Stow Heath is an area and ancient manor in the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located in the east half of the city.
Place name and origins
The first known recording of the place name Stowheath was in c.1272 as
Stowheth, from Old English
stow - place of assembly / holy place and
hæth - level, open, uncultivated land,
[ ] so 'the heath of a place called Stow'.
An Earl Kenwulf of Stowheath was said to have fallen at the Battle of Tettenhall (910).
History
It is thought that the original manor house was built in Bilston in 1450, a John De Mollesley being the first incumbent. This building exists to this day, as The Greyhound and Punchbowl Inn pub.
[http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/News/The-Greyhound-Punchbowl-saved-for-posterity-by-Butlers.htm Staffordshire Newsletter - The Greyhound and Punchbowl saved for posterity (08/07/2010)] A hill or tumulus is said to have existed in Stowheath on the Willenhall road, half a mile south west of Neachells, called
Stowman's Hill.
Thought at various times to be a boundary marker between Wolverhampton, Willenhall, Bilston and
Wednesfield,
or a low (burial mound). In Isaac Taylor's map of Wolverhampton (1750), the two manors of Deanery and Stowheath are named.
In 1851 the manor was held by the Duke of Sutherland, and TW Gifford, Esq.
By the end of the 19th century, almost the whole of Stowheath Manor was held by local family, the Levesons.
[http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/history/farley/oldwlv.htm Farley, Keith (1985), Wolverhampton 985 - 1985]
In 2023, 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai was stabbed to death in Stow Heath's Stowlawn Playing Fields
Today
Most of the area consists of 20th Century housing, including the Stowlawn and East Park estates. Stowlawn Primary School is also in the area, as are the pubs, the 'Happy Wanderer' (Demolished) the 'Cleveland Arms' and 'The Angel Inn'. The Stowheath Lane Kitchens delivered meals service is in Stowheath, next door to the Stowheath Garden Centre.
Demography
Almost a quarter of Stowheath's population (21.2%) are of Indian ethnicity, with the majority of the population (65.3%) classed as White British (English with a possible number of Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish). 60.2% of residents class their religion as Christian, followed by 13.4% as Hindu. 10.5% of Stowheath's population have no religion.
[http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5138E56F-28C8-48EC-85D9-CCAEFBDB587B/0/Stowheath.pdf 2001 Census]
