Wordsley - History

History

Wordsley lies in the far south of the historic boundaries of Staffordshire and, with neighbouring Amblecote, it is one of several villages just north of the River Stour that forms the historic border with the county of Worcestershire to the south. It formed part of the extensive manor of Kingswinford.

A 610-mile (982 km) long-distance footpath runs nearby. The path loosely follows the escape of the future Charles II during the English Civil War. He is said to have stopped at a house (which has since been demolished) on the corner of Kinver Street and the main Stourbridge road in Wordsley, during the night following the battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and taken bread and beer for himself and his party of about 60 cavaliers.

There were numerous glassworks in Wordsley from 1776 until 1930, making artisan-created cut-glass items such as vases, glasses and objets-d'art. The famous Portland Vase was cut in Wordsley. One of the most famous glass designers was a Wordsley man, William Jabez Muckley. Another was John Northwood, and his son Harry C. Northwood who helped establish glassware in the USA. Yet another who established glassware in the USA was John Northwood's friend, Frederick Carder. One of the most accomplished glasscutters was George Woodall, whose campaign led to the building of the Wordsley School of Art. The 'Red House Glassworks', a 100-foot high glassmaking cone, survives and has recently been restored. Lead-crystal cut-glass from Wordsley's heyday is now rare and collectable. Glassworking continued in the area, albeit at a reduced scale, until the 1990s.

Wordsley was the headquarters of the Royal seedsmen, Webbs of Wordsley. Their grounds covered thousands of acres.

A Workhouse was opened at Wordsley in 1903 and became fully operational in 1907, becoming a military hospital during World War I (1914–1918) but became Wordsley Hospital, a civilian hospital, after the end of World War II in 1945. The buildings had ben extended during its time as a military hospital but it was further expanded afterwards, the final extension being a state-of-the-art maternity unit that opened in 1988. However, the hospital closed in 2005 with its services being moved to an expanded Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley. Most of the buildings were demolished in 2007 to make way for housing, but parts of the hospital were saved for conversion into housing. These include the chapel and the old workhouse buildings.