Wednesbury (St. Bartholomew)

WEDNESBURY (St. Bartholomew), a market-town and parish, in the union of West Bromwich, S. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 19 miles (S. S. E.) from Stafford, and 117 (N. W.) from London; containing 11,625 inhabitants. This place, denominated by the Saxons Weadesbury or Wodensbury, and now commonly called Wedgebury, was fortified in 916, against the Danes, by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great: at the Conquest it was held in royal demesne. The town is of considerable consequence, having rapidly increased of late years in wealth and population: the shops are lighted with gas from the works at West Bromwich, three miles distant. A mechanics' institute was established in 1838. The trade consists principally in the manufacture of articles of iron, both cast and wrought, such as screws, hinges, gun-locks, gun-barrels, coach-ironmongery, agricultural implements, apparatus for gas-lights, &c, many of which are for exportation. In the vicinity are numerous mines, yielding a superior kind of coal, which, from its great heat, is admirably adapted for the forges; and a species of iron is here manufactured, termed Damascus iron, of which the best gun-barrels are made; it passes through several processes, and when finished throws up a beautiful figure on the surface of the barrel by some chymical application. The works of Messrs. James Russell and Sons, where wrought-iron gas-tubes, patent machinery, and other articles are manufactured, employ 200 hands. On a small rivulet are an extensive manufactory for edgetools, and some corn-mills. A branch of the Walsall and Birmingham canal extends to the western extremity of the town; and about a mile from it is the Bescotbridge station of the Liverpool and Birmingham railway, which passes through the parish. The market is on Friday; and fairs take place on May 6th and August 3rd, for cattle. The town is governed by a constable chosen at the manorial court held here in October. The parish comprises by admeasurement 2096 acres, of which between 300 and 400 are broken up by pits.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £301; impropriators, Sir E. D. Scott, Bart., and E. T. Foley, Esq. The church, occupying an elevated site supposed to be that of the ancient castle, and commanding a beautiful prospect, is a fine structure principally in the later English style, with an octagonal east end, and contains some old wooden seats, and monuments to several families of eminence. It underwent a complete repair in 1827-8, at an expense of £5600, towards which the Incorporated Society gave £500; the organ cost £500, and was the gift of Benjamin Wright, Esq., of Birmingham. Two new ecclesiastical parishes have been formed under the act 6th and 7th Victoria, cap. 37; called, respectively, St. John's and St. James'. St. John's church, consecrated in May 1846, is in the early English style, with a tower, and cost about £4000, partly defrayed by the Church Commissioners: the tower is temporarily covered with slate; the spire, when erected, will cost £500. The length of the edifice is 130 feet, the width 54 feet, and the height, to the apex of an open timbered roof, 50 feet: above one-half of the seats are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Crown and the Bishop of Lichfield, alternately; income, £200. St. James' church, of which the first stone was laid in May 1847, is also in the early English style, with a tower; it contains 870 sittings, and was erected at a cost of £2500. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the same patronage, with an income of £150. At Moxley is an incumbency for parts of Wednesbury, Darlaston, and Bilston parishes. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans. William, the first lord Paget, secretary of state to Henry VIII., was a native of the town.