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Listing: 1830. By James Morgan (a partner of John Nash), Classical
style.
Comment: Built 1823-30. The church was built to
accommodate the expanding population of the town but was never entirely
successful. The population in that quarter was never turned out to
be as great as had been expected, the area largely turning into an
industrial one - and with the abbatoir not far away. By the
1960s even that residential population had moved away, the church was
closed and became dangerously derelict. Later the land around it was
identified as the last area in town which could house a food superstore.
Sainsbury's moved in, building their store to one side of the church,
restoring the church and using its interior as the store entrance and
coffee shop. An upper floor was inserted and was used as offices.
The new buildings were designed in a way which was sympathetic to the old
church, though the entrance canopy did not meet with universal approval. The new
build also complemented the new Combined Court building on the other side of the
ring road. The project was architecturally and commercially successful.
For several years now Sainsbury's have been claiming that
they will build a new store on the other side of the city centre
at Raglan Street and will then reduce the scope of this one.
This proposal became bogged down in a downturn in Sainsbury's
profits and a counter proposal by Tesco to build near to this
present site at the old Royal Hospital. This continuing
saga and cat fight has done Wolverhampton no good at all and
whatever credit Sainsbury's had from saving this church is now
all used up.
This rare postcard from the early years of the
twentieth century shows St.George's when it was still in full use
The Church in the early 1970's.
In the grounds of Bushbury Crematorium and Cemetery
can be found this small monument:
The plaque on it reads: "St. George's Churchyard
November 1981 To the rear of this memorial lie the remains exhumed
during the construction of the ring road".
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