LYE-WASTE, a chapelry in that part of the parish
of OLD-SWINFORD which is in the lower division of the
hundred of HALFSHIRE, county of WORCESTER, 1 mile
(E.) from Stourbridge. The population is returned with
the parish. The chapel was erected by the late Thomas
Hill, Esq., and is licensed, but not consecrated; it is
calculated to contain about two thousand persons; the
appointment of the minister belongs to the Hill family.
There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyan
Methodists, and Unitarians. The village derives its
distinguishing name from having been erected on the
waste, and consists of numerous cottages, chiefly inhabited
by workmen employed in the iron and coal works,
&c., with which the district abounds. Several of the
inhabitants are engaged in making nails, this being a
species of manufacture which extends through a wide
district, including the towns of Stourbridge and Dudley,
and their neighbourhoods, which, abounding to a
great extent in coal and iron-ore, afford the necessary
materials for this branch of business; the nails being
afterwards dispersed over all parts of the kingdom.