Penn in 1859

PENN (ST. BARTHOLOMEW), a parish, in the union, and N. division of the hundred, of SEISDON, S. division of the county of STAFFORD; containing 942 inhabitants, of whom 716 are in the liberty of Upper Penn, and 226 in Lower Penn, the former situated 2 miles (S.W. by S.) from Wolverhampton. The parish comprises 3985a.2r.13p., of which 1909 acres are in Lower Penn; the substratum belongs to the new red sandstone formation; the land is mostly arable, the soil generally good, and the scenery very beautiful.

Among the gentlemen's seats are Penn Hall; the Lloyd, the residence of the Rev. W. Dalton, A.M.; and the villa of Thomas Moss Philips, Esq. The Wolverhampton canal skirts the west end of the parish, and the village is seated on the road between Wolverhampton and Himley. Locks, keys, coffee-mills, nails, &c., are made in private houses for the warehouses in Wolverhampton. A manorial court is held by the Duke of Sutherland's agent to decide upon encroachments on Penn-Wood common.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £4.5.10., and in the gift of the Bishop of Lichfield: the tithes have been commuted for £895, of which £687.10. are payable to the subchanter and vicars-choral of Lichfield Cathedral and their lessees, £170 to the vicar, and £37.10. to the Duke of Cleveland. The church, a brick building, with a square tower, was enlarged (a second time) in 1844, by the addition of a side aisle, and has also been repewed and beautified. 

The Rev. Charles Wynn, in 1699, gave a messuage, with a rent-charge of £6, in support of a free school, in aid of which Dr. Sedgewick, in 1747, gave an annuity of £10; the income is now nearly £105, and the school is open to all the parish. An almshouse was founded in 1761, by Ann Sedgewick, for five aged women, and is endowed with £25 per annum.

 

[Description(s) from The Topographical Dictionary of England (1859) by Samuel Lewis - Transcribed by Mike Harbach ©2020]