In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Redditch like this:
REDDITCH, a town and a township-chapelry in Tardebigg parish, Worcester. The town stands at the boundary with Warwickshire, and at the terminus of abranch railway, 1 mile W of the river Arrow, and 6 E S E of Bromsgrove; has, of late years, undergone great extension; carries on a vast manufacture of needles, fish-hooks, and similar articles; is a seat of petty-sessions and county courts; and has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station, two banking offices, two chief inns, a police station, a church, five dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholicchapel, a literary and scientific institute, a mixed national school, Wesleyan schools, a fair on the first Monday of Aug., another fair on the third Monday of Sept., and races on Whit-Monday and Whit-Tuesday. ...
The railway goes 4¾ miles northwestward, into junction with the Midland system at Barnt-Green; was authorized in 1858, on a capital of £35,000 in shares, and £11, 500 in loans; was opened in Sept. 1859; and was leased, in 1865, to the Midland. The church was built in 1855, at a cost of £7, 463; is in the decorated Gothic style; and consists of nave, aisles, and raised chancel, with tower and spire. Bordesley abbey occupied a site in the neighbourhood; and a chapel of it was the only place of worship for Redditch till 1807. The chapelry comprises 1,835 acres. Real property, £17, 265; of which £601 are in the railway, and £100 in gas-works. Pop. In 1851, 4, 802; in 1861, 5, 441. Houses, 1, 110. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Worcester. Value, £300.* Patron, Baroness Windsor.
Redditch through time
Click here for graphs and data of how Redditch has changed over two centuries. For statistics for historical units named after Redditch go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Redditch in Worcestershire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/500
Date accessed: 05th November 2024
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Redditch".