Photo: Æthelred, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sculptor: Sir Charles Wheeler KCVO CBE PPRA (1892 –1974)
Materials: Bronze statue on granite pedestal
Dimensions: Statue h. 200cm, pedestal 175cm.
Inscription: on pedestal: LADY WULFRUNA/BY SIR CHARLES WHEELER KCVO, CBE, PPRA/ FREEMAN OF WOLVERHAMPTON WAS PRESENTED BY THE EXPRESS AND STAR/ TO THE TOWN OF WOLVERHAMPTON/ TO MARK THE NEWSPAPER'S CENTENARY/ IN NOVEMBER 1974
Unveiled: November 1974
Lady Wulfruna
Lady Wulfruna (d.after 994) was an Anglo-Saxon noble woman and landowner with several estates in Staffordshire. She was granted a charter for Hēatūn, Anglo-Saxon for ‘high or prinicpal farm of enclosure’ by Aethelred II (Aethelred the Unready) in 985. She endowed a collegiate church there in 994, which is the site of St Peter’s Church where this bronze statue stands. It was erected in 1974 to celebrate the centenary of the Express and Star newspaper. Lady Wulfruna is depicted holding the charter, a scroll with a large seal attached, which granted land to the monastery at Hēatūn. An extract from the charter is incised into the steps below. After this generous donation, the town took on the name of its benefactor and became known as ‘Wulfrun Heantun’. By 1070 it was known as Wolverenehamptonia, which is now the city of Wolverhampton. Lady Wulfruna is therefore regarded as the founder of Wolverhampton.
Lady Wulfruna was Wheeler’s last commission and was unveiled after his death.
Location: St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton, West Midlands.