Juraj, -----Original Message-----Well Juraj, that's what makes us the BLACK COUNTRY. We aim to confuse at every step.----- And there's lots more of it. For example, until 1844 Cradley was part of the parish of Halesowen. Halesowen until that time was a detached part of Shropshire in Worcestershire, while Cradley was always firmly in Worcestershire. And I seem to recall to recall that there was a bit of Staffordshire in the Worcestershire island of Dudley that was in Staffordshire, hence the two parish churches in Dudley. It doesn't make sense, but we like it like that. Incidentally, when the Anglican Cradley Chapel (once a Baptist Chapel) became a Parish Church in its own right in 1844 someone omitted to dedicate it to a saint, an error that was not put right until its centenary in 1898 (on Wednesday June 29th at 7.30pm!). As Doreen says, we aim to confuse. Nigel Brown ENG-WOR-CRADLEY-L@rootsweb.com

Hi Nigel, > I seem to recall to recall that there was a bit of Staffordshire > in the Worcestershire island of Dudley that was in Staffordshire, > hence the two parish churches in Dudley. I think that bit was actually the Extra-Parochial "Dudley Castle Hill", which was (from time to time) itself an Offshore Island of Dudley !!! Despite being STS, its single house was included as WOR in the 1841 and 1851 Censuses. In 1865 it was brought within (although off-shore) Dudley Borough and transferred to WOR - but when the "New" Borough of Dudley was established in 1889 it was omitted (and promptly reverted to STS). It finally came home to roost in WOR when it and its surrounding bit of Coseley were brought within the expended boundary of Dudley Borough - and Dudley Castle Hill was Administratively Abolished once and for all - appropriately enough on All Fools' Day 1929. I'm not so sure about the two Parish Churches though..... According to the Statistical Summaries to the 1901 Census (where the Ecclesiastical Parishes of the Ancient [ie pre-1844] County were listed in some detail) Dudley was blessed with 6 CofE Churches/Parishes: St Thomas - the 'historical' parish, from which were created later: St Edmund (1844) St James the Great, Eve Hill (1844) St John, Kates Hill (1844) St Luke (1876) St Augustine, Holly Hall (1884) The 3 1844 ones (plus Netherton St Andrew) were all described as "District Churches" in the Census of Ecclesiastical Worship of 1851, and (with the exception of St Edmund) noted as being consecrated in 1840. St Edmund, though, merely returned itself as "pre-1800" - so I'd guess that it is the 'other parish church', but it was really no more than a Chapel of Ease of St Thomas until 1844. A Strange Lot our ancestors - and possibly even Stranger when they were from the Black Country!!!!! Gus ----- Original Message ----- From: Nigel Brown <nigel-brown@blueyonder.co.uk> To: <ENG-WORCESTER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 11:09 PM Subject: [WOR] We aim to confuse...