In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Cradley like this:
CRADLEY, a town and a township-chapelry in Hales-owen parish, Worcester. The town stands on the river Stour, at the boundary with Stafford. near the Dudley canal, 2½ miles ENE of Stourbridge; is connected by a branch railway with the West Midland at Stourbridge; has a post office under Brierley Hill; and carries on extensive manufactures in iron and hardware. ...
The chapelry includes the town, some manufacturing dependencies, and some rural tracts. Acres, 732. Real property, £8, 471; of which £1, 100 are in mines. Pop., 4, 075. Houses, 779. The property is not much divided. The manor belongs to Lord Lyttleton. A saline spring, called the Lady well, in much medicinal repute, is in a picturesque wooded vale. Coal and ironstone abound on the lands of Netherend. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £116. Patron, the Vicar. of Halesowen. The church is tolerable; and there are chapels for Baptists, Unitarians, Wesleyans, and New Connexion Methodists, and a national school.
Cradley through time
Cradley is now part of Dudley district. Click here for graphs and data of how Dudley has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Cradley itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Cradley, in Dudley and Worcestershire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9778
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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