

HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 263 



Mr. Gilpin has established a very considerable iron manufactory of 

 edge-tools, augers, and various similar articles, near the Watling- 

 street-way, besides which he has built a good house, and raises coal 

 for his manufactory and for sale. By this public-spirited industry, 

 he has much increased the population, and the prosperity and com- 

 fort of the inhabitants of his neighbourhood. 



Great Wyrley, formerly called Wyrley Bank, and then extra- 

 parochial, is now a populous hamlet of Cannock. This township, 

 according to the population returns in 1811, contained 82 houses, 

 inhabited by 82 families, of whom 51 were employed in agriculture, 

 and 31 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft arts. The number of 

 persons was 361, of whom 187 were males, and 174 females. The 

 village contains a few well-built farm-houses and tenements, with a 

 number of cottages in every variety of rude architecture, from the 

 clay-built shed to the convenient dwelling. It was formerly the 

 reputed home of beggars, who, when asked where they came from, 

 replied Wyrley-bank. It was then a nursery for illegitimate chil- 

 dren, and became a nuisance, to correct which, it was annexed to 

 Cannock as a township, and to Chesland Hay respecting the pro- 

 vision for its poor. 



Chesland Hay had formerly a large common, which is now en- 

 closed. The Lanes, of King's Bromley, have an estate here, on 

 which an eminence, planted with firs, is conspicuous for several 

 miles to travellers and the inhabitants of the circumjacent country. 



Huntington is another township belonging to Cannock parish. 

 It contains 23 houses, and 135 inhabitants. This township chiefly 

 belongs to the Littleton family ; the waste lands of Huntington 

 and Teddesley, are now under enclosure, being in a distinct manor 

 from the general part of Cannock-heath. 



Hatherton, including the Four Crosses, and the open part of Calf- 

 heath common, is in the parish of Wolverhampton, but the inha- 

 bitants attend divine worship in Cannock Church, and bury their 

 dead in the church-yard. This township contains 55 houses, 56 

 families, and 299 inhabitants, whose only employment is agricul- 

 ture. The demesne of Hatherton-hall is an ancient residence of 

 the Walhouse family, and now inhabited by Moreton Walhouse, 

 Esq. father to Edward John Littleton, Esq. M.P. This mansion, 

 which is in the Gothic style, is now re-building. The mate- 

 rial is stone, and, when finished, it will be a commodious place of 

 residence. The estate consists of several contiguous farms of good 

 sound gravelly loam, well wooded, and of hedge-rows of thriving 



