Religious Faith in Wolverhampton

The Church of England (also known as the Anglican church) has probably the richest archive material in the world. Dating back to medieval times there is a wide variety of records relating to the church itself as well as its involvement in what today we would consider more secular activities such as administering justice, proving wills, and collecting rates and taxes. For anyone wishing to study any aspect of the history of the Anglican Church they are advised to contact the Diocesan Record Office (Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service).

Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies has an excellent photographic collection and library of printed books. It is from these collections that the following outline histories of a selection of Anglican churches has been compiled. For additional information on church records see our family history pages, which include an interactive map showing the location of churches in the town.

Tradition has it that King Wulfhere, King of Mercia (656-675), founded an abbey of St Mary at Wolverhampton in 659AD. However no proof of such an abbey has ever been found.

What is known is that in 985AD Aethelred, King of Mercia, gave ten cassati of land to a noblewoman by the name of Wulfrun at a place called Heantune. This was followed nine years later by the endowment of a church.

It is in 1385 that there is the earliest known record of a church of St Peter's -
John Waterfall is listed as being one of the Wardens of the Light of St Peter's church.

No part of the current fabric of St Peter's can be dated earlier than the 14th century; and these sections are limited to the lower portion of the tower, the south transept, parts of the south aisle, the entrance doorway and the body of the southern porch.

The church has an antique font believed to date from that time, and a pulpit said to date from 1480.

A major rebuilding of the church began in the 15th century. Starting in 1439 a clerestory was added to the nave and the building converted into a cruciform shape. The aisles were extended, new arcades built, the walls battlemented and a lead roof was added. The tower was built in perpendicular style complete with three bells brought from the recently demolished abbey of Wenlock. The whole construction was finished by 1540.

During the Reformation that began in 1534 St Peter's was plundered; however much of what was taken was later recovered.

It was the same during the English Civil War, when the church was used as a stable.

In 1861 it was decided that further restoration was needed and it is the work carried out during this period that we see in the church of St Peter's today.

St Peter's, Wolverhampton, 1999 (E1/STPE/2/68)

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