Bilston
Bilston is a town in
England's
West Midlands. It is the south-eastern corner of the Metropolitan Borough and City of
Wolverhampton. Two
wards of Wolverhampton City Council cover the town:
Bilston East and
Bilston North.
Bilston was first mentioned in the
Domesday Book as a village called
Billestune, being a largely rural area until the
nineteenth century. Situated just two miles south-east of Wolverhampton, it was extensively developed for factories and
coalmining. Many houses were constructed in the Bilston area. Between
1920 and
1966, the council replaced most of the nineteenth century
terraced houses with rented modern houses and flats on developments like Stowlawn, The Lunt and Bunker's Hill. Bilston has had a
market in the town centre for many years.
A Bilston
Urban District Council was formed in
1894 under the
Local Government Act 1894 covering the ancient parish of Bilston. The urban district was granted a
Royal Charter in 1933, becoming a
municipal borough and the First Charter Mayor was Alderman Herbert Beach. In 1966 the borough of Bilston was abolished, with most of its territory annexed to the
county borough of Wolverhampton (see
History of West Midlands).
On June 6th 1862, Bilston was the birthplace of the poet
Sir Henry Newbolt John Wilkinson (industrialist), "king of the ironmasters," built a blast furnace in Bilston in 1748. He lived and died in
Bradley, West Midlands. His body was returned to his home town of Cumbria.
From
1850 to
1972 there was a
railway station in Bilston town centre, but passenger services were then withdrawn and the line via Bilston (from Wolverhampton to
West Bromwich) was closed completely in
1980. It re-opened in
1999 as the first phase of the
Midland Metro tram line between Wolverhampton and
Birmingham. Bilston is served by
Bilston Central, Loxdale and
The Crescent tram stops.
Another significant development in the Bilston area was the
A463 Black Country Route. With more and more cars on the road, the roads around Bilston town centre became increasingly congested as the
twentieth century progressed. It became so severe that, by the late
1960s, the government had drawn up plans for a new
dual carriageway bypassing Bilston (and running from the
A4123 near
Coseley to Junction 10 of the
M6 motorway at
Walsall) which was scheduled to be completed by
1976. However, the plans collapsed and Bilston was condemned to increased congestion, for another decade at least.
The plans for a new dual carriageway were revived in the early
1980s. This time the planners had decided on a slightly different route which would run much closer to Bilston town centre. The first phase of the road (to be known as Black County Route) was completed in
1986, though initially running around half a mile east of the A4123. It was extended in
1991 to Oxford Street in Bilston town centre. This expansion resulted in a number of buildings being demolished and some roads having to be re-routed while one road (Market Street) was completely obliterated. This new road changed the face of Bilston town centre forever.
During
1995, the final phase of the Black Country Route between Bilston town centre and Junction 10 of the M6 was completed. This new road has seen a major improvement in the traffic flow around Bilston town centre.
