c tale of Romany life, "Lavengro."

The Waterglade Tavern marked the spot on the road between the two
old-world villages of Willenhall and Bilston, where it dipped to the bed
of the stream.

The Woolpack Inn, at Short Heath, is one of the oldest licensed houses in
that locality.

The First and Last Inn, New Invention, was so dubbed because at one time
it was the first licensed house when approaching from Wednesfield, and
the last when going the other way out.

The sign rhymes of Willenhall belong to the hackneyed type. The Gate
Inn, New Invention, has the well-known couplet:--

This Gate hangs well and hinders none:
Refresh and pay and travel on.

The Lame Dog Inn, at Short Heath, is not very original with:--

Step in, my friends, and stop a while,
To help a lame dog over the stile.

Enough has been said on the subject to arouse the interest of patriotic
Willenhaleans. One reflection in conclusion--in the old days licensed
houses were invariably kept by families of position and substance, and it
is remarkable to discover the great number of professional and well-to-do
men of the present day who were born in public-houses. It is so with
regard to Wednesbury and Darlaston, and even more so with regard to
Willenhall.

[Picture: Decorative design]

XXXI.--Old Families and Names of Note.

To not a few of the old names of those who have lived their lives in
Willenhall, and left their mark indelibly fixed upon its annals,
attention has already been paid in treating of the various matters with
which their respective life-work was associated. It remains here only to
add a few more names to our list of Willenhall worthies, and to
supplement a few biographical details to those already mentioned.

The index to the names of landowners would be incomplete without that of
Offley. In the year 1555 Alderman Offley, a citizen of London, acquired
lands in "Willenhall, otherwise Wilnall." About the same date this
opulent merchant became lord of the manor of Darlaston. (See History of
Darlaston, pp. 39-40.)

An important old Willenhall family, as may have been gathered in the
course of these Annals, was that of Hincks. Their family residence still
stands in Bilston Street, near to the Market Place; a descendant, and
apparently the only representative of the Hincks family surviving is Mrs.
Samuel Walker, of Bentley Hall.

Of Carpenter, Willenhall's most famous inventor,