Page:The Grand junction railway companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (IA grandjunctionrai00free).pdf/136

 the various works avail themselves of to the utmost extent. The town is celebrated for the manufacture of all sorts of iron, tin, enamelled and japanned ware, steam-engines, machinery, and, indeed, every article of the iron trade. The Chapel is dedicated to St. Leonard; the living is a perpetual curacy, within the jurisdiction of the Dean of Wolverhampton. It is endowed with £400 from the Crown, and the same amount from private benefaction. The presentation is in the gift of the householders of the parish, both male and female having a right to vote. In 1829 a church was erected here, dedicated to St. Mary. Part of the expense was defrayed by the Parliamentary Commissioners. There are places of worship for several classes of Dissenters, and a Blue Coat School for six boys. Near here a fire has been burning in the earth for upwards of fifty years; it arises from a stratum of coal, 30 feet deep, and 4 thick, and it arose from the main strata having been cut from under it, which admits the air, and thus feeds the fire, which has defied every attempt which has been made to extinguish it.

11¼ 86

There is nothing worthy of note until we have cleared this cutting. At the 86th post to the right we then have a view of the coal-pits, for which this part of the country is celebrious. The steam engine may be seen. To the left is Bentley Hall, in which King Charles the First was for some time