CRADLEY is a township, and extensive and populous district of the parish of Halesowen, having a station on the Birmingham and Stourbridge section of the Great Western railway, situated 2 1/2 miles east from Stourbridge, 4 south from Dudley, and 9 1/2 south-west from Birmingham, in the Eastern division of the county, hundred of Lower Halfshire, Stourbridge union and country court district, rural deanery of Dudley, and archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester. The town itself lies a little off the main road ; it forms part of a populous mercantile and manufacturing neighbourhood, in which the iron trade is carried on in all its branches. The church, orginally intended for a Lady Huntingdon chapel, is a brick building, which was restored in the year 1874, at a cost of £4,000: has chancel, nave and aisles, and modern Gothic tower containing 8 bells and a clock. The register dates from the year 1798. In 1852 a grant of land was made by the sons of the late Rev. George Biggs (a former vicar of the parish of Halesowen) for the enlargement of the burial ground of this parish. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300, in the gift of the rector of Halesowen, and held by the Rev. Joseph Hesselgrave Thompson, B.A., of Hertford College, Oxford. Attached to the church is a National school, under Government inspection. Here are places of worship for Unitarians, Baptists, Wesleyans, and New Connexion Methodists. The Unitarian school is supported partly by endowment and partly by annual collections. The extensive iron works of Messrs. Evers and Sons are in this district : the firm are engaged principally in the manufacture of superior qualities of iron, by the charcoal or wood coal process ; files, rasps, vices, anvils, hammers, nails, anchors, chain cables, and fire bricks are made, and here are the extensive works of Messrs. Harper and Moores, manufacturers of fire-bricks, clay retorts, and crucibles ; this firm are also proprietors of Stourbridge clay. Messrs. King Brothers are also proprietors of the celebrated Stourbridge clay, and have likewise extensive works for the manufacture of bricks and other fire-clay goods. The works of the Cradley Colliery Company are situated in the centre of the parish. One mile from the northern extremity of Cradley, in a romantic vale, agreeably diversified with plantations of firs, is a spring of salt water, called the Lady Well, highly esteemed on account of its medicinal qualities : in the summer it is very much frequented. There are a few handsome residences here : the Elms is the seat of W. P. Strawson, esq., the view from the grounds and windows of which is extensive and picturesque. Lord Lyttleon is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are the New British Iron Company, Jeston Homfray, esq., and the Old Swinford Hospital. The soil in general is a rich clay, producing all kinds of grain, and forming excellent pasturage ; and the lands on the north and west of Netherend (a part of the township of Cradley) abound with coal and ironstone. The area is 732 acres ; rateable value, £11,287; the population in 1861 was 4,075, and in 1871, 4,700.

  NETHEREND, Colley Gate, Overend, Two Gates, and Coleman Hill are near the town.
 Parish Clerk, Isaac Bloomer.


POST OFFICE.- Mrs Elizabeth Christopher, receiver. Letters arrive from Brierley Jill at 7.30 a.m.& 2.40 p.m.; dispatched at 8.35 a.m. & 6.35 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Cradley Heath
INSURANCE AGENTS.- Imperial, John Bloomer & G. Burford, Cradley Heath
PUBLIC OFFICERS :-
Excise Officer, Osborne Oliver, Clay Bank
Rate Collector, Ambrose Pearson, Two Lane ends, Colley gt
Registrar of Births & Deaths, Felix Smith, Halesowen
SCHOOLS :-
British, Samuel Bridge, master; Mrs Mary Bridge, mistress
National, Thomas Davies, master; Miss Ann Metheringham, mistress
Unitarian, James McIlwrath, master ; Miss Sarah Roberts, mistress
Railway Station, Richard Roach station master
CARRIERS TO BIRMINGHAM.- Simeon Wooldridge, to Crown inn, Broad st. on tues. thurs & sat, ; Lloyd, to Crown inn, Broad st. tues. thurs. & sat, returning at 5 p.m. ; to 'Spread Eagle', Spiceal st. tues. thurs. & sat. returning at 3.20 p.m