DUDLEY,

Anciently called DUDELEI

IS situated at the northern extremity of the country; but the Castle belonging to it is in Staffordshire, being built on the summit of a hill, from whence there is a prospect over several of the neighbouring counties. The town was anciently a borough, and sent members to parliament: Bennet Andrew and Ralph Clerk were returned the 23d of Edward the first.

There are three charity schools; one founded about the year 1634, for fifty boys, by Richard Foley, of Stourbridge; another for the education of fifty girls; and the third is a free grammar school, endowed with a revenue of fifty pounds a year, by Attwood and Bismore, merchants, of London.

In the town are two churches; one dedicated to St. Edmunds, and the other to St. Thomas: They are both united in one vicarage.

The town is very and populous, and supposed to contain 2000 families. DUDLEY pays to the land tax, at four shillings in the pound, 206l. 19s. It paid to the poor in 1776, 891l. 9s. 9d. The people are chiefly employed in making nails and other articles in iron; likewise there are great quantities of lime stones found here.

The Castle was formerly a capacious building, with trenches cut round it out of the solid rock; a considerable part of walls still remains: It was erected about the year 700, by Dudo, a Saxon.

There are three fairs in the year, May 8th, August 5th, and October 2d, for cattle, horses, wool, and cheese; the weekly market is on Saturday: It is 120 miles distant for London, 10 miles from Birmingham and 26 from Worcester.

[From Perspective Views of the Market Towns within the County of Worcestershire, Drawn and Engraved by Thomas Sanders, Engraver and Drawing Master]

Source: Samuel & Nathaniel Buck, Views of Ruins of Castles & Abbeys in England, Part 2, 1726-1739 (nd), Arts, Languages and Literature, Birmingham Central Library.

Text: Taken from the original source

To the Right Honourable WILLIAM Lord Dudley & Ward, Baron of Birmingham in ye County of Warwick &c.

Owner of these remains.

This Prospect is humbly Inscribed by;

Y^r: Lordships Obedient Serv ^ts. Sam^l. & Nath^l. Buck.

DUDLEY CASTLE was built by Dudo or Dodo a Saxon about ye year 700. In K. Stephens reign, Gervaise de Pagenel possess’d it, but he dying without Issue Male, it came into ye family of ye Somery’s by Gervaise’s Sister marrying John de Someri. K. Hen. III. gave them a licence to make a Castle of it again (for it had been demolish’d and they depriv’d of ye power of making it such by K. Hen. II). In K. Ed. II. time it passed by the same failure with Margaret of ye Somerito ye Suttons family; who were created Lords Dudley: ye family still increasing in Grandeur, one of them was D. of Northumberland & E. of Warwick &c. in Ed. VI. reign: but Male issue again failing, it came by marriage to Hum: Lord Ward, in which Noble family it now remains: who are therefore, Lords Dudley & Ward.

S & N Buck Delin. et. Sculp^t. 1731.

This is the earliest surviving print of Dudley Castle. An engraving on copper, it was produced by the Dutch engraver, M Burghers and included in Plot’s Natural History of Staffordshire (1686). It shows the castle, the seat of the Ward family, barons of Dudley, set upon a richly wooded hill where deer graze in a clearing. In the foreground is a pastoral scene with cattle. The woodland did not last long. Views of the Castle by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck (c. 1731) and Thomas Sanders (c. 1777) show a hillside progressively shorn of trees. The Wards were keen to exploit the economic potential of their estates and the wood was cut down for fuel.

Robert Plot, The Natural History of Staffordshire (Oxford, 1686).

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

A picturesque view of a gateway and ruins.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. Drawn on Stone by E Bissell. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

This view of Dudley castle is taken from the same perspective as M Burgher in 1686. 200 years later the town of Dudley has grown around the castle and smoke pours from domestic and industrial chimneys.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. Drawn on Stone by E Bissell. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

The view of the Old Lime Quarry sets the distant castle within a geological and mining context.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. Drawn on Stone by E Bissell. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

A panoramic view of the Renaissance buildings at Dudley Castle.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. Drawn on Stone by E Bissell. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

Visitors to the Castle walk and relax in the grounds. An artist sketches in the foreground and birds encircle the ruins of the medieval keep.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. E Bissell Designer & Lithographer. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

“This picturesque view of a medieval gateway and Renaissance ruins is the first image in Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. A pencil note on the title page suggests that the prints were published in 1876, but the design and costumes of figures in the different landscape indicate an earlier date. They are lithographs, which were prints created from images drawn on stone. Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in Munich within the German kingdom of Bavaria in 1798 and spread to Britain in the early 19th century. Dudley Castle became a tourist attraction at this time and Bissell’s prints would have served this market.

Six Views of Dudley Castle, Drawn from Nature, and on Stone by E Bissell. Engraved on Stone by E Bissell. Printed at T Underworld’s Lithographic Establishment. Cherry Street, Birmingham.