Person:Thomas Lilly (2)

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BROMSGROVE or BROOMSGROVE, anciently Bremesgrave, a market town in Worcestershire, situated near the small river Salwarp, and on the direct road from Birmingham to Bristol, 13 miles from Birmingham, 13 N.N.E. from Worcester, and 118 N.W. from London. The town consists principally of one good street, a mile in length, paved, and lighted by gas. It contains one church, and three dissenting places of worship, a market-house, a grammar-school, and a court for the recovery of small debts. The market is on Tuesday, and, together with two annual fairs, held on the 24th of June and on the 1st of October, was granted to the inhabitants by King John.

The population of the parish of Bromsgrove amounted, according to the last census, to 8,612 ; that of the town is about 5,000. It was formerly governed by a corporation, but there are now neither recorder nor aldermen, and the only office of the bailiff is that of collecting the dues belonging to the lord of the manor. This place was also formerly, a borough, and in the reign of Edward I returned two members to parliament ; but when the trade of the town declined, the inhabitants were, on their own petition, freed from that ‘burden:’ it is now comprised in the E. division of the county.

The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is situated on a gentle eminence ; its tower and spire, together 189 feet in height, are perhaps the most beautiful in the county. There was a church at Bromsgrove at the time of the Conquest. The patronage of the rectory was vested in the crown till the reign of Henry III, by whom it was conferred on the prior of Worcester ; the bishop of the diocese confirmed the king’s gift, and instituted a vicarage : the dean and chapter are the present patrons. The grammar-school was founded by Edward VI, who endowed it with £7 per annum ; the income was augmented by Sir T. Cookes, who died in 1701, by £50 a year. Twelve boys on the foundation are educated, clothed, and apprenticed : and in Worcester College, Oxford, are six scholarships and six fellowships, the vacancies in which are filled up by boys selected from this school.

At Shipley appears the Ikineld Street, which leaving Warwickshire at Beoley, re-enters that county at Edgbaston, near Birmingham.

The linen manufacture was formerly carried on to a considerable extent, but has been entirely abandoned. Nail-making is now the principal trade, but there is also an extensive manufactory for patent buttons. At this place the successful cultivation of the apple for cider may be considered as terminating : farther N. the spring frosts rendering the produce uncertain.

A singular circumstance occurred at Bromsgrove, a few years since, in four children being born at one birth, all of whom, together with the mother, survived.

It is generally but incorrectly asserted in topographical accounts of Bromsgrove, that coal and limestone occur in the parish, and that a singular petrifying spring exists in the neighbourhood.

Bromsgrove is situated in a highly-cultivated and richly-wooded valley. On the Lickey Hill, which forms one of its acclivities, are the sources of the river Rea, which flows through Birmingham ; of the Salwarp, which passes through Droitwich ; of the Arrow, and of several small streams, some of which fall into the basin of the Severn and ultimately into the Irish channel, while others descend in the opposite direction to the basin of the Trent and the German Ocean. The strata belong to the new red sandstone formation. The Lickey is composed of quartz, and must at some period have been an immense mountain ; for it is considered by geologists as the source from whence have been derived the vast beds of gravel which extend through Oxfordshire, in the valley of the Evenlode, and even along the Thames.

At Hanbury, just without the confines of the parish, Saurian remains are found imbedded in the lias, and at Stoke Prior commences red and green marl, traversed by veins of gypsum.

In the parish of Stoke Prior, and closely adjoining that of Bromsgrove, are situated the extensive salt and alkali works carried on by the British Alkali Company. As this establishment furnishes an instance of the rapid introduction of a manufacture into a district which had been previously confined to agriculture, a short notice of its progress may be interesting. The manufacture of salt has been carried on for centuries in the adjoining borough of Droitwich, where it is prepared from rich springs of native brine. The only situations where rock-salt had been met with in this island were in Cheshire, previously to its being discovered at Stoke Prior, where it was obtained in 1829, in the course of sinking a pit in search of brine. The beds of salt were of great thickness, and were excavated to a considerable extent ; but at present the supplies for making refined salt are derived from a natural brine spring, which has communicated with the excavations. Immediately after making this discovery, the proprietors erected extensive works for the manufacture of salt, and for the preparation of British alkali, by the decomposition of this substance, which very speedily changed the green fields and retired lanes into an active manufactory and a lively village. The beneficial effects of this introduction of an extensive manufacture commence with an immediate demand for the surplus labourers, an increased consumption of the necessaries of life, and a contribution towards meeting the parochial expenditure ; the neighbouring agriculturist finds his burdens relieved, at the same time that a market for his productions is brought into his immediate neighbourhood. A dispassionate view of instances such as the present would tend greatly to subdue the feeling of jealousy which exists between the agricultural and manufacturing interests in this kingdom. The benefits derived from the successful establishment of a manufacture is not confined to the labouring population, and to occupiers of land in its vicinity alone, but extends more widely : thus, in the present instance, these works being situated on the banks of the Birmingham and Worcester Canal occasioned, on their being fully established, an increase in the value of that property to the extent of 70 per cent. ; and the influence they are likely to produce in the rising port of Gloucester, by furnishing to it a large supply of salt for exportation, is calculated to be very considerable.

Noake's Worcestershire Page 327

   STOKE PRIOR. 327

Stoke Prior.

THIS village, between Bromsgrove and Droitwich, in Saxon times belonged to the Prior of Worcester, and hence the latter portion of its name. The church was appropriated to Worcester monastery, for the use of the chamberlain in providing vestments and shoes for the monks; and from this manor the tenants usually sent two fat cows to be killed for the monastery at the Feast of St. Mary. The Dean and Chapter of Worcester were lords of the manor till recently on its being handed over, with their other possessions, to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. There is a population of 1,622, and an acreage of 3,820, Crops grown, wheat, barley, beans, and mangolds.

Besides agricultural employments, salt-making is carried on at the extensive works of J. Corbett, Esq., and the manufacture of railway waggons at the Midland Company's works. The salt-works, which employ about 500 pairs of hands, were commenced here about forty-three years ago. For some years great difficulty was experienced in finding brine, and when found it was not of sufficient strength to render the works profitable. The present proprietor, however, has succeeded not only in rendering the works profitable, but in extending them, so that probably they are now the largest in Europe, having cost upwards of £400,000. Formerly, soap, soda, and various chemicals were manufactured here, in addition to salt, but the present proprietor took down the chemical works, and at the present time nothing but salt is manufactured. This trade fluctuates considerably, according to the demand and the state of competition with the works in Cheshire, and the salt manufactured abroad by solar evaporation. Stoke Works are capable of producing nearly 3,000 tons of salt per week, but the demand is very seldom equal to that. There are four brine pits, the deepest in England. The first two of these cost some £30,000 in their completion. There are formidable streams of water passing through them, and the pits are cased with iron cylinders to keep the water from the brine.

Among the excellent arrangements made at these works by the present proprietor was the suppression, in 1859, of the degrading system of female labour - a change which has resulted in benefit to the morals and comfort of the females and their families. This fact is commemorated in a stained glass window in the parish church, as a testimonial to Mr. Corbett. Schools and a clothing club have likewise been founded at the works for the children of the workpeople.

Truck making and brick making are also carried on here, and the extensive works at Bromsgrove Station are in this parish. At Ryefields Farm, in this parish, is a reformatory for boys, established by the late Joseph Sturge. The Birmingham and Worcester Canal runs through Stoke, and the Midland and Great Western Railways have each a station here. Stoke Grange and Rigby Hall - the former the residence of J. Corbett, Esq., and the latter of R. Smallwood, Esq. - as also Finstall House, occupied by Mr. Palmer, are the principal mansions in the parish.

The church was restored in 1858 and 1865, on the latter occasion chiefly through the liberality of Mr. Corbett, at a cost of about £1,000. It is an interesting specimen of Norman, Transitional, and Early English work, with the tower in an unusual position - the east end of the south aisle. There are some curious monuments here. There is an old room over the vestry of the church which is supposed to have been a domus inclusa, or cell for a recluse, in the middle ages. In the Pipe Rolls of the reigns of Henry II, Richard I, and John, mention is made of a yearly payment by the Vice-Comes of 30s. 5d. out of the royal revenues of this county to the "inclusa de Stoke." Or the cell may have been where is now the chapel of St. Godwald, at Finstall, in this parish. The present chapel was erected in 1773, but there must have been one there from early times, as in an "Ordinatio vicarie de Stoke Prioris," dated 1390, it is stipulated that the vicar should receive the offerings made there. "Item percipiet oblationes factas in capella sancti Godwali." Value of the living, £310; viear. Rev. H. Aldham; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Worcester; church accommodation, 650; free seats, 223.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} There are two parishes in the City of London with similar names but in different locations. Aldgate and Aldersgate were two gates into the old walled city.