Above is a watercolour of one of Walsall’s oldest inns, The Woolpack, which stood approximately where the entrance to the Old Square is today. The painting shows the original Woolpack which was a late medieval timber framed building and certainly one of the oldest pubs in Walsall, it was demolished in 1892. It is reputed that local Royalists under Colonel John Lane congregated at the inn in September 1651 before continuing to Worcester to join Charles II. During my research for the history of Walsall Races, the Woolpack was mentioned numerous times as it was one of Walsall’s most important venues for cock-fighting. In June 1756 a year after the earliest announcement for Walsall Races in 1755 there appeared in Aris’s Gazette an announcement that read:-Read More »

In an earlier post I mentioned a project of mine a few years ago was to illustrate some of the old pubs of Walsall that are now long gone. This post features the Minerva Inn that was situated on the corner of Paddock Lane and Union Street. This watercolour painting was based on a black and white photograph taken around the 1930s. I always liked the photograph for the way the perspective of the narrow street pulls the eye onto the Parish Church of our town, St. Matthews standing proudly on the hill.Read More »

Several years ago whilst researching family and local history I decided that I wanted to see how the long gone pubs of Walsall would have  looked to my ancestors. I embarked on a series of watercolour and gouache paintings of hostelries based on black and white photographs. One of the first paintings I did was of The White Swan that sat on the corner of Bath Street and Dudley Street, where the Mercedes garage is now situated. This turned out to be two paintings in one as on the opposite side of the street stood the Seven Stars Inn, but first the White Swan. Read More »