KINFARE, or KINVER, a parish in the southern
division of the hundred of SEISDON, county of STAFFORD,
4 miles (W. S. W.) from Stourbridge, containing
1735 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in
the archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese of Lichfield
and Coventry, endowed with £600 parliamentary grant,
and in the patronage of certain Trustees. The church
is dedicated to St. Peter. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire
and the Stourbridge canals form a junction
here. There is a free grammar school, of ancient and
obscure foundation, in support of which, William Vynsjnt,
in the 34th of Elizabeth, bequeathed certain land,
which, with subsequent gifts, produces £112. 12. 11.
a year to the master, for the instruction of an unlimited
number of children. Within the parish is an ancient
fortification, forming a parallelogram three hundred
yards long by two hundred broad, deeply intrenched
on two sides, and on the other two. defended by a hill.
In the neighbourhood is a tumulus, also a large block of
stone, called Battlestone, six feet high, and about twelve
in girth.