The Annals of WillenhallHackwood, Frederick William
History
The Annals of Willenhall
Hackwood, Frederick William
Willenhall (Walsall, England)
Speaking of the treatment of the battles of Tettenhall and Wednesfield by
the old monkish historians, Huntbach says:—“There is very great reason to
confirm their testimony who say the battle was here fought; for there are
many tumuli or lows there, that shew some great engagement hereabouts,
viz., the North Lowe, the South Lowe, Little Lowe, Horslowe, and
Thrombelow.
“The first four being yet visible, the North Lowe, near in lands to
croft-lodge, the South Lowe near Mr. Hope’s windmill, the great and
little lowe in the heath grounds; but Horslowe is not discernible by
reason of the coal-works that have been here, only it giveth name to the
Horselowe Field, since called Horsehull Field, now Horseley Field.
“And there are not only these, but several others, partly in the way
betwixt this place and Tottenhall, as at Low Hill, near Seawall, a very
large one, and at Hampton Town; and another which giveth name to a field
called Ablow Field, upon which stands a bush now called Isley Cross.”
Ablow Field covered 40 acres of unenclosed ground near Graiseley Brook,
and the tumulus once occupied the site now covered by St. Paul’s Church.
Dr. Plot believes the ancient remains in Wrottesley Park to be “those of
the old Tettenhall of the Danes, who, having resided there for some time,
built themselves this city, or place of habitation, which, in the year
907, was finally demolished by Edward the Elder in a most signal and
destructive victory. To revenge this fatal quarrel, another army of
Danes collected in Northumbria, and invaded Mercia in the same year, when
King Edward, with a powerful force of West Saxons and Mercians overtook
them at the village of Wednesfield, near Theotenhall (Tettenhall), and
vanquished them again, with much slaughter.”
Another account, given by the aforementioned Dr. Wilkes, Willenhall’s
most eminent son, and no mean authority on such matters, says that:—“In
the year 895, King Alfred having by a stratagem forced them to leave
Hereford on the Wye, they came up to the River Severn as far as
Bridgnorth, then called Quat, Quatbridge, or Quatford, committing great
enormities, and destroying all before them. We hear no more of them
hereabout for thirteen years, but then they raised a great army and
fought two bloody battles with King Edward.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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