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Wadsley

WADSLEY, an ecclesiastical district, in the parish of Ecclesfield, union of Wortley, N. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 3 miles (N. N. W.) from Sheffield; containing 4100 inhabitants. This was the baronial seat of the Wadsley family, of whose Hall there are still some remains. The district is bounded on the east by the river Don, and on the west by the Loxley. It contains coal of inferior quality, and some extensive quarries of excellent freestone, from which the stone was raised for the erection of the Sheffield infirmary, the church of this place, and many other public buildings. The population is chiefly employed in the manufacture of claspknives, of which a peculiar kind, known on the continent as the Wadsley flat-backed knives, is in high repute, and exported in large quantities. The road to Manchester, and the Sheffield and Manchester railway, pass through the district. The church was erected in 1834, by the Misses Ann and Elizabeth Harrison, of Weston, at a cost of £3000, to which they added £1000 as an endowment; it is in the early English style, with a square embattled tower surmounted by a spire, and contains 700 sittings, of which 250 are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Misses Harrison, with a total net income of £230, and a good glebehouse. The tithes were commuted for land in 1765. There are places of worship for Wesleyans; and a school in connexion with the Church, one also for girls, and two infant schools, in all which are about 350 children, have been erected at an expense of £1600. Six almshouses, also, for aged widows, each of whom receives 4s. 6d. per week, were endowed in 1841, by Miss Rawson, of Ward's-End; the buildings are of stone, and form a neat range in the Elizabethan style.

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

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