Any question answered...

Used to.

"WL9002869" mid-'79 apparently

http://retroraleighs.com/dating.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-o-z.html

"In 1974, an entirely different numbering system was introduced for the higher end (531 and subsequently 753) Raleighs. Serial numbers should begin with a "W", which stands for Worksop, the facility that produced theses frames. This is followed by another alphabet. This alphabet indicates the fortnight in which the frame was built (i.e. A = 1st fortnight, B = 2nd, etc.). The third character is always a numeral. It indicates the year of manufacture, the decade being assumed (i.e. "4" could be '74 or '84; it is up to the interpretor to know enough to tell if the frame is from the 70's or 80's). What then follows is a series of numbers. At this point, these appear to be some sort of sequence, but this has not been substantiated."
from: retroraleighs.com - dating

retroraleighs.com - raleigh history or tony hadland - raleigh history

Pretty sure it didn't have wraparound stays

Thanks for this - very helpful :)