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Smethwick in 1872

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John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales - 1870-2

 

SMETHWICK, a parochial division and three chapelries in Harbourne parish, Stafford. The division is suburban to Birmingham; lies on the Birmingham canal, and on the Birmingham and Stour Valley and the Birmingham and Stourbridge railways, 3 miles W of the centre of Birmingham; is governed by a local board of health; carries on extensive manufactures, of the same kinds as those in Birmingham; enjoys great facilities of communication, with use of the canal and of four railway stations; and has post-offices, of the name of Smethwick and 
West Smethwick under Birmingham, a railway station with telegraph, of the name of Smethwick, on the Stour Valley railway, a railway station, of the name of Smethwick-Junction, at the junction of the Stourbridge railway, a "summit-bridge," 265 feet long and 68 feet high, over the new canal and railway, a literary institution, with library and news-room, four churches, numerous dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, and several public schools.

Real property in 1860, £47,132. Pop. in 1851, 8,379; in 1861, 13,379. Houses, 2,588. The three chapelries are Smethwick-Trinity, Smethwick-St Matthew, and West Smethwick or Smethwick-St. Paul; and were constituted in 1842, 1856, and 1860. Pop., 1,058, 3,935, and 2,817. Houses, 188, 762, and 548. The livings are perpetual curacies in the diocese of Lichfield. Values, £300, £191, and £146. Patrons, Trustees, the Incumbent of Smethwick-Trinity, and Fire Trustees.

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