1870 there had been an explosion in the colliery that resulted in two men and a boy being buried alive. They were rescued, but one of the men was badly injured.

The most serious mining accident took place at Pelsall Hall Colliery on 14th November, 1872 when water broke into the old workings. The cage could only be brought to the surface once, leaving many trapped miners underground. A vast amount of water had to be pumped out before the men could be reached. Two pumps were quickly set up, along with a large bucket that could raise 25 cwt of water at a time. Around 60,000 gallons of water were removed hourly for seven days, amounting to about 6½ million gallons.

The accident at Pelsall Colliery. From The Illustrated London News.

It was thought that the trapped men were in the shallow workings and that trapped air could keep them alive. Large numbers of relatives and friends waited at the pit head for news, and on the third day, Sister Dora arrived from Walsall Cottage Hospital. She lived with the waiting relatives, and distributed blankets and food at the pit head. She did everything possible to support and comfort them at that terrible time. Twenty one bodies were eventually recovered, and were buried together in Pelsall Churchyard, where there is a memorial obelisk of Aberdeen granite. Unfortunately one of the bodies, that of John Hubbard, was never recovered, but the local community got together to raise money to help the victim’s families, which included the selling of specially printed memorial cards. A total of £84 was raised. Hillside Crescent and Hill Wood, which were built in the mid 1960s, now occupy much of the colliery site.

There were two foundries in the area, Yorkes Foundry on Lichfield Road which closed in the early twentieth century, and Ernest Wilkes’ brass and iron foundry in Mouse Hill, close to the canal, which closed in 1978. The business was founded by Joseph Wilkes in 1852. His son Ernest took over when he retired. Joseph and his wife had six children before moving to ‘The Sycamores’ in Church Road. Ernest purchased a number of properties in 1917 when the Charles family sold the Pelsall Hall Estate.

Pelsall’s best known heavy industrial site was Pelsall Ironworks, which stood on Wood Common, alongside the canal. The factory opened in about 1832 and was owned by Wolverhampton banker, Richard Fryer, along with several adjacent coalmines. The ironworks gained a reputation for producing the best quality bar and sheet iron.

Richard Fryer died in 1846, and Boaz Bloomer, J.P. a prominent industrialist from Holly Hall in Dudley, joined forces with Mr. Davis to form Davis and Bloomer. They purchased the ironworks and expanded the factory and the collieries. Boaz Bloomer’s family had been in the iron trade for several generations. He was born in 1801 and married Catherine Hornblower, on 15th December 1825 at St. Thomas’s Church in Dudley. They had eight children: Caleb, Boaz Jr., Esther, George, Giles, Prudence, Sarah and Benjamin. Catherine died in 1849. Three years later, Boaz married Emily Treffrey.

Norton Road. From an old postcard.

Churches and Chapels

The earliest known church in the village was in Paradise Lane, near to Pelsall Hall. The church, known as St. Peter’s, had an area of land that was farmed to fund a priest.  The land had been given to the church by William de Keu in 1311. During the short reign of King Edward VI (1547-1553), an attempt was made to introduce the Protestant faith to England, based on churches in Switzerland and Germany. During the campaign, churches were inspected to determine the value of property and goods, and Catholic trappings were taken away. When Pelsall church was inspected, the plate and vestments were removed by Richard Forsett, and only the two church bells in the steeple were left.

The roof of St. Peter’s Church collapsed in 1762, and in 1763 the church was rededicated to St. Michael and All Angels. On the 7th November of that year, the first burial took place in the new graveyard next to the church in Paradise Lane. The first person to be buried there was Edward Wiggin. The old graveyard can still be seen today, next to Pelsall Hall. The site has been tidied and grassed-over, but a few of the old headstones have survived. They have been placed against the brick wall on the left-hand side of the site, next to the drive that leads to the hall. Stebbing Shaw describes the church as 'small and ancient' in his 'History and Antiquities of Staffordshire' published in 1801. The half-timbered vicarage was further along Paradise Lane and had a thatched roof.

The church could only seat 174 people and so was too small to cope with the growing population. The decision was taken to build a larger church in the village that could seat around 600 people. The foundation stone for the new church in Hall Lane was laid on 7th June, 1843 and building work was completed in the following year. The new St. Michael and All Angels Church was built of plain brick, and initially had no tower. When the church opened, the old church in Paradise Lane was demolished. The church tower, built some years later, was a gift from Mrs. Sarah Dickenson, who provided the clock and a peal of five bells. A sixth bell, added in 1920 was a gift from Mrs. J. S. Charles. In 1848 a vicarage was added at a cost of £1,000, but this fell into a state of disrepair and was demolished in 1980. The chancel was added in 1889 and a new organ was installed.

The first Methodist chapel in the village opened at Heath End in 1830. It was replaced by a new building in 1869, but was never a great success. The trustees were often faced with bills from costly repairs, especially in 1905-6 when the cost of renovation work amounted to £103.13s.10½d., a considerable sum at the time. A pipe organ was also installed at a cost of £50. The congregation dwindled in the late 1940s when the old houses at Heath End were demolished and the people were re-housed elsewhere. The chapel closed in 1959 and was soon demolished.

In 1836 another Methodist chapel opened in Station Road, after a petition had been sent to the local authority, stating that although the local population was rapidly increasing due to the growth of ironworks and collieries, there was no provision for education. If permission could be granted for the building of a chapel, a school for children of all denominations would also be built on the site.

Joseph Fletcher, an inspector of schools was sent to Pelsall to investigate, and reported that due to the poverty of the poor nail makers and miner population of this remote neighbourhood, nothing but extraneous aid will ever meet their case. Thanks to his report, permission was given for the building of the chapel and a school, which were built for £260. In 1858 the school came under Government control and received its first certified teacher in January 1859. The Wesleyan chapel and the school were a great success, so much so that they couldn’t cope with the demand.

Into the Twentieth Century

In 1901 the population was 3,626 and more shops opened, in order to keep pace with growing demand. In High Street in 1908 the shops were occupied by shoe makers, bakers, a grocer, a tailor, and a beer seller. In 1909 gas mains were laid in the village, and in 1924 electricity cables were added. The village’s first regular bus service to and from Walsall began operating in 1925, and in 1934 Pelsall came under the control of Aldridge Urban District Council.

The Swan Inn, Wolverhampton Road.

Another casualty was a row of terraced houses known as Slate Row, in Church Road. They had once been occupied by nail makers, ironworkers and miners, and in 1895 a resident died from typhoid. There were also several cases of diphtheria.

Another casualty was Pelsall Farm, a large three storey building off Charles Crescent with a cottage attached.  It had twelve acres of land, including meadows and two ponds with ducks and geese.

In 1952 the council purchased the estate from Mrs Wallace of Little Wyrley Hall for £2,000 and rented the land to a local farmer.

In 1964 the site was redeveloped for housing and Charles Crescent was built on part of the site.