Willenhall, Coventry

{{Infobox UK place

| official_name = Willenhall

| civil_parish =

| country = England

| region = West Midlands

| coordinates = {{coord|52.385970|-1.466785|region:GB|display=title}}

| os_grid_reference =

| post_town =

| postcode_area =

| postcode_district =

| dial_code =

| metropolitan_borough = Coventry

| metropolitan_county = West Midlands

| hide_services =

| population =

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| static_image = Willenhall remembrance rd 24n07.JPG

| static_image_caption = Shops on Remembrance Road, Willenhall

| website =

}}

File:Church of st john the divine willenhall coventry 24n07.JPG

Willenhall is a suburb of Coventry, in the county of the West Midlands, England.

Willenhall is in the south-east of the city adjacent to the suburbs of Binley, Ernesford Grange and Whitley. It covers the area bounded by the Rugby to Coventry railway line, the River Sowe and the city's boundary with Warwickshire. The district is contiguous with the smaller Stonehouse estate to the southwest, Toll Bar End to the south and Willenhall Wood, which adjoins to the northeast.

For general election purposes it is part of the Coventry South Constituency and for local elections it forms part of the Binley and Willenhall ward on Coventry City Council. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 16,991.{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13689724&c=CV3+3EE&d=14&e=62&g=6364075&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1450354722344&enc=1|title=Coventry Ward population 2011|accessdate=17 December 2015|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics}}

History

Willenhall was originally a small village that was absorbed into the city as it expanded.

Willenhall was formerly in the parish of Coventry-Holy Trinity,{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9437|title=History of Willenhall, in Coventry and Warwickshire|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=5 October 2024}} in 1866 Willenhall became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1932 the parish was abolished and merged with Coventry and Baginton.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10322297|title=Relationships and changes Willenhall CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=5 October 2024}} In 1931 the parish had a population of 348.{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10322297/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Willenhall CP/Tn through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=5 October 2024}}

During the Second World War the Chace National Service Hostel was built in the area to accommodate the influx of munitions workers to the City. After the war the estate became established with the building of a large number of council houses. The area today remains mainly residential though to the south-east there is 9 hectares of woodland called Willenhall Wood which has been designated a nature reserve.{{cite web|url=http://www.coventry-walks.org.uk/booklets/woodland/willenhall.html|title=Willenhall Wood|publisher=Coventry Walks|accessdate=14 April 2014}}

Willenhall is the location of the Chace Avenue police station that forms part of the Coventry Local Policing Team of the West Midlands Police and houses the Binley and Willenhall neighbourhood team.

Education

Willenhall has three primary schools:

St. Anne's RC
Stretton Church of England
Willenhall Community

For Secondary education the pupils of the above primary schools normally advance to:

Religion

The Church of England parish church for Willenhall is St John the Divine, which was designed by Basil Spence and consecrated in 1957.{{NHLE|num=1422601|desc=Church of St John the Divine, The Church Hall and Bell Tower |accessdate=27 January 2025}} Spence used this as a trial for his later Coventry Cathedral.

The area is also served by St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church and Willenhall Free Church which is affiliated with the FIEC.{{cite web

|url=http://www.fiec.org.uk/churches/church/495|title=Willenhall Evangelical Free Church|publisher=FIEC|accessdate=6 July 2014}}

Rioting

In May 1992, rioting that began in the Wood End and Hillfields areas of the city spread into Willenhall.{{cite news

|url=http://libcom.org/library/hot-time-summer-estates-riots-uk-1991-2

|title=Hot time: Summer on the estates: Riots in the UK 1991-2

|date=22 July 2007

|work=libcom.org

|accessdate=16 February 2011}}

Air crash

File:Aircraft crash 21 Dec 1994 plaque coventry 16f08.JPG

Willenhall was the site of a major air crash when at 9:52 a.m. on 21 December 1994 an aircraft approaching Coventry Airport, in poor visibility, crashed into Willenhall Wood, killing all five crew on board.

The aircraft was a Boeing 737 that was owned and operated by Air Algerie but leased by Phoenix Aviation to undertake a number of live veal calf export flights from the airport.{{cite hansard | house=House of Commons | url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199596/cmhansrd/vo960214/debtext/60214-07.htm |chapter=Debate | date = 14 February 1996 | column_start = 947 | column_end = 948 |accessdate=16 March 2023}}

A brass plaque remembering the event is now located in Middle Ride, close to the crash scene, which was erected on the crash’s 10th anniversary by the Willenhall Wood Residents Association.{{cite web

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4113833.stm

|title=Aeroplane crash dead remembered

|date= 21 December 2004

|work=BBC News Online

|publisher=BBC

|accessdate=16 February 2008

}}

Gallery

File:Willenhall robin hood rd 24n07.JPG|Robin Hood Road, Willenhall

File:Cottages St James Lane Willenhall.jpg|Cottages in St James Lane, Willenhall

References

External links

[http://www.virtualmuseum.co.uk/ Virtual Museum, Willenhall, Coventry]
[http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/chaceavenue/index.shtml Chace Avenue (M2) operational command unit]

Category:Suburbs of Coventry

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England

Category:Former civil parishes in the West Midlands (county)