Wolverhampton's working history runs from Lady Wulfrun's wool grant to Ernest Bevin's forty-hour handshake — from the wool merchants whose money built St Peter's nave clerestory, to Edward Bird the japanning apprentice who became a Royal Academician, to Harry Inscoe who sat at his locksmith's bench for sixty years, to the young architects Lawrence Israel and Edward Lyons who won the Civic Hall competition aged twenty-two and twenty-five in what was their very first job, to John Baynton and John Brodie who were given a football by their headmaster and founded Wolverhampton Wanderers. These are the names the plaques missed.
St Peter's Collegiate Church (Anglican)The collegiate church on the hill above the town — founded by Lady Wulfrun in 994, its nave clerestory added in the mid-fifteenth century with wool-merchant money. The Lady Chapel contains the tomb of John Leveson (died 1575), whose cousin James Leveson was a Merchant of the Staple who farmed the deanery estates and held the dominant financial interest in the collegiate property for decades. Outside, a statue of Lady Wulfrun stands in the churchyard.
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Wolverhampton Art GalleryArt gallery in West Midlands, United Kingdom
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The Chubb BuildingsThe purpose-built lock-making factory on Railway Street (now Fryer Street), constructed in 1898 to celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the company's founding. Designed by architect C. H. M. Mileham (1837–1917). Capable of accommodating 350 workers. The triangular plan was designed so that every locksmith's bench had its own window. Harry Inscoe is photographed at his bench on 9 October 1918, having completed sixty years of continuous service. The factory operated until 1960; it is now a Grade II listed arts and media centre.
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Molineux StadiumFootball stadium in Wolverhampton, England
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Sunbeamland, Paul Street, WolverhamptonThe site of John Marston's Sunbeamland works, where the japanner-turned-bicycle-manufacturer entered the motorcycle trade at the age of seventy-six. Marston had been apprenticed as a japanner at fifteen and built his fortune in bicycle manufacture at the Jeddo Works. He launched Sunbeam Motorcycles here in 1912 — known as the Gentleman's Machine, a high-quality single-cylinder motorcycle that won the TT race multiple times. The site ties Wolverhampton's japanning heritage directly to its motorcycle industry.
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AJS Stevens Factory, Retreat Street, WolverhamptonThe original factory site of A. J. Stevens and Co., founded by the Stevens brothers — Jack (Albert John), Harry, George, and Joe — on Retreat Street in 1909. AJS, named from Jack's initials, was the first British motorcycle manufacturer to win the TT race. The company grew from the Stevens Screw Company and moved to Graiseley House in 1917. After the 1931 liquidation the brothers restarted as Stevens Motorcycles from the original Retreat Street site.
