Ashmore Park

Ashmore Park was originally one of the wooded estates which Lady Wulfruna gave over to St. Peter's Fold in order for it to generate income and food for itself. A moat surrounded farmhouse[1] was built here, sometime in the mid-14th century. Three-quarters of the moat still exists today, at the 'bottom shops'.

The housing estate was originally built as an overspill estate for Wolverhampton, but was built within Wednesfield Urban District. The estate consists predominantly of 1950s council houses, flats and bungalows.

The home stead is viewed as being used by the Dean of Wolverhampton in his role as Dean of Ashmore Park (basically landlord). Generally the house was probably used as a farm and hostel for visitors and/ or workers utilized on the land and in the woods. Such things were common medieval uses for outlying city/ town estates. However, there is little to no actual evidence of such use here. The old farmhouse was probably taken down when a new one was built in the early 19th century; that new one was demolished in 1957 and a library was built near its site.

The latest census to take place in the neighbourhood was in 2001, where it was recorded as having a population of 6,734. 25-44 year olds represented the highest proportion of the estate's population at 27.6% with 60- to 74-year-olds being the second highest at 24.3%. The neighbourhood is not an ethnically diverse area with 97.2% of the population being classed as White. Black Caribbean is the largest ethnic minority group in the neighbourhood, representing 0.9%. Christianity is the predominant religion in the area with 81.6% of the population stating that they were Christians. 9.4% said that they did not have a religion.[2]

There was a total of 2,968 households in the neighbourhood, of which 54.5% are owner occupied and 39.4% are council houses. 1.4% of the population live in communal establishments, 84% of which suffer from a long-term illness. Of all the households, only 11.1% are considered to not be deprived at all and 7.2% are considered to be overcrowded.[2]

Ashmore Park had an unemployment rate of 7.1%, above the Wolverhampton average of 5.3%. Of the economically inactive, 24.4% are retired.[2]

The estate is served by Coppice Performing Arts School, a secondary school. Three primary schools also situate on the estate: Oak Meadow Primary School, Corpus Christi Catholic School and St Alban's Primary School. When the estate was first built it was served by two primary schools, Ashmore Park County Primary School and Danesmore Primary School, both have been demolished in the recent past.

At the heart of the estate is a large green park consisting of a children's play area and multiple sports facilities which include a skate park, all weather multi sports pitch BMX track and bowls green. The park is also home to the Wednesfield Aces and Wednesfield Dragons speedway teams. This park was built on a slag heap, the remains of mining in the area. A good percentage of the estate was built before this land was reclaimed so the Estate was not named after the park.

There are two main shopping areas, known locally as the 'top' and 'bottom' shops due to their geographic location.

The 'bottom shops', precinct, house a mix of local and independent businesses. This underwent an extensive facelift during the early 2000s that included work to preserve the historic moat site.[3]

A hardware shop named Home & Hardware was owned by a ‘famous’ local named Raj Kumar. He died from a heart attack in 2017. Over 1000 people turned up for the public service outside his shop. Home & Hardware is now owned by another family member and an unnamed road at the back of the ‘bottom shops’ was named Raj Kumar Drive in memory of him.

A new purpose built Co-op Food convenience store was opened in November 2016 on waste land adjacent to the Ashmore Inn public house and opposite the bottom shops shopping parade.

Many people originally opposed the plans of the new store as it risked the closure of The Ashmore, public house, however after an extensive campaign by locals and users of the pub, the store was built on the adjacent waste land and car park.

The 'top shops' has a small One Stop Newsagents, Fish and Chip Shop and Hairdressers.

In 2014 the estate's Library, Community Centre and Youth Club moved to a purpose built community hub on the site of the old Youth Club. In light of the 2013/14 funding cuts The Hub at Ashmore Park is run by volunteers with support of Wolverhampton City Council staff for library services.

The estate has three churches, St Alban's Church (C of E), Corpus Christi Church (R.C.) and a Baptist church, all three are on Griffiths Drive - the circular road that encompasses much of the estate.

Two public houses and a club are on the estate.

The Ashmore Inn On the corner of Griffiths Drive and Peacock Avenue, next to the Co-op Food store and opposite the bottom shops.

The True Briton, On Snape Road.

The Corpus Christi Club, On Ashmore Avenue, which is members and guests of members only club.

Nearest rail stations are Bloxwich North, Bloxwich and Wolverhampton.

• WV11.co.uk - A local community news and events resource
• - Wolverhampton Police on Ashmore Park
• - The Hub at Ashmore Park, Library, Community & Youth Centre