Kingswinford in 1872

KINGSWINFORD, a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in the district of Stourbridge, and county of Stafford, The village stands 2 miles WNW of the boundary with Worcester, 2 NW of Brierley-Hill railway station, and 3 N by W of Stourbridge; and has a post-office under Dudley. The parish contains also the town of Brierley-Hill and the hamlets of Wordsley, Bromley, Pensnett, Sheet-End, and Wall-Heath; and is cut ecclesiastically into the sections of Kingswinford, Kingswinford-St. Mary, Brierley-Hill, Brockmoor, Pensnett, and Quarry-Bank. Acres, 7,315. Real property, with Amblecoat hamlet in Old Swinford parish, £273,468; of which £66,786 are in mines, £128,936 in ironworks, £9,550 in canals, and £1,584 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 27,301; in 1861, 34,257. Houses, 6,489.

The increase of pop. arose from the increased working of coal and iron-stone mines, the erection of iron furnaces, the extension of the flint glass manufacture, the opening of the West Midland railway, and the operations of building societies. The manor belonged anciently to the Saxon kings, and belongs now to the Earl of Dudley. Holbeche House, the ancient seat of the Littletons, was the retreat of Catesby. and other conspirators in the gunpowder plot. Prestwood House is now a chief residence. Ashwood heath, on the line of a Roman road, has remains of a Roman camp. Manufactures, in great variety and to a great extent, are carried on; and traffic is aided by numerous neighbouring ramifications of railway, and by the Stafford and Worcester canal. A market-hall, 90 feet long, 57 wide and 15 high, in the Gothic style, was opened in 1861.

The livings of Kingswinford and Brierley-Hill are rectories, and those of Kingswinford-St Mary, Brockmoor, Pensnett, and Quarry-Bank are perpetual curacies, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of Kingswinford, £950; of Kingswinford-St. Mary, £400. Patron of both, the Earl of Dudley. For the others, see Brierley-Hill, &c. The present church of Kingswinford is modern, and stands at Wordsley; and the previous one, St. Mary's, is now the church of Kingswinford-St Mary. There are numerous dissenting chapels, various public schools, and charities £21. The Stourbridge workhouse also is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 63 inmates. The sub-district is conterminate with the parish.

An 1872 Gazetteer description of the following places in Kingswinford is to be found on a supplementary page.

• Ashwood
• Brockmoor
• Hartshill
• Pensnett 

[Description(s) from The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72) - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]