HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 157 



square; and in the extensive lawn in front is the holy well, which 

 is now enclosed by iron rails. 



Sandwell, though situated in a populous neighbourhood, and 

 only four miles from Birmingham, and close to the turnpike-road from 

 that town to Wolverhampton, is enclosed by a high park-wall and 

 a thick plantation of trees so effectually as to be totally secluded 

 from the busy world. The elegant mansion, besides every ac- 

 commodation for convenience, contains a handsome library and a 

 neat chapel ; and the principal rooms are adorned with landscapes 

 and portraits by the best masters, particularly Kneller, Housman, 

 Gaspar, Vivian, Highmore, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jansen, Richard- 

 son, and Vandyke. A variety of picturesque prospects are to be 

 seen from different points of view in the park. 



HANDSWORTH is an extensive and agreeable village, situated at 

 the south-east extremity of this hundred, at the distance of about 

 two miles from Birmingham. The parish is extensive, and includes 

 several manors and hamlets. The principal object which it con- 

 tains is Hamstead House, a noble and ancient mansion, the resi- 

 dence of the Birch family, to whom the manor of Handsworth now 

 belongs. The grounds on the winding banks of the Tame are 

 romantic, and adorned with full-grown and beautiful trees. A 

 lime, which grows on a rocky point, is a magnificent object, and 

 equally remarkable for its elevated situation and luxuriant growth. 

 Three feet from the surface of the ground the trunk is twenty-two 

 feet in circumference, the height of the tree is seventy-five feet, 

 and the shade which it throws extends one hundred and eighty. 



The Church of Handsworth, dedicated to Saint Mary, is an 

 ancient gothic structure of brown stone, with a tower. It con- 

 tains a few neat monuments, and has a variety of coats of arms 

 painted on the windows. It is a rectory in the deanery of Tarn- 

 worth, and in the patronage of the Birch family. 



The population of Handsworth has more than doubled in 72 

 years. According to the return in 1811, there were 1141 males; 

 1310 females : total 2451. 



But the most remarkable improvement in the parish of Hands- 

 worth is the extensive manufactory of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, 

 at the Soho. The waste-lands called Handsworth-heath, which 

 about sixty years ago was a barren waste and rabbit-warren, is now 

 a populous village or town. A beautiful garden, with pleasure- 

 grounds and a piece of water, now covers one side of this heath ; 

 five spacious squares of building, erected on the other side, contain 



