Does anyone know the exact location of the Wednesbury Forge that was owned by the Elwell family in the 19 century? I trying to find out more about my gr grandparents Thomas and Elizabeth Lee. Thomas was an edge tool grinder and, since he lived a few doors away from the Elwells, I assume he worked for them. He lived in Forge Lane but that doesn't seem to exist any more. St Pauls vicarage was a few doors away and I am wondering if Forge Lane could have been the old name for St Pauls Road as that is where my family were living 20 years later.

Also my gr grandmother later kept the Forge Arms which also doesn't seem to exist any more. Does anyone know the location of this pub? Has it gone or has it's name changed? My mother told me it was a pub and smallholding in those days, but I doubt there are many fields around there now!

Hi Sylvia

What a coincidence - my grandfather was born in Forge Lane, Wednesbury, and at one time I did some research to find out exactly where it was, because as you say it does not now exist.

Let me look into it again, and I will contact you again.

Regards

Tony

We were always told Elwells forge used to be sirtuated on the playing fields just past the railway bridge on st Pauls rd. Spear and Jackson took over Elwells and they have a factory (or did have, i haven't lived in wednesbury for 15 years) next to the fields so i assume that was also part of the site.
http://www.multimap.com/map/photo.cgi?client=public&X=40...

That should show you the area. the factory still looks like it is there on the arial photo.

Elwells became Spear and Jackson my husband's sister used to work for them. He grew up in The Pleck just the other side of the M6. But he is only in his late 40's.. A lot of the terraced streets were levelled in WW2 because it was a target being such an industrial area. The terraced streets that survived the bombings in Wednesbury were demolished in the 50's and 60's.
There are no fields at all in Wednesbury other than Brunswick Park. Brunswick Park is constructed mostly of spoil heaps from the coal workings which were all around Wednesbury. Good chance the Black Country Museum in Dudley could help.

Thanks, everyone for your help.
We visited Wednesbury last week and found the location of the forge. St Paul's Rd was originally called Forge Lane and the forge was at the top by the motorway.There is a building there that still belongs to Spear & Jackson but it is closed and they seem to be pulling everything down.

There are only a few houses in the road now, all at the bottom end by the church, so I guess I will never know the exact location of The Forge Arms but it must have been at the top end as it had a high number.

I was a bit disappointed to find that St Paul's Church didn't have a graveyard as I was hoping to find my gr grandfather and some of my gr aunts there. We searched the cemetary just down the road but no luck.

Malc says there never was a graveyard at the St Paul's Church. We know it is possible to get copies of Old Map's and pay for copies of section -we have seen a discussion about this in the last 2 weeks but don't think it was on this site. Someone on Roots or Genes Re-united must be able to tell you how, which would show you exactly what you want to see. Was the cemetry you visited at James Bridge behind the Railway Tavern? If you go underneath Junction 9 from Wednesbury across the retail park turn right at Franchise Street right again at the end of Park Lane towards Walsall over James Bridge first turning to your left over the bridge. This cemetry is huge and a council cemetry not sure how old but old! Have you had any help from any local libraries? I have many family in Norfolk and when I contacted the local library by e-mail they offered me a free half hour search by a librarian if I could provide some direction for my search. Try starting at Walsall library, Malcolm says lots of churches were pulled down and cemetries closed and, sadly bodies re-intered elsewhere. Malc also says that the boundaries for Walsall Wednesbury and Darlaston have moved repeatedly in the last 150 years and only since the M6 was built could anyone really define where Walsall and Wednesbury boundaries were. Do you ever use the Church of Latter Day Saints for help especially with older records? I haven't needed to yet but I am certain their own site will tell you how. On the BBC recently on Who Do You Think You Are Jane Horrocks went to Preston to them for details of Parish Records. We live in Cheshire so have a choice of the Family History centre in Chester or St Helens for finding Parish records. We were told last week some Parish Records are on-line now from Chester to buy. Hope some or all of this helps. Malcy always available for info about the Black Country his beloved home.

Jamesbridge cem is your bog standard victorian council grave yard. I would doubt if some one from Wood Green would be buried in it. Wood green has never been in Walsall, the boundary change was from Walsall rd to Franchise st (where it is at present). I would have thought that brunswick park cem would be more likely as it is 2 mins up the road.

Depending on the date your great grandfather died, he may be buried in Fallings Heath Cemetery. It's midway between the one you visited in Wood Green and the Darlaston one at James Bridge.

Records for burials at Wood Green and Fallings Heath are held at Sandwell Archives in Smethwick. If you have a death date they could check the records for a burial for you.

Ive just Googled Wednesbury History. St Pauls Church was brought by the Elwell family. If you click on the top Wednesbury history. If show's you the Forge, click on other Industres, also Public Houses. It tell's you all the old Pubs names, the Forge is one of them, it tells you the name of the road it was in.

Wednesbury Forge was located in Wood Green so your ancestors were probably buried in Wednesbury cemetry which is no longer a cemetry but a nature area though there are still some graves still there though some are in disuse so you could try Wednesbury libary for any details on people buried in it or even Sandwell which has most of the records for the area