Kelly's 1896 Trade Directory
for the Sedgley District

©Transcibed by Ian Beach June 2004

SEDGLEY, with UPPER and LOWER GORNAL and WOODSETTON.

SEDGLEY is an extensive parish on the road from Dudley to Wolverhampton, 1½ miles south-west from Deepfields station on the Birmingham and Wolverhampton section of the London and North Western railway, and 2½ from Daisy Bank station on the Dudley and Wolverhampton line of the Great Western railway, 3 south-south-west from Bilston, 3 north from Dudley, 3 south from Wolverhampton, 11½ north-west from Birmingham and 124 from London, and is the head of a petty sessional division, in the South division of the parliamentary borough of Wolverhampton, North Seisdon hundred, Kingswinford division of the county, Dudley union and county court district, rural deanery of Himley, archdeaconry of Stafford and diocese of Lichfield.

The upper portion of the parish of Sedgley adopted the "Local Government Act, 1858," May 28, 1867, and was governed by a Local Board until, under the provisions of the "Local Government Act, 1894 " (56 & 57 Vict. cap. 73), the present Urban District Council was established ; the remaining portion is included in Coseley urban district.

The South Staffordshire Water Works Company supply the inhabitants with water.

All Saints' church, erected in 1829 on the site of an ancient edifice at a cost of £11,000, wholly defrayed by the late Earl of Dudley, is a building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of clerestoried nave of six bays, aisles, west porch and an embattled tower on the south side, with pinnacles and spire and containing a clock and 8 bells: the east window and five in the north aisle are stained : the church was partially restored and reseated in 1883 at a cost of £1,032, and has 850 sittings. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a vicarage, average tithe rent-charge £329, net yearly value, £380, with 7 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift, of the Earl of Dudley, and held since 1888 by the Rev. Thomas Greenall Swindell, of Charsley's Hall, Oxford, and surrogate.

There are Church of England mission churches at the Straits, Gospel End and Swan Village, the latter belonging to the parish of St.Chads, West Coseley. Here is also a Catholic chapel erected in 1823 and dedicated to All Saints, and Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist and Congregational chapels.

The Public Hall was erected in 1882 at a cost of £1,500 and is available for entertainments, public meetings &c. The Temperance Hall, built in 1871, at a cost of £1,200, comprises reading rooms, with a library of 400 volumes, and an assembly room capable of seating 1,000 persons.

Nails, rivets, chains, fireirons, locks and iron safes are made here. The district abounds in coal, lime and ironstone. The charities amount to about £36 yearly, together with a weekly dole of bread to the poor. Miss Fellowes's charity of £400 is also for the poor. The Earl of Dudley is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The parish for local purposes is divided into Sedgley and Coseley. Sedgley includes the villages of SEDGLEY, UPPER and LOWER GORNAL, COTWALL END and GOSPEL END, and Coseley the districts of ETTINGSHALL, BRIERLEY, COSELEY, DEEPFIELDS and WOODSETTON, with SWAN VILLAGE.

The soil is a rich loam, and the subsoil sand and gravel. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area of the entire parish is 7,400 acres ; rateable value, £98,572 ; the population of Sedgley civil parish in 1881 was 36,860 and of All Saints ecclesistical parish, 4,327; the population of Sedgley urban district in 1891 was 14,961

Upper and Lower Gornal are about 2 miles north-west from Dudley and 1 mile south from Sedgley, forming two separate ecclesiastical parishes, taken out of Sedgley civil parish, Upper Gornal district being formed April 16, 1844; and Lower Gornal, March 13, 1832. The church of St. Peter, Upper Gornal, is a plain building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel and nave. and a western turret containing one bell : there are 375 sittings. The register dates from the year 1844. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £217, net £206, including 24 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Sedgley, and held since 1867 by the Rev. William Alfred Howell Lewis B.A. Of St. John's College, Cambridge. The church of St. James, Lower Gornal, is a plain building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north porch and a tower containing one bell : there are 700 sittings, 500 being free. The register dates from the year 1823. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £300, net £280, with 9 acres of plebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield, and held since 1897 by the Rev. Arthur William Tudball B.A. of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In Upper Gornal are Wesleyan, New Connexion Methodist and Congregational chapels ; in Lower Gornal, Baptist, Primitive Methodist, Wesleyan and a New Connexion Methodist chapel.

The locality abounds in fire clay, which is wrought into bricks and other fire goods, giving employment to a large number of hands : the principal manufacturers are E. P. Cartwright and Co. and John Waterfield, of Upper Gornal, and B. Gibbons, of Lower Gornal. Here are also collieries, safe, nail, chain, fireiron and bellows manufactories and malthouses. The population in 1891, of St. Peter, Upper Gornal, was 4,506, and that of St. James, Lower Gornal, 6,518.

Woodsetton is a village, about 1 mile south of Sedgley, 2 miles west of Tipton and 3 miles north from Dudley, including SWAN VILLAGE.

POST, M. O. & T. O., S. B., Express Delivery & Annuity & Insurance Office, Bilston street.-John William Bourne, sub-postmaster.
Letters received from Dudley 7 a.m. & 2.40 p.m. ; dispatched at 9.45 a.m. & 7.10 & 7.45 pm & on sundays at 9.40 a.m. & 7.15 p.m

POST & M. O. O., S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Upper Gornal.- William Henry Waterfield, sub-post- master.
Letters received from Dudley at 6.25 & 2.20 p.m.; dispatched at 10 a.m. & 7.30 p.m. & on sundays at 10 a.m. & 7.45 p.m. Lower Gornal is the nearest telegraph office

POST, M. O. & T. O., S. B., Express Delivery & Annuity & InsuranceOffice, Lower Gornal.-Joseph Williams Thomas, sub-postmaster.
Letters from Dudley arrive at 7 a.m. & 2.30 p.m. ; dispatched at 9.40 a.m. & 7.5 p.m. ; sundays, 9.15 a.m

POST & M. O. 0., S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Office, Gornal Wood.-Joshua Jones, sub-postmaster. Box cleared 8.30 a m. & 6.40 p.m. Lower Gornal is the nearest telegraph office.

POST OFFICE, Wood,etton.-Jubal Smith, sub-postmaster. Letters from Dudley at 7.15 a.m. ; dispatched at 6.55 p.m. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. Nearest money order & telegraph office, Bilston street, Sedgley

WALL LETTER BOX, Swan Village, cleared at 6.30 p.m

URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL. Offices, High Holborn. Meeting day, second tuesday at 6 p.m.

MEMBERS.
Chairman, Stephen Wilkes.
Edward Bennett
John T. Homer
Joseph Brown
Herbert Hughes
William F. Fithern
John Hughes
Leonard Foster
Joseph Hyde
James A. Fullwood
Alfred H. Pearcey
William Henry Haden
William Smith
John Harvey
John T. Tennant
Joseph Higgins
Samuel Westwood
Joseph Hill
Edward Wones
Frederick A. Homer
Clerk, Joseph Smith, Bunker's Hill
Treasurer, G. Wilkinson, Lloyds Bank, Dudley
Medical Officer of Health, John Biggam M.A., M.D., C.M. Prospect house, Upper Gornal
Surveyor, Benjamin Hughes, Upper Gornal
Sanitary Inspector, Thomas Fithern, Upper Gornal
Collector, William H. Wise, Lower Gornal

COUNTY MAGISTRATES FOR SEDGLEY PETTY SESSIONS DIVISION

Whitehouse Benjamin esq. Sandy fields, Sedgley, Dudley, chairman
Cartwright Joseph Round esq. Ludstone hall, Bridgnorth
Clayton Richard, Coseley Hall, Bilston
Gibbons John Lloyd esq. Ellows hall, Lower Gornal, Dudley
Homer Frederick Augustus esq. The Villa, Sedgley, Dudley
Wilkes Stephen esq. Sedgley hall, Dudley
Clerk to the Magistrates,Thos.Fras. Waterhouse,Tipton rd

Petty Sessions are held at the Police court every alternate monday by the county magistrates, at 2 o'clock, the stipendiary (N. C. A. Neville esq.) sitting other mondays
at 12. The following places are included in the division - Sedgley, Upper Gornal, Lower Gornal, Coseley, Woodsetton & Ettingshall

County Police Station, Vicar street, Sergeant John George Leadbotter & 7 constables

PUBLIC OFFICERS :-

Certifying Factory Surgeon, Augustus Francis Meredith Powell M.B., CM. Bleak house, Dudley road
Collector of District Bates for Coseley, Albert James Sherwin, Hurst hill
Medical Officers, Dudley union,
Sedgley No. 1 district, Augustus Francis Meredith Powell M.B., CM. Bleak house, Dudley road ;
Sedgley No. 2 district, Thomas Johnson LRCP.Edin. Woodsetton
Public Vaccinators, Dudley union, Lower Sedgley district, Thomas Johnson LRCP.Edin.Woodsetton ;Upper
Sedgley district, Augustus Frederick Meredith Powell M.B., C.M. Bleak house, Dudley road
Poor Rate Collector, Robert Pugh, Gospel End street
Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages, John William Thompson, Bull ring
Relieving Officer, Sedgley 1st district, Dudley union, Edward Gilbert Dickinson, 11 Tipton street
Vestry Clerk, Joseph Smith, Bunkor's hill

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services :-
All Saints' Church, Rev. Thomas Greenall Swindell ; 8 & 11 a.m. 3 & 6.30 p.m. ; wed. & fri. i10 a.m. ; mon. wed. & fri. 7.30 p.m
St. Peter's, Upper Gornal, Rev. W. A. H. Lewis B.A. ; 7.30& 10 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; thurs. 7.30 p.m
St. James', Lower Gornal, Rev. Arthur William Tudball B.A. ; 11 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; wed. 7.30 p.m
All Saints', Catholic, Dudley road, Rev. John Kelly, priest ; mass 8.30 & 10.45 a. m. ; catechism & instruction 3 & devotions, sermon & benediction 6.30 p.m. ; holy days
of obligation, mass 7.30 & 9.30 a.m. & devotions 7.30 p.m. ; daily mass 8 & (except mondays) at 9 a.m. ; wed.& 1st fri. rosary & benediction 7 3o a.m
Baptist, Lower Gornal, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m
Congregational, Bilston Street, Rev.A. Hollings; 10:45 a.m.& 6.15 p.m. ; thurs. 7.30 p.m
Congregational, Upper Gornal, Rev. Edward Hughes ; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; wed. 7 p.m
Methodist New Connexion, Upper Gornal, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; tues. 7 p.m
Methodist New Connexion, Swan Village, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; thurs. 7 p.m
Methodist New Connexion, Lower Gornal, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; tues. 7 p.m
Methodist New Connexion, Gornal Wood, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; thurs. 7 p.m
PrimitiveMethodist,Tipton rd; 10:30 a m. & 6p.m. ; wed.7pm
Wesleyan, Bilston street, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; tues.7.30p.m
Wesleyan, Lower Gornal, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; toes. 7 p m
Wesleyan, Upper Gornal, 10.30a.m. & 6 p.m. ; toes, 7. p,rn
Wesleyan, Woodsetton, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m. ; wed. 7 p.m

MISSION CHAPELS:-
Straits, 6.30 p.m
Gospel End, 6.30 p.m

SCHOOLS :-
A School Board of 11 members was formed May 23, 1876;
A. E. Greenway,Church road, Coseley,clerk to the board ; William Lane, High Holborn & Thomas Taylor, Mount Pleasant, school attendance officers.
The board meets at the parish offices, High Holborn, every third tuesday, at 6 p.m. & has jurisdiction over the whole of Sedgley parish Board,
Bilston street (mixed & infants), erected in 1861 & enlarged in 1878, for 165 children & 202 infants ; average attendance, 165 children & 147 infants; Jeremiah P. Lester, master ; Miss Martha Barrett, infants' mistress

Board, Dudley road (boys, girls & infants), erected in 1823, for 296 boys & girls & 90 infants ; average attendance, 140 boys, 131 girls & 95 infants ; Edwin Westwood, master ; Miss Jane Jones, mistress ; Miss Keziah Rushton ; infants' mistress

Board, Upper Gornal (mixed & infants), erected in 2883, for 225 children & 230 infants ; average attendance, 227 children & 229 infants ; James Henry Walker, master ; Miss Alice Weeks, mistress

Board, Red Hall, Lower Gornal (boys, girls & infants), erected in 1894, for 50o boys & girls & 210 infants ; average attendance, 309 boys, 235 girls & 270 infants; Joseph
Westwood, master; Miss Willetts, girls' & Miss Taylor, infants' mistress

Board, Red Hall (mixed), erected in 1890, for 280 children ; average attendance, 110 ; Miss Harris, mistress

National, Upper Gornal (mixed & infants), for 190 children& l00 infants ; average attendance, 152 children & 69 infants ; Alfred John Johncock, master ; Miss Clara Wild,
mistress

Catholic, Dudley road (mixed & infants), erected in 1875 & enlarged in 1887, for 210 children ; average attendance, 1x6o ; Mrs. Mary Bagnall, mistress

British, Upper Gornal (mixed & infants), erected in 1780 for 210 children & 100 infants ; average attendance, 99 children & 50 infants ; Jeremiah Felding, master ; Miss
Mary Brazier, mistress

CONVEYANCE.- The cars of the Wolverhampton & Dudley section of the South Staffordshire Tramway Co. run through here at frequent intervals daily

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