Cradley, Worcestershire

Description
Cradley, a town, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Halesowen parish, Worcestershire. The town is 2 1/4 miles ENE of Stourbridge, 4 S of Dudley, and 9 1/2 SW of Birmingham, and has a station on the Birmingham and Stourbridge branch of the G.W.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Cradley Heath (S.O.), and carries on extensive manufactures in iron and hardware. There are also firebrick manufactories, and several coal mines are worked. The township includes Netherend, Colley Gate, Overend, Two Gates, and Colman Hill. Acreage, 818 ; population, 5709. The manor belongs to Lord Lyttleton. A saline spring, called the Lady Well, in much medicinal repute, is in a picturesque wooded vale. Coal and ironstone abound on the lands of Netherend. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester; net value, £291. Patron, the Rector of Halesowen. The church was repaired in 1874, and there are Baptist, Unitarian, Wesleyan, Primitive, and new Connexion Methodist chapels.