27. South-east View of Wrottefley Hall. 28. S. W. View of Penn Hall. 29. Sedgley Park. 30. Friars Minors, &c. 31. South-weft View of the old Hall, with Himley Church and Rectory Houfe. 32. South-west View of Himley Hall. 33. North-eaft View of the fame. 34. Plot's criginal Plate of Preftwood. 35. North-eat View of Preftwood. 36. Two Views of Stourton Castle. 37. Pattingham and PattehullChurches. 38. Monuments of the Aftleys in Pattefhull Church. 1. Front View of Drayton Manor old Houfe. 2. North-eaf View of Shenfton Church and Old Hall. 3. North-westView of Walfall Church. 4. Barr Chapel and Gothic Gate. 5. South-eaft View of Handsworth Church. of 6. Prospect Hill, the Refidence Mr. Eginton, Glafs-ftainer. 7. Dudley Caftle, principal Entrance to. 8. Dunfall Hall. 9. Tettenhall Church. 10. St. Kenelm's Church. 11. Brome, New Church. 12. Brome, Old Church. 13. Codfall Church. 1. North-weft View of Hints. 2. South-eaft View of Canwell Hall. 3. View of Barr Halls, Church, Sc. 4. Painted Window and Altar-piece in Barr Chapel. 5. View of Tettenhall. 6. South-eaft View of Himley Hall. 7. South-eaft View of Pattefkull Hall. EXTRACTS. SUBTERRANEOUS FIRE IN THE OLD COAL-PITS AT WEDNESBURY (extracted from Dr. Wilkes's MSS.) -STEAM-ENGINE. "1739, MAY 31.-We have long had a wildfire in the old coal-pits in Wenefbury field, where the gob or 'broken coal takes fire, and burns as 'long as the air can come to it, but goes out of itself when it comes to the folid wall of coal. This evening, as I rode over part of the field where this fire was burning many acres to'gether, the air being calm, and the weather having been dry for about a fortnight, I faw on the furface of the 'ground, where the smoke issued out of the earth, as fine flowers of brim'ftone as could be made by art. They 'feemed to lie a handful or two in a place, but there was no poflibility of going to them.' "This fubterraneous fire, which is frequent about this town, and commonly called wildfire, breaks out fpontaneously amongst the vast heaps ' of flack or small coal left behind in the 'coal-works, in which is a great quantity of fulphur, and frequently fmokes out through the furface; and, by its great height, it acts upon the fe'veral strata above, according to their peculiar natures; fome parts are re'duced to cinders, others hardened to a very great degree. Clay thus harIdened is here called pock-ftone, of which the roads about this town are 'almoft entirely compofed; and the " foundation of the church is laid with the fame material. This circumstance is an evident proof that this colliery 'has been worked for feveral ages. There is another fire in thefe mines, ' which they call a blowing fire; becaufe, when it takes fire, it goes off 'with a vaft explofion, driving every thing before it, even the engine from 'the mouth of the pit. This is owing to a fulphureous exhalation, which ftagnates for want of a proper circu'lation of air; for, where proper means are made ufe of for that purpose, no fuch event is known.' "Dr. "Dr. Wilkes fays he had in his * poffeffion a piece of old iron, part of a pike or maundrel, which was 'then found here enclosed in a foft coal; by which it is certain that coal grows or increases, and that the flack 'or fmall coal left behind in the pit 'may poffibly in time become as good 'coal as it was before it was thus 'broken to pieces.' "Dr. Wilkes also fays, Mr. Thomas Savary (the original inventor of the fteam-engine) fet one of these engines down about the year 17.. in the liberty of Wednesbury, near a place called then the Broad Waters, which is now dry land again. For, this place being low ground, the water rofe fo haftily many years ago, and in fuch quantities from the coal-pit, that it covered fome acres of land, buried many ftacks of coals that were on the bank, and fo continued till drained again about fifteen or twenty years ago. This water was stored with feveral forts of fish by Mr. Lane's family, of Bently, which became very large, and remarkably good. The engine thus erected could not be brought to perfection, as the old pond of water was very great, and the fprings very many and strong that kept up the body of it; and the steam when too ftrong tore it all to pieces; fo that after much time, labour, and expenfe, Mr. Savary was forced to give up the undertaking, and the engine was laid afide as ufelefs; fo that he may be faid to have difcovered a power fufficient to drain any kind of mine, but could not form an engine capable of working and making it useful. "Plot fays: The laft effort that ' was made in this country for making 'iron with pit-coal, and also with raw coal, was by Mr. Blewitone, a High German, who built his furnace at 'Wednesbury, fo ingeniously contrived (that only the flame of the coal fhould 'come to the ore, with feveral other conveniencies), that many were of ' opinion he would fucceed in it. But ' experience, that great baffler of fpe'culation, showed it would not be; the fulphureous vitriolic fteams that iffue from the pyrites, which accom'panies pit-coal, afcending with the Rame, and poifoning the ore fuffi⚫ciently to make it render much worse 'iron than that made with charcoal.' "Thefe difficulties being at length overcome, furnaces for making iron with pit-coal are now very numerous in this vicinity; and in this parish are various manufactures in iron, but the principal is that of gun-barrels and locks." P. 85. WOLVERHAMPTON-PROCESSIONING. "AMONG the local cuftoms which have prevailed here, may be noticed that which was popularly called Proceffioning. Many of the older inhabitants can well remember when the facrift, refident prebendaries, and members of the choir, affembled at morning prayers on Monday and Tuesday in Rogation week with the charity-children, bearing long poles clothed with all kinds of flowers then in feafon, and which were afterwards carried through the streets of the town with much folemnity, the clergy, finging-men, and boys, dreffed in their facred veftments, clofing the proceffion, and chanting, in a grave and appropriate melody, the Canticle, Benedicite, omnia opera, &c. "This ceremony, innocent at least, and not illaudable in itfelf, was of high antiquity, having probably its origin in the Roman offerings of the Primitiæ, from which (after being rendered conformable to our purer worship) it was adopted by the firft Chriftians, and handed down, through a fucceflton of ages, to modern times. The idea was, no doubt, that of returning thanks to God, by whofe goodness the face of nature was renovated, and fresh means provided for the fuftenance and comfort of his creatures. It was difcontinued about 1765. "Another custom (now likewise difcontinued) was the annual proceffion on the 9th of July (the eve of the great fair) of men in antique armour, preceded by musicians playing the Fairtune, and followed by the fteward of. the deanry manor, the peace-officers, and many of the principal inhabitants. Tradition fays, the ceremony originated at the time when Wolverhampton was a great emporium of wool, and reforted to by merchants of the ftaple from all parts of England. The neceffity of an armed force to keep peace and order during the fair (which is faid to have lafted fourteen days, but the charter fays only eight) is not improbable. The men (twenty in number) were furnished by the proprietors of the burgage-houses (one for each burgage), who had likewise, in rotation, the annual appointment of bailiff of the ftaff, whofe office was to prefide over and receive the tolls of the market. To gratify the curious, a lift of the burgage-houfes, whofe proprie tors appointed bailiffs from 1581 to 1600, inclufive, might have been here fubjoined, but the preffure of other materials forbids it. This custom of walking the fair (as it was called), with the armed proceffion, &c. was firft omitted about the year 1789." P. 165. EELS THE ΒΟΥ OF BILSTON, A "DR. Plot, fpeaking of eels as night-walkers, fays they were actually caught in the very fact, near Bilston, creeping over the meadows like fo many fnakes, from one ditch to another, by Mr. Mofely, who feriously told me, they not only did it for bettering their ftation, but, as he apprehended, alfo for catching of fnails in April and May, the best time of the year for them." "The Doctor gives an account of a ftrange impofture acted by a boy of this place, viz. William, the fon of Thomas Perry, yeoman, about thirteen years of age; who in 1620, not liking to go to fchool, fell into the company of an old man, called Thomas, that carried glaffes at his back about the country; who, in about fix times, inftructed this apt fcholar to groan, pant, mourn, and turn up his eyes, fo that the whites only could be feen, turn his neck and head round, gape hideously, grind his teeth, vomit rags and pins, &c. Laftly, this old man advifed him to fay he was bewitched, and, whenever he heard the Ift verfe of the 1ft chapter of St. John's Gospel repeated, he should fall into thefe fits. To which he added, of his own, as occafion required, a wilful abftinence; a trick of rolling up his tongue, and fo placing it in his throat, that it appeared hard and fwollen; and mixing ink with his urine, to make people believe it came fo immediately from him. In the practices of which instructions of the old man, and con *"Hift. of Staffordshire, p. 243.” trivances of his own, he grew in a lit- "This ftory of the boy of Bilfton is related in a very different manner by Fuller, who fays, that he was practifed upon by fome Jefuits (that went to Mr. Giffard's houfe, in this county), to diffemble himself poffeffed, that the priefts might have the credit of cafting out the devil, and grace their religion with the reputation of a miracle; but the boy having got an habit of idleness, and his parent's profit, when the priests came to exorcife the devil, he would not go out, and fo they raised a spirit they could not lay. But Dr. Moreton, then bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, found it out as above related. If this be true, Dr. Plot was impofed upon with a fabulous ftory, invented by the Papifts to conceal their forgery." P.171. + "In the Eaft India Company's fervice, and governor of St. Helen 1719 died 1737, aged fixty-feven.' Galley) Galley) was fent out in 1707 by his uncle Sir Richard, he took him as an officer on board his fhip, on account of his experience in naval matters: this formed a connexion between him and the family at Perry Hall, where, on his landing at Chefter from the East Indies, he married Captain Harry's fifter. Smoking and drinking claret were his principal delight. He was a great reader, and religiously disposed; till his disappointments and obftinacy foured his temper, and made him fay he believed neither in Mofe, Chrift, nor Mahomet. He bought in chancery an estate of the Middleton family for a confiderable fum, and refusing to make good his bargain, was committed by the court to Newgate; and though the sheriff would have allowed him fuitable apartments, he refufed to pay for them, and lay in the common rooms, that had been juft quitted by the celebrated Sally Salisbury. After fubmitting to a confinement of fome length, the money was paid by Charles Gough, in whofe hands alone he would depofit it; yet, upon a difference with his elder brother about the ownership of Charles Gough's thip, he quarrelled with the family; and inftead of giving his fortune, as he had promised, to Charles, left it to Captain Raymond, as alfo a further fum after the death of his wife, who outliving him it came to her brother Charles, whom the made the trustee of her fortune, on marrying her second husband, who remarried the widow of a boatfwain, who difappointed him of her fortune." P. 193. ACCOUNT OF THE GUNPOWDER PLOT CONSPIRATORS (extracted from the Harl. MSS. and Bp. Lyttelton's MS. in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries). "HOLBEACH, an old manfion, formerly belonging to the Littletons, and remarkable in hiftory, 3d of James L. as being the houfe in which Stephen Littleton (eldest son of George, third fon of Sir John Littleton, of Hagley, knighted 8th of Elizabeth), and others, concerned in the gunpowder plot, were taken. Both the Wrights were killed, Catesby and Percy flain with one bullet, Rocket and Winter wounded, and the reft apprehended. "Sir Edward Coke, in his fpeech at the trial of the powder confpirators, fays, At Holbeach, in Staffordshire, the houfe of Stephen Lyttelton, after 'they had been two days in open rebellion, fome of the traitors ftanding by the firetide, and having fet two pounds and a half of powder to dry in a platter before the fire, and under'fet the faid platter with a great linen 'bag full of other powder, containing 'fome fifteen or fixteen pounds; it fo fell out, that, one coming to put wood on the fire, there flew a coal 'into the platter; by reafon whereof, 'the powder taking fire and blowing up, fcorched those who were nearest (as Catesby, Gaunt, and Rookewood), blew up the roof of the houfe; and 'the linen bag which was fet under the platter, being therewith fuddenly carried out through the breach, fell down in the court yard whole and unfired; which, if it had took fire in the room, would have flain them all. A more particular account of this is given in a MS. in the Harleian collection, now in the British Museum. The title is, A true Declaration of the Flight and Efcape of Robert Winter, Eiq. and Stephen Littleton, Gent.; the ftrange Manner of their living in Concealment fo long a Time, 'how they fhifted to feveral Places, and in the End were defcried and taken at Hagley, being the House of Mrs. Littleton.' It begins thus: The bloody hunting-match at Dun'church being ordered and appointed by Sir Everard Digby, Knt. for furprifing the Princets Elizabeth, whofe ' refidence was near that place, Master Catelby wrote unto Mafter Humphry 'Littleton, entreating him to meet at 'Dunchurch, which he complied with; and, on his arrival there, demanding of him the matter in hand, Catesby 'told him, that it was a matter of weight, and for the special good and benefit of them all; but when the powder plot was difappointed, they fcampered about the country; and, coming to Hewel Grange, Lord 'Windfor's houfe, they carried from thence arms and gunpowder; which, in palling through the river, the carriage being low, was much wetted. Away they paffed by Bell Inn, and fo over the heath to Holbeach (a house on the high road between Himley and Stourbridge), belonging to Stephen Littleton. There intending to profecute the mifchief begun, and the ' each man weening not meanly to 'enrich himself thereby. Their thifting from place to place in this man the powder being laid abroad to dry, and they very bufily employed themfelves about it, a fervant going by to light a fire in the room, a spark fellner, White's flight alfo confidered, among the gunpowder, which blew up part of the houfe, and fo disfigured divers of their faces, as they ftood in ⚫ amazement, perceiving that powder • proved a just fcourge to them. and now their fecurity here not alto'gether clear; much rumour was blaz ed abroad of their long miffing; and, being greatly marvelled at that they 'were not elsewhere to be heard of, by ' means of Mafter Humphry Littleton, as it is likelieft conjectured, they were once again removed from Holyhead's house; and, upon new-year's day laft, in the morning very early, they came to one Peck's houfe, in Hagley, where, knocking at his door, he came forth to them, requefting farther knowledge of them. They faid they were his friends, and requested kind'nefs of him. He knowing who they "The chiefeft among these trai'tors, as Catesby, Rockwood, Grant, &c. being thus difabled, feeing the houfe befet with the fheriff's forces, and no means to escape, opened the gate and let them enter, when Catesby and Percy were shot and flain, and • Thomas Winter taken alive. Mafter • Stephen Littleton and Robert Winter, in the midft of this hurly burly, • escaped out of the houfe, and fled to ⚫one Chriftopher White, at Rowley-were, and finding them to be very Regis, who was fervant to Humphry Littleton; whereby, corrupting the faint and weak, they begged of him fome fuftenance, and, when they faid White with money, they pre-fhould be able to travel, he should I vailed on him to shelter them in his barn*, in hopes that, when the fearch was over, they might depart, and no' longer endanger him. "Here they abode a great while, but with very poor and lender fare. Now, whether the money given by them to White made more appearance of a better condition than before had been difcovered in him or his, or whether he being Master Humphry Littleton's man, jealousy might beget an opinion that fuch men fought for by proclamation*, if not in his houfe, were yet within his knowledge and protection; one Smart, following the matter effectually, and finding it to be as he furmifed, got them from White's barn, and took them into his own charge, hoping to efcape with that his clofe keeping them. Upon White's flight it was conjectured, and the cause thereof known; but no intelligence could yet be had of the parties themselves, albeit one Holyhead, dwelling in Rowley, near to Smart, by preventing him, as he had done White before, got them alfo to his houfe, bring them up to London, and have a great reward of the King for taking them, because they were very willing to die, and no longer defired to be in a condition fo miferable. "If thefe (as himself confeffed) 'were their own words, what need ⚫ was there then of any colourable cunning in performing more than what themselves required, and he, by re vealing them, both to have discharged his duty, and gained no mean recom penfe befides of his facred Majefty? but, 30l. to himself, and zol. to his man, and 19. to his maid, made them forget their fpeeches, if any 'fuch were used; and, bringing them 'to a barley-mow in his barn t, a place 'to be leaft fufpected, and fecureft for their fafety, there were they har 'boured, and relieved by them feve 'rally as occafion ferved, no eye as yet 'difcerning the leaft imagination other wife. "Now, after that Winter and Littleton had continued for the space of nine days on the barley-mow, one while fuftained by Peck himself, then by his man and maid, Master Hum. *In Rymer's Fœdera, XVI. p. 638, is a proclamation for apprehending Robert Winter and Stephen Littleton, dated November 8, 1605. Littleton's perfon is thus defcribed: A very tall man, fwarth of complexion, of browncoloured hair, no beard, or little, about thirty years of age"." "The house and barn are both standing oppofite the blacksmith's hop and pond, in the right road from Hagley to Pedmore, and now, 1760, inhabited by Mr. Hollier.' Bishop Lyttelton's MS. p. 12." phry |