What's in a name? Well, when it comes to the name Clockmill, quite a lot!
The name Clockmill is a very ancient one, dating back to at least Saxon Times. Records show that a mill existed by the year 1215 and it seems likely that the stream or brook took it's name from this. Some have concluded that the original name would have been Clackmill, clack being a term to discribe a perpetual motion, for example, in this instance the continual striking of the clapper
on the hopper causing the corn to be shaken into the millstones.
The word clack is still used today in mechanics e.g clack valve. Whether this is how the clock part of the name originated or whether their is another explanation for it, is not certain.
What is certain though, is that The Clockmill Brook would have been extremely important to the ancient people who lived close to it on Mouse Hill and that it became one of the ancient boundaries of Pelsall. As early as the 1600's two areas of land known as Clockmill Leasow (pasture) and Clockmill Meadow are listed as belonging to William Savage, his wife Mary (nee Bullock) and members of the Bullock family (a very old Pelsall name).This proves that Clockmill was a well known part of Pelsall hundreds of years ago.
The Clockmill Estate is situated close to the original Pelsall Village being a Saxon settlement called 'Peolshalh' belonging to the kingdom of Mercia. First recorded in 994 A.D.,the land originally belonged to Lady Wulfrun an Anglo Saxon noblewoman after whom the city of Wolverhampton is named.The original Pelsall Village was situated on Mouse Hill where Pelsall Hall is today.The original hall is thought to have been over the road from the existing one in what is now the wooded land where the Pelsall Hall Colliery used to be. The original church was in existance by 1311, situated on the corner where Mouse Hill meets Paradise Lane. Called St. Peters, it lasted till 1763 when it had to be rebuilt.
Original Pelsall Church - Image courtesy of The William Salt Library
Renamed St. Michaels the rebuilt church only lasted till 1843 when it was demolished in favour of a new location for the present day St. Michaels and All Angels church. This being closer to the new village location which sprang up in the 1800s. The new village came about due to the large influx of workers who migrated to Pelsall to work in the Coal Mines and The Ironworks.The ancient location of the original village or settlement however, was where Mouse Hill/Paradise Lane is today, the origin of the name Mouse Hill is thought to have come from Malthouse Hill refering to an Ale House (Brewery & Bake House) which began in 1592. Malthouse Hill being abreviated to M's Hill and then corrupted to Mouse Hill.
The Building of The Estate
Work began in building The Clockmill housing estate at the end of the 1940s, with the first residents moving in about 1952.The development included houses in Foundry Lane, Wolverhampton Road, Clockmill Road, Clockmill Avenue and Clockmill Place.
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Lady Wulfrun.