the main north–south route of Western England. Traffic struggled up and along the ridge, past the hamlet of Ryecroft to Upper Penn. The present route of the A449/Penn Road evolved only in the modern period, with an 18th-century toll road providing a more convenient thoroughfare and bypassing Upper Penn village. A guidebook of 1851 says: Penn is a large parish, comprising 3890 acres, and the two townships and villages of Upper and Lower Penn, the former of which has 716 and the latter 226 inhabitants. The Duke of Sutherland is lord of the manor, and owner of a large portion of the soil. The rest belongs to the following resident freeholders, JW Sparrow, Esq, of Penn Hall; the Rev William Dalton, of Lloyd House; Robert Thacker, Esq, of Muchall Hall; Sidney Cartwright, Esq, of the Leasowes, and a few smaller owners. A large part of Penn has been absorbed progressively into Wolverhampton, which became a County Borough in 1930 and a Metropolitan borough in 1974, thus detaching much of Penn from the administrative county of Staffordshire. This gradual expansion of the boundaries of Wolverhampton was accompanied by a rapid development of suburban housing, particularly from the Edwardian period, with many residents depending on the Sunbeam works for employment. Despite the depression of the 1930s, a further surge in housebuilding occurred, with much post-war infill. As a result, the area to the north and west of St. Bartholomew's church is almost entirely occupied by Wolverhampton's suburban housing. Ecclesiastical divisions Nowadays, the Parish of Penn contains part of suburban Wolverhampton and part of rural South Staffordshire, where the village of Lower Penn is situated about one mile (1.6 km) to the west, within South Staffordshire and containing the parish's other church, St Anne's. However a large part of Penn in suburban Wolverhampton now falls within other parishes, in particular the Parish of Penn Fields, served by the churches of St Philip, St Joseph and St Aidan. Penn ward within Wolverhampton Penn (population 12,392) is a formal ward of Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Penn ward borders the wards of Merry Hill, Graiseley and Blakenhall as well as South Staffordshire. It forms part of the Wolverhampton South West constituency. There are three focal points where shops and other facilities are located, all situated on the A449 Penn Road, which runs south-west from Wolverhampton City Centre: Upper Penn (which is closest to Wolverhampton and contains a