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Things You Possibly Didn't Know About Wolverhampton....

Charlie Chaplin appeared at Grand Theatre  Wolverhampton City Coat of Arms  Wolverhampton Grammar School  Gunpowder plot conspirators hanged  Billy Wright the city's most famous sporting son

Wolverhampton has a documented history that dates back to 985AD but some facts about the city are more well known than others.....

  • The city is named after Lady Wulfruna, who founded the town in 985AD. The name 'Wolverhampton' derives from 'Wulfruna's heaneton (town on the hill).
  • Wolverhampton was the first town in Britain to introduce automated traffic lights in 1927 in Princes Square at the junction of Lichfield Street and Princess Street.
  • The Sunbeam motor car, built in Wolverhampton, became the first vehicle to reach 200mph when it broke the land speed record in 1927.
  • Wolverhampton's most famous sporting son, footballer Billy Wright, was the first player in the world to earn 100 caps playing for his country.  Wright spent his entire 20-year career at Wolves.
  • Symbols on the City’s Coat of Arms include a book representing education, the woolpack for the mediaeval woollen trade, the column for its Saxon origins, the padlock for lock-making, whilst the brazier is indicative of the general metal-working industries in the area.
  • The motto on the coat of arms is 'Out of Darkness Cometh Light'. This is also used by Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, with gold and black representing light and dark respectively.
  • Many small streets in the city centre are called ‘Folds where sheep were herded for the woollen trade in the 14th and 15th centuries.
  • Queen Victoria visited Wolverhampton in 1866 to unveil a statue erected in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, her first public appearance since his funeral.  Market Square, originally named High Green, was renamed Queen Square in honour of the visit.
  • The Grand Theatre has seen many famous faces on the stage. The young Charlie Chaplin appeared at the Grand as Dr Watson’s page boy in Sherlock Homes.
  • Wolverhampton Grammar School was founded in 1512, making it one of the oldest schools in the UK.  Old boys include Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England since July 2003, and Sir David Wright, former British Ambassador to Japan.
  • In January 1606, two farmers were hanged in High Green, now Queen Square, for sheltering some of the London Gunpowder Plotters. The pair played no part in the original plot but nevertheless suffered the traitor's death of being hanged, drawn and quartered.
  • Wolverhampton Racecourse was one of the first all-weather courses and Britain's first floodlit horse race track.
  • The Giffard Arms public house in Victoria Street is reportedly haunted by Anne Horton, a local ‘lady of the night’ who’s ghost has been known to follow young men home from the pub.
  • There are 15.5 miles of canal and 25 locks within the City boundaries.
  • The longest standing MP ever in the history of Parliament was Charles Pelham Villiers who represented Wolverhampton from 1835 until 1898.
  • There was a shortage of coffins in Wolverhampton in 1918 due to a serious outbreak of influenza.
  • The Wolverhampton based firm Guy Motors produced armour plated cars to protect the Royal family and Winston Churchill during World War II.
  • In 1862 two balloonists, Dr. James Glaisher and Henry Tracy Coxwell, rose approximately seven miles into the air, the first major event in Wolverhampton's air history.