Neen Sollars

is a parish and pleasant rural village, in the Hundred of Overs, situated three miles south-west from Cleobury Mortimer, and ten miles east by south from Ludlow. It is intersected by the river Rea, which is crossed a short distance below the village by a brick bridge. In this parish are several hop plantations. It contained at the census of 1851, 40 houses and 218 persons. Population in 1801, 197; and in 1831, 208; 1841, 190. There are 1,916a. 1r. 31p. of land, the rateable value of which is £1,732. 14s. The principal landowners are Sir Edward Blount, Bart.; Mr. John Cooke; Mrs. Ann Wall; Mrs. Lucy Botfield; Charles Wickstead, Esq.; Mr. Joseph Mantle; and Mr. Richard Hall; besides whom are several smaller proprietors. The family of the Conynsbys were formerly lords of this manor and residents in the parish. In the church is a monument to the memory of Humphrey Conynsby, Esq., who was born about the year 1567, and commenced his travels in 1594, and for four years remained on the continent, when he returned home a little while, and then took his journey again into Bohemia, Polonia, and Hungary, where for the defence of the Christian faith, he put himself under the banner of Rodulph, the second emperor of the Romans, and was at the siege of Stregonium, in Hungary, against the Turks. Afterwards he visited most of the ancient cities of Greece, and from thence he went to Constantinople, in the reign of Mahomet, the third emperor of the Turks, who, to do him honour, gave him a Turkish gown of cloth and gold; and his mother, the Sultana Ebrita, gave him another rich gown of cloth and silver, and fifty chequins in gold. After a twelvemonths sojourn there, he returned to England; where, after staying a while, he went into Spain, and came back in safety: and again, the fourth time, took his journey from London to Venice, in October, 1610; from which time he was never seen by any of his acquaintances, nor any certainty known of his death. Thomas Hearne, speaking of the descent of the family of Coningsby, informs us that an ancient parchment is preserved by them as a precious relic, on which is written:—

“William de Coningsby
Came out of Brittany,
With his wife Tiffany,
And his maid Manifras,
And his dog Hardigras.”

The Church, dedicated to All Saints, is a cruciform structure, built of stone, with a spire of wood, in which are three small bells. In the south transept is a monument to Humphrey Conynsby, which has already been noticed. In the chancel are two marble tablets to the memories of the Rev. Edward Baugh, M.A., late rector of this parish, dated 1813, and to Margaret Baugh, dated 1802. The living is a rectory, with the curacy of Milson annexed, valued in the king’s book at £13. 2s. 3d., now £550; in the patronage of the Provost and Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford, and incumbency of the Rev. Thomas Hardwicke, D.D. The church was formerly annexed to one of the abbeys of Gloucester. There are ninety-eight acres of glebe land.

Directory.—William Bishop, farmer and corn miller; John Cooke, farmer, New House; Benjamin Crow, blacksmith; Thomas Griffiths, tailor; Richard Hall, farmer; Thomas Harris, farmer; Jane Mantle, beerhouse and shopkeeper; Joseph Mantle, carpenter and joiner; John Massey, shoemaker; Pattronella Morris, farmer, Haughton; Thomas Morris, farmer, The Bank; Thomas Moss, farmer; Ann Palmer, farmer; Geo. Parker, farmer; Ann Wall, farmer, Hill Top; James Williams, farmer; William Yates, farmer.