In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Kingswinford like this:
KINGSWINFORD, a village, a parish, and a subdistrict, in the district of Stourbridge, and county of Stafford. The village stands 2 miles WNW of the boundary with Worcester, 2¼ NW of Brierley Hill r. station, and 3½ N by W of Stourbridge; and has a post office‡ under Dudley. ...
The parish contains also the town of Brierley Hill and the hamlets of Wordsley, Bromley, Pensnett, Sheet End, and Wall Heath; and is cut ecclesiastically into the sections of Kingswinford, K. ST. Mary, Brierley Hill, Brockmoor, Pensnett, and QuarrvBank-Acres, 7, 315. Real property, with Amblecoat hamlet in Old Swinford parish, £273, 468: of which £66, 786 are in mines, £128, 936 in ironworks, £9, 550 in canals, and £1, 584 in gas works. Pop. in 1851, 27, 301; in 1861, 34, 257. Houses, 6, 489. The increase of pop. arose from the increased working of coal and ironstone mines, the erection of iron furnaces, the extension of the flint glass manufacture, the opening of the West Midland railway, and the operations of building societies. The manor belonged anciently to the Saxon kings, and belongs now to the Earl of Dudley. Holbeche House, the ancient seat of the Littletons, was the retreat of Catesby and other conspirators in the gunpowder plot. Prestwood House is now a chief residence. Ashwood heath, on the line of a Roman road, has remains of a Roman camp. Manufactures, in great variety and to a great extent, are carried on; and traffic is aided by numerous neighbouring ramifications of railway, and by the Stafford and Worcester canal. A market hall, 90 feet long, 57 wide, and 15 high, in the Gothic style, was opened in 1861. The livings of Kingswinford and Brierley Hill are rectories, and those of K. ST. Mary, Brockmoor, Pensnett, and Quarry Bank are p. curacies, in the diocese of Lichfield. Value of K., £950;* of K.ST. Mary, £400. Patron of both, the Earl of Dudley. For the others, see Brierley Hill, ' The present church of K. is modern, and stands at Wordsley; and the previous one, St. Mary's, is now the church of K. St. Mary. There are numerous dissenting chapels, varions public schools, and charities £21. The Stourbridge workhouse also is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 363 inmates.—The sub-district is conterminate with the parish.
Kingswinford through time
Kingswinford is now part of Dudley district. Click here for graphs and data of how Dudley has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Kingswinford itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Kingswinford, in Dudley and Staffordshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/8212
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
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