Wolverhampton Industry in 1859

WOLVERHAMPTON: The MANUFACTURE of the finer steel ornaments, which was formerly carried on extensively, and brought to the highest perfection, in this town, has given place to the heavier articles of steel and iron, of which the principal are, smiths' and carpenters' tools of every description, files, nails, screws, gun-locks, hinges, steel-mills, and machinery; locks, for the making of which the place has long been celebrated; furnishing ironmongery and cabinet brasses, with every branch of the iron manufacture; and brass, tin, Pont-y-Pool, and japanned wares in great variety.

The Chillington works consist of four blast-furnaces, forge, mill, &c., producing 400 tons of finished iron per week, in railway-bars, nail-rods, sheet-iron, boiler-plates, and other articles, and affording employment to upwards of 1000 hands. The Shrubbery works for the manufacture of boiler-plates and all other descriptions of best iron, were established in 1824, and are carried on by a firm who also conduct the Bradley works near Bilston, erected by the late John Wilkinson, Esq.: in both concerns, from 300 to 500 tons of iron are manufactured weekly, in which about 650 men are regularly engaged.

The Priestfields works, for the smelting of pig-iron, and for castings of every description, are also very extensive; and the Wolverhampton tin-plate manufactory, established in 1837, employs about 350 men, producing weekly from 1000 to 1500 boxes of tin-plates, which are of high repute in the market. There are likewise extensive chemical-works for the manufacture of oil of vitriol, aqua-fortis, and other preparations connected with medicine and manufactures: the chemical-works of Messrs. Mander Weaver and Co. have been established since 1773.

Rowley ragstone is found in the coal-mines in the parish, frequently in large masses, sometimes penetrating the thick stratum of coal at a depth of 300 to 400 feet from the surface. The Birmingham canal, which forms a junction with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal, runs close to the town, on the west and north, where it is joined by the Essington and Wyrley canal, which terminates here, and affords facility of conveyance to every part of the kingdom.

The Grand Junction railway, also, passes within a mile of the town, near which a first-class station has been established on the line, which is carried through a tunnel 200 yards in length; a railway, likewise, is projected from the town to Shrewsbury, distant 30 miles. The market-days are Wednesday and Saturday, and the fair, which continues for eight days, the first being for cattle, commences on July 10th: the market-place is a large area.

 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]