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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ec8a4e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62276 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62276) diff --git a/old/62276-0.txt b/old/62276-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bc4e879..0000000 --- a/old/62276-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2675 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historical and Descriptive Guide through -Shrewsbury, by S. F. Williams - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Historical and Descriptive Guide through Shrewsbury - - -Author: S. F. Williams - - - -Release Date: May 29, 2020 [eBook #62276] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE -THROUGH SHREWSBURY*** - - -Transcribed from the 1881 Drayton Bros. edition by David Price, email -ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the British Library. - - [Picture: Book cover] - - - - - - HISTORICAL - AND - DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE - THROUGH - SHREWSBURY. - - - [Picture: Coat of Arms, Floreat Salopia] - - BY S. F. WILLIAMS. - - * * * * * - - _NEW AND REVISED EDITION_ - - 1881. - - * * * * * - - SHREWSBURY: - DRAYTON BROS., PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS. - - - - -PREFATORY NOTE. - - -This “Historical Guide” has no pretensions to the value of either a full -history or a complete handbook of Shrewsbury. It consists simply of a -sketch of the historical associations of Shrewsbury, and of a directory -just sufficiently complete to conduct residents or visitors to the -principal objects or places of interest in the town. In the Guide, the -object has been to preserve the historical element. - - - - -HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. - - -“Proud Salopians!” Well, have we not some good reasons for being proud? -Is it not natural that as Shrewsbury has been the scene of important -events and incidents, we should feel a little inordinate self-esteem? -Hamlet will have it that the poor should not trumpet their own praises; -but we are rich, and therefore we can indulge in some degree of conceit. -Have we not something to be vain about? Have we not found homes and -hiding-places for kings? Have we not had a mint here and made -money—which is a difficult thing for most people to do? Has not “the -finest legislative assembly in the world”—the British Parliament—been -held here? Have we not received Charter upon Charter from the hands of -kings, and “advanced them loans”—without security? Has not an English -monarch actually sat in Shrewsbury, wearing a real crown? Have we not -contributed thousands of men to the protection of the crown and dignity? -Did not that “glorious old martyr”—Charles I., who was “murdered” by -Oliver Cromwell—raise an army here, and did he not lay his uneasy head in -a house on the Wyle Cop? Finally, not least though last, did not -Falstaff, that “gross, fat man,” foolish, witty, and blusterous, “fight -one long hour by Shrewsbury clock”? He says he did, if he may be -believed; and is not that something to boast of? Treasuring up these -things, is there not some justification for our being proud? - - _Breathes there a man with soul so dead_ - _Who never to himself hath said_, - _This is my own my native town_? - _If such there be_, _go mark him well_. - -Douglas Jerrold said that there are some men who walk half-an-inch higher -to heaven by what they tread upon. If Jerrold is right Shrewsbury people -should be nearer to heaven than most folk, for, according to general -opinion, we stand with extreme erectness on our self. And well we may. -The town itself stands high, and the character generously attributed to -us is in harmony therewith. It is situated on two hills of gentle -ascent, which gradually rise from the bed of the river Severn. Who has -not heard of Sabrina? The Welsh had the good taste to call it “The queen -of rivers.” Its name is chronicled in history, and its beauty has been -sung by poets. Leland says— - - _Built on a hill fair Salop greets the eye_, - _While Severn forms a crescent gliding by_. - -Shakespeare alludes to it as “the gentle Severn with the sedgy-bank,” -“the sandy-bottomed Severn.” It is an important river of England. It is -the chief river of Wales. It has its cradle on Plinlimmon Hill on the -verge alike of Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire, not far from the coast -of Cardigan Bay. It glides on between the everlasting rocks and fairy -valleys, the fields and forests, where the wind, that “grand old harper, -harps on his thunder-harp of pines.” It enters Shropshire at Melverley, -and receives the waters of the Verniew at a ferry with an unpronounceable -Welsh name; forms a crescent near Montford Bridge and Fitz; surrounds the -Isle; then gracefully twines round Shrewsbury on all sides except the -north; streams on through Uffington, skirting Haughmond Hill, and -presenting with the outstretched landscape a beautiful edge to the grand -old rocks; proceeds on its course to Atcham, where it receives the waters -of the Tern: runs on placidly near Cound; noiselessly steals by -Coalbrookdale, which, celebrated for its iron manufactures, presents a -mingled picture of utility and poetry; passes then by Coalport, famous -for its china works; glides through Bridgnorth; washes a narrow slip of -land in the county of Stafford; flows on to Bewdley, Upton, Tewkesbury, -and Gloucester; receives the Stroudwater at Framilode; joins the Hereford -and Gloucester canal opposite Gloucester; and becomes absorbed in the sea -at the Bristol Channel, about twelve miles from Bristol. Formerly the -Severn ran in five channels at the eastern side of Shrewsbury, and spread -into a marshy lake, which extended from the foot of the Wyle Cop to the -site of the Abbey. The river abounds—or did abound—with salmon, trout, -pike, shad, flounders, and carp. The river was free, because there was -no Board of Conservators, and salmon was not a dish exclusively for the -aristocracy. The distance of the Severn from its source to its entrance -into the sea is about 250 miles. In point of celebrity it ranks next to -the Thames; in magnificence it is excelled, in beauty and diversity of -scenery it is equalled by none in our land. - -The county encompassed by the Severn is undoubtedly of great antiquity, -and of very aristocratic reputation. The capital of it—Shrewsbury—dates -back to that indefinite and undiscoverable period familiarly called “time -immemorial.” A local historian says that one of the earliest names by -which it has been recognised is Careg Hydwyth, “the rock covered with -shrubs.” The Britons called it Pengwerne, a brow or hill of elders, -because there were numbers growing on the spot. The Welsh gave it one of -those awful names which tax the courage of Englishmen to encounter, but -which signified “an eminence surrounded by water.” The Saxons named it -Scrobbesbyrig, an appellation which may have been derived either from the -fact that the town was encompassed with shrubs, or, not from the natural -aspect of the place, but from the name of some possessor of -“Sciropescire” or district territory, under the denomination of Scrope, -Scropesbyrig. Subsequently the Normans slightly altered the designation -to Sciropesberie, afterwards Schrosberie, and Salopesberie, whence we -have Salop and Shrewsbury. - -Who laid the foundations of Shrewsbury, and at what period they were -laid, are questions which have elicited various opinions. Tristram -Shandy maintained in a grave and elaborate argument there was no doubt -whatever that he had been born; and so we suppose with equal certainty -there can be no denial that Shrewsbury was built by some person or -persons unknown. The first thing we hear about it is that it was a city -of refuge for the Britons to whom it offered a retreat when they were -driven by the Saxons from the ancient fortress of Uriconium. For the -Saxons—valorous and patriotic, but fierce, warlike, barbarous, the German -“Scourges of God”—after conquering Kent, carried on their ambitious -struggles with the Britons until the latter all over the little island -were completely defeated, the Silures in Pengwerne, though the most -heroic of the Britons, among the rest. Cynddrwyn about the middle of the -sixth century had possession of Uriconium. His son, Cynddylan, was a -British chieftain and had his royal palace at Shrewsbury; and when the -devastating Saxon, in his career of spoliation, made inroads into this -district for the purpose of expelling the Britons from Uriconium, -Cynddylan led an armed force from Shrewsbury over the Tern by Atcham for -the defence of his father. But the Britons were defeated in the battle -which ensued, and, having lost Cynddylan who was slain in the encounter, -fled to Shrewsbury, which they called Pengwerne. Llywarc Hên, a prince -of the Cambrian Britons, who lived in the 6th century, mentions that name -in his writings; and from him it also appears that several of the -principal towns of the county had their rude beginnings in that early -period. The theme of Llywarc’s metrical composition is our mountains, -our river, and our “dwelling-places.” - -The peninsular situation of Pengwerne appeared to the Britons to afford -them a secure retreat from their Saxon foes. The trees and shrubs which -covered the more uncultivated parts of the county spread into forests, -obstructed the course of streams, and thus caused stagnation and the -formation of lakes and marshes. Amid the underwood, the thickets, and -morasses the fugitives hid themselves. But they were soon disturbed. -Pengwerne was not to be their eternal city, their everlasting habitation. -They had founded a county hereafter to be famous in the history of -England, to be the theatre of one great national tragedy and of several -important dramas. Then they were followed with fire and sword by the -Saxons from Uriconium, who spread destruction in their path, pillaged and -devastated, and finally reduced the place to ashes. Llywarc makes the -desolation of Pengwerne the subject of an elegy, and calls upon the -maidens to “quit their dwellings, and behold the habitation of -Cynddyllan,” the royal residence of their chieftain, wrapped in flames. - -A few years later we find Pengwerne inhabited by a King of Powis who -elevated it to a position of some importance by selecting it as his -capital. It then ranked as one of the principal of the twenty-eight -cities of Britain—at present it is not easy to say what rank it holds. -For two centuries—that is, to the close of the eighth century—it was torn -asunder by internal feuds and sanguinary contests between native princes. -Every man’s house was not then his castle. The few arts of civil life -were neglected and forgotten. It is probable that the whole of Pengwerne -Powis consisted of nothing more dignified than a few hovels, surrounded -by a ditch or rampart of unhewn logs for the residence of the prince and -the officers of religion, some wattled huts, with a fold or two for sheep -and cattle. - -At the end of the eighth century, and during the reign of the Mercian -King Offa, the Shrewsbury portion of Powis was surrendered by treaty to -the Saxons. It was no longer a metropolis, but it retained, even in -Alfred’s time, the distinguished name of Pengwerne. Scrobe, however, was -substituted for Pengwerne in the reign of his successor, Edward the -Elder, who held a mint here, and on one side of the coin was the -inscription, _Edward Rex Angliæ_, and on the reverse, _Aelmer on Scrobe_. - -Proceeding later on we come to the Danish invasion when Shrewsbury was an -object of Danish cruelty in those struggles which took place between the -ferocious pirates from Denmark and Scandinavia and the Saxons. At the -time the Danes under Sween landed in the Isle of Wight, King Ethelred was -at Shrewsbury. Here he called a council of his nobles to decide what -measures should be adopted to effectually put a stop to the atrocities -and limit the power of the Danes. A purchase of peace, advised by Edric, -Duke of Mercia, was agreed upon; and England had to bear the infamy of -obtaining the semblance of quiet (for the nation was soon again -disturbed) by the payment of £30,000 sterling. - -The character of Duke Edric was stained by a foul and treacherous murder -committed near Shrewsbury. Edric invited Duke Alshelm, a royal prince, -to a banquet, and afterwards induced him to accompany a hunting party. -During the chase Edric led Alshelm, his chief guest, into a wood where a -butcher of the town named Godwin Porthund, who had been employed for the -purpose, lay concealed. This ruffian seized an opportunity to attack -Alshelm, who was killed. It was this dastardly crime which caused the -order recorded in Domesday Book that whenever the sovereign came here -twelve of the citizens should constantly guard his person, and twelve -should invariably attend him with weapons of defence when he went out -hunting. - -In the general victories of the Danes Shrewsbury revolted from the Saxon -rule, and rendered allegiance to Canute; but in 1016 Edmund, son of -Ethelred, marched to the town from the North, re-captured it, and -punished his faithless subjects with great cruelty. - -At the Norman conquest Shrewsbury was known from its paying “gelt,” that -is, money for 200 hides of land. Of course, it did not escape the -barbarities of William the Conqueror. The Welsh, about 1067 laid siege -to the town, but William, coming hither from York, opposed the besiegers -with the same relentlessness, the same cruelty that characterised the -violent policy he everywhere else pursued. - -In the reign of William the Conqueror the Earls of Shrewsbury held their -court at Shrewsbury, which was then the capital of the earldom. William -conferred the earldom, and with it a grant of the town and a considerable -portion of the county, upon Roger de Montgomery, a near relative. -William rewarded his commanders with estates—a very excellent -remuneration for their services. These, given by the king, were held -under the Earl of Shrewsbury; and amongst their fortunate possessors were -ancestors of the families of Waring and Corbett. Both Roger and Robert -Corbett held lordships or manors under Roger de Montgomery—the former to -the number of twenty-four. Military offices appear to have been -extremely profitable things in these days—the honours were something more -valuable than crosses and medals. - -The usages of Shrewsbury recorded in Domesday Book peril the basis of the -fancy that their is a divinity about a king. It was ordered, for -instance, that wherever the king slept in Shrewsbury twelve of the “best -citizens” should be deprived of “balmy sleep” to guard him—him whom the -celestial powers have been supposed to hedge. What if the monarch be a -queen? For her safety no provision seems to have been made. It was -further ordered that when the king went out hunting twelve trusty men -should be sent about him to protect him; and that when he left the -city—Shrewsbury being then called a city—the sheriff should send twenty -horses—whether with or without riders is not said—to conduct him a short -distance into Staffordshire. There is a strong element of non-divinity, -too, about some other requirements, such, for example, as these: that the -masters of the mint, of whom there were three, should pay the king 20s. -at the end of every fifteen days while the money coined here continued in -circulation; that the executors of every deceased burgess should pay the -king 20s.; that every burgess who shall experience the misfortune of -having his house burned down should forfeit to the king (who was least -injured) 40s., and to his two nearest neighbours (who were most injured, -or at least jeopardised) 2s. each, and that every woman marrying should -pay fees to the king—a widow 20s., but a spinster (who was libelled by -this valuation) only 10s. From other customs narrated in Domesday Book -we learn that in King Edward’s time there were 250 houses in Shrewsbury, -and an equal number of burgesses, who paid £7 16s. 8d. per annum in -excise, and that the city was rated at 100 hides, of which the church of -St. Alkmund had two, St. Julian half of one, St. Millburg one, St. Chad -three and a half, St. Mary one rood, Duke Edric three hides, and the -Bishop of Chester three hides. Some light, too, is thrown upon the -“treatment of criminals.” Those who “broke the peace, given under the -king’s own hand,” were outlawed; those who disturbed the peace were -ordered to pay a forfeit of 10s.; and those who drew blood in a fight -were fined 40s. - -At the beginning of the 12th century, two years after the accession of -Henry I., signs of disloyalty manifested themselves at Shrewsbury. Roger -de Belesme, son of Roger Earl of Shrewsbury, who is described as “a rash -and discontented young man,” was in favour of the pretensions of Duke -Robert to the crown. He carried his views to the length of rebellion, -and, to be prepared for emergencies, fortified his castles in Shropshire, -and built a wall on each side of Shrewsbury Castle. One portion of this -wall stands now on the Dana, another in Water Lane, and another along the -Severn footpath on the Wyle Cop side of the railway bridge. Henry, who -had himself reached the throne by an act of usurpation, declared “the -rash young man” a traitor, and prepared to execute vengeance upon him. -He marched through Bridgnorth, capturing it, to Shrewsbury, with a force -of 60,000 soldiers, to besiege the town. Three days he gave the -governors of the castle to consider whether they should lay down their -arms, and threatened that if the Castle were not delivered to him at the -end of that time, he would attack it and hang every person he seized -therein. The Earl surrendered, implored the mercy of this merciless -king, acknowledged his crime of treason, and was banished to Normandy by -Henry who took possession of the town “to the general joy,” says one, “of -all the people.” Henry granted the town a Charter, and there followed a -succession of 32 Royal Charters to the second year of the reign of James -II. The earliest Charter preserved in the archives of the Corporation is -dated November 11th, 1189, the first year of Richard I. - -During the civil wars between Stephen and Matilda, or the Empress Maud, -as she is sometimes called, Baron William Fitz Allen, governor of the -town, and sheriff of the county, who resided in the castle, espoused the -cause of the Empress; but the town, after some resistance, was taken by -assault, the baron’s estates forfeited, and several of the garrison -hanged. Allen himself was compelled to escape and left the castle in -possession of the king, who had conducted the siege in person. Allen -fled to Matilda, and when she was finally necessitated to take refuge in -Normandy he repaired to the court of France, where he remained until the -accession of Henry II., when he returned, and all his estates, with the -government of Shrewsbury, were restored to him. - -In the early part of the next reign—that of John—numerous engagements -happened on the Welsh borders between the royal forces and the Welsh; and -Shrewsbury became the scene of several contests between the same -apparently deadly and irreconcilable foes. Now it was captured by the -Welsh; then they were beaten, dispersed, and the town retaken by the -king. Peace was entered into only to be soon violated. Boys were -exchanged as hostages for the due observance of the treaties. These were -broken and the boys hung. Henry III. had his hands full with the -frequent incursions of the Welsh. One year they, and the next the king, -were masters of the town. The king and Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, were -constantly at war. In 1215 Llewellyn held the town and castle with a -large army. In 1220 Henry had succeeded to the possession of it. -Animosities, however, continued to subsist between them; and thus the -disturbances were prolonged, each party being alternately now victor and -now vanquished, for a term of upwards of 80 years, from the reign of -John, about 1200, to the infancy of that of Edward I., about 1282. -During this protracted period of assault and counter assault—a period of -great distress for the inhabitants who suffered from these perpetual -contests, and peculiarly from the depredations of the Welsh—the town -sustained the penalty of no less than seven sieges. The most notable and -the most serious occurred in 1233, when the place was partly burned down, -nearly every house plundered, and numbers of the inhabitants killed by -Llewellyn, assisted by the Earl of Pembroke and other noblemen. Peace -was once more obtained by offers of pardon to the Welsh on condition of -their obedience. The terms were accepted; but in 1241 it again became -necessary for Henry to march against the restless Llewellyn. A -rebellions spirit also appeared about 1256 in the person of Simon de -Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who seized the town without material -opposition. In 1267 disturbances again broke out. Henry appeared at -Shrewsbury at the head of his army to quell the discord. War was on the -eve of being renewed when Llewellyn submitted, and peace once more was -effected. In 1269 Henry’s eldest son was appointed governor of the town -and castle, on the 23rd of September. Still the government of Shrewsbury -oscillated between the Welsh and the sovereign power; and in 1277, Edward -I, there was another open rupture. A novel course was adopted. -Hostilities had been waged fruitlessly. Now the Courts of Exchequer and -King’s Bench were removed to Shrewsbury that “they (the Welsh) might be -awed into submission, and all necessary help be at hand for taming them.” -The condition of the citizens was most distressing. The prey of their -Celtic neighbours, they were also they prey of the wolves which inhabited -the desolate mountains of the Principality, and which in herds ravaged -the surrounding districts. About 1282, however, the Welsh were finally -subdued; and their submission to the English government, which was then -accomplished, has unquestionably been beneficial to themselves. - -A Parliament was held here about Michaelmas, 1283, by Edward I., and -adjourned to Acton Burnell. The Lords sat in a castle, but the Commons -in a barn. The deliberations and negotiations were only of slight -moment. They referred to nothing more important than the most effective -way of securing payment of debts—a matter upon which information would be -thankfully received by some in these days—and to the course to be taken -with David, brother of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales. But the Parliament is -memorable from its having been the first national convention in which the -Commons had any share by legal authority. David, who had been pledged to -Edward, and created by him Earl of Denbigh, but afterwards joined his -brother Llewellyn in resisting an invasion of Edward’s army into -Anglesea, was condemned to die the death of a traitor. The head of -Llewellyn was sent to the king at Shrewsbury, by his command it was sent -to London, where it was placed on the Tower with a crown of willows—an -accompaniment of mockery. The person of David was brought in chains to -Shrewsbury. He was tried and convicted of high treason for obeying the -instincts of a patriot. The punishment was carried out with the greatest -ignominy. He was first drawn through the town at the hind of a horse; -then he was hanged; then he was beheaded; then his body was quartered, -and his intestines burned: and as the conclusion of the tragedy, his head -was sent to London, exposed on the Tower beside that of his brother, and -his four quarters to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester. With -the butchery of David’s corpse the conquest of Wales was complete. - -Nearly forty years later, namely, in 1322, Edward II. marched through -Shrewsbury from Worcester with his army. The burgesses went out to meet -him clothed in armour, and conducted him with acclamations into the town. - - [Picture: Shrewsbury Grammar School] - -Another Parliament was held here by Richard II. in the end of 1397 or the -beginning of 1398, in the chapterhouse of the old monastery, where the -Abbey Church now stands. It was called “The Great Parliament,” partly -from the momentous nature of the state affairs transacted, but -principally from the number of earls and other nobles that attended. It -was held here because the king declared that “he bore great love to the -inhabitants of these parts, where he had many friends.” He sat at this -session with the crown upon his head; and through his instrumentality -several exorbitant acts were passed, which, however, were repealed in the -succeeding reign of Henry IV., and which formed a count in the indictment -that resulted in the deposition of this king. - - - - -THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY. - - -The reign of Henry IV. is distinguished by the “Battle of Shrewsbury,” -one of the most terrible battles recorded in the History of England. -Henry was surrounded on all sides by difficulties and dangers. His -nobles were animated by mutual hostilities. His subjects in Wales seized -the opportunity which the discontent among the aristocracy of England -gave them, and broke out in insurrection. Inspired and guided by Owen -Glendower, the indomitable Welsh fought a long and tedious battle, in -which the royal representative, Sir Edmund Mortimer, was taken prisoner. -Mortimer’s nephew, the Earl of March, was also carried into Wales. Henry -could not be persuaded to offer a ransom for the liberty of Mortimer. -His refusal embittered the Percies, to whose assistance he owed his -crown. During this unsettled state of affairs the Scots made incursions -into England. The peers consented to attend the king in an expedition -against Scotland. The expedition proved abortive. Henry found that -Richard III. would not obey his mandate to do homage to him for his -crown; he found that the Scots would not submit; he found that they would -not give him battle. He therefore withdrew and disbanded his army. The -Scots, resolved to punish Henry for this miserable attempt at -subjugation, marched into the northern counties of England at the head of -Earl Douglas. They were totally routed in the battle which ensued at -Holmedon; and Douglas, with a number of nobles, was taken prisoner. -Henry ordered the Earl of Northumberland not to ransom the prisoners. -Northumberland had a right to ransom or return them. A dispute was the -result. The relations between the sovereign and the Percies were more -deeply embittered, and Northumberland was forbidden by Henry to enter the -court. - - _Get thee gone_, _for I do see_ - _Danger and disobedience in thine eye_. - _O_, _Sir_, _your presence is too bold and peremptory_, - _And Majesty may never yet endure_ - _The moody frontier of a servant brow_. - _You have good leave to leave us_: _when we need_ - _Your use and counsel_, _we shall send for you_. - -The Earl was disgusted and indignant at the ingratitude of Henry. It was -by his aid that Henry had advanced to the throne. Henry had conferred -upon him some gifts in return, but Northumberland was not easily -satisfied. Henry, on the one hand, was jealous of the power which had -seated him on the throne; and the earl, on the other, was discontented -with the compensation which Henry had made. The interference of the king -with the right of Northumberland to dispose of his prisoners according to -his own wish was deemed a fresh insult and injury. Northumberland -determined upon revenge by overturning the throne which had been -established principally by him. To this end he and his adherents -proclaimed that Richard was alive, but that having been satisfactorily -disproved, he planned a scheme for defending the claim of Mortimer to the -crown. It was laid that the armies of Wales and Scotland should be -united. Mortimer entered into covenant with Northumberland to bring an -army into the Marches, which the Welsh, commanded by Glendower, were to -join. The Earl of Worcester, brother of Northumberland, joined the -forces, and in order to win over the Scots to the compact, Douglas and -the other prisoners were set at liberty. At the moment when everything -was ready for an engagement Northumberland was suddenly seized with a -dangerous malady at Berwick. The conduct of the army was taken by his -son Percy, surnamed Hotspur, this “Mars in swaddling clothes,” “this -infant warrior,” who - - _Doth fill fields with harness in the realm_ - _Turns head against the lion’s armed jaws_, - _Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on_ - _To bloody battles and to bruising arms_. - -Hotspur, along with the magnanimous and martial Douglas, marched the -troops towards Shrewsbury, where it was intended to join the forces of -the Welsh under Glendower. The king, aware of the importance of -celerity, hurried down to Shrewsbury before the arrival of Hotspur, whose -design was to reach here first. Glendower had not brought his army up, -but Hotspur nevertheless resolved to make a stand. He had a force of -14,000 carefully selected soldiers. He had, too, the advantage of choice -of ground. The animosity had reached its height on both sides. A -general engagement was inevitable. It was brought to a head by the -impatience of Percy on the one side, and by the policy of the king on the -other, the king believing that without the aid of Glendower the defeat of -Percy was secure. On the evening previous to battle Percy sent to Henry -a manifesto in which he renounced his allegiance, set the sovereign at -defiance, enumerated the grievances of which the nation had abundant -reason to complain. He upbraided him with perjury, with infidelity to -the late monarch, with aiding the murder of that prince, with usurping -the title of the house of Mortimer, with adopting the most crooked and -cruel policy, with burdening the nation with unrighteous taxes, and with -corrupting the Parliamentary elections. This added fuel to the flame. -This intensified the quarrel between them. - - _These things indeed you have articulated_, - _Proclaimed at market-crosses_, _read in churches_, - _To face the garment of rebellion_ - _With some fine colour that may please the eye_ - _Of fickle changelings and poor discontents_, - _Which gape and rub the elbow at the news_ - _Of hurly-burly innovations_. - -When the morning of the 21st of July, 1403, dawned, the two armies were -drawn up in array at a place then called Oldfield, Bullfield, and -Haitefield, subsequently Battlefield, near Shrewsbury. Percy held the -most advantageous ground, but the king, to balance the loss of superior -position, made a most skilful disposition of his men. Hotspur addressed -his men, telling them that they must either conquer or die an ignominious -death. They replied with shouts of applause. The king sent the Abbot of -Shrewsbury to offer pardon, but it was useless: Hotspur would not lay -down arms. He was asked why he appeared to oppose his king? In reply he -repeated the accusations of the manifesto. Henry counselled him to -confide in his royal clemency. Percy peremptorily declared that he would -not, and thereupon the standard bearer of the king’s army marched -forward, and the battle commenced. Terrible was the shock of opposing -forces. It was one of the most fearful actions in all our history. It -began with a shower of arrows on both sides. The Scots followed with a -rush of tremendous fury upon the front of the royal line, and put them -into temporary confusion. The king, however, was in the thickest of the -fight, and was known to his soldiers, although arrayed in a manner which -effectually prevented his being recognised by his enemies. His presence -lent new courage to his partially disorganised forces. Though foremost -among the foremost Hotspur and Douglas tried in vain to discover him. A -device of concealment had been adopted. Several were armed like the -king, and thus it was impossible to distinguish the royal warrior. But -at every one that was conspicuous Hotspur and Douglas furiously charged -with swords and lances. The gap in the royal line had nearly decided the -victory by disordering the king’s army. It was a daring and dashing -move, and spread dismay among the disconcerted, but it evinced more -impetuosity than judgment. It was one road to victory to force a way -into the centre of the king’s forces, but it opened up a path into which -Hotspur’s men were unable to follow. Seeing this, the king ordered his -reserve to be brought up. The promise of triumph was lost to Hotspur. -The reinforcements turned the scale. Hotspur’s army was defeated, and -fled in great confusion, after a severe contest of three hours duration. -Douglas performed feats of incredible valour. Hotspur sustained his fame -for supernatural courage; but the moment he observed the certainty of -defeat, he rushed into the hottest part of the battle, and was killed, -some say by Prince Henry. - - _Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere_, - _Nor can one England brook a double reign_ - _Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales_. - -The loss of life was fearful. The dead lay in heaps all around. There -were slain no less than 2,300 gentlemen, and about 6,000 private men, of -whom two-thirds belonged to Hotspur’s army. On the side of the king, who -fought desperately, and was throughout the engagement in the very middle -of the fight, slaying, it is said, thirty-six persons with his own hand, -there were 1,600 killed and about 3,000 wounded. Among the killed were -the Earl of Stafford, and ten new knights who had been knighted on the -same morning, only a few hours previously. Douglas and Worcester were -taken prisoners. Worcester on the following Monday was beheaded at -Shrewsbury, at the High Cross, that is, at the top of Pride Hill. Sir -Theobald Trussel, Baron of Kinderton, and Sir Richard Vernon, met the -same fate at the same time. Douglas, who had fallen from a crag of a -rock on Haughmond Hill before being taken prisoner, was treated with the -courtesy due to his rank and noble qualities, and afterwards liberated. -The body of Hotspur having been found was beheaded and quartered in -Shrewsbury, and the quarters fixed upon the gates of the town. Many of -the dead were buried upon the field of slaughter; while some of the most -notable were interred in the Black Friars and St. Austin’s Friars, -Shrewsbury. Subsequently the king built Battlefield Church in honour of -his victory, and settled upon it a certain sum to pay two priests for -praying for the souls of the slain. - - —:o:— - -In the middle of the 15th century the Duke of York raised an army at -Shrewsbury, really for the purpose of dethroning Henry VI., whose -feebleness in conducting the Government was beyond dispute, but -ostensibly only for the purpose of removing the Duke of Somerset from the -councils of the King. The Duke of York was subsequently killed in a -battle near Wakefield, whereupon his son, Edward, Earl of March, -afterwards King of England, to revenge the death of his father and the -cruelties inflicted on his most attached friends, came to Shrewsbury, -where 23,000 men flocked to his assistance. With these, principally -Welsh borderers, he wholly defeated and dispersed the King’s forces at -Mortimer’s Cross, near Hereford. - -When Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. arrived in England, -and marched against Richard III. he was joined at Shrewsbury, by Sir -Gilbert Talbot, High Sheriff of the county, who added 4,000 men to his -small army. Henry, sensible of the material aid that was thus rendered -him, paid Shrewsbury the compliment of visiting it shortly after he -reached the throne; again in 1488 when he remained several days; a third -time in 1490 when the King, Queen, and Prince Arthur were present at St. -George’s Feast, which, strangely enough, was held in St. Chad’s Church, -Princess Street; and a fourth time in 1495 when he was sumptuously -entertained by the corporation—public men who, like Falstaff, had a -hearty and deep affection for sack. Some of the charges for this banquet -are most curious and amusing. There was bread which cost £2; there was -bread for the Queen 2s. 8d.; there were four oxen, £3 6s. 8d!—there could -have been no controversy about the high price of butcher’s meat; there -were twenty-four wethers £1 12s.—talk of the “good old times,” what -farmer, badly off as he is in these days, would wish them back -again?—there were twenty-four bottles of wine for “the King and the Lords -in the Castle,” 16s., eightpence a bottle!—there was wine to make -Hipocrass for the Queen, 4s.; there was a tun of wine £8, and six -hogsheads of ale £2 6s. The bread, oxen, and wethers cost £7 1s. 4d., -the ale and wine for the King, the Queen, the guard, the King’s -gentlemen, and the minstrels cost £13 15s.! That was a truly English -entertainment! The Prince had 10s. spent on bread for his wants, and £4 -on “half-a-tun of wine” for his refreshment and enlivenment. Rewards -were given to children, footmen, players, and serjeants-at-arms. The -total charge was £39 17s. 6d. Do hotel keepers sigh for the return of -the ancient days? - -For upwards of three-quarters of a century after the last visit of Henry -VII. Shrewsbury received no royal attentions. After the lapse of -eighty-five years, however, a representative of royalty in the person of -Sir Henry Sidney favoured the town with a visit. Sir Henry Sydney, who -had been educated at Shrewsbury School, was Lord President of the Welsh -Marches; and in that character he kept St. George’s feast in Shrewsbury, -on the 24th of April, 1581. Dr. Taylor’s account of his reception, and -of the manner of the feast, is most amusing. Sir Henry “most honourably -came from the Counsell House there, in hys knightly robes, most valiant, -wyth hys gentilmen before hym, and hys knights followyng hym, in brave -order.” In the rear of the knights were the bailiffs, aldermen, and -“companyes of all occupations in the sayde towne, evrie company -followinge in good and seemely order, towards St. Chadd’s Churche,” in -Princess Street. At the church Sir Henry was seated, or “stallid,” as -the manuscript reads, in the chancel, where the knights of the garter -passed and repassed, “dyng as much honour as thoughe the Queen’s Majestic -had been present.” By command of the Lord President, divine service was -performed “to the gloryfying of God.” Connected with “the gloryfying of -God,” at least in the narrative of Dr. Taylor, was the feast, which Dr. -Taylor records supplemented the religious gloryfying. The procession was -so long that when Sir Henry entered the church, “the last end of the -trayne was at my Lord’s place, the Councill House.” A week later there -was more feasting. The masters of the Grammar School, “the free scoole,” -Dr. Taylor significantly calls the institution, provided it. Their names -were Thomas Lorrance, John Barker, Richard Atkys, and Roger Kent. They -were feeders unquestionably, for they made “a brave and costly bancket -after supper, on the first daye of Maye.” The “dyshes” numbered forty, -and “every scoole presented ten dyshes, with a shewer before every -scoole.” The following day, in a spirit of elation, the scholars of the -school, who numbered 360, “marched braveley in battell order” to the Gey -in the Abbey Foregate, where they met the Lord President. The general -and captains renewed their allegiance to the sovereign and valiantly -declared that they “would feight and defend the countrey.” Sir Henry -paid them the necessary compliment for their eloquence. He appears to -have won the affection of the students. His departure was mourned as if -it were an irreparable loss. He left the town on the 13th of May in a -barge, and at a certain point along the shore of the river were stationed -a number of melancholy scholars “apparelyd in greene, and greene wyllows -upon theire heads,” for the purpose of making lachrymose appeals to him -to remain, of reciting doleful ditties upon his departure, of lamenting -the end of the halcyon days of “brave and costly bankets” and of -delivering eloquent orations on their eternal fidelity to the -constitution. One elegist pitifully affirmed that his “woe was greate,” -that out of the intensity of his grief he was compelled to rend his -garment. The same inconsolable spirit ventured to implore the Severn to -“turn its stream quite backe.” Another burst out wailingly—“O woeful -wretched time, O doleful day and houre;” another declared that the sight -of Sir Henry’s leaving gave him “a pinching payne that griped his hart;” -while another uttered the sensible wish that “we could like fishes swyme -that we myght wyth thee goe.” It can readily be believed, as Dr. Taylor -says, that all this lugubration caused “my Lord hymself to change -countenance!” The bailiffs and aldermen, however, preserved a different -spirit—a spirit which may be readily appreciated from the fact that after -the scholars had done their lamentations they “dyned altogether in the -bardge uppon the water when they came to Atcham!” Aldermen without a -doubt and of a truth. - -Nothing of moment occurs in the history of Shrewsbury after this until we -come to the reign of Charles I. Charles had to remove his standard from -Nottingham. On the 19th of September, 1642, he mustered his forces at -Wellington. He placed himself in the centre, and addressed the soldiers -in a vigorous tone. The next day he reached Shrewsbury. One of his -first acts was to borrow £600 out of the Grammar School Treasury. His -next was to re-establish the mint for the coining of the sinews of war. -His next was to raise an army. He was joined by Prince Rupert, Prince -Charles, and the Duke of York who, with several Shropshire noblemen and -gentlemen, quickly formed a force for the defence of his cause. Those -who could not obtain horse or foot contributed plate to be coined at the -mint. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge presented him with a -quantity of plate. Thomas Lyster, Esq., of Rowton, gave the king a purse -of gold, which the sovereign acknowledged by elevating him to the rank of -knighthood. Sir Richard Newport, in return for his services, was -advanced to the honour of a Baron of England by the title of Lord -Newport. Sir Richard, fully appreciating the King’s wants, presented him -with £600. The people, it is said, were enamoured of Charles. Large -numbers of them enlisted as volunteers, and some were rewarded with -knighthood for their loyalty. - -Charles made Shrewsbury a garrison town. Under his direction Lord Capel -built a strong fort on the Mount to prevent any enemy from planting -cannon there. It was called Cadogan’s Fort. Two years after, in 1644, -Colonel Mytton, a valorous officer who governed a small garrison at Wem, -and was general of the Parliamentary forces in Shropshire, made two -unsuccessful attempts to reduce Shrewsbury. The first occurred on a -Saturday, when he attacked the fort at the Mount, but was repulsed. The -second effort was made on the following Saturday, about midnight. Mytton -brought his forces to the Old Heath, but the darkness was against them. -They mistook their way, and marched in the direction of Pimley and -Atcham. On the succeeding Saturday the third attempt took place. -General Mytton’s forces consisted of 250 foot and 250 horse drawn out of -the garrisons of Wem and Moreton Corbet. To these were added the same -number of foot and horse of the Staffordshire army, under the command of -Colonel Bowyer. Sir William Brereton gave valuable assistance. They -arrived at Shrewsbury on Saturday morning, February 22nd, 1644. They -landed under the Castle Hill, on the east side. Half a hundred troopers -dismounted, and, led by the Rev. Mr. Huson, Captain Villiers, and -Lieutenant Benbow, stormed the town with pistols. Musqueteers followed -along the Severn side, under the Castle Hill, near the Council House, and -entered the town at the gate of the Water Lane, which now runs into Raven -Street. The musqueteers were succeeded by about 350 foot. These marched -to the Market Square; and meanwhile the remainder of the Parliamentary -army reached the Gates, which then stood on Castle Gates. The royal -guard had fled, and the horse under General Mytton and Colonel Bowyer -entered the town unresisted. Dreadful consternation spread among the -inhabitants. Mytton’s men came down “like wolves on the fold.” They -plundered goods; they pilfered plate; they stole whatsoever they could. -Distress immediately prevailed. Shrieks and lamentations were heard far -above the din of the contending parties. The people were devoutly loyal -to their monarch. Their sufferings were painfully grievous. The Castle -and the fort at the Mount held out for some time with great bravery, but -at twelve o’clock at noon the Castle was delivered up upon condition that -the English march to Ludlow, but the Irish remain as the conquerors’ -prisoners of war. About midnight the fort could no longer be defended, -and was handed over to the Parliamentarians. The whole of the garrison -surrendered upon bare quarter. It is remarkable that the loss of life on -both sides amounted to only two: one Parliamentarian, Richard Wycherley, -of the Clive, Grinshill, and one royalist, the captain of the main guard, -who was killed at the Market Square. Among the prisoners taken were -eight Knights and Baronets, forty Colonels, Majors, Captains, and other -officers, with a large quantity of ordnance. Colonel John Benbow, who -had joined the king in Shrewsbury in September, 1642, was in 1651 -condemned by Court Martial at Chester for corresponding with the king. -He was sentenced to death, and the sentence was carried out on the 15th -of October, 1651, in the Cabbage Garden, afterwards the Bowling Green, -near the Castle, Shrewsbury. On the 16th the body was buried in St. -Chad’s churchyard (old St. Chad’s). The stone which marked his grave was -re-cut in the year 1740 at the expense of Mr. Scott, of Betton, “to -perpetuate his memory.” - -Charles II., visited Shrewsbury. Struck with surprise at the width and -cleanliness of the streets, he expressed, a wish to elevate it into a -city. The burgesses, who appear to have left their first love, and to -have degenerated in their affections for kings, refused his offer in such -an independent spirit that they obtained for themselves the designation -of “Proud Salopians”—a designation which is often applied to us as a term -indicating that we are haughty, stiff, conceited. Is there not something -honourable in it? The title means that once upon a time we performed the -courageous feat of declining the wish of a king—we said “no” to a -sovereign—we rejected the proffered compliment of being exalted by a -monarch. Strange but re-assuring phenomenon from the descendants of the -zealots of Richard II., and from the devotees of Charles I.! - -The last royal visit to Shrewsbury—and, as we have seen, there was a -number of them, chiefly of either a disturbing or a worthless sort—was -made by James II. in August, 1687. Of course, the indispensable -feasting, which is a fundamental element in our glorious British -Constitution, was held in great style. A magnificent court was kept in -the Council House on August 25th; and the next day the King left this -town for Whitchurch. With his departure end our stories of the calls of -kings on their subjects at Shrewsbury. - - - - -HISTORICAL GUIDE THROUGH THE TOWN. - - -The objects of historical interest in Shrewsbury are most numerous. We -come upon them in every street. We meet them at every corner. We hear -the voices of the past everywhere about us. We find ourselves associated -with something that had a beginning in centuries gone by—something that -has stood the storms of ages and been spared in the disturbances of the -centuries—something that is rich in memories of old—something connected -with circumstances or events which, if we only thought of them, would -furnish us with lessons in stones, and make our daily travelling of the -streets an entertainment. Shrewsbury, of course, is not, in this -respect, an exceptional town; but it is wealthy beyond most others. We -cannot notice at elaborate length the remaining - - “_Memorials and things of fame_ - _That do renown this city_;” - -but let us rapidly run over the town in as straight a course as its -divergent streets permit. - -Starting from the Railway Station we see - - - -THE CASTLE. - - -On the site of the castle a Saxon fortress originally stood. In 1070 -Roger de Montgomery built the castle by enlarging the fortress and -demolishing fifty-one houses occupied by the burgesses. The destruction -of this property was not accompanied by any diminution in the public -taxes, and the burgesses complained of their grievance, but without -effect. The Earl’s two sons, who succeeded him in possession of the -castle, refused to redress their wrongs. In the reign of Henry I. it -became the property of the Crown, and certain portions of land were -parcelled out as positions of defence in the event of any necessity -arising. A governor was appointed to command it, a constable to guard -it, and a chamberlain to see that it was kept in good repair. It was -usually held by the sheriff of the county to enable him the more -powerfully to defend his bailwick. It was surrendered to the -Parliamentary army in 1644, and General Mytton was made governor. He was -succeeded by Humphrey Mackworth, who appointed as lieutenant of the -castle Captain Hill. Hill is described as “a prodigal, drunken fellow, -who before the war, was a barber in Shrewsbury.” He was disliked by both -the people of the town and the garrison, and in order to depose him from -his position, a conspiracy was formed. He was enticed to an alehouse -outside the gates of the town. The gates were closed to prevent his -return, his personal property was thrown over them, the town instantly -was in an uproar, and he was compelled to fly for his life. In the -fifteenth year of Charles II. the burgesses were ordered by a _quo -warranto_ to deliver up the castle to the king. The garrison then -consisted of two companies. In the time of James II. all the cannon and -match, with most of the muskets, were removed by royal command. Charles -II. presented the Castle to Lord Newport, afterwards Earl Bradford. Lord -Newport had given the sum of £600 to Charles I. Perhaps the gift of the -Castle by the second Charles was his acknowledgment of Newport’s -pecuniary service to that relative who had the misfortune to lose his -head. The Duke of Cleveland is now the owner of the Castle. - -On Castle Gates, opposite the Independent Chapel, stood the Outer Castle -Gate, which was formerly strengthened and defended with towers, -portcullis, and fosse in a line with a road leading to the Smithfield. -That portion of the town wall which extends towards the river was erected -by Robert de Belesme, second son of the founder of the castle. Camden -says it was never assaulted except in the Barons’ wars. A few yards -higher stood the Inner or Burgess Gate, at right angles with the Schools. -The Castle Walk on the left of Castle Gates was formed in 1790, and was -called the Dana from the name of the person who suggested its formation. - - - -THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, - - -which arrests the eye on Castle Gates, was founded by Edward VI., on the -18th of February, 1552, who named it the “Free Grammar School”—a title -about the meaning of which there has been a good deal of philological -disputation. On the south window is a Latin inscription, which runs as -follows:—“At the supplication of Hugh Edwards and Richard Whittaker, King -Edward the Sixth laid the foundation of a Shrewsbury School.” The -supplication was induced by the fact that there was no public institution -for the education of Salopian youth. This want was represented to the -king in 1551 by Hugh Edwards, a mercer in London, and afterwards of the -Shrewsbury college, and by Richard Whittaker, then bailiff of the town. -They solicited for the maintenance of a Free Grammar School a -considerable portion of the estates of the dissolved colleges of St. Mary -and St. Chad. The king readily granted their request; and the tithes of -Astley, Sansaw, Clive, Leaton and Almond Park, the property of St. -Mary’s, with those of Frankwell, Betton, Woodcote, Horton, Bicton, -Calcott, Shelton, Whitty, and Welbeck, belonging to St. Chad’s—the whole -then valued at the handsome sum of £20 per annum—were given for the -endowment of the school. Two masters were appointed by the bailiffs and -burgesses who were nominated governors, and who, with the Bishop of -Lichfield, were empowered to make statutes and ordinances. The -appointment of head and second masters now rests with the Fellows of St. -John’s College, Cambridge. - -The first master was the Rev. Thomas Ashton who is called by Camden “the -excellent and worthie,” and who had “the best filled school in all -England.” He had 290 scholars, among whom were some of the aristocracy -of the county, heirs of the gentry of North Wales, and representatives of -the greatest families of the kingdom. He laid the foundation of that -brilliant fame which the school has always maintained. From a Latin -inscription on the south window we learn that “at the instance of Thomas -Ashton, a man pious, learned, and prudent, within these walls ever to be -revered, Queen Elizabeth augmented this foundation.” She did so by -adding to it on the 23rd of May, 1571, the entire rectory of Chirbury, -with further tithes and estates in the parish of St. Mary. The tithes -new produce about £3,000 per annum, a portion of which is paid in -stipends to the clergy of St. Mary’s, Chirbury, Clive, and Astley -parishes. - -The School was originally a timber building, and the chapel, tower, and -library were added to it in 1595. The chapel was consecrated on 18th of -May, 1617, by Dr. John Overel, Bishop of Lichfield, and the sermon was -preached by Dr. Samson Price, who, for his abhorrence of Popery, was -named “The maule and scourge of heretics.” The wood building which -contained the first schoolroom was taken down, and the present fine -edifice of Grinshill stone erected in its place in 1627. In the centre -is a gateway, adorned on each side with a Corinthian column, upon which -stand statues of a scholar and a graduate, bare-headed, and in the -costume of the period. The library contains a large and valuable -collection of books and manuscripts. It was “increased more than double -by the testamentary bequest of Dr. John Taylor,” a native of the town, -educated at the School. - -During the mastership of Ashton the School acquired and has since -maintained the most brilliant renown. The roll of illustrious students -is a lengthy one. Ashton had among his scholars George Sandys, the -well-known traveller, whose works obtained great commendation from Dryden -and Pope: Sir Henry Sydney, ambassador to France from the court of Edward -VI., President of the Welsh Marches, and Lord Deputy of Ireland, which -country, says Spenser and Sir John Davies, he governed with great wisdom, -and proved himself, according to Sir R. Naunton in the _Fragmenta -Regalia_, a “man of great parts:” Sir Fulk Greville, Lord Brooke, an -ingenious writer, a friend of Queen Elizabeth, and a poet of repute in -his day: Sir Phillip Sidney, the noble and chivalrous soldier and poet -whose bravery at the battle of Zutphen is one of the illustrious -incidents in our history, and whose exquisite mind is manifested in -_Arcadia_ the picturesque and in _Defence of Poesie_ the enchanting. -Those were Ashton’s scholars, and besides them there have been educated -here Sir Thomas Jones, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the -reigns of Charles II. and James II., whose answer to the last monarch’s -remark that he could soon have twelve judges of Sir Thomas’s opinion as -to his dispensation of power, “Twelve judges you may possibly find, sire, -but not twelve lawyers,” is well known: Dr. John Taylor, Canon -Residentiary of St. Paul’s, Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln, and -Archdeacon of Buckingham, a learned critic and philologist, who wrote a -work entitled _Elements of the Civil War_, and published what were said -to be excellent editions of Lysias, Demosthenes and Lycurgus: George -Saville, Marquis of Halifax, of whose courageous opposition to the -unconstitutional conduct of James II. Macaulay speaks, who, under that -sovereign, was President of the Council, in the Convention Parliament was -Speaker of the House of Lords, and under William and Mary was Lord Privy -Seal: Edward Waring, the learned English mathematician and Lucasian -Professor of mathematics at Cambridge in the middle of the last century: -while among more recent celebrities there are Mr. Thomas Wright the -antiquarian: Captain Richard Lloyd Edwards, an officer of the “brave and -bold” six hundred who rode “into the jaws of death,” at Balaclava; and -several Englishmen of note. May we not say that these are names of which -we may justly boast? May we not, adopting Macaulay’s elegant eulogium on -the famous students of Glasgow University, say that Shrewsbury School has -sent forth men “whose talents and learning have not been wasted on -selfish or ignoble objects, but have been employed to promote the -physical and moral good of their species, to extend the empire of man -over the material world, to defend the cause of civil and religious -liberty against tyrants and bigots, and to defend the cause of virtue and -order against the enemies of all divine and human laws.” - -On the left of the Schools ST. NICHOLAS’S CHAPEL was recently observable. -It was the only one in existence of eight similar structures. It was -erected by Roger de Montgomery for the use of those of his retainers who -resided in the outer court of the Castle. At a subsequent period it was -appropriated for the accommodation of the President and Council of the -Marches of Wales. On the site has been erected a handsome structure by -the English Presbyterians, who have retained its ancient name, calling it - - - -ST. NICHOLAS’ CHURCH. - - -Near St. Nicholas’s Church stands - - - -THE COUNCIL HOUSE, - - -approached by a fine timber gateway. In Speed’s Map it is called “LORD’S -PLACE,” and it appears to have been erected in 1502. It was the place of -residence for the Kings and Lord Presidents of the Welsh Marches when -they came to Shrewsbury. King James II. kept his court in it on August -25th, 1687. It has been the scene of many a “costly banquet.” Charles -I., Sir Henry Sidney, the Earl of Arundel and other noblemen have been -“nobly entertained here at the expense of the town.” From the Council -House we stroll on into the street which is the main thoroughfare of the -town, - - - -CASTLE STREET. - - -On the right is the RAVEN HOTEL, where Farquhar wrote his comedy of _The -Recruiting Officer_, the scene and characters of which are of local -origin, and the preface to which acknowledges the loyalty and hospitality -of the good people of Shrewsbury. At the termination of Castle Street, -commences in a straight line - - - -PRIDE HILL. - - -Pride Hill was anciently named, for a reason undiscovered and unknown, -Corvisor’s Row, then in Speed’s map Shoemaker’s Row, and then finally, -for ever, no doubt, Pride Hill, from the fact of it having been the -residence of a family of the name of Pride. Directly opposite the -spectator’s eye stands the NEW MARKET; but instead of going down to -inspect the handsome building we turn to the left, pass the NEW GENERAL -POST OFFICE, and reach - - - -ST. MARY’S STREET. - - -Here, of course, the chief object is - - - -ST. MARY’S CHURCH. - - -It is supposed to have been founded by King Edgar about 980. There were -attached to it a Dean and seven Prebendaries, and the stipend of the -priest amounted to £6 6s. 8d. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it -had a Dean and nine Prebendaries, and was provided with a large estate -for their maintenance. In the time of Henry VIII. the revenue was £32 -4s. 2d., and the Dean received as his share £22 6s. 8d. In the early -part of the reign of Edward VI. the revenue had increased to £42, the -whole of which was absorbed by the Dean, “rich on forty pounds a-year.” -The church was then collegiate, but upon the dissolution of colleges the -greater part of its revenues was given by Edward VI. for founding the -Shrewsbury Grammar School. The living was formerly in the presentation -of the Mayor of Shrewsbury—a privilege which the Municipal Act -extinguished. It is now vested in five trustees; and it is necessary to -select a minister who is either the son of a burgess and has been -educated at the Grammar School, or who has had the honour of being a -native of Chirbury. It was directed that the stipend should be an -adequate one—£20 a-year, and the regulation which fixed the amount -contained the pleasing addition that it was not to be diminished. - - [Picture: Entrance to Council House, Shrewsbury] - -The church is one of the most interesting ecclesiastical edifices in the -county from the example it affords of all the architectural styles of the -middle ages. It is impossible to give here a full description of it. It -must suffice to say that it consists of nave, side aisles, transepts, -choir, spacious chapel, two chantrey chapels, with a tower and lofty -spire, the total height of which is 220 feet 2 inches. The Anglo-Norman -style may be seen in the basement of the tower, the nave, transepts, and -doorways; the transition from Norman to the early lancet in the beautiful -transept windows; and the obtuse arch of a later period in the side -aisles and chantry chapels. The interior presents a stately and -magnificent appearance from the massiveness of its arches, from the -gorgeousness and beauty of its windows, and from the number of its -striking monuments. It has been graced with the presence of royalty, and -it has been used as a judicial court. In 1232 a tribunal, composed of -legates, was convened here by command of the Pope to hear the charges -preferred against Llewellyn for violations of treaties. In 1642 Charles -I., then in Shrewsbury, made within its walls a solemn protestation, and -took “the Sacrament upon it,” to defend the Protestant religion. In 1687 -James II. attended divine service, and afterwards exercised the -superstitious and suppositious power of “touching for the evil.” - -Some of the incidents in the records relating to the church are curious. -Forms were first furnished for the worshippers in 1537. Prior to that -there were neither seats nor benches. The floors were strewn with -flowers and sweet herbs, upon which the people prostrated themselves. - -Among the items of expenditure are some interesting entries. In 1553 it -cost 4s. to ring in honour of Queen Mary being proclaimed, and in the -same year 4s. for “setting up an altar before Sir Adam Mytton’s grave.” -The repairing of chapels seems to have been an inexpensive affair: for we -are told that “our Lady’s chapel was mended,” and a “paschal taper” -bought for 4s.; while in 1554 the enormous sum of 2s. 6d. was paid for -“making an altar in our Lady’s chapel,” and 3s. 5d. for “making Trinity -altar.” With a firm adhesion to Protestantism and a stern condemnation -of all appearance of Romanism it was ordered on May 12th, 1584, that -three superstitious images and inscriptions in the north window be taken -down by the churchwardens. In September of the same year it was ordered -that the stone altar should be removed, “having been sometimes used to -idolatry.” - -The spire, too, has a history of incidents. In 1572 it was blown aside -by the wind; in 1663 the cock was replaced by a new one and the steeple -repaired at the cost of £72; in 1665 and again in 1686 the cock was blown -down; in 1690 it was damaged by an earthquake; in 1739 the cock suffered -again: in 1754 the spire was shattered by a violent hurricane; and in -1756 the part re-built in 1754 was blown on one side, and once more -re-built. The mishap of 1739 one Thomas Cadman undertook to repair. -Cadman who is described by Hutton as a “man of spirit and grisle,” -succeeded in taking down and re-setting the cock on the summit of the -spire. In celebration of his success he determined upon performing some -exploits on a rope which he fixed from the top of the spire to a tree in -the Gay Meadow, Abbey Foregate, on the other side of the Severn. The -adventure was a fatal one. In sliding along he fell near the Water Lane -Gate; and for the information of an unappreciative posterity and the -gratification of the curious this inscription was placed on the wall over -his grave by his admiring survivors:— - - _Let this small monument record the name_ - _Of Cadman_, _and to future times proclaim_ - _How by an attempt to fly from this high spire_, - _Across the Sabrine stream_, _he did acquire_ - _His fatal end_: ’_Twas not for leant of skill_ - _Or courage to perform the task he fell_, - _No_! _No_! _a faulty cord being drawn too tight_ - _Hurried his soul on high_, _to take her flight_, - _Which bid the body here beneath_, “_Good night_.” - - [Picture: Shrewsbury, with the English and Coleham bridges] - -Opposite the front of St. Mary’s Church are the - - - -DRAPERS’ ALMSHOUSES, - - -better known as St. Mary’s Almshouses. They were founded in the reign of -Edward IV., about 1461, by Degory Water, a draper of Shrewsbury, who was -admitted a burgess in 1404 and lived in the “hall house” or centre house -among the poor. He died in 1477. He made no respect of persons in St. -Mary’s Church, but set an example almost in anticipation of the modern -“open-pew” system by accompanying the poor people to church and kneeling -among them in a “long pew in the quire.” The original almshouses were -taken down in 1825, and the present comfortable buildings erected by the -Drapers’ Company at a cost of upwards of £3,000. - -On the south-west side of the churchyard is the DRAPERS’ HALL, which is -supposed to have been erected about 1560. The interior is wainscotted -with oak, and the floor was formerly rich in emblazoned tiles. The -members of the Drapers’ Company feasted at the north end, and on the -opposite side is a fine old chest, above which are portraits of the first -steward of the company, Degory Water, and his wife. Edward IV. was a -patron of the Company, and his patronage is gratefully recorded in some -quaint lines under his portrait, which adorns the east side. - -A little beyond the Drapers’ Hall is the - - - -SALOP INFIRMARY, - - -an institution which is acknowledged to be one of the best conducted of -its kind in the kingdom. It was formed in 1745, when a commodious house -was purchased, fitted out, and opened for the reception of patients on -the 25th of April, 1747. The present building, on the site of the former -structure, was commenced in July, 1827, when Lord Hill laid the -foundation-stone. It was completed and opened in September, 1830. The -appurtenances and appointments of the institution are admirable. It is -supported by voluntary contributions and benefactions. It possesses a -large number of valuable legacies. It has been an inestimable blessing -to thousands upon thousands. Returning from the Infirmary past the -Draper’s Hall we cross the road to - - - -CHURCH STREET. - - -The half-timbered house, conspicuous by its gables, on the right hand -side, formed a portion of JONES’S MANSION. It was erected by Thomas -Jones, Esq., the first Mayor of Shrewsbury, son of Sir Thomas Jones, Lord -Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. It was the residence of the -Duke of York in 1642, and of Prince Rupert “when he joined his uncle -after the brilliant action of Worcester.” The Church a few yards further -on is - - - -ST. ALKMUND’S CHURCH, - - -which had its foundation early in the 10th century. St. Alkmund was the -son of Alured, King of Northumberland. He was slain in the year 800 and -buried at Lilleshall. The church dedicated to him is supposed to have -been founded by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. Her nephew, -King Edgar, a descendant of Alured, increased the original endowment. -Like St. Mary’s it was collegiate, and in the time of Edward the -Confessor had eleven manors, which, however, were transferred by King -Stephen at the request of Richard de Belemis, one of the Deans, to the -Abbey or monastery at Lilleshall. The college being thus both dissolved -and impoverished was reduced into a vicarage and lapsed to the crown, in -whose hands the living now remains. The church was destroyed in 1794 -under a mistaken apprehension as to its stability, and the existing -edifice erected in 1796. In a vault beneath it lie the remains of Sir -Thomas Jones, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who died in 1672; -and of Thomas Jones, Esq., his son, to whom reference has already been -made, who represented the town in Parliament, and died in 1715, and of -whom it is said that his “strict piety, exemplary virtue, and extensive -charity consigned him to a joyful resurrection!” A legend relates that -in 1533, on twelve successive days, and while the priest was at high -mass, the devil appeared in St. Alkmund’s Church, and that this -preternatural visitation was accompanied with great darkness and tempest. -Poor Trotty Veck in the _Chimes_ thinks that the bells are full of life, -that they are under the control of a goblin, and that innumerable little -goblins play upon them, leap and fly from them, gambol in and round about -them. Trotty is not far wrong: at least three centuries ago there was a -goblin in St. Alkmund’s bells, and he tingled the wires of the clock, and -he imprinted his claws on the fourth bell, and he carried away one of the -pinnacles coolly esconsed under his arm, and, worse than all, he for a -time stopped all the bells in Shrewsbury, so that there was no ringing, -tolling, chiming or pealing! There can be no doubt about it. Retracing -our steps through Church Street we come out upon - - - -DOGPOLE, - - -or, as it used to be written, Doggepole, Dokepoll. “What an outlandish -name!” cries the visitor. It is a strange name, but it expresses a -natural fact. Two interpretations have been given to it—one that -attributes it to the circumstance of a collection of water having existed -in the neighbourhood centuries ago—another that discovers its derivation -in _Ducken_, to bend or stoop, or _Duick_, to duck one’s head, to stoop, -and _poll_, or summit. Dogpole is the head of a bank of steep -descent—the Wyle Cop, which leads to the river. The neat structure on -the right about half-way down is the TABERNACLE of the Welsh -Independents, built as a memorial of 1662 and adjoining it is the -SHROPSHIRE EVE AND EAR HOSPITAL, an institution supported entirely by -voluntary contributions, which is, however, soon to be supplanted by the -extremely handsome structure now in course of erection as a new Eye, Ear -and Throat Hospital, in Murivance, opposite Allatt’s School. At the -bottom of Dogpole we turn to the right and enter - - - -HIGH STREET, - - -which formerly bore the name of Baker’s Row, probably because it had the -honour of containing most of the baker’s shops. On the right is - - - -S. JULIAN’S CHURCH. - - -It is uncertain when and by whom the church was built. It is only -certain that it was erected during the Saxon period. It is distinguished -in several reigns as a royal free chapel, and is styled “The Church of -St. Juliana, the Virgin.” In 1223 Henry III. attached to it the chapel -of Ford; but Henry IV. annexed its revenues, with those of St. Michael’s -“in the Castle”—a foundation now destroyed—to the new college of -Battlefield, “reserving only a small allowance for the minister.” The -first structure was Anglo-Norman, but having become dilapidated, was, -with the exception of the tower, taken down in 1748. The foundation -stone of the present structure was laid in August of the same year. The -first service was held in August, 1750. The exterior of the southern -side was considerably altered and improved in 1846–47 through the -generosity of the late Rev. R. Scott. Opposite St. Julian’s Church, at -the entrance of Milk Street, is an old stone building which has seen -remarkable changes of fortune. Anciently and originally it was the - - - -HALL OF THE CLOTHWORKERS OR SHEARMEN, - - -a company which was incorporated in the reign of Edward IV. The feast -day was on June 6th, and the apprentices up to the year 1588 used to set -up a green tree “decked with garlands gay” before the hall, around which -there was great rejoicing, coquetting, vowing, dancing and other festive -proceedings. But in 1588 the custom ceased. The “green tree,” or -Maypole was not enough. A bon-fire was added, and a disturbance ensued -among the crowd. The Rev. Mr. Tomkies, a minister of St. Mary’s, -appeared among the excited company, but his persuasions to peace only -exasperated them. The Bailiffs were compelled to interfere, and -henceforth the practice was discontinued. In the time of Elizabeth six -hundred shearmen were employed here in dressing the wool on one side of a -coarse material called Welsh webs, which were brought, chiefly from -Montgomeryshire, to a market then held every week in the town. The -process having been found to weaken the texture of the cloths, the -occupation of the company was gone. From manufacturing purposes the hall -was turned into a theatre, then converted to a Wesleyan place of worship, -then secularized into an assembly room, then elevated into an assize -court, then utilized into a shop, and, lastly, transformed into an -auction mart. Proceeding up the street we presently see - - - -OLD ST. CHAD’S CHURCH. - - -The foundation is attributed to one of the Mercian kings who built it -upon the site of a palace belonging to the Princes of Powis which was -burned down by the Saxons. It was a collegiate church, and had a dean -and ten prebendaries. It was partially destroyed by fire in 1393 through -the negligence of one John Plomer, a workman, who carelessly left his -fire while he was engaged in repairing the leads. Plomer, seeing the -result of his thoughtlessness, endeavoured to make his escape, but in -running near the Severn was drowned—as a judgment? In consideration of -the damage thus sustained Richard II. graciously granted to the -inhabitants a remission of their fee-farm rent, and exemption for three -years from the payment of taxes upon the understanding that they should -re-build the edifice. This they did. In 1547, by order of the bailiffs -of the town, the pictures of Mary Magdalene and of St. Chad were removed -from the church and burned in the Market Square. On July 9th, 1788, -another disaster befell this unfortunate structure. Its decayed tower, -shaken by the vibrations occasioned by the chimes, suddenly fell down, -and crushed the nave and transepts into fearful desolation. Some masons -who were at work upon it fortunately escaped. The church was restored in -1796. The interior, which contains a number of monuments, one to the -memory of the celebrated Rev. Job Orton amongst others, has recently been -improved and modernised. In the churchyard several members of well-known -county families have received interment, such as Lyster, Vincent Corbett -of Moreton Corbett, Hugh Owen, M.D., Mytton, Burton, Ireland, Dr. Rowland -Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and Lord President of the Marches, -and Captain Benbow, the officer who was shot in 1651. Benbow’s grave is -at the end of the pathway adjacent to Belmont. - -It was in this church that the dawning light of the Reformation first -beamed in Shrewsbury. That light gleamed in the preaching of William -Thorpe, an ardent follower of Wickliffe. He denounced the dogmas of the -Romish Church with the fervour common to the early Reformers. For his -preaching he was confined in the prison here, and then removed to London -to be examined by the archbishop, who, it is conjectured, granted him his -liberty. - -At the south-east of the churchyard up to the year 1858, stood or rather -were propped up and made to stand, St. Chad’s Almshouses—worn, ruinous -cottages, which served admirably for the purposes of animated nature. -They were founded in 1409 for old men and women by Bennet Tupton, a -public brewer. The following story, relative to Mr. Tupton and his -daughter, is interesting:—“This yeare, 1424, and in the second yeare of -King Henry 6th, one Bennet Tupton, beere brewer, dyed, who dwellyd in a -brue house in St. Chad’s Church Yard in Shrewsbury, which afterwards was, -and now of late days is, called the Colledge,” and was buried in St. -Chad’s Church. “He left behynd hym a daughter of his namy’d Blase -Tupton, who came by chance to be a leper, and made the ‘oryell’ which -goeth along the west syde of the sayde church yard, and so came aloft to -hear service through a door made in the church wall, and so passed -usually upon the leadder unto a glass window through which she dayly saw -and dayly hurde servys as long as she lyvyd.” The houses were demolished -in 1858. - -From this church we turn down a passage on the right hand side of the -street, called now GOLDEN CROSS PASSAGE. Formerly it was denominated -Sextry Passage, a corruption of Sacristy. The sacristy of the church is -supposed to have been situated within it. The “Golden Cross” inn appears -to have been a tavern in 1495, the proof being that in that year 13s. 2d. -is said in the archives of the Corporation to have been expended “for -wine on the king’s gentlemen in the sextrie.” - -Emerging into High Street again we walk a few yards down, and on the left -hand come to the UNITARIAN CHAPEL, which was formed on October 25th, -1691, by the Rev. John Bryan, M.A., ejected from St. Chad’s, and the Rev. -Francis Tallents, ejected from St. Mary’s, in 1662, for the use of a -Presbyterian congregation. One of the successors of the founders was the -Rev. Job Orton, who ministered from 1741 to 1766, when he removed to -Kidderminster. Shortly after his removal a secession took place, which -resulted in the formation of the Independent Church, Swan Hill. That -“divine madman,” Coleridge, preached in the High Street Chapel, and -Hazlitt walked from Wem to hear him. - -Further down the street, and on the right hand side, at the bottom of -Grope Lane is what was once the MERCERS’ HALL. A few paces beyond is a -fine Elizabethan house now establishment of Mr. Springford, mercer, which -for a long period prior to the present century was set apart as the -Judges’ Lodgings. The large square opposite is the - - - -MARKET SQUARE. - - -Conspicuous is the statute of LORD CLIVE, from a model by Baron -Marochetti. As a work of art it has received high commendation; as a -public monument it would be attractive if it were not bare—it would be an -ornament if it were not destitute of all those auxiliaries which give to -such objects a handsome finish. The magnificent stone building on the -left is the COUNTY HALL, built at a cost of £12,000, and opened at the -March assizes, 1837. This handsome edifice was unfortunately nearly -completely destroyed by fire on the 17th November, 1880. Near it is the -old MARKET HOUSE, a structure which presents a fine appearance, and which -for ornamental decoration is not surpassed, if equalled, by any edifice -of the same kind in any town in the kingdom. It was built in 1596, and -the fact is recorded in an inscription above the front arch:—“The xvth -day of June was this building begun, William Jones and Thomas Charlton, -Gent, bailiffs, and was erected and covered in their time. 1596.” On -the site there had stood five timber houses, two of which were erected in -1567 by Alderman John Dawes for “the saffe placinge of corn from wether, -so that the owners thereof may stannd saffe and drye,” and the other -three by Mr. Humphrey Onslow in 1571. Immediately over the inscription -just quoted is a tabernacled niche containing a statue and arms. Various -have been the conjectures as to the personage represented by the statue. -Some say that it is the Black Prince; others that it is Llewellyn, Prince -of Wales; others again that it is Llewellyn’s brother David, who was -executed at the High Cross; others that it is Prince Arthur, eldest son -of Henry VII. Roger Coke alludes to one of these opinions when, speaking -of General Monk’s purpose to restore Charles II., he says, “and the end -for which a free Parliament was called was interpreted by hanging out the -king’s picture, which was no less gazed upon by the Londoners than by the -Welshmen at King Taffey’s effigies on the Welsh gate, Shrewsbury.” The -gate referred to stood on the old Welsh Bridge, over which, in a niche, -was this identical statue, and when the tower which surmounted the gate -was destroyed about 1770, the statue was removed to the Market Hall. The -general belief is that the statue represents Richard, Duke of York, -father of Edward IV. Vexed by all this uncertainty, has not the -antiquarian reason to mournfully sigh, - - “_O that those lips had language_.” - -Several notable incidents have occurred in the Market Square. In 1547 -the pictures of Our Lady from St. Mary’s Church, of Mary Magdalene and of -St. Chad from St. Chad’s Church, were publicly burned here because they -were supposed to be coloured with Popery. In 1579, on the 18th of -August, the assizes were held in this place, “open and in the face of -day.” The judicial bench consisted of the scaffolding of some new -building, and from this dignified seat justice was dispensed. On the -17th of July, 1584, the public were entertained with a play performed in -the Square by a company belonging to the Earl of Essex. Six years later, -in the month of July, 1590, there was more public acting. A platform was -erected for feats of skill, and a Hungarian, with a number of the Queen’s -players, succeeded in some extraordinary achievements in the way of -tumbling, rope-dancing—achievements of such an astonishing sort that “the -like had never before been seen in Shrewsbury.” In the latter part of -December, 1740, a portion of the roof of the Market Hall fell down, -destroying life and property to the enormous extent of two millers’ -horses, which were so inconsiderate as to stand underneath the covering. -Thus this central part of the town reveals to us the development of local -history. Once it presented a proof of an apprehension of Popery which -led to an act of bigotry, then it marked the administration of justice, -then it afforded room for the histrionic art, and then it was the stage -for introducing to the good folk of Shrewsbury some wonderful gymnastic -games. - -The immediate vicinity of the Square is rich in antique buildings. The -Mercer’s Hall and the old Judges’ Lodgings have already been just glanced -at. Now, in turning to the left opposite the latter another fine old -structure presents itself. It is IRELAND’S MANSION, erected about 1570 -as the town residence of the ancient family of Ireland. It was, of -course, one house only, but it is now divided into three. Still keeping -to the left we find ourselves in front of - - - -THE NEW MARKET, - - -a handsome and commodious building, designed by Mr. Robert Griffiths, of -Stafford, and constructed by Mr. Barlow, of Stoke-upon-Trent. The -foundation stone was laid in 1867 by Mr. John Thomas Nightingale, then -mayor of the borough. The total cost reached a sum not far short of -£50,000. The market supplies a great and long-felt want, and, -architecturally, adds to the attractions of the town. The Market brings -us into - - - -SHOPLATCH - - -—another peculiar name. In the time of Edward II. the appellation was -written Sheteplach, then Sotteplace and Soetteplace, probably pronounced -in accordance with the usage of the period, Shottplace. The name was -derived from that of the Salopian family of Soto who had their residence -here, and whose house—a portion of which still remains in a passage on -the left—formed the principal property in the street. One chronicler -indulges the fancy that the origin of the first syllable, Shop, Sotte, -may be found in _sote_, which Chaucer uses for sweet, and that the place -may have been called Sotteplace from its situation or conveniences. -Unfortunately we are bound to reject this poetic derivation of the name, -and accept the more common-place and prosaic etymology. - -A few steps from the termination of Shoplatch stands THE THEATRE, at the -bottom of - - - -ST. JOHN’S HILL. - - -It was formerly called Chorlton Hall, from the fact of it having been for -several centuries the residence and property of the family of Chorlton, -who were Lords of Powis. The exact time of its erection is unknown, but -in the year 1326 it was held by John de Charlton, who, by the permission -of Edward II., fortified it with an embattled stone wall. It fell into a -ruinous state, and remained neglected until it was purchased about 1830 -by Mr. Henry Bennett, who raised it, and then erected upon the site the -existing theatre. The exterior, adorned in its three niches with statues -of Shakespeare and of the comic and tragic muse, has a neat appearance, -and the interior is admirably adapted for dramatic purposes. - -By way of contrast to the theatre is the WESLEYAN CHAPEL, which stands on -the right about the centre of St. Johns Hill, and a few yards higher up -is another building formerly a chapel, “hid from view” in a passage, -built for the Quakers in 1746, but now used as a meeting place for the -Atcham Board of Guardians. Leaving, however, an inspection of these we -cross the road from the theatre and walk down - - - -BELLSTONE, - - -in which is situated the National Provincial Bank. Why is the street -called Bellstone? Some think that the denomination anciently was Ben -Stone, that _Ben_ was an abbreviation of Benedictine, and that the bank, -which is an ancient building, was occupied by some members of the -Benedictine order. Others say that the house used to be named The Bent -Stone, from the bent appearance of the large stone which then, and now, -lies near it. Others, again, conjecture that the stone at one time -resembled a bell either in colour or shape, and for that reason the -house, and subsequently the locality of the house, came to be called the -Bell Stone, that is, the house at or near the Bell Stone. The hill on -the left is called - - - -CLAREMONT HILL, - - -anciently Claro Monte. On the top of it there was in the days of old, a -gate, as an entrance to the town, which was often called Gatepoll, from -_poll_, an obsolete word for summit, Claremont Hill being the highest -part of the town walls. - -The long narrow street in a direct line from Bellstone is - - - -BARKER STREET, - - -which in the infancy of our history bore the more aristocratic title of -Romboldesham, Rumaldesham, and Romboldi, the three names being used -indiscriminately in various reigns. The modern term is simply an -equivalent for Tanners’ Street. We only take a look down Barker Street, -and then turn to the right into - - - -CLAREMONT STREET, - - -once known by the euphonious title of Doglane. Here we see on the left -the oldest BAPTIST CHAPEL in Shrewsbury, built in 1780. A Baptist -church, however, was formed in Shrewsbury as early as 1620. The chapel -was enlarged in 1810, and modernised and renovated in 1867. From -Claremont Street we reach - - - -MARDOL, - - -or, as it was anciently written, Marlesford, Mardefole, and in the time -of Henry VIII. Mardvole, from the name of the ford through the Severn, -_Mar_, and _Leas_ (or pastures), which is by interpretation, the ford at -the marly pastures. There is no object of historical interest in this -thoroughfare, but in the lane about half way down, called - - - -HILL’S LANE, - - -on the left is a memorial of antiquity in the shape of an old structure -known as ROWLEY’S MANSION, which is said to be the first brick building -erected in Shrewsbury. It was built in 1618 by William Rowley, a draper, -who was admitted a burgess of the town in 1594 and created an alderman in -1633. His granddaughter married John Hill, Esq., who lived in the -mansion in splendid hospitality, and in honour of whom the name of the -street was changed from Knockin Street to Hill’s Lane. It is now used as -a general storehouse, and the moderns with their barbarous notions of -utility have removed the curious portal, the devices in stucco from the -great chamber, the oak wainscotting, and the mullions from the windows. -Adjoining it is a chapel belonging to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. - -Returning to Mardol we continue our observations by turning to the left. -At the bottom of Mardol on the right is the comparatively new SMITHFIELD -ROAD, opened in 1850, as an ingress from the western portion of the -county to the cattle market. It leads to the station, and to the suburbs -of Coton Hill and Castle Foregate. - -The QUAY on the right was built by Mr. Rowland Jenks in 1607, and Mr. -Jenks was ordered by the Corporation “to permit all manner of barges, of -all persons, to load at the said Quay, taking for every barge load of -wood or coal twelvepence, for a ton of other goods—off a burgess -twopence, and off a foreigner fourpence.” A few yards beyond, but on the -other side of the street, just as we enter Bridge Street, are ST. CHAD’S -PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS, built and opened in 1865 at a cost of £3,230. - -Of course, the principal object here is the - - - -WELSH BRIDGE. - - -In the reign of Henry II. it was called St. George’s Bridge. Why? -Because St. George’s Chapel, with the Hospital of St. John to which the -chapel was annexed—both were taken down early in the time of -Elizabeth—was situated near it, in that portion now distinguished by the -exquisite appellation of The Stew. The name was altered to indicate its -geographical position as the road which leads to North Wales. It is -conjectured that St. George’s Bridge was built by Edward IV. It -consisted of seven arches, and had a gate at each end. The gate at the -Welsh or Frankwell end was secured by an outwork, and over it was the -statue of a man in armour which has been referred to as having been -transferred to the Market Hall. The gate at the Mardol end of the bridge -was surmounted by a massive tower with a house and battlement. The tower -was destroyed about 1770, and the bridge itself, damaged by the frequent -floods, was demolished immediately after. A contribution was then -started for the erection of a new one. The Corporation liberally gave -£4,000, and in a short time the necessary sum of £8,000, was procured -upon the voluntary principle. The stone was laid in 1793, and the -structure completed in 1795. It has five semi-circular arches, a fine -balustrade, is 266 feet in length, and 30 feet in breadth. At the end of -the bridge we come into - - - -FRANKWELL, - - -from _Frankville_, the villa, residence, or town of the Franks who, -according to Domesday book, inhabited forty-five burgesses’ houses in -this portion of the town. We glance to the right, and see a neat chapel -belonging to the Welsh Presbyterians, usually called FRANKWELL CHAPEL. -Our way, however, lies to the left, and we proceed until we reach on the -right - - - -ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH, - - -dedicated to the tutelar saint of England from the fact of its proximity -to the Chapel of St. George. It was built in 1832 by public -subscription. It is cruciform in plan, and has a small tower at the west -end. The style, with the exception of the tower, is the lancet, or -early-pointed. It will accommodate about 760 persons, and 460 of the -sittings are free and unappropriated. From St. George’s Church we step -back again into the main street, and instead of going on to the MOUNT -where Cadogan’s Fort stood, we cross to the right by the “String of -Horses,” a half-timbered gabled building erected in 1576. Proceeding on -we pass Chapel Yard, so called from its having been the yard attached to -Cadogan’s Chapel, and arrive at - - - -MILLINGTON’S HOSPITAL, - - -a beautiful structure in a beautiful situation. It consists of a -pedimented front, surmounted by an open cupola, and a portico, flanked by -wings, forming dwellings for the poor. The Chapel, which is also used as -a schoolroom, is in the centre. It contains a portrait of the founder, -Mr. James Millington, draper, of Shrewsbury, who built and endowed it in -1734. After the death of Mr. Millington, who bequeathed his entire -fortune to it, the landed estate was disputed in Chancery, and went to -the heirs-at-law, the personal property being assigned to the support of -the charity. There are a schoolmaster and schoolmistress who reside on -the premises, and a chaplain who reads prayers daily. The resident -hospitallers number twelve old men or women who are selected out of -Frankwell, and who, in addition to the apartments, receive annual -gratuities of gowns and coats, coals and money, and a weekly quantity of -bread. A number of boys and girls receive their education at the -hospital, and are afterwards apprenticed or sent out as servants. Both -boys and girls receive gifts of money on their “entering into the -business of life,” and rewards are given to those who can produce -certificates of good conduct during a certain period of service. - -A little further on are the new BARRACKS or BRIGADE DEPÔT, built at a -very large cost, and opened in 1880. - -In the extremity of Frankwell beyond Millington’s Hospital there is -nothing worthy of our attention; and, therefore, keeping to the left, we -hasten to the bottom of Port Hill where we call out “boat!” and are -ferried across the Severn to land in - - - -THE QUARRY, - - -One of the most pleasant walks in the kingdom. It consists of a tract of -meadow ground, twenty-three acres in extent. Its situation, its -surroundings, its scenery are extremely beautiful, and constitute it a -most attractive and delightful promenade. The bank which skirts the -Severn is adorned with a graceful avenue of lime trees, extending 450 -yards in length, and forming in the intertwining of their lofty branches -a natural arcade. The Quarry, which should be a thing of beauty and a -joy for ever to the inhabitants, is resorted to, as a rule, only by a few -of the residents, most of whom, from their familiarity with it, do not -appreciate its charms, but from the stranger the spectacle of so -enjoyable and poetic a spot always elicits expressions of admiration. -The beauty that every day lies at our own door is often no beauty at all. -The Quarry derives its name from a small quarry of red sandstone, -formerly worked in what is now called the Dingle. The trees in the lower -walk were planted by Mr. Henry Jenks, Mayor, in 1719. The three walks, -graced in a similar manner, serve as approaches from the town. In 1569 -the Quarry was leased to three burgesses for ten years at a nominal rent -upon their undertaking to bring the water from near Crow Meole to -Shrewsbury. They fulfilled the condition by laying down leaden pipes, -and the work was completed in 1574, in which year Shrewsbury was first -supplied with what is now popularly known as “conduit water.” In that -year the conduits at Mardol Head, Market Square, High Street, and Wyle -Cop were erected and opened. The Quarry has been used for various -purposes. In the reign of James I. it was used “for agisting of cattle, -for musters of soldiers, and other laudable exercises and recreations.” -It is easy to infer from the brutal and coarse pastimes of the period -what the “laudable exercises” were, but in truth, the uncertainty of -inference is removed by the positiveness of fact, for in the same reign -the Quarry was used for “bull-baitings, stage-plays, &c., by consent of -the bailiffs,” who, of course, found in this corrupt and debased taste a -source of profit to the borough revenue. The stage plays performed -here—in that portion which is in the shape of an amphitheatre and is -styled the Dingle—were of the nature of those common in the early age of -the English theatre. They belonged to the class of Mysteries—a class of -a low, vicious, profane, and often blasphemous character. Amongst others -_Julian the Apostate_ was performed here in 1565, and it is said that, -notwithstanding its utter grossness, it was “listened to with admiration -and devotion.” Two years later, in 1567, there was given a -representation of the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, and the actor -who took the principal part was killed by being speared in the heart by -mistake. An horrible barbarity was committed in the Dingle in 1647, -when, on December 24th, a woman was burned to death for having poisoned -her husband. Very considerable improvements have been recently made in -the Quarry by the erection of a Band Stand, new Entrance Gates, and the -transformation of the Dingle into a well ordered pleasure garden, with -seats, grottos, ornamental water, &c., the cost of these great -improvements has been mainly defrayed by the Horticultural Society whose -annual _fêtes_ are looked forward to with the “sweet pleasures of -anticipation” by thousands. - -The fine brick building on the eminence opposite the Quarry on the other -side of the Severn is the new premises for SHREWSBURY SCHOOL, fronted by -a wide terrace, and commanding an extensive landscape in both front and -rear. The building which cost £12,000, was commenced in 1760, and opened -in 1765 for the reception of orphans from the Foundling Hospital in -London. It has been appropriated for different purposes from time to -time. Becoming disused by the managers of the Foundling Hospital it was -for some time uninhabited. A portion of it was then taken as a woollen -manufactory, and while one section was thus devoted to business, another -was let out in apartments to valetudinarians who in the summer months -retired from the town to seek pleasure and health in this beautiful -district. It was also used as a place of confinement for Dutch prisoners -captured in the American war; and then, in 1784, it was converted to -something approaching its original purpose by being purchased under an -Act of Parliament for incorporating the town parishes and that of Meole -Brace with the object of maintaining the poor. At the rear of the -buildings is - - - -KINGSLAND, - - -an extensive piece of ground, the property of the Corporation. It is -supposed to have originally belonged to the Crown—hence its name—and to -have been granted by the Crown to the Corporation. In 1529 it was let -for pasture at £3 per year—a price which must make modern tenants wish -that history might repeat itself. In 1586 it was ordered to be, and was, -enclosed. It is a healthy and almost arcadian spot, “beautiful for -situation.” There is no locality in the town so well adapted for villa -residences. - -Once a year, we are reminded, there _was_ something else—SHREWSBURY SHOW, -a pageant which showed the degeneracy of the past. With the exception of -the Coventry festival and the Preston guild it was the only one of its -kind in the kingdom. What was the Show? It was the remnant of a feast -religiously observed by the Romish Church, and styled _Corpus Christi_ -the feast of the body of Christ. It consisted of a solemn procession, in -which the several incorporated companies of the town, preceded by the -masters and wardens, attended by the bailiffs, aldermen, and commonalty, -and accompanied by priests, who carried the Holy Sacrament under a -gorgeous canopy, marched to old St. Chad’s Church, where mass was said -amidst the richest and costliest treasures of the church. The religious -part of the ceremony was abolished at the Reformation; but the members of -the companies, though prohibited from attending mass, resolved to retain -as much of the imposing custom as they could. They therefore continued -the procession, which they determined upon having on the second Monday -after Trinity Sunday. They possessed on Kingsland small parcels of land -which the Corporation had allotted to and enclosed for them, and on which -they had erected arbours as places of resort, of feasting, and of -pastime. They therefore selected Kingsland as the destiny of the -procession, and, arrived there, they entertained each other in almost -princely style, and indulged in the recreations of the time. The -anniversary until very recently was observed, but it was a sorry picture -of the old festivities. The procession, which was made up of bands of -music, flags, banners, ancient horses ridden by individuals dressed out -as kings, queens, and other notabilities, followed by a number of -artisans, was perhaps about the most ludicrous sight which the ingenuity -of a buffoon could invent. It was a ridiculous travesty of the ancient -spectacle; and its concomitants, its influence, and its results are best -described in the (slightly altered) words of Hamlet: - - _The people wake to-day and take their rouse_, - _Keep wassail_, _and the swaggering up-spring reels_; - _And_, _as they drain their draughts of Rhenish down_, - _The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out_ - _The triumph of their pledge_. - _Is it a custom_? - _Ay_, _marry_, _is’t_; - _But to my mind_, _though I am native here_ - _And to the manner born_, _it is a custom_ - _More honour’d in the breach than the observance_. - _This heavy-headed revel east and west_ - _Makes us traduced and tax’d of other people_: - _They clepe us drunkards_, _and with swinish phrase_ - _Soil our addition_. - - [Picture: Shrewsbury, from Coton Hill] - -Leaving the scene of so much that is gay and festive, and that unites the -present with the past, we re-cross the Severn, re-walk a portion of the -Quarry, and ascend the magnificent centre avenue. The church before us -is - - - -NEW ST. CHAD’S, - - -built at a cost of £19,352, and consecrated on August 19th, 1792. It is -considered the principal church of the town, is used on all public -occasions, such as the assizes and the anniversary of the Infirmary, and -is the place where the archdeacon holds his visitations, but being one of -the most modern of the parish churches, it has the least historical -interest. The general effect of the interior is imposing, the stained -windows and monuments giving it a gorgeous appearance. - -From here we take our course “right on,” turning neither to the right for -the Quarry again nor to the left for St. John’s Hill, we enter upon -MURIVANCE, a name denoting before or within the walls. It is supposed -that when the town was first fortified Murivance was selected as the -place of parade for the military defenders of the town. On the left is - - - -ALLATT’S SCHOOL, - - -founded and endowed by Mr. John Allatt, gentleman. It was built in 1800, -and cost £2,000. There are two houses for the master and mistress. -Forty boys and forty girls are educated and clothed here, and then sent -out to situations, and coats and gowns are annually distributed among a -number of poor men and women. - -Opposite is the NEW EYE AND EAR HOSPITAL, a most ornate structure, and -the entrance of the NEW BRIDGE to Kingsland. - -Still on the left, at the turning for Swan Hill—so called from the Swan -public-house which was formerly at the bottom—is the INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, -the oldest of the three Independent chapels in Shrewsbury. It was -erected in 1766 by seceders from the High Street church, and has been -re-built a few years ago. Further on, on the right is the chapel of the -METHODIST NEW CONNEXION, erected in 1834, at a cost of £1,500. In close -proximity to this edifice is an antique tower, the only vestige that -remains of twenty which formerly fortified the town walls. It is square, -three storeys high, embattled at the summit, and lighted by narrow square -windows. Those walls, which we now reach, were built by Henry III. to -fortify the town against the inroads of the Welsh, and the cost was -defrayed partly by the burgesses, and partly from the royal exchequer. -On the left is the ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL, built of freestone, in the -style of the early decorated period. It consists of a nave, chancel, -side aisles, chapel, &c., and is connected with the residence of the -officiating priest by a cloister. At the termination of the walls begins - - - -BEECHES LANE, - - -sometimes called the Back Lane. This singular appellation is a -corruption of Bispetan, Bushpestanes, which may also be a corruption of -Bishop’s Town, or Bishop’s Stone, Beeches Lane, having, it is -conjectured, been either the residence or the property of the bishop of -the diocese, who is said in Domesday book to have possessed sixteen -dwelling-houses in Shrewsbury. The gradual change appears, from old -deeds, to have been in this order—Bispetan, Bipstan, Biston’s Lane, -Beeches Lane. On the left is - - - -BOWDLER’S SCHOOL, - - -an oblong building, with a glazed cupola in the centre. It was founded -in 1724, under the will of Mr. Thomas Bowdler, an alderman and draper of -Shrewsbury, who left £1,000 to erect and endow the institution for the -education of the poor children of the parish of St. Julian. The late -Professor Lee was a schoolmaster of this foundation. Pursuing our walk -in a straight route we arrive at the - - - -ENGLISH BRIDGE, - - -a structure of great beauty. The first bridge which spanned the river -here was probably erected by the founder of the Abbey, Roger de -Montgomery. At any rate the abbots and the Corporation were continually -disputing about the liability to the repairs of the bridge, and the -contention was temporarily closed by the abbots consenting to repair the -Abbey Foregate end, and the Corporation agreeing to repair the town end. -Henry VIII. by a stroke of policy—by remitting some taxes—got the -Corporation to relieve the abbots of all responsibility and to take the -entire repairs into their own hands. About the middle of the last -century, the bridge being considerably damaged, it was determined to take -it down, and in 1765 a subscription was commenced to widen and strengthen -it. In 1767, on the 9th of June, the first stone of the extension was -laid by Edward Smythe, Esq., son of Sir Edward Smythe, of Acton Burnell. -It was discovered, however, that beneath the causeway there was another -causeway and channel, the lower part of the Wyle Cop which had been -raised at some previous period. The plan of widening was therefore -abandoned, and a new bridge was decided upon. In the next year, 1768, -the old bridge was taken down, subscriptions flowed in abundantly, and on -Thursday, 29th June, 1769, the first stone of the new bridge was laid in -“a solemn manner,” amidst the presence of the munificent contributors, by -Sir John Astley, Bart, who gave £1,000 towards the cost. The ceremony -was supplemented by a dinner at the Raven Hotel. The total expense was -nearly £16,000, the whole of which was raised, not by heavy taxation, not -by burdensome rates, but by voluntary donations. Among the donors were -Lord Clive, Thomas Hill, Esq., the principal gentry of the county, and -numbers of public-spirited townsmen. The bridge consists of seven -arches, is 410 feet in length, and 35 feet in breadth. - -The Gothic edifice on the right is the ABBEY FOREGATE NEW CHURCH, -belonging to the Independents, opened on the 31st of May, 1864. -Adjoining it is the NATIONAL SCHOOL, for the instruction and clothing of -poor children. It was commenced in 1708. Having proceeded a few yards -we come to the - - - -ABBEY CHURCH, - - -perhaps the most interesting ecclesiastical edifice in the county. On -the site there stood in the eleventh century a timber church, built by -Siward, a Saxon nobleman, and dedicated to St. Peter. In the last -quarter of that century Odilirius, “a lover of justice,” who had -possession of the humble structure, counselled Roger de Montgomery, Earl -of Shrewsbury, to build a monastery. The Earl consented, and in 1083 the -monastery or abbey was built, and consecrated to St. Peter and St. Paul. -St. Paul, however, was served rather scurvily, for the Earl gave the -whole of the suburb—then denominated _Before Yette_—to “the blessed -Peter.” The abbey was splendidly endowed by the Earl and by Siward, and -in consideration of the endowments the monks were “to diligently pray for -their souls, and for the souls of their ancestors and heirs.” These -endowments were added to from time to time by several other benefactors, -with the same object. Thus Warine, the sheriff of the county gave -several hides of land for the salvation of his soul; and after his death, -lest he should be in jeopardy, his widow gave her house for his effectual -security. Warine’s brother, Reginald, gave a village; Herbert de Ferches -a farm; Gerrard de Tourney a village; Randulph de Gernon, Earl of -Chester, two houses; and Hugh Pantulf his mills at Sutton “for the -salvation of his soul, the soul of his wife, and each of their souls.” -These benefactions vastly increased the riches of the abbey, and in -consequence of its revenue the abbots were mitred and elevated to the -privilege of a seat in the Upper House of Parliament. The value of the -monastery was, according to Dugdale, £132 4s. 10d., to Speed £615 4s. 3d. -In the twenty-sixth year of Henry VII. the annual income was £572 15s. -5d., a revenue equal to about £4,750 of modern currency. At the time of -the dissolution of the monasteries the abbey was suppressed, and the -estates and buildings passed into lay hands. Some were sold for the -value of the materials, and others were converted into dwellings. -Odericus Vitalis, one of the earliest and best of English historians, was -educated at this monastery, whither he was sent by his father, priest at -Atcham, where he was born in 1074. - -In 1728 an incident capable of a modern application occurred here. The -clergyman of the parish presented a petition to the bishop praying for -the removal out of the church of a picture representing the Saviour upon -the cross. The petitioners presented a counter petition; but their -memorial failed, and the bishop ordered the picture to be removed. This -dispute between the vicar and his flock caused a great sensation, and -gave occasion to a number of lampoons. The parishioners attacked the -vicar in this style: - - _The Parson’s the man_ - _Let him say what he can_ - _Will for gain leave his God in the lurch_; - _Could Iscariot do more_ - _Had it been in his power_ - _Than to turn his Lord out of the church_. - -The clerical party replied with a good argument:— - - _The Lord I adore_ - _Is mighty in power_, - _The one only living and true_; - _But that Lord of yours_ - _Which was turned out of doors_, - _Had just as much knowledge as you_. - - _But since you bemoan_ - _This God of your own_, - _Cheer up my disconsolate brother_: - _Though it seems very odd_, - _Yet if this be your God_ - _Mr. Burley _{51}_ can make you another_. - -At the suppression of monasteries in the time of Henry VIII, the entire -eastern portion, which constituted two-thirds of the structure, was -destroyed. There are remains, however, sufficient to indicate its -massiveness and majesty. The most prominent of these is the broad -western tower which presents a stately, dignified appearance. There are -also the nave and the side aisles; and these with the tower form the -present church, which, though with evidences of mutilation, has a -venerable aspect, and is characterised by “a noble simplicity combined -with a massive solidity.” The three windows are all at present of the -Perpendicular style; but there are prints of older date which show the -two smaller to have been of a different character. The portal is a -deeply recessed semicircular arch, terminating in a pointed doorway. The -bellchamber has two windows on each side; between those of the western -front, in a canopied niche, is the statue of an armed knight, having a -conical basinet encircled by a crown. This figure is with good reason -supposed to represent Edward III. in whose reign the tower was probably -begun. The south doorway is plain Norman in character, resting on -slender shafts, and adjoining is the ruined wall of the transept. The -choir having been destroyed the eastern end now terminates in a wall run -up between the remains of the two western piers, which supported the -central tower. Of course, in the interior the altar stands here, above -which are placed Norman windows, containing six figures in stained glass -of kings and apostles. They are deep and brilliant in colour, and the -drawing is good. Below is a reredos, forming a series of five Norman -arches. - -The interior of the Abbey is a fine specimen of solid Norman work. The -whole is in the massive Norman style except what is beyond the three -semicircular arches westward, where there is a very wide pier, on the -eastern and western extremities of which are half columns of the arcades, -and in the middle is attached a flat pilaster. From hence the nave -displays the commencement of a different style, and the Norman gives -place to pure Gothic of the fourteenth century. This terminates in a -beautiful pointed arch, which divides the tower from the nave, and by the -removal of the organ gallery and screen the whole extent of the great -western window is now displayed, which certainly imparts a very striking -appearance to that portion of the building. The entire window is filled -with a series of armorial bearings of some of England’s ancient peerage, -as well as a few very modern. It is, in fact, a perfect study of -heraldry. There are several monuments of interest, but the most singular -is one which stands on the north side of the altar, which at the first -view presents the appearance of two tombs, but on examination proves to -be only one, the double appearance being given by a centre buttress, -which is not carried over the ledge, upon which rest two figures, the -head of the one at the feet of the other. They are supposed to represent -the “same” individual who had abandoned the military for the eremitical -life, but there is not the slightest clue to his name. - -The walls of the nave, with the pillars and arches, were, in 1855, -cleared of their plaster covering; but such a state of dilapidation was -developed as to necessitate a thorough restoration, which has been -carefully and effectually carried out. It may be proper to mention that -on the fall of St. Chad’s, and the demolition of St. Alkmund’s, the walls -of which “were in such a sound state as to require a very great amount of -labour to remove them,” several ancient monuments found a place within -the walls of the Abbey. - -Of the monastic remains there are only “few and far between.” On the -south-west of the church is a malthouse which is supposed to have been -part of the monks’ infirmary and chapel. A similar building which stood -near the street, and a dormitory attached to the south-west side of the -church were taken down in 1836 for the formation of a new line of road. -The most striking of the remains is the elegant octagonal STONE PULPIT, -in a yard on the right. It is thought to have stood within the -refectory, and to have been used as the lectern by the junior monks to -read from while the elder brethren were enjoying meals in the -dining-room. The interior forms an oriel, the roof being vaulted on -eight delicate ribs. - -From hence we take the road upwards, and call to mind in our walk two -notable but not pleasant incidents. The first goes as far back as 1582, -in which year, on February 4th, one John Prestige “was hanged upon a -gibbet, erected on the green, by the water side, near the Abbey Mill, and -opposite his own house, for the murder of his wife, by throwing her over -the Stone (the English) Bridge in the Severn: he hung there three days.” -The second brings us down to 1774 when, on Good Friday, April 1st, a -disastrous fire broke out in the Abbey Foregate by which forty-seven -houses, sixteen barns, fifteen stables, four shops, and several stacks of -hay were utterly destroyed. This serious conflagration led to the -purchase by the Worshipful Company of Drapers of a fire engine, a -quantity of buckets and fire hooks, and to the erection of fire plugs for -the use of the town. These disagreeable memories are relieved by the -sight of - - - -LORD HILL’S COLUMN, - - -built with Grinshill stone, and said to be the largest Grecian-Doric -column in the world. The first stone was laid on the 27th December, -1814, and the last on June 18th, 1816. The total height of the column is -133 feet 6 inches. The colossal statute on the summit was executed from -a model by Panzetta. The inscriptions on the pedestal relate the skill -and courage displayed by Lieutenant-General Rowland Lord Hill in Spain, -Portugal, the South of France, and on the memorable plains of Waterloo. -Admission to the Column is obtained by means of a gratuity to the keeper -who resides in the adjacent pretty Doric cottage on the left, and from -the top a splendid panoramic view of Shropshire rewards the ascender of -the winding staircase. To the right of the Column is - - - -ST. GILES’S CHURCH, - - -built early in the reign of Henry I. for the use of a Hospital of Lepers -which stood north-west of the existing edifice, and which was founded by -King Henry II. It became parochial about the middle of the fifteenth -century when it was united with the parish of Holy Cross within the -monastery. It is said that in the reign of Stephen, when the monks -obtained the bones of that popular martyr, St. Wenefreda, those relics -were deposited on the altar of this church until a shrine worthy of their -reception could be prepared within the Abbey. A few yards beyond is the -old Militia Depôt, erected in 1806. - -Having seen all that is to be seen at this end of the town we return to -the Abbey Foregate. About half-way down we diverge to the right and come -to - - - -WHITEHALL, - - -a fine Elizabethan building erected in 1582, by Richard Prince, Esq., a -celebrated lawyer. Churchyard speaks of it “so trim and finely that it -graceth all the soil it is in.” At a little distance is the Race Course -on which Charles I. drew up his army in 1642. - -Hastening back towards the town we may turn to the left at the end of the -English Bridge for the suburbs of Coleham, Belle Vue, and Meole, where we -may see Trinity Church, a plain modern structure, raised in 1837: Belle -Vue Cemetery, opened in 1852 for the use of Nonconformists; and the -General Parochial Cemetery, opened and consecrated in 1856. Or we may -re-cross the bridge, descend the steps on the right, take the pathway on -the banks of the Severn, pass under the railway viaduct, inspect the -exterior of the County Prison, glance at the British School, All Saints’ -Church and Schools, and the Gas Works, thence enter the suburb of Castle -Foregate, where a few minutes will suffice to make acquaintance with St. -Mary’s and St. Michael’s Schools, with St. Michael’s Church, a neat Doric -building erected in 1830. Then we return up Castle Foregate, turn to the -right by the railway bridge, and enter the suburb of Coton Hill. In the -Royal Baths on the right we may have a refreshing plunge if the weather -is warm. Beyond the Baths we see on the right a clump of sycamore trees, -denoting the site of the house where Admiral Benbow was born in 1650. In -1698 Admiral Benbow visited Shrewsbury, and was entertained by the -Corporation. - -It may be mentioned here that in 1606 a considerable portion of Coton -Hill was burnt down, “the houses being set on fire by John Tench’s wife.” - -We return by way of Chester Street to the station, where our run through -the town commenced and where it now ends, after having viewed places and -objects which vividly bring to mind events of the past, which present -numerous and radical changes in the habits and conditions of society, and -which, manifesting in a marked degree the variations of taste, and the -definite progress of manners, art, and religion exhibit the relation of -modern to ancient times, both in physical sciences and in customs of -life. - - * * * * * - - [Picture: Decorative graphic] - - * * * * * - - SHREWSBURY: - PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DRAYTON BROS. - - * * * * * - - - - -ADVERTISING. - - -DRAYTON BROS., Shrewsbury - - - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - CONDENSED LIST OF - MISCELLANEOUS STATIONERY, &c., - KEPT IN STOCK. - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - -Account Books Luggage Labels -Blotting Papers Marking Ink -Book Marks Memo. Books, all kinds -Book Papers Metallic Books -Bristol Boards Millboards -Brown Papers Mourning Stationery -Camel Hair Brushes Note Papers, all kinds -Cards, all sizes and kinds Official Envelopes -Cardboards Packing Papers -Clips or Fasteners Papers, all sorts -Colour Boxes Parcel Receipt Books -Coloured Papers Pencils -Copy Books Pencil and Pen Cases -Copying Letter Books Pink Tape -Ciphering Books Pen Holders -Copying Presses Playing Cards -Drapers’ Papers Pocket Books -Elastic Bands Pocket Ledgers -Envelopes, all kinds Printing Papers, all kinds -Exercise Books Printers’ Ink, &c. -Foolscap Papers Purses -Funeral Cards Receipt Books -Gummed Tickets Ruled Papers -Gum Mucilage Rulers -Indexes Scrap Books -Indian Rubber Slates -Inks, all kinds Slate Pencils -Ink Erasers Stationers’ Stock Boxes -Ink Stands Steel Pens -Invoice Books Tea Papers -Large Post Papers Tissue Papers -Lead Pencils Toy Books, great variety -Ledgers Twine -Letter Books Valentines -Letter Files Wrapping Papers -Linear Paper and Envelopes Writing Papers - - * * * * * - - - -L. WILDING, -Printer, Bookseller and Stationer, -33, CASTLE STREET, SHREWSBURY. - - - ******************************** - - A LARGE AND VARIED ASSORTMENT OF - PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS - OF SHREWSBURY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD, - BY - BEDFORD, FRITH and MANSELL. - ALSO - - A Cheap Series of Views - - AT 3d. EACH. - - * * * * * - - _24 BEAUTIFULLY_ - LITHOGRAPHED VIEWS, - FOR ONE SHILLING. - - * * * * * - - A Splendid Selection of View Goods of - all kinds. - - * * * * * - - DEPÔT FOR THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY. - - * * * * * - - - -A HANDY GUIDE -TO -MAIDSTONE & NEIGHBOURHOOD - - - CONTAINING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE - - Museum, Churches, Chapels, - AND - PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS, - TOGETHER WITH NOTICES OF ALL - FEATURES OF GENERAL INTEREST - - [Picture: Shield] - - * * * * * - - PRICE SIXPENCE. - - * * * * * - - Maidstone: - FREDERICK BUNYARD, LIBRARY, 29, WEEK STREET; - AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. - - * * * * * - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{51} A Painter in Shrewsbury. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE -THROUGH SHREWSBURY*** - - -******* This file should be named 62276-0.txt or 62276-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/2/7/62276 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Williams</title> - <style type="text/css"> -/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ -<!-- - P { margin-top: .75em; - margin-bottom: .75em; - } - P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} - P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } - .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } - H1, H2 { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - } - H3, H4, H5 { - text-align: center; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - } - BODY{margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - } - table { border-collapse: collapse; } -table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} - td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} - td p { margin: 0.2em; } - .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ - - .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - - .pagenum {position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; - font-weight: normal; - color: gray; - } - img { border: none; } - img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } - p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } - div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } - div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} - div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; - border-top: 1px solid; } - div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; - border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} - div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; - margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; - border-bottom: 1px solid; } - div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; - margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; - border-bottom: 1px solid;} - div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; - border-top: 1px solid; } - .citation {vertical-align: super; - font-size: .5em; - text-decoration: none;} - span.red { color: red; } - body {background-color: #ffffc0; } - img.floatleft { float: left; - margin-right: 1em; - margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - img.floatright { float: right; - margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - img.clearcenter {display: block; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em} - --> - /* XML end ]]>*/ - </style> -</head> -<body> -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historical and Descriptive Guide through -Shrewsbury, by S. F. Williams - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Historical and Descriptive Guide through Shrewsbury - - -Author: S. F. Williams - - - -Release Date: May 29, 2020 [eBook #62276] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE -THROUGH SHREWSBURY*** -</pre> -<p>Transcribed from the 1881 Drayton Bros. edition by David -Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org, using scans from the British -Library.</p> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Book cover" -title= -"Book cover" - src="images/cover.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<h1>HISTORICAL<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">AND</span><br /> -DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">THROUGH</span><br /> -SHREWSBURY.</h1> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/tpb.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Coat of Arms, Floreat Salopia" -title= -"Coat of Arms, Floreat Salopia" - src="images/tps.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">By</span> S. F. -WILLIAMS.</p> - -<div class="gapshortline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><i>NEW AND REVISED EDITION</i></p> -<p style="text-align: center">1881.</p> - -<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">SHREWSBURY:</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">DRAYTON BROS., PRINTERS AND -PUBLISHERS.</span></p> -<h2><a name="page2"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -2</span>PREFATORY NOTE.</h2> -<p>This “Historical Guide” has no pretensions to the -value of either a full history or a complete handbook of -Shrewsbury. It consists simply of a sketch of the -historical associations of Shrewsbury, and of a directory just -sufficiently complete to conduct residents or visitors to the -principal objects or places of interest in the town. In the -Guide, the object has been to preserve the historical -element.</p> -<h2><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -3</span>HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.</h2> -<p>“Proud Salopians!” Well, have we not some -good reasons for being proud? Is it not natural that as -Shrewsbury has been the scene of important events and incidents, -we should feel a little inordinate self-esteem? Hamlet will -have it that the poor should not trumpet their own praises; but -we are rich, and therefore we can indulge in some degree of -conceit. Have we not something to be vain about? Have -we not found homes and hiding-places for kings? Have we not -had a mint here and made money—which is a difficult thing -for most people to do? Has not “the finest -legislative assembly in the world”—the British -Parliament—been held here? Have we not received -Charter upon Charter from the hands of kings, and “advanced -them loans”—without security? Has not an -English monarch actually sat in Shrewsbury, wearing a real -crown? Have we not contributed thousands of men to the -protection of the crown and dignity? Did not that -“glorious old martyr”—Charles I., who was -“murdered” by Oliver Cromwell—raise an army -here, and did he not lay his uneasy head in a house on the Wyle -Cop? Finally, not least though last, did not Falstaff, that -“gross, fat man,” foolish, witty, and blusterous, -“fight one long hour by Shrewsbury clock”? He -says he did, if he may be believed; and is not that something to -boast of? Treasuring up these things, is there not some -justification for our being proud?</p> -<blockquote><p><i>Breathes there a man with soul so dead</i><br -/> -<i>Who never to himself hath said</i>,<br /> -<i>This is my own my native town</i>?<br /> -<i>If such there be</i>, <i>go mark him well</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p><a name="page4"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>Douglas -Jerrold said that there are some men who walk half-an-inch higher -to heaven by what they tread upon. If Jerrold is right -Shrewsbury people should be nearer to heaven than most folk, for, -according to general opinion, we stand with extreme erectness on -our self. And well we may. The town itself stands -high, and the character generously attributed to us is in harmony -therewith. It is situated on two hills of gentle ascent, -which gradually rise from the bed of the river Severn. Who -has not heard of Sabrina? The Welsh had the good taste to -call it “The queen of rivers.” Its name is -chronicled in history, and its beauty has been sung by -poets. Leland says—</p> -<blockquote><p><i>Built on a hill fair Salop greets the -eye</i>,<br /> -<i>While Severn forms a crescent gliding by</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Shakespeare alludes to it as “the gentle Severn with the -sedgy-bank,” “the sandy-bottomed Severn.” -It is an important river of England. It is the chief river -of Wales. It has its cradle on Plinlimmon Hill on the verge -alike of Montgomeryshire and Cardiganshire, not far from the -coast of Cardigan Bay. It glides on between the everlasting -rocks and fairy valleys, the fields and forests, where the wind, -that “grand old harper, harps on his thunder-harp of -pines.” It enters Shropshire at Melverley, and -receives the waters of the Verniew at a ferry with an -unpronounceable Welsh name; forms a crescent near Montford Bridge -and Fitz; surrounds the Isle; then gracefully twines round -Shrewsbury on all sides except the north; streams on through -Uffington, skirting Haughmond Hill, and presenting with the -outstretched landscape a beautiful edge to the grand old rocks; -proceeds on its course to Atcham, where it receives the waters of -the Tern: runs on placidly near Cound; noiselessly steals by -Coalbrookdale, which, celebrated for its iron manufactures, -presents a mingled picture of utility and poetry; passes then by -Coalport, famous for its china works; glides through Bridgnorth; -washes a narrow slip of land in the county of Stafford; flows on -to Bewdley, Upton, Tewkesbury, and Gloucester; receives the -Stroudwater at Framilode; joins the Hereford and Gloucester canal -opposite Gloucester; and becomes absorbed in the sea at the -Bristol Channel, about twelve miles from Bristol. Formerly -the Severn ran in five channels at the eastern side of -Shrewsbury, and spread into <a name="page5"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 5</span>a marshy lake, which extended from the -foot of the Wyle Cop to the site of the Abbey. The river -abounds—or did abound—with salmon, trout, pike, shad, -flounders, and carp. The river was free, because there was -no Board of Conservators, and salmon was not a dish exclusively -for the aristocracy. The distance of the Severn from its -source to its entrance into the sea is about 250 miles. In -point of celebrity it ranks next to the Thames; in magnificence -it is excelled, in beauty and diversity of scenery it is equalled -by none in our land.</p> -<p>The county encompassed by the Severn is undoubtedly of great -antiquity, and of very aristocratic reputation. The capital -of it—Shrewsbury—dates back to that indefinite and -undiscoverable period familiarly called “time -immemorial.” A local historian says that one of the -earliest names by which it has been recognised is Careg Hydwyth, -“the rock covered with shrubs.” The Britons -called it Pengwerne, a brow or hill of elders, because there were -numbers growing on the spot. The Welsh gave it one of those -awful names which tax the courage of Englishmen to encounter, but -which signified “an eminence surrounded by -water.” The Saxons named it Scrobbesbyrig, an -appellation which may have been derived either from the fact that -the town was encompassed with shrubs, or, not from the natural -aspect of the place, but from the name of some possessor of -“Sciropescire” or district territory, under the -denomination of Scrope, Scropesbyrig. Subsequently the -Normans slightly altered the designation to Sciropesberie, -afterwards Schrosberie, and Salopesberie, whence we have Salop -and Shrewsbury.</p> -<p>Who laid the foundations of Shrewsbury, and at what period -they were laid, are questions which have elicited various -opinions. Tristram Shandy maintained in a grave and -elaborate argument there was no doubt whatever that he had been -born; and so we suppose with equal certainty there can be no -denial that Shrewsbury was built by some person or persons -unknown. The first thing we hear about it is that it was a -city of refuge for the Britons to whom it offered a retreat when -they were driven by the Saxons from the ancient fortress of -Uriconium. For the Saxons—valorous and patriotic, but -fierce, warlike, barbarous, the German “Scourges of -God”—after conquering Kent, carried on their <a -name="page6"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>ambitious -struggles with the Britons until the latter all over the little -island were completely defeated, the Silures in Pengwerne, though -the most heroic of the Britons, among the rest. Cynddrwyn -about the middle of the sixth century had possession of -Uriconium. His son, Cynddylan, was a British chieftain and -had his royal palace at Shrewsbury; and when the devastating -Saxon, in his career of spoliation, made inroads into this -district for the purpose of expelling the Britons from Uriconium, -Cynddylan led an armed force from Shrewsbury over the Tern by -Atcham for the defence of his father. But the Britons were -defeated in the battle which ensued, and, having lost Cynddylan -who was slain in the encounter, fled to Shrewsbury, which they -called Pengwerne. Llywarc Hên, a prince of the -Cambrian Britons, who lived in the 6th century, mentions that -name in his writings; and from him it also appears that several -of the principal towns of the county had their rude beginnings in -that early period. The theme of Llywarc’s metrical -composition is our mountains, our river, and our -“dwelling-places.”</p> -<p>The peninsular situation of Pengwerne appeared to the Britons -to afford them a secure retreat from their Saxon foes. The -trees and shrubs which covered the more uncultivated parts of the -county spread into forests, obstructed the course of streams, and -thus caused stagnation and the formation of lakes and -marshes. Amid the underwood, the thickets, and morasses the -fugitives hid themselves. But they were soon -disturbed. Pengwerne was not to be their eternal city, -their everlasting habitation. They had founded a county -hereafter to be famous in the history of England, to be the -theatre of one great national tragedy and of several important -dramas. Then they were followed with fire and sword by the -Saxons from Uriconium, who spread destruction in their path, -pillaged and devastated, and finally reduced the place to -ashes. Llywarc makes the desolation of Pengwerne the -subject of an elegy, and calls upon the maidens to “quit -their dwellings, and behold the habitation of Cynddyllan,” -the royal residence of their chieftain, wrapped in flames.</p> -<p>A few years later we find Pengwerne inhabited by a King of -Powis who elevated it to a position of some importance by -selecting it as his capital. It then ranked as one of <a -name="page7"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>the principal -of the twenty-eight cities of Britain—at present it is not -easy to say what rank it holds. For two -centuries—that is, to the close of the eighth -century—it was torn asunder by internal feuds and -sanguinary contests between native princes. Every -man’s house was not then his castle. The few arts of -civil life were neglected and forgotten. It is probable -that the whole of Pengwerne Powis consisted of nothing more -dignified than a few hovels, surrounded by a ditch or rampart of -unhewn logs for the residence of the prince and the officers of -religion, some wattled huts, with a fold or two for sheep and -cattle.</p> -<p>At the end of the eighth century, and during the reign of the -Mercian King Offa, the Shrewsbury portion of Powis was -surrendered by treaty to the Saxons. It was no longer a -metropolis, but it retained, even in Alfred’s time, the -distinguished name of Pengwerne. Scrobe, however, was -substituted for Pengwerne in the reign of his successor, Edward -the Elder, who held a mint here, and on one side of the coin was -the inscription, <i>Edward Rex Angliæ</i>, and on the -reverse, <i>Aelmer on Scrobe</i>.</p> -<p>Proceeding later on we come to the Danish invasion when -Shrewsbury was an object of Danish cruelty in those struggles -which took place between the ferocious pirates from Denmark and -Scandinavia and the Saxons. At the time the Danes under -Sween landed in the Isle of Wight, King Ethelred was at -Shrewsbury. Here he called a council of his nobles to -decide what measures should be adopted to effectually put a stop -to the atrocities and limit the power of the Danes. A -purchase of peace, advised by Edric, Duke of Mercia, was agreed -upon; and England had to bear the infamy of obtaining the -semblance of quiet (for the nation was soon again disturbed) by -the payment of £30,000 sterling.</p> -<p>The character of Duke Edric was stained by a foul and -treacherous murder committed near Shrewsbury. Edric invited -Duke Alshelm, a royal prince, to a banquet, and afterwards -induced him to accompany a hunting party. During the chase -Edric led Alshelm, his chief guest, into a wood where a butcher -of the town named Godwin Porthund, who had been employed for the -purpose, lay concealed. This ruffian seized an opportunity -to attack Alshelm, who <a name="page8"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 8</span>was killed. It was this -dastardly crime which caused the order recorded in Domesday Book -that whenever the sovereign came here twelve of the citizens -should constantly guard his person, and twelve should invariably -attend him with weapons of defence when he went out hunting.</p> -<p>In the general victories of the Danes Shrewsbury revolted from -the Saxon rule, and rendered allegiance to Canute; but in 1016 -Edmund, son of Ethelred, marched to the town from the North, -re-captured it, and punished his faithless subjects with great -cruelty.</p> -<p>At the Norman conquest Shrewsbury was known from its paying -“gelt,” that is, money for 200 hides of land. -Of course, it did not escape the barbarities of William the -Conqueror. The Welsh, about 1067 laid siege to the town, -but William, coming hither from York, opposed the besiegers with -the same relentlessness, the same cruelty that characterised the -violent policy he everywhere else pursued.</p> -<p>In the reign of William the Conqueror the Earls of Shrewsbury -held their court at Shrewsbury, which was then the capital of the -earldom. William conferred the earldom, and with it a grant -of the town and a considerable portion of the county, upon Roger -de Montgomery, a near relative. William rewarded his -commanders with estates—a very excellent remuneration for -their services. These, given by the king, were held under -the Earl of Shrewsbury; and amongst their fortunate possessors -were ancestors of the families of Waring and Corbett. Both -Roger and Robert Corbett held lordships or manors under Roger de -Montgomery—the former to the number of twenty-four. -Military offices appear to have been extremely profitable things -in these days—the honours were something more valuable than -crosses and medals.</p> -<p>The usages of Shrewsbury recorded in Domesday Book peril the -basis of the fancy that their is a divinity about a king. -It was ordered, for instance, that wherever the king slept in -Shrewsbury twelve of the “best citizens” should be -deprived of “balmy sleep” to guard him—him whom -the celestial powers have been supposed to hedge. What if -the monarch be a queen? For her safety no provision seems -to have been made. It was further ordered <a -name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>that when the -king went out hunting twelve trusty men should be sent about him -to protect him; and that when he left the city—Shrewsbury -being then called a city—the sheriff should send twenty -horses—whether with or without riders is not said—to -conduct him a short distance into Staffordshire. There is a -strong element of non-divinity, too, about some other -requirements, such, for example, as these: that the masters of -the mint, of whom there were three, should pay the king 20s. at -the end of every fifteen days while the money coined here -continued in circulation; that the executors of every deceased -burgess should pay the king 20s.; that every burgess who shall -experience the misfortune of having his house burned down should -forfeit to the king (who was least injured) 40s., and to his two -nearest neighbours (who were most injured, or at least -jeopardised) 2s. each, and that every woman marrying should pay -fees to the king—a widow 20s., but a spinster (who was -libelled by this valuation) only 10s. From other customs -narrated in Domesday Book we learn that in King Edward’s -time there were 250 houses in Shrewsbury, and an equal number of -burgesses, who paid £7 16s. 8d. per annum in excise, and -that the city was rated at 100 hides, of which the church of St. -Alkmund had two, St. Julian half of one, St. Millburg one, St. -Chad three and a half, St. Mary one rood, Duke Edric three hides, -and the Bishop of Chester three hides. Some light, too, is -thrown upon the “treatment of criminals.” Those -who “broke the peace, given under the king’s own -hand,” were outlawed; those who disturbed the peace were -ordered to pay a forfeit of 10s.; and those who drew blood in a -fight were fined 40s.</p> -<p>At the beginning of the 12th century, two years after the -accession of Henry I., signs of disloyalty manifested themselves -at Shrewsbury. Roger de Belesme, son of Roger Earl of -Shrewsbury, who is described as “a rash and discontented -young man,” was in favour of the pretensions of Duke Robert -to the crown. He carried his views to the length of -rebellion, and, to be prepared for emergencies, fortified his -castles in Shropshire, and built a wall on each side of -Shrewsbury Castle. One portion of this wall stands now on -the Dana, another in Water Lane, and another along the Severn -footpath on the Wyle Cop side of the railway <a -name="page10"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>bridge. -Henry, who had himself reached the throne by an act of -usurpation, declared “the rash young man” a traitor, -and prepared to execute vengeance upon him. He marched -through Bridgnorth, capturing it, to Shrewsbury, with a force of -60,000 soldiers, to besiege the town. Three days he gave -the governors of the castle to consider whether they should lay -down their arms, and threatened that if the Castle were not -delivered to him at the end of that time, he would attack it and -hang every person he seized therein. The Earl surrendered, -implored the mercy of this merciless king, acknowledged his crime -of treason, and was banished to Normandy by Henry who took -possession of the town “to the general joy,” says -one, “of all the people.” Henry granted the -town a Charter, and there followed a succession of 32 Royal -Charters to the second year of the reign of James II. The -earliest Charter preserved in the archives of the Corporation is -dated November 11th, 1189, the first year of Richard I.</p> -<p>During the civil wars between Stephen and Matilda, or the -Empress Maud, as she is sometimes called, Baron William Fitz -Allen, governor of the town, and sheriff of the county, who -resided in the castle, espoused the cause of the Empress; but the -town, after some resistance, was taken by assault, the -baron’s estates forfeited, and several of the garrison -hanged. Allen himself was compelled to escape and left the -castle in possession of the king, who had conducted the siege in -person. Allen fled to Matilda, and when she was finally -necessitated to take refuge in Normandy he repaired to the court -of France, where he remained until the accession of Henry II., -when he returned, and all his estates, with the government of -Shrewsbury, were restored to him.</p> -<p>In the early part of the next reign—that of -John—numerous engagements happened on the Welsh borders -between the royal forces and the Welsh; and Shrewsbury became the -scene of several contests between the same apparently deadly and -irreconcilable foes. Now it was captured by the Welsh; then -they were beaten, dispersed, and the town retaken by the -king. Peace was entered into only to be soon -violated. Boys were exchanged as hostages for the due -observance of the treaties. These were broken <a -name="page11"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>and the boys -hung. Henry III. had his hands full with the frequent -incursions of the Welsh. One year they, and the next the -king, were masters of the town. The king and Llewellyn, -Prince of Wales, were constantly at war. In 1215 Llewellyn -held the town and castle with a large army. In 1220 Henry -had succeeded to the possession of it. Animosities, -however, continued to subsist between them; and thus the -disturbances were prolonged, each party being alternately now -victor and now vanquished, for a term of upwards of 80 years, -from the reign of John, about 1200, to the infancy of that of -Edward I., about 1282. During this protracted period of -assault and counter assault—a period of great distress for -the inhabitants who suffered from these perpetual contests, and -peculiarly from the depredations of the Welsh—the town -sustained the penalty of no less than seven sieges. The -most notable and the most serious occurred in 1233, when the -place was partly burned down, nearly every house plundered, and -numbers of the inhabitants killed by Llewellyn, assisted by the -Earl of Pembroke and other noblemen. Peace was once more -obtained by offers of pardon to the Welsh on condition of their -obedience. The terms were accepted; but in 1241 it again -became necessary for Henry to march against the restless -Llewellyn. A rebellions spirit also appeared about 1256 in -the person of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who seized -the town without material opposition. In 1267 disturbances -again broke out. Henry appeared at Shrewsbury at the head -of his army to quell the discord. War was on the eve of -being renewed when Llewellyn submitted, and peace once more was -effected. In 1269 Henry’s eldest son was appointed -governor of the town and castle, on the 23rd of September. -Still the government of Shrewsbury oscillated between the Welsh -and the sovereign power; and in 1277, Edward I, there was another -open rupture. A novel course was adopted. Hostilities -had been waged fruitlessly. Now the Courts of Exchequer and -King’s Bench were removed to Shrewsbury that “they -(the Welsh) might be awed into submission, and all necessary help -be at hand for taming them.” The condition of the -citizens was most distressing. The prey of their Celtic -neighbours, they were also they prey of the wolves which -inhabited the desolate mountains of the Principality, and which -in herds ravaged the surrounding districts. About <a -name="page12"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>1282, -however, the Welsh were finally subdued; and their submission to -the English government, which was then accomplished, has -unquestionably been beneficial to themselves.</p> -<p>A Parliament was held here about Michaelmas, 1283, by Edward -I., and adjourned to Acton Burnell. The Lords sat in a -castle, but the Commons in a barn. The deliberations and -negotiations were only of slight moment. They referred to -nothing more important than the most effective way of securing -payment of debts—a matter upon which information would be -thankfully received by some in these days—and to the course -to be taken with David, brother of Llewellyn, Prince of -Wales. But the Parliament is memorable from its having been -the first national convention in which the Commons had any share -by legal authority. David, who had been pledged to Edward, -and created by him Earl of Denbigh, but afterwards joined his -brother Llewellyn in resisting an invasion of Edward’s army -into Anglesea, was condemned to die the death of a traitor. -The head of Llewellyn was sent to the king at Shrewsbury, by his -command it was sent to London, where it was placed on the Tower -with a crown of willows—an accompaniment of mockery. -The person of David was brought in chains to Shrewsbury. He -was tried and convicted of high treason for obeying the instincts -of a patriot. The punishment was carried out with the -greatest ignominy. He was first drawn through the town at -the hind of a horse; then he was hanged; then he was beheaded; -then his body was quartered, and his intestines burned: and as -the conclusion of the tragedy, his head was sent to London, -exposed on the Tower beside that of his brother, and his four -quarters to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester. -With the butchery of David’s corpse the conquest of Wales -was complete.</p> -<p>Nearly forty years later, namely, in 1322, Edward II. marched -through Shrewsbury from Worcester with his army. The -burgesses went out to meet him clothed in armour, and conducted -him with acclamations into the town.</p> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p12b.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Shrewsbury Grammar School" -title= -"Shrewsbury Grammar School" - src="images/p12s.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<p>Another Parliament was held here by Richard II. in the end of -1397 or the beginning of 1398, in the chapterhouse of the old -monastery, where the Abbey Church now <a name="page13"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 13</span>stands. It was called -“The Great Parliament,” partly from the momentous -nature of the state affairs transacted, but principally from the -number of earls and other nobles that attended. It was held -here because the king declared that “he bore great love to -the inhabitants of these parts, where he had many -friends.” He sat at this session with the crown upon -his head; and through his instrumentality several exorbitant acts -were passed, which, however, were repealed in the succeeding -reign of Henry IV., and which formed a count in the indictment -that resulted in the deposition of this king.</p> -<h2>THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY.</h2> -<p>The reign of Henry IV. is distinguished by the “Battle -of Shrewsbury,” one of the most terrible battles recorded -in the History of England. Henry was surrounded on all -sides by difficulties and dangers. His nobles were animated -by mutual hostilities. His subjects in Wales seized the -opportunity which the discontent among the aristocracy of England -gave them, and broke out in insurrection. Inspired and -guided by Owen Glendower, the indomitable Welsh fought a long and -tedious battle, in which the royal representative, Sir Edmund -Mortimer, was taken prisoner. Mortimer’s nephew, the -Earl of March, was also carried into Wales. Henry could not -be persuaded to offer a ransom for the liberty of Mortimer. -His refusal embittered the Percies, to whose assistance he owed -his crown. During this unsettled state of affairs the Scots -made incursions into England. The peers consented to attend -the king in an expedition against Scotland. The expedition -proved abortive. Henry found that Richard III. would not -obey his mandate to do homage to him for his crown; he found that -the Scots would not submit; he found that they would not give him -battle. He therefore withdrew and disbanded his army. -The Scots, resolved to punish Henry for this miserable attempt at -subjugation, marched into the northern counties of England at the -head of Earl Douglas. They were totally routed in the -battle which ensued at Holmedon; and Douglas, with a number of -nobles, was taken prisoner. <a name="page14"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 14</span>Henry ordered the Earl of -Northumberland not to ransom the prisoners. Northumberland -had a right to ransom or return them. A dispute was the -result. The relations between the sovereign and the Percies -were more deeply embittered, and Northumberland was forbidden by -Henry to enter the court.</p> -<blockquote><p><i>Get thee gone</i>, <i>for I do see</i><br /> -<i>Danger and disobedience in thine eye</i>.<br /> -<i>O</i>, <i>Sir</i>, <i>your presence is too bold and -peremptory</i>,<br /> -<i>And Majesty may never yet endure</i><br /> -<i>The moody frontier of a servant brow</i>.<br /> -<i>You have good leave to leave us</i>: <i>when we need</i><br /> -<i>Your use and counsel</i>, <i>we shall send for you</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>The Earl was disgusted and indignant at the ingratitude of -Henry. It was by his aid that Henry had advanced to the -throne. Henry had conferred upon him some gifts in return, -but Northumberland was not easily satisfied. Henry, on the -one hand, was jealous of the power which had seated him on the -throne; and the earl, on the other, was discontented with the -compensation which Henry had made. The interference of the -king with the right of Northumberland to dispose of his prisoners -according to his own wish was deemed a fresh insult and -injury. Northumberland determined upon revenge by -overturning the throne which had been established principally by -him. To this end he and his adherents proclaimed that -Richard was alive, but that having been satisfactorily disproved, -he planned a scheme for defending the claim of Mortimer to the -crown. It was laid that the armies of Wales and Scotland -should be united. Mortimer entered into covenant with -Northumberland to bring an army into the Marches, which the -Welsh, commanded by Glendower, were to join. The Earl of -Worcester, brother of Northumberland, joined the forces, and in -order to win over the Scots to the compact, Douglas and the other -prisoners were set at liberty. At the moment when -everything was ready for an engagement Northumberland was -suddenly seized with a dangerous malady at Berwick. The -conduct of the army was taken by his son Percy, surnamed Hotspur, -this “Mars in swaddling clothes,” “this infant -warrior,” who</p> -<blockquote><p><a name="page15"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -15</span><i>Doth fill fields with harness in the realm</i><br /> -<i>Turns head against the lion’s armed jaws</i>,<br /> -<i>Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on</i><br /> -<i>To bloody battles and to bruising arms</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Hotspur, along with the magnanimous and martial Douglas, -marched the troops towards Shrewsbury, where it was intended to -join the forces of the Welsh under Glendower. The king, -aware of the importance of celerity, hurried down to Shrewsbury -before the arrival of Hotspur, whose design was to reach here -first. Glendower had not brought his army up, but Hotspur -nevertheless resolved to make a stand. He had a force of -14,000 carefully selected soldiers. He had, too, the -advantage of choice of ground. The animosity had reached -its height on both sides. A general engagement was -inevitable. It was brought to a head by the impatience of -Percy on the one side, and by the policy of the king on the -other, the king believing that without the aid of Glendower the -defeat of Percy was secure. On the evening previous to -battle Percy sent to Henry a manifesto in which he renounced his -allegiance, set the sovereign at defiance, enumerated the -grievances of which the nation had abundant reason to -complain. He upbraided him with perjury, with infidelity to -the late monarch, with aiding the murder of that prince, with -usurping the title of the house of Mortimer, with adopting the -most crooked and cruel policy, with burdening the nation with -unrighteous taxes, and with corrupting the Parliamentary -elections. This added fuel to the flame. This -intensified the quarrel between them.</p> -<blockquote><p><i>These things indeed you have -articulated</i>,<br /> -<i>Proclaimed at market-crosses</i>, <i>read in churches</i>,<br -/> -<i>To face the garment of rebellion</i><br /> -<i>With some fine colour that may please the eye</i><br /> -<i>Of fickle changelings and poor discontents</i>,<br /> -<i>Which gape and rub the elbow at the news</i><br /> -<i>Of hurly-burly innovations</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>When the morning of the 21st of July, 1403, dawned, the two -armies were drawn up in array at a place then called Oldfield, -Bullfield, and Haitefield, subsequently Battlefield, near -Shrewsbury. Percy held the most advantageous ground, but -the king, to balance the loss of superior position, made a most -skilful disposition of his men. Hotspur addressed his <a -name="page16"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>men, telling -them that they must either conquer or die an ignominious -death. They replied with shouts of applause. The king -sent the Abbot of Shrewsbury to offer pardon, but it was useless: -Hotspur would not lay down arms. He was asked why he -appeared to oppose his king? In reply he repeated the -accusations of the manifesto. Henry counselled him to -confide in his royal clemency. Percy peremptorily declared -that he would not, and thereupon the standard bearer of the -king’s army marched forward, and the battle -commenced. Terrible was the shock of opposing forces. -It was one of the most fearful actions in all our history. -It began with a shower of arrows on both sides. The Scots -followed with a rush of tremendous fury upon the front of the -royal line, and put them into temporary confusion. The -king, however, was in the thickest of the fight, and was known to -his soldiers, although arrayed in a manner which effectually -prevented his being recognised by his enemies. His presence -lent new courage to his partially disorganised forces. -Though foremost among the foremost Hotspur and Douglas tried in -vain to discover him. A device of concealment had been -adopted. Several were armed like the king, and thus it was -impossible to distinguish the royal warrior. But at every -one that was conspicuous Hotspur and Douglas furiously charged -with swords and lances. The gap in the royal line had -nearly decided the victory by disordering the king’s -army. It was a daring and dashing move, and spread dismay -among the disconcerted, but it evinced more impetuosity than -judgment. It was one road to victory to force a way into -the centre of the king’s forces, but it opened up a path -into which Hotspur’s men were unable to follow. -Seeing this, the king ordered his reserve to be brought up. -The promise of triumph was lost to Hotspur. The -reinforcements turned the scale. Hotspur’s army was -defeated, and fled in great confusion, after a severe contest of -three hours duration. Douglas performed feats of incredible -valour. Hotspur sustained his fame for supernatural -courage; but the moment he observed the certainty of defeat, he -rushed into the hottest part of the battle, and was killed, some -say by Prince Henry.</p> -<blockquote><p><i>Two stars keep not their motion in one -sphere</i>,<br /> -<i>Nor can one England brook a double reign</i><br /> -<i>Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>The -loss of life was fearful. The dead lay in heaps all -around. There were slain no less than 2,300 gentlemen, and -about 6,000 private men, of whom two-thirds belonged to -Hotspur’s army. On the side of the king, who fought -desperately, and was throughout the engagement in the very middle -of the fight, slaying, it is said, thirty-six persons with his -own hand, there were 1,600 killed and about 3,000 wounded. -Among the killed were the Earl of Stafford, and ten new knights -who had been knighted on the same morning, only a few hours -previously. Douglas and Worcester were taken -prisoners. Worcester on the following Monday was beheaded -at Shrewsbury, at the High Cross, that is, at the top of Pride -Hill. Sir Theobald Trussel, Baron of Kinderton, and Sir -Richard Vernon, met the same fate at the same time. -Douglas, who had fallen from a crag of a rock on Haughmond Hill -before being taken prisoner, was treated with the courtesy due to -his rank and noble qualities, and afterwards liberated. The -body of Hotspur having been found was beheaded and quartered in -Shrewsbury, and the quarters fixed upon the gates of the -town. Many of the dead were buried upon the field of -slaughter; while some of the most notable were interred in the -Black Friars and St. Austin’s Friars, Shrewsbury. -Subsequently the king built Battlefield Church in honour of his -victory, and settled upon it a certain sum to pay two priests for -praying for the souls of the slain.</p> -<p style="text-align: center">—:o:—</p> -<p>In the middle of the 15th century the Duke of York raised an -army at Shrewsbury, really for the purpose of dethroning Henry -VI., whose feebleness in conducting the Government was beyond -dispute, but ostensibly only for the purpose of removing the Duke -of Somerset from the councils of the King. The Duke of York -was subsequently killed in a battle near Wakefield, whereupon his -son, Edward, Earl of March, afterwards King of England, to -revenge the death of his father and the cruelties inflicted on -his most attached friends, came to Shrewsbury, where 23,000 men -flocked to his assistance. With these, principally Welsh -borderers, he wholly defeated and dispersed the King’s -forces at Mortimer’s Cross, near Hereford.</p> -<p><a name="page18"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>When -Henry, Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. arrived in -England, and marched against Richard III. he was joined at -Shrewsbury, by Sir Gilbert Talbot, High Sheriff of the county, -who added 4,000 men to his small army. Henry, sensible of -the material aid that was thus rendered him, paid Shrewsbury the -compliment of visiting it shortly after he reached the throne; -again in 1488 when he remained several days; a third time in 1490 -when the King, Queen, and Prince Arthur were present at St. -George’s Feast, which, strangely enough, was held in St. -Chad’s Church, Princess Street; and a fourth time in 1495 -when he was sumptuously entertained by the -corporation—public men who, like Falstaff, had a hearty and -deep affection for sack. Some of the charges for this -banquet are most curious and amusing. There was bread which -cost £2; there was bread for the Queen 2s. 8d.; there were -four oxen, £3 6s. 8d!—there could have been no -controversy about the high price of butcher’s meat; there -were twenty-four wethers £1 12s.—talk of the -“good old times,” what farmer, badly off as he is in -these days, would wish them back again?—there were -twenty-four bottles of wine for “the King and the Lords in -the Castle,” 16s., eightpence a bottle!—there was -wine to make Hipocrass for the Queen, 4s.; there was a tun of -wine £8, and six hogsheads of ale £2 6s. The -bread, oxen, and wethers cost £7 1s. 4d., the ale and wine -for the King, the Queen, the guard, the King’s gentlemen, -and the minstrels cost £13 15s.! That was a truly -English entertainment! The Prince had 10s. spent on bread -for his wants, and £4 on “half-a-tun of wine” -for his refreshment and enlivenment. Rewards were given to -children, footmen, players, and serjeants-at-arms. The -total charge was £39 17s. 6d. Do hotel keepers sigh -for the return of the ancient days?</p> -<p>For upwards of three-quarters of a century after the last -visit of Henry VII. Shrewsbury received no royal -attentions. After the lapse of eighty-five years, however, -a representative of royalty in the person of Sir Henry Sidney -favoured the town with a visit. Sir Henry Sydney, who had -been educated at Shrewsbury School, was Lord President of the -Welsh Marches; and in that character he kept St. George’s -feast in Shrewsbury, on the 24th of April, 1581. Dr. -Taylor’s account of his reception, and of the manner of the -<a name="page19"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>feast, is -most amusing. Sir Henry “most honourably came from -the Counsell House there, in hys knightly robes, most valiant, -wyth hys gentilmen before hym, and hys knights followyng hym, in -brave order.” In the rear of the knights were the -bailiffs, aldermen, and “companyes of all occupations in -the sayde towne, evrie company followinge in good and seemely -order, towards St. Chadd’s Churche,” in Princess -Street. At the church Sir Henry was seated, or -“stallid,” as the manuscript reads, in the chancel, -where the knights of the garter passed and repassed, “dyng -as much honour as thoughe the Queen’s Majestic had been -present.” By command of the Lord President, divine -service was performed “to the gloryfying of -God.” Connected with “the gloryfying of -God,” at least in the narrative of Dr. Taylor, was the -feast, which Dr. Taylor records supplemented the religious -gloryfying. The procession was so long that when Sir Henry -entered the church, “the last end of the trayne was at my -Lord’s place, the Councill House.” A week later -there was more feasting. The masters of the Grammar School, -“the free scoole,” Dr. Taylor significantly calls the -institution, provided it. Their names were Thomas Lorrance, -John Barker, Richard Atkys, and Roger Kent. They were -feeders unquestionably, for they made “a brave and costly -bancket after supper, on the first daye of Maye.” The -“dyshes” numbered forty, and “every scoole -presented ten dyshes, with a shewer before every -scoole.” The following day, in a spirit of elation, -the scholars of the school, who numbered 360, “marched -braveley in battell order” to the Gey in the Abbey -Foregate, where they met the Lord President. The general -and captains renewed their allegiance to the sovereign and -valiantly declared that they “would feight and defend the -countrey.” Sir Henry paid them the necessary -compliment for their eloquence. He appears to have won the -affection of the students. His departure was mourned as if -it were an irreparable loss. He left the town on the 13th -of May in a barge, and at a certain point along the shore of the -river were stationed a number of melancholy scholars -“apparelyd in greene, and greene wyllows upon theire -heads,” for the purpose of making lachrymose appeals to him -to remain, of reciting doleful ditties upon his departure, of -lamenting the end of the halcyon days of “brave and costly -bankets” and of delivering eloquent orations on <a -name="page20"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>their eternal -fidelity to the constitution. One elegist pitifully -affirmed that his “woe was greate,” that out of the -intensity of his grief he was compelled to rend his -garment. The same inconsolable spirit ventured to implore -the Severn to “turn its stream quite backe.” -Another burst out wailingly—“O woeful wretched time, -O doleful day and houre;” another declared that the sight -of Sir Henry’s leaving gave him “a pinching payne -that griped his hart;” while another uttered the sensible -wish that “we could like fishes swyme that we myght wyth -thee goe.” It can readily be believed, as Dr. Taylor -says, that all this lugubration caused “my Lord hymself to -change countenance!” The bailiffs and aldermen, -however, preserved a different spirit—a spirit which may be -readily appreciated from the fact that after the scholars had -done their lamentations they “dyned altogether in the -bardge uppon the water when they came to Atcham!” -Aldermen without a doubt and of a truth.</p> -<p>Nothing of moment occurs in the history of Shrewsbury after -this until we come to the reign of Charles I. Charles had -to remove his standard from Nottingham. On the 19th of -September, 1642, he mustered his forces at Wellington. He -placed himself in the centre, and addressed the soldiers in a -vigorous tone. The next day he reached Shrewsbury. -One of his first acts was to borrow £600 out of the Grammar -School Treasury. His next was to re-establish the mint for -the coining of the sinews of war. His next was to raise an -army. He was joined by Prince Rupert, Prince Charles, and -the Duke of York who, with several Shropshire noblemen and -gentlemen, quickly formed a force for the defence of his -cause. Those who could not obtain horse or foot contributed -plate to be coined at the mint. The universities of Oxford -and Cambridge presented him with a quantity of plate. -Thomas Lyster, Esq., of Rowton, gave the king a purse of gold, -which the sovereign acknowledged by elevating him to the rank of -knighthood. Sir Richard Newport, in return for his -services, was advanced to the honour of a Baron of England by the -title of Lord Newport. Sir Richard, fully appreciating the -King’s wants, presented him with £600. The -people, it is said, were enamoured of Charles. Large -numbers of them enlisted as volunteers, and some were rewarded -with knighthood for their loyalty.</p> -<p><a name="page21"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>Charles -made Shrewsbury a garrison town. Under his direction Lord -Capel built a strong fort on the Mount to prevent any enemy from -planting cannon there. It was called Cadogan’s -Fort. Two years after, in 1644, Colonel Mytton, a valorous -officer who governed a small garrison at Wem, and was general of -the Parliamentary forces in Shropshire, made two unsuccessful -attempts to reduce Shrewsbury. The first occurred on a -Saturday, when he attacked the fort at the Mount, but was -repulsed. The second effort was made on the following -Saturday, about midnight. Mytton brought his forces to the -Old Heath, but the darkness was against them. They mistook -their way, and marched in the direction of Pimley and -Atcham. On the succeeding Saturday the third attempt took -place. General Mytton’s forces consisted of 250 foot -and 250 horse drawn out of the garrisons of Wem and Moreton -Corbet. To these were added the same number of foot and -horse of the Staffordshire army, under the command of Colonel -Bowyer. Sir William Brereton gave valuable -assistance. They arrived at Shrewsbury on Saturday morning, -February 22nd, 1644. They landed under the Castle Hill, on -the east side. Half a hundred troopers dismounted, and, led -by the Rev. Mr. Huson, Captain Villiers, and Lieutenant Benbow, -stormed the town with pistols. Musqueteers followed along -the Severn side, under the Castle Hill, near the Council House, -and entered the town at the gate of the Water Lane, which now -runs into Raven Street. The musqueteers were succeeded by -about 350 foot. These marched to the Market Square; and -meanwhile the remainder of the Parliamentary army reached the -Gates, which then stood on Castle Gates. The royal guard -had fled, and the horse under General Mytton and Colonel Bowyer -entered the town unresisted. Dreadful consternation spread -among the inhabitants. Mytton’s men came down -“like wolves on the fold.” They plundered -goods; they pilfered plate; they stole whatsoever they -could. Distress immediately prevailed. Shrieks and -lamentations were heard far above the din of the contending -parties. The people were devoutly loyal to their -monarch. Their sufferings were painfully grievous. -The Castle and the fort at the Mount held out for some time with -great bravery, but at twelve o’clock at noon the Castle was -delivered up upon condition that the English march to <a -name="page22"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>Ludlow, but -the Irish remain as the conquerors’ prisoners of war. -About midnight the fort could no longer be defended, and was -handed over to the Parliamentarians. The whole of the -garrison surrendered upon bare quarter. It is remarkable -that the loss of life on both sides amounted to only two: one -Parliamentarian, Richard Wycherley, of the Clive, Grinshill, and -one royalist, the captain of the main guard, who was killed at -the Market Square. Among the prisoners taken were eight -Knights and Baronets, forty Colonels, Majors, Captains, and other -officers, with a large quantity of ordnance. Colonel John -Benbow, who had joined the king in Shrewsbury in September, 1642, -was in 1651 condemned by Court Martial at Chester for -corresponding with the king. He was sentenced to death, and -the sentence was carried out on the 15th of October, 1651, in the -Cabbage Garden, afterwards the Bowling Green, near the Castle, -Shrewsbury. On the 16th the body was buried in St. -Chad’s churchyard (old St. Chad’s). The stone -which marked his grave was re-cut in the year 1740 at the expense -of Mr. Scott, of Betton, “to perpetuate his -memory.”</p> -<p>Charles II., visited Shrewsbury. Struck with surprise at -the width and cleanliness of the streets, he expressed, a wish to -elevate it into a city. The burgesses, who appear to have -left their first love, and to have degenerated in their -affections for kings, refused his offer in such an independent -spirit that they obtained for themselves the designation of -“Proud Salopians”—a designation which is often -applied to us as a term indicating that we are haughty, stiff, -conceited. Is there not something honourable in it? -The title means that once upon a time we performed the courageous -feat of declining the wish of a king—we said -“no” to a sovereign—we rejected the proffered -compliment of being exalted by a monarch. Strange but -re-assuring phenomenon from the descendants of the zealots of -Richard II., and from the devotees of Charles I.!</p> -<p>The last royal visit to Shrewsbury—and, as we have seen, -there was a number of them, chiefly of either a disturbing or a -worthless sort—was made by James II. in August, 1687. -Of course, the indispensable feasting, which is a fundamental -element in our glorious British Constitution, was held in great -style. A magnificent court was kept in the <a -name="page23"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>Council House -on August 25th; and the next day the King left this town for -Whitchurch. With his departure end our stories of the calls -of kings on their subjects at Shrewsbury.</p> -<h2>HISTORICAL GUIDE THROUGH THE TOWN.</h2> -<p>The objects of historical interest in Shrewsbury are most -numerous. We come upon them in every street. We meet -them at every corner. We hear the voices of the past -everywhere about us. We find ourselves associated with -something that had a beginning in centuries gone -by—something that has stood the storms of ages and been -spared in the disturbances of the centuries—something that -is rich in memories of old—something connected with -circumstances or events which, if we only thought of them, would -furnish us with lessons in stones, and make our daily travelling -of the streets an entertainment. Shrewsbury, of course, is -not, in this respect, an exceptional town; but it is wealthy -beyond most others. We cannot notice at elaborate length -the remaining</p> - -<blockquote><p> “<i>Memorials -and things of fame</i><br /> -<i>That do renown this city</i>;”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>but let us rapidly run over the town in as straight a course -as its divergent streets permit.</p> -<p>Starting from the Railway Station we see</p> -<h3>THE CASTLE.</h3> -<p>On the site of the castle a Saxon fortress originally -stood. In 1070 Roger de Montgomery built the castle by -enlarging the fortress and demolishing fifty-one houses occupied -by the burgesses. The destruction of this property was not -accompanied by any diminution in the public taxes, and the -burgesses complained of their grievance, but without -effect. The Earl’s two sons, who succeeded him in -possession of the castle, refused to redress their wrongs. -In the reign of Henry I. it became the property of the Crown, and -certain <a name="page24"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -24</span>portions of land were parcelled out as positions of -defence in the event of any necessity arising. A governor -was appointed to command it, a constable to guard it, and a -chamberlain to see that it was kept in good repair. It was -usually held by the sheriff of the county to enable him the more -powerfully to defend his bailwick. It was surrendered to -the Parliamentary army in 1644, and General Mytton was made -governor. He was succeeded by Humphrey Mackworth, who -appointed as lieutenant of the castle Captain Hill. Hill is -described as “a prodigal, drunken fellow, who before the -war, was a barber in Shrewsbury.” He was disliked by -both the people of the town and the garrison, and in order to -depose him from his position, a conspiracy was formed. He -was enticed to an alehouse outside the gates of the town. -The gates were closed to prevent his return, his personal -property was thrown over them, the town instantly was in an -uproar, and he was compelled to fly for his life. In the -fifteenth year of Charles II. the burgesses were ordered by a -<i>quo warranto</i> to deliver up the castle to the king. -The garrison then consisted of two companies. In the time -of James II. all the cannon and match, with most of the muskets, -were removed by royal command. Charles II. presented the -Castle to Lord Newport, afterwards Earl Bradford. Lord -Newport had given the sum of £600 to Charles I. -Perhaps the gift of the Castle by the second Charles was his -acknowledgment of Newport’s pecuniary service to that -relative who had the misfortune to lose his head. The Duke -of Cleveland is now the owner of the Castle.</p> -<p>On Castle Gates, opposite the Independent Chapel, stood the -Outer Castle Gate, which was formerly strengthened and defended -with towers, portcullis, and fosse in a line with a road leading -to the Smithfield. That portion of the town wall which -extends towards the river was erected by Robert de Belesme, -second son of the founder of the castle. Camden says it was -never assaulted except in the Barons’ wars. A few -yards higher stood the Inner or Burgess Gate, at right angles -with the Schools. The Castle Walk on the left of Castle -Gates was formed in 1790, and was called the Dana from the name -of the person who suggested its formation.</p> -<h3><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>THE -GRAMMAR SCHOOL,</h3> -<p>which arrests the eye on Castle Gates, was founded by Edward -VI., on the 18th of February, 1552, who named it the “Free -Grammar School”—a title about the meaning of which -there has been a good deal of philological disputation. On -the south window is a Latin inscription, which runs as -follows:—“At the supplication of Hugh Edwards and -Richard Whittaker, King Edward the Sixth laid the foundation of a -Shrewsbury School.” The supplication was induced by -the fact that there was no public institution for the education -of Salopian youth. This want was represented to the king in -1551 by Hugh Edwards, a mercer in London, and afterwards of the -Shrewsbury college, and by Richard Whittaker, then bailiff of the -town. They solicited for the maintenance of a Free Grammar -School a considerable portion of the estates of the dissolved -colleges of St. Mary and St. Chad. The king readily granted -their request; and the tithes of Astley, Sansaw, Clive, Leaton -and Almond Park, the property of St. Mary’s, with those of -Frankwell, Betton, Woodcote, Horton, Bicton, Calcott, Shelton, -Whitty, and Welbeck, belonging to St. Chad’s—the -whole then valued at the handsome sum of £20 per -annum—were given for the endowment of the school. Two -masters were appointed by the bailiffs and burgesses who were -nominated governors, and who, with the Bishop of Lichfield, were -empowered to make statutes and ordinances. The appointment -of head and second masters now rests with the Fellows of St. -John’s College, Cambridge.</p> -<p>The first master was the Rev. Thomas Ashton who is called by -Camden “the excellent and worthie,” and who had -“the best filled school in all England.” He had -290 scholars, among whom were some of the aristocracy of the -county, heirs of the gentry of North Wales, and representatives -of the greatest families of the kingdom. He laid the -foundation of that brilliant fame which the school has always -maintained. From a Latin inscription on the south window we -learn that “at the instance of Thomas Ashton, a man pious, -learned, and prudent, within these walls ever to be revered, -Queen Elizabeth augmented this foundation.” She did -so by adding to it on the 23rd of May, 1571, the entire rectory -of Chirbury, with further tithes and estates in the <a -name="page26"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>parish of St. -Mary. The tithes new produce about £3,000 per annum, -a portion of which is paid in stipends to the clergy of St. -Mary’s, Chirbury, Clive, and Astley parishes.</p> -<p>The School was originally a timber building, and the chapel, -tower, and library were added to it in 1595. The chapel was -consecrated on 18th of May, 1617, by Dr. John Overel, Bishop of -Lichfield, and the sermon was preached by Dr. Samson Price, who, -for his abhorrence of Popery, was named “The maule and -scourge of heretics.” The wood building which -contained the first schoolroom was taken down, and the present -fine edifice of Grinshill stone erected in its place in -1627. In the centre is a gateway, adorned on each side with -a Corinthian column, upon which stand statues of a scholar and a -graduate, bare-headed, and in the costume of the period. -The library contains a large and valuable collection of books and -manuscripts. It was “increased more than double by -the testamentary bequest of Dr. John Taylor,” a native of -the town, educated at the School.</p> -<p>During the mastership of Ashton the School acquired and has -since maintained the most brilliant renown. The roll of -illustrious students is a lengthy one. Ashton had among his -scholars George Sandys, the well-known traveller, whose works -obtained great commendation from Dryden and Pope: Sir Henry -Sydney, ambassador to France from the court of Edward VI., -President of the Welsh Marches, and Lord Deputy of Ireland, which -country, says Spenser and Sir John Davies, he governed with great -wisdom, and proved himself, according to Sir R. Naunton in the -<i>Fragmenta Regalia</i>, a “man of great parts:” Sir -Fulk Greville, Lord Brooke, an ingenious writer, a friend of -Queen Elizabeth, and a poet of repute in his day: Sir Phillip -Sidney, the noble and chivalrous soldier and poet whose bravery -at the battle of Zutphen is one of the illustrious incidents in -our history, and whose exquisite mind is manifested in -<i>Arcadia</i> the picturesque and in <i>Defence of Poesie</i> -the enchanting. Those were Ashton’s scholars, and -besides them there have been educated here Sir Thomas Jones, Lord -Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reigns of Charles II. -and James II., whose answer to the last monarch’s remark -that he could soon have twelve judges of Sir Thomas’s -opinion as to his <a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -27</span>dispensation of power, “Twelve judges you may -possibly find, sire, but not twelve lawyers,” is well -known: Dr. John Taylor, Canon Residentiary of St. Paul’s, -Chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln, and Archdeacon of -Buckingham, a learned critic and philologist, who wrote a work -entitled <i>Elements of the Civil War</i>, and published what -were said to be excellent editions of Lysias, Demosthenes and -Lycurgus: George Saville, Marquis of Halifax, of whose courageous -opposition to the unconstitutional conduct of James II. Macaulay -speaks, who, under that sovereign, was President of the Council, -in the Convention Parliament was Speaker of the House of Lords, -and under William and Mary was Lord Privy Seal: Edward Waring, -the learned English mathematician and Lucasian Professor of -mathematics at Cambridge in the middle of the last century: while -among more recent celebrities there are Mr. Thomas Wright the -antiquarian: Captain Richard Lloyd Edwards, an officer of the -“brave and bold” six hundred who rode “into the -jaws of death,” at Balaclava; and several Englishmen of -note. May we not say that these are names of which we may -justly boast? May we not, adopting Macaulay’s elegant -eulogium on the famous students of Glasgow University, say that -Shrewsbury School has sent forth men “whose talents and -learning have not been wasted on selfish or ignoble objects, but -have been employed to promote the physical and moral good of -their species, to extend the empire of man over the material -world, to defend the cause of civil and religious liberty against -tyrants and bigots, and to defend the cause of virtue and order -against the enemies of all divine and human laws.”</p> -<p>On the left of the Schools <span class="smcap">St. -Nicholas’s Chapel</span> was recently observable. It -was the only one in existence of eight similar structures. -It was erected by Roger de Montgomery for the use of those of his -retainers who resided in the outer court of the Castle. At -a subsequent period it was appropriated for the accommodation of -the President and Council of the Marches of Wales. On the -site has been erected a handsome structure by the English -Presbyterians, who have retained its ancient name, calling it</p> -<h3>ST. NICHOLAS’ CHURCH.</h3> -<p>Near St. Nicholas’s Church stands</p> -<h3><a name="page28"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>THE -COUNCIL HOUSE,</h3> -<p>approached by a fine timber gateway. In Speed’s -Map it is called “<span class="smcap">Lord’s -Place</span>,” and it appears to have been erected in -1502. It was the place of residence for the Kings and Lord -Presidents of the Welsh Marches when they came to -Shrewsbury. King James II. kept his court in it on August -25th, 1687. It has been the scene of many a “costly -banquet.” Charles I., Sir Henry Sidney, the Earl of -Arundel and other noblemen have been “nobly entertained -here at the expense of the town.” From the Council -House we stroll on into the street which is the main thoroughfare -of the town,</p> -<h3>CASTLE STREET.</h3> -<p>On the right is the <span class="smcap">Raven Hotel</span>, -where Farquhar wrote his comedy of <i>The Recruiting Officer</i>, -the scene and characters of which are of local origin, and the -preface to which acknowledges the loyalty and hospitality of the -good people of Shrewsbury. At the termination of Castle -Street, commences in a straight line</p> -<h3>PRIDE HILL.</h3> -<p>Pride Hill was anciently named, for a reason undiscovered and -unknown, Corvisor’s Row, then in Speed’s map -Shoemaker’s Row, and then finally, for ever, no doubt, -Pride Hill, from the fact of it having been the residence of a -family of the name of Pride. Directly opposite the -spectator’s eye stands the <span class="smcap">New -Market</span>; but instead of going down to inspect the handsome -building we turn to the left, pass the <span class="smcap">New -General Post Office</span>, and reach</p> -<h3>ST. MARY’S STREET.</h3> -<p>Here, of course, the chief object is</p> -<h3>ST. MARY’S CHURCH.</h3> -<p>It is supposed to have been founded by King Edgar about -980. There were attached to it a Dean and seven -Prebendaries, and the stipend of the priest amounted to £6 -6s. 8d. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it had a Dean -and nine Prebendaries, and was provided with a large estate for -their maintenance. In the time of Henry VIII. the revenue -was £32 4s. 2d., and the Dean received as his share -£22 6s. 8d. In the early part of the reign of Edward -VI. the revenue had increased to £42, the whole of which -was absorbed by the Dean, “rich on forty pounds -a-year.” <a name="page29"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 29</span>The church was then collegiate, but -upon the dissolution of colleges the greater part of its revenues -was given by Edward VI. for founding the Shrewsbury Grammar -School. The living was formerly in the presentation of the -Mayor of Shrewsbury—a privilege which the Municipal Act -extinguished. It is now vested in five trustees; and it is -necessary to select a minister who is either the son of a burgess -and has been educated at the Grammar School, or who has had the -honour of being a native of Chirbury. It was directed that -the stipend should be an adequate one—£20 a-year, and -the regulation which fixed the amount contained the pleasing -addition that it was not to be diminished.</p> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p28b.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Entrance to Council House, Shrewsbury" -title= -"Entrance to Council House, Shrewsbury" - src="images/p28s.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<p>The church is one of the most interesting ecclesiastical -edifices in the county from the example it affords of all the -architectural styles of the middle ages. It is impossible -to give here a full description of it. It must suffice to -say that it consists of nave, side aisles, transepts, choir, -spacious chapel, two chantrey chapels, with a tower and lofty -spire, the total height of which is 220 feet 2 inches. The -Anglo-Norman style may be seen in the basement of the tower, the -nave, transepts, and doorways; the transition from Norman to the -early lancet in the beautiful transept windows; and the obtuse -arch of a later period in the side aisles and chantry -chapels. The interior presents a stately and magnificent -appearance from the massiveness of its arches, from the -gorgeousness and beauty of its windows, and from the number of -its striking monuments. It has been graced with the -presence of royalty, and it has been used as a judicial -court. In 1232 a tribunal, composed of legates, was -convened here by command of the Pope to hear the charges -preferred against Llewellyn for violations of treaties. In -1642 Charles I., then in Shrewsbury, made within its walls a -solemn protestation, and took “the Sacrament upon -it,” to defend the Protestant religion. In 1687 James -II. attended divine service, and afterwards exercised the -superstitious and suppositious power of “touching for the -evil.”</p> -<p>Some of the incidents in the records relating to the church -are curious. Forms were first furnished for the worshippers -in 1537. Prior to that there were neither seats nor -benches. The floors were strewn with flowers and sweet -herbs, upon which the people prostrated themselves.</p> -<p><a name="page30"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>Among -the items of expenditure are some interesting entries. In -1553 it cost 4s. to ring in honour of Queen Mary being -proclaimed, and in the same year 4s. for “setting up an -altar before Sir Adam Mytton’s grave.” The -repairing of chapels seems to have been an inexpensive affair: -for we are told that “our Lady’s chapel was -mended,” and a “paschal taper” bought for 4s.; -while in 1554 the enormous sum of 2s. 6d. was paid for -“making an altar in our Lady’s chapel,” and 3s. -5d. for “making Trinity altar.” With a firm -adhesion to Protestantism and a stern condemnation of all -appearance of Romanism it was ordered on May 12th, 1584, that -three superstitious images and inscriptions in the north window -be taken down by the churchwardens. In September of the -same year it was ordered that the stone altar should be removed, -“having been sometimes used to idolatry.”</p> -<p>The spire, too, has a history of incidents. In 1572 it -was blown aside by the wind; in 1663 the cock was replaced by a -new one and the steeple repaired at the cost of £72; in -1665 and again in 1686 the cock was blown down; in 1690 it was -damaged by an earthquake; in 1739 the cock suffered again: in -1754 the spire was shattered by a violent hurricane; and in 1756 -the part re-built in 1754 was blown on one side, and once more -re-built. The mishap of 1739 one Thomas Cadman undertook to -repair. Cadman who is described by Hutton as a “man -of spirit and grisle,” succeeded in taking down and -re-setting the cock on the summit of the spire. In -celebration of his success he determined upon performing some -exploits on a rope which he fixed from the top of the spire to a -tree in the Gay Meadow, Abbey Foregate, on the other side of the -Severn. The adventure was a fatal one. In sliding -along he fell near the Water Lane Gate; and for the information -of an unappreciative posterity and the gratification of the -curious this inscription was placed on the wall over his grave by -his admiring survivors:—</p> -<blockquote><p><i>Let this small monument record the name</i><br -/> -<i>Of Cadman</i>, <i>and to future times proclaim</i><br /> -<i>How by an attempt to fly from this high spire</i>,<br /> -<i>Across the Sabrine stream</i>, <i>he did acquire</i><br /> -<i>His fatal end</i>: ’<i>Twas not for leant of -skill</i><br /> -<a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span><i>Or -courage to perform the task he fell</i>,<br /> -<i>No</i>! <i>No</i>! <i>a faulty cord being drawn too -tight</i><br /> -<i>Hurried his soul on high</i>, <i>to take her flight</i>,<br /> -<i>Which bid the body here beneath</i>, “<i>Good -night</i>.”</p> -</blockquote> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p30b.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Shrewsbury, with the English and Coleham bridges" -title= -"Shrewsbury, with the English and Coleham bridges" - src="images/p30s.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<p>Opposite the front of St. Mary’s Church are the</p> -<h3>DRAPERS’ ALMSHOUSES,</h3> -<p>better known as St. Mary’s Almshouses. They were -founded in the reign of Edward IV., about 1461, by Degory Water, -a draper of Shrewsbury, who was admitted a burgess in 1404 and -lived in the “hall house” or centre house among the -poor. He died in 1477. He made no respect of persons -in St. Mary’s Church, but set an example almost in -anticipation of the modern “open-pew” system by -accompanying the poor people to church and kneeling among them in -a “long pew in the quire.” The original -almshouses were taken down in 1825, and the present comfortable -buildings erected by the Drapers’ Company at a cost of -upwards of £3,000.</p> -<p>On the south-west side of the churchyard is the <span -class="smcap">Drapers’ Hall</span>, which is supposed to -have been erected about 1560. The interior is wainscotted -with oak, and the floor was formerly rich in emblazoned -tiles. The members of the Drapers’ Company feasted at -the north end, and on the opposite side is a fine old chest, -above which are portraits of the first steward of the company, -Degory Water, and his wife. Edward IV. was a patron of the -Company, and his patronage is gratefully recorded in some quaint -lines under his portrait, which adorns the east side.</p> -<p>A little beyond the Drapers’ Hall is the</p> -<h3>SALOP INFIRMARY,</h3> -<p>an institution which is acknowledged to be one of the best -conducted of its kind in the kingdom. It was formed in -1745, when a commodious house was purchased, fitted out, and -opened for the reception of patients on the 25th of April, -1747. The present building, on the site of the former -structure, was commenced in July, 1827, when Lord Hill laid the -foundation-stone. It was completed and opened in September, -1830. The appurtenances and appointments of the institution -are admirable. It is supported by voluntary contributions -and benefactions. It possesses a large number <a -name="page32"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>of valuable -legacies. It has been an inestimable blessing to thousands -upon thousands. Returning from the Infirmary past the -Draper’s Hall we cross the road to</p> -<h3>CHURCH STREET.</h3> -<p>The half-timbered house, conspicuous by its gables, on the -right hand side, formed a portion of <span -class="smcap">Jones’s Mansion</span>. It was erected -by Thomas Jones, Esq., the first Mayor of Shrewsbury, son of Sir -Thomas Jones, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common -Pleas. It was the residence of the Duke of York in 1642, -and of Prince Rupert “when he joined his uncle after the -brilliant action of Worcester.” The Church a few -yards further on is</p> -<h3>ST. ALKMUND’S CHURCH,</h3> -<p>which had its foundation early in the 10th century. St. -Alkmund was the son of Alured, King of Northumberland. He -was slain in the year 800 and buried at Lilleshall. The -church dedicated to him is supposed to have been founded by -Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. Her nephew, King -Edgar, a descendant of Alured, increased the original -endowment. Like St. Mary’s it was collegiate, and in -the time of Edward the Confessor had eleven manors, which, -however, were transferred by King Stephen at the request of -Richard de Belemis, one of the Deans, to the Abbey or monastery -at Lilleshall. The college being thus both dissolved and -impoverished was reduced into a vicarage and lapsed to the crown, -in whose hands the living now remains. The church was -destroyed in 1794 under a mistaken apprehension as to its -stability, and the existing edifice erected in 1796. In a -vault beneath it lie the remains of Sir Thomas Jones, Lord Chief -Justice of the Common Pleas, who died in 1672; and of Thomas -Jones, Esq., his son, to whom reference has already been made, -who represented the town in Parliament, and died in 1715, and of -whom it is said that his “strict piety, exemplary virtue, -and extensive charity consigned him to a joyful -resurrection!” A legend relates that in 1533, on -twelve successive days, and while the priest was at high mass, -the devil appeared in St. Alkmund’s Church, and that this -preternatural visitation was accompanied with great darkness and -tempest. Poor Trotty Veck in the <i>Chimes</i> thinks that -the bells are full of life, that they are under the control of a -goblin, and that innumerable little <a name="page33"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 33</span>goblins play upon them, leap and fly -from them, gambol in and round about them. Trotty is not -far wrong: at least three centuries ago there was a goblin in St. -Alkmund’s bells, and he tingled the wires of the clock, and -he imprinted his claws on the fourth bell, and he carried away -one of the pinnacles coolly esconsed under his arm, and, worse -than all, he for a time stopped all the bells in Shrewsbury, so -that there was no ringing, tolling, chiming or pealing! -There can be no doubt about it. Retracing our steps through -Church Street we come out upon</p> -<h3>DOGPOLE,</h3> -<p>or, as it used to be written, Doggepole, Dokepoll. -“What an outlandish name!” cries the visitor. -It is a strange name, but it expresses a natural fact. Two -interpretations have been given to it—one that attributes -it to the circumstance of a collection of water having existed in -the neighbourhood centuries ago—another that discovers its -derivation in <i>Ducken</i>, to bend or stoop, or <i>Duick</i>, -to duck one’s head, to stoop, and <i>poll</i>, or -summit. Dogpole is the head of a bank of steep -descent—the Wyle Cop, which leads to the river. The -neat structure on the right about half-way down is the <span -class="smcap">Tabernacle</span> of the Welsh Independents, built -as a memorial of 1662 and adjoining it is the <span -class="smcap">Shropshire Eve and Ear Hospital</span>, an -institution supported entirely by voluntary contributions, which -is, however, soon to be supplanted by the extremely handsome -structure now in course of erection as a new Eye, Ear and Throat -Hospital, in Murivance, opposite Allatt’s School. At -the bottom of Dogpole we turn to the right and enter</p> -<h3>HIGH STREET,</h3> -<p>which formerly bore the name of Baker’s Row, probably -because it had the honour of containing most of the baker’s -shops. On the right is</p> -<h3>S. JULIAN’S CHURCH.</h3> -<p>It is uncertain when and by whom the church was built. -It is only certain that it was erected during the Saxon -period. It is distinguished in several reigns as a royal -free chapel, and is styled “The Church of St. Juliana, the -Virgin.” In 1223 Henry III. attached to it the chapel -of Ford; but Henry IV. annexed its revenues, with those of St. -Michael’s <a name="page34"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -34</span>“in the Castle”—a foundation now -destroyed—to the new college of Battlefield, -“reserving only a small allowance for the -minister.” The first structure was Anglo-Norman, but -having become dilapidated, was, with the exception of the tower, -taken down in 1748. The foundation stone of the present -structure was laid in August of the same year. The first -service was held in August, 1750. The exterior of the -southern side was considerably altered and improved in -1846–47 through the generosity of the late Rev. R. -Scott. Opposite St. Julian’s Church, at the entrance -of Milk Street, is an old stone building which has seen -remarkable changes of fortune. Anciently and originally it -was the</p> -<h3>HALL OF THE CLOTHWORKERS OR SHEARMEN,</h3> -<p>a company which was incorporated in the reign of Edward -IV. The feast day was on June 6th, and the apprentices up -to the year 1588 used to set up a green tree “decked with -garlands gay” before the hall, around which there was great -rejoicing, coquetting, vowing, dancing and other festive -proceedings. But in 1588 the custom ceased. The -“green tree,” or Maypole was not enough. A -bon-fire was added, and a disturbance ensued among the -crowd. The Rev. Mr. Tomkies, a minister of St. -Mary’s, appeared among the excited company, but his -persuasions to peace only exasperated them. The Bailiffs -were compelled to interfere, and henceforth the practice was -discontinued. In the time of Elizabeth six hundred shearmen -were employed here in dressing the wool on one side of a coarse -material called Welsh webs, which were brought, chiefly from -Montgomeryshire, to a market then held every week in the -town. The process having been found to weaken the texture -of the cloths, the occupation of the company was gone. From -manufacturing purposes the hall was turned into a theatre, then -converted to a Wesleyan place of worship, then secularized into -an assembly room, then elevated into an assize court, then -utilized into a shop, and, lastly, transformed into an auction -mart. Proceeding up the street we presently see</p> -<h3>OLD ST. CHAD’S CHURCH.</h3> -<p>The foundation is attributed to one of the Mercian kings who -built it upon the site of a palace belonging to the Princes of -Powis which was burned down by the Saxons. It was a -collegiate church, and had a dean and ten prebendaries. <a -name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>It was -partially destroyed by fire in 1393 through the negligence of one -John Plomer, a workman, who carelessly left his fire while he was -engaged in repairing the leads. Plomer, seeing the result -of his thoughtlessness, endeavoured to make his escape, but in -running near the Severn was drowned—as a judgment? In -consideration of the damage thus sustained Richard II. graciously -granted to the inhabitants a remission of their fee-farm rent, -and exemption for three years from the payment of taxes upon the -understanding that they should re-build the edifice. This -they did. In 1547, by order of the bailiffs of the town, -the pictures of Mary Magdalene and of St. Chad were removed from -the church and burned in the Market Square. On July 9th, -1788, another disaster befell this unfortunate structure. -Its decayed tower, shaken by the vibrations occasioned by the -chimes, suddenly fell down, and crushed the nave and transepts -into fearful desolation. Some masons who were at work upon -it fortunately escaped. The church was restored in -1796. The interior, which contains a number of monuments, -one to the memory of the celebrated Rev. Job Orton amongst -others, has recently been improved and modernised. In the -churchyard several members of well-known county families have -received interment, such as Lyster, Vincent Corbett of Moreton -Corbett, Hugh Owen, M.D., Mytton, Burton, Ireland, Dr. Rowland -Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry and Lord President of the -Marches, and Captain Benbow, the officer who was shot in -1651. Benbow’s grave is at the end of the pathway -adjacent to Belmont.</p> -<p>It was in this church that the dawning light of the -Reformation first beamed in Shrewsbury. That light gleamed -in the preaching of William Thorpe, an ardent follower of -Wickliffe. He denounced the dogmas of the Romish Church -with the fervour common to the early Reformers. For his -preaching he was confined in the prison here, and then removed to -London to be examined by the archbishop, who, it is conjectured, -granted him his liberty.</p> -<p>At the south-east of the churchyard up to the year 1858, stood -or rather were propped up and made to stand, St. Chad’s -Almshouses—worn, ruinous cottages, which served admirably -for the purposes of animated nature. They were founded in -1409 for old men and women by Bennet Tupton, <a -name="page36"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>a public -brewer. The following story, relative to Mr. Tupton and his -daughter, is interesting:—“This yeare, 1424, and in -the second yeare of King Henry 6th, one Bennet Tupton, beere -brewer, dyed, who dwellyd in a brue house in St. Chad’s -Church Yard in Shrewsbury, which afterwards was, and now of late -days is, called the Colledge,” and was buried in St. -Chad’s Church. “He left behynd hym a daughter -of his namy’d Blase Tupton, who came by chance to be a -leper, and made the ‘oryell’ which goeth along the -west syde of the sayde church yard, and so came aloft to hear -service through a door made in the church wall, and so passed -usually upon the leadder unto a glass window through which she -dayly saw and dayly hurde servys as long as she -lyvyd.” The houses were demolished in 1858.</p> -<p>From this church we turn down a passage on the right hand side -of the street, called now <span class="smcap">Golden Cross -Passage</span>. Formerly it was denominated Sextry Passage, -a corruption of Sacristy. The sacristy of the church is -supposed to have been situated within it. The “Golden -Cross” inn appears to have been a tavern in 1495, the proof -being that in that year 13s. 2d. is said in the archives of the -Corporation to have been expended “for wine on the -king’s gentlemen in the sextrie.”</p> -<p>Emerging into High Street again we walk a few yards down, and -on the left hand come to the <span class="smcap">Unitarian -Chapel</span>, which was formed on October 25th, 1691, by the -Rev. John Bryan, M.A., ejected from St. Chad’s, and the -Rev. Francis Tallents, ejected from St. Mary’s, in 1662, -for the use of a Presbyterian congregation. One of the -successors of the founders was the Rev. Job Orton, who ministered -from 1741 to 1766, when he removed to Kidderminster. -Shortly after his removal a secession took place, which resulted -in the formation of the Independent Church, Swan Hill. That -“divine madman,” Coleridge, preached in the High -Street Chapel, and Hazlitt walked from Wem to hear him.</p> -<p>Further down the street, and on the right hand side, at the -bottom of Grope Lane is what was once the <span -class="smcap">Mercers’ Hall</span>. A few paces -beyond is a fine Elizabethan house now establishment of Mr. -Springford, mercer, which for a long period prior to the present -century was set apart as the Judges’ Lodgings. The -large square opposite is the</p> -<h3><a name="page37"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>MARKET -SQUARE.</h3> -<p>Conspicuous is the statute of <span class="smcap">Lord -Clive</span>, from a model by Baron Marochetti. As a work -of art it has received high commendation; as a public monument it -would be attractive if it were not bare—it would be an -ornament if it were not destitute of all those auxiliaries which -give to such objects a handsome finish. The magnificent -stone building on the left is the <span class="smcap">County -Hall</span>, built at a cost of £12,000, and opened at the -March assizes, 1837. This handsome edifice was -unfortunately nearly completely destroyed by fire on the 17th -November, 1880. Near it is the old <span -class="smcap">Market House</span>, a structure which presents a -fine appearance, and which for ornamental decoration is not -surpassed, if equalled, by any edifice of the same kind in any -town in the kingdom. It was built in 1596, and the fact is -recorded in an inscription above the front arch:—“The -xvth day of June was this building begun, William Jones and -Thomas Charlton, Gent, bailiffs, and was erected and covered in -their time. 1596.” On the site there had stood -five timber houses, two of which were erected in 1567 by Alderman -John Dawes for “the saffe placinge of corn from wether, so -that the owners thereof may stannd saffe and drye,” and the -other three by Mr. Humphrey Onslow in 1571. Immediately -over the inscription just quoted is a tabernacled niche -containing a statue and arms. Various have been the -conjectures as to the personage represented by the statue. -Some say that it is the Black Prince; others that it is -Llewellyn, Prince of Wales; others again that it is -Llewellyn’s brother David, who was executed at the High -Cross; others that it is Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry -VII. Roger Coke alludes to one of these opinions when, -speaking of General Monk’s purpose to restore Charles II., -he says, “and the end for which a free Parliament was -called was interpreted by hanging out the king’s picture, -which was no less gazed upon by the Londoners than by the -Welshmen at King Taffey’s effigies on the Welsh gate, -Shrewsbury.” The gate referred to stood on the old -Welsh Bridge, over which, in a niche, was this identical statue, -and when the tower which surmounted the gate was destroyed about -1770, the statue was removed to the Market Hall. The -general belief is that the statue represents Richard, Duke of -York, father of Edward IV. Vexed by all this uncertainty, -has not the <a name="page38"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -38</span>antiquarian reason to mournfully sigh,</p> -<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">“<i>O that those -lips had language</i>.”</p> -</blockquote> -<p>Several notable incidents have occurred in the Market -Square. In 1547 the pictures of Our Lady from St. -Mary’s Church, of Mary Magdalene and of St. Chad from St. -Chad’s Church, were publicly burned here because they were -supposed to be coloured with Popery. In 1579, on the 18th -of August, the assizes were held in this place, “open and -in the face of day.” The judicial bench consisted of -the scaffolding of some new building, and from this dignified -seat justice was dispensed. On the 17th of July, 1584, the -public were entertained with a play performed in the Square by a -company belonging to the Earl of Essex. Six years later, in -the month of July, 1590, there was more public acting. A -platform was erected for feats of skill, and a Hungarian, with a -number of the Queen’s players, succeeded in some -extraordinary achievements in the way of tumbling, -rope-dancing—achievements of such an astonishing sort that -“the like had never before been seen in -Shrewsbury.” In the latter part of December, 1740, a -portion of the roof of the Market Hall fell down, destroying life -and property to the enormous extent of two millers’ horses, -which were so inconsiderate as to stand underneath the -covering. Thus this central part of the town reveals to us -the development of local history. Once it presented a proof -of an apprehension of Popery which led to an act of bigotry, then -it marked the administration of justice, then it afforded room -for the histrionic art, and then it was the stage for introducing -to the good folk of Shrewsbury some wonderful gymnastic -games.</p> -<p>The immediate vicinity of the Square is rich in antique -buildings. The Mercer’s Hall and the old -Judges’ Lodgings have already been just glanced at. -Now, in turning to the left opposite the latter another fine old -structure presents itself. It is <span -class="smcap">Ireland’s Mansion</span>, erected about 1570 -as the town residence of the ancient family of Ireland. It -was, of course, one house only, but it is now divided into -three. Still keeping to the left we find ourselves in front -of</p> -<h3>THE NEW MARKET,</h3> -<p>a handsome and commodious building, designed by Mr. Robert -Griffiths, of Stafford, and constructed by Mr. Barlow, <a -name="page39"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>of -Stoke-upon-Trent. The foundation stone was laid in 1867 by -Mr. John Thomas Nightingale, then mayor of the borough. The -total cost reached a sum not far short of £50,000. -The market supplies a great and long-felt want, and, -architecturally, adds to the attractions of the town. The -Market brings us into</p> -<h3>SHOPLATCH</h3> -<p>—another peculiar name. In the time of Edward II. -the appellation was written Sheteplach, then Sotteplace and -Soetteplace, probably pronounced in accordance with the usage of -the period, Shottplace. The name was derived from that of -the Salopian family of Soto who had their residence here, and -whose house—a portion of which still remains in a passage -on the left—formed the principal property in the -street. One chronicler indulges the fancy that the origin -of the first syllable, Shop, Sotte, may be found in <i>sote</i>, -which Chaucer uses for sweet, and that the place may have been -called Sotteplace from its situation or conveniences. -Unfortunately we are bound to reject this poetic derivation of -the name, and accept the more common-place and prosaic -etymology.</p> -<p>A few steps from the termination of Shoplatch stands <span -class="smcap">The Theatre</span>, at the bottom of</p> -<h3>ST. JOHN’S HILL.</h3> -<p>It was formerly called Chorlton Hall, from the fact of it -having been for several centuries the residence and property of -the family of Chorlton, who were Lords of Powis. The exact -time of its erection is unknown, but in the year 1326 it was held -by John de Charlton, who, by the permission of Edward II., -fortified it with an embattled stone wall. It fell into a -ruinous state, and remained neglected until it was purchased -about 1830 by Mr. Henry Bennett, who raised it, and then erected -upon the site the existing theatre. The exterior, adorned -in its three niches with statues of Shakespeare and of the comic -and tragic muse, has a neat appearance, and the interior is -admirably adapted for dramatic purposes.</p> -<p>By way of contrast to the theatre is the <span -class="smcap">Wesleyan Chapel</span>, which stands on the right -about the centre of St. Johns Hill, and a few yards higher up is -another building <a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -40</span>formerly a chapel, “hid from view” in a -passage, built for the Quakers in 1746, but now used as a meeting -place for the Atcham Board of Guardians. Leaving, however, -an inspection of these we cross the road from the theatre and -walk down</p> -<h3>BELLSTONE,</h3> -<p>in which is situated the National Provincial Bank. Why -is the street called Bellstone? Some think that the -denomination anciently was Ben Stone, that <i>Ben</i> was an -abbreviation of Benedictine, and that the bank, which is an -ancient building, was occupied by some members of the Benedictine -order. Others say that the house used to be named The Bent -Stone, from the bent appearance of the large stone which then, -and now, lies near it. Others, again, conjecture that the -stone at one time resembled a bell either in colour or shape, and -for that reason the house, and subsequently the locality of the -house, came to be called the Bell Stone, that is, the house at or -near the Bell Stone. The hill on the left is called</p> -<h3>CLAREMONT HILL,</h3> -<p>anciently Claro Monte. On the top of it there was in the -days of old, a gate, as an entrance to the town, which was often -called Gatepoll, from <i>poll</i>, an obsolete word for summit, -Claremont Hill being the highest part of the town walls.</p> -<p>The long narrow street in a direct line from Bellstone is</p> -<h3>BARKER STREET,</h3> -<p>which in the infancy of our history bore the more aristocratic -title of Romboldesham, Rumaldesham, and Romboldi, the three names -being used indiscriminately in various reigns. The modern -term is simply an equivalent for Tanners’ Street. We -only take a look down Barker Street, and then turn to the right -into</p> -<h3>CLAREMONT STREET,</h3> -<p>once known by the euphonious title of Doglane. Here we -see on the left the oldest <span class="smcap">Baptist -Chapel</span> in Shrewsbury, built in 1780. A Baptist -church, however, was formed in Shrewsbury as early as 1620. -The chapel was enlarged in 1810, and modernised and renovated in -1867. From Claremont Street we reach</p> -<h3><a name="page41"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -41</span>MARDOL,</h3> -<p>or, as it was anciently written, Marlesford, Mardefole, and in -the time of Henry VIII. Mardvole, from the name of the ford -through the Severn, <i>Mar</i>, and <i>Leas</i> (or pastures), -which is by interpretation, the ford at the marly pastures. -There is no object of historical interest in this thoroughfare, -but in the lane about half way down, called</p> -<h3>HILL’S LANE,</h3> -<p>on the left is a memorial of antiquity in the shape of an old -structure known as <span class="smcap">Rowley’s -Mansion</span>, which is said to be the first brick building -erected in Shrewsbury. It was built in 1618 by William -Rowley, a draper, who was admitted a burgess of the town in 1594 -and created an alderman in 1633. His granddaughter married -John Hill, Esq., who lived in the mansion in splendid -hospitality, and in honour of whom the name of the street was -changed from Knockin Street to Hill’s Lane. It is now -used as a general storehouse, and the moderns with their -barbarous notions of utility have removed the curious portal, the -devices in stucco from the great chamber, the oak wainscotting, -and the mullions from the windows. Adjoining it is a chapel -belonging to the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.</p> -<p>Returning to Mardol we continue our observations by turning to -the left. At the bottom of Mardol on the right is the -comparatively new <span class="smcap">Smithfield Road</span>, -opened in 1850, as an ingress from the western portion of the -county to the cattle market. It leads to the station, and -to the suburbs of Coton Hill and Castle Foregate.</p> -<p>The <span class="smcap">Quay</span> on the right was built by -Mr. Rowland Jenks in 1607, and Mr. Jenks was ordered by the -Corporation “to permit all manner of barges, of all -persons, to load at the said Quay, taking for every barge load of -wood or coal twelvepence, for a ton of other goods—off a -burgess twopence, and off a foreigner fourpence.” A -few yards beyond, but on the other side of the street, just as we -enter Bridge Street, are <span class="smcap">St. Chad’s -Parochial Schools</span>, built and opened in 1865 at a cost of -£3,230.</p> -<p>Of course, the principal object here is the</p> -<h3>WELSH BRIDGE.</h3> -<p>In the reign of Henry II. it was called St. George’s -Bridge. Why? Because St. George’s Chapel, with -the <a name="page42"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -42</span>Hospital of St. John to which the chapel was -annexed—both were taken down early in the time of -Elizabeth—was situated near it, in that portion now -distinguished by the exquisite appellation of The Stew. The -name was altered to indicate its geographical position as the -road which leads to North Wales. It is conjectured that St. -George’s Bridge was built by Edward IV. It consisted -of seven arches, and had a gate at each end. The gate at -the Welsh or Frankwell end was secured by an outwork, and over it -was the statue of a man in armour which has been referred to as -having been transferred to the Market Hall. The gate at the -Mardol end of the bridge was surmounted by a massive tower with a -house and battlement. The tower was destroyed about 1770, -and the bridge itself, damaged by the frequent floods, was -demolished immediately after. A contribution was then -started for the erection of a new one. The Corporation -liberally gave £4,000, and in a short time the necessary -sum of £8,000, was procured upon the voluntary -principle. The stone was laid in 1793, and the structure -completed in 1795. It has five semi-circular arches, a fine -balustrade, is 266 feet in length, and 30 feet in breadth. -At the end of the bridge we come into</p> -<h3>FRANKWELL,</h3> -<p>from <i>Frankville</i>, the villa, residence, or town of the -Franks who, according to Domesday book, inhabited forty-five -burgesses’ houses in this portion of the town. We -glance to the right, and see a neat chapel belonging to the Welsh -Presbyterians, usually called <span class="smcap">Frankwell -Chapel</span>. Our way, however, lies to the left, and we -proceed until we reach on the right</p> -<h3>ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH,</h3> -<p>dedicated to the tutelar saint of England from the fact of its -proximity to the Chapel of St. George. It was built in 1832 -by public subscription. It is cruciform in plan, and has a -small tower at the west end. The style, with the exception -of the tower, is the lancet, or early-pointed. It will -accommodate about 760 persons, and 460 of the sittings are free -and unappropriated. From St. George’s Church we step -back again into the main street, and instead of going on to the -<span class="smcap">Mount</span> where Cadogan’s Fort -stood, we cross to the right by the “String of -Horses,” a half-timbered gabled <a name="page43"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 43</span>building erected in 1576. -Proceeding on we pass Chapel Yard, so called from its having been -the yard attached to Cadogan’s Chapel, and arrive at</p> -<h3>MILLINGTON’S HOSPITAL,</h3> -<p>a beautiful structure in a beautiful situation. It -consists of a pedimented front, surmounted by an open cupola, and -a portico, flanked by wings, forming dwellings for the -poor. The Chapel, which is also used as a schoolroom, is in -the centre. It contains a portrait of the founder, Mr. -James Millington, draper, of Shrewsbury, who built and endowed it -in 1734. After the death of Mr. Millington, who bequeathed -his entire fortune to it, the landed estate was disputed in -Chancery, and went to the heirs-at-law, the personal property -being assigned to the support of the charity. There are a -schoolmaster and schoolmistress who reside on the premises, and a -chaplain who reads prayers daily. The resident hospitallers -number twelve old men or women who are selected out of Frankwell, -and who, in addition to the apartments, receive annual gratuities -of gowns and coats, coals and money, and a weekly quantity of -bread. A number of boys and girls receive their education -at the hospital, and are afterwards apprenticed or sent out as -servants. Both boys and girls receive gifts of money on -their “entering into the business of life,” and -rewards are given to those who can produce certificates of good -conduct during a certain period of service.</p> -<p>A little further on are the new <span -class="smcap">Barracks</span> or <span class="smcap">Brigade -Depôt</span>, built at a very large cost, and opened in -1880.</p> -<p>In the extremity of Frankwell beyond Millington’s -Hospital there is nothing worthy of our attention; and, -therefore, keeping to the left, we hasten to the bottom of Port -Hill where we call out “boat!” and are ferried across -the Severn to land in</p> -<h3>THE QUARRY,</h3> -<p>One of the most pleasant walks in the kingdom. It -consists of a tract of meadow ground, twenty-three acres in -extent. Its situation, its surroundings, its scenery are -extremely beautiful, and constitute it a most attractive and -delightful promenade. The bank which skirts the Severn is -adorned with a graceful avenue of lime trees, extending 450 yards -in length, and forming in the intertwining of their lofty -branches <a name="page44"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>a -natural arcade. The Quarry, which should be a thing of -beauty and a joy for ever to the inhabitants, is resorted to, as -a rule, only by a few of the residents, most of whom, from their -familiarity with it, do not appreciate its charms, but from the -stranger the spectacle of so enjoyable and poetic a spot always -elicits expressions of admiration. The beauty that every -day lies at our own door is often no beauty at all. The -Quarry derives its name from a small quarry of red sandstone, -formerly worked in what is now called the Dingle. The trees -in the lower walk were planted by Mr. Henry Jenks, Mayor, in -1719. The three walks, graced in a similar manner, serve as -approaches from the town. In 1569 the Quarry was leased to -three burgesses for ten years at a nominal rent upon their -undertaking to bring the water from near Crow Meole to -Shrewsbury. They fulfilled the condition by laying down -leaden pipes, and the work was completed in 1574, in which year -Shrewsbury was first supplied with what is now popularly known as -“conduit water.” In that year the conduits at -Mardol Head, Market Square, High Street, and Wyle Cop were -erected and opened. The Quarry has been used for various -purposes. In the reign of James I. it was used “for -agisting of cattle, for musters of soldiers, and other laudable -exercises and recreations.” It is easy to infer from -the brutal and coarse pastimes of the period what the -“laudable exercises” were, but in truth, the -uncertainty of inference is removed by the positiveness of fact, -for in the same reign the Quarry was used for -“bull-baitings, stage-plays, &c., by consent of the -bailiffs,” who, of course, found in this corrupt and -debased taste a source of profit to the borough revenue. -The stage plays performed here—in that portion which is in -the shape of an amphitheatre and is styled the Dingle—were -of the nature of those common in the early age of the English -theatre. They belonged to the class of Mysteries—a -class of a low, vicious, profane, and often blasphemous -character. Amongst others <i>Julian the Apostate</i> was -performed here in 1565, and it is said that, notwithstanding its -utter grossness, it was “listened to with admiration and -devotion.” Two years later, in 1567, there was given -a representation of the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, and -the actor who took the principal part was killed by being speared -in the heart by mistake. An horrible barbarity was -committed in the Dingle in 1647, when, on December 24th, a woman -was burned to <a name="page45"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -45</span>death for having poisoned her husband. Very -considerable improvements have been recently made in the Quarry -by the erection of a Band Stand, new Entrance Gates, and the -transformation of the Dingle into a well ordered pleasure garden, -with seats, grottos, ornamental water, &c., the cost of these -great improvements has been mainly defrayed by the Horticultural -Society whose annual <i>fêtes</i> are looked forward to -with the “sweet pleasures of anticipation” by -thousands.</p> -<p>The fine brick building on the eminence opposite the Quarry on -the other side of the Severn is the new premises for <span -class="smcap">Shrewsbury School</span>, fronted by a wide -terrace, and commanding an extensive landscape in both front and -rear. The building which cost £12,000, was commenced -in 1760, and opened in 1765 for the reception of orphans from the -Foundling Hospital in London. It has been appropriated for -different purposes from time to time. Becoming disused by -the managers of the Foundling Hospital it was for some time -uninhabited. A portion of it was then taken as a woollen -manufactory, and while one section was thus devoted to business, -another was let out in apartments to valetudinarians who in the -summer months retired from the town to seek pleasure and health -in this beautiful district. It was also used as a place of -confinement for Dutch prisoners captured in the American war; and -then, in 1784, it was converted to something approaching its -original purpose by being purchased under an Act of Parliament -for incorporating the town parishes and that of Meole Brace with -the object of maintaining the poor. At the rear of the -buildings is</p> -<h3>KINGSLAND,</h3> -<p>an extensive piece of ground, the property of the -Corporation. It is supposed to have originally belonged to -the Crown—hence its name—and to have been granted by -the Crown to the Corporation. In 1529 it was let for -pasture at £3 per year—a price which must make modern -tenants wish that history might repeat itself. In 1586 it -was ordered to be, and was, enclosed. It is a healthy and -almost arcadian spot, “beautiful for -situation.” There is no locality in the town so well -adapted for villa residences.</p> -<p>Once a year, we are reminded, there <i>was</i> something -else—<span class="smcap">Shrewsbury Show</span>, a pageant -which showed the degeneracy <a name="page46"></a><span -class="pagenum">p. 46</span>of the past. With the exception -of the Coventry festival and the Preston guild it was the only -one of its kind in the kingdom. What was the Show? It -was the remnant of a feast religiously observed by the Romish -Church, and styled <i>Corpus Christi</i> the feast of the body of -Christ. It consisted of a solemn procession, in which the -several incorporated companies of the town, preceded by the -masters and wardens, attended by the bailiffs, aldermen, and -commonalty, and accompanied by priests, who carried the Holy -Sacrament under a gorgeous canopy, marched to old St. -Chad’s Church, where mass was said amidst the richest and -costliest treasures of the church. The religious part of -the ceremony was abolished at the Reformation; but the members of -the companies, though prohibited from attending mass, resolved to -retain as much of the imposing custom as they could. They -therefore continued the procession, which they determined upon -having on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday. They -possessed on Kingsland small parcels of land which the -Corporation had allotted to and enclosed for them, and on which -they had erected arbours as places of resort, of feasting, and of -pastime. They therefore selected Kingsland as the destiny -of the procession, and, arrived there, they entertained each -other in almost princely style, and indulged in the recreations -of the time. The anniversary until very recently was -observed, but it was a sorry picture of the old -festivities. The procession, which was made up of bands of -music, flags, banners, ancient horses ridden by individuals -dressed out as kings, queens, and other notabilities, followed by -a number of artisans, was perhaps about the most ludicrous sight -which the ingenuity of a buffoon could invent. It was a -ridiculous travesty of the ancient spectacle; and its -concomitants, its influence, and its results are best described -in the (slightly altered) words of Hamlet:</p> -<blockquote><p><i>The people wake to-day and take their -rouse</i>,<br /> -<i>Keep wassail</i>, <i>and the swaggering up-spring -reels</i>;<br /> -<i>And</i>, <i>as they drain their draughts of Rhenish -down</i>,<br /> -<i>The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out</i><br /> -<i>The triumph of their pledge</i>.<br /> - - -<i>Is it a custom</i>?<br /> - - -<i>Ay</i>, <i>marry</i>, <i>is’t</i>;<br /> - <i>But to my mind</i>, <i>though I am native -here</i><br /> - <i>And to the manner born</i>, <i>it is a -custom</i><br /> -<a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span><i>More -honour’d in the breach than the observance</i>.<br /> -<i>This heavy-headed revel east and west</i><br /> -<i>Makes us traduced and tax’d of other people</i>:<br /> -<i>They clepe us drunkards</i>, <i>and with swinish phrase</i><br -/> -<i>Soil our addition</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p46b.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Shrewsbury, from Coton Hill" -title= -"Shrewsbury, from Coton Hill" - src="images/p46s.jpg" /> -</a></p> -<p>Leaving the scene of so much that is gay and festive, and that -unites the present with the past, we re-cross the Severn, re-walk -a portion of the Quarry, and ascend the magnificent centre -avenue. The church before us is</p> -<h3>NEW ST. CHAD’S,</h3> -<p>built at a cost of £19,352, and consecrated on August -19th, 1792. It is considered the principal church of the -town, is used on all public occasions, such as the assizes and -the anniversary of the Infirmary, and is the place where the -archdeacon holds his visitations, but being one of the most -modern of the parish churches, it has the least historical -interest. The general effect of the interior is imposing, -the stained windows and monuments giving it a gorgeous -appearance.</p> -<p>From here we take our course “right on,” turning -neither to the right for the Quarry again nor to the left for St. -John’s Hill, we enter upon <span -class="smcap">Murivance</span>, a name denoting before or within -the walls. It is supposed that when the town was first -fortified Murivance was selected as the place of parade for the -military defenders of the town. On the left is</p> -<h3>ALLATT’S SCHOOL,</h3> -<p>founded and endowed by Mr. John Allatt, gentleman. It -was built in 1800, and cost £2,000. There are two -houses for the master and mistress. Forty boys and forty -girls are educated and clothed here, and then sent out to -situations, and coats and gowns are annually distributed among a -number of poor men and women.</p> -<p>Opposite is the <span class="smcap">New Eye and Ear -Hospital</span>, a most ornate structure, and the entrance of the -<span class="smcap">New Bridge</span> to Kingsland.</p> -<p>Still on the left, at the turning for Swan Hill—so -called from the Swan public-house which was formerly at the -bottom—is the <span class="smcap">Independent -Chapel</span>, the oldest of the three Independent chapels in -Shrewsbury. It was erected in 1766 by seceders from the -High Street church, and has been re-built a few years ago. -Further on, on the right is the chapel of the <span -class="smcap">Methodist New Connexion</span>, erected in <a -name="page48"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>1834, at a -cost of £1,500. In close proximity to this edifice is -an antique tower, the only vestige that remains of twenty which -formerly fortified the town walls. It is square, three -storeys high, embattled at the summit, and lighted by narrow -square windows. Those walls, which we now reach, were built -by Henry III. to fortify the town against the inroads of the -Welsh, and the cost was defrayed partly by the burgesses, and -partly from the royal exchequer. On the left is the <span -class="smcap">Roman Catholic Cathedral</span>, built of -freestone, in the style of the early decorated period. It -consists of a nave, chancel, side aisles, chapel, &c., and is -connected with the residence of the officiating priest by a -cloister. At the termination of the walls begins</p> -<h3>BEECHES LANE,</h3> -<p>sometimes called the Back Lane. This singular -appellation is a corruption of Bispetan, Bushpestanes, which may -also be a corruption of Bishop’s Town, or Bishop’s -Stone, Beeches Lane, having, it is conjectured, been either the -residence or the property of the bishop of the diocese, who is -said in Domesday book to have possessed sixteen dwelling-houses -in Shrewsbury. The gradual change appears, from old deeds, -to have been in this order—Bispetan, Bipstan, -Biston’s Lane, Beeches Lane. On the left is</p> -<h3>BOWDLER’S SCHOOL,</h3> -<p>an oblong building, with a glazed cupola in the centre. -It was founded in 1724, under the will of Mr. Thomas Bowdler, an -alderman and draper of Shrewsbury, who left £1,000 to erect -and endow the institution for the education of the poor children -of the parish of St. Julian. The late Professor Lee was a -schoolmaster of this foundation. Pursuing our walk in a -straight route we arrive at the</p> -<h3>ENGLISH BRIDGE,</h3> -<p>a structure of great beauty. The first bridge which -spanned the river here was probably erected by the founder of the -Abbey, Roger de Montgomery. At any rate the abbots and the -Corporation were continually disputing about the liability to the -repairs of the bridge, and the contention was temporarily closed -by the abbots consenting to repair the Abbey Foregate end, and -the Corporation agreeing to repair the town end. Henry -VIII. by a stroke of policy—by remitting some -taxes—got the Corporation to relieve the abbots of all -responsibility and to take the entire repairs into their own <a -name="page49"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>hands. -About the middle of the last century, the bridge being -considerably damaged, it was determined to take it down, and in -1765 a subscription was commenced to widen and strengthen -it. In 1767, on the 9th of June, the first stone of the -extension was laid by Edward Smythe, Esq., son of Sir Edward -Smythe, of Acton Burnell. It was discovered, however, that -beneath the causeway there was another causeway and channel, the -lower part of the Wyle Cop which had been raised at some previous -period. The plan of widening was therefore abandoned, and a -new bridge was decided upon. In the next year, 1768, the -old bridge was taken down, subscriptions flowed in abundantly, -and on Thursday, 29th June, 1769, the first stone of the new -bridge was laid in “a solemn manner,” amidst the -presence of the munificent contributors, by Sir John Astley, -Bart, who gave £1,000 towards the cost. The ceremony -was supplemented by a dinner at the Raven Hotel. The total -expense was nearly £16,000, the whole of which was raised, -not by heavy taxation, not by burdensome rates, but by voluntary -donations. Among the donors were Lord Clive, Thomas Hill, -Esq., the principal gentry of the county, and numbers of -public-spirited townsmen. The bridge consists of seven -arches, is 410 feet in length, and 35 feet in breadth.</p> -<p>The Gothic edifice on the right is the <span -class="smcap">Abbey Foregate New Church</span>, belonging to the -Independents, opened on the 31st of May, 1864. Adjoining it -is the <span class="smcap">National School</span>, for the -instruction and clothing of poor children. It was commenced -in 1708. Having proceeded a few yards we come to the</p> -<h3>ABBEY CHURCH,</h3> -<p>perhaps the most interesting ecclesiastical edifice in the -county. On the site there stood in the eleventh century a -timber church, built by Siward, a Saxon nobleman, and dedicated -to St. Peter. In the last quarter of that century -Odilirius, “a lover of justice,” who had possession -of the humble structure, counselled Roger de Montgomery, Earl of -Shrewsbury, to build a monastery. The Earl consented, and -in 1083 the monastery or abbey was built, and consecrated to St. -Peter and St. Paul. St. Paul, however, was served rather -scurvily, for the Earl gave the whole of the suburb—then -denominated <i>Before Yette</i>—to “the blessed -Peter.” The abbey was splendidly endowed by the Earl -and <a name="page50"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>by -Siward, and in consideration of the endowments the monks were -“to diligently pray for their souls, and for the souls of -their ancestors and heirs.” These endowments were -added to from time to time by several other benefactors, with the -same object. Thus Warine, the sheriff of the county gave -several hides of land for the salvation of his soul; and after -his death, lest he should be in jeopardy, his widow gave her -house for his effectual security. Warine’s brother, -Reginald, gave a village; Herbert de Ferches a farm; Gerrard de -Tourney a village; Randulph de Gernon, Earl of Chester, two -houses; and Hugh Pantulf his mills at Sutton “for the -salvation of his soul, the soul of his wife, and each of their -souls.” These benefactions vastly increased the -riches of the abbey, and in consequence of its revenue the abbots -were mitred and elevated to the privilege of a seat in the Upper -House of Parliament. The value of the monastery was, -according to Dugdale, £132 4s. 10d., to Speed £615 -4s. 3d. In the twenty-sixth year of Henry VII. the annual -income was £572 15s. 5d., a revenue equal to about -£4,750 of modern currency. At the time of the -dissolution of the monasteries the abbey was suppressed, and the -estates and buildings passed into lay hands. Some were sold -for the value of the materials, and others were converted into -dwellings. Odericus Vitalis, one of the earliest and best -of English historians, was educated at this monastery, whither he -was sent by his father, priest at Atcham, where he was born in -1074.</p> -<p>In 1728 an incident capable of a modern application occurred -here. The clergyman of the parish presented a petition to -the bishop praying for the removal out of the church of a picture -representing the Saviour upon the cross. The petitioners -presented a counter petition; but their memorial failed, and the -bishop ordered the picture to be removed. This dispute -between the vicar and his flock caused a great sensation, and -gave occasion to a number of lampoons. The parishioners -attacked the vicar in this style:</p> -<blockquote><p> <i>The -Parson’s the man</i><br /> - <i>Let him say what he can</i><br -/> -<i>Will for gain leave his God in the lurch</i>;<br /> - <i>Could Iscariot do more</i><br -/> - <i>Had it been in his power</i><br -/> -<i>Than to turn his Lord out of the church</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p><a name="page51"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>The -clerical party replied with a good argument:—</p> -<blockquote><p> <i>The Lord I -adore</i><br /> - <i>Is mighty in power</i>,<br /> -<i>The one only living and true</i>;<br /> - <i>But that Lord of yours</i><br -/> - <i>Which was turned out of -doors</i>,<br /> -<i>Had just as much knowledge as you</i>.</p> -<p> <i>But since you -bemoan</i><br /> - <i>This God of your own</i>,<br /> -<i>Cheer up my disconsolate brother</i>:<br /> - <i>Though it seems very -odd</i>,<br /> - <i>Yet if this be your God</i><br -/> -<i>Mr. Burley </i><a name="citation51"></a><a href="#footnote51" -class="citation">[51]</a><i> can make you another</i>.</p> -</blockquote> -<p>At the suppression of monasteries in the time of Henry VIII, -the entire eastern portion, which constituted two-thirds of the -structure, was destroyed. There are remains, however, -sufficient to indicate its massiveness and majesty. The -most prominent of these is the broad western tower which presents -a stately, dignified appearance. There are also the nave -and the side aisles; and these with the tower form the present -church, which, though with evidences of mutilation, has a -venerable aspect, and is characterised by “a noble -simplicity combined with a massive solidity.” The -three windows are all at present of the Perpendicular style; but -there are prints of older date which show the two smaller to have -been of a different character. The portal is a deeply -recessed semicircular arch, terminating in a pointed -doorway. The bellchamber has two windows on each side; -between those of the western front, in a canopied niche, is the -statue of an armed knight, having a conical basinet encircled by -a crown. This figure is with good reason supposed to -represent Edward III. in whose reign the tower was probably -begun. The south doorway is plain Norman in character, -resting on slender shafts, and adjoining is the ruined wall of -the transept. The choir having been destroyed the eastern -end now terminates in a wall run up between the remains of the -two western piers, which supported the central tower. Of -course, in the interior the altar stands here, above which are -placed Norman windows, containing six figures in stained glass of -kings and apostles. They are deep and <a -name="page52"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>brilliant in -colour, and the drawing is good. Below is a reredos, -forming a series of five Norman arches.</p> -<p>The interior of the Abbey is a fine specimen of solid Norman -work. The whole is in the massive Norman style except what -is beyond the three semicircular arches westward, where there is -a very wide pier, on the eastern and western extremities of which -are half columns of the arcades, and in the middle is attached a -flat pilaster. From hence the nave displays the -commencement of a different style, and the Norman gives place to -pure Gothic of the fourteenth century. This terminates in a -beautiful pointed arch, which divides the tower from the nave, -and by the removal of the organ gallery and screen the whole -extent of the great western window is now displayed, which -certainly imparts a very striking appearance to that portion of -the building. The entire window is filled with a series of -armorial bearings of some of England’s ancient peerage, as -well as a few very modern. It is, in fact, a perfect study -of heraldry. There are several monuments of interest, but -the most singular is one which stands on the north side of the -altar, which at the first view presents the appearance of two -tombs, but on examination proves to be only one, the double -appearance being given by a centre buttress, which is not carried -over the ledge, upon which rest two figures, the head of the one -at the feet of the other. They are supposed to represent -the “same” individual who had abandoned the military -for the eremitical life, but there is not the slightest clue to -his name.</p> -<p>The walls of the nave, with the pillars and arches, were, in -1855, cleared of their plaster covering; but such a state of -dilapidation was developed as to necessitate a thorough -restoration, which has been carefully and effectually carried -out. It may be proper to mention that on the fall of St. -Chad’s, and the demolition of St. Alkmund’s, the -walls of which “were in such a sound state as to require a -very great amount of labour to remove them,” several -ancient monuments found a place within the walls of the -Abbey.</p> -<p>Of the monastic remains there are only “few and far -between.” On the south-west of the church is a -malthouse which is supposed to have been part of the monks’ -infirmary and chapel. A similar building which stood near -the street, and a dormitory attached to the south-west side of -the church <a name="page53"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -53</span>were taken down in 1836 for the formation of a new line -of road. The most striking of the remains is the elegant -octagonal <span class="smcap">Stone Pulpit</span>, in a yard on -the right. It is thought to have stood within the -refectory, and to have been used as the lectern by the junior -monks to read from while the elder brethren were enjoying meals -in the dining-room. The interior forms an oriel, the roof -being vaulted on eight delicate ribs.</p> -<p>From hence we take the road upwards, and call to mind in our -walk two notable but not pleasant incidents. The first goes -as far back as 1582, in which year, on February 4th, one John -Prestige “was hanged upon a gibbet, erected on the green, -by the water side, near the Abbey Mill, and opposite his own -house, for the murder of his wife, by throwing her over the Stone -(the English) Bridge in the Severn: he hung there three -days.” The second brings us down to 1774 when, on -Good Friday, April 1st, a disastrous fire broke out in the Abbey -Foregate by which forty-seven houses, sixteen barns, fifteen -stables, four shops, and several stacks of hay were utterly -destroyed. This serious conflagration led to the purchase -by the Worshipful Company of Drapers of a fire engine, a quantity -of buckets and fire hooks, and to the erection of fire plugs for -the use of the town. These disagreeable memories are -relieved by the sight of</p> -<h3>LORD HILL’S COLUMN,</h3> -<p>built with Grinshill stone, and said to be the largest -Grecian-Doric column in the world. The first stone was laid -on the 27th December, 1814, and the last on June 18th, -1816. The total height of the column is 133 feet 6 -inches. The colossal statute on the summit was executed -from a model by Panzetta. The inscriptions on the pedestal -relate the skill and courage displayed by Lieutenant-General -Rowland Lord Hill in Spain, Portugal, the South of France, and on -the memorable plains of Waterloo. Admission to the Column -is obtained by means of a gratuity to the keeper who resides in -the adjacent pretty Doric cottage on the left, and from the top a -splendid panoramic view of Shropshire rewards the ascender of the -winding staircase. To the right of the Column is</p> -<h3>ST. GILES’S CHURCH,</h3> -<p>built early in the reign of Henry I. for the use of a Hospital -<a name="page54"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>of Lepers -which stood north-west of the existing edifice, and which was -founded by King Henry II. It became parochial about the -middle of the fifteenth century when it was united with the -parish of Holy Cross within the monastery. It is said that -in the reign of Stephen, when the monks obtained the bones of -that popular martyr, St. Wenefreda, those relics were deposited -on the altar of this church until a shrine worthy of their -reception could be prepared within the Abbey. A few yards -beyond is the old Militia Depôt, erected in 1806.</p> -<p>Having seen all that is to be seen at this end of the town we -return to the Abbey Foregate. About half-way down we -diverge to the right and come to</p> -<h3>WHITEHALL,</h3> -<p>a fine Elizabethan building erected in 1582, by Richard -Prince, Esq., a celebrated lawyer. Churchyard speaks of it -“so trim and finely that it graceth all the soil it is -in.” At a little distance is the Race Course on which -Charles I. drew up his army in 1642.</p> -<p>Hastening back towards the town we may turn to the left at the -end of the English Bridge for the suburbs of Coleham, Belle Vue, -and Meole, where we may see Trinity Church, a plain modern -structure, raised in 1837: Belle Vue Cemetery, opened in 1852 for -the use of Nonconformists; and the General Parochial Cemetery, -opened and consecrated in 1856. Or we may re-cross the -bridge, descend the steps on the right, take the pathway on the -banks of the Severn, pass under the railway viaduct, inspect the -exterior of the County Prison, glance at the British School, All -Saints’ Church and Schools, and the Gas Works, thence enter -the suburb of Castle Foregate, where a few minutes will suffice -to make acquaintance with St. Mary’s and St. -Michael’s Schools, with St. Michael’s Church, a neat -Doric building erected in 1830. Then we return up Castle -Foregate, turn to the right by the railway bridge, and enter the -suburb of Coton Hill. In the Royal Baths on the right we -may have a refreshing plunge if the weather is warm. Beyond -the Baths we see on the right a clump of sycamore trees, denoting -the site of the house where Admiral Benbow was born in -1650. In 1698 Admiral Benbow visited Shrewsbury, and was -entertained by the Corporation.</p> -<p><a name="page55"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>It may -be mentioned here that in 1606 a considerable portion of Coton -Hill was burnt down, “the houses being set on fire by John -Tench’s wife.”</p> -<p>We return by way of Chester Street to the station, where our -run through the town commenced and where it now ends, after -having viewed places and objects which vividly bring to mind -events of the past, which present numerous and radical changes in -the habits and conditions of society, and which, manifesting in a -marked degree the variations of taste, and the definite progress -of manners, art, and religion exhibit the relation of modern to -ancient times, both in physical sciences and in customs of -life.</p> - -<div class="gapspace"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p55.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Decorative graphic" -title= -"Decorative graphic" - src="images/p55.jpg" /> -</a></p> - -<div class="gapline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">SHREWSBURY:</span><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY DRAYTON -BROS.</span></p> - -<div class="gapline"> </div> -<h2><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. -56</span>ADVERTISING.</h2> -<h3>DRAYTON BROS., Shrewsbury</h3> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br -/> -<span class="GutSmall">CONDENSED LIST OF</span><br /> -MISCELLANEOUS STATIONERY, &c.,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">KEPT IN STOCK.</span><br /> -<span -class="GutSmall">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></p> -<table> -<tr> -<td><p>Account Books<br /> -Blotting Papers<br /> -Book Marks<br /> -Book Papers<br /> -Bristol Boards<br /> -Brown Papers<br /> -Camel Hair Brushes<br /> -Cards, all sizes and kinds<br /> -Cardboards<br /> -Clips or Fasteners<br /> -Colour Boxes<br /> -Coloured Papers<br /> -Copy Books<br /> -Copying Letter Books<br /> -Ciphering Books<br /> -Copying Presses<br /> -Drapers’ Papers<br /> -Elastic Bands<br /> -Envelopes, all kinds<br /> -Exercise Books<br /> -Foolscap Papers<br /> -Funeral Cards<br /> -Gummed Tickets<br /> -Gum Mucilage<br /> -Indexes<br /> -Indian Rubber<br /> -Inks, all kinds<br /> -Ink Erasers<br /> -Ink Stands<br /> -Invoice Books<br /> -Large Post Papers<br /> -Lead Pencils<br /> -Ledgers<br /> -Letter Books<br /> -Letter Files<br /> -Linear Paper and Envelopes</p> -</td> -<td><p>Luggage Labels<br /> -Marking Ink<br /> -Memo. Books, all kinds<br /> -Metallic Books<br /> -Millboards<br /> -Mourning Stationery<br /> -Note Papers, all kinds<br /> -Official Envelopes<br /> -Packing Papers<br /> -Papers, all sorts<br /> -Parcel Receipt Books<br /> -Pencils<br /> -Pencil and Pen Cases<br /> -Pink Tape<br /> -Pen Holders<br /> -Playing Cards<br /> -Pocket Books<br /> -Pocket Ledgers<br /> -Printing Papers, all kinds<br /> -Printers’ Ink, &c.<br /> -Purses<br /> -Receipt Books<br /> -Ruled Papers<br /> -Rulers<br /> -Scrap Books<br /> -Slates<br /> -Slate Pencils<br /> -Stationers’ Stock Boxes<br /> -Steel Pens<br /> -Tea Papers<br /> -Tissue Papers<br /> -Toy Books, great variety<br /> -Twine<br /> -Valentines<br /> -Wrapping Papers<br /> -Writing Papers</p> -</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> -<h3><a name="page57"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>L. -WILDING,<br /> -Printer, Bookseller and Stationer,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">33, CASTLE STREET, SHREWSBURY.</span></h3> -<p style="text-align: center"><span -class="GutSmall">********************************</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">A LARGE AND -VARIED ASSORTMENT OF</span><br /> -<span class='gutoutline'>PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEWS</span><br /> -<b>OF SHREWSBURY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD,</b><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br /> -BEDFORD, FRITH and MANSELL.<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">ALSO</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center">A Cheap Series of Views</p> -<p style="text-align: center">AT 3d. EACH.</p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><i>24 BEAUTIFULLY</i><br /> -<span class='gutoutline'>LITHOGRAPHED VIEWS</span>,<br /> -FOR ONE SHILLING.</p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">A Splendid Selection of View Goods -of<br /> -all kinds.</p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">DEPÔT FOR THE RELIGIOUS TRACT -SOCIETY.</p> - -<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> -<h3>A HANDY GUIDE<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br /> -MAIDSTONE & NEIGHBOURHOOD</h3> -<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">CONTAINING -DESCRIPTIONS OF THE</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center"><b>Museum, Churches, -Chapels,</b><br /> -<span class="GutSmall">AND</span><br /> -PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS,<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">TOGETHER WITH NOTICES OF ALL</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Features of General Interest</span></p> -<p style="text-align: center"> -<a href="images/p58b.jpg"> -<img alt= -"Shield" -title= -"Shield" - src="images/p58s.jpg" /> -</a></p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center">PRICE SIXPENCE.</p> - -<div class="gapshortdoubleline"> </div> -<p style="text-align: center"><b>Maidstone</b>:<br /> -FREDERICK BUNYARD, LIBRARY, 29, WEEK STREET;<br /> -<span class="GutSmall">AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.</span></p> - -<div class="gapline"> </div> -<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> -<p><a name="footnote51"></a><a href="#citation51" -class="footnote">[51]</a> A Painter in Shrewsbury.</p> -<pre> - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GUIDE -THROUGH SHREWSBURY*** - - -***** This file should be named 62276-h.htm or 62276-h.zip****** - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/2/7/62276 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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