KIDDERMINSTER, a parish in the lower division of the hundred
of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, comprising the incorporated
market-town of Kidderminster, having separate jurisdiction, the
chapelry of Lower Mitton, and the hamlet of Wribbenhall, and
containing 15,296 inhabitants, of which number, 10,709
are in the town of Kidderminster, 14 miles (N.) from
Worcester, and 126 (N. W. by N.) from London. Its
ancient name was Chiderminster, Kid, or Chid, signifying,
in ancient British, the brow of a hill, Dwr, water,
and Minster, a church; an etymology highly characteristic
of its situation. At the time of the Conquest
it was a royal manor, and continued so until the
reign of Henry II., when it passed into private hands,
and among its possessors was Waller the poet. The
town is situated on the eastern bank of the river
Stour, about three miles from its confluence with the
Severn; it is of an irregular form, contains several good
and well-built houses, but the greater part consists of
small dwellings inhabited by the workmen employed iu
the different factories. The entrances to the town are
spacious; in those from Worcester, Bridgenorth, and
Bewdley, where improvements have been made by cutting
away the rock to lower the road, houses have
been excavated in the sides of the rock. The town is
well paved, and lighted with gas, and the inhabitants
are amply supplied with water. In the reign of
Henry VIII. Kidderminster was noted for the manufacture
of broad cloths, to which, at different periods, succeeded
linsey-woolseys, friezes, and tammies and flowered
stuffs. About the year 1735 the manufacture of carpets
was introduced, which has continued to nourish
with progressive improvement, and now constitutes the
staple trade of the town. On its introduction the
Scotch carpets were the principal articles made, but the
Wilton and Brussels carpets (the former begun by the
grandfather of the present Mr. Broom, in 1745,) have
been within the last few years brought to a high degree
of perfection: the elegance and variety of the patterns,
the brilliancy and permanency of the colours, arising, as
it is supposed, from the peculiar property of the water
of the Stour in fixing the dyes, and the great improvement
in their texture, have given to the carpets of Kidderminster
a decided superiority over those of every
other place. In 1772, the number of carpet-looms was
about two hundred and fifty; at present there are
nearly one thousand six hundred. A considerable
quantity of carpets is constantly being exported to almost
every part of the kingdom. From a return to
parliament it appears that, of the whole quantity of
wool produced in the kingdom, one twenty-eighth part
is consumed here in the weaving of carpets. The trade
in bombazines is also carried on, but not to the same
extent as formerly: in 1772, here were one thousand
seven hundred silk and worsted looms; at present there
are not more than one-fifth of that number. In the
town and neighbourhood are five spinning-mills; but
a great quantity of the yam is obtained from Halifax,
and other towns in Yorkshire. On the banks of the
Stour are several dye-houses, in connexion with the
various manufactories. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire
canal passes through the town to Stoxirport,
where it joins the river Severn, by which a medium
of conveyance by water is afforded to all parts of the
kingdom, and a supply of coal and other useful commodities
is obtained. The market days are Thursday,
chiefly for corn, and Saturday for provisions: the fairs
are, the last Monday in January, the Monday before
Easter, Ascension-day, June 20th, September 4th, and
the last Monday in November. The market-place has
been greatly enlarged by the corporation, at an expense
of £10,000, and is arranged in separate divisions for
the various kinds of goods exposed for sale.
Kidderminster was a borough by prescription, and
sent members to parliament in the 23rd of Edward I.,
since which time it has made no return. It received a
charter of incorporation in the twelfth year of the reign
of Charles I., but the charter at present in force was
granted August 31st, 1827, by which the government
of the town is vested in a high steward, a recorder, a
high bailiff, a low bailiff, twelve aldermen (exclusively of
the high bailiff) twenty-five assistants, with a town clerk,
constables, &c. The high bailiff is elected annually
by the aldermen, from among their own body. A singular
custom has prevailed at the election of this
chief magistrate, when the people assemble in the principal
streets to throw cabbage stalks at each other: the
bell at the town-hall gives the signal for the commencement
of the municipal affray, which, from its duration
and the mode of procedure, is called the " lawless hour."
When it is over, the bailiff elect and the other members
of the corporation, in their robes, parade the streets,
preceded by flags, drums, and trumpets, inviting the
principal families in the neighbourhood to meet and
throw apples at them; but this custom has of late been
falling into disuse. The high bailiff, the late bailiff, the
recorder, and the three senior aldermen, are justices of
the peace, and hold quarterly courts of session for the
borough, on the Friday in the week in which the general
quarter sessions for the county are held, for the trial of
all offenders not charged capitally. A court of requests
is also held every fortnight, by commissioners appointed
under an act passed in the 12th of George III., for the
recovery of debts imder 40s., the jurisdiction of which
extends over the whole parish. The town-hall is aneat
building of brick; the lower part is appropriated as
shops, and the upper part to the holding of the courts
and the transaction of the public business of the corporation;
it also contains a spacious assembly-room,
and under the building is a small prison for theconfinement
of malefactors prior to their committal to the
county gaol.
The living is a vicarage with the curacy of Mitton, in
the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester, rated in the
king's books at £30. 15. 7., and in the patronage of
Lord Foley. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a
spacious and venerable structure, partly in the decorated,
and partly in the later, style of English architecture, with
a handsome square embattled tower, strengthened with
buttresses, and crowned with pinnacles; the walls of
the nave and aisles are finished with panelled battlements,
and the whole exterior of the building, which
occupies the summit of a hill overlooking the river, has
an imposing grandeur of appearance; the chancel,
which is in the decorated style, contains several ancient
monuments and recumbent figures; the nave is separated
from the aisles by a beautiful series of pointed
arches and clustered columns, and lighted by a fine
range of clerestory windows enriched with elegant tracery.
A new church, dedicated to St. George, and containing
two thousand and three sittings, of which one
thousand two hundred and eighty-nine are free, was
built.by grant from the parliamentary commissioners,
in 1824, at an expense of £16,131. 4. 2., to which was
added £2000 raised by the inhabitants; it;, is a handsome
structure in the later style of English architecture,
with a lofty and richly-ornamented tower, and, standing
on an eminence, forms a prominent feature in the
view of the town; the altar-piece is embellished witha
representation of the Descent from the Cross, woven in
carpet-work, with exquisite brilliancy of colour and elegance
of design, by Mr. Bowyer, a manufacturer in the
town, and by him presented to the parish; but this
characteristic piece of workmanship has been wantonly
cut in different places by a sacrilegious outrage, of which
the perpetrator and his motive have not yet been discovered.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage
of the Vicar. Besides the chapel at Mitton, there
is a proprietary chapel at Wribbenhall, the living of
which is a donative, in the gift of Lord Foley. There
are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Wesleyan
Methodists, and Unitarians.
The free grammar school is of uncertain origin: it
was made a royal foundation by charter of Charles I., and
has an endowment in lands and tenements, from the
produce of which the head master receives a salary of
£260, and the second master one of £130 per annum;
they are chosen by trustees appointed under the charter,
and have each a house rent-free, and the privilege of
taking private pupils: this school is entitled to the
fifth of six scholarships founded in Worcester College,
Oxford, by Sir Thomas Cookes, from which the candidates
for his fellowships in that college are chosen.
An ancient chapel adjoining St. Mary's church
has been for many years appropriated to the use of the
school. A free school was also founded, in 1795, by
Mr. Nicholas Pearsall, who endowed it with a sum of
money for providing a salary for the master, by whom
twenty-five boys, chiefly dissenters, receive the rudiments
of a classical and commercial education. A National
school for boys was erected in 1817; and there is one for
girls, originally founded as a small charity school in
1730; in the former two hundred and thirty boys, and
in the latter one hundred and ninety girls, are taught
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and about twenty in
each are clothed, St. George's National school was
built, in 1827, by subscription, aided by a grant from
the National Society, for the instruction of two hundred
and fifty children of each sex; and there are various
other institutions of a similar kind, supported by subscription,
some of which have small endowments. An
infant school has been recently established, in which are
one hundred and fifty children, but no building has yet
been erected for the purpose. The dispensary was established
in 1824, and the building erected on a site near
the old church, given for that purpose by William Lea,
Esq., of Stone: the institution is under the direction of
a president, vice-president, and a committee of governors,
by whom a resident surgeon is appointed, with a salary of
£100per annum: it receives also the gratuitous attendance
of the members of the medical profession in the vicinity.
There are six almshouses founded, in 1629, by Sir
Edward Blount, for six aged men and their wives, who
receive £8 per annum each. H. Higgins, Esq., in 1684,
bequeathed four messuages for the same purpose, to
which a fifth has been added, for aged persons nominated
by the corporation; the inmates live rent-free, but have
no pecuniary allowance. Two houses were also given in
trust to the corporation for the same use, by Sir Ralph
Clare, K,B. There are various charitable donations and
bequests for distribution among the poor. On Wassail
hill, about half a mile from the bank of the Severn,
are the remains of a small camp, supposed by Dr. Nash
to have been occupied by Henry IV., in his pursuit of
Owen Glyndwr, after the burning of the city of Worcester;
and at Blackstone rock, between Stourport and
Bewdley, are the remains of a hermitage and chapel,
now converted into an out-house for agricultural implements.
There are several chalybeate springs in the
parish, of which the most strongly impregnated is at
Round hill, near the town; and the dropping well, on
Burlish common, is celebrated for its efficacy in curing
diseases of the eye. Richard Baxter, the celebrated nonconformist,
was for some time vicar of this parish;
on being ejected from his ministry, he established an
Independent congregation, consisting of a number of
his parishioners who, having adhered to his ministry
when ejected from his living, are supposed to have formed
the first separate church of that denomination.