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Redditch

REDDITCH, a chapelry, in the parish of Tardebigg, union of Bromsgrove, Upper division of the hundred of Halfshire, Droitwich and E. divisions of the county of Worcester, 6 miles (E. S. E.) from Bromsgrove; containing about 4000 inhabitants. This flourishing place, which has the appearance of a small market-town, is pleasantly situated on a commanding eminence, near the Warwickshire border. The main street runs for a considerable length from north to south, having a very spacious triangular area near the centre; and on the east and west sides of this street are several other respectable streets and places, many of the houses being handsome and well built. Redditch has long been famous for the manufacture of needles, fish-hooks, fishing-tackle, bodkins, &c., here brought to the greatest perfection, and, with pin-making, lately introduced, affording employment to about 6000 persons in the town and neighbourhood. It has not been ascertained when the business was commenced in this quarter, but in 1770 it had already employed as many as a thousand persons. There are fairs for cattle, on the first Monday in August and third Monday in September. The powers of the county debt-court of Redditch, established in 1847, extend over the parishes of Tardebigg, Ipsley, Beoley, Alvechurch, and Coston-Hacket. The chapelry comprises 2132 acres of land. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £120; patron, the vicar of Tardebigg. The chapel, built in 1807, stands in the centre of the town, and is a plain but neat stone structure with a cupola, and contains 900 sittings. There are places of worship for Arminians, Independents, and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel, a stately edifice, has been built at an expense of about £6000. A national school, the premises for which were rebuilt in the year 1845, is supported by a donation of £70 per annum from the Countess Amherst.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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