Brierley Hill in 1817

Description from A Topographical History of Staffordshire by William Pitt (1817)

BRIERLEY HILL.

Amblecote and Brierley Hill have generally been considered as part of Swinford, but having distinct places of worship, it may not be improper to describe them as one parish. Erdeswicke says, "being past Rowley, Stour receives a little brook which comes from Hales-Owen, and is from that place the bound between Worcester and Staffordshire until it comes to Stourbridge; but before it cometh there by a mile hath Amblecote standing on the north bank thereof."

This place is described in an inquisition taken April 6th (2d Eliz) with 10 messuages, 6 cottages, two water-mills, 200 acres of land, 100 of meadow, 1000 of pasture, 100 of wood, and 2000 of heath land. By an old deed, dated 46th Edw III, it appears that coal and iron-stone were then raised here, and what is now known by the name of pit-coal was at that time called sea-coal. The coal-mines hereabouts are very extensive, and the strata ten yards thick: supposing 120,000 tons to be raised every year, from 20 pits, they would not be exhausted in 1000 years.

One half of this valuable property belongs to Lord Dudley. Plot says, "the clay that surpasses all others is that at Amblecote, on the banks of the Stour, of a dark bluish colour, whereof they make the best pots for the glass-houses of any in England; and it is so necessary to be had that it is sent to London both by land and water-carriage; the goodness of which clay, and plenty of coal hereabout, no doubt has drawn the glass-houses into these parts, there being divers set up at Amblecote, Old Swinford, Holloway-end, and Cobourn-brook."

This valuable mineral, or glass-house pot-clay, supposed to be found no where else in the known world, is about 150 feet below the surface, and 45 feet below the coal, to the extent of nearly 200 acres, but the best sort is only found upon about 48 acres: the stratum is about two feet and an half thick, of which the middle is the finest. The outside is carefully picked off, and used in copper mines.

The principal proprietors are Lord Foley, who has three acres, Edward Hickman, Esq. twenty-three, and Mr. Waldron, twenty-one: Lord Dudley has also some clay in the neighbourhood. This clay is taken up in lumps of 100lbs weight each, which are afterwards carefully washed, picked, and scraped by women. One yard is calculated to produce a ton, and 4000 tons a-year are got: it will fetch from 34s. to 44s. per ton. It is sent to most of the manufacturing towns in England, Ireland, and Scotland; and considerable quantities are exported for the use of chymists, and furnaces requiring very strong fires. The exportation of it as fuller's-earth is prohibited unless manufactured; on which account it is shaped like bricks, which may be ground down and used as clay. It possesses this peculiar excellency, that a pot made of it, with a proper heat, will melt almost any thing into glass, provided it be fluxed with proper salts. The largest pots made of this clay are for crown glass, plate glass, broad glass and bottles, and hold from 15 to near 30 cwt. each; those for flint glass and phials, from 5 to 10 cwt. each. The largest will last one or two months, the smallest from nine to twelve months.

Broad glass has been manufactured here from the period of its first introduction into England from Lorraine and Normandy. The art of making glass is very ancient. Pliny says, glass was first discovered by accident in Lydia, by certain merchants making a fire on the ground where there was plenty of the herb kali, the ashes of which mixing with sand, produced glass. Different vegetables and minerals make different sorts of glass, and of various colours: the most valuable is a transparent red glass, which, some writers assert, contains gold. Crystal glass has long been made here; but the art of cutting and engraving it, is a recent introduction. The glass trade has considerably increased of late years, and is carried on with great spirit. A number of lofty and spacious glass-houses have been erected between this place and Stourbridge; and the vicinity contains many handsome houses and villas, belonging to manufacturers, most of whom have acquired large fortunes.

Brierly-hill Chapel, a neat small structure, was built by subscription, and finished in 1767, Kingswinford being the mother church: it stands on the summit of a hill, and forms an interesting object in the distance. The Rev. Thomas Moss, AB. was the first minister: he was afterwards minister of Trentham, and domestic chaplain to the Marquis of Stafford.

A vast trade in glass, etc. is carried on in the neighbourhood, which has been greatly promoted by the Stourbridge canal.