42 BEWDLEY, RIBBESFOBD, AND WRIBBENHALL.

"the brother who went on the circuit." These men by no means spared their trouble: preaching at Bewdley on the Sunday morning, they went to Stourport to dine, and preached there twice on the same day. When Wesley visited Bewdley on one occasion a man came out to beat a drum, but a gentleman of the town soon silenced him; and indeed the good old man seems to have been highly successful here.

Wribbenhall is divided from Bewdley by the Severn and its bridge. It is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the vicar of Kidderminster. Incumbent, Rev. A. W. Gurney. Value of living, £130 ; population, 1,142; church accommodation, 367; free seats, 210. Here is a miserable brick church, erected in 1701. Mr. Hemming has generously given a site for a new church, and a considerable sum has been subscribed towards this object, which, it is expected, will be fully carried out at no distant period. The burial ground attached to the site was consecrated in September last, and several interments have already been made in it. In this hamlet Mr. Sturge has wrought much good, especially by establishing a British school, where they say for sixpence a week a lad may receive a classical education! That gentleman, too, is a liberal supporter of the flourishing Working Men's Institute established in Bewdley four or five years ago. Then there is a " Mothers' Home," established by Miss Pountney upon Wyre Hill, and for some time carried on by her self-denying and unaided exertions - an admirable institution, now well supported. A charity also exists, called "The Mill and Meadow Charity," the origin of which seems to have been obscured by antiquity; but it consists of rents periodically distributed among any of the poor of the borough who like to apply.

Very pleasant spots surround Wribbenhall and Bewdley. Among these is Winterdyne House, built by a Winnington in the last century, but now the residence of Giles Shaw, Esq.; Spring Grove, belonging to W. Hemming, Esq.; W. Essington Essington, Esq.'s mansion at Ribbesford, and many others. There are mineral springs at Sandbourne, the seat of Slade