Sedgley History

SEDGLEY
Description and History from 1868 Gazetteer

"SEDGLEY, a parish and post town in the N. division of Seisdon hundred, county Stafford, 3 miles N. of Dudley, and the same distance S. of Wolverhampton. This populous parish is situated in a mineral district near the line of the North-Western railway, and on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal, which intersects the parish in various directions. The parish contains Upper and Lower Gornall, Brierley, and three other villages. It is a polling-place for the county elections, and is under the government of 2 constables and 4 deputies chosen annually at the court-leet.

The surface is hilly, and the substratum productive of excellent coal, iron, and limestone, which are extensively quarried. A large number of the inhabitants are employed in the manufacture of pig-iron, part of which is made malleable in mills and wrought into nails, rivets, hoops, hurdles, and iron implements. The lower grounds are intersected by numerous rivulets and canals leading to the different mines. The soil is a strong rich loam, producing good crops of wheat. The village occupies a high site, and the streams which rise on either side of the ridge flow in opposite directions to the Trent and Severn respectively. A portion of the rectorial tithes belong to the Earl of Dudley.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield, value £503. The church, dedicated to All Saints, was completed in 1829, at the expense of the then Earl of Dudley. It has a tower containing eight bells. There are several stained windows. The register dates from 1560. In addition to the parish church are the following district churches, viz: Coseley, Ettingshall, Gornal Lower, and Gornal Upper, the livings of which are perpetual curacies, varying in value from £250 to £145. The parochial charities produce about £58 per annum.

The Independents, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Particular Baptists, and Roman Catholics, have each a place of worship. A school for children of Dissenters was built in 1753, and endowed with £31 per annum. There are also National and Sunday schools. Numerous fossils belonging to the encrinite and trilobite species are found in the chalk."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) - Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]