Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Rowley Regis

ROWLEY REGIS, an urban sanitary district of Staffordshire, is situated on the Birmingham Canal, and on the Stourbridge branch of the Great Western Railway, 6 miles west of Birmingham. The original village surrounds the parish church, dating from the 13th century, but rebuilt in 1840 with the exception of the tower, which was also rebuilt in 1858. The village is situated in a rich coal and ironstone district, and round it numerous hamlets have grown up within recent years. Lately the parish has been erected into an urban sanitary district, governed by a local board of fifteen members. Besides collieries, iron works, and extensive quarries for "Rowley rag" (a basaltic intrusion), there are potteries, rivet, chain, and anchor works, breweries, and agricultural implement works, the district being one of the most important manufacturing centres of Staffordshire. The population of the urban sanitary district (area 3670 acres) in 1871 was 23,534 and in 1881 it was 27,385.