STOURPORT. 337

There is an acreage of 898, and a population of about 3,000 who are principally engaged in trades and manufactures. Mr. C. Harrison, Mr. T. Worth, and Mr. Bough, are in the carpet trade, and Messrs. Brinton and Lewis are yarn spinners. The hardwire trade is carried on extensively by Messrs. Baldwin, Son, and Co., ironfounders. This was for many years the only iron foundry in this district, supplying the country round for many miles with agricultural and machine coatings. Messrs. Baldwin, Son, and Co., also erected gas-works and supplied the town with gas at a time (1822) when but a few of even the large towns in the kingdom were lighted with gas. One of the largest lanyards in England here belongs to Messrs. J. C. and J. Rogers, and there are vinegar works conducted by Messrs. Swan and Co. Since the Severn Valley Railway found out the town - only a very recent occurrence - trade has improved here, while the Severn river trade has decreased. The improvements of the navigation came too late - thanks to the obstructive Gloucester interest - and although steam-tugs have been introduced they are seldom fully employed, while the injury done by them to the banks of the river is very great. This town sends two Commissioners to the Severn Board.

Among the institutions of the town are - 1, a church, erected in 1791 on the site of the old chapel for the hamlet of Mitton. It is a wretched brick affair, standing on an eminence near the entrance to the town, and has space for about a thousand worshippers, but no efforts of the Vicar have yet been successful in transforming the abominable pews into free open seats. Value of the living, £168; vicar, Rev. B. Gibbons; patron, the Vicar of Kidderminster. 2. The boys', girls', and infants' national and Sunday schools. 3. Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. John Wesley, on his visit to the place in 1787, calls it "a small, new-built village," and speaks of Mr. Heath, "a middle-aged clergyman, and his wife and two daughters, whose tempers and manners, so winning soft, so amiably mild, will do him honour where-