Queen Square, or Market Square

circa 1857

This bustling scene from circa 1857 captures Queen Square — once known as Market Square — in the heart of Wolverhampton. Horse-drawn carriages, elegant pedestrians, and a cannon monument set the stage against the backdrop of St. Peter’s Collegiate Church, whose clock tower rises proudly over the town centre.

The white timber-framed building to the right is the Manor House, one of the oldest surviving structures in the city, while the cannon at the centre was erected to commemorate the Crimean War, which ended just a year earlier, in 1856.

In 1857, Wolverhampton was a booming industrial town within the historic county of Staffordshire, renowned for its role in coal, steel, and lockmaking. Queen Square was — and remains — the city’s symbolic and civic heart, a place of gathering, protest, and pride.

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