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Bull Stake
and Walsall Road For many hundreds of
years the Bull Stake has been at the centre of the main crossroads in
Darlaston. King Street, Pinfold Street and Walsall Road are
certainly ancient, but
Darlaston Road is more recent, being built under the terms
of a 1787 Turnpike Act. Pinfold Street is named after the
town's pinfold where stray animals were housed until their
owner could pay a fine and collect his property. The pinfold
stood roughly where Cownley's hairdressers stands today.
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| Looking towards the Bull Stake
from the bottom of King Street.
As seen in October 1965. |
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| Pinfold Street was the terminus for Wolverhampton buses.
Buses from Wolverhampton stopped by the Wesleyan Methodist
Chapel that stood on the site of Wesley Fold, the row of
modern flats. After emptying, the buses turned around the
Bull Stake traffic island and stopped outside Len Mitchell's
shop, before beginning their journey back to Wolverhampton.
The Wolverhampton Corporation bus in the photograph above is
about to set-off for Wolverhampton. The row of shops behind
the bus were once one-up, one-down workman's cottages where
most of the victims of the 1831 cholera epidemic lived. |
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Looking across the Bull Stake
towards the bottom of King Street in October 1965. |
| The photograph above was taken a little while after one
of the town's most well known stores, Appleyard's drapers
shop had closed. Next door on the left is Thomas William
Baker's butcher's shop. |
| Another view of the Bull Stake
from the end of Darlaston Road. |
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| On the other side of Pinfold Street, partly out of view
is the Old Castle Hotel. The shop next door on the right is
David Jones & Son's corn and animal food shop. The shop on
the opposite side of Darlaston Road is the Furnishing
Stores. |
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Looking towards the
Bull Stake from Walsall Road in 1966. At the time the flats
were nearing completion. |
On the right is the Midland Bank, a locally listed
building, built in the early years of the 20th century. Next
door is the Darlaston branch of the Wednesbury Building
Society, which opened on 29th July, 1954.
The shops on the left are Cliff & Halifax, television
rentals; Darlaston Typewriters which sold typewriters and
office equipment; West Midland Estate Agency; Motor
Insurance; and on the corner the well known tobacconists,
The Spot. |
| A similar view taken in October
1965 from the far side of the railway bridge. |
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| Walsall Road ran along the boundary between Wednesbury
and Darlaston. The left-hand side was in Wednesbury, with
Darlaston on the right. In 1966 this changed as a result of
the Local Government Reform Act. Darlaston lost its status
as an urban district, and came under the direct control of
Walsall Metropolitan Borough, as did this part of
Wednesbury. From 1st April 1966 both sides of the street
were in Walsall. |
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