Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HALESOWEN

HALESOWEN, a town, a township, and a sub-district in Stourbridge district, and a parish partly also in West Bromwich and Bromsgrove districts, Worcester. The town stands in a fertile valley, on the river Stour, near the Netherton canal, and near the boundary with Stafford, 4½ miles E by S of Stourbridge r. station, and 5 SSE of Dudley: and is to be connected with the West Midland railway by a branch line to Netherton, and with the Midland by a branch to Bromsgrove. It comprises a principal street and smaller diverging ones; and has been improved by the demolition of old unsightly houses in the principal street, and the erection of modern houses and shops. It is said to have once been a borough; but it does not appear to have ever sent members to parliament. It is a seat of petty sessions; and has a police station, built in 1847. The church in it dates from about the time of the Conquest; exhibits characters of Norman, early English, early decorated, and perpendicular; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel; measures 120 feet in length, and 60 feet in width; has a tower with graceful spire; was repaired in 1838, at a cost of £3, 000; and contains a Norman font, a monument to the poet Shenstone, and a costly monument to Major Halliday. There are chapels for Independents, New Connexion Methodists, and Primitive Methodists, a national school, a grammar school, and several small charities. A Premonstratensian priory was built, about ½ a mile from the town, by Bishop de Rupibus; was given, at the dissolution, to Sir John Dudley; and has left some small vestiges. The town has a post office‡ under Birmingham, and two chief inns. A weekly market is held on Saturday; and fairs on 1 April and 22 June. The making of gun barrels, edge tools, gas tubes, files, spades, nails, rivets, anchors, anvils, and horn buttons is carried on. Real property, £5, 836; of which £60 are in gasWorks. Pop. in 1851, 2, 412; in 1861, 2, 911. Houses, 580. The township is conterminate with the town.—The sub-district contains also the townships of Cradley, Lntley, Hasbury, Hawn, Cakemore, Ridgacre, Hill, Lapal, and Illey. Acres, 5, 570. Pop., 11, 511. Houses, 2, 251. The parish contains likewise the townships of Oldbury, and Warley-Salop, and the hamlet of Warley-Wigorn, in West Bromwich district, and the townships of Romsley and Hunnington, in Bromsgrove district. Acres, 12, 245. Real property, £99, 042; of which £28, 917 are in mines, and £1, 825 in iron works. Pop. in 1851, 23, 330; in 1861, 29, 293. Houses, 5, 589. The property is much subdivided. The Grange is the chief seat. Bellevue, Witley Lodge, and Leasowes also are here, and the last Was the birth place and residence of Shenstone. The church of St. Kenelm, in Romsley, with a tower, built in the time of Henry VIII., is on the spot where the body of Kenelm, son of Kenulf, King of Mercia, was found. The surface of the parish is hilly; and there are many small dairy farms. Sandstone is quarried; lime is worked;. and fire bricks are made. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £680.* Patron, Lord Lyttleton. The rectories of Romsley and Quinton, and the vicarages of Cradley, Langley, and Oldbury, are separate benefices.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Worcestershire AncC
Place: Halesowen

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