Blakenhall is a suburb and ward in Wolverhampton, England. Toponymy and history Blakenhall's name, according to toponymists comes from the Old English 'blæc', meaning 'black' or dark coloured, & 'halh' meaning 'nook' or 'corner'. It was developed during the late 19th century just south of the town centre, with hundreds of terraced houses, some with shop fronts, being built on the Dudley Road (A459) towards Sedgley, as well as many being built in the side streets running off. Wanderers Avenue can be found in Blakenhall, the original home of Wolverhampton Wanderers, who regularly played on the adjacent Phoenix Park until 1889. Names of the players can be found on the front of the terraced houses along the street. The club was founded as 'St Luke's Football Club' in 1877, a school side, before merging with another local football and cricket team, 'The Wanderers' two years later to form Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wolverhampton's very first council houses were built at Blakenhall, on Birmingham Road, in 1902, though it would be nearly 20 years before mass council housing building took place anywhere else in the town. By the 1980s, however, these properties were outdated and they were finally demolished in the spring of 1988. Vehicle maker AJS moved to a new factory built around Graiseley House on 1914. It closed on their insolvency in 1931 and the site, now occupied by a supermarket (Tesco from July 2021 previously Waitrose and originally Safeway), is marked by a sculpture, The Lone Rider, designed by Steve Field and carved by Robert Bowers, assisted by Michael Scheuermann. The plaque explaining the relevance of the statue attached to the base was stolen several years ago. In 1919, when work began on the Wolverhampton's first major council housing development to rehouse families from town centre slums, a site around Green Lane (later renamed Birmingham Road and Thompson Avenue) and Parkfield Road was included in this development. In 1960, 1st Blakenhall Scout Group was formed by Maurice Lane. Maurice was influential in setting up the group which is still going strong today and still recruiting young people aged 6–14. Although Scouting has changed somewhat since the days 1st Blakenhall has formed the group now meet at St Johns Methodist Church near to the Fighting Cocks crossroads and is open to both male and females in the Blakenhall area. The next major development in Blakenhall took place in the 1960s when