BRIMSTREE HUNDRED.

The Hundred of Brimstree is divided into the Bridgnorth and the Shiffnal divisions. Hales Owen, formerly a third division of this hundred, being a detached part of the county surrounded by Worcestershire, has recently, by act of parliament, been annexed to the county of Worcester. This hundred is bounded on the north by the county of Stafford and the South Bradford Hundred, on the west by the Wenlock Franchise and South Bradford Hundred, on the east by Staffordshire, and on the south by the Stottesden Hundred. Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P., is lord of the hundred, and holds a court on the 24th April; Mr. George Pritchard, steward; and Mr. John Cullwick, bailiff. The population in 1801 was 18,817; in 1841 there were 2,577 houses and 12,458 inhabitants. The annexing of the populous district of Halesowen to the county of Worcester is the cause of the returns at the census of 1821 being greater than those of 1841.

The Bridgnorth division contains the following townships and places, viz., Aston, Beobridge, Bobbington (part of), Broughton, Claverley, Dallicott, Farmcott, Gatacre, Heathton, Hopstone, Ludstone, Shipley, Sutton, Woundale, and Worfield.

The Shiffnal divisions contains Albrighton, Badger, Beckbury, Boningale, Boscobal, Donnington, Kemberton, Ryton, Shiffnal, Hatton, Priors’ Lee, Woodside, Stockton, Sutton, Maddock, and Tong.

ALBRIGHTON

is a parish and populous village in the Shiffnal division of the Brimstree Hundred, situated five miles south east by east from Shiffnal, and twenty-three south-east from Shrewsbury. The parish lies in the eastern verge of the county, and contains 3,365 acres of land, of which 59 acres are in roads and plantations. In 1801 there were 901 inhabitants; 1831, 1,054; in 1841, 1,058, and 236 houses; and in 1851, 242 houses and 1,141 souls. Rateable value, £7,089, 16s. 11d. This pleasant rural village is delightfully situated in a salubrious part of the county, intersected by good roads, and contiguous to the Shrewsbury and Birmingham railroad. Within the last few years it has attracted much attention, and several handsome villa residences have been built, which are chiefly occupied by respectable families and tradespeople from Wolverhampton and the neighbourhood. There are many good shops in the different branches of the retail trade, and the inns and boarding houses afford every accommodation to the numerous visitors who annually attend the celebrated Albrighton Hunt. The land in this locality has a bold undulating surface, and the views are varied and beautiful. The farms are extensive, and by unremitting industry, and an outlay of capital, have been brought to a state of productiveness far superior to what has been hitherto known in this district. The farm houses are in general well built, and provided with commodious out-premises. The Earl of Shrewsbury is the principal landowner and lord of the manor. The other chief owners are Thomas Plowden Presland, Esq.; Launcelot Shadwell, Esq.; William Oatley, Esq.; the Earl of Dartmouth; Mr. John Oatley; John Yates, Esq.; George Jones, Esq.; the representatives of the late John Meeson; Richard Wood, Esq.; and the trustees of the poor of Tong, Albrighton, and Tattenhall; besides whom there are several smaller owners.

In the time of Edward the Confessor Albrighton was in two manorial, divisions, held by Algar, Earl of Menia, and a Saxon, named Godit. In the reign of the Confessor, one hide and a half of land in this parish were taxed to the king. After the conquest it extended to four carucates, when they were in demesne three carucates, thirteen servants, three villains, and three borderers, with one carucate of plough land. There was at that time a wood sufficient to fatten one hundred hogs, which was then in the hands of the king. In the reign of the Confessor it was valued at 21s., and at the Conquest at 16s., when it was found wasted, from whence we may learn that the hand of the Saxon destroyer had been raised in revenge. In a manuscript of Dr. Hardwicke’s, now preserved at the vicarage, the parish is spoken of as comprising the lordships of Albrighton and Bishton, the manors and granges of Cosford and Whiston, and many other places of less note. This lordship being enjoyed by Norman the Hunter, shortly after the conquest, was undoubtedly in his possession in 1066, when he and Roger his brother, lord of Beckbury, attended their superior Lord Roger, the Count Palatine, and Adelaisa his second countess, at their palace at Quatford, near Bridgnorth, on the great festal occasion of the dedication of that church, 22nd July, 1086, which they so amply endowed with lands and tithes, arising out of several parishes in this county, as these two lords are particularly noticed as attesting witnesses, with many other lords of manors, the vassals of the count. In the reign of King Henry I. (1102) the manor was granted by the king to his favourite Sir Ralph de Pitchford, in whose family it continued through several generations; as Camden states that a Sir Ralph de Pitchford, 29th of Edward I., had his residence within this manor of Albrighton, where he died, leaving three sons, John, Nicholas, and Hugh, and Margery his relict, who in the 32nd year of this reign, recovered in the Court of King’s Bench, his service against Roger Charles and William the Beadle of Brimstree, of eleven marks rent, with appurtenances in Albrighton. John de Pitchford, the eldest son, was lord of Albrighton and Pitchford, holding them of the crown by the service of one knight’s fee each. It afterwards passed to Sir John de Tregon, Lord Tregon, who, dying without male issue, it came to his grandson, Sir John la Warre, who held in chief by one knight’s fee, and in the 31st of Edward I. obtained a charter to hold a market on a Tuesday, and a fair on the eve of the day, and the day after the translation of St. Thomas the Martyr; and also to hold courts leet and view of frankpledge in the manor half yearly. He was summoned to parliament from 26th August, 1307, to 26th February, 1342, and died in the 21st of Edward 3rd, 1347. About this period Roger Careless, a considerable proprietor of lands in Albrighton, gave 60 acres of land there to found a chantry in the Church at Albrighton, to which he added lands and 2s. rent within his manor of Ryton adjoining. The charter of Albrighton was renewed by King Charles II., and the manor given or confirmed to the Talbots in 1663. The Lady Mary Talbot presented the borough with a mace. The market has long been obsolete, but fairs are held for cattle, sheep, swine, and general merchandise on the first Monday in March, 23rd of May, and the last Saturday in June. A feast is held on the first Sunday after the 18th of July, and races on the following Monday. A flourishing society of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, is held at Mr. Bucknall’s, the Crown Inn. The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway Company have a station here: Mr. James Davies is the station master. Flys and cars are daily in attendance at the station on the arrival of each train.

The Church is a venerable fabric, dedicated to St. Mary, consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with, a square tower, containing six bells. The interior is spacious and handsome, and is neatly pewed with dark oak sittings. Upon the gallery, at the west end, there is a fine-toned organ. The chancel is divided from the nave by a lofty pointed arch, and the east window is richly foliated. The church contains some beautiful tablets and other memorials to the Talbots and several other distinguished families. An alabaster tomb has two full length figures in a recumbent posture, with hands joined in the attitude of prayer; the knight clothed in a surcoat and chain armour, and his feet resting on a lion. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £5. 10s., now returned at £651, in the patronage of the Haberdashers’ Company and the Governors of Christ’s Hospital, London, alternately. The Rev. George W. Woodhouse, M.A., is the incumbent. Divine service is performed twice a-day throughout the year in the church. The Vicarage, a spacious stuccoed residence, a little east from the church, is ornamented with pleasure grounds tastefully laid out. The tithes have been commuted, and £626. 7s. 2d. apportioned to the vicar, and £20 to Mr. George Jones. There are 15a. 2r. 32p. of glebe land. Gilbert Talbot, bishop of Bertha, in Italy, resided chiefly at Lower Pepperhill, in this parish, where he erected a brick mansion, with a court before it. The pope, in consideration of his high birth, family connections, and enormous wealth, raised him to the see of Bertha. He enjoyed his great hereditary property nearly twenty-six years in much privacy and seclusion, engaging himself in acts of charity and devotion, and dying at Lower Pepperhill, on the 12th of December, 1743, was interred in the Catholic Cemetery of the White Ladies, near Albrighton. There is a Parochial School, in which six boys are taught gratuitously, in consideration of the schoolmaster having the free use of the school-house.

Charities.—By indenture, dated 18th May, 1682, reciting two bequests to the inhabitants of Albrighton, one of £20 by one Southall, the other of £10 by Roger Brooke, the interest of which was to be yearly disposed of among poor people, and which two sums, with some accumulation of interest, had increased to £40; and further reciting a gift by George Bromley of £100, the yearly profits to be distributed on St. George’s day and the Feast of All Saints, with the yearly increase thereof then amounted to £150; it was witnessed that in consideration of the sum of £210, composed of the above benefactions and a sum of money borrowed for the use of the parish, to make up the deficiency, certain lands were conveyed in trust for the benefit of the poor. In the year 1771, William Whitwich, the only surviving trustee, with the approbation of the parishioners and inhabitants assembled at a parish meeting, exchanged the two pieces of land, called the Wooden Croft, and the Six Butts, containing together four acres, for certain lands, called the Pool Field, containing two acres and rood, and a sum of £60 in money. The lands held in trust for the poor, when the charity commissioners published their report, comprised 14a. 3r. 16p. and a workhouse which had been built upon the charity land, together producing a yearly rental of £61 16s. 1d. The sum of £60 paid by Thomas Meeson, in part consideration for the exchange for lands in 1771, was suffered to remain in his hands at an interest of £4 per cent. till May, 1779, when it appears to have been paid up and applied, together with two other sums of £31. 10s., and £20 belonging to the trust, making in the whole £111. 10s. in the erection of a building for the reception of paupers, for which the parish paid a rent of £7 from the year 1780. This application of these several sums is not indeed expressly stated in the trustees’ books, or in any of the parish books or other documents that we could procure; but it seems sufficiently to be inferred from the circumstance that the payment of interest on those sums appears in the books till the year 1780, when it ceases, and the payment of rent for the workhouse commences. As this house is kept in repair from the trust funds, it does not seem to have been a very beneficial investment of the money. From whence the two sums of money above mentioned were derived does not appear. In the returns, under the act of the 26th Geo. III., two legacies to this parish of uncertain date are mentioned, one of £40 by William Scot, and the other of £20 by T. Davenhill. It is possible that a part of the first and the whole of the second of these legacies may have constituted part of the funds for the erection of the parish poorhouse. This, however, is mere conjecture, as we could learn nothing further concerning these charities.

Thomas Chapman, in 1655, granted to trustees three several rent charges, amounting in the whole to 30s., issuing out of a messuage called Harbour House and certain lands within the manor of Donington, and directed 13s. 4d. (part thereof) to be distributed among the poor of Albrighton, 10s. among the poor of Donington, and 6s. 8d. (the residue) for the relief of the poor inhabitants within the parish of Boningale. The amount allotted to Albrighton is carried to the general charity fund of the parish.

Mrs. Mary Waltho, in 1783, gave the sum of £20, in trust, to place out the same, with the approbation of the minister and churchwardens of the parish, the interest to be disposed of among poor widows. An annual sum of 16s., which is understood to be the interest of this legacy, was paid by Mr. Meeson. Mr. Meeson stated to the Charity Commissioners that his father had been accustomed to make the payment to poor widows, from whence he concluded that he had received the £20 left by Mrs. Waltho. It does not appear that any security is given for it; nor do the minister and churchwardens interfere with the distribution of the interest.

In 1848, a portion of the charity land was required for making the railway, for which the Charity Trustees received the sum of £712. 3s. 3d., which has been invested in government securities; the dividends of which and the rent of lands amount at the present time to about £74 per annum, which is distributed on Holy Thursday and St. Thomas’s day among widows and the indigent poor not receiving parochial relief.

Post Office—At Maria Jones’s. Letters arrive at 9 A.M., and are despatched at 5.30 P.M.

Bedwell Orson, Esq.

Bishton Rev. Henry, M.A.

Crump Henry, Esq.

Dale Miss

Davies James, station master

Dickens Richard, gentleman

Dodd Rev. George, M.A., curate, Donington

Edwards Mrs.

Holyoake Captain Thomas

Johnson Mrs. Catherine Grecina

Jones Mrs. Maria, Post office

Law Richard, gentleman

Letts James, fly proprietor

Mitchell Mr. James

Parry The Misses, Albrighton Hall

Pitt Frances, gentlewoman

Presland Thomas Plowden, Esq., Cosford Hall

Savage Mrs. Lydia

Stubbs William, gentleman, Bowling-green House

Taylor George, Esq., Boningale Park

Thomason Henry, gentleman

Thorneycroft Mrs.

Totty Mr. John, registrar and vestry clerk

Wood Richard, surgeon and farmer

Woodhouse Rev. George W., M.A., The Vicarage

Yates John, gentleman, Shaw lane

Academy.

Hammersley Thomas, and bookseller and stationer

Baker and Flour Dealer.

Austin George

Boot and Shoemakers.

Fletcher Thomas

Stanley Edward

Taylor John

Taylor Thomas

Wedge Daniel

Brick and Tile Maker.

James Thomas

Bricklayers.

Nickolds George

Stockton Joseph

Totty George

Butchers.

Austin Frederick

Bailey George, Lea Hall

Darley Joseph, Woodhouses

Cabinet Makers.

Perry William, & carpenter

Thomas Thos., & carpenter

Chemist and Druggist.

Whatmore Thomas

Coal Dealers and Carters.

Moore Thomas

Powell John Thomas

Coal and Lime Agent.

Davies James

Corn Millers.

Shenton Benjamin, Cosford mills

Shepherd James

Farmers.

Bailey George and Thomas, Lea Hall Farm

Bate William, Over Pepper hill

Bayley John, Park side

Boulton John

Bradshaw Thomas, Lea

Earp William, Cosford

Fletcher George, Dead Woman’s Grave Farm

Gibbs Henry, Lower Pepper hill

Head Charles, Birches

Husselby William, bailiff to Earl of Dartmouth

Oatley John, Bishton Hall

Oatley Joseph, The Hall Farm

Oatley William, The Hall Farm

Roberts John, Harriotshay

Shenton Benjamin, Cosford

Stanford Joseph, and horse dealer, Harriotshay

Stubbs Walter, Bowling Green

Thomas Rd., farm steward to Earl of Shrewsbury

Yates John, Elms Farm

Grocers and Tea Dealers.

Marked * are Provision Dealers.

Brown Jane

Ewart John

* Molineux George

* Tomkins James and John

Hotels, Inns, and Taverns.

Boulton Thomas, victualler, Talbot

Bucknall William, vict., The Crown Hotel, Commercial and Boarding-house

Jones Henry, vict., Whiston Cross

Letts James, vict., Harp Inn, and Posting-house

Steele Benjamin, vict., The Bush

Beerhouse.

Fletcher Thomas

Linen & Woollen Drapers.

Delf John, and clothes dealer

Hammersley Susannah

Maltsters.

Austin George

Bailey George and Thomas

Bucknall George

Milliners and Dress Makers.

Delf Mrs. John, and straw bonnet maker

Hammersley Susannah

Swann Mary Ann

Plumbers, Glaziers, & Painters.

Harris Henry

Meredith Joseph

Saddler and Harness Maker.

Eardley William

Sawyer and Wood Dealer.

Gough George

Shopkeeper.

Moore Paul, and huxter

Smiths.

Howell Thomas

Ward John

Stone Masons and Builders.

Burns and Collins

Thomas Henry

Surgeons.

Bedwell and Son

Crump Henry

Tailor and Woollen Draper.

Totty William

Veterinary Surgeons.

Howell John, Beamish Hall Farm

Watch and Clock Makers.

Morris Thomas

Nickolds Thomas

Wheelwrights.

Parker William

Sutton William

Carrier

To Wolverhampton, Bessy Wheeler, on Monday, Wednesday, & Saturday

BADGER

is a parish in the Shiffnal division of the Brimstree hundred, six miles N.N.E. from Bridgnorth and five and a half miles S. from Shiffnal, comprising 980 acres of land, of which upwards of 100 acres are covered with woods and thriving plantations. The soil is various, the meadows and pastures produce a rich herbage, and the arable lands are highly productive. Rateable value £768. The parish in 1801 contained 88 inhabitants: 1831, 142: 1841, 137: and in 1851 there were 38 houses and a population of 101 souls, of whom 79 were males and 92 females. The village of Badger is delightfully situated in a district pleasingly diversified with bold undulations and rural scenery; the low lands are watered by the meanderings of the Cosford brook, and the small stream of the Worf. A romantic glen called the Dingle stretches for upwards of a mile in length, and the banks of the stream have been planted with shrubs and evergreens with great taste; in several places the waters are precipitated over the shelving rocks into the dingle below, which gives an additional charm to the picturesque scenery. This locality is the frequent resort of pleasure parties from Birmingham and the surrounding country during the summer months. Robert Henry Cheney, Esq., of Badger Hall, is the principal landowner, and lord of the manor; Mr. John Green is also a landowner.

The Church, dedicated to St. Giles, is a small but neat structure of free stone, having a square tower ornamented with crocketted pinnacles; the tower is beautified with a clock, sun-dial, and contains three bells; the interior of the church has a tasteful and elegant appearance, and the side compartments are neatly pewed with oak sittings. The east window is beautifully decorated with stained glass illustrative of scripture history; the appendages of tracery are of the most exquisite workmanship. The altar exhibits a fine specimen of elaborate carving. The parishioners of Worfield, who reside near Badger, in consideration of being accommodated with sittings in this church, presented a new organ in the year 1844. In the chancel is an elegant memorial in memory of Isaac Hawkins Brown, Esq., of this parish, D.C.L., and F.R.S., who died in 1818. A full length figure of the purest statuary marble, (one of Chantrey’s masterly productions) is represented as seated and perusing a book, on the side of which are several large quarto volumes in marble. Underneath the monument is an inscription in memory of his wife Elizabeth Brown. There is also a tablet beautifully designed, with the figure of a female in bass-relief to Jane Brown, and other members of the family, dated 1783. The Rev. William Smith, late rector of Badger, is remembered on a neat memorial dated 1837. There are others to Joseph Green and his wife, and to Elizabeth Kinnersley, the latter is dated 1619. In the church yard are several ancient tombs which have been erected in memory of deceased members of some of the principal families in the parish. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £4. 13s. 4d., now returned at £280, in the patronage of Robert Henry Cheney, Esq.: incumbent, Rev. Thomas Freeman Boddington, M.A. In the churchyard is a yew tree of immense growth, and near it a lofty mutilated column.

Badger Hall is an elegant and spacious mansion, the seat of Robert Henry Cheney, Esq., J.P. The structure is of brick with stone finishings, and situated on elevated ground, commanding delightful views over a luxuriant country. The vicinity of the mansion is finely timbered, and the extensive enclosures of park-like grounds are pleasingly diversified with sylvan beauty. The pleasure grounds and shrubberies are of considerable extent, and display the taste and superior management of the head gardener, Mr. George Cooke. Robert Henry Cheney, Esq., was appointed high sheriff of the County of Shropshire, for the year 1851. The Rectory is a good residence a little west of the church; it is pleasantly situated, and the gardens and pleasure grounds are neatly laid out. There is a school in the village which is supported by Mr. Cheney, where about fifty children are instructed. The Rev. T. C. Hartshorn gave £10 to the poor in 1752, and the Rev. Thos. Hartshorn gave a like sum which was laid out in the purchase of a rent charge of 20s. per annum, issuing out of a messuage and garden in Badger; the amount is expended in bread for the poor.

Directory.—Robert Henry Cheney, Esq., J.P., Badger Hall; William Bate, gentleman; William Bate and Sons, farmers; Rev. Thomas F. Boddington, M.A., the Rectory; William Braithwaite, corn miller; Henry Brewster, farmer and corn miller, Higford; George Cooke, gardener; John Green, gentleman, The Heath; John Mole, butler; Matthew Taylor, coachman; Richard Worrall, farmer.

BECKBURY

is a parish and village in the Shiffnal Division of the Brimstree Hundred, comprising 1321a. 0r. 10p. of land, and situated six miles and a half N.E. from Bridgnorth, and four miles S. from Shiffnal. In 1801 there were 231 inhabitants; 1831, 307; and in 1841, 61 houses and 312 souls. Rateable value, £1,942. 9s. 8d. The principal landowners are C. H. Slaney, Esq., Walter Stubbs, Esq., Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., Dr. Windham, Dr. Fowler, and Mrs. Frances Horton.

The Church, dedicated to St. Milburgh, is built of red free-stone, and consists of nave and chancel, with a square tower, in which are three bells. In the chancel are several memorials, one of which remembers W. J. Yonge, Esq., of Caynton House, who died in 1825, aged 71 years; also of Captain William Horton, who died in 1844. There are also several memorials to various members of the Stubbs family and others, one of which (a slab of limestone) has the outlines of the figures of a male and a female, with smaller figures of ten children. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 3s. 4d., in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor; incumbent, Rev. Henry Ralph Smythe. The tithes are commuted for £333, and the rector has 31a. 0r. 18p. of glebe land. Beckbury Hall is a commodious family mansion, of brick, the residence and property of Walter Stubbs, Esq., a considerable landowner in this parish.

Post Office—At Thomas Page’s. Letters arrive at 8 A.M., and are despatched at 4.45 P.M.

Directory.—Benjamin Adams, shoemaker; Thos. Baugh, beerhouse-keeper; Isaac Bradburn, draper and shopkeeper; Samuel Brown, farmer; Benjamin Corfield, farmer; George Hand, butcher; John Hand, carpenter; Thomas Hand, parish clerk and builder; William Hand, joiner; William Hampton, blacksmith; Thomas Page, shopkeeper and postmaster; William Poyner, butcher; John Richards, maltster and farmer; Rev. Walter Ralph Smythe, rector, The Rectory; Thomas Southall, beerhouse keeper; Samuel Thurstaus, farmer and maltster, Heath House; Walter Stubbs, Esq., Beckbury Hall; John Ward, Esq., R.N., Lower Hall; Richard Williams, shopkeeper; John Warren, tailor and draper; Benjamin Worrall, farmer, Snowdon Pool.

BOBBINGTON

is a small parish, partly in the Bridgnorth Division of the Brimstree Hundred, but chiefly in the county of Stafford, situated eight miles and a half S.W. from Wolverhampton, and eight miles E. from Bridgnorth. That portion of the parish in the county of Salop at the census of 1841 contained six houses and 22 inhabitants. This county is here divided from Staffordshire by a small stream; the Bridgnorth and Stourbridge turnpike road bounds the parish on the south-east side. The Church is a small ancient structure of free-stone, with a tower, in which are four bells. The interior is small, and fitted up with primitive simplicity. The living is enjoyed by the Vicar of Claverly; officiating curate, Rev. Henry Pennant Cooke, M.A. William Moseley, Esq., is the owner of the land in that part of the parish, in the county of Salop.

Directory.—Richard Barrimore, wheelwright and machine-maker; Samuel Brimsford, maltster and victualler, Six Ashes Inn; Sarah Bytheway, shopkeeper and victualler, Lion Inn; Rev. Henry Pennant Cooke, MA.; Edward Fenn, blacksmith, Six Ashes; John Knowles, farmer; Philip Pearman, farmer, Whatmore Hall; Mrs. Sarah Pearman.

BONINGHALL, OR BONINGALE,

is a small parish and village, in the Shiffnal Division of the Brimstree Hundred, five miles S.E. by S. from Shiffnal, and seven miles S.W. by S. from Wolverhampton, which in 1841 contained 184 inhabitants; and at the census in 1851 had 36 houses and 195 souls; of whom 99 were males and 96 females. The turnpike road from Shiffnal to Wolverhampton intersects the parish, which contains 986a. 0r. 18p. of land. The soil is a mixture of loam and gravel, and produces good wheat, turnips, and barley. There is also some fine grazing land. Rateable value, £1,948. 14s. George Taylor, Esq., is lord of the manor, and the most considerable landowner. The Executors of the late William Wood, Mr. John Oatley, Mr. Richard Wood, Mr. James William Weaver, Mr. James Riddle, and the Incumbent of King Swinford, are also proprietors. The village is situated in a salubrious district, commanding pleasing and diversified views of the surrounding country. The Kennels for the fox-hounds of the celebrated Albrighton hunt are at the Summer House in this parish. The Church, a plain antique structure, in a sequestered situation, is built of free-stone, and, as an ornamental appendage, has a tower of wood, in which are three bells. It contains a small gallery, and the sittings are of oak. The ceiling is supported by a framework of wood, and empanelled with dark oak, varnished. There is a tablet in memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Robinson, and another to William Tindal, who died in 1830. The living is a perpetual curacy annexed to the rectory of Stockton. The Rev. Charles Blaney Cavendish Whitmore, M.A., is the incumbent. The tithes have been commuted, and £236 apportioned to the incumbent; the minister has also 11a. 0r. 29p. of glebe land. There is no parsonage house in this parish. Boninghall Park, the seat and property of George Taylor, Esq., is a spacious erection, pleasantly situated in the midst of park-like grounds, well-timbered, and commanding some five views of the distant country. The pleasure-grounds are planted with choice shrubs and beautiful flowers.

Charities.—John Littleford, by his will, dated the 27th of February, 1712, gave the sum of £4, to be laid out for the use of the poor of Boningale, “with £10, which Mr. Green had promised should be paid.” It is probable that both these sums were duly received, and that they compose a sum of £14, which the parish has long enjoyed, and which was designated as the gift of an unknown benefactor for the use of the poor of the parish. An additional benefaction of £16 was subsequently received from Miss Jane Skeinton. These sums appear to have remained at interest in the hands of the parish officers, upon their personal security, until the year 1812, when they were laid out in the purchase of a messuage and a garden, which it was thought advisable to purchase for the use of the parish. The premises were accordingly charged with the repayment of the sum of £30, so borrowed, to the churchwardens and overseers of the said parish for the time being, with interest for the same at five per cent. per annum, such interest to be paid on the 25th of March yearly, and to be distributed annually on Easter Sunday, by the minister, churchwardens, overseers, and the inhabitant freeholders of the parish for the time being, among poor industrious parishioners.

A rent charge of 6s. 8d., derived from the bequest of John Chapman, is usually allowed to remain for two years, and 13s. 4d. is then distributed among the poor of the parish with the above charity.

Directory.—George Bayley, butcher, Lea Hall; Benjamin Cox, shopkeeper; Joseph Darley, farmer, Woodhouses; Joseph Lowe, victualler, Summer House and Commercial Inn; Edmund Nicklin, shopkeeper; John Oatley, farmer, Woodhouses; Benjamin Southall, farmer, Boningale Farm; Mr. William Staples, huntsman, Summer House; George Taylor, Esq., Boningale Park; Thos. Taylor, farmer; James Thomas, victualler, The Horns Inn; Richard Wood, farmer, Whiston.

BOSCOBEL

an Extra Parochial Liberty in the Shiffnal division of the Brimstree hundred, is remarkable in history as a place in which King Charles II. concealed himself from his pursuers, after the unfortunate battle of Worcester. The liberty comprises two houses and 691a. 2r. 17p. of land, of which eighty acres are in woods, and is situated on the eastern verge of the county, adjoining Staffordshire, seven miles east from Shiffnal. The bold eminence upon which Boscobel is situated is most delightful, and is one of the finest tracts of table land in England; the scenery is most extensive, beautiful, and varied. Boscobel manor house is a spacious and ancient timbered mansion exhibiting a fine specimen of the domestic architecture of bygone days; part of it has been recently modernized and stuccoed, which gives it a light and handsome appearance. The house stands partly in Shropshire and partly in Staffordshire, and the southern portion now forms the summer residence of the Misses Evans, of Darley, near Derby. The dining room is spacious, and the walls are wainscotted with oak, exhibiting some fine carving; on the right of the entrance is shown the secret recess through which King Charles II. made his escape from the house to the oak tree when pursued by the infuriated rebels. There is a fine painting in this room of the youthful monarch, and in a side room is a beautifully executed painting of Oliver Cromwell. Although the interior of the mansion has been much improved and beautified from time to time, yet whatever relates to the concealment of the unfortunate Charles has been preserved with the greatest care. On ascending the staircase is seen the bed room and the secret recess where he took shelter from his pursuers, and which communicates with the garden by a trap-door. In the upper room is what is denominated the “sacred hole” from the circumstance of his majesty occasionally concealing himself there, the trap-door and step-ladder remain in their original state.

The following circumstances relating to this remarkable and interesting event are taken from various authorities:—His majesty, as soon as he perceived which way the victory at the disastrous battle of Worcester inclined, was not unmindful to provide for his own safety. He had during the battle performed all the offices both of a valiant man and a good commander, riding about incessantly to encourage his soldiers, and when he saw they began to fail he was heard to utter this pathetic expression, “Rather shoot me than let me live to see the sad consequences of this fatal day.” Many parties of horse were sent out through all the country after the flying troops. Few of the infantry escaped from the field alive, and but about three thousand horse, of whom one thousand were taken near Bewdley by Colonel Barton, and more by others in different places. In this fatal engagement the number of the slain was supposed to be three thousand, among whom were many of the nobility and gentlemen, and principal officers who supported the royal cause. The king lost a hundred and fifty-eight stand of colours, his standard bearer, his collar of S.S., his coach and horses, and other things of great value. His majesty after the battle was very narrowly searched for, and it was on his account that the greater diligence was employed in following and intercepting the routed Scots; but notwithstanding all the search and inquiry no news could be heard, nor could any one certainly tell what was become of him. When the enemy had forced the gate, all possible care was taken to secure his majesty, and for this purpose the Earl of Cleveland, Sir James Hamilton, and others, kept the enemy engaged in Sudbury street, while the king unpursued took his way with a body of horse through St. Martin’s gate about six o’clock in the evening. When he arrived at Brabon’s bridge, about half a mile from the town, he halted in order to advise with a few noblemen and gentlemen that were with him, and as there was not the slightest probability of being able to rally again, it was determined with all speed to make their way to Scotland. Having proceeded about half way to Presteign, the king was informed that a detachment of troops was in pursuit of him, on which he immediately changed his route to Shropshire, the Earl of Derby recommending Boscobel house as a place of temporary sanctuary. Mr. Giffard and Mr. Yates having been chosen as guides, they arrived at break of day, at a house called White Ladies, about half a mile from Boscobel. This house was formerly a monastery of Cistercian nuns, who from their habit were denominated the White Ladies, and this name, notwithstanding the abolition of the order, adhered to the house.

Here his majesty was committed to the care of the Pendrills, and for his better disguise, put on the green Kendal breeches and leathern doublet of Richard Pendrill. Lord Wilmot who performed the office of barber, cut the hair of the King in a most rustic manner, and caused his hands and face to be discoloured with the intention of giving him the appearance of a country labourer. His majesty thus transformed, with a wood bill in his hand assumed the character of a wood cutter, and was taken by a back road into a wood called Spring Coppice belonging to Boscobel House, by Richard Pendrill, who attended the King while the three other brothers of Richard were set to watch and give intelligence of any threatened danger. A short time after the King had left the house a party of horse came to search it; it was therefore thought the safest course for his majesty to remain in the wood all that day, although the rain fell in torrents. The King being in urgent want of refreshment, made his wishes known to Richard Pendrill, who accordingly applied to the wife of Francis Yates to provide some provision for a person in want and to carry it to an appointed place in Boscobel wood. She accordingly provided a dish of such fare as her cottage afforded, and taking a blanket with her, proceeded therewith to the wood. On her approaching the spot fixed upon she perceived the King, who being much surprised at the appearance of a woman, became apprehensive that she might possibly divulge the secret of his retreat, till demanding of the good woman if she could be faithful to a distressed cavalier, she answered “Yes Sire, I would rather die than discover you.” At night his majesty resolved to proceed into Wales, and take Richard Pendrill with him as his guide; they began their journey that night to Madeley, where lived a zealous royalist named Wolfe. The night was very dark and as they passed by Evelyn bridge, Richard permitting a gate to clap too loudly, brought out a miller at that place, and on his bidding them stand Richard ran through the water and the King followed by the sound of his calfskin breeches. The miller imagining that these persons were on the search was not less alarmed than they were, having then under his protection in the mill several fugitive loyalists who had escaped from the bloody field of Worcester. On their arrival at Madeley they proceeded to Wolfe’s house, but there being so many soldiers in the neighbourhood it was considered unsafe for them to remain in the house, and they found refuge in a hay-loft which was their bed till Friday night. It had been his majesty’s intention to pass the Severn and so proceed into Wales, but learning that all the passages over the river were strictly guarded and that all the ferry boats were stopped, they returned somewhat late on Friday night towards Boscobel. Colonel Carles, who when his majesty left Worcester was bravely combating the enemy in Sudbury street to favour the King’s escape, was now come to that place for refuge and relief. The Colonel who was well acquainted with the house and its inhabitants, having been born and educated not far off, was no sooner informed that the King was in the wood than he hastened with joy to present himself to his majesty. After mutual congratulations they proceeded to the house to refresh themselves, and then immediately retiring into the wood and finding a large oak whose branches afforded them a safe retreat, they ascended the tree, and with the help of cushions made a tolerable abode there till night. At night they betook themselves again to the house where his majesty thought proper for the future to trust himself while he remained in that part of the country, being much pleased with a secret corner which William Pendrill shewed him, where the Earl of Derby concealed himself after the misfortune of his defeat at Wigan. Being now in hopeful security he permitted William Pendrill to shave him and cut his hair short at the top, but leaving it long about the ears, as was the country mode in those days.

On Humphrey Pendrill going to Shiffnal to pay his share of the monthly tax, he was accosted at the house of Captain Broadway, by a colonel who had come hither to enquire after the search of the White Ladies. The colonel understanding that Humphrey lived near the place, put him to a strict examination, and after he had tried the effect of menaces to induce a confession, began to tempt him by the reward of the thousand pounds which was offered to the person that discovered his majesty; Humphrey’s discreet answers, however, rendered his dissembled ignorance the more unsuspected. On this being told to his majesty he was determined to leave Boscobel, and it was arranged that he should ride upon Humphrey Pendrill’s mill horse, for Humphrey was miller at the White Ladies Mill. The king mounted his steed on Monday evening and was attended by four of the Pendrills and their brother-in-law Francis Yates, who guarded him on the road with bills and pike staves. Humphrey led the horse by the bridle, and on his majesty complaining that it was the dullest jade he ever rode on, Humphrey made a witty apology for his steed by telling his majesty that it was no wonder he went so slow since he carried the weight of three kingdoms on his back. The King at this time was dressed in a leathern doublet and an old greasy hat, his hands and face being coloured with soot and walnut leaves. In this way they journeyed to Moseley in Staffordshire, and there found a place of safety in the house of Mr. Whitgrave, who had formerly been engaged in the king’s service, and being a suspected person his house was searched while the king was there, but the readiness of Mr. Whitgrave to let the soldiers enter, and his open deportment, gave the men so much satisfaction that they went away with little more than a bare enquiry. The White Ladies was also searched the same day, on the information of an ensign, and the proprietor strictly questioned about the king with a musket presented at his breast. He acknowledged that a large party had been there who had almost eaten him out of house and home, but the king he did not know from any other man, and no such person being there to be found, the searchers at last went away, storming that they had troubled themselves so much in vain, and the ensign was paid for his diligence with blows and contempt. The King on one occasion being concealed in a house belonging to Mrs. Jane Lane, his pursuers having some idea of his being there, came in a body to examine it, but on Mrs. Lane observing their approach she immediately clad the king in a rustic dress and put a slouched hat on his head, and on the entering of the soldiers Charles looked around, which the good old dame observing seized a basting ladle, and giving the king a sharp blow on the back exclaimed in apparent anger “And what do you stare at, you dog you; why don’t you mind what you’re about.” This reprimand furnished the King with a pretext for keeping his eyes towards the spit, by which means he escaped discovery.

His majesty having gratefully acknowledged the kindness of Mr. Whitgrave, went with Lord Wilmot to Colonel Lane’s, at Bentley, where shortly after he had an opportunity of being conveyed to Bristol, in order to embark for France. Miss Jane Lane procured a pass for herself and servant, to visit a pretended sister of hers who resided near to Bristol, and in the journey his majesty assumed the character of Miss Lane’s servant; Colonel Lascelles, Miss Lane’s relation, with his wife behind him, accompanied them; and Lord Wilmot, with a hawk in his hand, as if he had met them accidentally, and had occasion to travel that way. In passing through Broomsgrove they were obliged to employ a smith to shoe one of the horses; the conversation of the bystanders was of the battle of Worcester and the king’s escape. His majesty, amidst many conjectures, gave it as his decided opinion that the king had fled to Scotland, and lay concealed there. “I rather think,” replied the smith, “that he remains somewhere concealed in England, and how glad should I be if I knew where.” On the third day they arrived at the house of Mr. George Norton, of Leigh, about two miles from Bristol, where the king was introduced as the son of one of her father’s tenants, and on pretence of suddenly being attacked with fever, kept his bed, and was attended by Dr. George, who asked the sick man many questions about the king’s escape, and being told by his majesty that he did not wish to be troubled with such questions, declared that he could not help thinking that his patient was a sider with the roundheads. His majesty had not been long here before he was discovered by the butler, who had formerly been in the service of his royal father. This man, on the promise of close secrecy and loyalty, was entrusted by his majesty in several important services. From this place he proceeded amidst great dangers, experiencing unchanging fidelity, to Brighthelmston, in Sussex, when on the 15th of October, 1659, he took sail in a small coasting vessel, employed in the colliery trade, and being favoured with a prosperous gale they arrived in a short time at Feccam, a small sea port in Normandy, his majesty assisting himself to steer the vessel. From Feccam his majesty proceeded to Roan, and on the 30th October was met on his journey to Paris by his mother, the Queen Dowager of Great Britain, his brother the Duke of York, the Duke of Orleans, and other nobles of France, with a great retinue of English and French gentlemen.

On the restoration of King Charles, the family of the Pendrills, who consisted of five brothers, attended upon his majesty on the 13th of June, 1660, at Whitehall, when the king was pleased to remark that the simple rustic who serves his sovereign in the time of need to the extent of his ability, is as deserving of our commendation as the victorious leader of thousands. “Friend Richard,” rejoined the king, “thou wert my preserver and conductor—the bright star that shewed me my way to Bethlehem, for which kindness I will engrave thy memory in the tablet of a grateful heart;” and having requested Richard to state to the lords in attendance what passed when he quitted the oak at Boscobel, “Your majesty,” replied Richard, “must well remember that when brother Humphrey brought his old mill horse from White Ladies, not accoutered with knightly gear, but with a pitiful old saddle and bridle; not attended with royal guards, but only by half a dozen raw and undisciplined rustics, who had but little else but good will to defend your majesty; it was when your majesty mounted, and as we journeyed your majesty did most heartily complain of the jade you rode on, and said it was the dullest creature you ever met with, whereupon Humphrey remarked, ‘My liege, can you blame the horse to go heavily when he had the weight of three kingdoms on his back?’”

The royal oak before mentioned stood about 200 yards from the house, and was a flourishing tree, the branches of which were so richly covered with ivy that the soldiers who were in pursuit of the king, and who suspected him to be there, could not discover him. In the course of time the original oak was so mutilated by visitors that to preserve its remains the Fitzherberts erected a brick wall around it. The tree, however, has long been destroyed, and there is now standing on the site a flourishing oak, produced from an acorn of the old tree, for the preservation of which a lofty iron palisading surrounds it. The following inscription on a brass plate is affixed to the bole of the tree:—

“Felicissimam Arborem, Quam in Asylum Potentissimi Regis Caroli II., Deus optimus maximus per quem Regis regnant Hic crescere voluit Tam in perpetuam rei tantæ memoriam, Quam in specimen firmæ in Regis fidei. Muro cinctum posteris commendant Basilius et Jana Fitzherbert. Quod Pietatis monumentum vestustate collapsum, Paternarum vertutum Hieredes, Et evitæ in Principes fidei amulatores. In integrum restituerunt Basilius et Eliza Fitzherbert, iiii Cal Junii, A.H.S., MDCCLLXXXII. Qua ex arbore Quercum hanc uti fertur ortam, Ferreis his quæ hodie sunt repagulis. Circummunivit Ejusdam hujusce agri possesor, Evdemque erga Regis animo prædita.”

The Convent of White Ladies.—Near half a mile south from Boscobel, in a sequestered and romantic spot, are the ruins of the Nunnery of White Ladies, an establishment of nuns of the Cistercian order, designated the White Ladies by reason of the conventical habit which they adopted being of that colour, as also to distinguish it from another establishment in its immediate vicinity, denominated the Black Ladies, situated at Bishop’s Wood, in the county of Stafford. The ruins of this venerable structure are mantled with ivy, and the walls of the church are of immense thickness, with a recessed circular doorway. It is dedicated to St. Leonard, and the foundation is supposed to have been as ancient as the time of King Richard I., or King John. The two seals that have been met with relating to this establishment represent the virgin and child, one of which bears the legend, “Sigillum commune nigrarum monalium D’Bre,” and the other “S. Convent. S. Marie Nigras d’narum,” and seem to have been used as the common seal of the White Ladies and Black Ladies conjointly, these two houses having been considered as comprising the convent of Brewood. The ruins and grounds of this religious house are walled in, and the interior, which is spacious, is nearly covered with gravestones. It is still used as a place of sepulchre by members of the catholic religion. There are several tablets on the walls, and some remarkable epitaphs. On a gravestone is the following inscription: “Here lies Winifred White, late of Wolverhampton, who was instantaneously cured of hemiphegia by bathing in St. Winifred’s well, Flintshire, June 11th, 1805. She died of consumption, January 13th, 1824, aged 45 years. May she rest in peace.” The White Ladies Nunnery became celebrated in history from the circumstance of its having afforded a temporary shelter and a place of successful concealment to his Majesty King Charles II., immediately on his flight from the disastrous and fatal battle of Worcester. At the dissolution of religious houses, this nunnery, then styled the Convent of Brewood, consisted of six religious. The total revenue was stated to amount annually to £31. 1s. 4d. In the reign of Henry VIII. the site was granted to William Whorwood; it is now possessed by the Catholic community. The Misses Evans are the principal freeholders in Boscobel, and have been instrumental in building a church at Bishop’s Wood, which has just been completed. The ladies also liberally contribute towards the education of the children, and in supplying the necessities of the poor in this vicinity.

The principal residents are Miss Elizabeth Evans, Boscobel House; Miss Fanny Evans, Boscobel House; Mrs. Walker; Thomas Wilson, farmer, White Ladies; Thomas Wilson, jun., farmer, Boscobel Farm.

CLAVERLEY

is an extensive parish in the Bridgnorth division of the Brimstree hundred, comprising the townships of Aston, Beobridge, Broughton, Claverley, Dallicott, Farmcott, Gatacre, Heathton, Hopstone, Ludstone, Shipley, Sutton, and Woundale, and embraces 8,145a. 0r. 39p. of land. In 1801 there were 1,328 inhabitants; 1831, 1,521; 1841, 1,669; and in 1851, 1,612, of whom 825 were males, and 787 females. The last census shows a decrease of 57 persons in ten years. Gross estimated rental of the parish, £17,796. 8s. 2d. Rateable value, £15,766. 10s. The tithes have been commuted for £2,060. 13s. 6d. The principal landowners are Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq.; George Mackenzie Kettle, Esq.; Edward Farrer Acton, Esq.; Farmer Taylor, Esq.; Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P.; William Wilson, Esq.; John Wilson, Esq.; Thomas Wilson, Esq.; Thomas H. Windle, Esq.; Thomas Boycott, Esq.; and Mrs. Emma Fox; besides whom there are several smaller freeholders. The village of Claverley is well built and pleasantly situated, six miles east from Bridgnorth, and ten miles south-west from Wolverhampton. At the census in 1841, the township contained 90 houses and 404 inhabitants. This was the birth-place of Sir Robert Brooke, who was educated at Oxford, from whence he removed to the Middle Temple. In 1553 he became chief justice of the common pleas, in which office he conducted himself with inflexible integrity, and died in 1558. He published several works, among which are, “An Abridgment of the Year Books,” in folio; “Certain Cases Adjudged;” and “Reading on the Statutes of Limitations.” Richard Dovey, the founder of the Free School, bequeathed eight shillings per annum to a poor man of this parish who should undertake to awaken sleepers and whip out dogs from the church of Claverley during divine service. King Charles II. granted the inhabitants a charter to exempt them from paying tolls.

The Church, dedicated to All Saints, is an antique structure, exhibiting various styles of architecture, and consists of nave, chancel, side chapels, and side aisles, with a square tower, in which are six bells. The body of the church is neatly pewed, and will accommodate about eight hundred persons. There is a gallery at the west end, upon which is an organ, erected in the year 1840 at a cost of £180. The pulpit is of oak, and has been beautifully carved at the expense of the present incumbent. The side chapels are the property of the ancient family of Gatacre. In the south chapel is an altar tomb, dated 1558, on which are three full length figures, in a recumbent position, in memory of Lord Chief Justice Brooke and his two wives. On the sides of the tomb, in basso-relief, are small figures of his eighteen children. A beautiful memorial window of stained glass, exquisitely executed, remembers Colonel Gatacre, who died in the year 1849. Another has been erected to the memory of Arabella, wife of the late Colonel Gatacre. One of the windows has recently been beautified with stained glass by Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq. The church contains several neat mural tablets to deceased members of some of the principal families of the parish. The font, which is of free-stone, has been painted in imitation of marble. The living is a perpetual curacy, returned at £267, in the patronage of Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P.; incumbent, Rev. George Hilder Betterton Gabert, M.A. The parish register dates from the year 1568. The ancient stone cross, now standing in the church-yard, was removed from the central part of the village some years ago, in consequence of its obstructing the traffic of the road. This is called The Processional Cross of Claverley, and was erected, it is presumed, in the 33rd of Edward III., to commemorate the dreadful plague which devastated this neighbourhood, and carried the horrors of death into every dwelling. When the tithes were commuted £1,599. 8s. were apportioned to T. C. Whitmore, Esq., £448. 5s. 6d. to other lay impropriators, and £12 to the Incumbent of Claverley. The Parsonage House is a neat brick structure, pleasantly situated near the church. The National School, situated on the east side of the church-yard, was built in the year 1790; about 60 children attend. There is also a Girls’ School in the village, supported by voluntary subscriptions, which has an attendance of about thirty children.

Charities.—John Dovey, of Farmcote, by deed of feoffment, dated 23rd of August, 1659, granted to John Sanders and others a stone house, with a garden and plot of land adjoining, situated at Hawe’s Acre; and also certain cottages adjoining the parish church of Claverley, and a messuage and farm known by the name of Lindridge farm, in trust; the stone house and garden to remain as a free-school, to be called The Free School of Richard Dovey, at Claverley; and as to the messuage, farm, and cottages before mentioned, the trustees were directed, with the yearly profits thereof, to keep in repair the school premises, and to pay the schoolmaster yearly, at Michaelmas and Lady-day, £8, in equal portions, towards his maintenance; to pay to the best scholar to be elected by the feoffees, the minister, and the schoolmaster, the sum of 20s. to be an under-teacher in the said school; and also to place in some room of the cottages adjoining the church-yard, a poor man, and allow him a stipend of eight shillings yearly to whip out dogs and awaken sleepers during divine service in the church; and 12s. to the trustees for their pains. It appears that the cottages, having become untenable about the year 1784, were taken down; and a new building convenient for a school having been erected upon the site, the school was removed to it, and has since continued to be kept there. Upon the removal of the school, the old premises were exchanged for a parcel of land more convenient in situation to the new school-room. It appears, however, that a substitution has since taken place of another parcel of land, in lieu of that which was first given in exchange to the charity, and that upon the parcel so substituted timber has been cut, and other acts of ownership exercised from time to time by the agents of the Glynne family; while on the other hand no acknowledgment of ownership has been made to the charity. The premises at Lindridge, to which an allotment of about two acres was added about ten years ago, under the powers of an enclosure act, consist of about 42 acres of land, producing a yearly rental of £26. 53. Richard Bennett, Esq., by will, 22nd March, 1794, gave the sum of £100, to be paid at the expiration of six months after his decease, and directed the same to be placed out at interest, and the yearly proceeds applied for the benefit of the free-school of Claverley. This legacy remained in the hands of the Glynne family, as the personal representatives of the testator, at an annual interest of five per cent. when the Charity Commissioners published their report. This interest being added to the rent of the farm makes an annual income of £31. 5s.; from which the following disbursements are made:—To the schoolmaster, £21; coals for the school, 10s.; annuity for awaking sleepers, 10s. 6d.; chief rent, 1s. 4d.; average of school repairs, £2. 12s. The twenty shillings which were allowed by the founder for one of the boys to act as usher, do not appear to have ever been paid, nor do we find that the trustees have taken advantage of the 12s. per annum allowed for their pains. The expenditure left a surplus of £6. 11s. 2d. per annum, which, with a sum of £14 produced from a sale of timber from the school estate in 1819, had increased to £195. 2s. 9½d., and was then in the hands of Edward Gatacre, Esq., one of the trustees. John Dovey, in 1695, gave a rent charge of 10s. per annum, and directed the amount to be given to one of the poor scholars. John Sanders, in 1702, devised certain lands, subject to the payment of £5 per annum, to be laid out in clothing poor boys in the free school. The property thus charged with the payment is now possessed by the Glynne family, whose agent supplies clothing to an amount much exceeding the annuity charged upon the lands. The scholars are appointed by the trustees of the school from among poor children of the parish, and are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and are also each provided with a coat, waistcoat, and breeches (of blue cloth), and a hat.

William Perry, of Broughton, by will dated 9th December, 1674, after reciting that his father had given the sum of 3s. 4d. to be yearly distributed at Christmas and Easter among the poor of the parish in wheaten or mun corn bread, gave a like sum of 3s. 4d. to be distributed in bread at Whitsuntide and All Saints for ever. And for the maintenance of the dole, (and of bread to the amount of 6s. 8d. also to the poor of Worfield), he granted a rent charge of 13s. 4d. yearly, issuing out of certain lands in Claverley and Worfield. It is recorded on one of the benefaction tables in the church at Claverley that William Perry of Broughton, by will left 14s. a year for ever to be distributed in bread amongst the poor of the parish at four times in the year. There is reason to believe that William Perry here referred to was a descendant of the former, but we are unable to discover whether this was an original grant of his own, or whether it included the 6s. 8d. which had before been granted by his ancestors in the same manner as the first William Perry had by his will embraced the previous donation of his father Roger. The sum of 14s. is however all that is now paid, or that we can find any trace of having ever been received. It is paid out of the rents of lands in Broughton, formerly the property of the Perrys.

Thomas Whitmore, of Ludstone, in 1679 gave to the poor of the parish of Claverley £5 per annum, payable out of a tenement in Claverley, and he appointed the same to be received by the inhabitants for the time being of his then dwelling house in Ludstone, and to be by them distributed among the necessitous poor. The amount is usually distributed among fifty poor persons.

Margaret Fregleton, of Powk Hall, by will left 10s. yearly to be given amongst ten poor widows not chargeable to the parish. There is reason to believe this legacy to be the same which is referred to and secured by the will of Mrs. Margaret Hill, dated 7th January, 1728, when she charges all her lands in Claverley with the payment of 10s. yearly to ten poor widows of Claverley, as directed by her mother’s will, and also paying thereout £2. 10s. per annum, on St. Thomas’s day, to be distributed among fit objects of charity, by the minister and churchwardens. The premises charged with the payment came into the possession of the Glynne family, by whose agent the rent charge is paid.

Thomas Acton in 1734 gave the sum of £100 to be laid out in the purchase of lands, and the rents and profits to be yearly paid by the churchwardens for the time being, to five decayed labourers, and five poor widows belonging this parish. This legacy was laid out in 1741 in the purchase of about seven acres of meadow land in the parish of Hopton Wafers, which at the time of the purchase produced a rent of £3. 8s., but are now let for £15 per annum. There was timber on the land at the period the charity commissioners published their report, to the value of £100, which it was intended soon to dispose of.

John Fenton, by his will bequeathed £30, and directed that with the interest thereof bread should be purchased, and on every Sunday a distribution made to six poor widows belonging the parish of Claverley. In 1777 this bequest was expended in the erection of three small tenements at the back of the workhouse, fronting the Holloway, for the use of the parish as habitations for the poor, and the overseer of the poor covenanted to distribute six penny loaves every Sunday according to the intentions of the donor.

Mrs. Mary Hodgkiss in 1774, by will gave £100, and directed the interest thereof to be on the 19th of March in every year distributed by the churchwardens among twenty poor widows of this parish.

Thomas Farmer Thornes in 1779 bequeathed £30 to the churchwardens of Claverley, the interest thereof to be distributed in bread annually to poor housekeepers. This sum and an accumulation of interest making in the whole £47. 18s. 1d. was subsequently laid out in building a parish workhouse, the parish officers agreeing to provide out of the poor’s rates the interest of that sum.

Mrs. Sarah Taylor left a legacy of £50 many years ago to the poor of this parish, to be under the management of the trustees of the Free school. This gift was placed in the hands of Mr. Farmer Taylor, he being one of the trustees of the School. The interest was distributed with a private charity of Mr. Taylor’s.

Edward Barker, by will in 1702, charged a piece of land situate at Aston with the payment of 10s. yearly; 5s. thereof to be given to the minister of Claverley, for a sermon on New Year’s day, and 5s. to buy bibles for poor children.

Richard Dovey, the founder of the free school, in 1660 left certain lands lying in Broughton, for the better maintenance of the parson of Claverley. The lands which are supposed to have been left consist of 6a. 0r. 21p. at Broughton, and now produce a rental of about £10 per annum, which is received by the minister for his own use.

William Whitmore, Esq., of Apley, in 1724 gave the sum of £200 to be laid out for the perpetual augmentation of the curacy of the parish church of Claverley, which with the further sum of £200 advanced by the governors of Queen Anne’s bounty, was applied to the purchase of about forty-four acres of land in the parish of Higley, for the benefit of the incumbent. The premises produce £49 per annum, which the minister of Claverley receives.

It appears that the rent of a piece of land called the School House bank, containing about two acres, has been for many years appropriated to the repair of the church, but we have been unable to discover the source from which it was derived. It was sold in 1818 by the parishioners to Sir Stephen Glynne for the sum of £120, and the amount was applied in building the workhouse before mentioned, and interest at the rate of five per cent, amounting to £6 per annum is now paid by the overseers to the churchwardens, by whom it is applied to the repairs of the church. The rent of a small cottage which produces one pound per annum, the origin of which is involved in similar obscurity, is also applied to the same use.

Aston, a small township in the parish of Claverley, is pleasantly situated about a mile east from the parish church. At the census in 1841 there were 22 scattered houses and a population of 126 souls. Aston Hall, a good brick house built in 1842, is the residence of John Wilson, Esq. The old hall was formerly a seat of the Brindleys, and their descendants the Skinners, men of high consequence in the city of London.

Beobridge, a township in the parish of Claverley, is situated about a mile south from the parish church, and in 1841 had eleven houses and sixty one inhabitants. William Wilson, Esq., and Thomas H. Windle, Esq., are the land owners. The acres and the tithes of the several townships are included in the returns for the parish of Claverley. The directories of the several townships will be found alphabetically arranged after the township of Claverley.

Broughton township and small village is situated about a mile and a half south from Claverley, and at the census of 1841 had twelve houses and eighty inhabitants. There was a chapel here prior to the reformation subject to the church of Claverley.

Dalicott, a township in the parish of Claverley, delightfully situated in a salubrious district richly beautified with pastoral scenery, is about a mile and a half north-west from the parish church. The land is the property of George M. Kettle, Esq. At the census in 1841 there were three houses and twenty inhabitants. Dalicott House is a pleasantly situated mansion, commanding extensive views over a luxuriant country of great diversity and beauty; it is a handsome brick structure, the residence of George Mackenzie Kettle, Esq.

Farmcott township and small rural village is situated about a mile south from Claverley, and in 1841 had 39 houses and 191 inhabitants. The land is the property of Thomas Wilson, Esq.

Gatacre, a pleasantly situated village and township in the parish of Claverley, in 1841 contained 23 houses and 125 inhabitants. The landowners are Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq., and Edward Farrer Acton, Esq. Gatacre Hall, a well built and commodious brick mansion delightfully situated, is the residence of Edward Lloyd Gatacre, Esq., whose ancestors were seated here, and in possession of the manor, in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The ancient mansion, which was remarkable for the peculiarity of its construction, has been taken down some time. Camden, in speaking of this house, observes, “It was built of dark grey free stone coated with a green vitrified substance about the thickness of a crown piece. The hall was nearly exactly square, and most remarkably constructed at each corner; in the middle of each side and in the centre were immense oak trees hewn nearly square and without branches, set with their heads on large stones laid about a foot deep in the ground, and with their roots uppermost, which roots with a few rafters formed a complete arched roof. The floor was of oak boards three inches thick, not sawed but plain chipped.” Gatacre Park, a handsome mansion, the seat and property of Edward Farrer Acton, Esq., J.P., and deputy lieutenant of the county of Shropshire, is a brick structure pleasantly situated, beautified with tasteful pleasure grounds, and was erected during the year 1850. It stands on the site of an ancient Elizabethan structure, which was rased to the ground in 1849; it was in this house that the Earl of Derby took shelter immediately after the battle of Worcester, and shortly before he was brought to the scaffold in his way to Newport. Several swords were found on taking down the house, one of which is in a state of good preservation.

Heathton, a township and village in the parish of Claverley, is situated about a mile and a half S.E. by E. from the parish church. On the eastern verge of the county is Long Common, which here divides Salop and Staffordshire. Some remains of a military encampment may still be traced upon this common, supposed to have been a Danish fortification; about thirty years ago several skeletons were discovered, and weapons of war have from time to time been found. The township contains 840a. 2r. 32p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 52 houses and 208 inhabitants.

Hopstone, a township and village in the parish of Claverley, is situated about a mile N. from the parish church. At the census in 1841 there were 43 houses and 188 inhabitants. G. M. Kettle, Esq., is the landowner. Hopstone was long the inheritance of the Ridley family.

Ludstone, a township in the parish of Claverley, situated about a mile N.E. from the parish church, at the census in 1841 had 13 houses and a population of 95 souls. Ludstone was in early times part of the possessions of the deans of Bridgnorth, but after the reformation was purchased by the Leveson family, and now belongs to Thomas C. Whitmore, Esq., and Mrs. Emma Fox. The manor house, now Ludstone Hall, a curious and interesting structure of the domestic architecture of by-gone days, was built in the early part of the reign of Charles I., by the Whitmore family. It is surrounded by a moat, and partly by a brick wall of about eight feet in height. This was long the seat of a branch of the Whitmore family; it is now occupied as a farm house by Mr. William Stokes. In this township was born Sir Francis Jones, Knight, whose family had an estate here till within the last sixty years. Sir Francis Jones was of the haberdasher’s company, and lord mayor of London in 1620. Ludstone also gave birth to Richard Yate, an ingenious poet, and almost self-taught scholar of great talents, which he very frequently displayed in the Gentleman’s Magazine from the year 1734 to 1767, and generally on the most abstruse subjects. He was the instructor of the Right Rev. Dr. Percy, late bishop of Dromore. He died at Roughton in June, 1680, at the advanced age of 82. On the south-east extremity of this manor lies the Danesford Brook, so called from the marauding Danes, who were in the habit of crossing this brook when they commenced their summer incursions to the banks of the Severn, and passed over carrying extermination and plunder into every part of the county.

Shipley is a township in the parish of Claverley, two miles and a half N.E. from the parish church, comprising 500a. 1r. 18p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had six houses and forty inhabitants. Thomas Boycott, Esq., is the landowner. This place is pleasantly situated on the Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth turnpike road.

Sutton township is situated about half a mile N.E. from Claverley, and at the census of 1841 contained three houses and 17 inhabitants.

Woundale, a township and village in Claverley parish, a little more than a mile from the church, at the census in 1841 had 24 houses and 114 inhabitants; the land is the property of Farmer Taylor, Esq., who resides at a pleasantly situated mansion of brick, stuccoed. The acres and rateable value of the several townships in this parish will be found included in the returns of Claverley.

Post Office.—At Mr. Thomas H. Perry’s. Letters arrive at 8 A.M., and are despatched at 7.25 P.M.

Claverley Directory.

Acton Edward Farrer, Esq., Gatacre park

Gabert Christopher, Esq., Rose Cottage

Gabert Rev. George Hilder Betterton, M.A., vicar, the Vicarage

Gatacre Edward Lloyd, Esq., Gatacre hall

Haslehust Thomas, Esq., surgeon, Powk hall

Kettle George Mackenzie, Esq., Dalicott house

Lea Mrs. Wolryche, Ludstone house

Stokes Mr. William, Ludstone hall

Taylor Farmer, Esq., Chykenell

Widdell Thos., Esq., Wood Field

Wilson John, Esq., Aston hall

Wilson William, Esq., Beobridge cottage

Ash Wm., miller and farmer

Austin Joseph, carpenter and joiner

Bate Daniel, millwright

Beasley Charles, schoolmaster (National)

Bishton George, shoemaker

Brazier Helen, schoolmistress

Brown Charles, shoemaker

Chapman James, accountant

Corns Mrs. Elizabeth

Crowder John, butcher and farmer

Crowder Joseph, painter, plumber, and glazier

Crowder Miss Ann

Davenport John, tailor

Evans Mr. William, Digbeth cottage

Evason Benjamin, tailor, draper, and tea dealer

Evers Henry, beerhouse

Evers William, shoemaker

Halfman Dinah and Mary, dressmakers

Halfman George, inland revenue officer

Harles Job, vict., the Crown

Jackson Richard, shoemaker

Page John, miller, Ashford mill

Parbut Mary, shopkeeper

Perry Helen, schoolmistress

Perry James, blacksmith

Perry Joseph, farmer and maltster

Perry Mrs. Elizabeth

Perry John, saddler and harness maker

Perry Thos. H., postmaster

Pickrill John, shoemaker

Preece Francis, shoemaker

Pritchard John, beerhouse

Rushton Francis, carpenter, joiner, builder, and vict., Glynne Arms

Weaver William, registrar of births and deaths, and vict., King’s Arms

Weston John, tailor

Whythse Elizabeth, grocer

Williams Benjamin, butcher

Wilson Thomas, saddler and harness maker

Aston Directory.

Bryan Mr. Joseph

Farrington John, farmer

Griffiths Thomas, wheelwright

Hill Wm. Thomas, farmer

Perry John, farmer and timber merchant

Wilson John, farmer, maltster, house and estate agent, and appraiser Aston hall

Beobridge Directory.

Brinsford Samuel, farmer and corn miller, Lower Beobridge

Brown Edward, wheelwright, Lower Beobridge

Cox Joseph, farmer, Upper Beobridge

Rea Benjamin, blacksmith, Broad Oak

Thomas Thomas, farmer, Lower Beobridge

Wilson William, Esq., Beobridge cottage

Wilson William, farmer, Upper Beobridge

Windle Thomas H., Esq., Lower Beobridge

Broughton Directory.

Edmonds Joseph, farmer, the Bank

Harley Edward, beerhouse keeper

Webster Thomas, farmer

Dalicott Directory.

Kettle George Mackenzie, Esq., Dalicott House

Malpass Joseph, farm bailiff

Farmcott Directory.

Darley Richard, farmer, Sytch house

Edwards Mr. Vincent

Head John, shoemaker

Lees William, corn miller, Sytch house mill

Preece William, farmer

Thomas John, farmer, timber merchant, and wheelwright

Wilson Thomas, farmer

Gatacre Directory.

Acton Edward Farrer, Esq., J.P., and deputy lieutenant for Shropshire

Gatacre Edward Lloyd, Esq., Gatacre hall

Griffiths William, farmer, Gatacre park

Woolrich Henry, farmer, the Valley

Heathton Directory.

Booth William, tailor

Brandford Samuel, painter, plumber and glazier

Crowder Martha, asylum keeper

Davenport James, tailor

Heynes Benjamin, farmer

Lloyd Charles, vic., Swan Inn

Munday William, shoemaker

Plimley John, vict., Old Gate

Hopstone Directory.

Brazier Richard, Wheelwrigt

Broughall George, farmer, corn miller, and maltster

Felton William, shoemaker and beerhouse keeper

Pound Thomas, blacksmith

Ridley Samuel and Edward, corn millers, residence Bridgnorth

Ludstone Directory.

Lea Mrs. Wolryche, Ludstone House

Morris Francis, farmer

Smith William, farmer, Upper Ludstone

Stokes William, farmer, Ludstone Hall

Shipley Directory.

Bott Samuel, farmer

Farmer Alexander, farmer

Francis Robert, farmer

Lakin Charles, vict., Talbot Inn

Miles Matthew, cattle dealer and shopkeeper

Stokes Mary, farmer

Whatelan Benjamin, beerhouse keeper

Sutton Directory.

Jackson Joseph, farmer, Sutton Mill

Smith James, farmer

Woundale Directory.

Davies Edward, farmer

Penzer John, boot and shoe maker

Preece Thomas, vict., Red Lion

Taylor Farmer, Esq., Chykenell

DONINGTON

is a parish in the Shiffnal division of the Brimstree hundred, comprising 2,655 acres of land, and in 1801 had 289 inhabitants; 1831, 318; 1841, 380, and in 1851 81 houses and 352 inhabitants, of whom 197 were males and 195 females. Rateable value, £3,977. The chief landowners are George Jones, Esq., Francis Yates, Esq., and the Rev. Henry Edward John Howard, D.D., dean of Lichfield. Donington is situated about four and a half miles S.E. from Shiffnal, and has a scattered population; the houses are in general of brick, well built, and commodious, and the cottages have a neat appearance. At the Doomsday survey Earl Roger held Donitone, and there was then a mill that rendered five horse load of corn, a wood a mile and a half long, and half a mile broad, and in the Wyke there were five salinæ that paid 20s. This Church is a venerable structure, supposed to have been built early in the fourteenth century; it consists of nave and chancel, with a square tower, in which are two bells. The interior has a neat appearance, and the pews are of oak. The chancel is separated from the nave by a pointed arch, and the windows are beautified with stained glass. The chancel contains several memorials, among which is one to Edmund Waring, Esq., who died on the 30th January, 1682–3, aged 63 years. A brass plate remembers John Chapman, formerly rector of Donington, who died in 1607. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £5. 6s. 5½d., now returned at £721, enjoyed by the Rev. Henry Edward John Howard, D.D., dean of Lichfield, who resides at the rectory, a spacious and handsome mansion of modern construction, situated near the church. Shakerley House, a good brick house situated about half a mile north from the church, is the residence and property of George Jones, Esq., iron master, who is also a considerable landowner in this parish. The mansion is delightfully situated, and the pleasure grounds are tastefully laid out.

Charities.—Sarah Manning charged her real estate in Shakerley with the payment of 10s. annually to the poor of the parish of Donington. From a deed in the possession of the owner of the Shakerley estate, dated 3rd April, 1729, it appears that this annuity was charged on a butt or section of land called Green Furlong, adjoining to the Kilsale Green, and which was by the provisions of that deed to be conveyed by Thomas Jellicorse and Jonathan Ruston, the trustees therein named, after the death of Sarah Manning, to William Bishton. What is the particular piece of land subjected to this payment cannot now be ascertained, but the amount is paid as a charge on the Shakerley estate.

The poor have also an annuity of 10s., as a portion of a rent charge of 30s. per annum, given by Mr. Chapman, to be divided between the poor of the parishes of Albrighton, Donington, and Boningale, as stated in the account of the charities of Albrighton. The owner of the Shakerley estate is not aware in what manner the payment of that rent charge was apportioned, so as to subject him to this share of it, but he considers it as a general charge on the Shakerley estate, and pays it accordingly. These two sums are distributed among the most necessitous poor of the parish.

Boulton John, farmer, Humphreston

Boulton William, farm bailiff, Sidnall

Cartwright William, farmer, Wood Farm

Dodd Rev. George, curate

Duncalfe William, farmer and surveyor, Chapel House

Holyoake George, Esq., banker, Nachley

Howard Rev. Henry Edward John, D.D., rector and dean of Lichfield, The Rectory

Howell Joseph, shopkeeper

Jones George, Esq., iron master, Shakerley House

Jones John, Esq., ironmaster, White House

Lander Richard, jun., farmer

Miller William, farmer

Moore William, miller, Shakerley Mill

Radford Henry, blacksmith, Shakerley

Reynolds Richard, shopkeeper & shoemaker, Shakerley

Russell John, tailor, Sidnall lane

Sherratt John, farmer, Low Wood Farm

Ward Matthew, Esq., Blue House

Wilkes Samuel, farmer and corn miller, Shakerley

KEMBERTON,

a parish and small rural village, pleasantly situated two miles and a half S.W. by S. from Shiffnal, at the census in 1801 contained 289 inhabitants; 1831, 318; and in 1841, 79 houses and a population of 380 souls. The parish comprises 1,385a. 2r. 16p. of land, of which twenty-three acres are in woods and plantations. Rateable value, £1,930. The Shiffnal, Madeley, Bridgnorth, and Ironbridge turnpike roads intersect the parish. The principal landowners are Robert Aglionby Slaney, Esq., M.P., Mr. John Bradburne, Lord Sudeley, Mr. Henry Thomason, and Mr. T. L. Beddows; besides whom Mr. Thomas Harper, Mr. Ward, Mr. S. Broughall, Mr. John Cherrington, Mr. William Harper, and others, are also proprietors. The soil is variable; in some parts a light loam prevails, in other parts the soil is strong, and there is a portion of clay. This locality is noted for the salubrity of the air. The land is broken into bold swells, from the high grounds of which some fine views of the surrounding country and of the distant county of Stafford are seen.

The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a small fabric, with a square tower ornamented with pinnacles. The interior consists of nave and chancel, and is neatly pewed with oak sittings; the tower contains four bells. A neat marble tablet has been erected, at the expense of the parishioners, in memory of the Rev. John Williams. The living is a rectory, with the vicarage of Sutton Maddock annexed; valued in the king’s book at £5. 6s. 5½d., in the patronage of Robert Aglionby Slaney, Esq., M.P.; incumbent, Rev. George Whitmore, M.A. The tithes are commuted for £580. The Rectory is a handsome stuccoed residence adjoining the church-yard, beautified with pleasure grounds, tastefully laid out. There is a Parochial School in the village, which is chiefly supported by the rector.

Directory.—George Adlington, wheelwright; Samuel Barker, shoemaker; William Bowdler, farmer; John Cherrington, gentleman; James Clulow, farmer; Wm. Downes, shoemaker; Charles Gough, shopkeeper and wheelwright; Thomas Harper, victualler, Masons’ Arms; Wm. Harper, bricklayer and parish clerk; Benjamin Heyward, gardener; William Richard Jackson, farmer; William Lumley, farmer; John Onions, maltster; Peter Reynolds, farmer; Elizabeth Rogers, school-teacher; Thomas Spenser, gentleman, Langley Cottage; Thomas Stonely, corn-miller; Mrs. Eliza Lloyd Thomas, farmer; Mary Ann Tomkins, shopkeeper; James Vaughan, blacksmith; Rev. George Whitmore, M.A., The Rectory; William Williams, tailor.

RYTON

is a parish, in the Shiffnal Division of the Brimstree Hundred, which embraces 1,390 acres of fertile land, yielding fine crops of wheat, barley, and turnips. The village is pleasantly situated, three miles S. from Shiffnal, and the same distance W. of Albrighton. The river Worf, which is celebrated for the excellency and abundance of its trout, intersects the parish. At the census in 1801 there were 160 inhabitants; 1831, 154; and in 1841, 41 houses and 195 souls. Rateable value of the parish, £2,507. The principal landowners are William Angeworth, Esq., Charles Head, Esq., Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A., and R. A. Slaney, Esq.; there are also several smaller proprietors. The Church is a neat structure of free-stone, erected in the year 1710, to which additions have from time to time been made. It consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a square tower, in which are three bells and a clock; the interior has a neat and orderly appearance: the pews are of oak, and the east window is beautifully ornamented with stained glass, with figures illustrative of Scripture history. There are some neat tablets and memorials to the Hardings, Heads, Sansoms, and others. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 12s. 1d., now returned at £508, in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A.; curate, Rev. Richard Seddon, B.A. The tithes for Royton parish are commuted for £445. The Rectory is a handsome modern residence, pleasantly situated a little south from the church, and was built on the site of the old rectory. The National School, a neat Elizabethan brick structure, situated a little east from the church, was built in the year 1850. The average attendance of children is about forty. Not far from the National School the stream of the Worf is crossed by a small stone bridge.

Directory.—Robert Bradley, farmer; John Candlin, farmer; Edward Corbett, blacksmith; Elizabeth Corbett, schoolmistress; Samuel Dalloe, schoolmaster; Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A., The Rectory; Charles Head, farmer, Atchley House; Thomas Hodgkiss, shoemaker; William Holloway, shoe and patten maker; John Knight, wheelwright; William Miles, farmer and beerhouse-keeper, Grindle; George Powell, farmer, Grindle; John Roberts, butler; Rev. Richard Seddon, B.A., curate, Ryton Bank; Thomas Wheeler, farmer, Atchley; John Yates, farmer, Grindle.

SHIFFNAL,

anciently called Idesall, or Idsal, is a parish and market town the head of a division of the Brimstree hundred, eight miles south from Newport, ten miles north from Bridgnorth, and eighteen miles east by south from Shrewsbury. The town chiefly consists of one street upwards of a mile in length, with several minor streets diverging from it. The houses are irregularly built, and many of the cottage residences have a mean appearance; there are however several good inns and private houses, and a number of respectable shops in most of the branches of the retail trade. Though the situation of the town is low, it is built on a dry sandy soil, and by no means unpleasant. According to tradition Idesall was a place of more considerable note in former times, and the principal portion of the town stood westward of the church; foundations and traces of buildings have frequently been discovered which would seem to confirm this supposition. In the 9th of Edward II. Bartholomew de Badlesmere obtained for him and his heirs a market on Monday and Friday, and two fairs in the year, one on the eve of the day, and the day after the feast of the Holy Trinity, and the other on the eve, the day, and the morrow after Michaelmas, as also the liberty of free warren in his demesnes in Ideshall, Adderley, Sponley, Calverhall, and Shavington. He was one of those mutinous lords who took part in the battle of Boroughbridge, March 16th, 1322, where he was taken prisoner and afterwards executed at Canterbury. The possessions of Bartholomew Badlesmere were granted in the 15th of Edward II. to Edmund Earl of Arundel and the heirs male of his body, but that noble lord was in like manner attainted about four years after, and so we find Giles de Badlesmere, son of the said Bartholomew, restored to the inheritance of his family. In the 11th of Edward IV., John Earl of Shrewsbury had a grant of a market and two fairs at the Ville of Suffenhall. The market is still held on Tuesday, but is not of much consideration; formerly corn was sold to a considerable extent. Fairs are held on the first Monday in April, August 5th, and November 22nd. The great London and Holyhead road passes through the town, upon which there were formerly seventeen coaches passing and repassing daily, which, with other traffic, added much to the commercial importance and advantage of Shiffnal. Although the inhabitants have the facilities of railway communication and a station in a central part of the town, this has rather had a tendency to diminish the importance of Shiffnal, by diverting the attention of parties who formerly frequented the market here to places of more consideration at no great distance.

The parish contains 11,433 acres of land, of which 1,090 acres are in woods and plantations, 74a. 3r. 28p. in roads and waste, and there are 60 acres of glebe. Rateable value, £24,561. 16s. Population in 1801, 3,632; 1831, 4,779; 1841, 5,244; 1851, 5,616; of whom 2,820 were males, and 2,796 females; at the latter period there were 1,050 houses. The Marquis of Stafford is lord of the manor and a very considerable landowner. The parish comprises four divisions, viz.: that of Shiffnal, embracing the town and its suburbs; Hatton district, comprising the hamlets of Idsal, Hem, Wyke, Evelith, and Hinnington; Priors Lee, those of Snedshill, Haughton, and Woodhouse; and the division of Woodside, containing the hamlets of Crackley bank, Decker hill, the Lizzard, Aston, Stanton, Upton, and Coppice green. The parish is intersected by the London and Holyhead, Shiffnal and Bridgnorth, and the Albrighton and Newport turnpike roads, and is watered by the small streams of the Sal, Worfe, Cosford, and the Lizzard. The township of Shiffnal contains 188a. 2r. 10p. of land, and in 1841 had 412 houses and 1,872 inhabitants. Rateable value, £4,153. 4s. The principal freeholders are the Marquis of Stafford, W. H. Slaney, Esq., William Cope, Esq., Mr. Edward Cherrington, and Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander, besides whom there are between forty and fifty small freeholders. The tithes were commuted in 1839, when the rectoral tithes were apportioned as follows, viz: £923 to the Rev. John Brooke; £580 to Henry Sidney Herbert, Esq.; £105 to the Duke of Cleveland; and £26 to Messrs. John and George Pritchards. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £307. A considerable extent of land, the property of the Duke of Cleveland, Lord Forester, R. A. Slaney, Esq., Rev. John Brooke, and others, is tithe free, and other portions of the parish pay a small modus.

The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a large interesting cruciform structure, exhibiting various styles of architecture, with a handsome square tower rising from the centre and supported by four pointed arches resting on massive pillars with ornamented capitals. The side aisles are separated from the nave by four semi circular arches, and terminated by side chapels. The chancel is spacious, and was re-roofed a few years ago at the expense of the late vicar, the Rev. John Brooke. The ceiling is of oak, and varnished, which gives the venerable structure a very interesting appearance. On the gallery at the west end is a fine toned organ; a noble old window at the east end is beautifully foliated. The altar is remarkably fine. Among the numerous memorials is a magnificent altar tomb, having a full length figure in a recumbent position, with the hands joined and uplifted in prayer, in memory of Oliver Briggs, who died 20th November, 1596. Another alabaster tomb of beautiful workmanship, with the figure of a knight and his lady, remembers Humphrey Briggs, Esq., and Ann, his wife, dated 1622. In a niche in the wall is a full length figure of Thomas Forester, some time prior of Wombridge, warden of Tong, and vicar of Idesall, dated 1526. A splendid white tablet has been erected to the memory of Dame Magdalene Briggs, who died September 15th, 1698. There are also handsome tablets to the Slaneys, Corbets, Pitts, Jackson, Charltons, and Brookes. The memorial to George Brooke, Esq., of Haughton, who died in 1776, is beautifully executed in free stone. A neat marble tablet has been erected to the memory of Mary Bagott, daughter of Ralph Clayton, of Sheffield, in the county of Yorkshire; she died July 27th, 1748, aged 88 years. From the inscription on the tablet to William Wakley, we learn that he was baptised at Idsal, May 1st, 1590, and was buried November 28th, 1714, aged 124 years. He lived in the reigns of eight kings and queens, viz., Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., Charles II., James II., William and Mary, Anne, and George I. Mary, wife of Joseph Yates, who died August 7th, 1776, aged 127 years; she is stated to have married a third husband at the age of 92, and to have been hearty and strong when 120 years old. Besides which are recorded in the church yard many instances of extreme longevity, for which this parish is peculiarly eminent. The advowson of the church in early times was granted to the abbey of Shrewsbury; in the 24th of Henry VI. the impropriation was annexed to the college of Battlefield, near Salop. The living is now a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £15. 6s. 8d.; now returned at £492.; in the patronage of the Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton Hall; incumbent, Rev. Townshend Brooke, M.A. The Vicarage is a handsome residence pleasantly situated a short distance from the church.

The Baptists have a neat chapel situated on the Salop road, built in 1843, and another chapel in Aston street. The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is situate in the Back lane. The National Schools are situated in the Innage. Seventy-five boys and about seventy girls attend. It is supported by endowments and annual subscriptions, together producing about £40 per annum. The endowments of the schools will be found noticed with the charities. The Christian Knowledge Society have a branch depository for the circulation and sale of religious books, situated in High street; Mr. Cornelius Bennet is the librarian.

The Mechanics’ Institution was established in 1849, and is under the management of a president, vice-president, and committee of proprietary members. The general object of the institution is for the establishment of classes for the study of most of the branches of a liberal education, the formation of a library, and affording the members facilities for hearing lectures on literary and scientific subjects. A Reading-Room has been established, which is furnished with many of the leading newspapers, and some of the most popular periodicals of the day. President: Rev. J. Brooke, Haughton Hall. Vice-President: W. Cope, Esq. Secretary and Librarian: Mr. B. L. Beddow. The Town Hall, situated in High street, was built in the year 1840. The Petty Sessions are held here on the first Friday in each month. The officiating magistrates are Thomas Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P., Uvedale Corbet, Esq., Robert Henry Cheney, Esq., and George Holyoake, Esq. Mr. Peter Osborne is clerk to the magistrates. In 1850, a Lock-up and residence for the constable was erected adjoining the Town Hall. The Stamp Office is at Mrs. Ann Edmunds, Market-place. The Excise Office is at the Bell Inn.

The Savings Bank was established in 1819, and is situated in New-street Terrace. The capital stock of the bank on November, 20th, 1850, amounted to £15,198. 3s. 2d., at which period there were 469 separate accounts; of which nine were charitable societies, and three friendly societies. Of the respective balances, 260 did not exceed £20, 108 were above £20 and not exceeding £50, 46 did not exceed £100, 30 were above £100 and not exceeding £150, and the deposits of 13 were above the latter amount and under £200. The amount received from depositors from November 20th, 1849, to November 20th, 1850, was £2,204. 14s. 8d. The payments during the same period were £2,275. 4s. 7d. Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander, Treasurer; and Mr. Peter Osborne, Secretary. The bank is open every alternate Tuesday from ten till one o’clock.

The Shiffnal Union House, a brick structure, situated a short distance from the town, was partly built in 1817, at the expense of the ratepayers. In the year 1840, additional buildings were erected by the guardians of the union, at a cost of about £800, which will accommodate about one hundred and fifty inmates. The interior arrangements are well contrived for the comfort, convenience, and cleanliness of the inmates, the number of whom is usually about sixty. The union comprises an area of sixty-seven square miles, and embraces the parishes of Albrighton, Badger, Beckbury, Boninghall, Donington, Kemberton, Ryton, Shiffnal, Stockton, Sutton Maddock, and Tong, in the county of Salop; and the parishes of Blymhill, Pateshull, Sheriff Hales, and Weston-under-Lizard, in the county of Stafford. There are twenty guardians appointed for the several parishes, who meet at the board-room every alternate Monday. The Rev. John Brooke is the chairman; Mr. Peter Osborne, clerk and superintendent registrar; John Fielding, deputy-registrar; Mr. William Roden, of Haughton, registrar of births and deaths for the Shiffnal district; Mr. John Totty, registrar for the Albrighton district; surgeons, Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander and Messrs. Bennett and Orwin; relieving officer, Mr. Richard Venables; master, Mr. George Bailey; matron, Mrs. Bailey; schoolmistress, Hannah Maria Thomason.

The Gas Works, situated in High street, were established by a company of shareholders, with a capital stock of £2,300. The premises are conveniently adapted for the purposes intended, and there is a gasometer for the reception of the luminous vapour, which will hold 10,000 cubic feet. A charge of 7s. 6d. per 1,000 feet is made to the consumer.

The Railway Station, situate in the Market place, near the centre of the town, presents a beautiful pile of buildings, in the Italian style, and is approached by a flight of fifty-seven steps. The railway is carried over the town, and crosses the Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, and Newport turnpike roads, at an elevation of sixty feet above the level of the ground. This noble viaduct comprises twenty brick arches, of thirty-seven feet span each; and at the turnpike roads, which are eighty feet wide, are six semi-circular metal arches, resting on brick abutments, with stone capitals. The embankment extends for several miles. The metal viaduct and its battlements were cast at the Horseley Iron Works, Tipton, in the year 1848, and the railway was opened on the 12th of November, 1849. Twelve trains leave the station daily for Shrewsbury and Birmingham. Mr. George Augustus Frederick Hill is station-master and resident manager. Mr. Charles Lloyd, station-clerk. Omnibuses leave the railway station daily for Bridgnorth and Ironbridge.