The settlers reared large herds of pigs, which were easily fed in the beech, oak and birch woods, which are the naturally-predominant vegetation in the region.

There were 13 villagers (probably not including dependents, so perhaps thirty to forty people in total); a priest, and so perhaps some sort of church; as well as two mills, the first evidence for the importance of water power in the area.

The building as it is seen today, however, is the result of numerous reconstructions and refurbishments, with a near-complete rebuilding undertaken 1866-1867 to the designs of George Edmund Street.

From the Middle Ages, the Smestow Brook and the Stour were lined with small iron bloomeries and forges, using local reserves of charcoal and water.

Iron production concentrated in a smaller number of centres – at Swindon, in the southern part of the Wombourn parish, at Gothersley, at the Hyde near Kinver, and increasingly in the nearby Black Country – using the canal to bring ore, coal and limestone to the works.

The Wom and the Smestow continued to provide both power and cooling water, with several large mills along each stream by the late 18th century.

Perhaps the largest water-driven forge was to the west of the village, where, an 1817 history remarks, "has been erected an iron-work called the Heath-forge, with genteel mansion".

The water mill is clearly marked on the 1775 Yates map of Staffordshire, along with one at the Wodehouse, and another just south of the village centre, the remains of which are now the Pool Dam.

Dying without issue in 1784, he left his property to a family friend, the Reverend Thomas Shaw, on condition he change his name to Hellier.

As White implies, it was mainly the preserve of outworkers, who operated small-scale machinery in, or attached to, their own homes, fetching iron sheet or rod from the foundries and returning the finished product.

Another important landowner, the Reverend William Dalton, was an Evangelical clergyman from Ulster, but he owed his wealth to marriage to the widow of a Bilston iron master.

The hamlets of Giggetty, Blakeley, Ounsdale, and the Bratch were quite separate from the village and were only absorbed into it as suburban housing spread from the mid-20th century.

The green was surrounded by small, independent shops, which remain a distinctive feature of the village's commercial life.

[9] Large housing developments of the 1960s and 1970s around Giggetty and Brickbridge, to the west, were followed by a still larger westward extension in the Poolhouse estate of the 1980s, which absorbed the former Heath Mill.

A new bypass was opened to the south of the village in July 1988, carrying Dudley, Bridgnorth and Telford traffic around Wombourne and Himley, and clearly separating much of the industrial area from the residential section.

With Wombourne becoming an increasingly popular residential area, mass housing development continued into the new millennium, with building to the west of the canal between Ounsdale and the Bratch.

The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal runs north–south through the western side of the village and Bratch Locks are located just to the north-west.

The west midlands house builder Kendrick Homes acquired the site for residential development in June 2014, it has planning permission for 9 dwellings.

It was seen hunting and roosting around the Wombrook on a number of occasions and Daniel Traynor captured the very first image of the bird which was later shown in the Parish News.

It forms part of a conservation area and can be followed as far as Kidderminster and Stourport on Severn to the south and Wolverhampton and Stafford to the north.

Wombourne is part of a two-tier local government structure, typical of rural county areas in England.

Wombourne's Member of Parliament is Gavin Williamson, who represents the South Staffordshire constituency in the House of Commons after Sir Patrick Cormack stepped down in the 2010 general election.

In elections to the European Parliament, Wombourne was part of the West Midlands constituency which was last represented by seven MEPs: 3 Conservative, 2 Labour, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 UK Independence Party.

National Express West Midlands bus routes 15 and 16 serve Wombourne from Wolverhampton, each on a twice-per-hour frequency.

Sunday daytime service 15A omits the village centre operating directly from Wodehouse Lane A463 roundabout to Himley via the A449.

The most famous team is Orton Vale Established in 1977 ° Images of England: Wombourne Compiled by Derek Thomas and John Bowler (Tempus 2000)