A new defibrillator at Wood End Village Hall has been donated by Mr Peter Daniels. This is his second generous donation to the village. He has also donated a defibrillator to the Working Men's Club in the village. Borough and Parish Councillor Hayden Phillips would like to sincerely thank him for his generosity.
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Originally known as Edgehill, and part of Hurley, Wood End comprised several 16th century cottages and a few farms. It was not until the local collieries opened that the village grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to accommodate the mining families. Johnson Street is thought to be named after George Johnson who ran the Wood End Stores when it first opened.
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The church of St. Michael and All Angels was dedicated on June 15th 1906 in Smith Street which was named after the benefactor Smith's Brewery, the owners of whom also built the Working Men's Club in 1905. The Club was used by miners, farm labourers and clay workers and helped to support the very popular Wood End Silver Band.
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There was also a Methodist Chapel in the Tamworth Road built in 1910 for the miners, many of whom were non-conformists. It was closed in the late 1970s and later demolished. The village hall was added during the 1960s.
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In 1910 a shaft was sunk just off Boulter's Lane by Birch Coppice Colliery and by 1912 coal travelled to the latter for screening via a narrow gauge railway. Wood End Pit closed in 1927 and the site is now a mobile home park.
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Wood End School opened in 1911 to relieve the pressure at Hurley School and was badly damaged by fire in 1998. It has since been rebuilt.