Willenhall in 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"WILLENHALL, a township in the parish of Wolverhampton, hundred of South Offlow, county Stafford, 12 miles N.W. of Birmingham, and 3 from Wolverhampton and Walsall. It is included in the parliamentary borough of Wolverhampton, which returns two members. It has a station on the London and North-Western railway, and also at Portobello. The growth of the town has been rapid; in 1811 the population was 3,523; in 1851, 11,931; and in 1861, 17,256. The rapid increase is owing to the extension of mining operations in the neighbourhood, and of the manufacture of locks and keys."  (There is more of this description).

"PORTOBELLO, a hamlet in the chapelry of Willenhall, parish and borough of Wolverhampton, county Stafford, 1 mile N.E. of Bilston, and 16 miles S. of Stafford. It is a station on the Birmingham and Wolverhampton section of the London and North-Western railway. It is situated on a branch of the river Tame, near the Grand Junction canal."

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