PENN, a parish in the northern division of the
hundred of SEISDON, county of STAFFORD, comprising
the township of Lower Penn, and the liberty of Upper
Penn, and containing 769 inhabitants, of which number,
539 are in the liberty of Upper Penn, 2 miles (S.W.
by S.) from Wolverhampton. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Stafford, and diocese
of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books
at £4. 5. 10., endowed with £200 private benefaction,
and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The church is dedicated
to St. Bartholomew. A manorial court, is annually
held by the Marquis of Stafford's agent, to decide
upon encroachments on Penn-Wood common. Here
are several small manufactories for locks, keys, coffeemills,
&c., from which the warehouses in Wolverhampton
and Sedgeley are supplied; there is also a small nailmanufactory.
The Rev. Charles Wynn, in 1669, gave a
messiiage, &c., and 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 total income is nearly £105
and the average number of children about fifty. An
almshouse was founded, in 1761, by Ann Sedgewick, for
five aged women.