West Bromwich in historic gazetteers

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

West Bromwich, parl. and mun. bor. and par., Staffordshire, 4¼ miles NW. of Birmingham by rail, 5719 ac., pop. 56,295; 2 Banks, 2 newspapers. West Bromwich appears in Domesday Book as Bromwic, and in the 12th century was made the seat of a Benedictine priory. It is, however, entirely of recent growth, having at the close of the 18th century been only a rural village amid a barren heath. It is one of the Black Country towns, owing its prosperity to the rich local mines of ironstone and coal, and to the numerous branches of canals and railways by which it is inter-sected. It carries on mfrs. in all departments of Birmingham hardware; it has furnaces for the smelting of iron ore, foundries, forges, slitting mills, and anchor and chaincable works; also breweries, brass foundries, boat yards, limekilns, brick yards, cement works, &c. The public buildings erected in 1875 comprise a town hall, market hall, free library, public baths, &c. West Bromwich was included in the parl. bor. of Wednesbury in 1867; it was made a mun. bor. in 1382, and a parl. bor. in 1885; it returns 1 member.

Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887). John Bartholomew

Bromwich, West, parl. and mun. bor., and par., Staffordshire, 4½ miles NW. of Birmingham by rail, 5719 ac., pop. 56,295; 3 Banks, 2 newspapers; has coal and iron mines, and hardware mfrs. West Bromwich was made a mun. bor. in 1882, and a parl. bor. in 1885; it returns 1 member to Parliament.