Darlaston in 1817

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

DARLASTON.

Darlaston is situated three miles south-west of Walsall, four east-south-east of Wolverhampton, and twenty from Stafford. The parish is about two miles long, and one and a quarter wide.

It is populous, and the manufactures carried on by the inhabitants are principally of gun-locks, stirrups, buckles, and nails. A considerable number of men are employed as miners, and a small proportion in agriculture. The Birmingham canal crosses the parish of Darlaston, and is continued to Walsall. According to the population returns in 1811, the inhabitants in this parish were: 2622 males; 2259 females: total 4881.

The parish contains about 800 acres, of which only about 30 acres are meadow, and the rest arable and pasture. It abounds with coal and iron-stone. The coal at one of the mines is seven yards thick, and the iron-stone, which is found under the coal, is three-quarters of a yard thick. The mines are damp, and the miners are subject to asthmatic complaints, few of them living to 70 years of age. The parish abounds with excellent springs, and abundance of clay, which is made into bricks and tiles.

Darlaston Church is an oblong brick edifice, re-built in 1721: the tower was built in 1606, by Thomas Pye, an author of some repute. The chancel contains a monumental inscription to the memory of Walter Wilkes, and Joyce his wife, who lived together 62 years and saw their great-grand children. He died April 15, 1692, aged 82; the out-lived him 13 years, and died April 22, 1705, aged 97 years.

There are two meeting-houses in this parish; one for the Methodists, who are very numerous, and another for the Independents, who are but few. A Sunday School was erected in Darlaston church-yard in the year 1793, where a great number of children of both sexes are instructed in the principles of useful knowledge and the Christian religion. This institution is supported by voluntary subscriptions, and a collection after a charity sermon annually preached on the Sunday after St. Lawrence.