SWINFORD (OLD), a parish partly in the southem
division of the hundred of SEISDON, county of
STAFFORD, but chiefly in the lower division of the
hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 1 mile
(S. S. E.) from Stourbridge, containing, with the town of
Stourbridge, and the hamlet of Amblecoat, 11,227 inhabitants.
The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Worcester, rated in the king's books at
£26. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Lord Foley. The
church is dedicated to St. Mary. The Blue-coat hospital,
in this parish, was founded by Thomas Foley, Esq.,
ancestor- of the noble family of that name, and endowed
by him with estates now producing upwards of £2000 per
annum: it is a commodious brick building, somewhat in
the style of a college, pleasantly situated on the road
to Bromsgrove. In this noble institution seventy
poor boys are boarded, clothed and educated: the
original number was sixty, but the increase of income
has enabled the feoffees to add ten more. They are chosen
from the following parishes and , towns, viz., Old
Swinford, three; town of Stourbridge, four; Kidderminster,
six (three from the borough and three from
the foreign); Bewdley, four; Dudley, four; Great
Whitley, King's Swinford, Kinver, Harbom-n, Hales-
Owen, West Bromwich, Bromsgrove, Rowley - Regis,
Wednesbury, and Sedgeley, two each; Hagley, Little
Whitley, Alvechurch, Pedmore, and Wombourn, one
each; and the remaining twenty-four are appointed by
the representative of the founder: each boy must, on
admission, be between seven and eleven years of age,
free from disease, and the son of parents who have
never received parochial relief; he is annually provided
with a suit of clothes (similar to that worn at Christ's
Hospital), a cap, and four pair of shoes and stockings,
and, at fourteen years of age, is apprenticed with a premium
of £4, and on producing a certificate of good
conduct during his apprenticeship, receives at its expiration
a gratuity of £15. The establishment is under
the direction of nineteen feoffees, who are noblemen,
dignitaries of the church, or gentlemen of large landed
property, in this or the adjoining counties, and who
elect the master, steward, &c. The school at Red-hill
is supported with endowments by John Wheeler, Esq.,
and Henry Glover, Esq., the former of whom granted
property for the instruction of twenty poor boys, and for
furnishing them with books and stationery, and the
latter bequeathed £400, since laid out in lands, for the
instruction of six poor boys in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, for six years each, providing them with
books and stationery, and apprenticing one of them
annually, with a premium of £5; two boys have since
been added by the trustees, who are the governors of
the Stourbridge free grammar school, and the boys on
the foundation of both these charities are instructed by
the same master. The remainder of Henry Glover's
endowment, after all necessary charges for the school
are deducted, is distributed amongst the poor of that
part of the parish which is in the county of Worcester
who do not receive parochial relief, in sums of not more
than one shilling per week to each person. Exclusively
of the trade connected with the town of Stourbridge,
a detailed account of which is given in the article on
that place, many of the inhabitants are engaged in the
making of nails.