A Black Country city of football, art and Arts and Crafts houses, with the famous living museum a short journey away.
Wolverhampton grew rich as a market town in the wool trade and later as an industrial centre, making locks, bicycles, cars and much more. It sits on the edge of the Black Country, the area west of Birmingham that got its name from the smoke and soot of its furnaces and mines. It became a city in 2000.
Today Wolverhampton is a lively, diverse city with a famous football club, excellent galleries and some remarkable historic houses nearby. It is a good base for exploring the Black Country, Shropshire and the Staffordshire countryside. This guide covers six things to see and do.
1. Molineux and Wolverhampton Wanderers
Molineux, in the heart of the city, is the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, known as Wolves, one of the oldest and most famous football clubs in England. The club was a founding member of the Football League in 1888. Its old gold and black colours are known around the world.
Molineux has a special place in football history. In the 1950s, it was one of the first grounds in Britain to install floodlights, and Wolves played famous floodlit friendly matches against top teams from abroad. Those matches helped inspire the creation of the European Cup.
Stadium tours take you behind the scenes, into the dressing rooms and the players’ tunnel. The club has a museum telling its story. Statues of great players stand outside the ground.
Match days bring the city to life, with fans in old gold filling the streets and pubs. Tickets can be hard to get for big games. A car booked ahead is the easiest way to get to and from the match.
2. Wightwick Manor
Wightwick Manor, on the western edge of the city, is one of the finest Victorian houses in England. It was built in the 1880s and 1890s for Theodore Mander, a wealthy paint manufacturer, and it is looked after by the National Trust. It is a masterpiece of the Arts and Crafts movement.
The house is decorated with wallpapers, fabrics and carpets by William Morris, and it is filled with Pre-Raphaelite paintings by artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The timbered rooms, stained glass and fine furniture make it feel warm and romantic. It is a treasure trove for lovers of Victorian art.
The gardens are beautiful, with terraces, yew hedges, an orchard and a rose garden. They were designed in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement. There is also a tea room and a shop.
Wightwick Manor is open on certain days, and visits to parts of the house may be by timed ticket. Allow a couple of hours. It is about three miles from the city centre.
3. Wolverhampton Art Gallery
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, in a grand Victorian building in the city centre, has one of the best collections of pop art in Britain outside London. It includes works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Peter Blake and other famous artists. It is bright, bold and fun.
The gallery also has Victorian and Georgian paintings, including works by Thomas Gainsborough and Joseph Wright of Derby. There are galleries of contemporary art and collections telling the story of the city. It hosts changing exhibitions through the year.
The gallery is free to enter. It has a café and a shop. It is a good place for families, with activities for children.
Nearby, St Peter’s Collegiate Church, the city’s main church, stands on the site of a Saxon church, and a carved Saxon pillar survives in its churchyard. Bantock House Museum, in a park on the edge of the city, tells the story of Wolverhampton and its people. The city’s Grand Theatre stages big touring shows.
4. Moseley Old Hall and Boscobel House
Moseley Old Hall, on the northern edge of Wolverhampton, is an Elizabethan house where King Charles II hid after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. He was on the run from Parliament’s soldiers, with a price on his head. The house is looked after by the National Trust.
You can see the bed Charles slept in, and the priest hole where he hid when soldiers came to search the house. The story of his escape is thrilling. The house also has a lovely seventeenth century style garden.
Boscobel House, about eight miles north west of Wolverhampton, is another place where Charles hid during his escape. He famously spent a day hiding in an oak tree in the grounds, while soldiers searched below. The Royal Oak that grows there today is said to be descended from the original tree.
Boscobel House is looked after by English Heritage. Together, the two houses tell the story of one of the most famous escapes in English history. A car makes it easy to visit both in a day.
5. The Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum, in Dudley, about fifteen minutes south of Wolverhampton, is one of the best open air museums in Britain. It recreates a Black Country town from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with shops, homes, a school, a chapel and a pub. Historic buildings have been moved here from across the area and rebuilt.
Costumed staff bring the buildings to life, showing how people lived and worked. You can watch craftspeople at work, from chain makers to sweet makers. Fish and chips are cooked in beef dripping in the old fashioned way.
One of the highlights is a boat trip into the Dudley Canal Tunnel, where you travel deep into old limestone mines beneath the hill. It is atmospheric and unforgettable. The museum has also appeared in the television drama Peaky Blinders.
Allow a full day. The museum is great for all ages. Tickets usually allow a return visit within a year.
6. The RAF Museum at Cosford and Ironbridge
The Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford, about fifteen minutes west of Wolverhampton, has a huge collection of aircraft, from early planes to jets, missiles and space rockets. It is free to enter. It is one of the best aviation museums in the country.
The museum’s National Cold War Exhibition tells the story of the long stand off between East and West, with bombers and fighters displayed in a striking modern building. There are also aircraft from the Second World War. Children love the interactive displays.
Ironbridge Gorge, about half an hour west, is often called the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The famous iron bridge, the first bridge in the world made of cast iron, was built across the River Severn in 1779. The gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with ten museums telling the story of industry.
Blists Hill Victorian Town, one of the Ironbridge museums, is another living museum where you can walk the streets of a Victorian town. A car makes it easy to reach Cosford and Ironbridge from Wolverhampton.
Getting there and getting around
Wolverhampton station has direct trains to London Euston in around an hour and three quarters, and to Birmingham in around twenty minutes, as well as to Manchester, Shrewsbury and Wales. The West Midlands Metro tram runs from Wolverhampton to Birmingham.
Birmingham Airport is about half an hour to forty minutes by road. The M6 and M54 pass close to the city. A car booked ahead is the easiest way to travel between Wolverhampton and the airport, and to reach Wightwick, the Black Country Living Museum, Cosford and Ironbridge.
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