Pelsall
PELSALL, a township, in the parish of Wolverhampton, union of Walsall, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 3¼ miles (N.) from Walsall; containing 1100 inhabitants. Pelsall was the seat of Robert de Corbeuil, one of William the Conqueror's barons, and his descendants; and part of the township still retains the name of The Moat. The township comprises 1194 acres, of which 215 are common or waste; and contains several extensive coalbeds, of which two mines are in operation, one in the centre of the township, and the other at Pelsall-Wood, where are large iron-works with two blast-furnaces. The greater part of the population are employed as colliers or furnace-men, about thirteen families are nailers, and the rest farmers and labourers. The Wyrley and Essington canal runs through the township. Here is a living, which is a perpetual curacy; net income, £86; patron, the Bishop of Lichfield. The church erected in 1798, in which part of an older structure had been incorporated, was lately taken down, and a new church erected at a cost of £1600, capable of accommodating 632 persons; the sittings are chiefly free. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a small school is endowed with two-thirds of the rent of a small piece of ground left by Mrs. Dorothy Bridgeman, the remaining third being paid to the perpetual curate.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.