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Francis Goodwin (1784 - 1835) was a prolific architect, based in London, who was responsible for the design of many buildings in the early nineteenth century, including the first Manchester Town Hall and Derby Gaol. He was also responsible for the building or rebuilding of about 20 churches across England. See Link and Link .

In Bilston, Francis Goodwin was responsible for the building of two "Commissioners' churches" - St Leonard's in the town centre and St Mary's on Oxford Street. St Leonard's was built in 1825 in the neoclassical style (please see Link ) and St Mary's was built in 1827 in the Gothic Revival style (please see Link ).

Commissioners' churches were those constructed under the Church Building Act of 1818. Under this leglislation, the government part-funded the construction of 600 new churches especially in areas where the population had grown rapidly due to the need for workers in the factories built as part of the industrial revolution - see Link for more details.