K I D 
fons. In the choir are feveral curious ancient monuments 
belonging to the Blounts and Cookefeys ; alfo a crofs-legg- 
cd monument of lir Thomas Adton : but fom'e of the 
figures have been (hamefully mutilated. The tower ad¬ 
joining to this church is a ftrong and lofty pile, contain¬ 
ing a peal of eight bells. The vicarage, with the cha- 
pelry of Mitton, which is always thereto united, is valued 
at about five hundred pounds per annum. The living is 
in the gift of lord Foley, who is chief lord of the manor. 
The grammar-fchool, to which-all the inhabitants who are 
difpoled to give their children a clafiical education have 
the privilege of fending them free of expence, is at the 
eaft end of the choir of the church, and contiguous there¬ 
to : the preceptors are elefted by certain feoffees, to which 
the content of the bifliop of the diocefe is always necef- 
fary; their annual ftipend, arifirig out of fundry build¬ 
ings and land with which the fchool is endowed, now 
amounts to more than one hundred and. fifty pounds, of 
which fum the high (or upper) mailer is entitled to two 
thirds. 
The river Stour rifes in the celebrated groves of the 
Leafowes, near Hales Owen, about twelve miles from Kid- 
derminfter; and, after forming a large refervoir at a village 
called Cradely, proceeds thence through Stourbridge, Kin- 
ver, and Wolverley, and enters the town on the north fide, 
tracing nearly its whole length, and thereby dividing it 
into two unequal parts, the lea'll of which (about one 
third) is fituated on the well fide thereof. From hence it 
continues its courle to Mitton, and difcharges its waters 
into the Severn at Stounnouth, a little below Stourport. 
Over this little river, wliofe length is not more than 
twenty miles, part of which was once navigable, are now 
erefted a great number of forges, flatting-mills, corn- 
mills, and other works of confiderable utility ; and to the 
fitnefs of its waters for the purpofe of dyeing, is attri¬ 
buted, in a confiderable degree, the unequalled luftre of 
the colours of the yarn tiled in the feveral branches of the 
weaving-manufactory here. 
The Staffordfliire and Worcefterlhire canal, which was 
completed in the year 1774, at an expence of one hundred 
and five thoufand pounds to the proprietors, and which 
opens an ealy communication between the feveral ports of 
Hull, Liverpool, Briftol, the town of Manchelter, and 
many other trading towns, and whereon more than two 
hundred boats, carrying from twenty to twenty-feven tons 
each, are continually palling and re-pafling, crofles the 
Stour at the diftance of about one hundred yards from the 
market-place, at the foot of the eminence whereon the 
church is erefled, at which place is a wharf and commo¬ 
dious warehoufes for depofiting the merchandife and 
other goods brought hither, or intended for exportation. 
The charge for toll and carriage of goods not liable tofuf- 
tain injury by water is two-pence halfpenny per ton for 
every mile. 
Along a pleafant walk, by the fide of the canal, or 
through the meadows near the margin of the river, and 
within the diftance of half a mile from the centre of the 
town, at a place called Round Hill, (belonging to Mat¬ 
thew Jeffreys, efq. of Franch, in this neighbourhood,) is 
a chalybeate fpring, the waters of which are very effica¬ 
cious in removing obftrubtions, and promoting the cure of 
many other internal complaints ; to this fpring numbers 
of the inhabitants, during the milder feafons of the year, 
daily refort; and for the ialubrious draught, of which all 
are allowed freely to partake, and whole healing virtues 
the writer of this article has eminently experienced, it 
would be ingratitude not to pay a tribute of acknow¬ 
ledgment to the proprietor. There are feveral other cha¬ 
lybeate fprings in the neighbourhood, of which that at 
Sandburn is the ftrongeft. 
In this town are three very refpeflable reading-focieties; 
whence it may readily be conceived, that, whillt the weal¬ 
thier inhabitants are cultivating their talte for ufeful lite¬ 
rature, the inltrudtion of the poor is not forgotten ; for, 
cxclufive of feveral Sunday-fchools, there are no lei's than 
KID 70? 
eight charity-fellools in this place, wherein the boys are 
inltrutted in reading, writing, and arithmetic; the girls 
in reading, knitting, and fewing. And fo felicitous are 
the manufadtors of thefe fchoois to (hatch unfortunate 
children from vice and ignorance, that, as an allurement 
to the parents of fuch children to fend them to one or 
other of thefe ufeful feminaries, and as a reward for im¬ 
provement and good behaviour, a confiderable number of 
the fcholars are provided with decent apparel; and in this 
refpedt it mull be allowed that the four fchoois under the 
patronage of the members of the eftablilhed church are 
pre-eminent; thefe, as well as the other four under the 
direction of the two denominations of difienters here, are 
partly endowed, and partly affifted by the donations ari- 
fing from annual charity-lermons. Here are twelve almf- 
lioufes, fix of which are very convenient habitations, plea- 
fantly fituated, and endowed each with about four gui¬ 
neas per annum. The other public charities, amounting 
annually to a confiderable fum, of which Witnell’s alms, 
producing about thirty-five pounds, are the largeft, are 
chiefly at the difpofal of the aldermen and church-war¬ 
dens for the time being, as appears by a regifter wherein 
the entries of their diftributions have been particularifed 
for a great number of years pall. It ftiould alfo be men¬ 
tioned, that in this town are about twenty-five friendly I'o- 
cieties, wherein more than eight hundred members, male 
and female, are aflociated, each lex apart, for the commend¬ 
able purpofe of fupporting each other in ficknefs and age. 
That part without the liberties of the town is called the 
Foreign. The principal hamlet in the Foreign of Kidder- 
minfter is Wribbenhall, dillant about three miles, and fe- 
parated from the town of Bevvdley (to which this pariffi 
extends) by a bridge over the Severn; this hamlet con¬ 
tains about one hundred and forty houl’es, and about five 
hundred inhabitants.—Mitton, is a chapel of eafe to Kid- 
derminfter, and contains about a hundred and forty houfes, 
with a fmall charity-fchool. Brili/k DircElory, vol.iii. 
KID'DING, f. The aft of bringing forth a kid ; of 
making fmall faggots. 
KID'DINGTON, a town in Oxfordffiire, four miles 
from Woodftock, and twelve from Oxford. It is fituated 
on the Glym river, which divides the pariffi in two parts, 
viz. Over and Nether Kiddington, in the latter of which 
Hands the church. This pariffi was given by king Off’a 
in 780 to Worcefter priory. Here king Ethejred had a pa¬ 
lace ; iti the garden of the manor-houfe is an antique font, 
brought from Edward the ConfeiTor’s chapel at Ifiip, where¬ 
in he received baptifm. At Hill-wood near this place is 
a Roman encampment in extraordinary prefervation, but 
little noticed. Britijh Directory, vol. iv. 
KID'DLE, Kidel or Kedel, f. [ kidellus , Lat.] A 
dam, or open wear, in a river, with a loop or narrow cut 
in it, accommodated for the laying of wheels or other en¬ 
gines to catch fifti. 2 Injl.fol. 38. The word is ancient, 
for we meet with it in Magna Charta, c. 24. and in a char¬ 
ter made by king John to the city of London. By ftat. 
1 H. IV. c. 12, it was accorded, inter alia, That a furvey 
fliould be made of the wears, mills, flanks, flakes, and Ai¬ 
de Is, in the great rivers of England. They are now called 
kettles, or kettle-nets, and are much ufed on the fea-coaits 
of Kent and Wales. Cowell. 
KIDE'LIA, atown of Ruffia, in the government of Vi- 
borg, on the north coaft of Lake Ladoga : forty-eight 
miles north-north-eaft of Kexholm. 
KI'DES, a town of Sweden, in the government of Ku¬ 
opio : eighty-three miles fouth-eaft of Kuopio. 
KIDGE, a fortified town of Perlia, in the province of 
Mecran : 600 miles fouth-ealt of Ifpahan, and 450 iouth- 
fouth-weft of Candahar. Lat. 26. 30. N. Ion. 61. 10. E. 
KID'LING, f. A young kid.—Climb’d mountains 
where the wanton kidling dallies. IV. Brown. 
To KID'NAP, v. a. [from kind, Dut. a child, and nap.] 
To Ileal children ; to ileal human beings. 
KID'N APPER,/! One who Heals human beings; a man- 
fteaier.—The man compounded with the merchant, -upon 
condition 
