To fight they went like bull-dogs, As it is very well known, Till “Cheeky Ned” seized Billy’s thumb, And bit it to the bone. At this the Wednesfield men begun Their comrade’s part to take, And never was a fiercer fight Fought at a village wake. They beat the men from Will’n’all town Back to their town again, And long they will remember This Wednesfield wake and main. The site of the Willenhall Bull Ring, it may be added for the information of future generations, was opposite the Baptist Chapel, Little London, where Temple Bar joins the Wednesfield and Bloxwich Roads. Among other Wake observances of the last century were the “Club Walkings” or processioning of the Friendly Societies, whose members first attended a brief service in the church, and then spent the rest of the day in feasting at the Neptune Inn opposite. Tradition hath it that further back, well into the Georgian era, and certainly before Mr. Fisher’s time, another Wake custom was that of “kissing the parson,” a privilege of which the women were said to be very jealous. In the year 1857 the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers, Member of Parliament for the Borough of Wolverhampton, of which this township was part, inaugurated in Willenhall one of the first exhibitions of fine art and industry ever held in the Black Country. It was opened on the Monday in the Wake week, and Mr. Villiers alluded to the fact that “they met in the midst of one of those old-fashioned wakes which it was the humour of their ancestors to establish and be pleased with,” and the right hon. gentleman proceeded to contrast the present with the past conditions of Willenhall Wake-time. A flourishing Free Library—founded like many another in the face of great local opposition and prejudice—is one of the legacies of that exhibition, from the date of which may be traced the more rational observance of Wake-time. With the advance of science and art and the spread of popular education, the future prosperity of an ingenious community, like that of the skilled mechanics and deft craftsmen of this township, is assured. Impressed with such certitude it is all but a work of supererogation to echo the patriotic sentiment of the old-time townsfolk— “LET WILLENHALL FLOURISH!” * * * * * THE END. INDEX Ablow Field 7, 10 Agmund 8 Aldhelm 18 Ames 75, 77, 137 Anlaf 8 Annes, St. 110–2, 134 Anson (Lichfield) 128, 139, 152 Arley 14, 18, 27–8 Aston 34 Austin 165, 184 Badland 62–4, 95–6 Baker 106, 149 Barnard 128 Barr 114 Bate 132 Beating Bounds 24–6, 187 Beaumont 46, 58–9, 60–1 Beneting 8 Bentley 17, 25, 27–8, 31, 39, 44, 65, 67, 70, 72, 77, 81–82, 109, 110, 120–1, 125, 127–8, 126, 140, 143, 151–2, 175, 182, 184 Beogitha’s Stream 29 Bescot 17 Bilbrook 28, 93 Bilston 12, 14, 18, 26–8, 34, 37, 40, 51, 56, 66, 77–81, 85, 93, 135, 137–8, 156, 161