Great Wyrley
Encyclopedia
Great Wyrley is a parish
and town
in South Staffordshire
, England
, with a population of 11,236 at the 2001 census.
myrtle
," and leah meant "woodland clearing," suggesting that Great Wyrley was, at genesis, sparse woodland
or marshland. "Great" merely refers to its dominant size over Little Wyrley
.
under the name of Wereleia, and as early as 1086 is said to have been indirectly owned by the Bishop of Chester as part of the "somehwat scattered holdings" of the Church of Saint Chad in Lichfield
. Some 480 acre
s of farming land were, assumingly, evenly distributed between Wyrley and nearby Norton Canes
. However, all six dependencies of Saint Chad had been labelled as "wasta," which meant they had been abandoned by the time the Domesday Book was made.
. However, the settlement of Little Wyrley
lies within the parish of Norton Canes
--a nearby village.
Great Wyrley lies just under two-and-a-half miles south of Cannock
, just under two miles east of Cheslyn Hay
, and six-and-a-half miles north of Walsall
.
In former times the town was a mining village — The Great Wyrley Colliery — with metalworking in outlying areas. The Wyrley and Essington Canal
passes nearby.
, was tried and convicted for the eighth attack, on a pit pony, and sentenced to seven years with hard labour. Edalji’s family had been the victims of a long-running campaign of untraceable abusive letters and anonymous harassment in 1888 and 1892-5. Further letters in 1903 alleged he was partially responsible for the outrages and caused the police suspicion to focus on him.
Edalji was released in 1906 after the Chief Justice in Bahamas and others had pleaded his case. But he was not pardoned, and the police kept him under surveillance. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
of Sherlock Holmes
fame was persuaded to "turn detective" to prove the man's innocence. This he achieved after eight months of work. Edalji was exonerated by a Home Office
committee of enquiry, although no compensation was awarded.
Local myth remembers the Outrages to have been enacted by "The Wyrley Gang", although Alex Rowley believed that they were the work of a single person, a local butcher's boy and sometime sailor called Royden Sharp. Ironically, Rowley’s suspicion was based on circumstantial evidence. It was an over-reliance on this type of evidence which had resulted in Edalji’s flawed conviction.
Poison pen letter
s in the name of the "Wyrley Gang" continued for another twenty-five years, but these were subsequently discovered to have been posted from outside the town by Enoch Knowles of Wednesbury
, who was arrested and convicted in 1934.
The episode of the 1972 BBC anthology series The Edwardians about Conan Doyle centres on his involvement in the Edaji case. Written by Jeremy Paul and directed by Brian Farnham, it stars Nigel Davenport
as Conan Doyle, Sam Dastor
as George Edaji, and Renu Setna
as the Reverend Edaji.
The case was fictionalised in the novel by Julian Barnes
, Arthur & George
(2005), which was nominated for the 2005 Man Booker Prize
. In 2010, Arthur & George
was adapted for the theatre
by David Edgar
, with the play focusing heavily on the trial of George Edalji and The Great Wyrley Outrages.
A comprehensive non-fictional account of the case was published in 2006 in Conan Doyle and the Parson's Son: The George Edalji Case' written by Gordon Weaver. Apparently the whole incident was found to be connected to sexual predator, Russ Machin.
In Roger Oldfield's book 'Outrage: The Edalji Five and the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes', Vanguard Press (2010), www.outrage-rogeroldfield.co.uk, the famous case is set within the context of the wider experiences of the Edalji family as a whole. Roger Oldfield once taught history at Great Wyrley High School.
for commuters to Birmingham
and Wolverhampton
, and as a mid-point between Birmingham
and Stafford
, or Walsall
and Cannock
more locally. Nearby is junction T7 on the M6 Toll
motorway and Junction 11 of the M6
. Train services south to Birmingham
and north to Rugeley
and Stafford
are available at Landywood railway station
. The former Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay railway station
closed in the 1960s. Great Wyrley is served by two bus routes running between Cannock
and Walsall
, and two bus routes running between Cannock
and Wolverhampton
. These are Arriva Midlands route 1, Arriva Midlands route 2, Arriva Midlands route 68 and Arriva Midlands Route 69.
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
and town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
in South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire
South Staffordshire is a local government district in Staffordshire, England. The district lies to the north and west of Wolverhampton and the West Midlands, bordering Shropshire to the west and Worcestershire to the south...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, with a population of 11,236 at the 2001 census.
Etymology
The word "Wyrley" derives from two Old English words: wir and leah. Wir meant "bogBog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
myrtle
Myrtle
Myrtus is a genus of one or two species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae, native to southern Europe and north Africa. The plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to 5 m tall. The leaf is entire, 3–5 cm long, with a fragrant essential oil. The star-like flower has five...
," and leah meant "woodland clearing," suggesting that Great Wyrley was, at genesis, sparse woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
or marshland. "Great" merely refers to its dominant size over Little Wyrley
Little Wyrley
Little Wyrley is an English hamlet in the county of Staffordshire, that forms part of Norton Canes civil parish and the Cannock Chase district....
.
Early history
Great Wyrley is mentioned in the Domesday BookDomesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
under the name of Wereleia, and as early as 1086 is said to have been indirectly owned by the Bishop of Chester as part of the "somehwat scattered holdings" of the Church of Saint Chad in Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
. Some 480 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s of farming land were, assumingly, evenly distributed between Wyrley and nearby Norton Canes
Norton Canes
Norton Canes is a village and civil parish on the southern periphery of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394...
. However, all six dependencies of Saint Chad had been labelled as "wasta," which meant they had been abandoned by the time the Domesday Book was made.
Location
Great Wyrley consists of two South Staffordshire wards, "Great Wyrley" and "Great Wyrley Landywood," the latter being home to the slightly more Southern area of LandywoodLandywood
Landywood is a village in Staffordshire, England. Landywood forms part of the parish and village of Great Wyrley, and together with Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay, forms a community with a combined population in 2001 of almost 20,000....
. However, the settlement of Little Wyrley
Little Wyrley
Little Wyrley is an English hamlet in the county of Staffordshire, that forms part of Norton Canes civil parish and the Cannock Chase district....
lies within the parish of Norton Canes
Norton Canes
Norton Canes is a village and civil parish on the southern periphery of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394...
--a nearby village.
Great Wyrley lies just under two-and-a-half miles south of Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
, just under two miles east of Cheslyn Hay
Cheslyn Hay
Cheslyn Hay is a former mining village in south Staffordshire, between Cannock and Walsall.Station Street is the main street with some small shops.A major employer in the village is B.S. Eaton Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete products...
, and six-and-a-half miles north of Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
.
In former times the town was a mining village — The Great Wyrley Colliery — with metalworking in outlying areas. The Wyrley and Essington Canal
Wyrley and Essington Canal
The Wyrley and Essington Canal, known locally as "the Curly Wyrley", is a canal in the English Midlands. As built it ran from Wolverhampton to Huddlesford Junction near Lichfield, with a number of branches: some parts are currently derelict...
passes nearby.
The 'Great Wyrley Outrages'
In 1903 the place was the scene of the "Great Wyrley Outrages" , a series of slashings of horses, cows and sheep. In October a local solicitor, George EdaljiGeorge Edalji
George Ernest Thompson Edalji was a solicitor from the West Midlands who became world-famous in 1907 when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle campaigned to have him declared innocent of maliciously wounding a pony in 1903....
, was tried and convicted for the eighth attack, on a pit pony, and sentenced to seven years with hard labour. Edalji’s family had been the victims of a long-running campaign of untraceable abusive letters and anonymous harassment in 1888 and 1892-5. Further letters in 1903 alleged he was partially responsible for the outrages and caused the police suspicion to focus on him.
Edalji was released in 1906 after the Chief Justice in Bahamas and others had pleaded his case. But he was not pardoned, and the police kept him under surveillance. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
fame was persuaded to "turn detective" to prove the man's innocence. This he achieved after eight months of work. Edalji was exonerated by a Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
committee of enquiry, although no compensation was awarded.
Local myth remembers the Outrages to have been enacted by "The Wyrley Gang", although Alex Rowley believed that they were the work of a single person, a local butcher's boy and sometime sailor called Royden Sharp. Ironically, Rowley’s suspicion was based on circumstantial evidence. It was an over-reliance on this type of evidence which had resulted in Edalji’s flawed conviction.
Poison pen letter
Poison pen letter
A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. It is usually sent anonymously. Poison pen letters are usually composed and sent to upset the recipient...
s in the name of the "Wyrley Gang" continued for another twenty-five years, but these were subsequently discovered to have been posted from outside the town by Enoch Knowles of Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
, who was arrested and convicted in 1934.
In popular culture
The case is related in Conan Doyle's The Story of Mr. George Edalji (1907, expanded re-issue in 1985).The episode of the 1972 BBC anthology series The Edwardians about Conan Doyle centres on his involvement in the Edaji case. Written by Jeremy Paul and directed by Brian Farnham, it stars Nigel Davenport
Nigel Davenport
Nigel Davenport is an English stage, television and film actor.- Early life :Davenport was born Arthur Nigel Davenport, however he goes by the first name of Nigel. Davenport was born in Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the son of Katherine Lucy and Arthur Henry Davenport. Davenport's father was a bursar...
as Conan Doyle, Sam Dastor
Sam Dastor
Sam Dastor is an actor best known for his appearances in British television series.He is perhaps best remembered for playing Cassius Chaerea in the 1976 BBC adaptation of I, Claudius...
as George Edaji, and Renu Setna
Renu Setna
Renu Setna is a Pakistani actor, perhaps best known for his appearance as the shopkeeper Mr. Kittel in In Sickness and in Health.Setna made an appearance in the british BBC Sictom Only Fools And Horses, in the episode "Cash and Curry", where he played a con-artist who cons Del and Rodney out of Two...
as the Reverend Edaji.
The case was fictionalised in the novel by Julian Barnes
Julian Barnes
Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer, and winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, for his book The Sense of an Ending...
, Arthur & George
Arthur & George
Arthur & George is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages.'-Plot introduction:...
(2005), which was nominated for the 2005 Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
. In 2010, Arthur & George
Arthur & George
Arthur & George is the tenth novel by English author Julian Barnes which takes as its basis the true story of the 'Great Wyrley Outrages.'-Plot introduction:...
was adapted for the theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
by David Edgar
David Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
, with the play focusing heavily on the trial of George Edalji and The Great Wyrley Outrages.
A comprehensive non-fictional account of the case was published in 2006 in Conan Doyle and the Parson's Son: The George Edalji Case' written by Gordon Weaver. Apparently the whole incident was found to be connected to sexual predator, Russ Machin.
In Roger Oldfield's book 'Outrage: The Edalji Five and the Shadow of Sherlock Holmes', Vanguard Press (2010), www.outrage-rogeroldfield.co.uk, the famous case is set within the context of the wider experiences of the Edalji family as a whole. Roger Oldfield once taught history at Great Wyrley High School.
Schools
Great Wyrley has three primary schools and one high school.- Landywood Primary School
- St Thomas More Primary School
- Moat Hall Primary School
- Great Wyrley Performing Arts High School
Transport
Great Wyrley now serves largely as a dormitoryCommuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for commuters to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, and as a mid-point between Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and Stafford
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
, or Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
and Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
more locally. Nearby is junction T7 on the M6 Toll
M6 Toll
The M6 Toll , connects M6 Junction 4 at the NEC to M6 Junction 11A at Wolverhampton with of six-lane motorway. The weekday cash cost is £5.30 for a car and £10.60 for a HGV...
motorway and Junction 11 of the M6
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...
. Train services south to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and north to Rugeley
Rugeley
Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...
and Stafford
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...
are available at Landywood railway station
Landywood railway station
Landywood railway station is situated in the village of Landywood in Staffordshire,England. As well as Landywood, the station also serves the adjacent villages of Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley...
. The former Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay railway station
Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay railway station
Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay railway station was opened by the LNWR to serve the villages of Great Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay in Staffordshire, England. It also served the Bridgetown area. Bridgetown is situated on the A5 next to Churchbridge...
closed in the 1960s. Great Wyrley is served by two bus routes running between Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
and Walsall
Walsall
Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
, and two bus routes running between Cannock
Cannock
Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
and Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
. These are Arriva Midlands route 1, Arriva Midlands route 2, Arriva Midlands route 68 and Arriva Midlands Route 69.
Nearest Places
- BloxwichBloxwichBloxwich is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England, with a population of around 40,000 people.-Early history:Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as the Anglo-Saxon period, when the place name evidence suggests it was a small Mercian settlement named after the...
- BridgtownBridgtownBridgtown is a civil parish in the Cannock Chase District of Staffordshire, England. It is situated on the A5 between Cannock and Great Wyrley. At the 2001 census, Bridgtown had a population of 885....
- BrownhillsBrownhillsBrownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...
- CannockCannockCannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
- Cheslyn HayCheslyn HayCheslyn Hay is a former mining village in south Staffordshire, between Cannock and Walsall.Station Street is the main street with some small shops.A major employer in the village is B.S. Eaton Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete products...
- EssingtonEssingtonEssington is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, England. It is considered by the Office for National Statistics to be part of the Wolverhampton Urban Subdivision, and is within the West Midlands conurbation....
- FeatherstoneFeatherstone, StaffordshireFeatherstone is a small village in the district of South Staffordshire, England, near to the border with Wolverhampton. Originally a farming community consisting of a few scattered farms. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, and was owned by the Clergy of Wolverhampton Church...
- NewtownNewtown, StaffordshireNewtown, Staffordshire is a small village in South Staffordshire, England.Newtown lies in between Great Wyrley and Bloxwich , or more precisely, Landywood and Bloxwich , forming part of the Staffordshire/West Midlands border...
- Norton CanesNorton CanesNorton Canes is a village and civil parish on the southern periphery of Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated out of the centre of Cannock. At the 2001 census it had a population of 6,394...
- PelsallPelsallPelsall is an area of Walsall in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Parliamentary Constituency of Aldridge-Brownhills.- History :Pelsall was first mentioned in a charter of 994, when it was amongst various lands given to the monastery at Heantune by Wulfrun, a Mercian noblewoman...