72 BROMSGROVE.

and collecting the parochial rates. The soil is very fruitful in grain, and there are rich meadows, well watered by numerous streams. Potatoes are largely cultivated. There are chalybeate and petrifying springs in the neighbourhood of Barnt Green and Holywell Farm, at the foot of the Lickey.

And now let us take a very brief glance at the history and conditions of the place. At the Conquest it was in the King's demesne, and the ubiquitous Sheriff Urso had a good slice of it for his services to the Conqueror. Three hundred loads of wood were annually sent from this manor to the salt-works at Droitwich, and three hundred mitts of salt returned. No doubt the salt was sold at a good profit to all the neighbourhood by the agents of the lord of the manor. There were anciently fifteen villages and twelve manors in the parish, but many of these have now lost their names. The manor and chapelry of Kingsnorton was attached to Bromsgrove, and there were the chapelries of Withal, Moseley, and Chadwick. A short distance from the town is Grafton, a manor of itself, where is an ancient mansion, worthy of a visit. It belonged to the Staffords and Talbots, and the profits of the chapelry were assigned to provide tapers to burn before the tomb of King John in Worcester Cathedral. This same monarch granted a market to Bromsgrove every Tuesday, and fairs on Midsummer Day and the 1st of October; and his son, King Henry, gave Bromsgrove to the Priory of Worcester, ten marks out of the said church to go to the monks' infirmary, three to the pittancer, and the rest to hospitality and the poor. On this subject Habingdon says:- "King Henry 3rd gave to ye Priory of Worcester for his own soule & the soules of his father, ancestors, & successors, the patronage of Bromesgrave, whereon attendeth the faire chappell of Kingsnorton, with other chappells, a parish containing soe many & soe great freeholders as, if it exceedeth not, it equalleth the best of this shire." Another manor (Gannow) within this parish was once the property of the father of Ann Boleyn, one of the wives of