In 1763 the people of Pelsall paid St. Peters Church Wolverhampton certain fees for permission to bury the dead at Pelsall Church. Pelsall St.Peters Church had to be rebuilt at this time and was renamed St. Michaels, this building lasted until the present day St. Michaels Church was built in Hall Lane in 1843. In 1785 Pelsall Hall was purchased by Isaac Charles whose family became principal landowners of the village. It would appear that they demolished the old Pelsall Hall and built the present one. The new Pelsall Hall remained the home of the Charles family until 1917 when the property was sold to Walsall Health Authority,thereafter being used as a tuberculosis sanatorium until 1950.
The canal was cut through in 1794 and having been largely an agriculteral community, the
coming of the Industrial Revolution exploited the village's large mineral wealth.Coal & Iron
saw a great change to the village providing an abundance of employment
and resulting in a large influx of people moving to the area.Pelsall Ironworks opened in 1832 being taken over by Messrs. Davis & Bloomer in 1848 and growing in size under their ownership.Along with the ownership of local Coal Mines they became Pelsall Coal & Iron Company,which employed over 800 men,women and boys.
One of the coal mines has almost been forgotten today, it was situated across Pelsall Works Bridge (Wood Lane) and over towards Fishley.It was known as The Duck Hole with a street containing several houses called Queen Street. A school for 122 pupils was opened in 1845 each pupil had to pay 2d (2 old pence) a week to attend.In 1846 Pelsall became a parish in it's own right, formerly being a township chapelry of Wolverhampton parish.
A great asset to the village was the opening of Pelsall Railway Station in 1849, the South Staffordshire Line linking Pelsall with Walsall & Birmingham to the south and Lichfield and beyond to the north. Sadly, poor governmental decisions saw it's demise in 1965.
The Primitive Methodist Chapel was built in 1853 in Paradise Lane.In 1859 the Wesleyan Chapel opened in Chapel Street and in 1860 the Wilkes family moved to Pelsall from Sedgely, starting what came to be known as Ernest Wilkes Brass & Iron Foundry (in what today we know as Foundry Lane) which lasted till 1977.
The population of Pelsall had grown to 1,872 by 1861.The Bloomer family donated £1,600 towards the building of a new larger school in Chapel Street which opened in 1866.The building of a new Methodist Chapel at Heath End was completed in 1869.
The Mining Disaster & Decline of Industry
A poignant time in the history of the village took place on November 14th 1872 when Pelsall was the scene of a terrible mining disaster, water from previously unknown older mine
workings burst through and flooded Pelsall Hall Colliery on Mouse Hill, resulting in
the tragic loss of 22 men & boys.During the days that the men were trapped underground ,their families were comforted and cared for by Sister Dora.
The decline and subsequent closure of the Iron works towards the end of the
nineteenth century once again returned Pelsall to a quieter rural community.The population of 1891 was 3,364 this however was reduced somewhat in 1895 by a Typhoid Epidemic During in the second World War Pelsall was targeted by German bombers on several occasions.Several houses were hit in Highbridge Row and on another occasion an attempt was made to blow up Pelsall Works Bridge, the bomb missing its target by about 70yds, leaving a large crater in the ground that can still be seen today.
In 1994 Pelsall celebrated it's millenium, a stone and plaque marking a 1,000 years of recorded village life.
