Wolverley



Wolverley is a village; with nearby Cookley (1 mi northeast), it forms a civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of Worcestershire, England. It is 2 miles north of Kidderminster and lies on the River Stour and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. At the time of the 2001 census, it had a population of 2,096. The village has also been known as "Overley" at various times.

Notable features
There are 13 Listed Buildings within Wolverley, three of which are grade II*.

One of the unusual features of the area are rooms cut into the sandstone cliffs behind some of the houses. In the centre of the village, next to the Queen's Head Public House car-park are some caves which reflect this usage.

Wolverley has one of the few remaining animal pounds in the area.

St. John's Church
Woverley's Church of England and parish church is dedicated to St. John. It is claimed as a tradition that there has been a church or chapel on the site since Anglo-Saxon times. The first documented evidence of a church was the mention of a parish priest in the village in the Domesday Book (1086). A church on the site of the current parish church site has been in deanery of Kidderminster since the 13th Century. The current building was consecrated on 20 September 1772, and belongs to the Church of England. The current clergyman with responsibility is The Revd Shaun Armstrong.

History
Wolverley was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under an ancient spelling of Ulwardelie.

The Worcester Member of Parliament John Atte Wode is recorded as holding land at Wolverley prior to 1357.

The Legend of the Swan
According to ancient legend a crusading member of the Attwood family was rescued from a dungeon and returned to his home Wolverley Court by a swan.

William Sebright
Wolverley was the birthplace of William Sebright, who as a Town Clerk of London accumulated an estate in Bethnal Green, which he left in his will of 1620 for the foundation of a grammar school in Wolverley. The site of the original Wolverley Grammar School is still in the centre of the village: the grammar school changed its name to Sebright School in 1931 when it moved to a new site. The new school was opened by Bewdley-born Stanley Baldwin. Between 1948 and 1970 Sebright was a public school, and from 1965 to 1969 the sculptor Fritz Steller was the Head of Art. Sebright School closed in 1970 and reopened as Wolverley High School, now called Wolverley C E Secondary School, a state run secondary school. However, the junior wing, Heathfield Knoll School, continued in existence and now includes pupils up to 16. Over the years the endowment left by William Sebright has grown to millions of pounds, and the original scope of the educational foundation he set up has been broadened to include grants to local schools, and to former pupils of those schools.

Tinplate Industry
Wolverley Lower Mill, which was established in 1670 by Philip Foley and Joshua Newborough, helped the village play a key role in the early tinplate industry.

Baskerville the printer
The village was also the birthplace of John Baskerville, the celebrated printer (1706–1775).

Wolverley Camp
During the Second World War the US Army Medical Corps opened its award-winning 52nd general hospital at Wolverley Camp.