CODSALL WOOD is a hamlet within the parish of Codsall being 484 feet above sea level - Codsall church is 453 feet above sea level, and the panorama includes
Cannock Chase, the Wrekin and the Brown Clee and Titterstone Clee Hills. A glance at a map shows that Codsall Wood has two clear boundaries - on the west, County Lane, along which runs the ancient county boundary between Staffordshire and Shropshire; and, on the north, the parish boundary between the parishes of Codsall and Brewood being mainly aligned on the Chillington Estate with its encircling brick wall. There is no defined boundary between Codsall Wood and Codsall, though Chillington Lane, Slate Lane and the railway line form a practical boundary. The boundary between Codsall Wood and Oaken is apparent from the respective
mid-19^th century tithe maps. Lands south of the railway line between County Lane and Station Road are, generally speaking, in Oaken.

The growth and development over the centuries of any community is greatly
influenced by the medieval manors. Codsall is within the Manor of the Dean of the Collegiate Church or King's free Royal Chapel of Wolverhampton.

It is sometimes assumed that the ancient Chillington Estate includes, within its Manor, parts of Codsall Wood. This is not so, though Mr Giffard purchased some plots of land at the time of the Enclosure Award in 1824 and subsequently. Codsall Wood people have worked on the Chillington Estate and in its woodlands and the Codsall Parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials have references to
people from the Estate. At one time, the post from the Hall was delivered from the
Codsall Wood post office. There are many instances of the Giffard family being
involved with the community of Codsall Wood in a supportive way.

The residential part of Codsall Wood lies on the road from Codsall to Ivetsey Bank and in Whitehouse Lane and a few houses in Husphins Lane. Only a few people both live and work in Codsall Wood, and many travel to work elsewhere. Most of the houses in Codsall Wood were built before the 1914-18 War - some well before that- and there are a few post 1939-45 dwellings. There are very few rented properties. One should not assume that "Codsall Wood" comprises only the built up area near Pendrell Hall, the Crown and the Cross Guns. In fact Codsall Wood includes
considerable acreage of agricultural land, unchanged over the centuries. In
planning terms, Codsall Wood is in the Green Belt with a small area ring-fenced and defined for limited in-filling.

The road from Codsall to Codsall Wood originally ran along Moat Brook Lane. The Moat Brook was an open stream (not culverted as it is now) with a small footbridge. Moat Brook Lane continued along "Pig Sty" Lane and by the lower Wheatstone gate, thence up the "Pendrell bank" to Codsall Wood village. It was not until the 19^th century that the present straight road from the lower Wheatstone gate to the bottom of wood road at Moat Brook was constructed. The public footpath from Church Lane in Codsall to the bottom of Wood Road linked up with Moat Brook Lane. That is the route that Codsall Wood people would have used to get to the Church and the village school. A another route, still a public footpath led from Church Lane, Codsall near the lower church yard, through Nursery farm, and by the Leighton Poll to Whitehouse Lane in Codsall wood. If you didn't have a horse, you had to walk and the public right of way also reveal the route which local people used to go to and from their work.

If we can image life in (say) the 1600's, Codsall Wood did probably not really exist as a community of people. There was a homestead at Wood Hall, another nearby at The Stockings and at Moor Hall and Oaken Park Farm. The area which we now know as "Codsall Wood Village" was Common Land around which there may have been a few hovel in which lived (perhaps "existed" would be more apt) those who worked at Chillington or Wood Hall. There was quite a lot of woodland. Probably this scene hardly changed until the early and mid 1800's when the Common Land was enclosed and one or two tradesmen such as shoemakers bettered themselves by acquiring land, formerly Common Land, and setting up "rural industries" -
wheel-wright, blacksmith, ales-houses, and so a community grew up in Codsall wood. The industrial "revolution" had arrived and so did the railway (1849);
Wheatstone Park and Pendrell Hall were built. By 1885 Codsall Wood village was a "going concern", the Mission Church had been built, there was a post office and four or five ale-houses, but the children had to go the Codsall for their schooling and for baptisms, marriages and burials.  Codsall Wood inhabitants had to make the journey to Codsall - about 20 minutes along the public footpath.

The improvements of the Pendrell Hall estate in about 1910 by Frank Gaskell with its own electricity supply and the lifestyle at the house had a significant impact on Codsall Wood. During the 20^th century, up to the 1950's there had been hardly any new houses and some of the older properties - some 100 years old - were acquiring a run down look. Then came the rising growth of car ownership and a number of new houses were built by and for people who wanted to live in country
surroundings and yet not too far from their places of work. Some of the older
buildings, which might once have housed two or even three families, have been converted into single residences. The population today is not significantly greater than it was 50 years ago.

It is a fair assumption that from medieval times the western part of the parish of Codsall was dominated by Oaken Park Farm, The Stockings, Husphins Farm and Wood Hall. These agricultural estates would have needed many labourers who may have lived in hovels on the edge of the common land at Oaken Lawns and at
Codsall Wood. The network of public footpaths did not arise because of ramblers but for the essential "journey to work" of the labourers.

Even today the whole of this area remains substantially in agricultural use.

Taken from "Codsall Wood", written by John Blamire-Brown and published in 1996 by the Codsall & Bilbrook History Society.