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LEA ROAD (Penn Fields)

The Lea was originally one of Wolverhampton’s moated manor houses and also a relic of the Middle Ages as the seat of the Waring Family. Nicholas Waring’s death is recorded in the Parish register on 24 Nov 1577. Nicholas Waring  was “of the Lea, Gent”.

William Bayley an attorney of Clements Inn had lived there and the Parish Register records his death on 10^th December, describing him “Mr William Bayley of the Lea”.

The Lea is shown in the Tithe map of 1842 as farmed by a Mr Ash. It was swallowed up in the development before the 1900s. The site was between Lea Road and Dalton Street.  

(Peter Hickman)

LYCH GATES, LICHFIELD STREET (City Centre)

The Anglo- Saxon word ‘lych’ means a corpse or dead body. The Lych Gate to a church is the place where the hearse stops and the coffin is placed in the care of the bearers. The Priest walks down from the church to meet the funeral party and leads them back into the church for the funeral service.

The street name Lichfield Street is frequently seen close to a church, as in Wolverhampton and Bilston. This has no connection with Lichfield Road, the way to the city of Lichfield. Rather the ‘Lich-Field’  Street here means the street passing by the burial ground.  

(Peter Hickman)

According to Chris Upton, Lichfield Street was originally known as Kem Street or Kemp Street and had become Lichfield Street by the early 17th century.  The original name was probably derived from a medieval spelling of "comb", the comb being of the sort used for combing wool - the Cloth Merchants Hall was on this street.

(Frank Sharman)