Drayton-in-Hales, or Market Drayton, (part 1)

is a parish and considerable market town, in the Drayton division of the North Bradford Hundred, 153 miles N.W. by N. from London, 19 miles N.E. by N. from Shrewsbury, 11 miles N. from Newport, and 12 miles S.E. from Whitchurch. The town is pleasantly situated on the north-east extremity of the county, and is watered by the river Tern. It is a place of great antiquity; and, according to Nennius, was one of the principal cities of the ancient Britons. From the discovery of foundations, and other traces of buildings in the fields adjoining the town, it is probable that its extent was once more considerable than at present; and though no coins, pavements, or other monuments of antiquity have been discovered here, it is nevertheless strongly conjectured that this town was the Roman Station, Mediolanum. It is still a place of importance, and the head of a division of the county, in which the petty sessions are held. It contains several good inns, and many respectable shops in all the different branches of the retail trade. There are three firms engaged in the manufacture of hair seating, which together employ about two hundred operatives. The manufacture of paper was formerly carried on to some extent, but was discontinued about five years ago. Here is a tannery, ironfoundery, and agricultural implements are extensively made. The various handicraft trades, in which a considerable number of the population are employed, will be seen on reference to the directory. The general traffic of this locality is facilitated by the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, which passes on the eastern side of the town. Drayton is twice mentioned in the Domesday survey, and it was then held by knights’ service under Earl Roger. In the 30th of Henry III. the Abbot of Combermere had a grant of a market here on a Wednesday, and a fair on the eve, the day, and the day after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The market is still held on Wednesdays, and numerously attended by the farmers who reside in the surrounding district, when considerable quantities of grain are sold. Fairs are held on the first Wednesday in February, Wednesday before Palm Sunday, first Wednesday in May, Wednesday before June 22nd, first Wednesday in August, September 19th, October 24th, and the last Wednesday in November. The parish comprehends the townships of Betton, Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Longslow, Sutton and Woodseaves, in this county; it also extends into the Pirehill hundred, in the county of Stafford, and is divided into four quarters for parochial purposes, viz.:—Church quarter, containing Drayton Magna and Drayton Parva; the north quarter, containing Betton, Ridgewardine, and Tunstall; south quarter, Longslow, Sutton, and Woodseaves; and Tirley quarter, containing Almington, Blore, Hales, and Tirley. The entire parish, in 1801, contained a population of 3,162 souls; 1831, 3,882; and in 1841, 4,680 souls. It embraces 7,726a. 3r. 11p. of land. The township of Drayton Magna contains 678a. 2r. 35p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 361 houses and 1,699 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Richard Corbet, Esq., P. Sillitoe, Esq., the Earl of Powis, William Church Norcop, Esq., Thomas Whitfield, Esq., and John E. Wilson, Esq. The former is lord of the manor, and impropriator of the rectoral tithes, which are commuted for £51. 5s. 9d. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £40. 19s. 9d. Drayton Parva is a populous district, forming a western suburb to the town, chiefly consisting of cottage residences, many of which are small, ill-ventilated, and have a miserable appearance. At the census of 1841 there were 352 houses and 1,462 inhabitants. The township contains 520a. 2r. 32p. of land. Among the principal landowners are Thomas Whitfield, Esq., and Mr. Brocklehurst. Richard Corbet, Esq., and Peter Broughton, Esq., are joint lords of the manor. Mr. Benjamin Beeston, Mr. William Godwin, and Mr. Samuel Swinnerton, are also landowners; besides whom there are upwards of one hundred and fifty small freeholders. Little Drayton Common, containing 97a. 0r. 36p., was enclosed in 1850, when five acres were allotted for the site of the new church, the parsonage, and the burial ground. The rectoral tithes have been commuted for £54. 19s. 7d., and the vicarial for £21. 13s. 1d.

The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a massive structure, void of architectural beauty, consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a castellated tower, supported by butresses. It was built in the reign of King Stephen, and underwent a complete reparation in 1786, when it was stripped of its gothic honours. But little of the original structure remains; the pillars and arches which separate the nave from the side aisles are undoubtedly the most ancient part of the building. The approach is at the west end, under a tower, by a Norman doorway, ornamented in the zig-zag style; the ornaments and clustered pillars are, however, much corroded by time. The tower, with the exception of a small portion at the bottom, appears to have been wholly rebuilt. On a beam in the belfry there is the date 1590, but there is no historical record to show that the tower was rebuilt in that year. There are six musical bells; the tenor bell, weighing 17½ cwt., was added about five years ago. The interior is spacious and lofty, and provided with commodious galleries. Upon the gallery at the west end is a small organ. Each side aisle is divided from the nave by five pointed arches rising from octagonal pillars, the ornamental portions of which have been defaced. In the centre aisle is a capacious font, of an octagonal form. The east window is richly beautified with stained glass, which was added about twenty-five years ago, at the expense of Sir Andrew Corbet. An antique tablet remembers Dame Anne Corbet, who died in 1682, aged 80 years. “She was the mother of ten sons and ten daughters, whereof seventeen lived to be men and women.” The walls of the chancel and side aisles are ornamented with numerous other tablets in memory of members of some of the principal families resident in this neighbourhood, but which our limits will not allow us to notice; several of modern erection are very beautifully designed. There was a chantery in this church, founded by Ralph de Basset in the 14th of Edward I., for three chaplains, who had three acres of land here. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £12. 10s. 7½d., now returned at £173, in the patronage of Richard Corbet, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. James Lee, M.A. The Vicarage, a neat residence a little west from the church, was erected in 1837, at a cost of £1,000, by the present incumbent. The old vicarage stood near the west end of the church, and was taken down when the present edifice was built. The site and the garden, measuring about half an acre, were sold by the vicar to the parishioners for the sum of £400, and were added to the church-yard. The church stands considerably elevated, and is a conspicuous and imposing object when seen from the Newport road, the southern approach to the town. The church-yard commands a fine prospect towards the south. Immediately before you is an abrupt declevity, with cottages nestling under the cliff; the meanderings of the Tern water the fertile meadows beneath; and on the opposite acclivity is seen the beautiful seat of Purney Sillitoe, Esq., embosomed in thriving plantations with a fine extent of richly-wooded country extending into Staffordshire.

The New Church, situated on Little Drayton Common, is dedicated to our Saviour, and was built in 1846. It is a neat structure, in the early English style of architecture, with nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower at the north-west corner. The interior has a chaste and pleasing appearance, and will accommodate about six hundred worshippers. The sittings are uniform in character, and are all free, with the exception of forty. The total cost of the structure was £2,600, of which Mrs. Nonelly gave the munificent sum of £500, and a like sum towards the erection of a residence for the minister. The parsonage stands a little south from the church, and was built in 1847, on the five acres of land given for the site of the church and parsonage. About an acre and a half has been enclosed for a burial ground, and the rest is appropriated as gardens and pleasure grounds to the parsonage. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Drayton; incumbent, Rev. Edward Cheere, M.A. The district of this church comprises Little Drayton, the township of Sutton, and part of Woodseaves.

The Independent Chapel, a plain brick structure, situated in Back-lane, was built in the year 1778. It is neatly fitted up and provided with galleries. The congregation had no settled pastor when our agent visited Drayton.

The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, situated in Shropshire-street, within the bounds of the township of Little Drayton, was built in the year 1808. The structure is plain, is provided with a gallery, and will accommodate between four and five hundred people.

The Baptist Chapel, a small structure, situate at Little Drayton, has a residence attached. There is no baptist minister residing here, but members of this persuasion meet for worship every alternate Sunday.

The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel, situated a little back from Cheshire-street. This is the only place of worship in the town,—too small for the number of hearers who attend religious service. It is expected a new chapel will shortly be built.

The Free Grammar School, situated on the south-east side of the church yard, was founded by Sir Rowland Hill, in 1554, who charged the manor at Wellington Hey, with the lands thereto belonging, with the payment of £22 per annum, for the support of the said school. The churchwardens of the parish were incorporated governors of the school, and were directed to pay twenty marks yearly out of the above sum to the master, to the usher £6. 13s. 4d., and the yearly sum of 40s. residue thereof should be kept as a fund for the reparations of the school. The governors covenanted for themselves and their successors that the hall or tenement on the south side of the church yard at Drayton, commonly called St. Mary’s Hall, wherein a grammar school was then kept, or such other house as should be thereafter erected on the site, should be for ever used for the said grammar school. The school was to be free for all children whose parents should place them there for learning to read English, the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and that neither the master nor the usher should agree for any recompense for such instruction. Sir Thomas Lake, in 1662, gave a rent charge issuing out of certain lands in the parish of Baschurch, amounting to £9. 19s. per annum, £6. 12s. 8d. thereof to the schoolmaster, and £3. 6s. 4d. to the usher. By an order in the Court of Chancery made 22nd January, 1816, on a petition presented by the governors it was ordered that the offices of master and usher should be consolidated, and that the office of usher should be abolished. That the governors should be at liberty to expend a sum not exceeding £191 in repairing the school house and other buildings belonging to the school; and that such sum should be raised by a mortgage of the said premises. That the governors should let the house then occupied by the usher. That a salary of £25 should be paid to the master, and that the residue of the annual revenues of the school should be applied in discharge of the principal money to be borrowed for the said repairs, and of the necessary repairs that might from time to time be wanted. The income of the school consists of the two rent charges above mentioned, and £7 per annum arising from the rent of the house formerly occupied by the usher. Out of the income amounting to £38 19s. there is paid a salary of £25 to the master, £9. 2s. as interest on the £182 laid out in the repairs of the school premises, and some small sums annually for repairs and incidental expenses. The Rev. Charles Cooke, M.A., is the master.

The Parochial and National School is a neat brick structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture, situated on a bold eminence a short distance west from the church. It was built in the year 1835, and is supported by annual subscriptions, and small weekly payments received from the children. There are one hundred and sixty boys and one hundred and thirty girls now educated in the school. William Scott is the teacher.

The Market Drayton Poor-law Union comprehends twelve parishes, embracing 61,637 acres of land, and an area of 91 square miles, with a population returned at the census of 1841 of 13,925 souls. The Union House, situated in Shropshire-street, was formerly used as the parish workhouse; it was enlarged by the poor-law guardians in the year 1839; the average number of inmates is usually about one hundred. A new Union House will shortly be built upon Little Drayton Common, which will accommodate about 350 inmates. The district comprised within the union is the same as that of the county court, the several places of which are stated here below:—Chairman of the Guardians: Thomas Twemlow, Esq. Vice Chairman: Walter Minor, Esq. Clerks: Messrs. Wilkinsons. Chaplain: Rev. Robert Upton. Surgeons: William W. Saxton, Market Drayton district; John Hopkins, Moreton Say district; John Walmsley, Hodnet district; Edward Bayley, Cheswardine district; and Michael Ryan, Ashley district. Master: William Crutchley. Matron: Mary Crutchley. Schoolmistress: Martha Crutchley.

The County Court Offices, situated in Cheshire-street, is a neat structure of brick with stone finishings, and was built in the year 1850, at the expense of Joseph Loxdale Warren, Esq. The lower part of the building is used as offices for the despatch of business connected with the county court, and above is a large room capable of holding upwards of 400 people, which is used for magisterial purposes. The court embraces within its jurisdiction the following townships and places, viz.:—Adderley, Almington, Ashley, Aston, Bearston, Betchley, Betton, Blore, Bolas Parva, Cheswardine, Childs Ercall, Chipnall, Dorrington, Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Eaton, Ellerton, Goldstone, Gravenhanger, Hales, Hinstock, Hodnet, Hopton and Espley, Howle, Hungary Hatton, Kenstone and Hopley, Knighton, Langford, Longslow, Losford, Marchamley, Moreton Say, Muckleston, Norton-in-Hales, Ollerton, Peplow, Pickstock, Sambrook, Shavington, Sowdley, Spoonley, Stoke-upon-Tern, Stych and Woodlands, Sutton, Tittenley, Wistanswick, Woodseaves, Woolerton, and Woore. Judge: Uvedale Corbett, Esq. Clerk: Joseph Loxdale Warren, Esq., The Lodge. Bailiff: Mr. William Darbyshire Green, Cheshire-st.

Petty Sessions are held on the last Saturday in every month, in the spacious room above the county court offices, when prisoners are committed to Shrewsbury or Stafford, as the case may occur, in which county the offence is committed, the magistrates having jurisdiction in both counties.

The Police Office is situated in Cheshire-street nearly opposite the county court office. It was built in 1850, and has two cells, where prisoners are confined before committal by the magistrates. In which case they are sent to Shrewsbury if the offence has been committed in this county, and to Stafford if committed in Staffordshire. Attached to the cells is a residence for the constable; William Hemming is the police officer.

The Market Drayton Society for the Acquirement of Useful Knowledge was established in September, 1850. The objects of the institution are to extend to all classes aid for cultivating, and occasion for exercising their mental powers; to afford to its members the powerful advantages and incitement of association for prosecuting their several studies in the various branches of useful knowledge, and to secure to them opportunity for engaging in such pursuits as shall tend to their moral as well as intellectual advancement. For these objects the society has taken convenient premises situate in the beast market; classes for mutual improvement have been formed, a library and news room have been established, and it is intended to have lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, and the fine arts, as occasion may occur; the news room is furnished with the principal London and provincial journals and the most popular periodicals of the day; and the library, although only recently established, contains many valuable and standard works. Persons are admitted to all the privileges of the institution on the payment of 8s. per annum. An annual subscription of 21s. per annum constitutes an honorary member, and any person giving the sum of £10. 10s., or books, or apparatus to that amount, or a course of not less than ten lectures, is considered an honorary member for life. The honorary members have the exclusive use of the reading room from nine o’clock in the morning till six o’clock in the evening. The institution has the patronage and active support of the principal gentry and clergy of the town and neighbourhood. Patrons: Henry Bayley Clive, Esq., M.P.; John Whitehall Dod, Esq., M.P. President: Thomas Twemlow, Esq. Treasurer: W. M. Wilkinson, Esq. Secretary: Mr. William Crutchley.

A News Room has been established by the gentry and tradesmen in the town, at Mrs. Barnett’s, High-street. It is supported by subscriptions of 21s. per annum.

The Gas Works are situated in the outskirts of the southern side of the town, near the river Tern; they were established by a company of shareholders, who reside in Staffordshire, and the town is expected to be lighted with gas during the autumn of the present year (1851).

Provident Societies.—There are in this town several societies or clubs, the members of which pay small contributions to their respective funds, from which they are relieved in case of sickness, infirmity, or superannuation, and from which the friends of deceased members receive a sufficient sum for their decent interment. Among these are the Market Drayton Tradesmen Club, and the fraternities or sacred Orders of Oddfellows, M.U.; Ancient Forresters, and Female Societies, &c.

The Grove is a handsome brick mansion, a quarter of a mile east from the church, the residence and property of John E. Wilson, Esq.—Spring Fields, a good house a little west from the church, situated on elevated ground, commands fine prospects of the country, and is the residence and property of Thomas Whitfield, Esq.

Near this town, during the desolating wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, a desperate conflict took place at Blore Heath, on the borders of Staffordshire, which proved very disastrous to numbers of the Cheshire gentry, and many of the principal families of the adjoining district. The battle took place on the 23rd of September, 1459, when Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, commanded the forces of the white rose, and had an army of 5,000 men encamped on a hill near Market Drayton. He was opposed by James Touchet, Lord Audley, on the part of the red rose, with an army of 10,000. Though so disproportionate in numbers, the army of Salisbury proved victorious: 2,400 men are said to have been slain in this bloody conflict, together with their brave and loyal chief, who fell by the hand of Robert Kynaston, Esq., of Hordley, a zealous partizan of the house of York. In a field adjoining the turnpike road from Market Drayton to Newcastle, a stone has been set up to mark the spot where Lord Audley fell. What rendered the battle more calamitous was, that the principal families ranged nearly in equal numbers on the side of each of the contending parties. The old English poet, Michael Drayton, in his “Polyalbion,” represents the conflict as partaking of the form of a duel, in which one relative falls a sacrifice to the resentment of the other:—

“There Dutton Dutton kills; a Done doth kill a Done;
A Booth a Booth; and Leigh by Leigh is overthrown;
A Venables against a Venables doth stand,
A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand;
There Molineux doth make a Molineux to die,
And Egerton the strength of Egerton doth try.
O Cheshire! wert thou mad of thine own native gore,
So much until this day thou never shedd’st before;
Above two thousand men upon the earth were thrown,
Of whom the greater part were naturally thine own.”

Thomas Whitfield, Esq., of Drayton, has in his possession the crest of the Egertons, a sword handle, and a brass stirrup, richly ornamented and in good preservation, which were found about thirty years ago on the field of battle. During the struggles between Charles I. and the parliament, a skirmish took place in the neighbourhood of Drayton, between the King’s party, under the command of Prince Rupert, and the parliamentary forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, when the royal cause gained a temporary success.

The Market Drayton Savings’ Bank, on November 20th, 1850, had a capital stock of £29,004. 3s., invested with the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, at which period there were 866 separate accounts, of which ten were charitable societies, with deposits amounting to £260. 12s. 1d.; and ten friendly societies, with deposits amounting to £1,706. 2s. 6d. Of the total number of deposits, there were 449 whose respective balances did not exceed £20; 218 were above £20 and not exceeding £50; 109 above £50 and not exceeding £100; 36 above £100 and not exceeding £150; and 29 between that sum and £200. John Moore is the secretary.

Charities.—Frances Hill, in 1557, gave a rent charge of 29s. per annum, out of premises in Castle Donnington, and directed 2s. to be paid yearly to the vicar or priest of Drayton to say mass in the parish church, or such divine service as should be lawful to be observed there; 8d. to the parish clerk, and 16d. to the bell ringers; 2s. 8d. for two wax tapers; 8d. to her heirs for the trouble of payment; and the residue to be given to the poorest inhabitants of Drayton. Out of this gift 2s. is paid to the minister, 2s. to the clerk, and to the two churchwardens 8d. each, and the remainder is distributed among the poor, in groats, on Trinity Sunday.

Elizabeth Wetenhall, by her will, bearing date 19th December, 1693, devised to Robert Clive and John Gardner, and their heirs, two parcels of land at Drayton, called the Gallow Tree Field and the Clay Pits, which then produced a rental of £6. 16s. per annum; also a yearly rent of £4, issuing out a messuage and lands at Winstanwick; and a yearly rent of 8s. 4d. out of a farm at Childs Ercall. And she also bequeathed to the same persons £60, to be laid out in the purchase of land, or a rent charge, and out of the yearly proceeds, £4 to be paid in apprenticing one poor boy of the parish of Drayton to some useful trade; 40s. to be equally distributed among forty poor widows, or old decayed workmen of Drayton; 20s. to the vicar of the parish, provided he should preach a sermon on St. Thomas’s day; £6. to be paid to Gabriel Wetenhall and George Dodd, and their heirs and assignees; £4 for the purpose of putting forth a poor boy of the parish of Audlem, in Cheshire, apprentice; and 40s. to be distributed among forty of the poorest widows or decayed labourers of the said parish. In 1811, an information was filed against Robert Farbeck and Samuel Redshaw, as the representatives of the co-heiresses of Robert Clive, the surviving trustee, and against Richard Grant, who acted as the trustee of the charity by the attorney-general, at the relation of the Rev. William Cotton and others. On the 21st of July, 1848, a new scheme for the administration of the charity and distribution of the income thereof, was made, and certain trustees appointed. In this scheme the trustees are ordered, after paying any expenses incident to the administration of the charity, to divide the income into thirteen parts, and apply the same in the following manner, viz., four-thirteenths thereof in apprenticing a poor boy of the parish of Drayton, selected by the majority of the trustees; two-thirteenths to be distributed in money, or laid out in the purchase of coals, blankets, provisions, or clothing, at the discretion of the trustees, and distributed among forty poor widows, and old decayed workmen of the parish of Drayton; one-thirteenth to be paid to the vicar of Drayton, provided he shall have preached, or cause to be preached, two sermons on St. Thomas’s day, in Drayton church; four-thirteenths in apprenticing poor boys of the parish of Audlam, in Cheshire; and the remaining two thirteenths to be distributed in money or clothes, among forty poor widows or decayed labourers of the said parish of Audlem. From certain technicalities not yet complied with by the legal gentlemen, and which few can see the reasonableness of but a lawyer, the charity yet remains in abeyance. The accumulations amount to upwards of £1,400, out of which between £400 and £500 had been expended in the prosecution of the suit up to December, 1850. The trustees appointed for the administration of the charity by the attorney-general, July, 1848, are the Rev. George Pitt; Richard Corbet, Esq.; Henry Clive, Esq.; William Tayleur, Esq.; Thomas Twemlow, Esq.; William Wilkinson, Esq.; and Richard Grant, Esq.

John Wright left the yearly sum of 10s., to be given in bread on the feast of St. John the Baptist, and the feast of St. John the Evangelist: he also left the like sum yearly for the poor of Tyrley quarter. In respect of this charity, 20s. per annum is received from certain premises at Stoke-upon-Tern, which is applied according to the donor’s intentions. Lawrence Thompson left 20s. per annum to the poor of Drayton, to be given on St. Lawrence’s day. Ralph Kendrirk gave an annual sum of 20s. to the poor, and Mr. Cooke, a yearly sum of 3s. 4d. These several sums are carried to the poor’s account, and bread distributed to the amount on New Year’s Day.

The Rev. Richard Price, by will 1730, devised certain lands and houses in and near Drayton to the poor of Drayton and Hodnet; viz., £5 per annum, for a distribution of bread every Lord’s-day, and the remainder for the schooling of poor children of each place. The premises now held by the parish officers of Drayton, as derived from the Rev. R. Price, consist of a building in Little Drayton, formerly used as a poor house. This building was probably erected upon the site of the five messuages conveyed in trust by the Rev. R. Price; but it does not appear how the parish of Drayton became entitled to the whole, as part was allotted to the parish of Hodnet. The are also two pieces of land, called the Town Field and Crab Tree Field, and a small plot of land in Longslow lane, which produce a yearly rental altogether of £19. 11s. This sum is carried to the general account, kept by the churchwardens, entitled the Poors’ Account.

John Bill left £240, the interest to be disposed of in the Shropshire part of the parish. In 1781 the sum of £240 was lent to Thomas H. Alcock, on his bond, but he subsequently failing, a dividend of £106 was received from the bankrupt’s estate. In 1819 a sum of £190 was advanced by the churchwardens for the repairs of the Grammar School, for which interest was to be paid at the rate of five per cent. It is stated in a memorandum, entered in the churchwardens’ book, that £118, part of this money was left by Mr. Bill for the purpose of a charity school in Little Drayton, and apprenticing poor children, at the discretion of the churchwardens. Interest is now paid on £182 from the school funds, and the amount is carried to the poors’ account; but it may be observed, that in the application of those funds, only £4 is disposed of annually for the education of poor children of Little Drayton, which sum falls short of the income of Price’s charity before mentioned, which is also applicable to this purpose, and nothing whatever is applied in binding out apprentices.

It appears from a schedule of benefactions, that a great number of legacies have been left for the benefit of the poor of this parish. Among the donors is Stephen Denstone, who gave £100 in 1705, and directed the yearly produce to be distributed among the poorest widows and housekeepers of Great and Little Drayton. Richard Heeley gave £100, and directed half the interest to be expended in bread, and the other half as the minister and churchwardens of Drayton should think fit. Margaret Blest gave £50, the interest to be distributed among fifty poor housekeepers. Various other legacies, 36 in number, amounting in the whole, with the above gifts, to £577. 13s. 4d., have been laid out at different periods in the purchase of land, situate at Hinstock, Ightfield, Drayton, and Cheswardine. The income derived from these rents, with the interest on the money laid out on the school, amounting altogether to £114. 11s., is carried to one account, with the produce of other charities, entitled the “Poors’ Account;” and after defraying some few incidental expenses, there is paid thereout the following sums:—£7 in sums of 6d. each on St. Stephen’s day; £2. 10s. in small sums on St. Margaret’s day; bread to the amount of 5s. for the poor of Tyrley; bread to the amount of 19s. to the poor of Drayton on Easter Sunday; £4 to a schoolmistress; 2s. worth of bread is given away every Sunday, amounting to £5. 4s. per annum; and 5s. worth is given in addition on one Sunday in every month, amounting to £3; making a total of £22. 18s. The residue of these funds is applied principally in purchasing blankets and clothing, which are given to poor persons of the parish who have met with accidents or occasional distress, in sums of money, varying from 6d. to 5s. We cannot but observe that the small sums given away on St. Stephen’s and St. Margaret’s days, as applications are made to the churchwardens, appear to be too small to be of any real benefit to the parties receiving them.

The Rev. Robert Adams, in 1719, devised certain lands at Winnington upon trust to pay £13. 12s. yearly (the then value thereof) as follows:—£8 to the rector, vicar, and churchwardens of Muccleston, Drayton, and Adderley, alternately, on the 25th of March, every year, for putting forth a poor boy or girl apprentice; 30s. for the education of poor children in Adderley, and a like sum for educational purposes at Muccleston; and the sum of 52s. residue thereof to be expended in bread for the poor of Adderley. The estate is now let for £35. 12s. per annum, and the rents are applied to the charitable uses above mentioned.

Clara Church, by will 1753, bequeathed £150, and directed the officiating minister to distribute 2s. weekly, except in the months of June, July, and August, among poor people frequenting the church on prayer days, and who should come into the church at the beginning, and behave with decency during the time of divine service; to pay 16s. to the minister for visiting poor sick people in the parish, and distribute the residue of the interest among poor members of society visited with sickness. It appears that the amount of Mrs. Church’s legacy was not invested in the funds until December, 1823, when £174 was laid out in the purchase of certain stock in the four per cent. annuities. In 1825 part of the stock, and of another sum of £21. 4s., purchased with a legacy of £20 left by J. Grosvenor, for an addition to the organist’s salary, appear to have been improperly sold out, so as to leave £150 stock for this charity, and £20 stock for the organist. The dividends of the £150 stock amount to £5. 5s. per annum; and during forty weeks in the year 2s. are regularly distributed to the poor, and the sum of 16s. per annum is paid to the vicar. The residue of the dividends is appropriated with the proceeds of the church rate.

Joseph Williams, by will 1796, bequeathed to the minister and churchwardens of Drayton £250, invested in the four per cent. consols, to pay out of the yearly dividends the sum of 20s. to the minister of the parish, for preaching a sermon on Midsummer day; 5s. each to twenty poor widows or widowers, and twelve pennyworth of bread, on Midsummer day; to the ringers, to ring from six to eight o’clock on the same day, 15s.; to an eligible person for receiving the dividends and paying the same to the parish officers, 10s.; to the clerk of the parish, for keeping an inscription of his donations clean, 5s.; and 30s. to the overseers, for distributing his donations. He also gave a further sum of £20 to have an inscription placed in Drayton church, containing the above donations. The dividends, amounting to £8. 15s. per annum, are received by the churchwardens, and applied in the proportions directed by the testator.

Mrs. Lawrence left £500 in the five per cents, to purchase coals to be distributed to the poor inhabitants of the parish during the winter season; and she left a further sum of £100, the interest thereof for the Sunday school of the established church. In respect of the first legacy, there is £525 new four per cents, the dividends of which, amounting to £20 per annum, are received by the churchwardens, and laid out in coals, which are sold to the poor at about 3d. per cwt. under the cost price; and the produce of the sale is laid out in like manner, till the fund is exhausted. The interest of the sum of £100 is applied for the benefit of the Sunday school.

Sophia Grosvenor, in 1816 bequeathed £100, and directed the amount to be invested in government security, and the dividends distributed among the poor of Drayton. Lucina Riddlesden bequeathed £100, and directed the yearly proceeds to be applied in the purchase of warm stockings and shoes, to be given among poor boys and girls who should attend the National School. These two gifts, after deducting the legacy duty, were invested in the purchase of £200 three and a half per cent. stock, which now stands in the names of certain trustees, and of the dividends, amounting to £7 per annum, £3. 10s. is divided among twenty-eight poor old persons, men and women, belonging to the parish; the remaining £3. 10s. is laid out according to the donor’s intentions, in worm stockings and shoes.

Charles-Grooby, by his will bearing date 6th October, 1810, gave to Sir Corbet Corbet, the Rev. William Judgson, and the vicar and churchwardens of Drayton, £1,200 three per cent. bank annuities, upon trust that they should lay out the dividends on the 7th of May, yearly, being the birth day of the testator, towards clothing six poor men and six poor women of the parish of Drayton. The sum of £1,200 stock now stands in the names of certain trustees, and the dividends, amounting to £36 per annum, are received by the churchwardens, and they provide clothing to that amount, which they divide among six poor men and twelve poor women of the parish of Drayton.

Post Office.—At Mr. Richard Grant’s, Beast Market. Letters arrive from the Whitmore railway station at a quarter past four o’clock in the morning, and are despatched at half-past nine in the evening.

Adams Richard, draper and silk mercer, (Adams and Powell) Shropshire street

Adams & Powell, linen and woollen drapers, silk mercers and hatters, Shropshire street

Allen John, tailor, Beast market

Andrews George, gentleman, Stafford street

Arkinstall Mr. John, The Sitch

Arkinstall the Misses, boarding school, Shropshire street

Arkinstall William, tailor, Shropshire street

Barker John, butcher, Beast market

Barnett John, vict., Wheat Sheaf, Old wharf

Barnett Lydia, spirit vaults, High street

Barnett Martha, vict., George Inn, Beast mrkt

Barratt Thomas, builder & timber merchant, Stafford street

Basford Joseph, gardener, Tinkers’ lane

Bate Mary, shopkeeper, Shropshire street

Beeston Mr. Benjamin, Summer hill

Bennion Thomas Platt, bookseller, printer, stationer, bookbinder, circulating library, and depôt of Christian Knowledge Society, High street

Bonell Samuel, pump maker, Stafford street

Boughey and Woodcock, bonnet makers, Church street

Boulton Henry, vict., Crown Inn, Stafford st

Bowker George, watch and clock maker, Cheshire street

Bradbury John, agricultural implement maker, and wheelwright, Longslow lane

Bradbury John, boot & shoe mkr, Shropshire st

Bradbury Maria, bonnet maker, Shropshire st

Bradbury Walter, linen and woollen draper, silk mercer and hatter, High street

Bradshaw John, cabinet maker, and provision dealer, Beast market

Brasnell Thomas, beerhouse keeper, Little Drayton

Bratton John, land agent, Beast market

Brayn Joseph, linen and woollen draper, silk mercer and hatter, High street

Brayn Samuel, gentleman, Stafford street

Brookshaw Benjamin, blacksmith, and beerhouse keeper, Old Wharf

Brookshaw William, blacksmith, Beast markt

Brown Thomas, carpenter and beerhouse keeper, Cheshire street

Burd George, Esq., solicitor, Stafford street

Cartwright Martha, milliner, Shropshire st

Carver Hugh, cheesefactor, Shropshire street

Cash Philip, paper dealer, and trunk maker, Shropshire street

Cheere Rev. Edward, M.A., Parsonage, Little Drayton

Chritchley Cornelius, coach builder, Beast market

Cockayne Edward, coach and house painter, Stafford street

Cooke Rev. Charles, M.A., head master at Grammar School, Church yard side

Corfield Joseph, boot and shoe maker, Cheshire street

Craston Edward, hatter, and shoe warehouse, High street

Crutchley William, master of Union House, Shropshire street

Cutler Joseph, shopkeeper, Little Drayton

Dale Mary, butcher, Stafford street

Dale, Sarah, victualler, Elephant and Castle, Shropshire street

Davenport James, grocer, tea dealer, and tallow chandler, High street

Davies Richard, farmer and corn miller, Almington

Davies Thomas, hair dresser, Stafford street

Davies Thomas, shopkeeper, Stafford street

Deakin Peter, baker and confectioner, Shropshire street

Dickin Miss Rachael, Shropshire street

Done Robert, shoe maker, Stafford street

Drury Thomas, cooper, Shropshire street

Eaton George, schoolmaster, Shropshire st

Eaton William, tailor, Shropshire street

Edge Robert, timber merchant, wheelwright, and victualler, Stag’s Head, Beast market

Elock Frances, boarding school, Stafford st

Embrey Thomas, grazier, Stafford street

Evans George, maltster and vict., Red Lion, Beast market

Farnell John, tailor, Bell lane

Farnell Zacharia, tailor, Cheshire street

Fell Robert, agent to Hazledine and Co., coal merchants, Old Wharf

Fielding Henry, patten and clog maker, Cheshire street

Frith Joseph, land agent, Stafford street

Fletcher Joseph, maltster, Cheshire street

Fletcher Elizabeth, beerhouse, Cheshire street

Foden James, victualler, Corbet Arms Hotel, Posting house, and Excise office, High st

Fox James, plumber & glazier, Shropshire st

Frith John, hair dresser, Shropshire street

Gad Thomas, chair maker, Shropshire street

Godwin William, grocer, and chemist & druggist, Shropshire street, hair seating manufacturer, and nurseryman, Kiln bank

Goodall George, maltster, Cheshire street

Goodall John, chemist and druggist, glass dealer, Stamp Office, and agent to Salop Fire Office, Cheshire street

Gower Andrew Woodgate & Son, agricultural implement manufacturers, Stafford street

Graham Robert, currier, Little Drayton

Grant Mr. Richard, postmaster, Beast markt

Green George, solicitor’s clerk, Terrace cottage

Green William Darbyshire, auctioneer, and high bailiff of County court, Cheshire st

Grimley Henry, Esq., solicitor, Stafford street

Griffith Benjamin, brazier and tin plate worker, Beast market

Griffith Isaac, builder, cabinet maker, and registrar of marriages, Stafford street

Griffith Thomas, cabinet maker and upholsterer, Cheshire street

Griffith William, hair dresser, Shropshire st

Groom Thomas, leather cutter and provision dealer, Stafford street

Grosvenor John, tailor, Shropshire street

Grosvenor Mary Ann, bonnet maker, Shropshire street

Grosvenor Robert, watch and clock maker, registrar of births and deaths, and parish clerk, Church street

Hall Thomas, cooper and beerhouse keeper, Shropshire street

Harding Miss Sarah, Shropshire street

Harper George, shopkeeper and cabinet maker, Shropshire street

Harper William, farmer, corn miller, provision and british wine dealer, High street

Haslam Joseph, hair seating manufacturer, Stafford street

Haslam Joseph N., surgeon, Shropshire street

Hawley William ap Richard, professor of music, Back lane

Hayward Charles, butcher, Shropshire street

Haywood Richard, hosier, Stafford street

Heatley Thomas, linen and woollen draper, silk mercer and hatter, High street

Hemming William, police officer, Cheshire st

Herbert John, coal agent, Victoria Wharf

Hill Ann, vict., Royal Oak, Cheshire street

Hill Mrs. Ann, Church street

Hill Henry, saddler & harness maker, High st

Hill Robert, saddler & harness maker, High st

Hill Thomas, tanner and currier, Cheshire st

Hinton Robert, plumber, glazier, and beerhouse keeper, Shropshire street

Holdcroft Mrs. Susannah B., The Sitch

Horner, Captain John, Cheshire street

Hope Thomas, provision dealer, Shropshire st

Hopkins Eliza, milliner, Beast market

Hopkins John, surgeon, Shropshire street

Hopkinson James, shopkeeper, Cheshire st

Hopwood John, saddler and harness maker, Stafford street

Hughes Enoch, blacksmith, Bell lane

Hughes Maria, bonnet maker, Shropshire st

Jackson John, porter agent, Shropshire street

Jarvis Joseph, butcher, Cheshire street

Jones John, nail maker, Shropshire street

Jones John, hatter and provision dealer, Shropshire street

Jones Josiah, joiner and builder, Cheshire st

Jones Richard, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Jones Samuel, shoemaker, Bell lane

Jones William, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Key John Sayers, malster and vict., Star Inn, Stafford street

Kirkham William, vic., Old Cheshire Cheese, High street

Lee Rev. John, M.A., vicar, Vicarage

Leigh Emily and Fanny, dress makers, Cheshire street

Lewis George, provision dealer and currier, Little Drayton

Liseter John, letter carrier, Beast Market

Lloyd Edmund, linen and woollen draper, silk mercer and hatter, Shropshire street

Lockett John, bookseller, printer, &c., (Silvester and Lockett), High street

Lockett George, butcher, Cheshire street

Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, Shropshire street; open on Wednesday; Samuel Walter Moore, manager

Massey Mary Ann, bonnet maker, Stafford st

Massie Thomas, grocer, tallow chandler, and hop dealer, Cheshire street

Matthews James, vict., Lamb Inn, Stafford st

Matthews Miles, farmer and veterinary surgeon, Cheshire street

Mc. Manus Chas., shopkeeper, Shropshire st

Minor Mrs. Elizabeth, Shropshire street

Montford Thomas, builder, cabinet maker, and upholsterer, Church street

Moody Hy., bone merchant, Victoria Wharf

Moore Ann, milliner, High street

Moore John, baker, provision dealer, and actuary at Savings’ Bank, Cheshire street

Moore Thomas, grocer and tea dealer, Cheshire street

Morris William, shoemaker, Stafford street

Noden William, carpenter, Cheshire street

Noneley Mrs. Margerette, Beast Market

Oldcroft Eliza, glass & china dealer, High st

Painter Richard, butcher, Kiln Bank

Parsonage Frederick, plumber and glazier, Stafford street

Peake Thomas, plumber and glazier and beerhouse keeper, Little Drayton

Pegg John, beerhouse keeper, Little Drayton

Pigott Creswell, Esq., solicitor, Stafford st

Pimlett Joshua, veterinary surgeon, Stafford street

Poole Thomas, butcher, Little Drayton

Povell James, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Powell William, draper and silk mercer, (Adams & Powell,) Shropshire street

Preston Geo., beerhousekeeper, Little Drayton

Preston Mrs. Dorothy, Back Lane

Ralphes Joseph, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Ray Uriah, chair maker, Cheshire street

Ridgway William, (executors of), grocers, chemists and druggists, and glass dealers, High street

Roberts Jane, dressmaker, Shropshire st

Roberts Samuel, gardener and seedsman, Beast market

Roberts Mr. Thomas, Church street

Robson James, stone mason, Beast Market

Roden Adam, carrier, Little Drayton

Roden William, pig dealer and beerhouse keeper, Cheshire street

Rodenhurst William and John, ironmongers, agricultural implement makers, grocers, and hop and seed dealers, Cheshire street

Rogers George, jeweller, silversmith, and watch and clock maker, High street

Roylance Thomas, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Ryder George, blacksmith, Little Drayton

Salter Samuel Colley, linen and woollen draper, and silk mercer, Shropshire street

Salter Sarah, shopkeeper, Shropshire street

Sandells Thomas, maltster and vict., Unicorn Inn, Stafford street

Sandbrook Benjamin Bayley, wine & spirit merchant, Shropshire street

Sandbrook William and Son, wine and spirit merchants, Shropshire street

Sandbrook William, hair seating manufacturer, Walk Mill

Saxton William Waring, Esq., banker and surgeon, Stafford street

Scott William, schoolmaster, (National), Shropshire street

Sergeant Matthew, butcher, Stafford street

Shaw John, tailor, Stafford street

Sherwin Harry John, woollen draper, tailor, and hatter, High street

Sherwin Margery, stay maker, Shropshire st

Shuker John, bricklayer, Back lane

Sillitoe Aaron, saddler and harness maker, Beast Market

Sillitoe Purney, Esq., Pell Wall House

Silvester and Lockett, booksellers, printers, stationers, bookbinders, and circulating library, High street

Silvester Samuel, bookseller, &c., (Silvester and Lockett), High street

Simester John, rope maker, Shropshire st

Simester William, rope maker, Cheshire st

Slaney Thomas, plumber, glazier, & painter, Cheshire street

Smith Henry Jn., solicitors’ clerk, Church st

Snow Thomas, furnishing ironmonger, brazier and tin plate worker, grocer, and hop, seed, and colour merchant, High st

Spencer Mr. Walter, The Mount

Spendelow William, grocer, chemist and druggist, and hop merchant, Shropshire st

Stevens Thomas, hatter and woollen draper and tailor, Shropshire street

Steventon John, shoemaker, Little Drayton

Steventon Wm., shoemaker, Little Drayton

Stubbs Elizabeth, beerhouse, Bell lane

Swinchett George Williamson, brazier and tin plate worker, High street

Swinnerton Samuel, surgeon, Shropshire st

Tayleur Mrs. Frances, The Fields

Taylor Mr. William, Stafford street

Taylor William, cooper, Stafford street

Tomlinson William, guano, corn, and salt dealer, Old Wharf

Trueman Charles, dyer, Cheshire street

Wade Hill, beerhouse keeper, Little Drayton

Walsh Joseph, brazier and tin plate worker, Shropshire street

Warren Charles, Esq., solicitor, Shropshire st

Warren Joseph Loxdale, Esq., solicitor, clerk to magistrates, clerk to county court, and deputy-lieutenant, The Lodge

Whitfield George, ironmonger, grocer and tea dealer, and hop and seed merchant, High street

Whitfield Thomas, Esq., Spring Field

Whittington Margt., schoolmistress, Cheshire street

Wilkes Jane, dressmaker, Church street

Wilkinson Joseph Edmund, Esq., solicitor, Shropshire street

Wilkinson William Manley, Esq., solicitor and superintendent registrar, Shropshire street

Williams Mrs. Elizabeth, Stafford street

Williams John, shoemaker. Little Drayton

Williams Sarah, bonnet maker, Shropshire st

Williamson James, boot and shoemaker, Shropshire street

Wilson John Edwards, Esq., The Grove

Woodcock Thos., beerhouse, Little Drayton

Woodhouse Thomas, tailor, Little Drayton

Wright Nathaniel, beerhouse & shopkeeper Shropshire street

Wycherley Samuel, wheelwright, Beast Market

Academies.

Arkinstall The Misses, (boarding), Beast Market

Bratton Miss, (boarding), Beast Market

Eaton George, Cheshire st

Bratton Mary, Back lane

Elcock Frances, Stafford st

Grammar School, Churchyard side; head master, Rev. Charles Cooke, M.A.; second master, C. F. King

National, William Scott and Eliza Green, Back lane

Whittingham Margaret, Cheshire street

Wigley Henry William, (boarding), Shropshire st

Agricultural Implement Manufacturers.

Bradbury John, Longslow lane

Gower and Son, Stafford st

Rodenhurst William & John Cheshire street

Ale & Porter Merchants.

Foden James, High street

Jackson John, Shropshire st

Rogers George, (Burton ales) High street

Sandalls Thomas, Stafford st

Attornies.

Grimley Henry, Stafford st

Pigott Creswell, Stafford st

Warren Charles, Shropshire street

Warren & Burd, Cheshire st

Wilkinson William M. and Joseph E., Shropshire st

Auctioneer.

Green William Darbyshire, Cheshire street

Banks.

Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, Shropshire street, open on Wednesday, Samuel Walker Moore, manager

Savings’ Bank, Shropshire st.; John Moore, actuary

Saxton Brothers, High-st., draw upon Williams and Co., London

Blacksmiths.

Brookshaw Benjamin, Stafford street

Brookshaw William, Beast Market

Hughes Enock, Bell lane

Ryder George, Little Drayton

Bone Merchant.

Moody Henry Church, Victoria Wharf

Booksellers, Printers, Stationers, Bookbinders, and Circulating Libraries.

Bennion Thomas Platt, High

Silvester & Lockett, High st

Boot and Shoemakers.

Bradbury John, Cheshire st.

Corfield Joseph, Cheshire st.

Oraston Edward (dealer), High street

Done Robert, Stafford street

Jones Richard, Little Drayton

Jones Samuel, Bell lane

Jones Wm., Little Drayton

Morris William, Stafford st.

Povell James, Little Drayton

Ralphes Joseph, Little Drayton

Roylance Thomas, Little Drayton

Steventon John, Little Drayton

Steventon William, Little Drayton

Williams John, Little Drayton

Williamson James, Shropshire street

Braziers and Tin Plate Workers.

Griffith Benjamin, Beast market

Snow Thomas, High street

Swinchatt Geo. Williamson, High street

Walsh Joseph, Shropshire street

Butchers.

Barker John, Beast market

Dale Mary, Stafford street

Hayward Charles, Shropshire street

Jarvis Joseph, Cheshire st.

Lockett George, Cheshire st.

Painter Richard, Kiln Bank

Poole Thomas, Little Drayton

Sergeant Matthew, Stafford street

Cabinet Makers and Upholsterers.

Bradshaw John, Beast Market

Griffith Isaac, Stafford street

Griffith Thos., Cheshire street

Harper George, Shropshire street

Montford Thomas, Church street

Carpenters and Builders.

Barratt Thomas, Stafford st.

Brown Thomas, Cheshire st.

Griffith Isaac, Stafford street

Jones Josiah, Shropshire st.

Montford Thomas, Church street

Noden Wm., Cheshire street

Chemists and Druggists.

Godwin William, Shropshire street

Goodall John, Cheshire street

Ridgway William (executors of), High street

Spendelow Richard William, Shropshire street

Coach Builder.

Critchley Cornelius, Beast Market

Coal Merchants.

Hazledine & Co., Old Wharf, Robert Fell, agent

Ryley & Sandbrook, Victoria Wharf, John Herbert, agent

Confectioners.

Deakin Peter, Shropshire st.

Harper William (and British wine dealer), High street

Coopers.

Drury Thomas, Shropshire street

Hall Thomas, Shropshire st.

Taylor William, Stafford st.

Corn Millers.

Davies Richard, Almington

Harper William, High street

Curriers.

Hill Thomas, Cheshire street

Lewis and Graham, Little Drayton

Dyers.

Hayward Richard, Stafford street

Trueman Charles, Cheshire street

Farmers.

Beeston James, Almington

Davies Richard (and corn miller), Almington

Embrey Thomas, Stafford street

Harper William, High street

Matthews Miles, Cheshire st.

Poole Thos., Little Drayton

Fire and Life Office Agents.

Clerical & Medical, William Waring Saxton, Stafford street

Crown, Charles Warren, Shropshire street

Law, Henry Grimley, Stafford street

Legal and Commercial, Joseph Edmund Wilkinson, Shropshire street

Manchester, George Rogers, High street

Market Drayton Cattle Club, Wm. D. Green, Cheshire street

Norwich Union, Joseph L. Warren, Cheshire, st.

Royal Farmers and General, Wm. D. Green, Cheshire street

Salop, Jn. Goodall, Cheshire street

Shropshire and North Wales, Joseph Firth, Stafford st.

Glass and China Dealers.

Marked * are glass only.

* Goodall John, Cheshire st.

Oldcroft Eliza, High street

* Ridgway William (executors of), High street

Grocers and Tea Dealers.

Davenport James, High st.

Godwin William, Shropshire street

Harper William, High street

Massie Thomas, Cheshire street

Moore Thomas, Cheshire street

Ridgway William (executors of), High street

Rodenhurst William and John, Cheshire street

Snow Thomas, High street

Spendelow Richard William, Shropshire street

Whitfield George, High st.

Hair Dressers.

Davies Thomas, Stafford street

Frith John, Shropshire street

Griffith Wm., Shropshire st.

Hair Seating Manufacturers.

Godwin William, Kiln bank

Haslam Joseph, Stafford st.

Sandbrook H. and W., Walk Mill

Hatters.

(See also Linen Drapers and Hatters.)

Craston Edward, High street

Jones John, Shropshire street

Sherwin Harry John, High street

Stevens Thomas, Shropshire street

Hosier.

Haywood Richard, Stafford street

Hotels, Inns, and Taverns.

Crown, Henry Boulton, Stafford street

Corbet Arms Hotel (posting house and excise office), James Foden, High street

Elephant and Castle, Sarah Dale, Shropshire street

George, Martha Barnett, Beast market

Lamb, Jas. Matthews, Stafford street

Man in the Moon, James Beeston, Almington

Old Cheshire Cheese, James Kirkham, High street

Red Lion, George Evans, Beast market

Royal Oak, Ann Hill, Cheshire street

Stag’s Head, Robert Edge, Beast market

Star, John Sayers Key, Stafford street

Unicorn, Thomas Sandalls, Stafford street

Wheat Sheaf, John Barnett, Old wharf

Beerhouses.

Brasnell John, Little Drayton

Brookshaw Benjamin, Old wharf

Brown Thomas, Cheshire street

Fletcher Elizabeth, Cheshire street

Hall Thomas, Shropshire st.

Hinton Robert, Shropshire street

Peake Thos., Little Drayton

Pegg John, Little Drayton

Preston George, Little Drayton

Roden William, Cheshire street

Stubbs Elizabeth, Bell lane

Wade Hill, Little Drayton

Woodcock Thomas, Little Drayton

Wright Nathaniel, Shropshire street

Hop and Seed Merchants.

Groom Thomas, Stafford st.

Godwin William (seed), Shropshire street

Massie Thomas, Cheshire st.

Rodenhurst William and John, Cheshire street

Snow Thomas, High street

Spendelow Richard William, Shropshire street

Whitfield George, High street

Ironmongers.

Rodenhurst William & John, Cheshire street

Snow Thomas, High street

Whitfield Geo., High street

Ironfounders.

Rodenhurst William and John, Cheshire street

Linen and Woollen Drapers, Silk Mercers, and Hatters.

Adams and Powell, Shropshire street

Bradbury Walter, High street

Brayn Joseph, High street

Heatley Thomas, High street

Lloyd Edmund, Shropshire street

Salter Samuel Colley, Shropshire street

Maltsters.

Evans George, Beast Market

Fletcher Joseph, Cheshire street

Goodall George, Cheshire st.

Hill Ann, Cheshire street

Key John Sayers, Stafford st.

Sandalls Thomas, Stafford st.

Milliners and Dress Makers.

Cartwright Martha, Shropshire street

Hopkins Eliza, Beast Market

Leigh Emily and Fanny, Cheshire street

Moore Ann, High street

Roberts Jane, Shropshire st.

Virgen Betsy, Longslow lane

Wilkes Jane, Church street

Nail Maker.

Jones John, Shropshire st.

Painter.

(See also Plumbers, Glaziers, and Painters.)

Cocayne Edward (coach and house), Stafford street

Patten and Clog Maker.

Fielding Henry, Cheshire st.

Plumbers, Glaziers, and Painters.

Fox James, Shropshire street

Hinton Robert, Shropshire street

Parsonage Frederick, Stafford street

Peake Thos., Little Drayton

Slaney Thomas, Cheshire st

Professor of Music.

Hawley William Ap Richard, Back lane

Pump Maker.

Bonell Samuel, Stafford street

Rope Makers.

Simester John, Shropshire street

Simester William, Cheshire street

Saddlers & Harness Makers.

Hill Henry, High street

Hill Robert, High street

Hopwood John, Stafford st.

Sillitoe Aaron, Beast market

Shopkeepers, Dealers in Sundries, and Grocers.

Bate Mary, Shropshire street

Bradshaw John, Beast Market

Cutler Joseph, Little Drayton

Davies Thomas, Stafford st.

Groom Thomas, Stafford st.

Harper George, Shropshire street

Hope Thomas, Shropshire street

Hopkinson James, Cheshire street

Jones John, Shropshire st.

Lewis George, Little Drayton

Mc Manus Charles, Shropshire street

Moore John, Cheshire street

Salter Sarah, Shropshire st.

Wright Nathaniel, Shropshire street

Straw Bonnet Makers.

Boughey and Woodcock, Church street

Bradbury Maria, Shropshire street

Grosvenor Mary Ann, Shropshire street

Hughes Maria, Shropshire street

Keeling Mary Ann, Little Drayton

Massey Mary Ann, Stafford st

Ryder Elizabeth, Little Drayton

Williams Sarah, Shropshire street

Surgeons.

Haslam Joseph Nickson, Shropshire street

Hopkins John, Cheshire st.

Saxton William Waring, Stafford street

Swinnerton Samuel, Shropshire street

Tailors.

Marked * are Woollen Drapers and Hatters.

Allen John, Beast Market

Arkinstall William, Shropshire street

Eaton William, Shropshire street

Farnell John, Bell lane

Farnell Zachariah, Cheshire street

Grosvenor John, Shropshire street

Shaw John, Stafford street

* Sherwin Harry John, High street

* Stevens Thos., Shropshire street

Woodhouse Thomas, Little Drayton

Tallow Chandlers.

Davenport James, High st.

Massie Thomas, Cheshire street

Tanner.

Hill Thomas, Cheshire street

Timber merchants.

Barratt Thomas, Stafford st.

Dymock and Co., Shropshire street, residence, Shelton

Edge Robert, Beast market

Veterinary Surgeons.

Matthews Miles, Cheshire street

Pimlett Joshua, Stafford st.

Watch and Clock Makers.

Bowker George, Cheshire st.

Grosvenor Robert, Church street

Rogers George (and silversmith and jeweller), High street

Wheelwrights.

Bradbury John, Longslow lane

Wicherley Samuel, Beast market

Wine and Spirit Merchants.

Sandbrook William and Son, Shropshire street

Wine and Spirit Vaults.

Barnett Lydia, High street

Wood Turners and Chair Makers.

Gad Thomas, Shropshire st.

Ray Uriah, Cheshire street

Carriers by Water.

Crowley and Co., general carriers to all parts of England; William Tomkinson, agent, Old wharf

Grand Junction Canal Company (to London); Wm. Tomkinson, agent, Old wharf

Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company, general carriers to all parts of England; William Tomkinson, agent, Old wharf

Betton

is a township and small rural village, in the parish of Market Drayton, two miles N.N. by E. from the parish church. The township comprises 2,185a. 0r. 27p. of land, the principal owners of which are Peter Broughton, Esq., and William Church Norcop, Esq. The other proprietors are Richard Corbet, Esq., Purney Sillitoe, Esq., and Sir John Chetwode, Bart. In 1841 there were 38 houses and 254 inhabitants within the bounds of the township. Rateable value, £2,963. 2s. The tithes have been commuted, and £223. 5s. 9d. apportioned to William Church Norcop, Esq.; £40. 7s. 6d. to Peter Broughton, Esq.; £32. 18s. 3d. to Richard Corbet, Esq.; and to the Vicar of Drayton, £5. 13s. 6d. Betton Hall, a handsome and pleasantly situated mansion on elevated ground, is the residence and property of William Church Norcop, Esq. It was considerably enlarged and beautified about forty years ago. A pillar, in the field a little south from the hall, marks the site of an ancient chapel that formerly stood here, but no remains have been seen of it within the memory of man. Tunstall Hall, a spacious and elegant mansion, situated in park-like grounds, about a mile from Market Drayton, is the seat and property of Peter Broughton, Esq. Betton Moss is a tract of unenclosed land, containing 56a. 0r. 33p. Oakley Corn Mill is situated on the banks of the river Tern, which divides this township from the county of Stafford.

Bourne John, farmer, Betton Coppice

Broughton Peter, Esq., Tunstall Hall

Crutchley John, farmer, Brownhills

Davies Richard, farmer, Brownhills

Dobson Thomas, farmer, Ridgewardine

Duckers Charles, farmer, Ridgewardine

Heath William, farmer, Betton

Johnson Robert, farmer, Betton

Norcop William Church, Esq., Betton Hall

Spragg John, farmer, Ridgewardine

Longslow,

a small township in the parish of Market Drayton, one mile and three quarters N.W. by N. from the church, contains 645a. 2r. 3p. of land, the whole of which is the property of the Earl of Powis. Rateable value, £1,866. 13s. Richard Corbet, Esq., is the impropriator of the large tithes, which are commuted for £81. 12s. 6d. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £21. 4s. 1d. At the census in 1841 there were 12 houses and a population of 70 souls. The principal residents are George Harris, farmer; Joseph Kemp, farmer; Joseph Sillitoe, farmer; John Thomas, farmer; and Robert Bruckshaw, blacksmith and general agricultural implement manufacturer.

Sutton,

a township in the parish of Drayton, pleasantly situated about a mile and a half S.E. from the church, in 1841 had 32 houses and 177 inhabitants. The township contains 1,915a. 2r. 3p. of land. Rateable value, £326. 15s. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £268. 13s. 4d., of which £60 was apportioned to John Tayleur, Esq., and £208. 13s. 4d. to Richard Corbet, Esq. The small tithes, payable to the Vicar of Drayton, are commuted for £33. 9s. 1d. Buntingsdale Hall is a brick mansion of considerable extent, the seat and property of John Tayleur, Esq., a considerable landowner. P. Sillitoe, Esq., is also a landowner. The township is watered by the river Tern, which turns several corn mills within the bounds of the township. This locality has a bold undulating surface, is well timbered, and the scenery beautifully picturesque.

The principal residents are John Tayleur, Esq., Buntingsdale Hall; John Adams, corn miller, Tern Hill; Samuel Blenford, blacksmith; James Foden, farmer, Holly Grove; George Harding, farmer, Cliff Gravel; George Harding, farmer, Coalhurst; William Harper, corn miller, Sutton Mill—residence, Drayton; John Harris, farmer; Samuel Shaw, corn miller, Rosehill; George Smith, farmer.

Woodseaves,

a township and village in the parish of Drayton, on the eastern verge of the county, bordering on Staffordshire, three miles south from Market Drayton, contains 1,781a. 0r. 31p. of land, and in 1841 had 55 houses and 268 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,040. 15s. The principal landowners are John Tayleur, Esq., Walter Minor, Esq., Purney Sillitoe, Esq., Mr. Beeston, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Silvester. Richard Corbet, Esq., is the impropriator of the rectoral tithes, which are commuted for £105. 4s. 4d. The small tithes are commuted for £27. 0s. 6d. A small Episcopal Chapel has been built at Woodseaves, by Mrs. Nonely; divine service is performed every Friday evening.

Directory.—James Boughey, farmer; John Breeze, boot and shoemaker; Richard Delves, shopkeeper; Clement Dickenson, farmer, Rose Hill; Peter Duckers, farmer and butcher; Joseph Ellis, farmer; William Hendley, gentleman; John Hill, farmer, Sutton Heath; Richard Lewis, farmer; Joseph Meakin, farmer; James Poole, farmer, butcher, and victualler, Fox Inn; George Pye, blacksmith; Mary Steel and Sons, shoemakers; Richard Steel, farmer and beerhouse-keeper; William Sutton, farmer; Thomas Thomas, farmer; Charles Townsend, farmer.

Ercall Childs,

a parish and village, pleasantly situated seven miles S.W. from Market Drayton, and seven miles N.W. from Newport. The parish comprises 3,585a. 0r. 8p. of land, and in 1801 here were 466 inhabitants; 1831, 416; and in 1841, 82 houses and 471 inhabitants. The soil is chiefly a light fertile loam. Richard Corbet, Esq., is owner of the whole parish, except about fifty acres, which are the property of the Duke of Sutherland. The tithes are commuted for £730.

The Church, an ancient structure, dedicated to St. Michael, exhibits various styles of architecture, and no doubt has been erected at different periods. It consists of nave, chancel, south aisle, and a tower at the west end. Four pointed arches divide the nave from the side aisle, at the east end of which there is an ancient piscina. A neat marble tablet remembers the Cooke family. There are also two small brass memorials. The living is a perpetual curacy, returned at £72, in the patronage of Richard Corbet, Esq. The Rev. Bertie Entwisle Johnson is the incumbent, and also rector of Hinstock. The Parsonage is a handsome brick residence, a little north-west from the church; it was built by the present incumbent in the year 1846; in consideration of which the Governors of Queen Ann’s Bounty made a grant of £200 towards the augmentation of the living of Ercall. There is a National School in the village, situated near the west end of the church-yard; sixty-two boys and forty-two girls attend. Dodecote Grange is a pleasantly situated house, and extensive farm comprising upwards of 500 acres, in the occupancy of Mr. Richard Heatley. There is a considerable tract of land covered with thriving plantations in the parish.

Hungary Hatton,

a township in the parish of Childs Ercall, one mile north from the church, and about five miles and a half south from Market Drayton, has a scattered population, the returns of which were included in Ercall at the census of 1841. On the north verge of the township there is a plantation of thriving timber covering upwards of thirty acres, which joins the estate and plantations of Henry Justice, Esq., in Hinstock parish. The acres and tithes are included in the returns of Ercall.

Those marked * are in Hungary Hatton, and the rest reside in Ercall Childs.

Aston William, farmer

* Atkin William, farmer and maltster

Benbow Mary, farmer

Bourne Edward, farmer, Old Hall

* Boughey George, farmer

Bourne Thomas, brickmaker

* Bruckshaw Benjamin, farmer

* Bruckshaw Thomas, blacksmith

Carnall John, farmer

* Cheshire John, blacksmith

Dawes Thomas, farmer

* Downes William, shoemaker

Edwards Joseph, farmer, Caynton Wood

Evason Francis, farmer

Evanson George, tailor

* Freeman John, farmer

Green Thomas, shoemaker

Harper Charles, wheelwright

Heatley Richard, farmer, Dodecote Grange

Hewitt George, schoolmaster & parish clerk

Heycock William, blacksmith

Johnson Rev. Bertie Entwisle, M.A., Parsonage

* Morgan George, farmer

* Morgan John, farmer

Morgan John H., carpenter

Palmer William, farmer, Nagington

* Rister Philip, wheelwright

Thacker James, victualler, Elephant

Woodhouse George, maltster

Hinstock

is a considerable parish and village, pleasantly situated on the turnpike road from Newport to Market Drayton, six miles N.N.W. from the former, and five miles S. from the latter. The population of this parish is widely scattered, and there are a great number of small detached cottages. The parish contains 3,036a. 1r. 16p. of land, the soil of which is various; in some parts a strong loam, and in other parts a light sandy soil prevails. The land has a bold undulating surface, and on the western verge of the parish are some thriving plantations. In 1801 the parish contained a population of 536 souls; 1831, 805; and in 1841 there were 173 houses and 897 inhabitants. There are 14a. 1r. 37p. of glebe land. The tithes have been commuted for £530. Rateable value of the parish, £4.722. 19s. 1d. Henry Justice, Esq., is a considerable landowner. The other principal landowners are Robert Masefield, Esq., Richard Corbet Esq., Mr. William Griffiths, Mr. Henry Meakin, Rev. Matthew Davies, the Trustees of Drayton Poor, Mr. John Griffiths, William Howard, Esq., Mr. Walter Meakin, Mrs. Masefield, Mr. Thomas Poole, Mr. Rowley, Mr. John Adams, Mr. Thomas Beeston, the Executors of the late Colonel Dawes, and the Devisees of the Mr. Thomas James; besides whom there are upwards of seventy small freeholders, who, in most instances, own the cottages in which they live, and a small plot or a few acres of land contiguous thereto.

The Church is a small venerable fabric, dedicated to St. Oswald, and is situated on an elevated plot of land, nearly in the centre of the village. The structure consists of nave, chancel, and a small south aisle, with a square tower at the west end. A small gallery was erected in 1831, with funds raised by subscriptions. The font is very ancient, and is of a circular shape with an octagonal base. A neat marble tablet has been erected in memory of Hannah Davies, who died in 1828, wife of the Rev. Matthew Davies, formerly curate of Hinstock. There is also a tablet in memory of the Vaughans, with the date of 171/5. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 16s., now returned at £556., and enjoyed by the Rev. Bertie E. Johnson, M.A. There is a small Methodist Chapel in the village. The National School, a neat brick structure, was erected in 1839; seventy-five children attend. The Rectory is an ancient residence on the north side of the church-yard. Hinstock Hall, a handsome mansion of freestone, delightfully situated on elevated ground, about a mile north-west from the church, is the seat and property of Henry Justice, Esq. It is a modern structure, built about sixteen years ago, beautified with pleasure grounds and shrubberies, and sheltered with rising plantations. The situation commands extensive views over the fertile plains of Shropshire and the adjoining county of Stafford. Pixley are two good farm houses, situated near a mile west from the church. The land is partly in this parish and partly in that of Chetwynd; 89a. 1r. 32p. are in the latter parish.

Post Office.—At Mr. Samuel Cooper’s Falcon Inn.

Justice Henry, Esq., Hinstock Hall

Abbotts Ann, schoolmistress

Adams John, farmer

Ash Charles, land surveyor

Blagg John, farmer

Bowring Robert, shopkeeper

Cappur Thomas, farmer, Gill of Stafford

Challenor John, shopkeeper

Churm John, farmer, Mount Pleasant

Churton Rev. Charles, M.A., curate

Cooper Samuel, victualler, Falcon Inn

Crump John, shopkeeper

Davies William, farmer

Eccleston James, farmer

Freeman John, farmer, Pixley

Glover Thomas, beerhouse

Goodwin George, wheelwright

Griffiths William, farmer

Hamlet William, shopkeeper

Hardy Sarah, farmer

Hardy William, farmer

Harvey James, maltster

Jackson George, shoemaker

Jackson John, farmer

Jackson Thomas, blacksmith

Jackson William, farmer

Lockley John, wheelwright

Lockley Thomas, farmer

Machin Jn., farmer & maltstr

Machin Mary, vict., Cock Inn

Maltby John, Esq., Hinstock Villa

Matthews John, horse dealer

Meakin Henry, farmer, Longpools

Meakin Walter, farmer

Morgan William, bricklayer

Nagington William, farmer, corn miller, and maltster, Shakeford

Pearse William, farmer and shoemaker, Lockley

Phillips John, farmer

Pitt George, shopkeeper

Podmore William, tailor

Poole Thomas, farmer

Pooler Benjamin, blacksmith

Reeves John, shoemaker

Reeves Mary, schoolmistress

Robinson Richard, farmer, Pixley

Sambrook Job, bricklayer

Sambrook John, bricklayer

Sambrook William, bricklayer

Sutton Mary & Ann, farmers

Talbot William, tailor

Titley Wm., farmer & butcher

Ward John, schoolmaster

Watts Andrew, farmer

Weat Wm., farmer & butcher

Woodcock William, farmer

Worrall Mary, farmer

Williams William, beerhouse

Wynn William, clock maker

Hodnet

is a pleasantly situated and considerable village on the turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Market Drayton, thirteen miles N.N. by E. from the former, and six miles S.S. by W. from the latter. At the Domesday survey Earl Roger held Odenet, which gave name to the hundred, which has since undergone the denomination of Bradford North. In the 20th of Edward I., a quo warranto was brought against William de Hodenet, to show what right he claimed to hold a market, take assize of bread and beer, and have free warren in the manor of Hodnet; for plea he produced the charter of King Henry, father of the then king, which proved his right, and so was dismissed with honour. The jury at the same assizes found that the serjeantry of William de Hodenet was to be steward of the castle of Montgomery, and to defend the outworks of the castle with his family and servants, and that this serjeantry had been given to his ancestors by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Salop. The market at Hodnet has long been obsolete, but fairs are held on the Monday before the second Wednesday in March, May 4th, and the Monday before October 24th. These fairs are usually well attended by the farmers residing in the surrounding district. The parish of Hodnet contains the townships of Hodnet, Bolas Parva, Hawkstone, Hopton and Espley, Kenstone, Losford, Marchamley, Peplow, Woollerton and Weston under Red Castle. There are 11,596a. 1r. 6p. of land, the rateable value of which is £13,396. 6s. Population in 1801, 1386; 1831, 2097, and in 1841 there were 408 houses and 2185 inhabitants. The township of Hodnet at the census of 1841 contained 120 houses and 596 inhabitants, Odo Hodenet came into England with William the Conqueror, and fixed his seat here; from this family the estates passed by a female heiress to the Vernons, and Elisabeth Vernon carried the estates by marriage into the Heber family, from which family it again passed in like manner by an heiress to the present proprietor, Algernon Charles Heber Percy, Esq., who resides at Hodnet Hall, a plain stuccoed mansion, in a low situation, a little south from the church; it was formerly of considerable extent, and composed of timber and plaster, and the cloisters were adorned with ancient armorial bearings, but only a part of the original house is now standing, and that has been greatly modernized. Near the hall is a large mound called Castle Hill, supposed to have been the ancient residence of the Hodenets. The mound is planted with trees, and was probably the keep of the castle, but not a vestige of the stone work remains; the whole was surrounded by a moat, which may still be traced. The high grounds above the hall, which are studded with thriving plantations, were in former tithes a densely wooded park of considerable extent, and well stocked with deer. No deer have been kept there since the death of Sir Richard Vernon, who caused most of the timber to be cut down. Viscount Hill is also a considerable land owner. A. C. H. Percy is lord of the manor and patron of the living.

The Church is a spacious and elegant structure, consisting of nave and south aisle, equal in size to the nave, and an octagonal Norman tower at the west end, in which are six bells. The side aisle is divided from the nave by seven pointed arches, rising from octagonal and circular pillars alternately, and the roof is of timber stained in imitation of oak. The structure has recently undergone a complete reparation, the entire cost of which, with various embellishments, was £3,200, of which the munificent sum of £1,000 was given by Thomas Cholmondely, Esq., late of Hodnet Hall; Charles Cholmondely, Esq., gave £500; Lord Hill, £100; the parishioners raised by voluntary subscriptions £170; and the rest, £1,430, was given by the present rector. The organ cost £150, and was the gift of Richard Cholmondely, Esq.; the communion plate cost £100. The interior has a very chaste and imposing appearance, and at the east end of the chancel there is a beautiful stained glass window, commemorative of Mary Heber, who died in 1846, sister to the late Bishop Heber. At the east end of the aisle are twelve stalls, six on each side, which are for the use of the rector and the lord of the manor. The organ stands at the west end of the nave in a beautiful recessed arch. At the east end of the south aisle is a stained glass window, with representations of the four evangelists, beautifully executed by Evans, of Shrewsbury. The font is very ancient, and of an octagonal shape rudely carved. Several handsome monuments ornament the church, particularly one of fine statuary marble, exquisitely executed by Chantrey, in memory of Bishop Heber, formerly rector of this parish. Opposite it are two beautifully executed monuments of Grinshill free stone, near to which is another in the same gothic style to the memory of Charles Cooper Cholmondely, formerly rector of Hodnet, who died in 1831. Near the west end of the nave, a handsome marble tablet remembers Lord Hill and his Lady, the former died in 1814 and the latter in 1842; not far from which Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., is remembered on an elegant tablet; he died in 1783, and was buried in this church. On the same side is an elaborately ornamented tablet to the Vernon family. A lofty slate coloured marble tablet commemorates the death of several members of the Hill family; there is also an antique tablet near the pulpit to the memory of Hugh Pigot, who died in 1697, besides which there are various other monuments which our limits will not allow us to notice. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £26 0s. 10d., now returned at £2,336. The Rev. Samuel H. Macauley, B.D., is the incumbent, and resides at the rectory, an elegant mansion of free stone, built by the late Bishop Heber, in 1812; the house stands on an eminence a little S.W. from the church, and commands most delightful views of the surrounding country. The old rectory stood on the grounds adjoining the hall, a little south from the church; not far from the rectory stood the tithe barn of capacious dimensions, which, with the old parsonage, was taken down soon after the erection of the present rectory. The tithes of this parish have been commuted for £1,735. There is a national school where fifty girls and sixty boys are educated. Hodnet Common, situated on the south and south-east side of the township, contains 375 acres, the whole of which is the property of A. C. H. Percy, Esq., except about thirty acres. A considerable tract of the common was enclosed in 1850. There is a small lock-up with two cells situated on the Shrewsbury road.

The late Reginald Heber, the eminent Bishop of Calcutta, was rector of Hodnet when he was raised to the episcopal dignity of Bishop of Calcutta. He was born April 21st, 1783, at the Higher Rectory, in Malpas, of which place his father was rector. He received his education, principally under a private tutor, Mr. Bristow, at Neasdon, and in 1800 he removed to Oxford, where he was a commoner at Brazennose College, and afterwards a Fellow of All Souls. It was at Oxford that he laid the foundation of his high fame. Besides being known for his general acquisitions in scholarship, he gained every distinction which the university then had to bestow, the regular under graduates and bachelors’ prizes. He was also the successful competitor for an extraordinary prize that had been offered for an English poem on the subject of Palestine. This poem is now of standard reputation; and certainly, for splendour of imagery and for poetical diction, it has deservedly placed its author—scarce twenty years old when it was written—in an elevated rank amid our English poets. After taking his degree, Heber left the university to engage in active life. The living at Hodnet was at his option, and this circumstance, coupled with his strong religious bias, determined him to devote himself to the church as his profession. But as he was still young for holy orders, he wished to employ two or three years in foreign travel; and the customary route upon the continent then being shut up by war, he bent his steps towards Russia and the east of Europe. At length the time arrived when Heber was to devote himself seriously to the duties of his sacred profession, in the humble office of a village pastor. There is on his monument in Hodnet church, a delightful testimony how for fifteen years he performed his pastoral duties “cheerfully and diligently, with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength.” And in this calm retreat, which the subsequent changes in his fortune seemed only the more to endear him to, he would cheerfully have closed his days. But his reputation would not allow him to be buried in retirement. In 1823 he was elected preacher at Lincoln’s Inn. This was an appointment peculiarly suited to him. With what credit he acquitted himself is well known, and it was generally believed that the highest honours awaited him at home, when he was called to another sphere of action, by his acceptance of the proffered bishopric of Calcutta. Never, it is believed, did any man accept an office from a higher sense of duty; once he declined the proposal; but his exalted piety considered it as a call from heaven, from which he might not shrink; and he resolutely determined to obey the summons. His career in India was short, but brilliant. It is not easy to conceive a situation of greater difficulty than awaited him there. He had to preside over a diocese much larger in extent than the whole of Europe, with his clergy scattered about at stations thousands of miles apart, and over a body of Christians living in the midst of a multitude of misbelievers; and those Christians, if such more than in mere name, accustomed to be a law to themselves in religious matters; yet to all these difficulties Bishop Heber resolutely addressed himself. He went forth strong and invincible; first, in his trust in God, and next in that kindliness of disposition, which almost disarmed opposition. His memorable exploit was his extra-ordinary visitation of his diocese. Starting from Calcutta, he pursued the course of the Ganges almost to its source; visited Himalaya mountains; crossed the northern provinces of India; and, after visiting Bombay and the island of Ceylon, returned again to Calcutta. We may easily imagine what must have been the delight, to a mind ardent and poetical like Heber’s, to have had the opportunity of visiting scenes so interesting and so novel; and we have the advantage of knowing the impression they made on his mind, by the posthumous publication of his interesting journal. It was not long after the bishop’s return from the visitation of which we have been speaking, that he undertook another episcopal visitation, when the hand of death arrested him in his career of usefulness. On the 3rd of April, 1826, at Tritchinopoli, he was found drowned in a bath, owing, it was supposed, to the sudden transition of cold water, after great exertion in confirming some native Christians. A deep and painful sensation was produced by his unexpected decease, both in India and at home; and in him the Christian civilization in the east seemed to have lost its most zealous, most active, and most enlightened friend.

Charities.—There was an old school in the church yard at Hodnet, which was pulled down in 1814, and a new school and schoolhouse were built in the following year, in a more convenient situation, chiefly at the expense of Richard Heber, Esq., and with a sum of £25 given by Sir Andrew Corbet to the poor, as hereafter mentioned. The master of the school receives £8, as the interest of £200 left by Mrs. Sarah Price, for the endowment of a free school, and he occupies the school house, paying the church-wardens £1. 1s. annually, as interest of the £25 derived from Sir A. Corbet’s benefaction. In consideration of the above the master teaches seven scholars free. The site of the school and schoolhouse, and the garden and play ground, including altogether about a quarter of an acre, was given by Mr. Heber.—Stephen Denstone, of Ashley, left the poor of the township of Hodnet £100, the interest to be distributed on Stephen’s day yearly.—John Stirrop, in 1646, left £20 to the use of the poor. This gift is stated in the parliamentary report to be lost.—Abraham Deshin, in 1707, bequeathed £5, the interest to be given in bread on Christmas-day.—Mary Mollineux left £10, the interest to be distributed by the ministers and churchwardens.—Thomas Burrowes left £100, and directed the interest to be given away on the 2nd of December yearly.—William Burrowes bequeathed £100 to the poor of Hodnet, the interest to be given to the poor on the 23rd of September, yearly, by the minister and churchwardens.—Samuel Dickin left £20, the yearly proceeds thereof to be distributed by his heirs for ever.—Rowland Hill bequeathed £50 to the use of the poor.—Thomas Hill, Esq., son of the said Rowland Hill, left £350 for the benefit of the poor.—Mrs. Ann Catchpool left £50 to the use of the said poor.—John Hill, Esq., left £100, the interest to be expended in bread and given to the poor every Sunday.—The Right Hon. Richard Hill, in 1726, left £100 for the benefit of such poor as the minister and churchwardens should think fit.—Richard Clay, in 1750, left £100 to the poor.—Mrs. Brooke, in 1756, left £100, the interest to be given at the discretion of Sir Rowland Hill and his heirs.—Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., by a codicil to his will, 1779, left £100 to the poor of this parish, to be distributed at the discretion of his executor.—Mrs. Jane Hill left £100.—Sir Richard Hill, by his will, dated January 1st, 1808, left to his brother, John Hill, £300, on trust, to pay the interest of £100 thereof, at the rate of five per cent., among the poor of the parish of Hodnet, one half to be reserved for the poor of the chapelry of Weston.—Mr. Grocott left £5 to be given in bread yearly.—Stephen Stubbs, in 1815, left £10, the interest to be distributed yearly on St. Stephen’s day. A legacy of £50 was left by Sir Rowland Hill for the schooling of poor children. Some lands called Steel Lands were sold by the parish about the year 1750 for £92. The gifts amount in the whole to £1355, of which sum £150 were laid out in the purchase of a messuage and lands at Hodnet in 1701; £56 in the purchase of two cottages at Hodnet in 1728; £175 were paid into the hands of Sir John Hill; £431 in the purchase of an estate at Wem: £450 were held by Sir Rowland Hill, derived from the charities of Sir Rowland Hill, and other members of that family, and a further sum of £138 from other sources. The property at Hodnet consists of certain lands and a cottage and poor house with a garden and croft adjoining, and a cottage and croft on Hodnet Heath, with a right of common thereon, the whole of which produces a yearly income of £35. 12s., which is distributed with other charities hereafter mentioned. The property at Wem consists of five closes of land, lying in two detached parcels near the town, containing altogether about twelve acres and a half, let at a yearly rent of £40. The sum of £160 placed in the hands of Sir Richard Hill was subsequently laid out in the buildings at Hodnet. The rents derived from the estates above mentioned, and the interest of the sum of £77, with the produce of Price’s and Sir A. Corbet’s charities hereafter mentioned, amounted at the time the charity commissioners published their report to £93. 1s. 6d. The rent of the Wem estate is received by the churchwardens of Marchamley division, and the remainder of the rents is received by the churchwardens appointed for the division of Hodnet. Four shillings worth of bread is placed in the church every Sunday, and given to 32 poor persons, and bread to the amount of 15s. is also given on St. Stephen’s-day, and 5s. on Christmas-day. Each of the churchwardens pays equally towards the weekly distribution of bread, and each of them gives 30s. away on St. Stephen’s day, as the interest of Denstone’s legacy. The churchwardens of Marchamley also pay about 30s. annually towards schooling poor children at Marchamley. The remainder of the money is distributed by the churchwardens among the poor of their respective districts, in sums varying from 3s. to 8s. Of the money in the hands of Sir Rowland Hill, exclusive of the sum of £200 mentioned in the school account, and £77 for which a promissory note was given in 1818, the charity commissioners conceived that it could not be less than £558 when they published their report, for which the sum of £21 is paid as interest, and distributed by the rector of Hodnet, and a further sum of £4. 8s. is received by the curate of Weston chapelry, which is distributed in small sums among the poor.—The Rev. Richard Price, in 1730, devised certain premises to the poor of Drayton and Hodnet, and directed that £5 per annum should be distributed in bread every Lord’s day, and the residue employed for the schooling of poor children in each place. The property now held by the churchwardens of Hodnet in trust for this charity consists of three pieces of land in Drayton, containing between three and four acres, which produces a yearly rental of £12. 11s. 6d. The rents are carried to one account with the other charity money, from which a very small portion only is disposed of in schooling. It seems advisable that the rents should be employed according to the particular directions of the donor.—Sir Andrew Corbet, in 1815, gave £25 to the use of the poor of Hodnet. This donation was laid out in the building of a new school, and the yearly sum of £1. 1s. is paid in respect thereof by the master of the school to the churchwardens, by whom it is distributed with the other charities.

Post Office.—At Mr. Edward Jones’, schoolmaster. Letters arrive at 8 A.M. from Market Drayton, and are despatched at 6 P.M.

Acton Rev. William, B.A., curate

Ashley Ann, schoolmistress

Ashley George, wheelwright

Baker Mr. John

Bellis Elizabeth, shopkeeper and baker

Baydon James, registrar of births & deaths

Cartwright George, vict., Unicorn

Cartwright Samuel, boot and shoemaker

Cartwright William, tailor

Churton Thomas, boot and shoemaker

Donkin Thomas, painter and glazier

Downes Thomas, parish clerk

Eason William, veterinary surgeon

Edge William, wheelwright

Ellerthorpe Mrs. Helen

Foster Alfred, tailor

Jackson Edward, butcher

Jones Edward, schoolmaster

Laytham Henry, wheelwright

Lees Barnard, surgeon

Lester John, farmer and vict., Lion Inn

Macauley Rev. Samuel Herrick, B.D., Rectory

Morris Samuel, saddler and harness maker

Pace Piercy, grocer, draper, and ironmonger

Percy Algernon Charles Heber, Esq., Hodnet Hall

Powell John, farmer

Powell Mrs. Sarah

Pratchett Miss Jane, Ash court

Pritchard & Co., chemist, druggist, draper, and silk mercer

Ridway William, boot and shoemaker

Robinson John, boot and shoemaker

Taylor George, tailor and woollen draper

Titley Charles, butcher

Trevor James, wheelwright and beerhouse

Walmsley John Allen, surgeon and coroner for North Bradford Hundred

Wardley Mary, farmer, Horn Farm

Watson Alexander, farm steward to A. E. H. Percy, Esq.

Wild George, maltster and vict., Bear Inn, and posting house

Wild Thomas, grocer and ironmonger

Worral Henry, blacksmith

A coach from Shrewsbury to the Whitmore station passes through Hodnet at 9 A.M. and returns to Shrewsbury at 4 P.M.

Bolas Parva,

a small township consisting of only two farms, is pleasantly situated five miles south from Hodnet; at the census of 1841 there were nine houses and 44 inhabitants. The township comprises 594a. 1r. 15p. of land, which is vested in the devisees of the late Mr. Hatherall. The tithes have been commuted for £112. 1s. 1d. William Jennings is the only resident farmer in the township; Thomas Jones holds the other farm, but resides in the adjoining township.

Hawkstone

is a township, in the parish of Hodnet, six miles S.W. from Market Drayton, eight miles and a half S. from Whitchurch, and thirteen miles N.N. by W. from Shrewsbury. At the census in 1841 here were six houses and 60 inhabitants. The township contains 693a. 2r. 32p. of land, the tithes of which have been commuted for £115. Hawkstone Park, the magnificent seat of Viscount Hill, is delightfully situated in a park of great extent and picturesque beauty, not far from the turnpike road leading from Shrewsbury to Whitchurch, and has long been an alluring object to the admirers of nature, as well as to persons of taste and curiosity. The mansion is of brick, with stone finishings, and occupies three sides of a quadrangle, but it does not appear by whom it was originally built. The principal front is approached by a flight of steps, leading through a noble portico (supported by four elegant pillars of the composite order), considered an admirable piece of architecture. Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., added the wings, and made other considerable additions to the hall, which was the family mansion of the Hills in the time of Edward VI., in which reign we find, A.D. 1549, Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., was Lord Mayor of London. The Entrance Hall is adorned with ancient and modern armour, much of it collected at Waterloo, by the late General Lord Hill. The Saloon is a lofty and spacious apartment, fitted up in a costly manner, and adorned with some fine paintings; among which is the Siege of Namur, the five principal characters of which were taken from life. They are William III., the Elector of Bavaria, the Duke of Marlborough, Count Cohorn, and the Right Hon. Richard Hill, who was at that time Paymaster of the Army, Member of the Privy Council, and Envoy at the Court of Turin. The Drawing Room is a noble apartment, exquisitely furnished, and containing several fine paintings, executed by some of the most celebrated masters. The ceiling and walls are richly ornamented and gilt, and the furniture is of the same gorgeous description. The Library contains an extensive and valuable collection of books, chiefly modern works; several fine paintings; and in a glass case are the sword and orders of the late General Lord Hill. The Billiard Room contains several valuable pillars brought from Egypt by General Lord Hill. The Chapel forms the south-west wing of the hall, and is now undergoing a complete reparation. A marble pulpit and stained glass windows (the latter illustrative of scripture history) have been added, which give the interior a solemn and imposing appearance. The Museum contains many interesting objects of curiosity, and an extensive and valuable collection of British birds. Adjoining the library is the Sculpture Gallery. There are also various other apartments, adorned in the most tasteful and costly style, which our limits will not allow us to notice. The Gardens are laid out with taste, and contain a number of small ponds for aquatic birds. Near the hall on a gentle eminence is the Summer House, a handsome octagonal building of Grinshill freestone; the interior of which is painted in fresco, and represents the four seasons. From the window there is a pleasing prospect of a fine sheet of water; and in the distance appear the Broxton hills and Delamere forest, in Cheshire. A pleasant walk leads from the summer house to the Gulph, which separates the grotto rock from the opposite heights. On emerging from the beautiful lawn, the most romantic scenery suddenly presents itself to the eye of the spectator; and proceeding along a rising walk on the side of the rock, the traveller is conducted to the entrance of The Grotto, a cleft in the rock, which had lain for ages undiscovered, till Sir Richard Hill caused all the earth to be dug away, when it was found that the two sides of the rock so nearly corresponded with each other that they were doubtless once united, and separated either by an earthquake or some other violent convulsion of the earth. After proceeding about a hundred yards, you arrive at the grotto, which is a vast subterraneous cave, supported by rude pillars hewn out of the solid rock; in the midst of which is a spacious recess, ingeniously inlaid with shells, fossils, and curious petrefactions. Through a colonnade of rude pillars this labyrinth is quitted by a door on the west, which opens on an awful precipice of huge rocks and pending crags, hoary with age, forming a striking contrast with the verdant lawn and fertile plain in the distance. Proceeding under the grotto hill, by a road cut out of the shelving rock, and looking upwards, you behold enormous crags hanging over you, as if on the very point of falling. This hill stretches to the south-west to a considerable distance; and the gigantic rocks heaped one upon another look more like ruined castles than the turrets of nature. On leaving the grotto hill, you proceed by the side of stately oaks and rugged cliffs till you arrive at a natural cave called The Retreat, the top of which is tinged with variegated copper. In this cave, with its straw-matted seat and stone table, is a beautiful stanza, penned by the late Sir Richard Hill. After quitting the retreat, you pass by The Canopy and The Indian Rock, surrounded by scenery of the most romantic character, and mount up a curiously hewn pathway along the rock till you reach a little cottage, in which is the figure of a hermit, in a sitting posture, with a table before him, on which is a skull, an hour glass, a book, and a pair of spectacles. The next attraction is St. Francis’s Cave, the entrance to which is under a curiously twisted root of a venerable yew tree. After groping for some yards in total darkness, you suddenly emerge into cheering light, and which ever way you turn the most enchanting prospects are stretched out before you. A detached piece of rock of a pyramidical form is called The Fox’s Knob, from the circumstance of a fox, some years ago, leaping from the top to the valley beneath; and being followed by some of the dogs, the pursuers and the pursued perished together. Turning to the left, a verdant walk leads to the summit of The Terrace. This delightful walk is embosomed in the varied foliage of forest trees, which reach down to the ground, with openings here and there through which distant prospects are viewed. Passing beyond the limits of these Alpine heights, you arrive at Reynard’s Banqueting House, a natural cavern, in which were found the remains of hares, rabbits, and all sorts of poultry, which the foxes had carried there to feast upon.

On the highest point of the terrace is erected a noble Obelisk, built of white freestone, and about one hundred and twelve feet high. From the top of this column a most unbounded prospect presents itself to view, and England and Wales vie with each other in the loftiness of their mountains and the richness of their plains. The gallery of the obelisk forms an observatory for the astronomer. The inscription on the base transmits to posterity the piety and noble acts of a venerable ancestor, a statue of whom in his lord mayor’s gown, copied from an ancient monument which stood in the church of St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, before the fire of London, is placed on the top, holding the Magna Charta in his hand. The following is the inscription at the base:—

“The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.”—Psalm, cvi. 6.

The first stone of this pillar was laid by Sir Richard Hill, Bart. (member in several parliaments for this county), on the 1st day of October, in the year 1795; who caused it to be erected, not only for the various uses of an observatory and to feast the eye by presenting it at one view with a most luxuriant and extensive prospect, which takes in not less than twelve (or, as some assert, fifteen) counties, but from motives of justice, respect, and gratitude, to the memory of a truly great and good man, viz., Sir Rowland Hill, Knight, who was born at the family mansion, Hawkstone, in the reign of King Henry VII., and being bred to trade and free of the city of London, became one of the most considerable and opulent merchants of his time, and was lord mayor of the same in the second and third years of the reign of Edward VI., anno 1549 and 1550, and was the first Protestant that filled that high office. Having embraced the principles of the Reformation, he zealously exerted himself in behalf of the Protestant cause, and having been diligent in the use of all religious exercises, “prayerful, conscientious, and watchful” (as a writer of his character expresses it), yet trusting only in the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he exchanged this life for a better, a short while after the death of that pious young monarch, being aged nearly seventy-eight years.

For a considerable time previous to his decease he gave up his mercantile occupations that he might with more devotedness of heart attend to the great concerns of another world. His lands, possessions, and church patronage were immense, particularly in the counties of Salop and Chester, the number of his tenants (none of whom he ever raised or fined) amounting to 1,181, as appears from his own hand writing. His private virtues, good deeds and munificent spirit, were quite unlimited and extended—like the prospect before us, east, west, north, and south, far surpassing all bounds. “Being sensible,” saith Fuller, speaking of him in his “Worthies of England,” “that his great estate was given him of God,” it was his desire to devote it to His glory. He built a spacious church in his own parish Hodnet, and likewise the neighbouring church at Stoke at his own expense. He built Tern and Atcham bridges in this county, both of hewn stone, and containing several arches each. He also built other large bridges of timber. He built and endowed several large schools, particularly that of Drayton. He made and paved divers highways for the public utility. He founded exhibitions and educated many students at both universities, and supported at the inns and courts others who were brought up to the law. He was the unwearied friend of the widow and fatherless. He clothed annually three hundred poor people in his neighbourhood, both with shirts and coats; and in the city of London he gave £500 (an immense sum in those days) to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, besides (saith Fuller) £600 to Christ’s Hospital. He also gave most liberally to all other hospitals, and at his death bequeathed £150 to the poor of all the wards in London. He had no children, but his relations and kinsfolk were numerous, who all partook largely of his bounty, both in his lifetime and at his death. He constantly kept up a great family household, where he maintained good hospitality. Many resorted to him for his wise and salutary advice, and none who came to him were sent empty or dissatisfied away. Go thou and do likewise, as far as thy ability will permit, without injury to thy own relations. It is worthy of remark that as Sir Rowland Hill was the first protestant lord mayor, anno 1549, so his father, Thomas Hill, Esq., of Hawkstone, was the last lord mayor of the Roman Catholic persuasion.

A walk from the terrace leads to the White Tower, a Gothic structure, situated on a bold projection on the south-west side of the terrace, which is a conspicuous object for several miles round. In the glen not far from the White Tower is a cave in the rock, made accessible by means of some steps through a narrow romantic walk, and which is remarkable for having been the hiding place of an ancestor of the Hill family, who met with great hardships from the parliamentary forces during the commonwealth. In memory of this gentleman the late Sir Richard Hill caused a handsome urn to be placed near the cave above mentioned, with the following inscription on the base of it:—

Anno 1784.

This urn
was placed here by Sir Richard Hill, Bart.,
(eldest son of Sir Rowland Hill, Bart.)
one of the Knights of this Shire,
as a token of affection to the memory of his much respected ancestor,
Rowland Hill, of Hawkstone, Esquire;
a gentleman remarkable for his great wisdom, piety, and charity, who, being
a zealous royalist, hid himself in this glen, in the civil wars in the
time of King Charles the First.

But being discovered, was imprisoned in the adjacent castle, commonly called Red Castle, whilst his house was pillaged and ransacked by the rebels. The castle itself was soon after demolished.

His son, Rowland Hill, Esq., coming to his assistance, also suffered much in the same loyal cause.

The Vineyard is a sequestered glen, embosomed in foliage and screened by the rocks behind and on each side, and open only to the south sun, and apparently peculiarly adapted to the growth and culture of the vine; but although every effort was tried, the attempt did not succeed. It was laid out in the manner of a fortification, with turrets, walls, and bastions, at very great expense, by the late Sir Richard Hill. From the tower may be seen the town of Shrewsbury, many of the Cambrian hills, the magnificent Wrekin, and the towering heights of the Briedden hills, on the latter of which is the pillar erected in honour of Lord Rodney. About a mile from the tower is the Burgh Walls, or Bury Walls, the remains of a grand Roman camp, allowed by antiquarians to be the most perfect in the kingdom. It encompasses about twenty acres of ground, and is screened on all sides but one by a chain of inaccessible rocks. The side on which there is no natural defence is strongly guarded by a triple entrenchment, which must have been a work of immense labour. Here Roman coins have frequently been found, and in the year 1821 a spur, pronounced by competent judges to be of Roman workmanship, was found in the garden of the Bury farm, about a quarter of a mile from Bury Walls. The Elysian Hill is another object of attraction; and here you find various rude and whimsical seats to rest upon, by the side of the mossy bank or rocky cavern, as you ascend the steep acclivity. An enchanting valley divides this hill from the Red Castle Hill, so called from the colour of the rock, and of the stone with which the castle is built. Having ascended the romantic heights, you enter the castle through a strong door or gateway. This fortress, long the seat of warriors, and remarkable for its strength and the prodigious thickness of its walls, is now a heap of ruins, and inhabited only by birds of prey, whilst its martial sons are buried in oblivion, and nothing left to perpetuate their deeds of prowess but these fragments of desolation. Dugdale informs us that this castle was erected in the reign of Henry III.; but an ancient manuscript in the Audley family proves it to have had a much earlier existence. It is there said that “Maud, or Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, gave to John de Audley and to his heirs, the lands about Red Castle, in the county of Salop, for certain services done by him to the state.” The castle and surrounding domain were purchased by Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., about the middle of the eighteenth century. On the castle hill there is a deep well, commonly called the Giant’s Well, the depth of which, from the top of the tower, is two hundred and six feet; it is ten feet in diameter at the entrance, and hewn out of the solid rock. The tower is also hewn out of the solid rock to the height of about forty feet. Near to the well a coffin was found, many years ago, which, on being exposed to the air, crumbled into dust; in it were discovered several human bones, and the iron beard of an arrow. The southern entrance to the glen, which divides the castle into two nearly equal parts, is flanked on each side by a rock, on which formerly stood watch towers; and where the fosse, which intersected the glen, required additional defence or altitude, masonry was employed. A wall of great strength has crossed the glen at each end, passing up the slopes of the hill, connecting the rocks which overlook the entrances, and enclosing an area of an oblong form. The approach to the highest division of the castle is by steps cut out of the solid rock, and continued through a low tortuous passage, the entrance to which has been guarded by a door. A wall of about three hundred feet in circumference has been carried round the summit of the rock, the sides of which are for the most part perpendicular. The park is richly adorned with timber, and the scenery is pleasingly diversified and enchanting—the awfulness of its shades, the horrors of its precipices, the verdure of its hollows, and the loftiness of its rocks, all combine to give an additional charm to the fairy scene. A fine sheet of water, in some parts nearly one hundred yards in breadth, stretches for upwards of two miles in length, and forms the boundary to the north and west sides of the park. The park is stocked with herds of Scotch bullocks, and upwards of six hundred head of deer.

The principal residents in Hawkstone are Rowland Viscount Hill, Hawkstone Park; Rev. William Blackley, domestic chaplain; William Carling, butler; Mrs. Morgan, housekeeper; Frederick Nieman, gardener; John Hopkins, farmer; and Thomas Holding, farmer.

Hopton and Espley,

a township in the parish of Hodnet, one mile south from the church, contains 969a. 2r. 16p. of land, and in 1841 had twelve houses and 77 inhabitants; the tithes have been commuted for £183. 12s. 7d. There are only three farms in this township, two of which are the property of Viscount Hill, and the other is the property of A. C. H. Percy, Esq.

The principal residents are Samuel Cartwright, farmer, Hopton; George Gill, farmer and land agent to Viscount Hill, Hopton; John Liversage, farmer, Espley.

Kenstone,

a township and small village one mile W.W. by S. from Hodnet, contains 858a. 0r. 9p. of land, mostly a bold undulating district, the high grounds of which are covered with thriving plantations. The land is chiefly the property of Viscount Hill; Mr. George Clay is the owner of one farm. The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel near the verge of the township, on the turnpike road leading from Hodnet to Wem. The tithes have been commuted for £73. 1s. 8d. At the census of 1841 there were twenty houses and 104 inhabitants.

Directory.—James Cartwright, farmer; Martha Ellis, farmer; George Clay, farmer; Richard Powell, farmer, Hopley Hill; William Gregory, carpenter and joiner.

Lossford, or Lostford,

a small township two and a half miles N. from Hodnet, with a few scattered houses, near the turnpike road from Hodnet to Market Drayton, contains 438a. 0r. 9p. of land, which is the property of Richard Corbet, Esq., and Miss Mary Murhall; the latter resides at a neat residence of modern construction, on an acclivity near the turnpike road. In 1841 here were 11 houses and 64 inhabitants. A small stream intersects the township, and tradition says that a person was formerly lost here in fording the stream, and hence the name of Lost-ford, now corrupted to Lossford, has been given to the township.

Directory.—Thomas Glassey, farmer; John Lodmore, farmer and cheese factor; John Merry, farmer; Miss Mary Murhall, farmer.

Marchamley

is a township and small village pleasantly situated on elevated ground, commanding fine prospects of the surrounding country, one mile N.W. from Hodnet, and six miles S.W. from Market Drayton. The township contains 1424a. 0r. 29p. of land, and in 1841 here were 84 houses and 441 inhabitants; the tithes have been commuted for £217. 2s. 9d.; Viscount Hill is the principal landowner in the township. The village is situated near the entrance to Hawkstone Park, some portions of which are within the bounds of this township. The poor of Marchamley and the other townships comprising the parish of Hodnet participate in the benefit arising from the several charities noticed with the township of Hodnet. The farm premises of Viscount Hill, who holds a considerable extent of land in his own hands, are situated at Marchamley.

Directory.—Thomas Cotton, farmer; Jane Lane, shopkeeper; Robert Graham, farmer and architect and builder; Richard James, police constable; John Martin, joiner; John Powell, farmer, The Well House; Samuel Vaughan, blacksmith; Samuel Whittaker, farm steward to Viscount Hill.

Peplow,

a township and small rural village in the parish of Hodnet, three miles S. from the parish church, contains 1,388a. 2r. 30p. of land, which is the property of Viscount Hill. At the census of 1841 there were 28 houses and 220 inhabitants. The tithes have been commuted for £532. 19s. 9d. The hall is a spacious brick mansion, which was originally built by the Pigott family; it is now the residence of Captain George Hill. On the north side of the hall is a private chapel, an ancient structure mantled with ivy, where the residents at Peplow usually attend divine service, which is performed by the rector or curate of Hodnet. Not far from the chapel is a neat school and residence for the teacher, which was built and is supported by Viscount Hill. The township is watered by the river Tern, the meadow lands on the banks of which are enriched by that river occasionally overflowing its banks; a little below the village it turns a corn mill. The land for the most part in this locality is flat, it has been greatly improved by superior cultivation, and is generally highly productive.

Directory.—Captain George Hill, Peplow Hall; Ralph Brett, corn miller; John Cartwright, farmer; Thomas Casewell, farmer; Samuel Deakin, farmer; Richard Everall, farmer; James Gray, farmer, Hall Green; Samuel Hughes, blacksmith; Thos. Liversage, blacksmith; John Ravencroft, farmer; Samuel Shuker, shoemaker; George Topham, farmer, maltster, and butcher; Elizabeth Williams, schoolmistress.

Weston Under Red Castle

is a township and chapelry in the Wem division of the North Bradford Hundred, the rest of the parish being returned in Drayton division. The village is delightfully situated near the verge of Hawkstone Park, four miles E. from Wem, and in 1841 there were 76 houses and 348 inhabitants. The township contains 2,210 acres of land, of which 576 acres are in woods and plantations, and 15 acres in roads. Rateable value, £2645. 4s. 10d. The tithes are commuted for £195. 17s. 6d. Viscount Hill is the principal landowner and lord of the manor; Philip Hill, Esq., is also a landowner. The country around Weston is pleasantly diversified with hill and dale, richly clothed with timber, and the scenery beautifully picturesque. Here are extensive quarries of free stone, which is much used for building purposes; blocks of immense size are frequently raised from the quarries. The Chapel is a neat structure of free stone, with a tower containing a clock; it was rebuilt in 1791, with funds raised by subscriptions, towards which Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., gave the munificent sum of £720. The organ was purchased by subscriptions in 1838, and cost upwards of £100, of which £83. 2s. were given by various benevolent individuals, and the remainder was given by General Lord Hill, together with the communion plate. The font is of Grinshill free stone, and exhibits some fine workmanship. A neat marble tablet dated 1809 remembers George Downward and his wife Elizabeth. The living is enjoyed by the Rev. John Hill. The National School is a neat modern erection, with a residence for the teacher, built and endowed by the Hill family, of Hawkstone, (see charities noticed with Hodnet), 54 boys and 20 girls attend; the teachers have each a stipend of £20 per annum. The Citadel is a stately pile of building in the castellated style of architecture, situated on a bold eminence, commanding delightful views, and beautified with park grounds richly clothed with timber. It is the residence of the Rev. John Hill, M.A. Hawkstone Hotel is a commodious and handsome structure elegantly fitted up, and situated near the entrance to the park. From its contiguity to Hawkstone, the magnificent seat of Viscount Hill, it is frequented by immense numbers, who annually visit this delightful locality. Wixhall is a hamlet in this township, the acres of which are returned with the parish. Viscount Hill is the chief landowner; Phillip Hill, Esq.; C. D. Hill, Esq.; J. H. Sandford, Esq.; Mr. E. Evanson, and Clara Beddow, are also freeholders.

Those marked * reside at the hamlet of Wixhall.

* Ashley Ann, The Hall

* Ashley Samuel, farmer

* Ashley Thomas, farmer

Blakeway Richard, coachman

Clewes Richard, grocer, draper, & provision dealer

Denham James, Esq., architect

Evanson Edward, beerhouse keeper

Farnandez Mariano, vict., Hawkstone Hotel

Gill George, Esq., land agent and steward to Lord Hill

Hamer Mrs.

Higginson William, blacksmith

Hill Rev. John, The Citadel

Holding Thomas, Abbey Farm

Izzard Susannah, schoolmistress

Jones John, shoemaker

Lester Samuel, farmer

* Lewis Edward, quarry master

Lewis Samuel, tailor, The Heath

Lewis Thomas, mason, The Heath

Lewis William, mason, The Heath

Massey William, The Berry Farm

Phillips John, shoemaker, The Heath

* Powell Ann, farmer

Robinson Thomas, gamekeeper

Snape John, park keeper

Vigers John, Hawkstone Farm

Watson Joseph, shoemaker

Whalley James, The Hermitage Farm

* Williams Enoch, wheelwright and machine maker

Williams William, schoolmaster

Wollerton

is a straggling but pleasantly situated village a little more than a mile E.E. by N. from Hodnet. At the census of 1841 there were 46 houses and 231 inhabitants; the township contains 1,334a. 2r. 6p. of land, the principal owners of which are A. C. H. Percy, Esq., Viscount Hill, Walter Minor, Esq., Mr. Richard Whitfield, Mr. William Massey, Mr. John Beacall, Mr. Samuel Brayn, and Mr. Thomas Pritchard. There is a small Independent Chapel with a residence for the minister, situated on rising ground not far from the turnpike road leading from Hodnet to Market Drayton; it was built about half a century ago, and will accommodate about 120 hearers; the congregation is under the pastoral care of the Rev. Daniel Davies. The tithes of Wollerton are commuted for £196. 1s. 1d. The township is watered by the river Tern, on the banks of which there is a corn mill.

Directory.—Walter Minor, Esq.; Betty Blockley, farmer; Rev. Daniel Davies, Independent minister; Richard and John Cartwright, farmers, maltsters, and corn millers; John Hope, wheelwright; Phillip Hughes, blacksmith; Samuel Hughes, blacksmith; Margaret Icke, beerhouse keeper; John Lester, farmer; William Massey, farmer; William Massey, jun., farmer; James Pickering, cooper; William Powell, farmer.

Ightfield,

a parish and village in the Whitchurch division of the hundred of North Bradford, four miles and a quarter S.E. by E. from Wem, contains 2,800 acres of land, mostly a strong soil, which produces good crops of grain. In 1801 there were 209 inhabitants; 1831, 301; and in 1841, there were 70 houses and 361 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,959. The principal landowners are Lord Kilmorey, Messrs. Corsers, Mr. John Walmsley, Mr. Isaac Forrester, Miss Morton, Mr. Samuel Lea, the Misses Hinton, Rev. John Justice, George Harper, Esq., and the representatives of William Skitt; besides whom there are several smaller freeholders. The Church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is situated on an eminence, and has a lofty square tower, ornamented with pinnacles. It is an ancient structure in the Gothic style of architecture, much delapidated, and fast falling to decay. The body of the church is divided into two compartments, and has a pitched roof, supported by octagonal stone pillars with pointed arches; the caps of the pillars are curiously carved. The tower contains four bells; and from its summit a most delightful and extensive prospect over the fertile plains of Shropshire is seen. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £7. 19s. 4½d., in the patronage of H. Justice, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. John Justice, M.A. The tithes were commuted in 1839 for the sum of £657. 16s. 5d., of which the sum of £320 was apportioned to the rector. The estate of Lord Kilmorey in this parish is tithe-free, but he pays a small modus, and keeps a portion of the north compartment of the church in repair. Kempley House is an ancient residence, and was formerly surrounded by a moat, which may still be traced.

Charities.—Several sums of money, amounting in the whole to £113, left by ten several donors, were laid out in the year 1819 in the purchase of certain premises, for the purpose of converting the same into a poor-house. The sum of £5. 10s. has been since paid annually as the interest of the charity money out of the parish rates, and disposed of as follows:—The sum of £1 is divided annually among poor widows of this parish; 18s. are expended in penny loaves, and distributed every Sunday amongst poor old persons most constantly attending the church; and the residue is distributed among the most necessitous poor of the parish, in sums varying from 4s. to 8s.

Bentley William, farmer, The Heath

Bentley William, jun., farmer

Blackmore John, farmer

Burgess Geo., farmer, Dairy House

Dickin Robert, farmer

Ebrey John, butcher

Gresty William, maltster and farmer

Haynes Thomas, tailor

Heath John, farmer

Hinton John, farmer and butcher

Jones Elizabeth, farmer

Justice Rev. John, M.A., The Rectory

Langford Enoch, shoemaker

Langford Joseph, bricklayer

Langford Joseph, victualler, Lamb Inn

Shelley John, farmer, The Hall

Shucker William, blacksmith

Skitt Wm., farmer, Kempley

Tyler Thomas, shoemaker and parish clerk

Wainwright John, shopkeeper

Walmsley Samuel, farmer

Wharton John, shopkeeper

Wiggin Richard, farmer

Williams Richard, beerhouse-keeper and blacksmith

Wilson George, wheelwright

Wilson John, wheelwright

Worrall Josh., farmer, Yew-tree House

Lee Brockhurst

is a small parish and village, two miles and a half S.E. from Wem, in the Whitchurch division of the hundred of North Bradford. In 1801 there was a population of 137 souls; 1831, 151; and in 1841 there were 31 houses and 165 inhabitants. The parish contains 564a. 2r. 21p. of land, of which 216a. 3r. 36p. are arable, 75 acres meadow, 10a. 2r. sheep walks, 61a. 2r. woods and plantations, and about eleven acres in gardens and homesteads. Of the total acreage 374a. 3r. 23p. are titheable, and the remainder tithe-free. Rateable value, £588. 11s. 3d. The principal landowners are Viscount Hill, John H. Walford, Esq., Mrs. Brooks, and Samuel Long Waring, Esq. The tithes are commuted for £74; John H. Walford, Esq., is the impropriator. The turnpike road from Whitchurch to Newcastle intersects the parish, which is bounded on the south-east and south west by the river Roden, the stream being crossed by two stone bridges. At Lee Bridge there is a respectable and commodious inn, the Corbet Arms; near to which are immense rocks of red sandstone, the soil on the summits of which is planted with fir and other timber trees. On the top of one of these rocks a tower has been erected, from which a most extensive and picturesque view of the country is obtained. The whole district has a bold undulating surface, finely wooded, and the scenery towards Hawkstone, the fine domain of Viscount Hill, is truly magnificent. An Obelisk has been erected by the tenantry of Besford and Lee Bridge, as a token of esteem and respect to their landlord, Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., and to commemorate the coming of age of his eldest son, Vincent Rowland Corbet, Esq., August 11th, 1842. It bears the following inscription:—

“May there be Corbets and Hills this obelisk to pass,
So long as time and it doth last.”

A bath has been cut out of the red sandstone rock, which is supplied with an abundance of fine spring water. The Church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a plain unpretending structure of venerable appearance; the interior is neatly pewed, and consists of nave and chancel, and contains a small gallery. A neat tablet remembers John Henshaw, Esq., and there are several tombs in the church-yard in memory of the Heatleys. The living is a perpetual curacy, returned at £74, in the patronage of John H. Walford, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. William Walker. The parish register is in good preservation, and dates from the year 1566. Near the church is a barrow or tumuli, where it is stated human bones have been found.

Directory.—Mrs. Brookes; Miss Harris; Samuel Heatley, farmer, The Hall; John Holding, shopkeeper and shoemaker; William Ikin, farmer, Cranberry farm; Mary Ikin, schoolmistress; Richard Powell, farmer; Richard Powell, jun., farmer; the Misses Skitt; William Staples, huntsman to the Albrighton Subscription Hunt, and victualler, the Raven and Hand and Corbet Arms.

Moreton Corbet

is a village and parish seven miles N.N. by E. from Shrewsbury, and four and a half miles south-east from Wem. The parish contains the township of Moreton Corbet and part of the townships of Preston Brockhurst and Besford, and comprises 2,140a. 1r. 17p. of land, of which 200 acres are in woods and plantations. In 1801 there was a population of 180 souls; in 1831, 679; and in 1841 there were 37 houses and 226 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,765. 8s. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is lord of the manor, impropriator, and owner of the whole parish. The land is of a superior quality; the soil is a mixture of sand and loam. There is a fine breed of sheep kept here, and several of the farmers have large flocks. The tithes have been commuted for £400. The township of Moreton Corbet contains 607a. 3r. 1p. of land, of which 214 acres are woods and plantations.

Moreton Corbet Castle stands a short distance from the church, and presents a noble pile of ruins, magnificent in decay. A considerable portion of the walls is still standing, but its roof has been many years demolished. In early times it was the stately mansion of the Corbets. Several dates may be discovered in different parts of the building, but the date of its erection is uncertain; it is probable that only a portion of the original design was ever completed; and it has by no means the appearance of having been intended for a fortress, for the windows are large, and unlike those of castles in general. It was garrisoned in 1644 by the parliament against Charles I. The king having possession of Shrewsbury and several places in the neighbourhood, the parliament sent part of the garrison from hence against Shrewsbury, which soon after surrendered to their forces. This castle is said to have been partly burnt during the civil wars, since which it has gradually sunk into insignificance and dilapidation. The present noble owner is descended from an ancient and honourable family, who have been seated in this county from the time of the conquest, when Roger Corbet held large possessions under the Earl of Shrewsbury. Sir Vincent Corbet was created a baronet in 1641, whose descendant, Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., now resides at Acton Reynald. Mr. Blakeway gives the following tradition of the Pilgrim of Moreton:—“The real progenitor of all the Shropshire Corbets had but one son that we know of, William, who left issue. Ebraid and Simon occur as granting lands in Wentnor to the Abbey of Shrewsbury, but we know nothing of them. William Corbet is stated to have made Wattlesborough his residence, and no doubt dwelt in that ancient castle, of which, however, there are no remains so old as his age. He had three sons, Thomas Corbet of Wattlesborough, Robert of Caus, and Philip. Several circumstances concur to show that the former was the eldest, though Robert became much the more considerable personage. A tradition still subsists that the heir of Moreton Corbet went to the Holy Land, and was kept in captivity so long that he was supposed to be dead. In consequence of this his younger brother engaged to marry, that he might continue the line. On the morning of his marriage, says the tradition, a pilgrim came to the house to partake of the hospitalities of that festal occasion. After dinner he revealed himself to the assembled company as the long-lost elder brother; but when the bridegroom would have surrendered the estate, he declined the offer, and desired only a small portion of the land, which he accordingly received. Such incidents are related of other families, and were perhaps not unfrequent in a romantic age; and some were doubtless feigned. I am inclined to think the present has a basis of truth, for we are assured that Thomas Corbet of Wattlesborough went beyond sea, and left his lands in the custody of his brother Robert; and this may have given rise to the tale I have just related. The primogeniture of Thomas is established by the armorial bearings of his posterity,—the single raven. The descendants of Robert bore two such—a proof that they were a younger line; but they were barons of the realm, an elevation never attained by the Wattlesborough branch: and Caus, the seat of their barony, appears to have been carved out of the elder line, Westbury, where it lies, having been granted by Earl Roger to their progenitor, Roger, son of Corbet. All these coincidences, with the tradition above mentioned, afford it some support. Moreton, indeed, has in this case been made prematurely the scene of the transaction.”

The Church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is a handsome structure of free stone, in the decorative style of English architecture, with a square tower. The interior has a very beautiful and chastened appearance, and the tablets and monuments to the Corbet family exhibit some very elaborate workmanship. A monument to Vincent Corbet, the third baronet, who died in 1670, is richly decorated with festoons of oak leaves, finely executed in marble. The four corners are held up by ravens, in allusion to the armorial bearings of this ancient family, and surmounted by their crest, the elephant and castle. The latter is said to have been the armorial bearings of the Scottish Oliphants, one of whom was taken prisoner by a Corbet, in a war between the two kingdoms. The livingis a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 3s. 6d.; now returned at £376; in the patronage of Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., and incumbency of the Rev. Robert F. Wood, M.A., who resides at the rectory, a good residence situate near the church. There are 39a. 2r. 26p. of glebe land. The National School, a spacious stone building, is supported by Sir A. V. Corbet. About eighty children attend. The poor of this parish are entitled to a yearly sum of £1. 5s., the gift of Andrew and Elizabeth Downes, which is now paid out of certain lands in Ollerly lane, in the manor of Wem. Various benefactions left for the benefit of the poor, in the whole amounting to £86. 5s., were formerly placed out at interest; but in 1821 the amount was laid out in building some cottages for the poor, upon land rented for this purpose by the parish officers. The parishioners having found that no benefit had been derived from the use of these houses, prevailed on Sir Andrew Corbet to take the land with the cottages thereon, and to repay them the sum they had expended, which was again put out at interest for the benefit of the poor.

The principal residents in Moreton Corbet are Eleanor Bennett, school teacher; Robert Broughall, farmer; John Harris, farmer; John Harris, jun., farmer; Mrs. Ann Henshaw, the Castle; Richard Henshaw, the Castle Farm; William Lawley, blacksmith; Rev. Robert Faulkner Wood, M.A., the Rectory.

Preston Brockhurst

is a scattered village and township, partly in the parish of Shawbury, and partly in the parish of Moreton Corbet, three and a quarter miles south-east from Wem. At the census of 1841 there were 21 houses and 138 inhabitants, of which 2 houses and 17 persons were returned as in the parish of Shawbury, and the remainder in this parish. The township contains 1,482a. 1r. 23p. of land, much improved by superior cultivation. The village is delightfully situated on the turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Hawkstone; the vicinity has a bold undulating surface, richly wooded, and pleasingly diversified with rural scenery. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is lord of the manor and sole proprietor. The Hall is a fine specimen of ancient architecture, with projecting gables and bay windows, and was in early times the seat of a branch of the Corbet family. It is lofty and spacious, and entered by a fine old porch, above which is a watch tower; the whole has a venerable yet interesting appearance. The interior contains some fine specimens of elaborate oak carving; the entrance hall is of panelled oak, and the antique staircase is also of oak, of massive and beautiful workmanship, the whole of which is in excellent preservation. Preston Wood covers an area of 204a. 1r. 20p. acres of land.

Brayne Richard, farmer, the Hall

Darlington Thomas, vict., the Elephant and Castle

Deakin James, butcher

Edwards William, farmer, Bridleway-gate

Evans John and Son, blacksmiths and agricultural implement makers

Evans John, farmer, Shawbury house

Huxley Richard, farmer, the Grove

Lewis Thomas, maltster and vict., Corbet Arms

Morgan Mr. Thomas

Snape Thomas, shopkeeper and gamekeeper

Travar John, sawyer

Travar Richard, joiner and cabinet-maker

Travar Samuel, wheelwright and van proprietor

Windsor Thomas, farmer, Wainhouse

Moreton Say, or Moreton Sea,

is a parish which comprehends the townships of Betchley, Longford, Moreton Say, Styche, and Woodlands, and contains 4,804a. 1r. 30p. of land, of which 53a. 2r. 13p. are woods and plantations, roads, and waste; the soil for the most part is a strong tenacious clay: in other parts a fertile loam prevails. In 1801 the parish contained 683 inhabitants; in 1831, 679; and in 1841, there were 126 houses and 770 inhabitants. Rateable value of the whole parish, £5,299. 8s. Rent charge, £645. The middle and the northern verge of the parish bordering on Cheshire, present a bold undulating surface, and from the high grounds a most beautiful prospect of the surrounding country may be seen. Richard Corbet, Esq., and John Tayleur, Esq., are joint lords of the manor. The village of Moreton Say is pleasantly situated three miles west from Market Drayton, and in 1841 had 42 houses and 202 inhabitants. Rateable value of the township, £1,928. 11s. The population are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits, and the land in this locality has been greatly improved by draining and superior cultivation. The principal landowners are John Whitehall Dod, Esq., M.P.; the Earl of Powis; and John Tayleur, Esq. The Church is a venerable fabric, with a tower surmounted by a wooden turret. The structure underwent a complete reparation in 1788, at a cost of £386. 8s., which was raised by private subscriptions. The chancel is ornamented with a beautiful stained glass window, of exquisite workmanship. The walls of the chancel are decorated with implements of war, taken by the late Lord Clive in his campaign through India; there are also six beautifully designed marble tablets, in memory of the predecessors of Lord Clive, of Styche Hall; a fine tomb of elaborate workmanship, with three full sized figures in a recumbent posture, remembers the Grosvenors of Eaton, and is dated 1619. A beautiful mural monument, chastely executed, has been erected in commemoration of John Bostock, Esq., who died in 1623. There is also a tablet of curious workmanship in memory of Elizabeth Rotton, with others to the Corser, Redshaw, Woolley, and other families. In the churchyard is a magnificent altar tomb of marble, to the memory of Sir John Markham, who died in 1778. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the rector of Hodnet, and enjoyed by the Rev. Robert Upton, M.A. The tithes have been commuted, and £555 apportioned to the rector of Hodnet, and £90 to the incumbent of Moreton Say. There are 48a. 2r. 39p. of glebe land. The parsonage is an ancient structure a short distance from the church. There is a school here, which is chiefly supported by the minister and a few benevolent individuals.

In the parliamentary returns of 1786 several sums of money are mentioned as having been given to the poor of this parish, amounting in the whole to £199. 10s., which sum is stated to have been laid out in the purchase of £250 stock in the four per cents. There is reason to question the accuracy of this statement, as we find that most of the charities recorded (many of which do not exceed £5) are supposed to have been distributed as soon as received. There was, however, a close called the Poor’s Field, containing about seven acres, the rent of which was given away to the poor; but whether this field was purchased with any part of the charities bequeathed to the parish, or derived from any other source, is not now known. This field was sold about seventy years ago, with the consent of the parishioners, by the churchwardens and overseers, to Archdeacon Clive, the then incumbent of Moreton Say, who gave for it £250 stock in the four per cents., producing £10 a year, being the rent at which the close was then let. The dividends of this stock now amount to £8. 15s., with £1. 5s. added from the poors’ rate, to make up £10, is expended in bread, and given away among poor persons attending divine service at the church.

Directory.—Francis Grocott, farmer, Calverhall; Johnson and Moore, farmers, Styche farm; William Lea, farmer and corn miller; Samuel Minor, farmer, Moreton Hall; William Overton, farmer, Higgins Wood; William Parker, farmer, the Wood; Thomas Peplow, farmer; Rev. Robert Upton, M.A., the Parsonage.

Betchley

is a township and scattered village, pleasantly situated one mile south from Moreton Say, which in 1841 had 16 houses and 101 inhabitants. Rateable value, £684. 16s. The acres and tithes are included in the returns given of the parish. The Earl of Powis and George Corser, Esq., are the landowners. The soil is mostly a cold clay, but has been much improved by draining and by freely using bone-dust as a fertilizer.

The principal residents are Thomas Baker, farmer; Mrs. Cartwright, farmer; William Humphreys, farmer; and Samuel Sharratt, farmer, Oldfields.

Longford,

a township and village, delightfully situated on elevated ground, two miles S.E. by E. from Moreton Say, in 1841 contained 53 houses and 262 inhabitants. The land produces good crops of wheat and barley, and there is some fine grazing land; the soil is chiefly strong. The Market Drayton, Shrewsbury, Whitchurch, and Newport turnpike roads intersect the township. The scenery around is beautifully varied and picturesque. Gross estimated rental, £1,537. 14s. John Tayleur, Esq., is lord of the manor and a landowner; besides whom the Rev. Thomas Henshaw Jones, Mr. Charles Warren, Mr. Samuel Hudson, Richard Corbet, Esq., John Hazledine, Esq., and others are also proprietors.

Directory.—George Harding, Esq., estate agent and steward to Richard Corbet, Esq., Tern Hill House; Joseph Harris, farmer; Samuel Harris, farmer; John Hazledine, Esq., Tern Hill; John Hill Stephenson, farmer; Samuel Hudson, farmer; Joseph Johnson, blacksmith and victualler, the Lion; Joseph Sillitoe, farmer, Tern Hill; James Wood, beerhouse-keeper.

Styche and Woodlands,

a township and village on the northern verge of the county, bordering on Cheshire, at the census of 1841 contained 24 houses and 145 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,148. 7s. The soil is mostly a strong clay; there is some good meadow land in the township. The Earl of Powis and Lord Kilmorey are the landowners. Styche Hall is an elegant mansion of brick, with stone quoins and stuccoed, which produces a light and handsome appearance. It is situated on a gentle elevation, and being lofty and spacious, and approached by a fine portico, gives it an imposing aspect. The front of the mansion opens into a fine extent of park-like grounds. The offices and stables are behind the hall, and form a spacious quadrangle. Styche is now the seat of Henry B. Clive, Esq., M.P., for the borough of Ludlow. The celebrated Lord Clive, the founder of the present noble family of Powis, was born at Styche. He was the son of Richard Clive, Esq., and received his education first at the free-school in Drayton, and afterwards at Dr. Stirling’s school, Hempsted. He subsequently became a celebrated commander in the East India Company’s service, and contributed to the prosperity of the company in a most unexampled manner. He represented the town of Shrewsbury in parliament from 1760 to 1774, but rarely spoke in the house, though upon special occasions he displayed great powers of elocution. By his will he bequeathed £70,000 to the invalids in the Company’s service.

Directory.—Henry B. Clive, Esq., Styche Hall; Thomas Akers, farmer, Shavington Park; Samuel Beeston, farmer, Nobridge; Thomas Betterley, farmer, Shavington; Richard Caldicot, farmer. New-street Lane; Charles Gregory, farmer, Barnetts; John Horton, beerhouse-keeper; Abraham Price, farmer; Thomas Sharratt, farmer, New-street Lane.

Bearston

is a township and small village, pleasantly situated four miles and a half N.E. from Market Drayton, in the parish of Muckleston, which is mostly comprised within the bounds of the Pirehill Hundred, in the county of Stafford. The Church is also in Staffordshire, and situate about a mile to the north of Blore Heath. It is an ancient structure, with a lofty tower, from the top of which Queen Margaret witnessed the slaughter at the battle of Blore Heath. The townships comprised in this county are Bearston, Dorrington, Gravenhanger, and Woore. The township of Bearston contains 1,084a. 1r. 6p., of land. The soil for the most part is a strong loam, in other parts it is of a light sandy nature, particularly near the banks of the river Tern. In 1841 there were 17 houses and 101 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,196. 4s. 5d. Gross estimated rental, £1,319. 9s. 8d. The land is the property of Thomas Kinnersley, Esq., except one farm, the property of the Rev. Hugh Ker Cokburne. The river Tern here divides the county from that of Stafford, on the banks of which is the Bearston Corn Mill, occupied by Mr. Bruckshaw, whose residence is just within the bounds of this county.

Directory.—John Benbow, farmer; Thomas Bennion, farmer; George Bruckshaw, farmer, maltster, and corn miller, Bearston Mill; Robert Tilsley, farmer.

Dorrington,

a small village and township, in the parish of Muckleston, five miles and a quarter N.N.E. from Market Drayton, in 1831 contained 35 houses and 188 inhabitants. The township contains 965a. 0r. 35p. of land. Gross estimated rental, £1,296. 3s. 6d. Rateable value, £1,181. 2s. 1d. Sir J. W. L. Chetwode, Bart., is the principal landowner. Miss Birchall is also a proprietor. Pipegate is a hamlet, a little to the east of Dorrington. Irelands Cross, a hamlet on the turnpike road to the north of Dorrington. Here is the old Workhouse; a plain brick structure, now unoccupied. Adjoining the workhouse are four small tenements, called The Almshouses, which are stated to have been built at the expense of the parish. The inmates have no income, and they have been so long in undisturbed possession, that they now claim them as their own.

Directory.—Thomas Ball, victualler, Fox and Hounds; Sarah Benbow, farmer; Elizabeth Birchall, farmer; Mary Goodall, farmer; Henry Hopwood, farmer; Jane Latham, beerhouse-keeper; Mary Lindop, farmer; Henry Taylor, manager to Miss Birchall; Robert Timmis, farmer; Matthew and William Wildig, joiners, builders, and brick-makers, Irelands Cross.

Gravenhanger,

a township six miles N.N.E. from Market Drayton, contains 1,144a. 2r. 9p. of land. Gross estimated rental, £1,745. 9s. 7d. The principal landowners are William Barber, Esq., Thomas Eld, Esq., Messrs. Wilkinson, Mr. Samuel Sherrard, Miss Elizabeth Birchall, George Kendrick, Esq., Executors of the late Mr. Latham. The Hall is an ancient residence, occupied by Mr. John Beeston. Gravenhanger Moss is a tract of land of about twenty acres unenclosed.

The principal residents are John Beeston, farmer, The Hall; Ralph Bennet, farmer; Henry Buckley, beerhouse-keeper; Samuel Foxley, victualler, Crow Inn; Robert Huntback, farmer; Jane Latham, farmer; Thomas Latham, farmer; John Lea, farmer; Charlotte Morrey, farmer; James Sandbach, farmer, Brooklands; Samuel Wilkinson, farmer.

Woore

is a chapelry and considerable village, pleasantly situated at the north-east extremity of the county, seven miles N.N.E. from Market Drayton. The village contains many good houses, a neat church, and a respectable hotel, and stands on a salubrious acclivity, which commands extensive views of the surrounding country. The township contains 1,000a. 2r. 26p. of land, and in 1841 there were 98 houses and 372 persons. Gross estimated rental, £1,810. 15s. 2d. Rateable value, £1,632. 17s. 9d. The principal landowner is George Kendrick, Esq. Mr. Smith, Mr. Richard Clough, and the Devisees of the late Mr. Latham, are also proprietors.

The Church is a neat structure, dedicated to St. Leonard, and has been built about twenty years. The cost of the fabric was £1,300. The living is a perpetual curacy, returned at £100, in the patronage of the Kendrick and Kinnersley families alternately; incumbent, Rev. John Hawksworth, M.A., who resides at the Parsonage, a neat residence a short distance from the church. The old church was taken down on the erection of the present structure, and stood near the site of the parsonage house. The National School was built by voluntary subscriptions and a grant from the national society in 1832. At the present time, forty boys and sixty girls and infants attend. The master has £15 per annum paid him, for which fifteen children are educated free; the children of cottagers pay one penny per week, and an additional charge is made for farmers’ children. The Manor House, a handsome residence embosomed in foliage, was unoccupied when our agent visited Woore. The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel here. Fairs are held on the last Thursday in April and November.

Post Office.—At John Hitchen’s. Letters arrive from Market Drayton at 9 A.M., and are despatched at 4.30 P.M.

Baddiley Gregory, grocer

Bradbury William P., farmer and victualler, Swan Hotel

Brooke George, farmer

Buckley Thomas, grocer

Burslem Thomas, tailor

Collier George, cabinet and chair maker

Clough Richard, farmer

Clough Wm., schoolmaster

Dunkley Rev. John, curate

Goodall William, farmer, Woore Hall

Hayward Mr. John

Hawksworth, Rev. John, M.A. The Parsonage

Hitchens John, Post Office

Hough David, farmer

Hulse Mr., farmer

Jackson George, blacksmith

Latham Mr. Thomas

Lander George, butcher

Lewis Abraham, tallow chandler

Lewis John, shoemaker

Lindop John, victualler, The Falcon Inn

Minor Henry Robert, farmer

Morrey Richard, cooper and victualler, Coopers’ Arms

Morrey Thomas, shopkeeper

Mullington Mary, school-mistress

Nickson William, saddler

Rowley William, tailor

Salt John, surgeon

Taylor James, farmer

Vickers Richard, farmer

Watmough Charles, surgeon

Wayte Henry, shopkeeper

Norton in Hales,

a parish and village situated three and a half miles N.E. by N. from Market Drayton, at the census of 1841 contained 64 houses and 312 inhabitants. In 1801 there was a population of 269 souls, and in 1831, 311. The parish contains 1,845 acres, the gross estimated rental of which is £2,732, 16s. 8d. Rateable value, £2,475 1s. 8d. The tithes are commuted for £305. P. Sillitoe, Esq., is the principal land owner, the other chief owners are William Church Norcop, Esq., Mrs. Heath, and Rev. Hugh Ker Cokburne, the latter of whom is lord of the manor. At the Domesday survey Nortone in Odenet hundred was Held by one Helgot. The Church is an ancient structure dedicated to St. Chad, consisting of nave and chancel, with a handsome square tower at the west end, embattled and ornamented with pinnacles; the chancel is of much older date than the rest of the church. There is a magnificent monument of Derbyshire alabaster, with full length figures, of Sir Rowland Cotton and his lady, in a recumbent posture; it is dated 1686; the Cottons had a seat at Etwall in Derbyshire, and Bellaport in this county. Over the tomb is an ancient helmet. There is also a neat tablet in memory of the Cotton family in the chancel. The church will accommodate about 100 hearers, and there is a gallery at the west end which holds about fifty children. The old antique font of rude construction is now disused and stands under the tower; a small new font has recently been added and placed in the chancel. The pews belonging to the rector and the lord of the manor are handsomely carved. The curfew bell tolls at eight o’clock from Michaelmas-day to Lady-day, a practice still continued in many of the rural villages of this county. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £5. 9s. 4d., now returned at £330, in the patronage of W. Silver, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Frederick Silver, M.A., who resides at the Rectory, a good stuccoed house pleasantly situated near the north-east side of the churchyard. There are eleven acres of glebe land. The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel in the village. Bellaport House, the occasional residence of the lord of the manor, the Rev. Hugh Ker Cokburne, is delightfully situated on high grounds, and commands views of great extent and beauty. Brand Hall, a good brick mansion, the property of P. Sillitoe, Esq., was unoccupied when our agent visited Norton.

Charities.—The National School is a small structure, where about fifty children are educated. In 1751 Margaret Higginson left £50 towards founding a school at Norton; Sir Rowland Cotton gave a house of two bays and a barn for the use of the schoolmaster, and Ralph Pilsbury left £6 towards teaching one child. It is supposed that the money given by Mrs. Higginson was laid out in the purchase of land, though no deeds can be found relating thereto. The property belonging the school consists of the school, with a yard and garden, containing 1r. 9p., and an allotment of 21p. added at the inclosure. The schoolhouse with a garden containing 19p., and two closes containing 5a. 0r. 20p., producing together a yearly rental of £12. There is also a yearly sum of 4s. 9d. paid by the churchwardens as the interest of £6 left by Ralph Pilsbury, the principal having been applied to the use of the church previously to the year 1746, from which period this payment has been made. In respect of this income the master instructs seven children.

William Shore, in 1675, gave a rent charge of 26s. 8d. per annum, issuing out of a meadow in Dorrington, for the use of the poor, and afterwards in consideration of a sum of £40 conveyed the said land in trust, that all the rents and profits should be disposed of for the benefit of the poor. The said £40 having been given by various donors for the good of the poor of this parish.

Several sums of money given by the Cotton family about the year 1694, amounting in the whole to £80, were laid out in the purchase of land and premises at Wem; the property consists of a house and about six acres of land, which are let for about £15. 12s. per annum. The income derived from the above estates forms one fund, which is distributed among poor parishioners on Good Friday and Christmas-day.

Richard Grosvenor left 20s. per annum to the poor. In the churchwarden’s accounts about the year 1756, there is an entry of £30 paid by Robert Davison for the purpose of exonerating the estate which then belonged to him from the rent charge, and the amount is carried to the general account of the church rate. No payment has been made in respect of this charity from the church rate, but we conceive that interest on the purchase money ought to be paid from this account, for the benefit of the poor.

Beech William, tailor, Norton Forge

Benton Thomas, farmer, Norton Wood

Blackhurst James, blacksmith and grocer

Bloore Thomas, wheelwright

Brookshaw George, blacksmith

Butters Snow, tailor

Churton Thomas, shoemaker, Forge

Clorley Thomas, parish clerk

Cokburne Rev. Hugh Ker, Bellaport House

Duckers Thomas, vict., The Crescent and Anchor

Eardly Richard, farmer, Bellaport Lodge

Eley William, butcher

Fox Henry, bailiff to Rev. H. K. Cokburne

Green Thomas, wheelwright, Norton Forge

Jones George, farmer

Jones Richard, farmer

Keay John, farmer and shoemaker

Leighton Daniel, farmer and maltster

Mate William, farmer, Norton Wood

Matthews John, farmer, Brand Common

Minshall William, shoemaker

Morris Richard, wheelwright and beerhouse

Randles William, grocer

Ratcliff Thomas, gardener, The Hall

Rowe Isaac, painter and glazier

Silver Rev. Frederick, M.A., The Rectory

Simcock Joseph, tailor

Snow Sarah, farmer

Spragg Samuel, gamekeeper

Walley Elizabeth, farmer

Wickstead John, master of National School

Prees

is an extensive parish and considerable village, situated on a gentle acclivity, four miles north-east from Wem, and fourteen miles north-east from Shrewsbury. The parish contains the townships of Calverhall or Corra, Darliston, Fauls, Mickley, Millen Heath, Prees, Sandford, Steele, Willaston, and the chapelry of Whixall, which together contain 14,160 acres of land, of which 2,657a. 1r. 10p. are in mosses, woods, covers, and heath land. In 1801 the parish had a population of 2,653 souls; 1831, 3,355; and in 1841 there were 638 inhabited houses 24 uninhabited, and 3,270 inhabitants. Rateable value, £17,466. 2s. 8d. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £1,041. 1s., and the vicarial tithes for £636. Some part of the land is mossy, others of a peaty nature, and in some instances gravelly; there is also a portion of clay soils, of a reddish colour. The township of Prees contains 3,854a. 3r. 11p. of land, and is intersected by the Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Newport, Shrewsbury, and Market Drayton turnpike roads. Rateable value, £5,474, 8s. 8d. In 1841 here were 302 houses and 1,473 inhabitants. The land has a bold undulating surface, and commands interesting views of the surrounding country. Prees is celebrated as the birth place of the Salopian hero General Lord Hill, and has acquired importance from its contiguity to Hawkston, the magnificent seat of Viscount Hill. In the 43rd of Henry III. the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield had a grant of a market here on a Tuesday, and of a fair on the eve, the day, and the morrow of St. Chad the Bishop, with the liberty of free warren. In the 35th of Edward I. the market was changed to Wednesday, but the markets were never of much consideration, and subsequently were discontinued. Two fairs are, however, still held, on the second Monday in April and the second Monday in October, for the sale of sheep and cattle, which are well attended by the farmers and graziers of the surrounding country. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor, and the principal landowner. Sir R. C. Hill, Bart.; George Harper, Esq.; John Dickin, Esq.; and a few others are also proprietors.

General Lord Hill, whose brilliant military services have acquired such general renown, was born at Prees, August 11, 1772. His lordship entered the army in the sixteenth year of his age, and commenced his military duty at Edinburgh. His friends being anxious for his early promotion, obtained permission for him to raise an independent company, which gave him the rank of captain in the army, in the year 1792. In the interval of his being attached to any particular corps, he accompanied Frances Drake, Esq., on a diplomatic mission to Genoa, from whence Captain Hill proceeded to Toulon, and was employed as aide-de-camp to Lord Mulgrave, General O’Hara, and Sir David Dundas, successive generals there. He was deputed by Sir David Dundas to be the bearer of the despatches to England relating to the evacuation of Toulon by the British. He was shortly after promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 90th regiment, and went through a great deal of arduous duty at Gibraltar, and had his full share in the memorable Egyptian campaign. In the action of the 13th of March Colonel Hill commanded the advanced guard, and received a wound in the right temple from a musket ball, the force of which was providentially averted by a strong brass binding in front of his helmet; the blow, however, was severe, and he was removed from the field of battle in a state of insensibility. After the return of the troops from Egypt, the 90th was ordered to proceed to Ireland, where Lord Hill continued to perform his regimental duty till he was appointed brigadier-general. Early in the summer of 1808 he joined the army in England, destined to act in the Peninsula. In the battles of Roleia and Vimiera he was fully employed, and gained the thanks and approbation of his comrades; and during the whole of Sir John Moore’s advance and retreat Lord Hill continued indefatigible in his exertions. His humanity and attention to the troops on their landing at Plymouth earned him the admiration of the inhabitants, and he was voted the freedom of the borough. About this time he became possessed of the seat and estate of Hardwick Grange, left him by his uncle, Sir Richard Hill, Bart. At the battle of Talavera Lord Hill was slightly wounded on the head, but his firmness and courage in repelling the successive attacks of the French, greatly contributed to the success of the day. The generalship and activity of Lord Hill in surprising and capturing a French corps under General Girard, in Spanish Estremadura, is deserving of commemoration. The force that Girard had with him consisted of 2,500 infantry and 600 cavalry, the whole of which were totally dispersed or captured. Among the latter were General Brune, the Prince d’Aremberg, several colonels, thirty captains and subalterns, and upwards of 1,000 soldiers, with the whole of their baggage, artillery, and commissariat. The enemy’s loss in killed was very severe, whilst from the activity and skilful manœuvres of Lord Hill, it was very trifling on the side of the British. Lieutenant-general Hill, during his detached command in Spain, was principally opposed to Soult, perhaps the most able general whom Napoleon employed in that country; and the acuteness of General Hill in foreseeing the intentions of that officer very materially contributed to the happy results of the action at Buzaco. In the memorable battle of Vittoria the centre of the allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington, and the right by Lord Hill. Here the enemy were completely routed, and the booty which was captured was immense. Besides the baggage horses, and other articles taken on the field, the value of the specie, plate, and jewels, was estimated at six millions of dollars. Of this sum only 100,000 dollars came to the military chest; the rest was divided by the troops on the spot. When Lord Hill occupied the valley of Bastan with an army of 3,000 men, he was attacked by a force of 14,000 men; but notwithstanding the superiority of the numbers, the enemy acquired but little advantage over these brave troops, during the seven hours they were engaged. At the conclusion of another brilliant achievement shortly after, the noble Wellington rode up to Lord Hill, and in the spirit of a great and candid mind said, “Hill, this is all your own.” The various other engagements in which Lord Hill took a prominent position, our limits will not allow us to notice. On his return to his native country, every token of honour was manifested by his grateful countrymen, and on his first visit to Shrewsbury thousands went out to meet him, and his lordship was presented with the freedom of the borough in a gold box. But the most splendid and durable token of gratitude and esteem is the column erected in Shrewsbury to his honour, which is the largest Doric column in the world. On the unexpected return of Napoleon from Elba, the allied sovereigns immediately flew to arms, on which occasion Lord Hill again obeyed the voice of his sovereign, and in the memorable battle of Waterloo, on the 18th June, 1815, his lordship gave fresh proofs of his skill, bravery, and intrepidity. In this conflict Lord Hill’s favourite charger was shot under him; and whilst he was on foot, completely exposed to the enemy, he was discovered by an officer of Lord Wellington’s staff, who procured him the horse of a French dragoon. For a full hour the officers of his lordship’s staff were in a state of the greatest consternation, and twice met under the apprehension that their beloved general had fallen. On the Duke of Wellington accepting office as prime minister, in 1828, Lord Hill was appointed commander-in-chief. The following are the titles and dignities which he bore:—Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, Knight of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword, Knight of the Grand Cross of the Guelphic Order, Knight of the Order of Maria Theresa, Knight of the Russian Order of St. George, Knight of the Belgian Order of Wilhelm, Baron Hill of Almarez, Hawkstone, and Hardwick Grange.

The Church, a venerable fabric of red sandstone in the Norman style of architecture, consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, and a square tower, in which are six musical bells. The body of the church is of much older date than the tower, which is of modern construction. The church is entered by a fine old porch; the interior has a solemn and imposing appearance; and the chancel contains several beautifully designed monuments of exquisite workmanship: that to the memory of Sir John Hill, with figures in basso relievo, is a most admirable specimen of modern sculpture. Major-general Clement Hill is remembered on a neat tablet erected by his friends and comrades in the Madras presidency, and by the officers of the Royal Horse Guards, in testimony of their love for his person and esteem for his character. He was born at Prees, on December 6th, 1781, and died at the Falls of Guersoppa, and was buried at Hanowar, 22nd January, 1845. There are various other memorials, and over the charity box is a curiously-carved figure of the Saviour. The churchyard is elevated, and commands a fine view of Hawkstone hills and the distant country. There are several fine old yew trees of considerable girth. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £10; now returned at £507; in the patronage of the Bishop of Lichfield, and incumbency of the Venerable Archdeacon John Allen, M.A. The rectoral tithes of this township are commuted for £329. 15s. 9d., and the vicarial for £83. 2s. 7d. The vicarage, a good residence, has been rebuilt on the site of a former edifice, by the present incumbent; the gardens and pleasure grounds are tastefully laid out.

The Independents have a small chapel in Prees, with a burial ground attached; the Rev. Samuel Minshall is the minister. The Primitive Methodists also have a small chapel here. There is a National School and an Infant School, which are numerously attended. Prees Hall, the property and residence of Sir Robert Chambre Hill, Bart., J.P., is a commodious, pleasantly-situated, and well built mansion of brick.

Charities.—The Right Hon. Richard Hill, by will, October 17, 1726, bequeathed £300 for the poor of the parishes of Hodnet, Prees, and Wem, to be applied for the benefit of such poor as the minister and churchwardens of each parish should think fit. With respect to the legacy left to the poor of this parish, it appears to have been laid out in the purchase of land, which now produces a yearly sum of £10. 10s. Sir Rowland Hill, in 1769, bequeathed to the poor of the parishes of Hodnet and Prees the sum of £200. Sir Richard Hill, by will, 1808, bequeathed £30 to his brother, John Hill, in trust, to pay the interest to the poor of the parish of Hodnet, Prees, and Wem, in such proportions as his said brother should think fit. Several sums of money, left by various donors, amounting in the whole to £140, in the year 1812 was placed in the hands of Sir John Hill, who gave a promissory note for the same; and the interest is distributed amongst the poor. Arthur Harper, by will, 1787, directed his trustees to pay the interest of £40 to the minister, churchwardens, and overseers of the parish of Prees, to be distributed among poor housekeepers of the township of Darliston. The yearly sum of £5. 4s. is paid as a rent charge issuing out of a field in Williston, called the White Bread Field. It does not appear from whose benefaction this arises. The amount is expended in bread and given among the deserving who attend divine service. Elizabeth Barbour devised certain lands, and directed the proceeds to be expended in bread and given amongst the poorest parishioners every Sunday. The property thus devised consists of 9a. 0r. 35p., with a small cottage, which was built by the vicar on the site of an old house destroyed by lightning. It is let for £12 a year, which is applied in carrying out the donor’s intentions.

Post Office at Mr. William Langford’s.—Letters arrive from Whitchurch at 9.10 A.M. and are despatched at 5.0 P.M.

Aldersea George Ora, farmer

Allen The Rev. Archdeacon, The Vicarage

Arthur Thomas Norway, Esq.

Bather Richard, farmer

Bather Stephen, Prees Corn Mills

Bather William, farmer

Barber Emma Mary Burd, dressmaker

Bayley Mary, school teacher

Bennett Arthur, tailor

Bootroyd John, decorative painter

Boote Thomas, farmer, Heath Bank

Blantorn Miss Mary

Boyd Allen, sergeant major

Chester William, shoemaker

Churton Joseph, watch and clock maker

Clay John, blacksmith

Colley Thomas, saddler

Croxon Richard, tailor

Darlington Abraham Edward, Esq.

Davies Charles, baker and confectioner

Dickin Elizabeth, vict., The Well House

Dickin Mrs. Elizabeth

Dickin John, gentleman, Platt House

Dickin John, Prees Wood Farm

Dickin John, cattle salesman

Dickin William Francis, Esq., The Hill

Dovey Richard, police officer

Drury John, corn machine maker

Drury Thomas, vict., The College Inn

Drury William, maltster

Dutton Joseph, farmer, Ferney Leys

Ebrey Robert, butcher

Eccleston William, carrier

Edwards Edward, house steward

Foulkes Richard, joiner and carpenter

Gregory Mr. John Paul

Handley John, carrier

Hares Robert, draper and druggist

Hares Samuel, gentleman

Hares Samuel, grocer and tea dealer

Hill Sir Robert Chambre, Bart., J.P., The Hall

Holding John, draper and grocer

Holding Mrs. Mary, Cruck Moor

Holding William, maltster

Hopwood Samuel, farmer

Ikin William, maltster, draper, and registrar

Jenkins Samuel, tailor and draper

Johnson Mr. William, The Fields

Kay Richard, basket maker

Longford Richard, postmaster

Lee Luke, schoolmaster

Maddocks Thomas, tailor

Minshall Rev. Samuel, Independent minister

Moore Thomas, blacksmith and farrier

Morray Thomas, shoemaker

Muller Mr. Charles, professor of music

Mumford Charles, gentleman

Paling John, butcher

Powell Joseph, farmer, Yew Tree

Powell Joseph, grocer and shopkeeper

Powell John, shoemaker, The Wood

Powell Mr. Thomas, The Villa

Powell Thomas, Manor House Farm

Powell William, bricklayer

Ray Thomas, vict., The Lion and Commercial Inn and posting house

Reaves John, shoemaker

Rightson Captain W.

Ruscoe John, Heath Gate Farm

Sandford Rev. H. R. P., curate

Shirley Captain John

Skitt Thomas, Lee Hall Farm

Spencer James, wheelwright

Stubbs Thomas, baker and confectioner

Whatmouth Miss Ann

Whitfield Mrs. Ann

Whitfield Miss Mary

Whitfield Mrs. Mary

Wilkinson Andrew, farmer, Prees

Wood Wilkinson Thomas, gentleman

Worrall Thomas, machineman & wheelwright

Vaughan Samuel, beerhouse

Academies.

Boarding School, The Hill Rev. Samuel Minshall, proprietor

National School, Luke Lee, boys; Mary Bayley, girls

Bakers & Flour Dealers.

Davies Charles, & confec.

Stubbs Thomas, & confec.

Basket & Bendware Maker.

Kay Richard

Blacksmiths.

Clay John

Moore Thomas, and farrier

Boot & Shoemakers.

Chester William

Morray Thos., & leather cutter

Powell John

Reeves John

Butchers.

Dickin John

Ebsey Robert

Paling John

Coopers.

Drury George

Drury William

Farmers.

Aldersea George Ora

Bather Richard, Lighteach Farm

Bather William

Boote Thomas

Dickin John, Prees Wood Farm

Drury Thos. College Farm

Drury William, and cooper

Dutton Joseph, Ferney Leys

Ebrey Robert

Holding Mrs. Mary, Cruck Moor

Hopwood Samuel

Johnson William

Powell Joseph

Powell Thomas

Ray Thomas

Skitt Thomas

Wilkinson Andrew

Wilkinson Thomas, The College Farm

Grocers & Tea Dealers.

Hares Messrs. Robert and Samuel

Holding John, hop & seed merchant

Ikin William

Powell Joseph

Hairdresser.

Boothroyd John

Hotels & Inns.

Dickin Elizabeth, The Well House

Ray Thomas, The Lion and Commercial Inn

Drury Thos., The College Inn

Beerhouses.

Churton Joseph

Vaughan Samuel

Steam and Horse Thrashing Machines to Let for Hire.

Drury Thomas

Carriers.

To Shrewsbury, William Eccleston & John Handley, on Saturdays.

Calverhall, or Corra,

is a chapelry and scattered village three miles north-west from Prees, which in 1841 contained 33 houses and 151 inhabitants. The township contains 1,287a. 0r. 22p. of land, mostly an undulating district. The principal landowners are John Whitehall Dod, Esq., M.P.; Viscount Hill; Lord Kilmorey; Mrs. Dale; and Thomas Hugh Sandford, Esq. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor and impropriator of the rectoral tithes, which are commuted for £86. 18s. 9d. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £26. 7s. The Chapel is a modern erection of beautiful workmanship, executed in freestone. The interior has a chaste and imposing appearance; the roof is of groined timber, and the seats are of oak; the windows are decorated with stained glass, and the altar-piece is of freestone of elaborate workmanship. A neat marble tablet remembers Elizabeth, the wife of the Rev. Edward Mainwaring, the present incumbent; another very beautifully designed, has been erected to the memory of Elizabeth, the wife of John W. Dod, Esq., M.P.; there is also a neat tablet to John Dod, Esq. The living is perpetual curacy, in the patronage of John W. Dod, Esq., and enjoyed by the Rev. Edward Mainwaring, who resides at the Parsonage, a modern brick residence, pleasantly situated and embosomed in foliage; it is beautified with pleasure grounds and shrubberies. The Almshouses consist of eight tenements, and were founded and endowed by Catherine Kerr, in 1724; the inmates are widows or aged people, who have about £4. 10s. per annum.

The Hall, the residence and property of John W. Dod, Esq., M.P., is a commodious brick mansion, stuccoed, with a front of hewn freestone, and a noble portico supported by six fluted pillars. It stands on a gentle eminence, and the views it commands are beautifully varied, picturesque, and extensive. The park grounds are richly clothed with timber, and the pleasure grounds and shrubberies are laid out with great taste. There are no remains of the ancient hall; it was surrounded by a moat, which still is filled with water, a neat bridge connecting the site on which it stood with the gardens. There is a school in the village, endowed with £20 per annum, free for all cottagers’ children. The teacher also receives £6 annually from subscriptions. Jack of Corra is a well-known liquor vessel, composed of leather, which has received the patronage of successive generations in this locality, and is interesting as a relic of the hospitality of by-gone days. It is stated that a person of the name of Corra or Kerr charged lands with the payment of £10 annually, and directed that any wayfaring traveller should call and refresh himself with the Jack filled with good malt liquor, on the payment of one penny. The bottom and the top of the vessel are encircled with a broad rim of silver, upon which is engraved, “From time immemorial: Jack of Corra is my name, don’t abuse me then for shame.” This chapelry comprises Corra, with Willaston and Millen Heath.

Post Office.—At Mr. James Jenkins’. Letters arrive by foot post from Whitchurch, at 9.30 A.M., and are despatched at 4 P.M.

Dod John Whitehall, Esq., M.P., The Hall

Dod John Whitehall, Esq., jun.

Mainwaring Rev. Edward, M.A., The Parsonage

Beeteley George, farmer

Beeteley John, farmer & vict. Jack of Corra

Court William, postman

Growcott Francis, farmer

Growcott Francis, jun., farmer

Jenkins James, schoolmaster

Newell James, gentleman

Newnes John, farmer

Mac Cload John, gardener

Morris Charles, blacksmith

Overton William, farmer

Owens Owen, farmer

Perry Robert, butcher

Reeves Josiah, farmer

Snipes Robert, coachman

Darliston

is a township and well-built village, five miles and a quarter N.E. from Wem, which in 1841 had 53 houses and 278 inhabitants. The township contains 714a. 3r. 23p. of land, the soil of which is a mixture of sand and loam. There are several extensive farms here, with commodious out-buildings. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor, and owner of the whole township. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £85. 15s. 3d., and the vicarial for £19. 15s. The township is intersected by the London and Chester and the Whitchurch and Drayton turnpike roads. There is a school at Lower Heath, in this township, supported by Viscount and Lady Hill. About 200 children attend for instruction, and are also partly clothed. The teacher has a fixed salary, and resides in a good residence adjoining the school. There is a noted coursing meeting held annually at the White Lion Inn.

Adams Abraham, tailor

Adams Thomas, farmer

Adams William, farmer

Dickin Joseph, farmer, and dispenser of medicine

Dickin William, farmer and butcher

Dickin John, butcher

Goffin Robert, schoolmaster

Hartley Timothy, gentleman

Machon William, blacksmith, and collector of tolls

Morris George, farmer

Powell John, shopkeeper and wheelwright

Ruscoe John, farmer, Heath-gate

Shingler Thomas, tailor

Sutton John, shoemaker

Titley Jacob, wheelwright

Watkins John, victualler, White Lion

Fauls,

a township with a scattered population, contains 886a. 0r. 34p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 22 houses and 102 inhabitants. The soil is mostly a strong clay. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor, impropriator, and principal landowner. Mr. Thomas Ruscoe is also a proprietor. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £116. 15s., and the vicarial tithes payable to the incumbent of Prees for £25. 1s. 3d. The turnpike road to Drayton crosses this township.

Directory.—Richard Benbow, farmer; Abraham Ford, farmer, Northwood; Wm. Hares, farmer, Fauls Green; Thomas Hatton, farmer and collector of revenue taxes; William Hudson, farmer, Northwood; George Oakley, gamekeeper, The Green; Elizabeth Powell, farmer; Thomas Ruscoe, farmer and victualler, The Talbot; George Williams, brick and tile agent; Thomas Williams, brick and tile agent.

Mickley,

a small township in the parish of Prees, in 1841 had four houses and a population of 36 souls. The township contains 575a. 2r. 36p. of land, chiefly the property of Viscount Hill. Rateable value, £744. 7s. The tithes were commuted in 1841, when £72. 9s. were apportioned to Viscount Hill, and £16. 0s. 4d. to the Vicar of Prees. The farmers are Martha Churton, Richard Edgerley, George Robinson, and Thomas Ash Wilkinson.

Millen Heath,

a township with only one house and ten residents, contains 359a. 3r. 17p. of land, which is the property of Lord Kilmorey. Rateable value, £268. 10s. The tithes have been commuted, and £33. 3s. 2d. apportioned to Viscount Hill, and £9. 6s. 3d. to the Vicar of Prees. Mr. Thomas Hares is the resident farmer.

Sandford,

a township with a scattered population, five miles and a half N.E. from Wem, contains 1,213a. 3r. 21p. of land. The soil is a mixture of sand and loam, with a portion of clay. The land is chiefly used for grazing purposes; and there is a considerable extent covered with woods and plantations. The tithes were commuted in 1841, when £151. 13s. 1d. was apportioned to Viscount Hill, and £36. 5s. to the Vicar of Prees. At the census of 1841 there were nine houses and 76 inhabitants. The rateable value of this township, with that of Darliston and Fauls, is £4,354. 3s. Thomas Hugh Sandford, Esq., is the principal landowner. Mr. Thomas Ebrey is also a proprietor.

Directory.—Sarah Bather, farmer; John Fox, farmer; Robert Garmstone, wheelwright and victualler, The Mill House; Ann Hales, farmer; Mary Humphreys, farmer; William Rogers, blacksmith; Thomas Steventon, farmer and corn miller; Joseph Woolrich, farmer, Morton Wood; Stephen Worthen, farmer.

Steele,

a township in the parish of Prees, at the census of 1841 had 12 houses and a population of 65 souls. The township contains 436a. 3r. 36p. of land. Viscount Hill is the impropriator and the principal landowner. The rectoral tithes are commuted for £54. 12s. 6d., and the vicarial for £13. 14s. 6d. The principal residents in Steele are John Bradshaw, shopkeeper, The Heath; John Heatley, glazier; Ann Hodgskin, farmer; Thomas Hodgskin, farmer; Daniel Holding, tailor; Richard Holding, farmer; Joseph Hussey, farmer.

Whixall

is a township, chapelry, and populous village, in the parish of Prees, four miles N. from Wem, which at the census in 1841 contained 211 houses and 978 inhabitants. The township comprises 3,361a. 1r. 32p. of land. Interspersed with gentle undulations, there is some good meadow and pasture land, which produces a fine herbage, and cheese is made to a considerable extent. The houses are chiefly cottage residences, with a small portion of land to each, and the residents are in many instances freeholders. The houses are built of brick, and slated, and have a comfortable appearance. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in cutting the moss, which they dry, and then take it to distant parts of the country for sale. The moss, usually called Whixall Moss, covers a surface of upwards of 5,000 acres, and extends into the several townships of Northwood, Whixall, Bettisfield, and Fenswood. It is cut to a depth of from sixteen to thirty feet, and in some instances to a greater depth. The moss is mostly submerged in water. A company of gentlemen have recently taken a lease for a term of years of a considerable tract of the moss, and are about to erect works for converting this hitherto comparatively useless commodity into articles of appliance for useful purposes. It is said to be superior to the Irish moss for some particular uses. Sir John Hanmer is the owner of about two-thirds of the moss; the other principal landowners are Lord Kenyon, W. P. Poole, Esq., James Foster, Esq., John C. Coham, Esq., John Bowen, Esq., Mr. George Hutchinson, Mr. John Phillips, Mr. John Keay, William F. Dickin, Esq., Mr. William Furber, Rev. John Evans, Mrs. Weaver, Mr. William Cartwright, Mr. Thomas Clay, John Taylor, Esq., Robert Salmon, Esq., Mr. Thomas Jones, Mrs. Hazledine, Mr. Thomas Salt, A. Duff, Esq., Mr. Benjamin Sandbrook, Mr. Jarvis, Rev. R. Young, Mrs. Cooper, Joshua Lee, Esq., Mr. James Rodenhurst, Mr. Thomas Sadler, Mr. William Whitfield, Mr. John Whitfield; besides whom there are many smaller proprietors.

The Church is a plain unpresuming edifice of brick, erected in the form of a cross, and has the date of 1640 upon it. It was enlarged and beautified in 1826, when 155 free sittings were added. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued at £107, subordinate to the vicarage of Prees, and enjoyed by the Rev. John Evans, M.A., whose income arises from certain lands, £5 yearly from the Lord of the Manor, and £4 per annum from the Vicar of Prees. The Parsonage is a pleasantly situated residence near the church. The National School, a commodious structure, with a residence for the teacher, was built during the years 1848 and 1849. The cost of the structure was £655. 13s. 6d., of which the Committee of Council on Education gave £100, and £50 towards the master’s residence; the National Society £50; the Diocesan Society £40, and £10 for fittings; and the sum of £405. 18s. 6d. was raised by subscriptions and donations, of which £276. 18s. 6d. was given by the Incumbent of Whixall. About 100 children attend the school. The Independents have a neat chapel here, which is numerously attended. The Primitive Methodists have also a small chapel here. The Llanymynech, Ellesmere, Whitchurch, and Quina Brook canals intersect the township. Whixall Hall and Bostock Hall are two ancient residences, now occupied as farm houses. James Foster, Esq., is lord of the manor, and holds a court leet and baron. The poor have a yearly sum of 5s., the gift of Mr. Minshull, which is paid out of land in the parish of Wem.

Brookes Thomas, blacksmith

Butler Richard, shoemaker

Callcott Samuel, farmer

Cureton William, shopkeeper

Dawson Thomas, farmer

Eales James, schoolmaster

Evans Rev. John, M.A., incumbent of Whixall, and domestic chaplain to Viscount Combermere, The Parsonage

Forrester Arthur, farmer

Furber Widow, farmer

Furber William, Well Farm

Green James, tailor

Green Joseph, shopkeeper

Hales Walter, The Hall Farm

Hall Richard, beerhouse

Hall William, shopkeeper

Heath Elizabeth, farmer

Heath John, joiner and upholsterer

Hinton Henry, farmer

Hinton John, farmer and butcher

Hughes George, blacksmith

Hunley John, farmer

Jarvis Widow, farmer

Jarvis William, farmer and beerhouse

Jones Richard, Bostock Hall Farm

Jones Samuel, farmer

Jones William, farmer

Keay John, vict., Chapel House, cattle dealer and farmer

Newbrook Richard, shopkeeper & shoemaker

Newbrook Samuel, farmer

Newbrook Thomas, farmer

Newbrook Thomas, shopkeeper

Newbrook William, wheelwright

Parsons William, farmer

Pitt William, shopkeeper and farmer

Poole William Price, maltster and farmer

Powell Samuel, farmer

Powell Thomas, shopkeeper, Waterloo

Powell Thomas, farmer

Powell Widow, shopkeeper

Powell William, farmer

Preston Ellis, farmer

Reeves William, blacksmith

Roberts John, brick and tile manufacturer

Rodenherst Mr. James

Shaw Edward, shoemaker

Shingler Thomas, farmer and corn miller

Sparkes John, farmer

Vardy James, Esq.

Vardy and Co., The Betisfield Moss Works

Walters Sarah, Manor House Farm

Weever William, tailor

Whitfield Frederick, farmer

Williams Henry, farmer

Williams William, farmer

Woolham Thomas, jailor

William Price Poole, coal, lime, slate, and brick dealer, Whixall Wharf

Willaston,

a small township in the parish of Prees, contains 767 acres of land, and in 1841 had 18 houses and 101 inhabitants. The soil in some parts is clayey, and in other places it is a mixture of sand and loam. Viscount Hill and John Whitehall Dod, Esq., are the landowners, the former is also the impropriator, and receives the large tithes, which are commuted for £109. 18s. 6d. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £21. 8s. 4d.

The principal residents are John Hussey, farmer, Cloverley; Robert Wilkinson, farmer, The Lawn; James Simons, farmer, and James Simon, jun., farmer.

Shawbury

is an extensive parish comprehending the townships of Acton Reynold, Besford, Edgebolton, Muckleton, Shawbury, Wytheford Magna, and Wytheford Parva, which together have an area of 7,222 acres of land, of which 600 acres are in woods and plantations. Rateable value, £8,486. 1s. Rent charge, £838. This parish, although chiefly in the North Bradford hundred, extends into the Shrewsbury liberty, and the hundred of Pimhill. In 1801 the parish had a population of 948 souls; 1831, 915, and in 1841 there were 212 inhabited houses and 1062 inhabitants. The soil, to a considerable extent, is a mixture of loam and sand, in other places a strong soil mixed with gravel prevails. The land has generally an undulating surface, and on the northern verge there are considerable eminences, in which is found a red grit stone. Shawbury is a delightfully situated village, containing some good residences on the Shrewsbury, Market Drayton, Wem, and Whitchurch turnpike roads, six miles S.S. by E. from Wem, and seven miles N.E. by N. from Shrewsbury. In the centre of the village there is a commodious hotel and family boarding house occupied by Mr. Welling, which is much frequented during the summer months by respectable families. The township contains 1,605a. 0r. 37p. of land, and in 1841 there were 55 houses and 279 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,854. 16s. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is lord of the manor and principal land owner; Rev. W. S. Marvin and Mr. Samuel Winnall are also owners.

The Church, dedicated to St. Mary, is an ancient structure exhibiting some beautiful workmanship, and consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a lofty square tower ornamented with twelve pinnacles; the tower contains six bells, has a clock and sun dial; in the chancel are two windows beautifully ornamented with stained glass; the altar piece and reading desk are of oak, elaborately carved, and there is an ancient font. There is a beautiful tablet of marble in memory of Philip Charlton, who died in 1845, and another commemorative of John Minor, Esq., and his wife, with the date of 1836. The living is a vicarage valued in the king’s book at £7. 1s. 5½d. in the patronage of Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., and incumbency of the Rev. William S. Marvin, M.A.; curate, Rev. William Howell, M.A.; clerk, William Wright. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £397. 12s. and of the rectorial £247. 18s. was apportioned to Sir Andrew V. Corbet, Bart., £181. 10s. to Mr. Charlton, and £11 to Captain Horner. The vicarage is a pleasantly situated residence a little north from the church. There is a free school in the village which has an attendance of about thirty children. Shawbury heath contains 270a. 2r. 7p. of land, and Shawbury woods contain an area of 159a. 2r. 32p. Charlton Grange is situated in this township, and contains 433a. 3r. 27p.

Charities.—Elizabeth Corbet, by will, October 29th, 1702, bequeathed the sum of £200, and directed the amount to be laid out in land, and the yearly proceeds to be applied in feeding or clothing the poor, or in apprentice fees, as the vicar for the time being and her heirs should think fit. The amount was laid out as directed by the donor, and now produces a yearly rental of £45 which is divided into three equal parts, one portion applied in clothing the children of the national school, another in apprentice fees, and the remainder in a weekly distribution of bread.

Robert Wood gave £20, the interest to be distributed among the poor on St. Thomas’s day. Andrew Peplow gave £16 towards clothing the poor. Richard Wood £40, and Andrew Syth £10, for the benefit of the poor. Ralph Collins gave £80 towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster in Shawbury, and if there should be no schoolmaster then to the poor of the parish during each vacancy. Dame Rachael Corbet left £10, Sarah Venables £20, and an unknown donor £17 for the benefit of the poor. These several sums amounting to £213, are in the hands of Sir Andrew V. Corbet, bart., secured by two bonds. Of the interest amounting to £9. 6s. 6d., at four per cent, 14s. is paid annually in purchasing a coat for one poor man, £4 in respect of Collins’ charity to a schoolmaster, and the remainder is distributed on St. Thomas’s day amongst the poor, with some voluntary donations, in sums varying from 1s. to 3s. 6d.

John Minor gave £20, the interest to be distributed on St. Andrew’s day. This sum, together with £26. 5s. given by Sir Andrew Corbet, is in the hands of the Rev. W. S. Marvin, and £20 collected many years ago towards building a school house, making together £66. 5s., for which he gave a promissory note to the churchwardens, bearing date 2nd February, 1830, with interest at four and a half per cent. Of the interest, £1 is given away as Minor’s charity, 18s. are added to the subscriptions collected for the school, and the remainder is distributed on Candlemas day among the poor of the parish.

Mrs. Charlotte Corbet left £100, the interest to be given among the most indigent inhabitants of this parish yearly, as the minister and churchwardens should think fit. This sum is in the hands of Mr. John Kilvert, who pays £4 as the interest thereof.

Thomas Downes left £5, the interest to be given in bread to the old labourers at Shawbury Park, yearly, on St. Thomas’s day. This sum was in the hands of Mr. John Harris, who paid 5s. as interest, when the charity commissioners published their report.

Post Office.—At Mr. William Wright’s. Letters arrive at 9 A.M., and are despatched at 5 P.M.

Armson Charles, cattle salesman

Bayley Mary, straw bonnet maker

Bayley Samuel, butcher

Bayley William, beerhouse keeper

Cartwright Samuel, saddler and harness maker

Clowes Job, cooper and shopkeeper

Davies John, cashier and clerk to William Wyley, Esq.

Deakin Peter, baker

Dickin John, farmer, the Grove

Downes Thomas, tailor

Drury Joseph, farmer and brickmaker

Drury and Rayner, surgeons

Drury Thomas, Esq., Roden villa

Friend James, shoemaker

Hewes Ann, laundress

Hollis Benjamin, farmer, the Heath

Hopwood Peter, farmer

Howell Rev. Alfred, curate

Mainwaring Richard, bricklayer

Marvin Rev. William S., Vicarage

Oswell Thomas, farmer

Owen Edward, blacksmith

Owen Thomas, whitesmith

Pascall William, farmer, the Heath

Pickford Thomas, farmer

Pickford William, farmer, the Park

Powell John, farmer

Plummer John, mole catcher

Rayner Alfred Philip, Esq., the Castle

Southerton Edward, farmer, the Heath

Trevor Samuel, carrier to Shrewsbury

Webb John, coachman

Wellings Joseph, farmer, maltster, and vict., Elephant and Castle Hotel, and posting house

West Thomas, seedsman and green grocer

Wildblood George, gentleman, the Cottage

Williams William, shopkeeper

Winnall Samuel, farmer, Heath Grove

Woodvine James, farmer, the Heath

Wright Robert, wood ranger

Wright William, post master

Acton Reynald,

a pleasantly situated township, contains 1,448 acres of land, of which 381a. 3r. 21p. are in park grounds and plantations. In 1841 there were 37 houses and 159 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,854. 16s. Acton Reynald Hall, the seat of Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is a stately pile of building in the Elizabethan style of architecture, erected of white freestone, got from quarries on the estate. The mansion exhibits the characteristic style of the period in which it was erected, and has from time to time had improvements and additions made to it, up to the year 1848. The drawing room and other apartments are magnificently furnished. It stands on a gentle eminence, and commands a most delightful view over a luxuriant and richly wooded country; the pleasure grounds are extensive, and laid out with great taste; the choicest shrubs and the most beautiful flowers are scattered in the greatest profusion, and planted in designs most admirably executed. The conservatories and greenhouses are extensive, and kept in the most beautiful order. These gardens are highly creditable to the taste and superior management of Mr. Francis Bell, the gardener. The Corbets have been seated in this county from the time of the conquest, when Roger Corbet held large possessions under the Earl of Shrewsbury, “comprising the manors of Huelbeck, Hundeslet, Actun, Terneley, and Preston. Robert, his brother, held of the same the earl manors of Ulestan, Ratlinghope, Branton, Udecote, Langedunin, Weymore, Rorenton, Middleton, and Meredon. Sir Vincent Corbet was created baronet in 1641. His widow, Sarah, daughter of Sir Robert Monson, was created Viscountess Corbet and Linchlade in 1679. Moreton Corbet afterwards became the property of Richard Corbet, Esq., of Shawbury Park, whose descendant, Sir Andrew Corbet, was created baronet 24th September, 1808.” Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is the principal landowner: Viscount Hill, and William Embrey Wood, Esq., are also proprietors.

Corbet Sir Richard Vincent, Bart., Acton Reynald

Corbet Vincent Rowland, Esq.

Acton James, house steward

Bell Francis, head gardener and bailiff

Blantern Robert Hardwick

Evans Thomas, coachman

Fowler John, farmer, Acton Reynald farm

Gough John, gardener

Lee Francis, farmer, New House

Lee William, farmer, Painsbrook

Minton Samuel, farmer, Woodstyle

Ratcliffe Joseph, game and park keeper

Wildblood George, steward

Besford,

a small township situated two miles north-west from Shawbury, contains 707a. 2r. 19p. of land, the soil of which is highly fertile, and produces good barley and wheat. In 1841 this township is returned as containing 35 houses and 167 inhabitants. It extends into the parish of Moreton Corbet, in the hundred of Pimhill. Rateable value, £1,263. 9s. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet is lord of the manor, and owner of the whole township.

The principal residents are Joseph Taylor Reynolds Ogle, Esq.; John Powell, farmer; and William Powell, farmer.

Edgebolton

is a small village pleasantly situated six miles south-east from Wem. The township contains 617a. 3r. 33p. of land, mostly an undulating district, diversified with picturesque scenery. Rateable value, £710. 14s. At the census in 1841 there were 37 houses and 199 inhabitants. The farms here are much smaller than in the neighbouring townships. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., St. J. C. Charlton, Mrs. Bayley, Mr. Harris, and Mr. Thomas Onslow, are the chief landowners.

The resident farmers are Samuel Alltree, William Astley, George Cartwright, John Dickin, George Done, Charles Green, John Henshaw, Thomas Onslow (and licensed victualler), Thomas Richmond, William Shuker, William Spencer, and William Tudor; John Buttery, blacksmith; John Onslow, Pool Cottage; and Thomas Ward, maltster.

Muckleton,

a village and township in the parish of Shawbury, seven miles south-east from Wem, contains 1,033a. 3r. 14p. of land. In 1841 there were 20 houses, and a population of 113 souls. Rateable value, £955. 1s. St. J. C. Charlton, Esq., is the landowner.

The principal residents are Richard Higginson, farmer, the Moss; Henry Lawley, farmer, the Moss; Thomas Phillips, farmer, the Moss; Richard Powell, farmer, the Hall; Richard Powell, farmer, Pool House; Thomas Pritchard, boot and shoemaker; Thomas Wellings, the Farm; and John Wright, farmer.

Wytheford Magna

is a township and village pleasantly situated on the turnpike road from Shawbury to Wellington, seven miles north-east from Wem. The township contains 955a. 1r. 7p. of land, the soil of which is a mixture of sand and loam, or red earth. There are woods and plantations, which cover 207a. 1r. 27p. of land. In 1841 there were 18 houses and 101 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,114. 10s. Wytheford House is an ancient brick structure of considerable antiquity, now in the occupancy of Mr. William Taylor, as a farm residence. St. J. C. Charlton, Esq., and Miss Cooke, are the principal landowners.

Directory.—William Bayley, farmer and maltster; Robert Davies, farmer; Robert Hampton, farmer; Thomas Humphreys, farmer; John Stockton, farmer; and William Taylor, farmer, the Hall.

Wytheford Parva,

a small township two and a quarter miles N.E. by N. from Shawbury, contains 334 acres of land, and in 1841 had 10 houses and 44 inhabitants. Rateable value, £354. 18s. The landowners are Captain Horner, St. J. C. Charlton, Esq., and Miss Steedman.

The principal residents are Samuel Davies, wheelwright; William Davies, farmer; David Ferrington, farmer; John Jones, farmer; Peter Light, farmer; Richard Owen, farmer; Joseph Powell, farmer; and Eleanor Wainwright, farmer.

Stoke-Upon-Tern

is a parish which comprehends the townships of Stoke-upon-Tern, Eaton, Ollerton, and Wistanswick, and contains 5,602a. 2r. 26p. of land, of which 328a. 3r. 12p. are in woods and plantations, and 74a. 2r. 3p. in roads and waste. At the census in 1801 there were 626 inhabitants; 1831, 1,031; and in 1841, 1,000. Rateable value, £6,703. 4s. The village of Stoke-upon-Tern is pleasantly situated five miles S.S. by W. from Market Drayton. In 1841 the township contained 106 houses and 528 inhabitants. A. C. Heber Percy, Esq., and Richard Corbet, Esq., are the most considerable landowners in this township; Mr. William Taylor, Mr. William Meakin, Mr. Richard Whitfield, Mr. Thomas Goodall, Mr. John Heatley, Mr. Thomas Heatley, Mr. William Palmer, Sir R. Leicester, Rev. Thomas H. Jones, William Barber, Esq., John Tayleur, Esq., are also landowners. Rateable value of the township, £4,429. 7s. 6d. Stoke-upon-Terne was anciently the manor and estate of the Verdon family, and was in after times carried by marriage to the Ferrers. The village takes its name from its situation on the river Tern. The Church is an ancient structure, dedicated to St. Peter, consisting of nave, south aisle, side chapel, and chancel, with a castellated tower, ornamented with grotesque figures, and containing five bells. The side aisle is separated by pointed arches rising from octagonal pillars. At the east end of the side aisle is the Corbet chapel, built in 1782. It contains a magnificent altar tomb of alabaster, elaborately ornamented with two full length figures in the costume of the times of Sir Reginald Corbet and his lady, lying in a recumbent posture. On the sides of the tomb are figures of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, with the date when each child was born; but several of the figures have been mutilated. The children were all born between the years 1549 and 1564. Sir Reginald Corbet was a judge of the Common Pleas in the time of Queen Elizabeth. A beautiful marble tablet, very chastely designed, has been erected against the north wall, in memory of the Cotton family. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £20; incumbent, Rev. John Gladstone, who resides at the Rectory, a good residence, a little east by north from the church, rebuilt in 1844 upon the site of the old rectory. The tithes have been commuted for the sum of £949. 10s. A short distance west by south from the church, near the banks of the Tern, is an antique house, composed of timber and plaster, called Petsey; in one of the windows is the date 1511. The Grange, an extensive farm of between 600 and 700 acres, is the property of Richard Corbet, Esq., and residence of Mrs. Charlotte Lea. The Tern takes its course a little south from the church, and at the distance of about a quarter of a mile turns a corn mill.

Charities.—Andrew Turner left £20, the yearly interest to be expended in bread, and distributed to the poor of the parish the first Sunday in every month, after Christmas day, Easter day, and Whit-Sunday. James Talbot directed twelve penny loaves to be distributed on the same day as Turner’s charity. In respect of this gift there is 15s. per annum paid out of an estate in Stoke, called The Mount. There is also paid the yearly sum of 10s., from an estate called Stoke Park, which is also distributed in bread. The parish officers are in possession of a parcel of ground, containing between two and three acres, on which a workhouse has been built, and also of about half an acre of ground, with six small tenements, and gardens attached to each. It is not known how the parish became possessed of these premises; but it is supposed that they may have been purchased with the benefactions of Thomas Burrowes, William Burrowes, and Henry Bunbury, each of whom formerly gave £50 to the poor.

Eaton

is a small township, two miles and a quarter S. from Stoke-upon-Tern, which in 1841 contained 28 houses and 127 inhabitants. Rateable value, £916. 16s. The principal landowners are Mr. Robert Heatley, Mr. John Heatley, Mr. Richard Heatley, and Mr. John Topham.

Ollerton,

a small township in Stoke-upon-Tern parish, one mile and a half S.E. from the church, in 1841 had 31 houses and a population of 135 souls. Rateable value, £735. 13s. The landowners are Viscount Hill, Mrs. Whitfield, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Pointon, and Mr. Freeman. There is a small Independent Chapel here, erected in 1838. The congregation is under the pastoral care of the Rev. John Parker.

Wistanswick,

a township and small village, two miles N.E. from Stoke, and four miles S.W. from Market Drayton, had in 1841, 46 houses and 200 inhabitants. Rateable value, £621. 7s. The principal landowners are William Taylor, Esq., Mr. Thomas Goodall, Mr. W. Adams, Mr. William Corfield, and Mr. Robert Dawes; there are also a few smaller proprietors. The Independents have a small chapel here, of which the Rev. D. Dawes is the pastor.

Stoke-upon-Tern, Eaton, Ollerton, and Wistanswick Directories.

Adams Thomas, farmer, Petsey Stoke

Benbow William, farmer, Ollerton

Blainey James, tailor, Ollerton

Dawes Robert, farmer, Wistanswick

Davies Robert, shoemaker, Stoke

Dutton James, shoemaker, Stoke

Evenson John, butcher, Wistanwick

Gladstone Rev. John, The Rectory, Stoke

Goodall James, farmer, Stoke

Goodall John, farmer, Wistanswick

Goodall Thomas, farmer, Wistanswick

Goodall William, farmer, Wistanswick

Gosnell Edward, farmer, Wistanswick

Gosnell Thomas, farmer, Wistanswick

Green Francis, saddler and harness maker, Ollerton

Griffiths Joseph, shoemaker, Ollerton

Harding George, farmer, Stoke

Hardy Daniel, wheelwright, Ollerton

Heatley John, farmer, maltster, and corn miller, Eaton

Heatley Robert, farmer, Eaton

Heatley Richard, farmer, Eaton

Jenkins Samuel, farmer, Stoke

Juckes Henry, farmer, Stoke

Keay George, blacksmith, Ollerton

Latham Thomas, blacksmith, Stoke

Lea Charlotte, farmer, The Grange, Stoke

Lea William, farmer, Stoke

Lester Robert, farmer, Ollerton

Massey James, wheelwright, Stoke

Massey John, farmer, Ollerton

Meakin George, farmer, The Bendles, Stoke

Meakin William, farmer, Woodhouse, Stoke

Mullock William, farmer, Stoke

Palmer William, farmer, Ollerton

Parker Rev. John, Independent, Ollerton

Pears William, shoemaker and shopkeeper, Wistanswick

Phillips Thomas, farmer, Wistanswick

Pitchford Joseph, weaver, Wistanswick

Powell Edward, farmer, Stoke

Powell John, farmer, Stoke

Powell Thomas, corn miller, Stoke

Preston George, farmer, Ollerton

Preston William, farmer, Stoke

Rodgers Elizabeth, shopkeeper, Eaton

Shaw Stephen, beerhouse-keeper, Wistanswick

Simon John, farmer, Stoke

Talbot Richard, tailor, Wistanswick

Taylor William, farmer, Heathcote, Stoke

Topham John, farmer, Eaton

Walley Samuel, farmer, Stoke

Whitfield Richard, farmer, The Manor, Stoke

Williams Ann, shopkeeper, Ollerton

Stanton-Upon-Hine Heath

is a considerable parish, which comprehends the townships of Booley, Harcourt, High Hatton, Moston, and Stanton-upon-Hine Heath, and comprises 5,490 acres of land, of which 263a. 2r. 3p. are in woods and plantations, and 35 acres in roads and waste. The soil for the most part is a mixture of sand and loam, in some parts highly fertile. The northern verge of the parish presents a bold undulating surface, and in some instances the hills rise to a considerable elevation, from which a fine view of the country is seen. The farm houses are in general well built, and provided with commodious out-premises. In 1801 the parish contained 579 inhabitants; 1831, 722; and in 1841 there were 127 houses and 669 inhabitants. The tithes are commuted for £258. 15s. The village of Stanton is pleasantly situated nine and a half miles N.E. by N. from Shrewsbury, and at the census of 1841 had 50 houses and 264 inhabitants. The township contains 1,698a. 3r. 28p. of land, of which 120a. 0r. 32p. are in plantations. Rateable value, £1,655. 2s. When the tithes were commuted for this township, £73 were apportioned to the vicar, £27. 15s. to Sir Andrew V. Corbet, Bart., and £8. to Rowland Hill. The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is an ancient Norman structure, with a square embattled tower at the west end, of later date, containing five bells; the pews are of oak, and have a very primitive appearance. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £5. 10s. l0d.; now returned at £205.; in the patronage of Viscount Hill, and enjoyed by the Rev. D. Holloway, B.A., who resides at the vicarage, a plain brick structure, near the outskirts of the village. The Woodlands, a delightfully situated mansion, surrounded with pleasure gardens and park-like grounds, is the residence of Mrs. F. Wood. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is lord of the manor, and the principal landowner. Viscount Hill, John F. Wood, Esq., and the Rev. D. Holloway, are also proprietors. Stanton was the birth place of John Boydell, Esq., the liberal and spirited patron of talented engravers. His father was a farmer, and his son was intended for a land surveyor; when, however, about twenty years of age, he was put apprentice to an engraver, in which art he soon excelled, and from the profits derived from the sale of a book of 152 prints, engraved by himself, he began to encourage the best English engravers, and presented the public with a series of engravings of the works of the best masters, which soon laid the foundation of an ample fortune. He was elected an alderman in 1782, sheriff in 1785, lord mayor of London in 1790, and in the same year master of the Stationers’ Company. He was the greatest encourager of the art that this country ever had, and the English engravings, which before were considered much inferior to those of foreign nations, began from that time to be highly prized; and the exportation of them became a valuable branch of commerce. He also was a great encourager of the art of painting, and to this effect he undertook the superb edition of the Shakspeare gallery, the expense of which was enormous, and more perhaps than any individual had ever before embarked for such an object. Mr. Boydell, in a letter to Sir John Anderson, says, “I have laid out, with my brethren, in promoting the commerce of the fine arts, £350,000.” To the charitable and benevolent institutions he was a generous benefactor, and an attentive guardian. He died December 12th, 1804, and his remains were interred in great funeral state, in the church of St. Olave, Jewry.

Charities.—Stanton School was endowed with £5 per annum by Mrs. Baddiley, in 1721, who also left £40 towards the erection of the school house. The site was given by Sir Rowland Hill, and nine other persons subscribed towards the building of the school the sum of £14. 11s. 6d. About twenty children now attend. The £5 per annum is paid out of lands called Chealey Meadows and Chealey Wood, in Cheshire. Mrs. Baddiley left £2. 12s. per annum for a distribution of bread to the poor. The amount is paid out of the same land, and twelve penny loaves are given in the church every Sunday.

Richard Colley, in 1717, left £50; Joseph Smith left the interest of £20; Richard Smith, clerk of the parish, £2. 2s.; and Sir Andrew Corbet, in 1817, gave 25 guineas. These several sums, amounting to £98. 7s., together with £1. 13s. advanced from the poor rates, were placed in the hands of Sir Rowland Hill, who gave a promissory note for the amount to the churchwardens and overseers. Of the interest, £2 is laid out in bread, which is distributed every Sunday, in respect of Colley’s charity, 9s. is laid out on Christmas day, and the same sum on Good Friday, as the gifts of Richard and Joseph Smith. The remainder is given away in small sums on St. Andrew’s day.

Thomas Harper, in 1828, gave £150, upon trust, and directed the interest of £50 to be distributed among poor widows on St. Thomas’s day; the interest of £50 among poor men; and the profits of the remaining £50 to be paid to the master or mistress of the Sunday school at Stanton. This sum was placed in the hands of Sir John Hill, and secured by bond, bearing date September 29th, 1813. The interest is divided into three shares, and distributed according to the donor’s intentions.

Alford William, shoemaker

Astley William, farmer, Sowhatch

Besford Thomas, farmer, the Heath

Buttery William, farmer, the Heath

Faulkes William, farmer, the Heath

Ferrington James, shoemaker

Gollins William, shopkeeper, the Heath

Griffiths Thomas, farmer, the Heath

Hamer James, farmer, the Hazles

Hanmer Samuel, accountant

Hilditch John, farmer

Hollins John, vict., Lord Hill’s Arms

Holloway Rev. Dr. Jas. Thos., B.A., Vicarage

Jackson James, farmer, the Heath

Jeffries Jonas, farmer and corn miller, the Wood Mill

Jeffries William, corn miller, Stanton Mill

Lewis John, farmer, the Lodge

Massey Charles, farmer

Podmore Edward, Greenfields farm

Powell Caleb, farmer

Powell Samuel, farmer

Powell William, farmer, the Heath

Taylor John, blacksmith

Taylor Charles, shopkeeper, the Heath

Taylor John, shoemaker and shopkeeper

Thomason Richard, farmer

Tudor John, shoemaker, the Heath

Wood Mrs., Woodlands

Wood Thomas F., land and estate agent and valuer

Booley, or Bowley,

a township two and a quarter miles N.E. by N. from Stanton, contains, conjointly with High Hatton and Greenfields, 2,978a. 3r. 11p. of land: the soil is a mixture of sand and loam. The land in this locality has generally a bold and irregular surface; the scenery is beautifully diversified. The rateable value of Booley is £2,247, 9s. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart., is the principal landowner, who, with St. John C. Charlton, Esq., are the impropriators of the large tithes, which are commuted for £20 for the above townships; the vicarial tithes are commuted for £78. 10s. Mr. George Dale is also a freeholder.

The principal residents are Mrs. Ann Betton; Thomas Betton, farmer; James Cadman, farmer; John Hendley, farmer; Thomas Lewis, quarry master; William Phillips, farmer; Benjamin Powell, farmer.

Harcourt

is a small township with a few houses, picturesquely situated one and a half mile north from Stanton. The township contains 234a. 3r. 34p. of land, the owners of which are John Faulkner Wood, Esq.; Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart; and Mrs. Wood. Rateable value, £373. 16s. The rectoral tithes have been commuted for £55. 10s., of which £48 are paid to the impropriators, John F. Wood, Esq., and Sir A. V. Corbet, Bart. The vicar of Stanton receives £7. 10s. Harcourt Park House is a good building of stone.

The principal residents here are William Dale, farmer; The Park farm; and John Powell, The Mill.

High Hatton,

a township and pleasant village, situated two and a half miles east from Stanton-upon-Hine Heath, in 1841 contained 34 houses and 201 inhabitants. The area of this township, conjointly with Booley, is 2,837a. 1r. 4p. The land is generally fertile, and there is some strong soil; in other places there is a mixture of sand and loam. Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet is lord of the manor and the principal landowner. The rent charge of this township is included in the return for Booley. Rateable value, £2,095, 1s. St. John Charlton, Esq., is the landowner.

Directory.—William Betteney, farmer; John Espley, blacksmith; John Gollins, farmer, Greenhurst; Ann Heatley, farmer; William Heatley, farmer, the Hall; William Stephen Hoole, farmer, the Wood; Ibbs Margery, farmer; Richard Rodenhurst, farmer, the Heath; Charles Taylor, farmer and shopkeeper.

Moston

township is situated two miles north from Stanton, and contains 639a. 0r. 23p. of land, which is the property of Viscount Hill, who is also lord of the manor. The tithes have been commuted for the sum of £16. At the census of 1841 there were 11 houses and 61 inhabitants. Rateable value £960.

The principal residents in Moston are Robert Cartwright, beerhouse keeper; Thomas Chidley, farmer; George Dale, farmer and maltster; Samuel Forrester, boot and shoemaker; William Harris, farmer; William Ikin, farmer, Pool farm.

WEM

is a market town and considerable parish, which embraces the chapelries of Edstaston and Newtown, and the townships of Ashton, Cotton, Horton, Lacon Lowe and Ditches, Northwood, part of Sleap, Soulton, Tilley and Trench, Wem and Wolverley, which together contain an area of 13,841a. 1r. 10p. of land, of which 193a. 2r. 6p. are in roads and waste. Gross estimated rental, £26,594; rateable value, £24,944. In 1841 there was a population of 3,919 souls, of whom 1,952 were males and 1,967 females, at which period there were 832 inhabited houses, 40 uninhabited, and two houses building. The tithes have been commuted for £2,100. The town of Wem is pleasantly situated near the banks of the river Roden, 11 miles north from Shrewsbury; the streets are irregularly formed, and many of the houses have an ancient appearance; there are, however, many good houses and shops, and several respectable private residences of more modern erection, particularly in those parts of the town called New-street and Islington. The township contains 1,202a. 3r. 30p. of land, of which 14a, 3r. 24p. are in roads and waste. Rateable value, £6,428. 5s. Wem is a place of considerable antiquity, and was anciently written Wemme. At the Domesday survey it was held by William Pantulph, or Pantulf, of Earl Roger, when there were “four geldable hides and an airy of hawks.” At this time most of the land about Wem lay waste, covered with a vast pool, or overgrown with woods. When William the Conqueror deprived the English of their estates he gave the greatest part of Shropshire to Roger de Montgomery, and he shared it out among the principal officers that commanded under him, on condition that they should pay him homage, fight for him, not dispose of their daughters in marriage, nor their goods by will without his leave; that their heirs whilst minors should be in wardship to him, and pay a relief for admission to their estates when they came of age. On these terms Earl Roger granted to William Pantulph 28 towns or manors in the county of Salop, whereof Wem being one of the chief places Pantulph made it his seat, and the head of his barony. In the 7th of King John, A.D. 1205, Warin Fitzgerald procured the grant of a market to be held weekly, and a fair yearly at his manor of Wemme. It has therefore been a market town 646 years. The market was then held on Sunday, as was then commonly done in other places. This continued till the 24th of Edward III, when Simon Islip, archdeacon of Canterbury, forbid the going to market on the Lord’s day for the future, and the market was subsequently held on Thursday, on which day it still continues to be held, and is numerously attended by the farmers who reside in the surrounding district. Fairs are held on the first Thursday in March, May 6th, Holy Thursday, June 29, last Thursday in September, and November 22nd.

The barony of Wem was of considerable extent; on the north it stretched to Whitchurch, on the east it took in Tilley and Cresswell, in Staffordshire, on the south it bordered on the Clive, and on the west on the parish of Ellesmere. The first baron was William Pantulph, who had great estates in Normandy, which he held of his superior lord Roger de Montgomery, a relation of one of the generals of William the Conqueror. By his tenure he was obliged to attend this Roger in war, and came over with him in the expedition against England. Shortly after the battle of Hastings Roger de Montgomery bestowed 28 manors in this county upon the said Pantulph, to be held by military service. These manors consisted of as many knight’s fees as composed a barony, the head of which Pantulph fixed at Wem, which he chose for the place of his residence. The Earl of Shrewsbury, A.D. 1102, engaged in a rebellion against the king, and required William Pantulph, his vassal, to aid him with such a number of men as he was obliged to furnish by his tenure. On his refusing he disinherited him of all his lands and possessions in Shropshire, upon which the king made him governor of Stafford Castle. The king having resolved to beseige Shrewsbury, William Pantulph attended the king on this expedition, and finding the roads bad and narrow and the country full of woods lined with archers, the king employed 6,000 soldiers in cutting down the woods and opening the roads. On the royal troops appearing before Shrewsbury the king threatened to hang all that he should take therein, and shortly after the town was surrendered. The Earl of Shrewsbury by his treason having forfeited his honour and estate to the crown the barony of Wem was henceforth held immediately by the king, and hence the lords thereof had a right to sit in the great councils of the realm. William Pantulph lived to a great age and died beyond sea. The last of this family who held the barony was William Pantulph, who died in the 7th of Henry III., A.D. 1233. About this period a perambulation was made to settle the boundaries of the manor of Wem and that of Prees; the latter belonged to the bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. On the death of the above William Pantulph, his father-in-law, Fulk Warine, gave the king 6,000 marks for the wardship of his lands and heir, with the benefit of her marriage. This Fulk was one of the barons that in 1214 confederated against King John, and who was subsequently excommunicated by the pope. On the marriage of Maud, the heiress of William Pantulph, with Ralph de Boteler, he settled at Wem, and in 1370 the barony was carried by an heiress of the Botelers into the family of Ferrars, and afterwards in like manner to the Greystocks, a noble family whose principal seat was Greystock Castle, in the county of Cumberland. Ralph Lord Greystock, the second baron of this family, left a granddaughter, who married Thomas Lord Dacre; this family had their chief seat at Dacre Castle in Cumberland. The fourth baron of this name, George Lord Dacre, being a minor at the death of his father, Thomas Duke of Norfolk obtained the wardship of him, but had not enjoyed it long before this young lord died, and his three sisters became co-heiresses. Ann married Phillip Earl of Arundle, and Elizabeth Lord William Howard, son of the Duke of Norfolk, but Mary died unmarried. Thomas Duke of Norfolk, on the death of his third wife, formed the project of marrying Mary Queen of Scotts. In the 15th of Elizabeth, however, he was beheaded for what his peers adjudged to be treason. By his attainder his eldest son Philip, having lost his titles of honour that were to have descended to him from his father, assumed the style of Earl of Arundle in right of his mother, who was daughter to Henry Fitzallan, the last Earl of Arundle of that family. In the 25th of Elizabeth the court of Wem was first called in the name of Philip Earl of Arundle, and of lady Ann, his wife. His zeal for popery, and the resentment he was supposed to entertain for the hard usage of his family, rendered him suspected by the government, and he was eventually condemned to imprisonment during the queen’s pleasure, and fined £10,000. In the 31st of Elizabeth the court at Wem was first called in the name of the queen, on account of the attainder of Philip Earl of Arundle, but as he had held the barony and manor of Wem in right of his wife, by his attainder he forfeited them only during his own life, so that on his decease they reverted to the Countess Dowager Ann, on whose death, Thomas Howard, her only son, succeeded to the dignity of baron of Wem. On the accession of James I. to the throne, this Thomas was restored in blood, with the title of Earl of Arundle and Surrey, and put in possession of the estates forfeited by his grandfather’s attainder, thus he had a great fortune by descent, and a much larger one with his wife, who was the heiress of the great house of Shrewsbury. In 1611 he was made knight of the garter, and in 1621 he was created Earl Marshall of England, with a pension of £2,000 per annum. In the 8th of Charles I. we find the court baron of Wem called in the name of the Right Honourable Thomas, Earl of Arundle and Surrey, premier, Earl of England, Lord Howard, Fitzallans, Maltravers, Mowbray, Segrave, Bruse, and Wem, Earl Marshall of England, knight of the most noble order of the garter, and one of the lords of the king’s honourable privy council. He is said to have been a proud man, and his expenses always exceeded his revenue; he was the greatest encourager of painting, sculpture, designs, carving, and building that the age produced, and he employed persons many years in Italy and Greece to collect rarities for him; his statues and paintings were equal in number and value to those in the houses of most princes, and he provided the most sumptuous and magnificent entertainments. The barony was subsequently held by the Playters, Onslows, Wycherleys, and Jeffreys. On the death of John Lord Jeffreys, in 1720, the barony and manor of Wem descended to his daughter, then a minor, and shortly after the barony of Wem and the manors of Wem and Loppington, and the land and tenements thereto, were sold to Henry Lord Newport, afterwards Earl of Bradford, for £12,000. In 1730, Lord Newport, by will, devised all his real estate, in trust, for Mrs. Ann Smith, and his natural son by her, John Harrison. He took the name of Newport; but losing the use of his reason, his mother conveyed the estate after his death to William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, from whom it has descended to the present proprietor, the Duke of Cleveland. A court leet and baron is held yearly in October. Jonathan Scarth, Esq., steward; Thomas Griffiths, bailiff. Formerly at these courts causes were tried for debts or trespass in actions under 40s.

The freeholders at Wem are numerous, among whom are William Egerton Jeffreys, Colonel Wynn, Thomas Dickin, Esq., the Trustees of Wem Free School, Jonathan Forgham, Mr. John Jenks, Mr. Craig, Mr. John Rodgers, Mary Llewellin, Mr. Wilkinson, Mr. Phillips, William Owen, Esq., William Barber, Esq., Mr. James, Mr. Leek, Mrs. Kynaston, H. J. Barker, Esq., Mrs. Burd, Mrs. Gwynn, John Everall, Esq., Mr. George Clay, Mr: Glazebrook, Mr. Ashley, Mr. Holding, Mr. Robert Gough, Mrs. Tyler, Mr. John Basnet, Mr. Snape, Mr. Edward Broomfield, Mr. Breakspear, Mr. Drury, J. H. Walford, Esq., Mr. John Boughey, Mr. Poole, and upwards of forty others.

The Church is a venerable structure dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a heavy square tower sixty-nine feet high, in which are six musical bells; on the west side stands the statue of a man, as large as life, with a truncheon in his hand, supposed to represent Ralph, lord Greystock, baron of Wem, who probably was at the charge of building the steeple; on the east side is the statue of a lady, with the model of the church in her right hand, and a cross in her left hand. The north porch, and the lower part of the walls are built of red sand stone, coarsely worked, and are perhaps the remains of the first church erected here in Saxon times. The tower and upper part of the walls, and most of the buttresses are of the Grinshill free stone. The vestry was built before the great fire which burnt the roof, then covered with shingles, the gallery, and all the timber work, damaged the walls and melted the bells. The west window and the tower were built in 1667, and the west end of the church, the roof, and the pews, in 1678. The chancel was built about the year 1680: since that period the frequent reparations and alterations have left but little of the ancient character of the church remaining. The bells were cast in the same year, and a clock and chimes added in 1726. The communion plate are of large size, and consist of chalice, pattin, flagon, and basin, which were the gift of Gerrard Shelley, and Cicely his wife in 1707. The accommodation in the church was increased by building two new galleries, one on the north and another on the south side, and altering the pews in the old gallery at the west end in 1840, when 274 additional sittings were obtained, which are free and unappropriated, in consequence of a grant from the incorporated society for building and enlarging churches. There are also 703 appropriated sittings. There are tablets to the Smiths, Wycherleys, Fields, Traceys, and others. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £26. 4s. 4½d.; in the patronage of the Duke of Cleveland, and incumbency of the Rev. John Charles D. Merest, M.A., who resides at the rectory, a pleasantly situated mansion, built by the late rector, who exchanged the old rectory, and obtained a grant from Queen Anne’s bounty, towards the erection of the present structure. Dr. Henry Aldrich, an eminent divine and polite scholar, was rector of Wem. He was born at Westminster, in 1647, and educated under the famous Busby. In 1662 he was admitted into Christ Church College, Oxford and having passed through the gradations of bachelor of arts in 1666, and master in 1669, he took orders and became an eminent tutor in his college. In 1681 he was installed canon of Christ Church, and in the same year took the degrees of bachelor and doctor of divinity. During the reign of James II. he published several tracts on the popish controversy, which are said to have shown a clearness of arguing and depth of learning far beyond anything that had at that time appeared in our language. In order to excite and cherish a taste for polite literature, he annually published some piece of an ancient Greek author, as a new year’s gift for the students of the college. He wrote a system of logic, entitled “Artis Logicæ Compendium,” Oxon, 1691, 8vo.; and “Elements of Geometry,” in Latin, never published. He was also concerned in Gregory’s Greek Testament, printed at Oxford in 1703, folio; and Havercamp’s edition of Josephus. By his skill in architecture he improved the buildings of the college; and that part of it called Peckwater quadrangle, deservedly admired, was designed by him. His abilities as a musician rank him, in the opinion of competent judges, among the masters of the science; and although he chiefly applied himself to the composition of sacred music, yet he occasionally diverted himself by producing pieces of a lighter kind. For the entertainment of smokers, to which fraternity he belonged, he composed a smoking catch, to be sung by four persons while they were smoking; and he was also the author of “Hark! the merry Christ church bells.” He died at his college in 1710, leaving an order to be buried, without any memorial, in the cathedral. “His modesty and humility, his easy pleasantry, his attention to academic business, and to the credit of his college, his exertions for the encouragement of learning, and the proofs which his memoirs afford of reputable talents, various accomplishments, and amiable qualities, unite to transmit his name with honour to posterity.” The Independent Chapel, situated in Chapel street, is a considerable building of brick, fronted with freestone. The interior has a neat and chaste appearance, and is provided with a circular gallery. It was built in 1834, and will accommodate five hundred hearers. The congregation is under the pastoral care of the Rev. Joseph Pattison. There is a Sunday school in connection with the chapel, with about 150 scholars. The Independents have another chapel in Noble street, where the Rev. John Saddler is the pastor. The Primitive Methodist Chapel is a neat structure in Chapel street; and the Baptists have a chapel in Cripple street. The Irvingites have a meeting house in Noble street.

The Grammar School.—Sir Thomas Adams, the founder of the free school at Wem, was born in the year 1586; he was the son of Thomas Adams, a respectable tanner at Wem, who had his tan pits where the school now stands. His son received a liberal education at the university of Cambridge, and was afterwards brought up a draper in London. In 1639 he was elected sheriff of London, on which he gave up business, and devoted his time entirely to the duties of his office, and the good of the citizens. He was elected Lord Mayor of London 1645, which office he filled with the greatest disinterestedness. About this time the enemies of Charles I., who were then coming into power, thought proper to search his house, in pursuit of that unfortunate monarch, knowing his strong attachment to the royal cause; in the year 1647 he was committed to the tower, where he remained some time. He, however, continued his attachment to the royal cause, and is said to have carried his zeal so far as to have remitted ten thousand pounds to Charles II. while in exile. On the accession of that monarch to the throne, Sir Thomas was advanced to the dignity of baronet. Amongst the documents belonging to the free school there is a copy of the orders and statutes prescribed by him for the government of the same, purporting to have been made March 4, 1650. By these orders it is declared Rowland Hill, Esq., and fourteen others, should be enfeoffed of the lands and hereditaments appertaining to the school. That the said school should be for all children within the parish of Wem, except the children of those parents who being of ability should not have contributed towards the advancement of the said school. The statutes also contain regulations for the internal management of the school, and directions that prayers should be read every morning and evening, and the scholars catechised in the principles of the Christian religion. The gross annual income derived from the school property when the charity commissioners published their report amounted to £336. 15s., out of which the head master received a salary of £160 per annum, the second master £70, and the third master £70 per annum. The school is free to all boys of the parish of Wem for instruction in classics and English grammar; each scholar pays a small entrance fee, and if they learn writing or accounts they pay for such instruction from 7s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. per quarter. A portion of the income of the school arises from lands purchased by the first Feoffees of the school, who were instrumental in raising upwards of £370, which sum was laid out in the purchase of land for the general benefit of the school. The principal object of the foundation was evidently the instruction of free scholars, but when the charity commissioners published their report there were only two on the foundation, and there were only six when our agent visited Wem. The Rev. William Boulton is the head master.

The British School, a neat brick structure pleasantly situated, was erected in 1839, at the cost of about £800; it is capable of accommodating 200 boys and 200 girls, and consists of an upper and lower room; the latter is occupied by the boys, and the entrance is from Dark-lane, and the former by the girls, who have an entrance from Chapel street. At the present time 130 boys and 90 girls attend the school, which is chiefly self-supporting. The Privy Council on Education gave the sum of £200 towards the erection of the school. Thomas H. Taylor and Mrs. Taylor are the teachers.

The National School, a commodious brick building situated in an open situation, consists of two spacious rooms, which were erected at an expense of about £1,000, including the cost of the site. Thomas Grainge and Mary Ebrey are the teachers.

The Infant School, situated in Chapel-street, has an attendance of about 120. Mary Green is the teacher.

The Wem Union House, situated on the Whitchurch road, near to Islington, is a spacious brick structure erected to accommodate 200 inmates. The union comprehends twelve parishes, and has an area of eighty square miles. The average annual expenditure of the three, preceding the formation of the union, was £4,018. The following are the parishes in the union, viz.:—Wem, Broughton, Clive, Grinshill, Ightfield, Lee Brockhurst, Loppington, Moreton Corbet, Prees, Shawbury, Stanton upon Hine Heath, Weston under Red Castle, and Whixall. Clerk and Superintendent Registrar, William Owen, Esq.; Relieving Officer, Thomas Hanmer; Master and Matron, Mr. and Mrs. Rowley.

The County Court for law proceedings on actions and claims not exceeding £50 comprehends the following places, viz.:—Wem 4, Preston Brockhurst 3, Grinshill 4, Clive or Cliff 3, Yorton 4, Tilley 1, Sleap 2, Nunnerley 2, Loppington 3, Northwood 5, part of Whixall 8, Newtown 4, Ightfield 8, Corra 8, Prees 5, Darliston 6, Marchamley 6, Weston under Red Castle 4, Lee 3, Aston 1, Lacon 1, Edgboulton 6, Stanton 6, Shawbury 6, and Burton 6. The figures refer to the mileage from Wem. Judge, Uvedale Corbet, Esq., Aston Hall, near Shiffnal; Treasurer, William B. Collis, Esq.; Clerk, Henry John Barker, Esq.; High Bailiff, Mr. Thomas Griffiths, jun.

The Lock-up is a small brick structure situated in Grove-street; prisoners on committal are sent to Shrewsbury. William Freeman is the superintendent.

The Market House is a brick fabric with stone finishings, supported by arches and pillars in the front. The county court is held in the spacious room over the market. Mr. Thomas Griffiths is clerk of the markets.

The Stamp Office is in Market-street. Mr. George W. Poole, distributor.

The Excise Office is at Mrs. Sand’s, the White Lion Inn, High-street.

The Court House for magisterial purposes is situated in Noble-street; the magistrates who usually attend the petty sessions here are Sir Robert Chambre Hill, Bart.; Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart.; A. C. Heber Percy, Esq.; Thomas Dickin, Esq., and George Bowen, Esq. William Lucas, Esq., is clerk to the magistrates.

The Gas Works are situated in Grove-street; they were established in 1835 by Messrs. Thomas and Burton, since which they have been transferred to the mortgagee, Mr. Craig. The gasometer will hold 4,000 cubic feet of gas. A charge of 10s. per 1,000 cubic feet is made to the consumer for this luminous vapour. Mr. John Brown is the secretary and manager.

The National Provincial Bank of England has a branch bank here, situated in High-street. Mr. John Daniel Lloyd is the manager.

The traffic of Wem is facilitated by a branch of the Ellesmere canal, which terminates near to Edstaston, about two miles from Wem. It is chiefly used for the conveyance of coal. Mr. John Brown, coal, slate, lime, and guano merchant, has a wharf here.

The Wem corn mill is an extensive modern erection of brick, situated on the river Roden; the machinery is of a superior construction; it is occasionally worked by steam power, but the water power is constructed so as to work the machinery without any delay after the rise of the water. Mr. J. Boughey is the proprietor.

The following account of the state of Wem during the civil war is chiefly extracted from Garbet’s interesting history of that town. When the war broke out in 1642 the populace were in general in favour of royalty; the persons of most distinction in the county who supported the parliament were Mr. Mitton, Mr. Mackworth, and Thomas Hunt, Esq., M.P. for Shrewsbury. The above gentlemen, attended by Richard Baxter, a famous dissenting minister, having got a small body of troops about the latter end of August, 1643, settled a garrison at Wem, being the first which the parliament had in this county. To fortify the town a rampart or wall of earth was thrown up, which began at Drayton gate, and ran along the side of Sandland’s yard, and about fourscore yards into Cordwell, where it formed an angle, defended by a wooden tower; then it turned towards the mill, crossing a meadow and a road just below Oliver’s well, and passed along the side of the parsonage garden, till it came to the Shrewsbury gate. It then crossed the alleys to the corner of the school garden, whence it turned through the tan pits on the east side of the brook to Ellesmere gate. Thence it extended along the Noble-street garden to two houses, then in the fields where a guard was kept, and from those houses to the Whitchurch gate, and thence over Shenton’s field it came up to Drayton gate. The ditch was about four yards wide and of a proportionate depth, but probably narrower in those places where the land could be flooded, for the low grounds were laid under water from Woodhouse’s croft to Cordwell. The earth thrown out of the ditch made the wall or rampart, which was strengthened by palisades placed so thick that a whole coppice in Lacon was cut down for this purpose. All the houses and buildings without the rampart were burnt to prevent their giving shelter to the enemy. As soon as the king had notice of a garrison having been placed at Wem, he sent Lord Capel to Shrewsbury, as lieutenant-general of Shropshire; the parliament sent Sir William Brereton, a Cheshire gentleman, to oppose him. Lord Capel, at the head of 5,000 men, made an attack upon Wem before its works were finished. At the same time Sir William Brereton, with his Cheshire forces, drew near the town to support and defend it. By a manœuvre Lord Capel induced General Brereton to return to Nantwich, and in the meantime he attacked Wem, which was but ill provided against an assault, the gates were without hinges, being only reared up, and only forty soldiers remained in the town, the rest of the forces consisted of the rabble of the town, among whom a number of women particularly distinguished themselves, and gave occasion for the following rhyme:—

“The women of Wem and a few musketeers,
Beat the Lord Capel and all his cavaliers.”

The principal attack was made at Drayton gate; and old Vicars, in his “God’s Ark overtopping the World’s Waters,” says, “The great slaughter and execution which were performed upon the enemy when they set upon Wem, there being six cart loads of dead men carried away at one time, besides the wounded; and as it is said, there were fifteen found buried in one grave. Little execution was done upon our men; we lost not above three in the town—Major Marcow, one soldier, and one boy.” Of the king’s party he enumerates Colonel Wynn, slain; Major Vaughan, wounded; one of Winter’s captains shot in the back; Captain Davison, taken prisoner, since dead; Captain Manley, Captain Ellis, and Colonel Scriven, wounded. As the troops of Brereton approached, Lord Capel drew off his forces and returned to Shrewsbury. In 1644 the garrison of Wem seems to have been better provided for their defence. Prince Rupert, on his march to Chester, seemed determined to attack Wem; but having taken a view of the place from the Trench farm, he slighted it, saying, “It is a crow’s nest that will not afford each of my men a piece of bread.” At this time the greater part of Shropshire was for the king; but after the fatal battle of Naseby he lost ground in almost every part of the kingdom. Major-general Mytton was governor of Wem, the garrison whereof took Ercall House, belonging to Lord Newport; Apley Castle, belonging to Mr. Charlton; Moreton Corbet House, belonging to Sir Andrew Corbet; and Shrawardine Castle, the seat of the Bromleys. The plunder brought into Wem during these unhappy disturbances contributed greatly to induce an appearance of prosperity.

The dreadful fire which happened March 3rd, 1677, is a remarkable era in the history of Wem. It was occasioned by a girl suffering a lighted caudle to ignite the thatch of her parents’ dwelling. The season being dry and the wind boisterous, the devouring flames were speedily carried along the High street, Cripple street, and the Horse Fair, consuming every edifice except the free school. In Noble street it extended as far as the Draw well house, and in Milk street as far as the Rector’s barn. The church, the market house, seven score houses, and treble the number of outbuildings were burnt. The wind blew the burning thatch and shingles to a vast distance, so that in one hour the town was completely enveloped in flames. The loss of the property consumed was estimated at £23,677. 3s. 1d.

Among the eminent individuals of which Wem has been the birth place or residence, may be enumerated the benevolent Sir Thomas Adams, before mentioned, the founder of the Grammar School. Wycherley, one of the most eminent wits and comic poets of his day, was born here in 1640; he married the Countess of Drogheda, but after her death, from law suits with her relatives, he became embarrassed in his circumstances. He married a second wife a few days before his death, which happened in September, 1815. John Astley, Esq.: This artist, from the peculiarity of his good fortune, rather than by his exertions as an artist, has obtained a memorial in biographical history. He was born at Wem, and when of age to assume a profession he was sent to London, and placed as a pupil under Mr. Hudson; when he left him he visited Rome, and on his return from thence he went to Dublin, where he practised as a painter for about three years, and in that time acquired three thousand pounds by his pencil. On his coming over to England, and painting his way back to London, in his own post chaise, with an outrider, he loitered, with a little pardonable vanity, in his native neighbourhood, and visiting Knutsford assembly with another gentleman, Lady Daniel, a widow then present, was at once so won by his appearance, that she made arrangements to sit for her portrait, and then made him the offer of her hand; a boon which he did not think it prudent to refuse. This lady, by marriage articles, settled the whole of the Duckinfield estate upon him, after the death of her daughter by Sir William Daniel. Mr. Astley eventually became possessed of these estates, and died at his house, Duckinfield Lodge, Cheshire, November 13th, 1787, and was buried at the church in that village. John Ireland, the author of “Illustrations of Hogarth,” and other esteemed works, was also born at Wem.

Charities.—Francis Chambre, by his will, dated December 26th, 1676, charged certain lands with the payment of 40s. per annum, to be disposed of for the benefit and repairs of the chapel at Newton, or for the augmentation of the salary of the third school-master at Wem, or to both, at the discretion of his kinsman, George Chambre of Loppington, and the Rev. William Chettoe, and their heirs for ever. The premises charged with this payment are now the property of Mr. Dickin, who pays £2 to the schoolmaster and chapel warden every alternate year.

In 1703 Richard Corbet, Esq. granted a yearly rent charge issuing out of two farms at High Hatton, and directed that £4 thereof should be laid out every alternate year in buying six cloth coats or gowns for six poor people, four to be chosen from the parish of Wem, and two from Loppington; the said persons to be housekeepers reduced to poverty by misfortune; that £4 should be laid out every alternate year in clothing three poor boys of the parish of Wem, to be set out apprentices to husbandry; that 20s. per annum be paid to a writing master for teaching four poor boys writing and arithmetic. And he further directed, that every alternate year the said rent charge of £10 should be laid out in binding two boys, of the parish of Wem, apprentices to handicraft trades. The sum of £9 to be disposed of in one year, and £11 the next year, and so on from year to year. The yearly sum of £10, with some additions thereto, varying according to circumstances, is paid by Sir Andrew Corbet, the owner of the estate at Hatton. The objects of the charity are selected by the trustees, who meet about February every alternate year for the purpose, and 21s. is paid on that day towards the expenses of such meeting.

William Hinton, and Dorothy, his wife, in consideration of £101. 1s. 6d., conveyed to certain trustees and their successors two pieces of land in Whixall, called the Stanley End Pieces, to the use of the poor of the parish of Wem. Of the above, £50 was the gift of Thomas Spendelow during his lifetime, who directed the proceeds thereof should be laid out in bread every Lord’s day for the poor inhabitants of the parish. There has been no subsequent conveyance to trustees, and the churchwardens have from time to time let the property, which consists of two fields, containing rather more than seven acres, now let at a good rent of £12 per annum. There is also an allotment on Whixall Moss, given in lieu of a right of turbury, which is let for 5s. per annum. The rents are carried to the account of the churchwardens of Wem quarter, and out of this account there is paid, in respect of the rents above mentioned, and for Sir Andrew Corbet’s charity hereafter mentioned, 4s. a week, amounting to £10. 8s. per annum, which is disposed of in bread, and £3 of which is distributed in money. The sum of £3 is divided by the churchwardens and vestry clerk, together with £2 paid in respect of the Hon. Richard Hill’s charity, in small sums among the poor.

The Hon. Richard Hill, in 1726, bequeathed £100 to the poor of the parish of Wem, to be applied as the minister and churchwardens should think fit.—Rowland Whittingham, in the same year, bequeathed £10 for the objects of the said charity. With these two sums, and £2 advanced by the overseers, three messuages were purchased adjoining the church-yard. These premises were pulled down in the year 1822, and the site added to the church-yard. Before this period, the rents never exceeded £5 or £6 a year. The sum of £2 has been since paid out of the church-rate collected for Wem quarter, and £1 out of the rate collected for each of the other three quarters. When the charity commissioners published their report there was a sum of £40 in the hands of Thomas Wilkinson, which is understood to have been left many years ago by Mr. Minshull of Tilley. Mr. Wilkinson pays 40s. yearly as the interest thereof, of which 20s. is paid to the minister of Whixall, 10s. among the poor of Wem, 5s. among the poor of Tilley and Trench, and 5s. to the poor of Hollingwood End.

Sir Richard Hill, by his will bearing date January 1st, 1808, bequeathed £300 in trust to pay the interest of £100 to the poor of each of the parishes of Hodnet, Prees, and Wem, in such proportions as his brother John Hill, during his life, and after his decease, the owners of his mansion house, at Hawkstone, should think fit. The interest on the sum of £100 is paid by Sir Rowland Hill to the poor of each of the parishes of Hodnet and Prees. Nothing however was paid when the charity commissioners visited Wem, in respect of the legacy for Wem, nor had they any evidence to show the principal had ever been paid. If the payment of the principal cannot be proved, we apprehend that Sir Rowland Hill is accountable for it as the representative of the testator.

Sir Andrew Corbet, in 1817, gave the sum of 25 guineas, the interest to be given to the poor of the parish. This sum was applied in rebuilding the church, and the sum of 25s. is paid out of the church-rate as the interest thereof, which sum is expended in bread for the poor.

Mary Hankey, by will 1818, bequeathed £40, to be placed out at interest, and laid out in bread, to be distributed every Easter Sunday among poor housekeepers of the parish of Wem, at the discretion of the churchwardens.

Upwards of two hundred years ago there were three common fields belonging the town: they consisted of arable land, and were divided by stones or other land marks, so that each proprietor knew his own ground, which he ploughed and sowed, but when harvest was gathered in, their cattle ranged in common and fed promiscuously. The cross field took its name from a cross erected on that road, as was usual in popish countries. The chapel field extended towards Horton, and the middle field towards Edstaston road.

A List of Streets, Lanes, and Places in the Parish of Wem.

Back street, High street

Bank house, Ireland

Bow street, Market street

Brunswick house, Islington

Brunswick row, Islington

Chapel street, Market street

Church street, Mill street

Court house, Market street

Cripple street, Noble street

Crown street, Back street

Dark lane, High street

Draw well lane, Back street

Ellesmere road, Ireland

Grove house, Grove street

Grove street, Bow street

High street, May pole end

Hibernia cottages, May poll end

Ireland, Grove street

Islington, Whitchurch road

Islington cottages, Islington

Islington crescent, Islington

Islington house, Islington

Islington row, Islington

Maiden lane, High street

Market street, High street

Market house, Market street

May pole end, Drayton and Aston road

Mill street, Salop road

New street, Islington

Noble street, Back street

Roden lodge, Mill street

Rose cottage, New street

Salop road, Tilley

Union Buildings, Market st

Wembrook place, Islington

Well house lane, Dark lane

Whixall road, Ireland

Post Office.—At Miss Jane Deakin’s, Market-street. Letters arrive at 6 20 A.M. and are despatched at 7 20 P.M.

Aston John, gentleman, Market street

Barker Henry John, Esq., Salop road

Barker Charles Frederick, Esq., Market st

Barker Mr. Thomas, Salop road

Barlow Henry, tallow chandler and soap boiler, Market street

Beetenson Charles, Esq., Noble street

Boughey John, Salop road

Boulton Rev. William, Grove street

Brown Thomas Dickin, Esq., New street

Burd Mrs., Bow street

Cartwright Miss, Church street

Cotgrave Miss, Chapel street

Clay George, gentleman, New street

Deakin Miss Jane, Market street

Dickin Roger Spencer, Esq., Grove street

Dickin Thomas, Esq., Noble street

Dickin Mr. Thomas, Grove street

Dickin Mr. Richard Parker, Grove street

Dixon Rev. Wm., Noble street terrace

Edwards Edward, bookkeeper, Market st

Everall John, gentleman, Grove street

Ferrett Henry, inland revenue officer, Back st

Forgham Mrs., Noble street

France Thomas, Noble street

Gough Mrs., Back street

Gough Robert, gentleman, Back street

Gough Mr. Samuel, Market street

Greenwood Joseph, gentleman, Chapel st

Griffiths Henry, porter dealer, Market street

Griffiths Richard, draper, High street

Gwynn Edward, Esq., Noble street

Gwynn Samuel Betten, Esq., Noble street

Gwynn Miss, Grove house

Hanmer Thos., relieving officer, Wem union

Heatley William, Esq., Market street

Ireland Mrs., Islington house

Jones William, Chapel street

Jones Miss, Chapel street

Jones Samuel, cattle salesman, Back street

Kindillow Wm. Nail, governor union house

Kynaston Mrs. Mary, High street

Lee Henry, Esq., Chapel street

Lee Mrs. Mary, Chapel street

Leeke Miss Mary Ann, New street

Littlehales Fred., clerk, county court office

Lloyd John Daniel, gentleman, High street

Lucas William, Esq., Noble street

Mason John, skinner, Ireland

Meredith Charles David, registrar, Islington

Meredith Mrs., Islington

Meredith Rev. Charles David, Crescent

Merest Rev. John William D., The Rectory

Morris Henry, gentleman, Islington Crescent

Morris Mrs., Islington Crescent

Nickson Mrs., Chapel street

Oldham Charles, Esq., Tilley house

Owen William, Esq., New street

Parkes Mrs., The Crescent

Parkes Mr. Richard, Islington Crescent

Pattinson Rev. Joseph, Islington villa

Pearson Mrs. Sarah, Grove street

Phillips Mr. George, May pole end

Poole Mr. George Wright, Market street

Prince Captain Charles, Market street

Pritchard Rev. Mr., Chapel street

Ravenshaw Richard, bank clerk, New street

Sadler Rev. John, Islington

Smith Mrs. Wycherley, New street

Smith John, tea dealer, Noble street

Snape Walter, gentleman, Creamore road villa

Stockhall Henry, attorney’s clerk, Market st

Thomas Thomas, gentleman, Islington

Walford John Henshaw, Esq., Roden lodge

Walker Mrs., Back street

Walmsley Thomas, Esq., Cripple street

Walmsley George, gentleman, Hawkstone rd

Walmsley Mr. John, Hibernia cottage

Wilkinson Mr. William, Ellesmere road

Williams Sir John Bickerton, Knight, The Hall

Wilson Joseph, Esq., New street

Academies.

Marked * take boarders.

British School, Dark lane, Thomas Hickson Taylor, master; T. H. Taylor, mistress

* Cooke Miss, Noble street

* Foncier Miss, Noble street

* Grammar, Grove street, Rev. William Boulton, M.A., principal; Benjamin Burd, English master

Infants’, Chapel street, Mary Green

* Meredith Mrs. Hannah, Bow street

National, Back street, Thos. Grainge, master; Mary Ebrey, mistress

* Strutt Miss, Noble street

Accountants.

Burd John, Mill street

Wycherley Thomas, Noble st

Attorneys.

Barker Charles Frederick, Market street

Barker Henry John, clerk to county court; office, Market street

Brown Thomas Dickin, New street

Burd Jonathan, Market st

Lucas William, clerk to magistrates, Noble street

Owen William, clerk to the Wem union, and superintendent registrar, New street

Auctioneers & Valuers.

Burd John, Mill street

Franklin Josiah, Market st

Wycherley Thomas, and appraiser for the Wem county court, Noble street

Bakers & Flour Dealers.

Astley Mary, Back street

Harris George, Grove street

Kynaston Charles, Market st

Vaughan Thomas, High st

Watkin Sarah, High street

Weever George, Market st

Bankers.

The National Provincial Bank of England Company, draw on the London Joint Stock Bank, John Daniel Lloyd, manager

Blacksmiths.

Humphreys Wm., Noble st

Rogers Robert, Ireland

Watkin Thomas, Dark lane

Watkin William, Grove st

Wilkinson John, Market st

Booksellers, Bookbinders, and Stationers.

Cooke Mary, Draw well ter

Franklin Josiah, & printer, Market street

Boot & Shoemakers.

Marked * dealers only.

Bannister John, Back street

Forgham Jonathan, May pole end

Higgins Williams, Rookery, Ireland

Jenkins George, Grove st

Jenks John, Market street

* Owen Miss Ann, High st

Robins Henry, Market st

* Tomlins Charles, Market st

Watkin Richard, Chapel st

Weaver John, High street

* Wilkinson Thomas, Market street

Braziers & Tin Plate Workers.

Barlow Henry, Market street

Edge John, Bow street

Edge Samuel, Union place

Brewer.

Cooke Joseph, Draw well brewery

Bricklayers.

Beckett William, Cripple st

Hewes William, Back street

Morris John, New street

Richards William, Back st

Tomey Jonathan, Back st

Brick and Tile Merchants.

Barker Henry John, Northwood

Brown John, Grove street

Maddocks Samuel, Barker’s green

Builders.

Beddoe John, Wem brook pl

France Thomas and Son, Noble street

Prince Frederick and Son, Church street

Walton Thomas, Salop road

Butchers.

Astley Thomas, Noble street

Davies Benjamin, Grove st

Deakin Henry, Market street

Elkes George, Market street

Hales William, Bow street

Parkes John, High street

Watkin James, High street

Weaver Charles, High street

Weaver George, High street

Weever Frederick, Market st

Cabinet Makers.

Broomhall John, foreman, Cripple street

France Thomas, Noble st

France Thomas, jun., Noble street

Lee John, New street

Prince Frederick and Son, Church street

Carriage Builders.

Eaton George, May pole end

Prince John, Church street

Cheese Factors.

Richards John, Market st

Vaughan Thomas, High st

Chemists and Druggists.

Bickerton Samuel, High st

Lee Thomas, Market street

Micklewright George, Market street

Onslow Richard, & dispensing, Cripple street

Clothes Dealer.

Huntington John, Market st

Coal Agent.

Brown John, Grove street, and Edstaston wharf

Coal Dealers.

Jenkins George, Grove street

Ralphs Jane, Noble street

Wilkinson Thos., Dark lane

Confectioners.

Kynaston Charles, Bow st

Stockall John, Market street

Vaughan Thomas, High st

Watkin Elizabeth, High st

Weaver George, High street

Coopers, Turners, and Dealer in Bendware.

Crewe Joseph, High street

Drury William, Noble street

Corn Factor.

Richards John, Market street

Curriers & Leather Cutters.

Everall John, Grove street

Gough Robert, Noble street

Gough Samuel, Market st

Dyer—Silk, Woollen, & Cotton.

Yoad Samuel, High street

Farmers.

Barber Wm., May-pole-end

Clay George, New street

Cooke Joseph, Draw-well lane

Everall John, Lowe-hill lane

Forgham Thomas, Foxley

Forgham Wm., Well-house farm

Griffiths Thomas, Soulton lane

Jenks John, Market street

Jones John, Noble street

Parkes John, Market street

Richards John, Market street

Snape Walter, Creamore road

Farm Tillage Dealers.

Brown John, Edstaston wharf, and guano merchant

Lowe Thomas, New street

Richards John, Market street

Fire and Life-office Agents.

The Agriculturists Cattle Insurance Compy., Benjamin Burds, Market street

Legal and Commercial, John Everall, Grove street

Pelican, Family Endowment and Manchester Fire, Wm. Owen, New street

Salop Fire, Josiah Franklin, Market street

Shropshire and North Wales, Messrs. Barker, Market st

Fishmonger.

Salt William, Market street

Glass, China, and Earthenware Dealers.

Franklin Josiah, Market st

Green Jane Charlotte, High street

Robins Henry, Market street

Grocers and Tea Dealers.

Heatley Wm., Market street

Kynaston Charles, High st

Kynaston Henry, Market st

Lee Thomas, Market street

Onslow Richard, Cripple st

Poole & Wilkinson, Market st

Richards John, Market street

Vaughan Thomas, High st

Wilkinson Andrew, High st

Hairdressers.

Green Samuel, Bow street

* Jenkins Richard, and perfumer, Market street

Hatter.

Howard Andrew, High street

Hosier & Berlin Repository.

Russell Lucy, Noble street

Hotels, Inns, and Taverns.

Black Lion, Thomas Nevett, Market street

Buck’s Head, Martha Higley, Church street

Bull’s Head, James Russell, Bow street

Castle, Commercial & Posting House, Robt. Higley, High street

Corbet Arms, John Lewis, Chapel street

Crown, Frederick Wycherley, Market street

Dickins’ Arms, John Jones, Back street

Fox Robert Rogers, Ireland

Hawkstone Arms, Richard Wire, Islington

Horse and Jockey, Robert Davies, Bow street

Lord Hill’s Arms, Thomas Lloyd, High street

Plough, Thomas Griffiths, Market street

Royal Oak, Mary Llewellin, May-pole end

Seven Stars, John Jenks, Market street

Shropshire Arms, Oliver Snape, Bow street

Talbot, Richard Darlington, High street

White Horse Hotel, Commercial & Posting House, Thomas Griffiths, Market street

White Lion, Ann Sands, and Excise-office, High street

Ironmongers.

Kynaston Henry, Market st

Wilkinson Andrew, Market street

Joiners and Builders.

Beddow John, Islington

Francis Thomas and Son, Noble street

Prince Frederick and Son, Church street

Walton Thomas, Market st

Jewellery & Cutlery Dealers.

Franklin Josiah, Market st

Jenkins Richard, Market st

Land & House Agent.

Francis Thomas, Noble st

Lime Dealer.

Brown John, Grove street

Linen & Woollen Drapers Silk Mercers.

Heatley William, Market st

Huntington John, Market st

Poole & Wilkinson, Market st

Livery Stable-keepers.

Marked * are Licensed to Let Post Horses.

* Burd Benjamin, Noble st

Griffiths Thomas, Market st

Higley Robert, High street

* Owen Joseph, High street

Maltsters.

Abbott William, Noble street

Barber John, High street

Barber William, May-pole end

Cooke Joseph, Draw-well terrace

Elkes John, Ireland

Higley Robert, High street

Wilkinson Sarah, High street

Merchants.

Francis Thomas (timber), Noble street

Onslow Rd. (hop), Cripple st

Miller and Corn Factor.

Boughey John, Wem Steam and Water Mills

Milliners and Dressmakers.

Green Sarah, New street

Phillips Eliza, Union Buildings

Williams Ann, Chapel street

Painter, Glazier, and Paper-Hanger.

Worrall George, High street

Plumbers, Glaziers, & Painters.

Davies Samuel, Mill street

Parsonage Frederick, New st

Shenton William, High st

Shenton William, Market st

Rope Makers.

Green John, High street

Fowles James, Bow street

Saddlers and Harness Makers.

Stockall John, Market street

Tomlins Charley, Market st

Seedsmen and Gardeners.

Bickerton Samuel, Market st

Llewellin Mary, High street

Newnes John, Back street

Richards John, Market street

Shopkeepers and Provision Dealers.

Green Jane Charlotte, High street

Harris Ellen, High street

Harris George, Grove street

Jackson Sarah, Bow street

Jones Richard, High street

Owen Joseph, Market street

Stockall John, Market street

Sherratt William, New street

Vaughan Thomas, High st

Watkin Sarah, High street

Skinners & Leather Dressers.

Everall John, Grove street

Mason John, Ireland

Slaters and Plasterers.

Hughes William, Back street

Richards William, Back st

Smallware Dealers.

Burd Benjamin, Market st

Harris Ellen, Market street

Spirit Vaults.

Griffiths Thomas, Market st

Ireland Richard, Market st

Onslow Richard, Cripple st

Stays Makers.

Owen Mrs. & Miss, Market st

Surgeons.

Gwynn Edward, Noble street

Gwynn Samuel Betten, Noble street

Lee Henry, Chapel street

Walmsley Thomas, Market street

Wilson Joseph Green, New street

Surveyor (Land).

Burd John, Mill street

Tailors.

Butter Richard, Market street

Cartwright John, Backstreet

Cartwright William, New st

Drury John, Noble street

Edwards John, Backstreet

Parsonage John, New street

Powell Joseph, High street

Tallow Chandler.

Barlow Richard, May-pole end

Tanners.

Everall John, Grove street

Gough Robert, Noble street

Veterinary Surgeon.

Burd Benjamin, Market st

Burd William, Noble street

Upholsterers.

Francis Thos., Noble street

Prince Frederick and Son, Church street

Watch and Clock Makers.

Butler Henry, High street

Hill Thomas, Market street

Wheelwrights.

Eaton George, May-pole end

Phillips Samuel, Bow street

Watkin John, May-pole end

Wine and Spirit Merchants and Porter Agents.

Ireland Richard, Market st

Onslow Richard, Cripple st

Carriers.

To Shrewsbury—Thomas Harris and Joseph Owen, Wednesdays & Saturdays.

Aston

is a scattered village and township one mile E. from Wem, which contains 1,460a. 0r. 25p. of land, the soil of which in some parts is clay, in other parts a mixture of mould, gravel, and sand prevails; the strong soils produce excellent wheat. At the census in 1841 there were 47 houses and 212 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,107. There are 15a. 3r. 37p. in roads and waste. The principal landowners are Viscount Hill, Major Dickin, John H. Walford, Esq., and Thomas Holly Cooke, Mrs. James, Mrs. Nickson, the Duke of Cleveland, Sir Andrew Corbet, Bart., Mrs. Griffiths, Mr. Caleb Powell, and the executors of the late Mr. Gwynn and Mr. Hassall are also proprietors; Major Dickin is lord of the manor. At the survey in 1561 there was only one estate that was freehold in the township, and that was the property of John Astley. The river Roden intersects the township, and is crossed by bridges to Lee Brockhurst and Aston. Barker’s Green in this township is noted for clay which makes a superior kind of bricks. Hill Cop Bank is also in this township. Aston Hall, an ancient structure built of timber and plaster, is now occupied as a farm homestead. At the Domesday survey the Astleys were seated here, from whom are descended the Astleys, of Ashton; the estate was then of much larger extent. It was afterwards sold to the Wilkinsons, and about the year 1680 Lord Chancellor Jeffreys purchased this estate; it is now the property of Mr. Thomas Holley Cooke. It is stated on the table of benefactions that Ralph Wilkiss, of Aston, left to the poor housekeepers of that township four nobles a year, charged on Shaw’s land in the said township. The yearly sum of £1. 6s. 8d. is paid out of the said land now vested in the executors of Mr. Hassall, and is distributed in small sums among the poor.

Directory.—Farmers, Thomas Holly Cooke, The Hall Farm; Thomas Harris, The Old Hall Farm; Thomas Kempster, Brook Farm; Edward Morgan, Moat House; Thomas Powell Brookhouse, and John Woodfin; Thomas Abbott, shopkeeper; William Hewes, maltster and beerhouse keeper; Edward Williams, blacksmith and agricultural implement maker.

Cotton,

a pleasantly situated village and township three miles N. from Wem, is variously written in ancient records as Cotton, Coton, and Cooton, being derived from the Saxon, cot, a small house, and ton, a town. The name may import that it was a town consisting chiefly of small houses, such as were usually built about woods by the poorer sort of people for the conveniency of fuel. The township contains 1,703a. 3r. 7p. of land, and is separated by four small brooks from the townships that border on it; there are 30 acres in roads and waste. At the census in 1841 there were 95 houses and a population of 439 souls. Rateable value, £2,774. The soil is a mixture of mould and clay, naturally poor, but of late years has been much improved by draining and superior cultivation; marl abounds in the township, which is much used for top dressing the land. This was one of the 28 lordships which Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, gave to William Pantulph. Cotton wood was one of the five woods within the lordship of Wem. It is about three miles in circumference, and still retains the name of wood, although there is scarce a tree left on it. The chief landowners are Viscount Hill, George Bowen, Esq., Mrs. Cooper, V. Dolphin, Esq., the trustees of Wem school, Mr. Robert Sandland, Mr. John Rodenhurst, Mr. Thomas Ashley, and Mr. William Ikin. Cotton Hall in the time of Edward IV. belonged to the Maddox family, and in the reign of Elizabeth we find it possessed by Richard Ward, who in 1614 obtained license to eat flesh in Lent. The following is a copy of the indulgence granted by Richard Sankey, rector of Wem, as found in the parish register:—“For that Richard Ward, of Cotton, in the parish of Wem, and county of Salop, gentleman, is notoriously sick, and enforced for the recovery of his health to eat flesh for the time of his sickness. Therefore I, Richard Sankey, parson of the said parish, forasmuch as in me lieth by force of authority to me given by the statute in the fifth year of our late sovereign lady Elizabeth, do license the said Richard Ward to eat flesh according to the contents of the said statute, by me, Richard Sankey, rector of Wem. Registered according to the statute in presence, and with the consent of the churchwardens for the time being, March 22nd of the same month, by reason of the continuance of the forementioned sickness.” Cotton Hall is now a good brick mansion, the residence and property of George Bowen, Esq., J.P. On the west side of Hill-lane stands the ancient residence of the Cotons, who took their name from this township, and are branched out into several families of respectability. Ralph Coton, a draper, and lord mayor of London in the 1st. of Charles I., was of this family.

Bowen George, Esq., J.P., Cotton Hall

Ashley James, shopkeeper

Ashley Thomas, farmer

Bather Thomas, farmer, Wood End House

Bather Wm., farmer, Rookery

Bather William, farmer and corn miller

Bennett Benjamin, farmer

Boote William, farm bailiff, The Hall

Calcott John, watch & clock maker

Cartwright Joseph, farmer

Cooper Henry, farmer, Bank Farm

Cooper Mrs., farmer, Bank House

Cotton Thomas, farmer

Davies Abraham, bailiff to V. Dolphin, Esq.

Dickin Thomas, farmer, Common

Dickin William, farmer and butcher

Hall Richard, shoemaker

Higgins John, farmer, Common

Rodenhurst John, farmer

Ruscoe George, farmer, shopkeeper, & wharfinger

Ruscoe Messrs., lime works

Sandland Robert, farmer

Sparks John, farmer, The Brook

Tasker Francis, vict., Bull and Dog

Williams Thos., blacksmith

Edstaston,

anciently written Edstanton, signifying the town of Edstan. This Edstan may probably have been the founder of the chapel here, and had his seat on the north side of it, where the site of an ancient building is still visible. The fine north door of the chapel is opposite it, and was probably made for the convenience of the family that resided there. Edstaston is a township, chapelry, and considerable but scattered village, two miles N.N. by E. from Wem, having in 1841 95 houses and 452 inhabitants; in 1821 there was a population of 397 souls. The township contains 2,018a. 1r. 2p. of land, of which 28a. 3r. 36p. are in roads and waste. Rateable value, £3,385. 5s. The soil for the most part is a cold clay, it has been greatly improved by draining, and there is some good land for grazing purposes. The tithes are commuted for £298. 9s. 10d., payable to the rector of Wem. The township is intersected by the Wem and Whitchurch turnpike road, and a branch of the Ellesmere and Quino brook canal. The principal landowners are Daniel Boote, Esq., V. Dolphin, Esq., E. H. Chamberlain, Esq., Misses Knights, Mr. Edward Holding, Mr. Edward Groom, Mr. Godfrey Lewin, Mr. Samuel and James Lea, Mr. Walter Snape, Sir John Williams Bickerton, Knight, Mr. John Walmsley, Henry John Barker, Esq., Mr. Samuel Calcott, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Nickson, and others; the Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. The new park was formerly reckoned one of the five woods within the bounds of this township, but it has been so well cleared of trees that no remains of a wood are left. It was formerly enclosed with pales and stocked with wild beast of chase. Chetal wood in 1561 was held by Arthur Mainwaring, at the rate of 6s. per annum. There were formerly three common fields, the greater part of which was enclosed upwards of two hundred years ago.

The Chapel, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in ancient writings is usually called our Lady’s chapel of Edstaston. The festival of the nativity of the blessed Virgin being on the 8th of September, is the day appointed for holding the feast or wake, if that day happen on Sunday; if not, on the Sunday following. Mr. Garbet is of opinion that this was a free chapel built by Edstan, for the health and welfare of his own soul, as it lost its endowment at the time of the general suppression of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII. In the times of popery mass was sung here every day for the advantage of the deceased, and on Sunday the usual church service was performed for the living. It was not only independent of the rector of Wem, but also free from the visitation of the bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, who neither instituted nor inducted the incumbent, so that in this respect it was much on the same footing as a donative. The structure has a very ancient appearance, and is 23 feet wide and 82 feet in length. It is entered by a spacious porch of elaborate workmanship, built in 1710, exhibiting the Norman style of architecture. It is neatly pewed with oak sittings, and there is a gallery at the west end, erected by private subscriptions and a grant from the Diocesan Society amounting to £84. 4s., in consequence of which the sittings are free and unappropriated for ever. There are some relics in the chancel of the superstition of popish times; on each side of the altar are stands cut in stone, to bear the tapers that usually burn there; on the east wall is a stone jutting out, on which stood the image of the blessed Virgin, the patroness of the chapel; near the altar is a recess probably used for the preservation of the consecrated host, and in each of the side walls is a stone basin to hold holy water. On the north side of the altar there formerly stood a sacristy, or vestry where the sacred utensils and priestly vestments are kept. In 1723 a part of the west end wall of the chapel fell down, and the roof was so much decayed that it was found necessary to take the greatest part of it down. To lessen the charge, a license was obtained from the bishop, to make the chapel ten or eleven feet shorter than it had been. On the south side is a window beautifully foliated and ornamented with the family arms in stained glass, in memory of Admiral George Bowen and his wife, of Cotton Hall. In the chancel is an ancient mural tablet in memory of Richard Goldisborough; another to John Knight, Esq., and one to Thomas Payne, gentleman, with the date of 1760; a brass memorial remembers Richard Chambre, Esq. The living is a curacy annexed to the rectory of Wem. The Rev. John Stewart is the incumbent, and resides at Edstaston House, a handsome mansion of brick, delightfully situated, and beautified with pleasure grounds and shrubberries.

Creamore House is a good residence, occupied by John Unsworth, Esq. In Saxon times it belonged to a person of consideration, whose mansion house stood at some distance from the present dwelling, the site of which is overgrown with brushwood; but the broad and deep moat that surrounded it may still be traced. Edstaston Hall, a residence of considerable antiquity, formerly the seat and property of the Mainwarings, is now the residence of Daniel Boote, Esq. There are several other respectable houses, which our limits will not allow us to notice. The Independents have a chapel at Quino Brook, and at Quino Brook Wharf there are extensive lime works, and a coal depôt.

Boote Daniel, Esq., the Hall

Brown John, coal merchant, Park Bridge wharf

Chamberlain, E. H., Esq., the Park

Cliff Thomas, vict., Canal Tavern, Quino Brook

Cowley John, farm bailiff to Sir John Bickerton, Knight, Foxholes Farm

Davies Abraham, farm bailiff to Vernon Dolphin, Esq.

Dickin Edward, farmer, the Park

Groome Edward, farmer and shopkeeper

Hayward John, coal agent

Holding Daniel, tailor

Holding Thomas, shopkeeper, Quino Brook

Hope Thomas, wheelwright

Jebb William Thomas, Creamore cottage

Jebb and Son, farmers and corn millers

Kynaston John, Bank house

Lea James, farmer, High field

Lea Joseph, farmer, High field

Lea Samuel, farmer, High field

Matthews John, farmer, Rye bank

Nicholas Edward, shopkeeper

Richards Thomas, vict., Duke of Wellington, and agent and canal clerk for the Shropshire Union Railway and Canal Company

Rogers Edward, blacksmith and vict., the Harp

Ruscoe George and Abraham, dealers in coal, slate, tile, brick, lime, and general tillage merchants’ warehouse, Quino Brook

Stewart Rev. John, curate

Taylor William, farmer, Pepper street

Unsworth John, Esq., Creamore house

Unsworth William, Esq., Creamore farm

Walmsley John, farmer and maltster, Creamore bank

Walmsley Thomas, Rye bank farm

Wallace William, farm bailiff to E. H. Chamberlain, Esq.

Wilkinson William, farmer, Pepper street

Withington George, Foxholes farm

Horton,

a small township one and a half mile north-west from Wem, contains 496a. 1r. 20p. of land, of which 8a. 3r. 34p. are in roads and waste. Rateable value, £725. 5s. In 1841 there were 20 houses and 86 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Thomas Dickin, Esq.; Mrs. Lawrence; Mrs. Young; and the devisees of the late Mr. Nickson; and Mr. Ireland. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. The tithes are commuted for £88. 13s. 2d. About the middle of the sixteenth century the Husseys were the largest landowners here; the Moodies were the next considerable family; the Chettoes, Allens, and Tylers, were also families of consequence. The Ellesmere and Wem turnpike road crosses this township.

Directory.—Farmers: Ann Kynaston, John Onslow, Caleb Powell, and Philip Ratcliff.

Lacon,

a small township one and a half mile north-east from Wem, in 1841 had 12 houses and 84 inhabitants. It contains 398a. 3r. 5p. of land, of which 5a. 0r. 36p. are in roads and waste. The soil is various; in some places sandy, in other parts clayey; with portions of moss land prevailing in other places. From the latter large quantities of oak and fir timber have been raised, from a depth of from sixteen to twenty feet below the surface. The Wem and Market Drayton turnpike road intersects this township. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor and sole owner. Rateable value, £1,017. 15s. The tithes are commuted for the sum of £122. 5s. Ralph Bannister was lord of the manor of Lacon in the reigns of Edward IV. and Richard III. He had been brought up by Humphrey Stafford, the great Duke of Buckingham, and put in places of trust above all his servants. To his house the duke retreated when he was deserted by his army in 1483. He was proclaimed a traitor by the king, and lands of the value of one hundred pounds a year; and a thousand pounds in ready money were offered for his discovery. This no doubt tempted the cupidity of Bannister to betray his master, and John Mytton, Esq., sheriff of the county, coming suddenly with a strong body of armed men, apprehended the duke, disguised in the garb of a peasant. Tradition says that the duke, falling on his knees, cursed Bannister to the tenth generation. Sir Thomas Moore, in his history of these times, takes notice of the vengeance of heaven which soon after fell on this family, and observes, “Bannister’s son and heir lost his senses, and died mad in a hog-stye; his eldest daughter, of excellent beauty, was suddenly stricken with foul leprosy; his second son became a deformed cripple; a younger son was drowned in a small puddle; he himself, in his old age, was arraigned and found guilty of murder, and saved only by his clergy.” Joseph Bannister, Esq., was the last of the family that resided here, or was possessed of this lordship, which he sold to Sir Richard Newport, from whom it has descended, with other estates, to the present proprietor, the Duke of Cleveland.

The resident farmers are William Cooke, William Holding, Abraham Ruscoe, and Thomas Woodfin, Lacon Hall.

Lowe and Ditches,

a township one mile north-west from Wem, contains 668a. 2r. 38p. of land, of which 10a. 0r. 36p. are in roads and waste. In 1841 there were 16 houses and 98 inhabitants. Rateable value £992. 15s. This place takes its name from its situation on rising ground; low, in Saxon, signifying a little hill; hence the tumuli, or mounds which the Danes raised over the dead bodies of their famous men were called “lowes.” The name of “Ditches” may have arisen from some remarkable fosses or ditches, of which there are no remains or certain tradition. The soil is a reddish clay or marl, with a mixture of mould. The principal landowners are Lewin Jeffreys, Esq.; Mr. James Lea; Mr. George Craig; Mr. John Richards; Mrs. Langford; Mrs. Nickson; Mr. Forgham; Rev. Mr. Parkes; and the devisees of the late Mr. Watson. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. The Ditches Hall, an antique erection chiefly composed of wood, was the seat of the Twyfords, a family of consequence upwards of two centuries ago. It is a commodious, lofty structure, now in the occupancy of Mr. Edward Elkes, farmer. The Lowe Hall, formerly a place of consideration, was the residence of the Baron family. The coat of arms, still in good preservation, has the date of 1489. In the 5th of Henry VII., William Baron of the Lowe was of the Homage extra barram, or country jury. The Pym Farm takes its name from the circumstance of one Pym, at the beginning of the civil war, having been murdered in a field a little below the house, which was then covered with brushwood. He was the tenant of this farm, which will probably bear his name when all the ancient landlords are forgotten. This township is crossed by the Wem, Ellesmere, and Loppington turnpike road.

Directory.—Farmers: Edward Elkes, Ditches Hall; Thomas Elkes, Lowe Hall; George Greaves, Pym Farm; Thomas Hamlet; James Lea; Ann Kynaston; John Richards, Lowe farm.

Newtown

is a chapelry and small village, four miles N.W. from Wem, which in 1841 contained 16 houses and 79 inhabitants. The township contains 639a. 0r. 26p. of land, of which 12a. 1r. 20p. are in roads and waste. Rateable value, £844. 15s. The Rector of Wem receives the tithes, which are commuted for £87. 14s. 6d. The chief landowners are Mrs. Maddocks, Henry John Barker, Esq., Thomas Dickin, Esq., and Arthur Dickin, Esq.; besides whom are several smaller proprietors. The Duke of Cleveland claims the manorial rights. The roads to Whixall, Northwood, Edstaston, and Wem, intersect the township. About two centuries ago, the inhabitants of Newtown, Wolverley, and Northwood, being at a great distance from the parish church, agreed to have a Chapel of Ease, and for this purpose purchased a private house, which was fitted up for divine worship, and procured a minister, to whom the Rector of Wem gave a liberal stipend. The register of Wem mentions the baptism of a child in Newtown chapel, April 17th, 1659. In 1665 the owners of land consented to settle £10 per annum on a minister, and charged that sum on their lands for ever. The Governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty, in 1754, made a grant of £200 to this chapel, which was subsequently laid out in the purchase of freehold lands. It is remarkable, that Andrew Barton, who was the last person born here when it was a private house, was the first person that was buried here when it became a consecrated chapel. He died, November 10th, 1666. In the year 1836, the ancient structure was taken down, and a neat edifice of brick erected on the site, at a cost of £417. 12s. raised by subscriptions, which sum includes the expense of fittings. It consists of nave, transepts, and square tower, in which is one bell. The patronage is vested in the inhabitants of the above townships which form the chapelry. The living is returned at £50 per annum, and is enjoyed by the Rev. William Dixon, of Wem.

Charities.—There is an estate at Newtown, charged with the payment of £2. 10s. yearly, to be given in bread to the poor attending divine service at the chapel there. The donor of this gift is unknown. Arthur Harper, in 1787, bequeathed £90, upon trust, to place the same out at interest, and apply the produce of £50 thereof in the relief of industrious housekeepers of the townships of Newtown, Wolverley, and Northwood; and the produce of £40, the residue thereof to be distributed by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish of Prees, in the township of Darliston, on St. Thomas’s day. This legacy had never been invested as directed by the testator, but was in the hands of William Matthews, the surviving executor, when the charity commissioners published their report. Mr. Matthews pays interest for it at the rate of 4½ per cent.

Directory.—Francis Burd, gentleman; Farmers: John Hales; Mrs. Matthews, The Hall; John Matthews; Thomas Parks; John Tagg; and Samuel Wollan.

Northwood

is a small rural village, on the borders of Flintshire, four miles N.W. from Wem, which takes its name from the large wood that was formerly here and its situation in respect of Lineal Wood, which was south of it. The township contains 1,409a. 1r. 16p. of land, and in 1841 had 47 houses and 233 inhabitants. There are 21a. 1r. 14p. of land in roads and waste. Rateable value, £1,824. The tithes are commuted for £181. 15s. The soil in some places is sandy, with a mixture of gravel; in other places a clay soil prevails, and there is a small portion of moss. In 1561 the township contained six small tenements and four cottages. The great wood was cut down during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, so that nothing remains of it now but the name. The principal landowners are Lord Kenyon, George Bowen, Esq., Mr. James Rodenhurst, Mrs. Wilkinson, Mr. Bickerton, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Groome, John Barker, Esq., the Devisees of the late Mr. Watson, the Trustees of Wem School, Mrs. Maddocks, Mrs. Hassel, Mr. Edward Dickin, Mr. Edward Phillips, Mr. Thomas Windsor, and Mr. Walter Hales; others are also proprietors. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. This township lies contiguous to the Betchfield and Whixall mosses, where many of the labouring population are employed in cutting the moss and raising the submerged timber, which they carry to the surrounding towns for fuel; immense quantities of oak and fir trees are constantly got up. This and the neighbouring townships are noted for producing fine dairies of cheese, and the farms are occupied by practical and intelligent agriculturists. Considerable flocks of sheep are kept on the borders of Flintshire. The Redfellis brook has its rise on the fens of Whixall moss, passes through Northwood, and enters Newtown with a considerable stream, which, after heavy rains, overflows its banks, and covers the adjacent meadows. The Blackford brook divides Northwood from Flintshire. Northwood Lawns, the residence of Mrs. Wilkinson, is a pleasantly situated house, surrounded with tasteful pleasure grounds. The Hall is occupied as a farm residence.

Post Office—At Mr. Joseph Davies’s. Letters arrive from Ellesmere by gig mail at 7.30 A.M., and are despatched at 6.45 P.M.

Bowen George, farmer, The Pinfold

Brown Mr. John

Clay George, farmer

Darlington Thomas, farmer

Davies Elizabeth, grocer and shopkeeper

Davies John, farmer

Davies Joseph, victualler, Horse and Jockey Inn, and postmaster

Davies J. and Son, boot and shoemakers

Davies Thomas, blacksmith

Dobel John, cheesefactor and farmer

Dobel Thomas, cheesefactor

Ebrey John, farmer

Groom Edward, shopkeeper

Haycocks Richard, gamekeeper

Heighway John, farmer

Kynaston Arthur, butcher

Law Robert, The Border Farm

Madeley Wm., butcher and farmer

Madeley Wm., sen., farmer

Phillips Edward, Esq., agent to Lord Kenyon

Stocks James, farmer

Stocks John, wheelwright

Windsor Edwd., shopkeeper

Wilkinson Mrs., Northwood lawn

Wilkinson Mr. John

Wilkinson Rchd., gentleman

Williams John, Pinfold house

Sleap,

a small township, two miles and a half S.W. from Wem, contains 407a. 3r. 32p. of land, of which 6a. 1r. are in roads. In 1841 there were seven houses and 57 inhabitants. Rateable value, £580. 10s. Of the above, one house and eleven persons were returned at the census of 1841 as in the parish of Middle and in the Pimhill hundred. The tithes have been commuted for £72. 4s. 10d., and apportioned to the rector of Wem. The trustees of the late Duke of Bridgewater are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are William Groom, Esq., Henry John Barker, Esq., Mrs. Thomas Betton, and the representatives of Miss Lloyd. The soil is for the most part sandy or peaty earth on a gravelly sub-soil. In the reign of Henry II. Richard de Sleap had a grant of all the village at a fee-farm rent of 16s. per annum. The vassals of the said Richard de Sleap and his heirs were obliged to grind their corn at the lord of the manor’s mill at Wem, to assist at drawing the mill stones, and cleansing the pond, and to help Hugo Pantulph, then the lord, to make his castle. The reserved rent of 16s. is still paid; but homage ceased with the forest, the repair of the castle at its demolition, working at the mill upon its alienation, and the serving the king in his wars, upon the change of all tenures by knights’ service into common socage. In 1738, Sleap was laid in ashes by a sudden fire, which spread with such rapidity, that three houses and all the outbuildings were consumed. A brief was obtained for the unfortunate sufferers.

The resident farmers are Benjamin Adams, John Chidlow, Thomas Kent, John Phillips, and Robert Whall.

Soulton,

a small township two miles north-east from Wem, contains 672a. 0r. 15p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 3 houses and 34 inhabitants. Rateable value, £796. The soil in some parts is of a sandy nature; in other places a clayey soil prevails. There are five and a half acres in roads and waste. The tithes have been commuted for £96. 9s. 5d., and apportioned to the rector of Wem. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor, and sole proprietor. There are several thriving plantations here, covering upwards of thirty acres of land. The Wem and Market Drayton turnpike road intersects the township. Soulton Hall is a brick structure of considerable extent, exhibiting a fine specimen of antique architecture; the exterior has an imposing aspect, and the summit is surrounded by a parapet. It was formerly a seat of the Corbets, whose arms are carved over the entrance: it is now occupied as a farm residence, and near it are extensive farm premises, chiefly of modern erection, and on the granary is the date 1783.

The residents are George Bell, farmer, the Brook; Henry Dakin, farmer, the Hall; and Thomas Williams, farmer, Dairy House.

Tilley and Trench