Old Swinford, Staffordshire

Description
Swinford, Old, a parish comprising Stourbridge, Lye, Wollaston, Wollescote, and Upper Swinford townships in Worcestershire, and Amblecote hamlet in Staffordshire. Old Swinford proper is half a mile SSE of Stourbridge, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (T.S.O.) under Stourbridge. Acreage of the civil parish, 3369; population, 27,932. The ecclesiastical parish comprises Upper and Lower Swinford and Norton. Population, 2571. In 18.95 the parish was constituted a ward of Stourbridge, to whose urban district council it returns six members. Stourbridge St John-the-Evangelist, Stourbridge St Thomas, Lye, Stamber Mill, Wollaston, and Amblecote form separate ecclesiastical parishes. Useful minerals abound; manufactures of iron, glass, and fire-clay utensils are carried on; and ample communication by the river Stour, by canals, and by railways exist. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £313 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Dudley. The ancient church, dating from the 13th century, was, with the exception of the tower, entirely pulled down, in 1842 and rebuilt in the debased style of that period.