xt paragraph it is admitted that the Danes never gained a
permanent footing in this locality, and that there is scarce a name of
purely Danish origin in the neighbourhood.

"Willenhalch," then, may be accepted as signifying in Anglo-Saxon "the
meadowland of Willan," Willan (not Willen) being a personal name, and
halch being a form of healh, signifying "enclosed land on the banks of a
stream," as, for instance, on the Willenhall Brook.

Any ancient place-name terminating in "halch" would, in the course of
time, terminate in "hall," a termination now commonly construed as
"hall," or "mansion." There is nothing inherently improbable in
Willenhall having been a temporary royal residence. King John in much
later times had his hunting lodge at Brewood. Bushbury, originally
Bishopsbury, was so called because one of the early Mercian bishops is
said to have made this place his episcopal residence. Attention has been
called to the fact that in this vicinity a number of place-names end in
"hall," as Willenhall, Tettenhall, Walsall, Pelsall, and Rushall. The
inference drawn is that each of these places marks the settlement of some
pioneer Anglican chieftain, or, as Dr. Oliver puts it, the mansion and
estate of some Saxon thane.

II.--The Battle of Wednesfield.

Although it cannot be admitted that the Battle of Wednesfield, or the
great national victory gained on that occasion, provided Willenhall with
its name, the event itself may certainly be regarded as the chief
historical episode which has occurred in this immediate vicinity. This
was "far back in the olden time" when, says the local poetess--

The Danes lay camped on Woden's field.

Dr. Willmore, in his "History of Walsall" (p. 30), quotes an authority to
the effect that the battle fought at Wednesfield in the year 911 "had the
important consequence of freeing England from the attacks of these
formidable invaders."

This engagement was one of the many which took place between the Saxon
and the Dane for dynastic supremacy. Even the mighty prowess of Alfred
the Great had failed to give the quietus to Danish pretensions, and his
son, Edward the Elder, was engaged in a life-long struggle with the
Danes, in the course of which the Princess Ethelfleda, who was Edward's
sister, and Great Alfred's daughter, erected castles at Bridgnorth,
Stafford, Warwick, Tamworth, and Wednesbury. Edward the Elder had to
combat Welsh invasions as well as Danish aggressive