Stokesay

is a parish and village in the lower division of the Munslow hundred, containing 3,609 acres of land, and comprising the townships of Aldon, Stoke and Newton, Wettleton, and parts of Broom and Rowton; the latter however is chiefly in the Hopesay parish, where it will be found noticed. At the census of 1801, there were 512 inhabitants: 1831, 529: 1841, 556; at the latter period there were 108 inhabited houses. Rateable value, £3,939 15s. The township of Stoke and Newton contains 1,222 acres of land, and in 1841 had 38 houses and 188 inhabitants. The Craven Arms is a handsome and commodious hotel, not surpassed by any in the county: in the front of which is a conical column, on which is inscribed the distance of this place from all the principal towns in England, Scotland, and Wales. At the Doomsday survey, Roger de Lacy held Stoches of the King, at which period there were eight plough lands, twenty villains, belonging to the manor, and a mill. The Lacy family continued in possession of it till the year 1207, when it was carried by an heiress to John de Vernon. Soon after 1240 the manor was sold to William de Ludlowe, whose son Lawrence de Ludlowe lived at the castle. In 1497 it passed to Thomas Vernon, and afterwards to Sir George Mainwaring, and he sold it about the year 1620 to Lord Craven, whose representative the Earl of Craven is the principal landowner and lord of the manor. Stoke Castle, formerly the seat of the Baldwin family, is a curious specimen of the castellated mansion of former days. A gate house constructed of wooden framework, with curious carvings, leads to a quadrangular court, on one side of which are the remains of the rampart, and on the other sides the house, offices, and tower. The hall and tower is opposite the gate house, in the latter is a winding staircase. The hall is very spacious, but there is no vestige of a fire-place, the ancient mode of warming apartments of this description being by a reredoss, or brazier, filled with burning charcoal, and placed in the centre; at one end is the gallery for the minstrelsy on days of festivity; the wainscot is of oak, and the chimney piece is elaborately carved. The tower which is lofty and in the form of an irregular polygon, rises from the south-west corner of the court, and is crowned with an embattled parapet; the ground floor is a gloomy apartment lighted by four small pointed windows, and the upper stories are divided into very small rooms. This stately mansion has suffered a degradation not uncommon to places of ancient note, part of it having been used as an out-house to an adjoining farm, and the rest suffered to fall to decay.

The Church is a venerable structure situated near the castle, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and consists of nave and chancel, with a tower in which are six bells. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £4. 13s. 4d., now returned at £340.; incumbent, Rev. William Williams. The Parochial school was formerly held in the church belfry, it is now taught in a private house, but a new school is expected shortly to be built. Roger Powell who died in 1616, left to this parish £10. a year, and directed one shilling a week to be distributed to the poor, and the residue towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster. Of this annuity, which is paid out of a farm in Church Stoke and Lydham, £2. 12s; is given away with the sacrament money on St. Thomas’s day, and the remainder is paid to the schoolmaster. Mary Pearce, in 1769, bequeathed £5 to the poor of this parish, and it was then agreed that the said sum should be laid out in the purchase of a bier cloth, the cost of which was £4. 5s. 7½d., and the rest in books for the poor children of the parish; it was further agreed that in lieu of the interest of the said £5, a bible should be given yearly on Easter Monday to such poor child as the parishioners should appoint.

Directory.—Richard Coston, farmer, Newton; William Jones, wheelwright, Newton; Enoch Morris, farmer, Stoke Castle; Richard Owen, vict., Craven Arms Hotel; Francis Owen, vict., Red Lion, Newton; Joseph Speakes, schoolmaster; Rev. William Williams, vicar, Stokesay.

Aldon, a township and village in the parish of Stokesay, in 1841 contained 45 houses and 236 inhabitants. The chief landowners are Henry Lester, Esq., Hon. R. H. Clive, and Mr. William Hotchkiss, there are also a few small proprietors. Limestone is found in abundance in this township; in getting the stone, bones have frequently been found of animals that are now extinct,—not long ago some very large antlers of the deer were found. The principal residents are John Bishop, farmer; William Hotchkiss, farmer and lime burner; Edward Medlicott, farmer, Aldon Court; Benjamin Pugh, farmer, Steperside; Lady Mary Ann Syer, Stone House.

Broom and Rowton is a township partly in the Munslow hundred and partly in the Purslow hundred, situated about a mile and a half east from Clungunford. At the census of 1841 two houses and eighteen inhabitants were returned as in Stokesay parish, and two houses and fifteen inhabitants as in the parish of Clungunford. The principal residents are Francis Bach, farmer, Rowton; George Beddows, farmer, Rowton; Timothy Bishop, farmer, Rowton; John and Richard Marston, farmers, The Weo.

Wettleton, a township and small village, is situated about half a mile N.E. from Stoke, and in 1841 had 25 houses and 114 inhabitants. The land is the property of the Earl of Craven, and the resident farmers are Jeremiah Sheppard and William Sheppard.