Description:James Leveson was the son of Richard Leveson of Prestwood. His brother Nicholas was a successful wool merchant who moved from Wolverhampton to London and became a Merchant of the Staple. James shared his brother’s success in the wool trade but chose to remain in Wolverhampton were he invested in Staffordshire property described in detail by historian R. F. Wisker.
Amongst the property James acquired in Wolverhampton were a number of ‘houses with their offices and gardens’ in Lichfield Street, Dudley Street, Berry Street and John’s Lane in the centre of Wolverhampton. The Sutherland Papers contains many documents from the sixteenth century providing details about the land and property which James purchased in Wolverhampton, including the tenement which he purchased in Dudley Street in 1524.
James Leveson, Wolverhampton Malt Mills & John Walys
From early in its history, Wolverhampton has been a centre of trade and industry. Amongst the property which James Leveson acquired in the town during the sixteenth century was a malt mill which he purchased from local landowner John Walys.
A document from 1520, featured above, refers to ‘John Walles’ who had received payment from ‘Jamis Leveson’ for lands ‘lying in the town & p[ar]ysshe of Wulv[er]ehampton’ in the county of Stafford including ‘a malt myle lying in the same town’.
Contextual Information from: R. F. Wisker 'The Estates of James Leveson of Wolverhampton (d. 1547)' Staffordshire Archeological Transactions, Volume 37 (1998)p. 120.
To learn more about early industry in Wolverhampton, follow the link below to www.wolverhamptonhistory.org.uk