INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 277 



writers on industrial topics would guess, indeed, 

 that twenty-five years ago nails were made by 

 hand by thousands of men, women, and children 

 in the Black Country of South Staffordshire, as 

 also in Derbyshire,* and that some of this industry 

 remains still in existence, or that the best needles 

 are made by hand at Redditch. Chains are also 

 made by hand at Dudley and Cradley, and al- 

 though the Press is periodically moved to speak 

 of the wretched conditions of the chain-makers, 

 men and women, the trade still maintains itself ; 

 while nearly 7,000 men were busy in 1890 in their 

 small workshops in making locks, even of the 

 plainest description, at Walsall, Wolverhampton, 

 and Willenhall. The various ironmongeries 

 connected with horse-clothing bits, spurs, 

 bridles, and so on are also largely made by 

 hand at Walsall. 



The Birmingham gun and rifle trades, which 

 also belong to the same domain of small industries, 

 are well known. As to the various branches of 

 dress, there are still important divisions of the 

 United Kingdom where a variety of domestic 

 trades connected with dress is carried on on a 

 large scale. I need only mention the cottage 

 industries of Ireland, as also some of them which 

 have survived in the shires of Buckingham, 

 Oxford, and Bedford ; hosiery is a common 

 * Sevan's Guide, to English Industries. 



