Lilleshall

is a parish in the Newport division of the South Bradford hundred, which comprises the townships of Lilleshall, Donington, and Muxton, and embraces 6,111a. 3r. 9p. of land. In 1801 the parish had a population of 2,060 souls; 1831, 3,596; and in 1841 there were 708 houses and 3,851 inhabitants. Rateable value, £12,034. 1s. 8d. The Duke of Sutherland is lord of the manor, and owner of the whole parish, except about half a dozen acres, the property of Mr. John Bradborn, in the township of Muxton. The village of Lilleshall is pleasantly situated on the acclivity of a hill, three miles south-west from Newport. The township in 1841 contained 155 houses and 795 inhabitants; the houses are scattered, and the population find employment in the extensive collieries and iron works with which the vicinity abounds. The Church is a venerable structure mantled with ivy, and dedicated to St. Mary; in the tower is a peal of six bells. On the north side of the chancel is an altar tomb, with two full length figures, in memory of dame Catherine Leveson and Sir Richard Leveson: the former died March 31st, 1674, and the latter June 2nd, 1661. The old font, about twenty years ago, was used as a cistern to a pump at Lilleshall old hall; it was removed by the late vicar, and now stands at the west end of the church. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £6. 17s. 11d.; now returned at £338; in the patronage of the Duke of Sutherland; incumbent, Rev. Henry George Bunsen; curate, Rev. Thomas Bucknall Lloyd. On Lilleshall Hill, in this parish, a monument was erected in 1839, to the memory of the first Duke of Sutherland; on June 20th, 1839, it was struck with lightning, and sustained considerable damage; but it was shortly after put in a state of complete reparation. On the north side is the following inscription.—

To the memory of
George Granville Leveson Gower, K G
First Duke of Sutherland,
The most just and generous of landlords.
This monument is erected
by the occupiers of his Grace’s Shropshire farms,
as a public testimony that he
went down to the grave with the blessings
of his tenants on his head,
and left behind him upon his estates
the best inheritance which a gentleman of England
can bequeath to his son:
men ready to stand by his house
heart and hand.

On the south side of the monument is the inscription, “Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s, thy God’s, and truth’s.” It is related that at the trial of Queen Caroline, the Lord Chancellor Eldon, in his charge to the peers, told them to “Be just and fear not,” when the Duke of Sutherland immediately rose from his place in the house and declared that he echoed the sentiments of his noble and learned friend on the wool sack, and would copy the immortal bard still farther by saying, “Let all the ends thou aimest at be thy country’s, thy God’s, and truth’s.” This was the occasion of the inscription being placed on the monument. The obelisk was designed by Sir Francis Chantrey.

His Grace, in March, 1803, succeeded to the trust estates and canal of his maternal uncle, the late Duke of Bridgewater, and in October in the same year, by the death of his father, he became Marquis of Stafford, and entered into possession of the paternal estates of the Leveson branch of the family, in Staffordshire and Shropshire, and to the ancient patrimony of the Gowers of Yorkshire. For some time he filled the office of postmaster general, and was ambassador to the court of France at the commencement of the revolution in that country. His titles were George Grenville, Duke of Sutherland, Marquis of the County of Stafford, Earl Gower, Viscount Trentham, Baron Gower of Sittenham, and a baronet. His Grace was also a Knight of the Garter, and a Privy Councillor. Among the near relations of the Duke of Sutherland may be enumerated the distinguished families of Bedford, Rutland, Lansdowne, Marlborough, Dorset, Kingston, Waldegrave, Jersey, Thanet, and Warwick. The Shropshire estates of the Duke of Sutherland are upwards of 20,000 acres.

The National School, a plain brick structure a little south from the church, has an attendance of about eighty boys and sixty girls. It is supported by the Duke of Sutherland and a small charge from each scholar. There are about three roods of garden ground attached to the school, which is divided into twenty allotments, and cultivated by twenty of the senior scholars for their own benefit.

Lilleshall Abbey.—In a solitary and retired situation, about a mile south from the church, may be seen the ruins of Lilleshall Abbey. At the great western entrance is a fine Norman arch, richly recessed with ribs and running foliage. The pillars and arches of the church have been entirely destroyed, but the doors and windows still remain. The south door, by which a communication was formed with the cloister, is doubtless one of the most highly ornamented arches in the kingdom. A semi-circular arch, overspread with ornaments peculiar to the Saxon and early Norman buildings, is supported by clusters of slender shafts, some of which are spiral, and others covered with lozenge work, having the intermediate spaces embellished with mouldings. The east window of the choir has a beautiful pointed arch of the fourteenth century, and the north and south windows are narrow plain, and round headed. The walls of the refectory have been converted into a residence. The church was cruciform, and had probably two towers: one in the centre and the other at the west end; the breadth of the nave is thirty-six feet, and the length two hundred and twenty-eight feet. The boundary wall of the abbey encompassed several acres, and in some parts is still entire. The ruins of the abbey are scattered over a large space, and the walls, which in some parts are mantled with ivy, are of considerable height, and the fragments of superb workmanship still to be seen show it to have been a place of great magnificence and architectural grandeur. The stalls of the choir at the dissolution were removed to the collegiate church of Wolverhampton, where they now remain. Richard de Belmeis, says Bishop Tanner, the last dean of the collegiate church of St. Alkmund, in Shrewsbury, about the year 1145, with the consent of pope Eugenius and King Stephen, surrendered up that church with all the lands and churches belonging to the same to the use of some regular canons of the order of St. Augustine, who came from Dorsetshire and began to build an abbey to the honour of the blessed virgin, upon one of the prebendal estates, here in the wood of Lilleshall, to which his kinsman, Philip de Belmeis was an early and great benefactor. Other authorities state that in the time of the Saxon dynasty a religious house was dedicated here to the use of secular canons or prebendaries, and afterwards became a nunnery, which was reduced to a state of desolation by the predatory incursions of the Welsh tribes, and it so continued until about the year 1145. Among the principal benefactors to this abbey were Alanta Zouche John le Strange, who gave the church of Hulme; and Hillaria de Trussebut, the wife of Robert de Bulders, who gave certain lands, and directed her body to be buried within the precincts of the abbey. In the 34th Henry III. the abbot had leave to grub up twenty-three acres in the woods of Lilleshall, and in the 7th of Edward to make an assart of the wood near Watling street, in the forest of Wombridge. In the 11th of Edward I. the abbot had leave to make a park. The abbey was endowed at subsequent periods by different pious individuals, and the annual income at the general dissolution of religious houses was valued at £229. 3s. per annum. On account of the situation of this monastery, near the Chester road, the abbots were sometimes known to complain that their income was too scanty to entertain the continual influx of visitors that travelled that road.

Charities.—Sir Richard Leveson, by will, dated 5th of November, 1660, gave to the poor people inhabiting the parish of Lilleshall a rent charge of £5 per annum, issuing out of certain lands called Kainton Meadow. The Marquis of Stafford pays this gift yearly, which is distributed on St. Thomas’s-day by the minister and churchwardens. There is a piece of land still called Kainton Meadow, which is no doubt the land charged by the testator.

Lady Catherine Leveson, by her will, in 1670, devised to trustees her manor of Foxley, in Northamptonshire, and directed the yearly proceeds to be put to charitable uses; among others to the payment of £120 a year to the maintenance of twelve poor widows, three of whom were to be inhabitants of the parish of Lilleshall, and she directed that there should be provided by the minister and parish officers, out of the £10 respectively allowed for their maintenance, a gown of grey cloth, upon the breast of which gown the letters of K. L. in blue cloth should be set, which gown should be constantly wore by the widows, and if any one should refuse to wear them she should lose the benefit of the charity. The testator gave a further sum of £100 yearly to be applied in putting forth ten poor boys apprentices, two of whom should be children of the inhabitants of Lilleshall. In respect of this charity £50 a year is received by the churchwardens of Lilleshall, out of which £10 a year are paid to three poor widows, appointed by the minister, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor, a preference being given to such as have fallen into poverty from better circumstances, and have not received parochial relief. The gowns have not been provided for them for many years. Two boys are usually apprenticed every year with premiums of £10 each. Upon inspection of the parish books which commence in 1634, it appears that various small benefactions have been given to the poor, which were placed in the hands of different persons, who paid interest for them. These sums appear to have passed in various proportions to other persons, and the interest thereon to have fluctuated so as to afford no certain information as to the amount or donation of the benefactions. In the year 1718 the poor’s stock appears to have amounted to £40. In 1734 the sum of £56 was put by the churchwardens into the parish chest for the use of the poor. No further entry occurs till 1757, when a sum of £20 appears to have been in the hands of Charles Lawrence, and £15 in the hands of Henry Barber. The £20 subsequently passed into the hands of Robert Garmeson, who in 1786 gave his note of hand for the money, and shortly after died insolvent. The entries of receipt of interest of the £15 cease in 1800, for several years previous to which it appears to have been paid by Mr. James Barber, about which time he died in bad circumstances, so that this sum may also be considered as lost.

Lilleshall House, the magnificent seat of the Marquis of Stafford, is situated on a commanding eminence, from which extensive and beautiful prospects of the surrounding country are seen. The mansion is about a mile from the ruins of Lilleshall Abbey, within the bounds of the parish of Sheriff Hales, and was erected by the late Duke of Sutherland; it is built of beautiful white free stone, and exhibits a fine specimen of the Tudor style of architecture, from designs by Sir John Wyattville. The garden and pleasure grounds are laid out with admirable taste, and cover between forty and fifty acres. The flower garden from its extent and the beautiful order in which it is kept is surpassed by few in the kingdom; the manner of planting the flowers of one particular colour so as to form the greatest contrast with the beds contiguous to it has a most brilliant and dazzling effect. An avenue in the garden, which stretches 300 yards in length, has a very pleasing appearance; the frame work is of wood, to which are trained roses, japonicas, the various sorts of clamitas, and fruit trees, and in the delightful season when the clustering fruits hang in profusion, enriched with the autumnal tints, among the beautiful blossoms of the japonica and rose—the whole has a most enchanting appearance. The terrace commands a fine view of the park, the woody scenery in the vicinity, and a large tract of the country extending over North Shropshire into Staffordshire, Cheshire, and the mountainous district of Wales.

The village and parish of Sheriff Hales is mostly situated in Staffordshire. The residents of a few scattered farms, and at the mansion of Lilleshall House, are included in the following directory.

Those with * affixed are in the parish of Sheriff Hales, and the rest in Lilleshall parish.

* Stafford The Marquis of, Lilleshall House

Adams John, assistant overseer & constable

Adams Thomas, nursery and seedsman

Bates William, parish clerk and bricklayer

Birch Thomas, surveyor

Bunsen Rev. Henry George, vicar, Lilleshall Old Hall

Diggens Emma, schoolmistres

Diggens William, schoolmaster

Duncalfe Rd., farmer, Honnington Grange

Edwards Thomas, vict., Red House

* Elliot Wm., gardener, Lilleshall House

Higgins Mr., farmer, Lubstree Park

Howle Jane and Mary, shopkeepers

Hughes George, cashier

Hunt John, farm bailiff

James Mary, farmer, Cheswall Grange

Jones John, farmer

* Johnson Thomas, farmer, Red Hill

* Leman Tubal Cain, butler, Lilleshall House

Lloyd Rev. Thos. Bucknall, curate, Vicarage

Maddings Thomas, corn miller & maltster

* Pearce John, farmer, Hinks

* Pearce Mary, farmer

Phillips John B., farmer, Brockton Leasows

* Phillips Joseph Taylor, farmer, Manor House

* Smith William, Esq., land agent to the Duke of Sutherland, Little Hales

Spearman Elizabeth, farmer

Timmis John, farmer, Abbey farm

West Francis, farmer, Lilleshall Grange

Wilde Edward, farmer, Lilleshall Hill