Handsworth in 1817

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

HANDSWORTH.

Handsworth is an extensive and agreeable village, situated at the south-east extremity of this hundred, at the distance of about two miles from Birmingham. The parish is extensive, and includes several manors and hamlets.

The principal object which it contains is Hamstead House, a noble and ancient mansion, the residence of the Birch family, to whom the manor of Handsworth now belongs. The grounds on the winding banks of the Tame are romantic, and adorned with full-grown and beautiful trees. A lime, which grows on a rocky point, is a magnificent object, and equally remarkable for its elevated situation and luxuriant growth. Three feet from the surface of the ground the trunk is twenty-two feet in circumference, the height of the tree is seventy-five feet, and the shade which it throws extends one hundred and eighty.

The Church of Handsworth, dedicated to Saint Mary, is an ancient gothic structure of brown stone, with a tower. It contains a few neat monuments, and has a variety of coats of arms painted on the windows. It is a rectory in the deanery of Tamworth, and in the patronage of the Birch family.

The population of Handsworth has more than doubled in 72 years. According to the return in 1811, there were 1141 males; 1310 females: total 2451.

But the most remarkable improvement in the parish of Handsworth is the extensive manufactory of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, at the Soho. The waste-lands called Handsworth-heath, which about sixty years ago was a barren waste and rabbit-warren, is now a populous village or town. A beautiful garden, with pleasure- grounds and a piece of water, now covers one side of this heath; five spacious squares of building, erected on the other side, contain workshops for 600 people. The extensive pool gives motion to a large water-wheel, and by its means, to a great number of different tools; and the mechanic inventions here employed, are superior, in number, variety, and utility, to those of any other manufactory in the world.

When the projector first commenced business here, his productions were only such as are usually made by the artists of Birmingham; namely, buttons, buckles, watch-chains, and trinkets. But with increasing prosperity his plans of utility were extended, and the manufacture of plated wares on a large scale was likewise introduced; and when these substantial and useful branches had been fully established, the proprietors began to bring forward works of elegance in stone bronze and or-moulins. This new manufacture immediately received the sanction of his Majesty, and the principal nobility, while the invention and activity of the manufacturer kept pace with such distinguished patronage.

Messrs. Boulton and Watt afterwards turned their attention to the manufacture of wrought plate, and, after a struggle, obtained the establishment of an office of Assay in Birmingham, for regulating the purity of the metal. Wrought plate is now a prominent article among the many rich productions of this great establishment, to the extension of which, the steam-engine has contributed in a very considerable degree.

The coining mill, erected in 1788, works eight machines, each capable of striking from 70 to 80 pieces of money per minute, the size of a guinea, which is between 30 and 40,000 per hour. And at the same blow which strikes the two faces, the edge of the piece is also struck either plain or with an inscription, and thus every piece becomes perfectly round, and of equal diameter.

In a national point of view, the manufactures produced at Soho are highly important, by collecting together ingenious artists, in consequence of which rival talents have been called forth, competition excited, and the different branches of the business brought to the greatest possible perfection. . .

The mansion of Soho, erected at a short distance from the manufactory, is elegant, and surrounded by beautiful pleasure-grounds. Near to the Soho is the residence of Mr. Eggington, who has brought the art of staining glass to higher perfection than was ever known before. This artist's productions have met with the warmest approbation from persons of distinguished taste and judgment.

Hamstead (from Homestead,) has been the ancient seat of the Wyrleys for many generations, but went in the female line, about the commencement of the eighteenth century, to the Birches, the present owners. The present mansion is modern, and erected about a quarter of a mile from the old site. It is delightfully situated on an eminence, and commands a rich prospect of the vale of Tame, and the Aston and Sandwell estates. The interior of the mansion is handsome and commodious; and the dining-room is adorned with a full-length portrait of Judge Birch, an ancestor of the family. In the rear there is a large walled garden, with excellent hot-houses.

Perry, (formerly Pyrrie,) is an ancient manor, on the N. w. adjoining Sutton Coldfield, the river Tame passing along the side of it from Hamstead. Perry Hall and Park, and other estates, and a moiety of the manor, was purchased by Sir Henry Gough, Knight, in the year 1669, and it has continued in that family down to the present owner, John Gough, Esq.