Midland Churches: A History of the Congregations on - General ...

Opened 10 December, 1861.
First Meeting-house, opened 5 January, 1806.
MINISTERS.
James Scott ... ...
William Bowen, M.A. ...
William Cochrane ... ...
James Kedwards ... ..,
Thomas Bennett Broadrick ...
Thomas Pipe ... ...
Isaac Wrigley, B.A. ... ..,
The name, ' Lye,' is derived from <strong>the</strong> Saxon word Zey, meaning a pasture
farm, and <strong>the</strong> place is so called in old writings and in county histories.
Up to <strong>the</strong> middle <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> seventeenth century it was an open common, with
a few scattered houses. On this common, or Waste, a number <strong>of</strong> mud
huts were built by <strong>the</strong> nailmakers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> district about <strong>the</strong> year 1750-
whose rights to separate freeholds were substantiated when <strong>the</strong> Wnste was
enclosed in 1781."
The habits and manners <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se people were perhaps as rude and
barbarous as those <strong>of</strong> any o<strong>the</strong>r district in England. On this neglected
spot <strong>the</strong>re was no accommodation for public worship previously to 1790,
when James Scott, <strong>the</strong>n recently settled at Cradley, determined that he
would, if possible, be <strong>the</strong> means <strong>of</strong> remedying such an undesirable state <strong>of</strong>
things. From 1790 to 1792 he conducted services in licensed dwelling-
houses. Dr. Priestley, in his 'Appeal to <strong>the</strong> Public,' 1792--this date should
be carefully recollected-speaking <strong>of</strong> Scott and his Lye labours, says :-
The minister <strong>of</strong> Cradley waited upon <strong>the</strong> rector <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> parish and assured
him that he had no intention <strong>of</strong> disseminating any peculiar doctrines, that
his only motive was to serve <strong>the</strong> best interests <strong>of</strong> his neighbours, and that
if <strong>the</strong> people <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Establishment would subscribe towards <strong>the</strong> building <strong>of</strong>
a church, he would abandon his design and assist <strong>the</strong>m in <strong>the</strong>irs; but this
good young man has been unable to accomplish ei<strong>the</strong>r.
"Scott's " Stourbridge and its Vicinity."