The _Lye Works_ have the reputation of being the oldest in this district, having been established in 1750. Its present proprietors are Messrs. William King Perrens, of Wilmcote Hall, and George King Harrison, of Hagley. They are makers of fire-bricks of all kinds, blast furnaces, glass-house furnaces, gas retorts, gas ovens, &c., and are proprietors of best Glasshouse pot-clay. The other makers at Stourbridge are-- F. T. Rufford Hungary Hill. Hickman & Co. Haygreen and Brettell Lane Works. Perrens & Harrison The Lye and Brettell Lane Works. E. H. J. Pearson The Delph and Tintern Abbey Works. Jas. B. Fisher & Co. The Hayes. Mobberley & Bayley The Thorns and Cradley. King Brothers Netherend. Harris & Pearson Amblecote. Edward Bowen Clattershall. John Hall Amblecote and Bug Hole. Trotter, Haines & Corbett Brettell Lane. AND John Walker Kingswinford, near Dudley. The Himley Fire Brick Company Near Dudley. I am indebted to Mr. George King Harrison, of the “Lye Works,” Stourbridge, for the following interesting particulars respecting Stourbridge clay. He says-- “The earliest account I have been able to obtain respecting Stourbridge fire-clay shows that, in the year 1566, a lease was granted for the purpose of getting and digging Glasshouse pot-clay. It is probable at that time it had only recently been discovered, and that its peculiar properties and purity, with the well-known abundance of fuel in the neighbourhood, were the causes of the establishment of the glass manufacture, which was introduced by refugees from Lorraine about 1557. It is believed that one of the first glasshouses was erected in a field (near to Stourbridge Station), and which is known by the name of the Glasshouse Field at the present time; an old plan shows the position of the works, foundations of furnaces, and portion of old furnace.” Dr. Plot, in his “History of Staffordshire,” date about 1686, says--