Shrewsbury, the capital town of Shropshire, lies nearly in the centre of that fertile county, and occupies a commanding eminence which gradually rises from the bed of the river Severn, whose stream gracefully bends its course around three sides of the town, thus forming a peninsula, having its narrow isthmus towards the north-east. From whatever point the traveller approaches, his mind cannot fail of being forcibly impressed with the singular beauty of its situation and general aspect;—its dark and frowning castle, the elegant towers and gracefully tapering spires of its ecclesiastical structures; the undulating, irregular, yet picturesque disposition of its buildings, and above all, the beautiful windings of “Severn’s ambient wave;”—all combine to form a prospect surpassed by none and equalled but by few other towns of our island.
Organ Screen in St. Mary’s Church
From the gradual and progressive improvements of civilization, the present condition of the town presents few points of resemblance to the appearance indicated in its original Saxon name, Scrobbesbyrig, the fenced eminence overgrown with shrubs; a dense population of more than 20,000 inhabitants [2] now dwelling within its extent, busily engaged in the manufactures of linen, thread, iron, brawn, &c.—not forgetting those far-famed cakes
“Whose honour’d name th’ inventive city own,
Rendering thro’ Britain’s isle Salopia’s praises known.”
Norman Doorway, St. Mary’s Church Its earliest history, like that of most other ancient places, remains involved in obscurity; though it is now the generally received opinion, that the town was founded by the Britons, who, expelled from the adjacent station of Uriconium, or Wroxeter, which they continued to inhabit after the final departure of their Roman masters, sought here that refuge against their Saxon enemies which the then nature of the country was so well capable of affording them. During the progress of succeeding ages, our town and its inhabitants, have, of course, by turns flourished amid the calm prosperity of peace, and trembled at the terrors and desolations of overwhelming warfare. But the ample details of its important history are totally foreign to the purpose of the present manual; the highest aim of which, is to furnish to the intelligent and inquisitive traveller, a faithful, though humble guide, in conducting him, in his survey of the place, to those objects which, from general or local circumstances, are most deserving his attention and observation. [3]
To all classes, in their various and varied pursuits, our town will be found replete with matter of interest and instruction. The refined traveller will here meet with customs and manners peculiar, singular, and interesting—the artist, subjects for his pencil and exercise for his judgment, in imitating the tints and stains of time and nature’s never-ceasing powers—the historical antiquary will, with enthusiastic delight, trace its connexion with many of the grandest features of our national history—the architectural antiquary will find ample scope for many an hour’s delightful meditation on the massive grandeur of the “oulden time”—whilst to the scrutinising eye of the naturalist, the vicinity will, at every step, unfold objects of beauteous and wondrous design, which will uplift his enraptured mind, as he fondly gazes on them, in heartfelt gratitude, adoration, and praise, to the bounteous Giver of all good.
Commencing then at the centre, let us first survey that emporium of civic honour,
THE TOWN HALL.
The ancient Guild Hall was a large, low, timber structure, with a high clock-turret, erected in the reign of Henry VIII. and stood across the Market Square, nearly at right angles to the centre of the New Hall. The lower part consisted of shops, and a covered way for carriages communicating with the High Street. The upper story contained the rooms in which the business of the town was transacted, and the assizes held. The Exchequer, in which the municipal records were preserved, stood on the south-east side, and was a strong square stone tower of three stories, erected in 1490.
This incommodious building was in 1783 levelled with the ground, and a new hall erected in its place, after the design of the late Mr. Haycock of this town, at an expense of £11,000, and opened for public business on 17th March, 1786. In excavating the foundations, considerable deposits of what was apparently manure were discovered, indicating, in all probability, the existence of a farm-yard on the spot, at some very early period. The new structure exhibited a handsome stone front towards the Market Square, and consisted of a spacious vestibule, and two not very convenient courts for the assizes, on the ground floor. A large assembly room, grand jury room, and spacious offices for the business of the town and county, occupied the upper story, to which an elegant spiral staircase of stone led from the vestibule below.
Considerable sinkings having in 1832 been observed in different parts of the structure in consequence of the instability of the foundations, the building was surveyed by eminent and experienced architects, and pronounced unsafe and dangerous. The matter was immediately deliberated upon by the proper authorities, and after due investigation, it was determined to take down the whole edifice and erect a more commodious one on its site. For the double purpose of obtaining a more eligible foundation, and of adding a considerable additional space in front to the Market Square, some adjoining premises were purchased by subscription, and a substantial structure, well adapted for all the purposes of the business to be therein transacted, was, in 1837, completed by Messrs. Birch, of this town, after a design by Sir Richard Smirke. The cost of this building was about £13,000, and was raised by a county-rate.
The disposition of the interior embraces on the ground floor, a vestibule, affording a communication with rooms on either side for the mayor, counsel at the assizes, and witnesses, and beyond with two spacious courts and robing rooms for the judges. On the second floor are arranged the clerk of the indictments, grand jury and witnesses attendance rooms; and on the upper floor, the town clerk’s and clerk of the peace’s offices, and a great room, 45 feet by 32 feet, for general purposes; on this floor are also fire-proof chambers for the safe preservation of the municipal records. Under the crown court are cells, &c. for the prisoners, and a room for the deliberations of juries. Its exterior elevation is here represented:—
Town Hall
The following pictures, presented at various times to the Corporation, adorn the walls of the Town Hall: Charles I.; Charles II.; William III.; George I.; George II.; George III. and his Queen Charlotte; Admiral Benbow; Lord Hill, by Sir William Beechy; and Admiral Owen, painted by our townsman, R. Evans, Esq. R.A. by subscription. An excellent likeness of The Honourable Thomas Kenyon, late Chairman of Salop Quarter Sessions, and various other local portraits, are arranged around.
The Norman Earls of Shrewsbury, to whom the town belonged after the Conquest, ruled the burgesses with the iron sway of tyranny. From this thraldom they were somewhat relieved by Henry I., who conferred on them many valuable privileges, and diminished the rent of their town. Henry II. was the first king who granted them a written charter, but from his time to the reign of James II. almost every successive sovereign has confirmed or enlarged their privileges and customs. A guild merchant existed here, antecedent to the 11th John, and was recognized and established by charter of 11th Henry III. 1226–7, by which, every one carrying on business in the town was compelled to become a member of it. The town was anciently governed by two Bailiffs or Provosts, until the Corporation was remodelled by charter of 14th Charles I., under which it consisted of a Mayor, (annually elected,) Recorder, Steward, Town Clerk, 24 Aldermen, 48 Common Councilmen, 2 Chamberlains, and inferior officers. Under the Municipal Reform Act, Shrewsbury was divided into five wards, and is now governed by a Mayor, 10 Aldermen, and 30 Councilmen. There are also 12 magistrates appointed by the Crown to assist in the local government of the town.
THE MARKET SQUARE
presents an interesting and antique appearance, on account of the numerous old timber houses, which still remain on its sides. It consists of a large oblong space, the northern half of which affords room for an excellent Green or Vegetable Market, whilst the southern half is occupied
THE MARKET HOUSE,
Market House
which, according to an inscription over the northern arch, was erected in 1595, at the expense of the Corporation. It is one of the most spacious and magnificent structures of its kind in the kingdom; is of wrought freestone, and in the fantastic style of the 16th century. The principal front faces the west, and has in the centre a spacious portal; over which are sculptured, in high relief, the arms of Elizabeth, under a canopy adorned with roses, with the date 1596. Attached to the imposts of the great arch are pillars, each supporting a figure of a lion, with a blank shield on its breast. Above are two stories, with large square mullioned windows. On each side the portal is an open arcade of three spacious round arches, reposing on massive pillars; over which, a range of square mullioned windows lights the upper story, which is surmounted by a rich, though singular parapet, with grotesque pinnacles. Statue of Richard of York Angel under canopied niche Large open arches occupy the north and south ends, which are terminated above in sharp pointed gables. Above the northern arch, in a tabernacled embattled niche, is a statue of Richard, Duke of York, father of Edward IV. clothed in complete armour, and a surcoat emblazoned with his armorial bearings, removed from the tower on the Old Welsh Bridge, on its demolition in 1791. On his left are the town arms, azure, three leopards’ heads, or, sculptured in relief. The south end is decorated with a sculptured stone, representing an angel, with expanded wings, under a canopied niche, bearing in his hands a shield, charged with the arms of France and England, quarterly. This fragment of antiquity formerly stood in the southern tower of the Castle or North Gate of the town, and was removed hither in 1825, when that building was taken down to widen the street. The exterior of this fine old building has of late years undergone a needful reparation and careful restoration, and its northern front has recently received the useful appendage of an excellent clock, illuminated by gas, constructed by Joyce, of Whitchurch, in this County. The lower area is appropriated to the excellent Corn Market held here every Saturday.
General Markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday in every week, and Fairs for Cattle of all kinds, in the Smithfield, on alternate Tuesdays, and for Butter and Cheese, on the second Wednesday in each month.
The spacious apartments in the upper story of the Market Hall are occupied by the
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION,
originally established in 1825, and supported by subscriptions and donations. The present number of the members is 200. The Library comprises 2000 volumes, and the Reading Room is supplied with Periodicals and Newspapers. There are Classes for the English and French languages, Arithmetic, Mathematics, Music, Writing, Modelling and Drawing; and during the winter months Lectures are delivered every fortnight. The subscription is Ten Shillings and upwards per annum for members, and Five Shillings for students.
On the south side of the Market Square are
THE PUBLIC ROOMS,
Public Rooms
erected in 1840, by Mr. Stant, after the design of Mr. Haycock. On the ground floor in front is the principal entrance to the
PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION NEWS-ROOM,
which is immediately above, and also to the spacious
MUSIC HALL,
which occupies the remaining portion of the second floor. The third story is divided into various rooms, used as Billiard Rooms, &c. The back apartments on the ground floor are appropriated to the Street Act Offices, and dwelling for hall-keeper, &c.
The Public News-Room, supported by annual subscriptions, is supplied with the principal London and Provincial Newspapers, Journals, Magazines, &c. and is open from 8 a.m. till 10 p.m.
The Music Hall is 90 feet in length, and 42 feet wide, and 38 feet high, with an Orchestra at the south end, containing a very fine-toned and powerful Organ, built by Bishop of London, and presented to the Choral Society of the town, by the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D.
Adjacent are the Stamp Office, the Salop Fire Office, the Police Station, and Post Office,—the two latter in the “Talbot Buildings,” recently well known as the old established “Talbot Inn,” formerly the warehouses of an eminent draper of the town, of the name of Oteley, of the family of Oteley, of Pitchford, County of Salop, and erected on the site of some of the buildings probably belonging to Vaughan’s Mansion, as is evident from the old stone foundations and singular vaults still existing in the basement.
Looking towards the north, and turning on the left, we enter the High Street, where on the left-hand side is a noble timber house, now divided into separate dwellings, once the town residence of the (now extinct) family of Ireland, of Albrighton. When entire, it must have presented a grand and imposing appearance. The front consists principally of four deep ranges of bow windows, four stories high, very lofty, and terminated above in pointed gables, on each of which, are escutcheons of the arms of the Ireland family. Gules, six fleurs de lys, three, two, and one, argent. The principal entrance is through a flat Gothic arch. The premises are now the property of the Corbets of Sundorne.
Ireland’s Mansion
Immediately fronting the High Street, behind the premises of Mr. Burrey, upholsterer, are the remains of some extensive building of red stone, probably ecclesiastical, and in the style of the 14th century. Considerable doubts have been entertained by our best antiquarians concerning these remnants of fallen grandeur, and no record is extant by which their use or name can be ascertained with any certainty. In an entry in the chartulary of Haughmond Abbey, in this county, of the early date of 2d Rich. II. 1378, these premises are mentioned, as having been known before that time, by the name of
“BENNETTE’S HALLE,”
but when or from what cause they acquired that appellation is unknown.
“Bennette’s Halle”Turning to the right, we proceed up Pride Hill, on the right-hand side of which may be seen many curious old timber houses, the ancient mansions of our honest burghers.
Midway of Pride Hill, on the right, is the
DOUBLE BUTCHER ROW,
in which are also many interesting specimens of domestic architecture.
At the top of Pride Hill, on the right, is
THE BUTTER CROSS,
intended for the accommodation of persons bringing Butter, Eggs, and Poultry to the markets. The old cross, a heavy, inconvenient brick building, with a large reservoir on its top for supplying the upper parts of the town with water, stood nearly in the centre of the thoroughfare, whence it was removed in 1818, and another erected at the expense of the Corporation, on the present site; which also proving insufficient and inconvenient, was taken down, and the present structure, on an enlarged scale, built in 1844, by the Corporation, aided by the subscriptions of the town and neighbourhood.
Timber Houses on Pride Hill In early times a Cross stood on this spot, of which frequent mention is made in old documents, by the name of the High Cross, and the adjoining street was called the High Pavement. Here proclamations were accustomed to be made, and criminals executed. This cross is remarkable as the place on which David, the last of the British Princes of Wales, underwent a cruel and ignominious death, by order of Edward I. and where many noblemen, taken prisoners at the battle of Shrewsbury, were executed.
On part of the site of the present Cross stood, previously, an ancient timber structure, probably part of the collegiate buildings of the adjacent church of St. Mary.
Nearly opposite the Butter Cross, on the left-hand side of the street, is an old mansion, now new-fronted, modernised, partially rebuilt, and divided, once, it is believed, the residence of the opulent and ancient, but now extinct, family of the Prides, who gave their name to the street “Pride Hill.” Some idea of its former splendour may have been collected from the ornamented plaster ceilings, which remained in several of the rooms, but which, by recent alterations, are probably now removed.
Proceeding onwards, we shortly reach, on the left,
THE RAVEN INN,
where the ingenious George Farquhar wrote his sprightly but licentious comedy of “The Recruiting Officer,” during his residence in our town in 1704, in that capacity. The scene of the play is laid in Shrewsbury, and though the plot may not have had any foundation in reality, it has been ascertained, on indubitable evidence, that the author took for the originals of his characters, many distinguished persons, living or well known at that time, in the town and neighbourhood. The window of the room, which tradition points out as that in which the drama was composed, still exists, and may be seen from the yard of the Inn.
At the end of Castle Street, on the right side, the remains of
ST. NICHOLAS’S CHAPEL
present themselves to the spectator; the architecture of which, with the exception of a pointed window at the west end of later date, is entirely of the early Norman era: and it is highly probable that the Chapel was erected by Roger de Montgomery, the first Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, for the use of such of his retainers as resided in the outer works of the Castle. The only portions of this edifice at present remaining, are the nave, a massive semicircular arch, formerly opening into the (now entirely destroyed) chancel, and two similar side arches. The building is the property of the Lysters of Rowton, and has been converted into two stables and a coach-house.
Immediately adjoining, on the right, is the venerable and highly-ornamented timber
GATEWAY OF THE COUNCIL HOUSE,
Gateway of the Council House
which presents an interesting and curious specimen of the domestic architecture of the year 1620; that date, and the initials W O E, indicating it to have been built by one of the Owens of Condover, the then possessors of this property, being still visible on the south-eastern front.
Entering through this gateway, we approach
THE COUNCIL HOUSE,
which is so called from having been the occasional residence of the Council of the Marches of Wales, during their annual visit to our town. [20] It is situated on a lofty bank, which abruptly rises above the river Severn, and commands a most interesting and enlivening prospect of the surrounding country. The buildings occupy three sides of a small court, and are now divided into three excellent houses. Of late years they have been so considerably altered and modernised that little of the original structure is at present discernible. That portion which includes the Hall and the Great Chamber over it, comprises nearly the whole of the building which retains any resemblance of its original features. These once magnificent apartments, during the last alterations, were subdivided and despoiled of the stained glass, elaborately carved chimney pieces, [21] and richly ornamented ceilings, which contributed so largely to their former splendour. The carved wooden porch, once affording entrance to the hall, has, with other relics, been carefully preserved.
The house was originally erected about 1501, by Peter Newton, Esq. one of the Council of the Marches, and having passed through numerous hands, is now the property of the Lysters of Rowton.
This venerable mansion afforded, in 1642, an asylum to the unhappy Charles the First, upon the commencement of his troubles. His Majesty resided here for six weeks, during which time the gentry of Shropshire flocked around him, and testified their deep attachment and unshaken loyalty, by contributing most liberally in this hour of need to their sovereign’s exigencies. James II. also on his visit to the town, kept his court here on the 24th of August, 1687.
The next object which demands our attention is
THE GATEWAY OF THE CASTLE,
the arch of which is the only existing part of the original Norman fortress of Roger de Montgomery. It is eighteen feet in height, semicircular, with plain round facings, and its walls appear to have sustained a tower, from whence hung the portcullis.
Gateway of the Castle
Through this gateway we are conducted into the inner court of whence we obtain a comprehensive view of the existing remains, which consist of the keep, the walls of the inner court, and a lofty mound on the south side, probably part of the early fortress constructed here by the Britons. From the various dilapidations and changes which the fortress has undergone during the course of many centuries, no adequate idea can now be formed of its original size and strength. The Castle stands boldly elevated on a steep bank of earth, on the narrow isthmus formed by the Severn, and is approached from the town by a gentle ascent.
Laura’s Tower
The Keep, the walls of which are of great strength and thickness, was erected by Edward I. and is a square building, connected with two round towers of equal diameter, embattled and pierced, and originally consisted of one great apartment on each of the upper floors. The interior, as well as the exterior, has been greatly altered. A handsome stone staircase, of modern construction, leads from the vestibule (in which is a statue of the founder, Roger de Montgomery), to the principal apartments. The drawing room, used as a guard-chamber in the time of Charles 1st, is spacious and handsome. A stone stair-case within the wall, lighted by narrow chinks, leads to an apartment in the western tower, in which was a recess, with a strong groined ceiling, and small acutely pointed windows.
Watch tower The summit of the mound above mentioned, is crowned with ruinous walls, and an ancient watch tower, which, during the last repairs was converted into a delightful summer room, commanding a fine panoramic view, and now called Laura’s Tower.On the east side of the court is a postern, built probably during the civil wars; and adjacent to it are the massive foundations of an ancient tower.
In the area of the court, now entirely cleared of buildings, the Knights of the Shire have, from time immemorial, been girt with their swords by the Sheriff.
Of that invariable appendage of castles, the Chapel of St. Michael, all traces have long been swept away. Its site is even now a matter of conjecture. Originally it was endowed with considerable landed estates, was a “Royal Free Chapel,” and was subsequently granted, with its appendant, the Church of St. Juliana, in this town, by Henry IV. to his College erected at Battlefield, in commemoration of his victory there.
Roger de Montgomery, the first Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, is regarded as the founder of the Castle, though it is more probable that he only enlarged a smaller fortress which is known to have existed here anterior to his times. To afford an eligible site for his new buildings, he is stated to have destroyed fifty-one houses; a fifth part of the whole town at that period. On the forfeiture of Earl Robert de Belesme, in the time of Henry I., the castle became a royal fortress, and was entrusted to the custody of the Sheriff, and the vast possessions annexed to it were parcelled out among various knights, to be held by the service of castle ward. During the turbulent reign of Henry III. the castle fell into a state of great dilapidation, but his son, Edward I., immediately on his accession, almost entirely rebuilt the structure; which, upon the submission of the Welsh, being no longer needed as a military fortress, was again abandoned to ruin and decay.
In the reign of Elizabeth a grant was made of its site and buildings to Richard Onslow, Esq. who subsequently transferred his interest to the Corporation. During the civil wars it was repaired and garrisoned for the royal party; but being besieged by the parliamentary forces, it surrendered in 1645, and escaped demolition by being entrusted to Colonel Mitton, a native of the county. On the Restoration it reverted to the Corporation, who, in 1663, surrendering their title to Charles II., that monarch presented it to Francis Viscount Newport, afterwards Earl of Bradford, from whom it has passed to the present proprietor, the Duke of Cleveland.
Nearly opposite the Castle is
THE ROYAL FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF KING EDWARD VI.
founded by that monarch by letters patent, dated 10th February, 1552, and endowed with portions of the estates of the late dissolved Colleges of St. Mary and St. Chad, in this town. The original endowment, on the request of the learned, estimable, and ever to be venerated Thomas Ashton, the first Schoolmaster, was considerably enlarged by Queen Elizabeth, in the 13th year of her reign, by a donation of other portions of the properties of those ecclesiastical institutions. Mr. Ashton himself left by will a handsome legacy; and Dr. John Taylor, the learned editor of Demosthenes, bequeathed the greater part of his valuable library.
Royal Free Grammar SchoolThe amount of the present annual revenue is £3086. 15s. 1d. which is appropriated in the payment of the Salaries of the Masters and Bailiff, the maintenance of scholarships and exhibitions in the Universities, the stipends of the Vicar of Chirbury, and the Curates of St. Mary, Clive, and Astley, the necessary repairs, &c. of the school-buildings and estate, the Library, Rewards, Prizes, &c., providing residences for the Incumbents of the School livings, and a Play-ground. The surplus is applied to the formation of a Reserved Fund, not exceeding £5000, to be applied from time to time, under the direction of the Court of Chancery, for repairs, &c. of the School buildings and Estate.
The head-master receives a salary of £425, including £100 for Mathematical instruction, and a further sum of £40 as catechist and reader; the second master £200, and the third master £100, with the use of dwelling-houses, free from rent, taxes, and repairs; the French and German master £50, and the writing master £50.
The exhibitions and scholarships from this school to both Universities, are numerous and valuable, and are mostly confined to the sons of burgesses, (who have attended the school for two years), born in the town or suburbs, or in the Abbey Foregate; or in default of such, to persons born in the parish of Chirbury; or in default of such, to those born in the county of Salop.
Advantages open to all boys educated at Shrewsbury School.
Four scholarships of £63 per annum each, on the foundation of John Millington, D.D. at Magdalen College, Cambridge, tenable during residence till M.A. Electors, the Master and Fellows of the College.
One Fellowship of £126 per annum, on the same foundation, in the same College. Electors, the same.
One Exhibition of £23 per annum, on the foundation of John Taylor, D.D. open to any College. Electors, the Head and Second Masters, and the Mayor of Shrewsbury.
One Exhibition of £10 per annum, on the foundation of Mrs. Nonnely, for a boy proceeding to the University of Oxford.
One Exhibition of £30 per annum, on the foundation of Mr. Podmore, for a boy nominated by the Head Master, and proceeding to Trinity College, Cambridge.
Prizes for Composition in the Greek, Latin, and English Languages, are awarded annually, with a Gold Medal to the best Scholar leaving School for the University. There are also Exhibitions for which Shrewsbury School has a preference, at Balliol College, Oxford, and at St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Advantages limited in point of qualification.
Five Exhibitions of £50 per annum each, tenable for four years. Electors, the Trustees of the School.
Two Exhibitions founded by Mr. James Millington, for sons of burgesses born in Frankwell, and proceeding from the School in Millington’s Hospital to Shrewsbury School, and thence to Magdalen College, Cambridge. Electors, the Trustees of Millington’s Hospital. Value £40 per annum each.
Two Exhibitions, founded by Oswald Smith, of £25 per annum each, for sons of burgesses. Electors, the Head and Second Masters, and the Incumbent of St. Mary’s, Shrewsbury.
Four Exhibitions to Christ Church, Oxford, founded by Mr. Careswell, for natives of Shropshire. Examiners, the Dean of Christ Church, or his Deputy. Electors, two or more Justices of the Peace for the County. Present value £60 per annum each.
The whole management of the school and revenue, was, by Act of Parliament, 38 George III. vested in the Bishop of Lichfield as Visitor, and Thirteen Governors and Trustees. The election of the head and second masters rests solely in the Master and Fellows of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The under-master is appointed by the head-master.
All the sons of burgesses of Shrewsbury, who are not under eight nor more than twenty years of age, may be admitted on the foundation, on application to the head-master, provided they are able to write and read English. Any boys not sons of burgesses may be admitted on payment of certain fees,—viz. two guineas admission, and fifteen guineas yearly.
The instruction in the schools is “in the Holy Scriptures, the Church Catechism, the Liturgy, Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England, the Greek, Latin, English and French languages, Reading, Writing, and Grammar, in Ancient and Modern History, sacred as well as profane, and Geography, in Arithmetic and Mathematics, and also in such other modern Languages, Arts and Sciences, as the Governors, with the consent of the Visitor, shall think proper.”
The head-master is Rev. B. H. Kennedy, D.D.; the second master is Rev. W. Burbury, M.A.; the third master, H. Greenwood, Esq. M.A.; the assistant classical master, Edward Calvert, Esq. M.A.; Mathematics and Arithmetic, Rev. A. T. Paget, M.A.; Modern Languages, T. A. Bentley, Esq.; Latin Accidence and Writing, Mr. T. N. Henshaw.
Among the many persons of eminence who have received their education at this school we may enumerate Sir Philip Sidney; his friend, Sir Fulke Greville, Lord Brook; the son of Edwyn Sandys, Archbishop of York; the cruel Judge Jeffries; Lord Chief Justices Jones and Price; Dr. Bowers, Bishop of Chichester; Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury; Dr. John Taylor, editor of Lysias and Demosthenes; Dr. Edward Waring, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics; James Harrington, the author of “Oceana;” Wycherley, the Dramatist; Ambrose Phillips, the Poet; and the Venerable Archdeacon Owen, and the Rev. J. B. Blakeway, the learned and estimable Historians of Shrewsbury.
Through the indefatigable exertions and learning of the late venerated head-master, (The Right Reverend Samuel Butler, D.D. F.R.S. &c. late Lord Bishop of Lichfield,) the institution attained to an unrivalled celebrity and repute, most deservedly ranking among the first public schools in England. And as an earnest of continued prosperity, we cannot do better than refer to the words of the venerable Bishop, who, on resigning his arduous duties to his learned and talented successor, stated “that he considered Dr. Kennedy, as the most brilliant scholar he had ever sent forth, as the brightest star in that galaxy of distinguished pupils whose names adorn the ‘Boards’ of Shrewsbury School.—That from Dr. Kennedy’s experience of his system, both as a pupil and assistant master at Shrewsbury School, from his constant practice as a lecturer and private tutor at College, and as an assistant master for six years or more at Harrow, as well as from his own unrivalled talents and high literary distinctions, from his fine taste and sound learning, there was not a shadow of doubt but that he would fully maintain the reputation which Shrewsbury School had already acquired, and would add, at least as many distinguished names to its Boards, during his superintendence of this important foundation, as had been inscribed there by himself in any equal period.” These bright anticipations of the venerated Bishop have been already, and are daily more and more fully realized.
More than 100 gentlemen educated at Shrewsbury School have during the present century been elected Fellows of various Colleges in both Universities, and nearly 250 Scholars and Exhibitioners; of whom more than forty have subsequently been Tutors or Lecturers in their several Colleges.
Permission having been kindly granted, we are enabled to give the following copy of the Boards alluded to:—
| 1806 | Thomas Smart Hughes, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| 1807 | Thomas Smart Hughes, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| John Turner, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Second Bachelor’s Prize. |
| 1809 | Thomas Smart Hughes, St. John’s College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| 1810 | Thomas Smart Hughes, St. John’s College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| William Henry Parry, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Third Bachelor’s Prize. |
| 1811 | Robert Wilson Evans, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Medallist. |
| 1812 | Marmaduke Lawson, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| Robert Wilson Evans, Trinity College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| 1813 | William Henry Parry, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Norrisian Prize. |
| Robert Wilson Evans, Trinity College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| 1814 | Marmaduke Lawson, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Pitt University Scholar, (the first elected on that foundation.) |
| 1816 | Marmaduke Lawson, Magdalen College, Cambridge, Medallist. |
| Richard P. Thursfield, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Second Bell’s Scholar. |
| 1817 | Rev. T. Smart Hughes, Fellow of Edmund College, Cambridge, and Proctor of the University, The Seatonian Prize. |
| 1819 | Spencer Wilde, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Recorded Equal to Bell’s Scholar. |
| 1821 | Edward Baines, Christ College, Cambridge, Second Bell’s Scholar. |
| 1822 | T. Williams, Oriel College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1823 | John Price, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Recorded Equal to Bell’s Scholar. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Adjudged the Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| 1824 | Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Pitt University Scholar. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| 1825 | Thomas Williamson Peile, Trinity College, Cambridge, Davies University Scholar. |
| John Hodgson, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Parson Prize. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Browne’s Medal, Epigram. |
| 1826 | John Hodgson, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Medallist. |
| Horatio Hildyard, Peterhouse, Cambridge, First Bell’s Scholar. |
| Thomas Butler, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Recorded Equal to Bell’s Scholar. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| 1827 | Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Senior Medallist. |
| George H. Johnson, Queen’s College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| Thomas Williamson Peile, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Undergraduate’s Latin Essay. |
| 1828 | Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, First Bell’s Scholar. |
| Thomas Williamson Peile, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Medallist. |
| Edward Massie, Wadham College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| George H. Johnson, Queen’s College, Oxford, Double First Class. |
| 1829 | Charles Borrett, Magdalen College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| John Thomas, Wadham College, Oxford, Craven University Scholar. |
| Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| Herbert Johnson, Wadham College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1830 | Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, Pitt University Scholar. |
| Peter S. Payne, Balliol College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| Robert Scott, Christ Church, Oxford, Craven University Scholar. |
| Charles Kennedy, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| 1831 | James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Battie University Scholar. |
| Thomas Brancker, Wadham College, Oxford, elected Ireland University Scholar, while yet in the Sixth Form of Shrewsbury School. |
| George Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, First Bell’s Scholar. |
| George H. Johnson, Queen’s College, Oxford, Mathematical University Scholar, (the first elected on that foundation.) |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Epigrams. |
| George Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| Peter S. Payne, Balliol College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1832 | George Kennedy, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Davies University Scholar. |
| Horatio Hildyard, Peterhouse, Cambridge, Second Bachelor’s Prize. |
| John Thomas, Trinity College, Oxford, Latin Verse Prize. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Latin Ode. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Member’s Prize, Latin Essay. |
| 1833 | Robert Scott, Christ Church, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, Second Medallist. |
| George H. Marsh, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Bell’s Scholar. |
| John Gibbons Longueville, Wadham College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| Robert Scott, Student of Christ Church, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| Thomas F. Henney, Pembroke College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| James Hildyard, Christ College, Cambridge, First Bachelor’s Prize. |
| William Fletcher, Trinity College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1834 | Alexander G. Hildyard, Pembroke College, Cambridge, Second Bell’s Scholar. |
| Robert Scott, Student of Christ Church, Oxford, Bachelor’s Latin Essay. |
| 1835 | William Gilson Humphry, Trinity College, Cambridge, Pitt University Scholar. |
| George Augustus May, Magdalen College, Cambridge, Bell’s Scholar. |
| Edward J. Edwards, Balliol College, Oxford, Kennicott Hebrew Scholar. |
| 1836 | William Dickenson, Trinity College, Oxford, Latin Verse Prize. |
| W. G. Humphry, Trinity College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| W. G. Humphry, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Medallist. |
| 1837 | Henry Holden, Balliol College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1838 | James Fraser, Scholar of Lincoln College, Oxford, Recorded Second to Ireland University Scholar, with the words “proxime accesssit.” |
| Rev. R. Scott, M.A. Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, Denyer’s Theological Essay. |
| Robert Middleton Dukes, Scholar of Lincoln College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| Thomas Evans, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| William Dickenson, Trinity College, Oxford, Latin Essay. |
| 1839 | James Fraser, Lincoln College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| Edward M. Cope, Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| James Fraser, Lincoln College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1840 | Edward Bather, Merton College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| John Bather, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Reexamined with Craven’s University Scholar. |
| 1841 | Hugh A. Johnston Munro, Trinity College, Cambridge, Lord Craven’s University Scholar. |
| George Druce, St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| George Nugee, Trinity College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| 1842 | Edwin H. Gifford, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Pitt University Scholar. |
| Hugh A. J. Munro, Trinity College, Cambridge, Senior Chancellor’s Medallist. |
| George Druce, St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| William George Clark, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Epigrams. |
| Thomas Ramsbotham, Christ College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| W. T. Basil Jones, Trinity College, Oxford, Ireland University Scholar. |
| 1843 | E. H. Gifford, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Senior Chancellor’s Medallist. |
| George Druce, St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, Junior Chancellor’s Medallist. |
| Rev. M. Bright, Magdalen College, Cambridge, Tyrwhitt’s Hebrew Scholar. |
| W. G. Clark, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| W. G. Clare, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| G. Nugee, B.A. Trinity College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| 1844 | W. G. Clark, Trinity College, Cambridge, Second Chancellor’s Medallist. |
| George Osborne Morgan, Balliol College, Oxford, Craven University Scholar, while yet in the Sixth Form of Shrewsbury School. |
| J. G. Fussell, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Epigrams. |
| J. G. Fussell, Trinity College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| 1845 | James Riddell, Balliol College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| H. de Winton, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Greek Ode. |
| George Nugee, Trinity College, Cambridge, Sir Peregrine Maitland’s Prize for Christian Essay. |
| 1846 | George Osborne Morgan, Balliol College, Oxford, Sir R. Newdigate’s Prize for English Poem. |
| 1847 | George Osborne Morgan, Worcester College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| 1848 | H. C. Tayler, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne Medal, Epigrams. |
| 1849 | William Owen, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Recorded Second to Craven University Scholar. |
| William Owen, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Marquis Camden’s Gold Medal for Latin Poem. |
| Francis Kewley, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| 1850 | T. Clayton, Trinity College, Oxford, Hertford University Scholar. |
| William Owen, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| P. Perring, Trinity College, Cambridge, Browne’s Medal, Greek Ode. |
| G. O. Morgan, Worcester College, Oxford, English Essay. |
| G. B. Morley, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| G. O. Morgan, University College, Oxford, Eldon Law Scholarship. |
| H. C. A. Tayler, Trinity College, Cambridge, Latin Essay. |
| 1852 | S. H. Burbury, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| D. Trinder, Exeter College, Oxford, Mrs. Denyer’s Theological Essay. |
| J. L. Balfour, Queen’s College, Oxford, Ellerton’s Theological Essay. |
| Henry Parker, Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, Latin Essay. |
| W. Inge, Worcester College, Oxford, First Glass Moderations. |
| 1853 | Edward L. Brown, Trinity College, Cambridge, First Bell’s Scholar. |
| S. H. Burbury, St. John’s College, Cambridge, Craven University Scholar. |
| S. H. Burbury, St. John’s College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
| W. Inge, Worcester College, Oxford, First Class, Lit. Hum. |
| A. B. Rocke, Christ Church, Oxford, First Class, Moderations. |
| 1855 | E. L. Brown, Trinity College, Cambridge, The Porson Prize. |
Cambridge First Class Classics.
| 1824 | Edward Baines, Christ College | 4th |
| 1825 | John Price, St. John’s College | 3rd |
| John Hodgson, Trinity College | 5th |
| Frederick E. Gretton, St. John’s College | 7th |
| 1827 | Benjamin Hall Kennedy, St. John’s College | Senior. |
| George A. Butterton, St. John’s College | 3rd |
| 1828 | T. W. Peile, Trinity College | 2nd |
| 1829 | Horatio S. Hildyard, Peterhouse | 5th |
| Robert Smith, St. John’s College | 6th |
| Thomas Butler, St. John’s College | 7th |
| 1831 | Charles Kennedy, Trinity College | Senior. |
| Charles J. Johnstone, Caius College | 4th |
| 1832 | Richard Shilleto, Trinity College | 2nd |
| Edward Broadhurst, Magdalen College | 7th |
| 1833 | James Hildyard, Christ College | 2nd |
| 1834 | George F. Kennedy, St. John’s College | Senior. |
| Edward Warter, Magdalen College | 4th |
| 1835 | George F. Harris, Trinity College | 3rd |
| John Cooper, Trinity College | 7th |
| 1836 | Geo. Hy. Marsh, St. John’s College | 2nd |
| William H. Bateson, St. John’s College | 3rd |
| Richard Edward Turner, Trinity College | 6th |
| 1837 | W. Gilson Humphry, Trinity College | Senior. |
| 1838 | George A. C. May, Magdalen College | 3rd |
| Henry Thompson, St. John’s College | 7th |
| William Parkinson, St. John’s College | 8th |
| 1839 | Augustus W. Hopper, Trinity College | 6th |
| 1840 | Francis France, St. John’s College | Senior Æqual. |
| 1841 | Edward M. Cope, Trinity College | Senior. |
| John Bather, St. John’s College | 2nd |
| Henry Thring, Magdalen College | 3rd |
| 1842 | Hugh A. J. Munro, Trinity College | 2nd |
| Francis Morse, St. John’s College | 7th |
| 1843 | George Druce, St. Peter’s College Edwin H. Gifford, St. John’s Coll. | Seniors Æqual. |
| 1844 | William G. Clark, Trinity College | 2nd |
| 1846 | H. De Winton, Trinity College | 3rd |
| 1848 | J. E. B. Mayor, St. John’s College | 3rd |
| 1849 | H. C. A. Tayler, Trinity College | 4th |
| 1851 | J. W. Taylor, St. Peter’s College | 12th |
| 1852 | Robert Burn, Trinity College | Senior Æqual. |
| Philip Perring, Trinity College | 4th |
| W. Chandless, Trinity College | 5th |
| Arthur White, Magdalen College | 16th |
| 1854 | S. H. Burbury, St. John’s College | 2nd |
| G. M. Campbell, St. John’s College | 7th |
| H. Day, St. John’s College | 9th |
Cambridge Wranglers.
| 1808 | W. H. Parry, St. John’s College | 16th |
| 1809 | John Evans, Clare Hall | 6th |
| W. R. Gilby, Trinity College | 7th |
| 1811 | R. W. Evans, Trinity College | 7th |
| 1824 | W. Crawley, Magdalen College | 27th |
| 1826 | John Hodgson, Trinity College | 16th |
| 1827 | George A. Butterton, St. John’s College | 8th |
| 1828 | T. W. Peile, Trinity College | 18th |
| 1830 | Charles Whitley, St. John’s College | Senior. |
| Edward Yardley, Magdalen College | 40th |
| 1834 | Henry Trentham, St. John’s College | 13th |
| 1835 | Francis Procter, Catharine Hall | 30th |
| John Cooper, Trinity College | 33rd |
| 1836 | W. Twiss Turner, Trinity College | 15th |
| Thomas E. H. Headlam, Trinity College | 17th |
| 1837 | Alexander J. Ellis, Trinity College | 5th |
| William Gilson Humphry, Trinity College | 27th |
| 1838 | H. J. Hodgson, Trinity College | 24th |
| G. A. C. May, Magdalen College | 36th |
| 1840 | Henry Cadogan Rothery, St. John’s College | 19th |
| 1843 | Edwin H. Gifford, St. John’s College | 15th |
| 1851 | J. S. Clarke, St. John’s College | 11th |
| 1854 | B. W. Horne, St. John’s College | 4th |
| H. Day, St. John’s College | 5th |
| S. H. Burbury, St. John’s College | 15th |
The structure is large, lofty, and of freestone, and surrounds two sides of a small quadrangle. The portion immediately fronting the street was erected in 1630, and contains on the first and second floors dwelling houses for the assistant masters. The upper story is entirely occupied by
THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOL-ROOM,
Principal School-Room
and was originally divided into three apartments by wooden carved partitions, now removed. The centre of this front is pierced by a gateway, adorned on each side with a Corinthian column, supporting statues of a scholar and graduate, bare-headed, and in the costume of the times. Over the arch is a sentence in Greek from Isocrates, importing that a love of literature is essential to the formation of a scholar. Above are the arms of Charles I. The windows, with the exception of a large pointed one in the style of the 14th century, at the south-end of the principal school-room, are all of the square form of the Elizabethan age. The walls are crowned with a singular and clumsy battlement of curled leaves and pinnacles.
Situated at right angles to this is the remaining wing of the edifice, originally erected in 1595, comprising the chapel and library, with the tower containing the staircases in the angle.
Bible Stand in the Chapel The Chapel, in which prayers are read by the headmaster every morning, occupies the ground floor, and is divided from the ante-chapel, by an oak screen, carved in the grotesque manner prevalent in the days of Elizabeth. The pulpit and BIBLE-STAND are in a similar style. The ceiling is adorned with carved foliated bosses, interspersed with the arms of the founders, and of the first and late head-masters.
Above the chapel and of the same size, is
THE LIBRARY,
The Library
containing a very valuable and extensive collection of MSS. and books. This part was lately rebuilt and repaired at a considerable expense. Two large pointed windows, filled with mullioned tracery, afford light to this venerable apartment; in the northern one of which are the arms of Edward VI.; Queen Elizabeth; St. John’s College, Cambridge; the See of Lichfield and Coventry impaling Cornwallis; and those of the town: and in the southern one, those of the four principal benefactors, with appropriate inscriptions in Latin. Richly foliated bosses, the arms of the founders, visitors, and thirteen first trustees, decorate the ceiling. Around the walls are portraits of Henry VIII. half-length; his son Edward VI. when a boy of ten or twelve; an Admiral, full length, in the dress of the time of Charles II.; five of the former head-masters, and the late head-master, Bishop Butler, by Kirkby.
By the late scheme made by the Court of Chancery, (1853) a sum not exceeding £70 yearly, is to be applied to the purchase and repairs of Books, Mathematical, Philosophical and other instruments and articles for instruction.
We would venture to suggest the propriety of persons educated at Shrewsbury School, or natives of the town and county, presenting to the Library copies of any works which they may publish. Such a practice would at once form an interesting memento of their connection with the venerable institution, and add to the valuable and useful stores already accumulated on its shelves, which in former years have been so greatly enriched by similar benefactions.
The Library also contains three sepulchral inscribed stones, and various other Roman antiquities from Wroxeter, and a small collection of fossils and natural curiosities.
A court, enclosed by a stone wall, intervenes between the street and the schools. At the back of the school-buildings are two spacious houses for the head and second masters, most delightfully situated, and commanding extensive views of several portions of the town, the river and Welsh bridge, and the rich woods of Berwick and Almond Park. On this side are extensive play-grounds for the use of the school.
Passing down Castle Gates, we have on our right
THE INDEPENDENT MEETING-HOUSE,
and see immediately before us
A BRIDGE
of cast-iron of 64 feet span, which carries over the street five lines of rails of the Chester Railway.
On the right
THE STATION
of the United Railway Companies opens to view.
This striking and handsome building is in a late perpendicular English style, and presents a frontage of upwards of 150 feet in length, and two stories in height, with a large square tower nearly 70 feet high, in which is one of the principal entrances, through a large four-centered arched doorway, above which is an oriel window projecting from a richly ornamented base, and a circular opening, within which is an excellent eight-day clock, with the latest improvements, manufactured by Messrs. Joyce and Son, of Whitchurch, in this county. A richly carved battlement, with octagonal turrets at the corners, of considerable elevation, terminates the summit.
Railway station
On either side of the tower extends a large wing, divided into four equal spaces by projecting turrets, corresponding with those of the tower, surmounted with ornamental caps. These spaces are subdivided again horizontally above the heads of the upper and lower windows by enriched string-courses. Above the cornice a rich embrasured parapet runs the whole length of the edifice. The ridge of the roof is finished with an ornamental cast-iron crest. The windows are divided by stone transoms and mullions, with projecting drip-stones, terminating in corbel heads.
The ground floor is appropriated to booking offices, ladies’ and gentlemen’s waiting rooms, and a large refreshment room. Beneath the ground-floor are a large kitchen, cellars, &c. A board-room and offices for the various officers and clerks, occupy the upper floor.
In the left wing, as the visitor approaches, is a door opening into the booking and parcel offices: At the end of the right wing an entrance to the arrival and departure
PLATFORMS,
respectively 600 feet and 450 feet in length, and 16 feet wide. A wrought-iron roof of 70 feet span covers the platforms and lines of rails for a space of 450 feet.
The water required for the use of the Station, Engines, and Carriages, is conveyed in iron pipes along the rim of the railway from high ground in the neighbourhood of Hencott, (60 feet above the level of the rails at the Station,) to a large iron tank near the Station, whence a constant supply can be immediately obtained in the event of fire breaking out.
The Goods, Engine Station, and Coal DepÔts of the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway are situated between Coton Hill and the General Passenger Station, with convenient access from the Castle Foregate Street, where an abundant supply of Welsh Coal and Lime is always on hand.
Branch lines diverge from behind the railway platforms, which pass under Howard Street to the Canal Wharf, where is the DepÔt of the Shropshire and Staffordshire Coals and Cokes.
The Station House and Offices were designed by Mr. Thomas Penson, jun. of Oswestry. The Engineering works by Messrs. Robertson and Baylis. The former cost £6,000, the latter about £45,000, and the Goods, Engine, Station, and other necessary works, above £20,000.
The total cost of the above works, together with the Viaduct over the river Severn, and the brick Bridge over Cross Street, including land and buildings, exceeds £100,000.
The whole of the works have been executed by Mr. Brassey, the Contractor, under the direction of Mr. James Baylis, the resident Engineer, at the joint expense of the four Railway Companies whose lines unite in Shrewsbury.
The Railway to Chester was first opened October 12th, 1848. The line to Birmingham, November 12th, 1849. The line to Hereford was opened to Ludlow, April, 1852; and throughout, October 31st, 1853.
Turning on the left, immediately opposite the entrance to the Railway Station, we pass on the same side, the Road leading across the Raven Meadow to Mardol. This meadow is now converted into a spacious and convenient
SMITHFIELD, OR CATTLE MARKET,
a great boon to the town, inasmuch as the Fairs were previously held in the open streets, to the great annoyance, in point of cleanliness and convenience, of inhabitants and passengers.
The works with the site cost about £13,000, and are capable of affording accommodation for 700 horses, (with extensive trial grounds for the same), 1,400 cattle, 5,000 sheep, and 1,000 pigs, with suitable receptacles for sheep and cattle coming to town previously to the fairs which occur on the alternate Tuesdays in every month.
Here are also held the Agricultural Shows, which are considered to equal those of most places where similar exhibitions have been established; and a Great Horse Fair is held annually in March.
A little further on the right, we pass the
RAILWAY BRIDGE
over Cross Street, a piece of beautiful brick-masonry, and approach the river Severn, on the margin of which are
THE SHREWSBURY WATER-WORKS,
established in 1830, in 347 shares of £50 each, for the purpose of affording the inhabitants a constant supply of river water, at a reasonable rate.
The Town is also gratuitously supplied with excellent spring water, from a fine spring called Broadwell, in a field near Crow Meole, distant about two miles, conducted by pipes to conduits placed in convenient situations in the principal streets.
On the right-hand side are
THE ROYAL BATHS,
and immediately beyond, on the same side, stands
BENBOW PLACE,
the birth-place of the renowned John Benbow, Vice-Admiral of the Blue; the details of whose gallant bravery are so familiarly known to all as to render their recapitulation here unnecessary.Proceeding a short distance along Coton Hill, we soon reach another of the
RAILWAY BRIDGES,
from which, on the one side, we obtain a good view of the Chester Railway as far as Hencott Bridge, and on the other side, a comprehensive view of the various Railway Buildings, backed by a beautiful prospect of the Town, St. Michael’s Church, the Castle and its wooded Mount, Free Schools, Spires of St. Mary, and St. Alkmond. [53]Retracing our steps, we gain, as we proceed, not unpleasing views of other portions of the town and its public buildings, and then passing along Cross Street, under the Railway Bridge, traverse the lengthened and unsightly suburb of the Castle Foregate, to
ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH,
a neat brick structure, in the Grecian style, erected at an expense scarcely exceeding £2000 (raised by subscription,) and consecrated on 24th August, 1830, as a chapel of ease to St. Mary’s church.
St. Michael’s Church
The plan is oblong, and consists of a nave, side aisles, an elliptical recess for the altar, and a western tower. The interior is entered on the north and south, and is lighted by three circular-headed windows on either side. Over the side-aides are galleries, the sittings in which are free; and at the west end is a spacious one for the use of poor children, in which stands a small organ, the gift of the late Rev. W. G. Rowland, M.A., Minister of St. Mary’s. The same gentleman also most munificently adorned the windows of the chancel with fine stained glass, executed by Mr. David Evans, of this town, representing the Nativity, after Corregio; the Annunciation, after Guido; and the Presentation in the Temple, after Rubens. To the same unbounded liberality, the parishioners are indebted for the substantial service of communion plate, the peal of six bells which hang in the tower, and the erection of the adjacent schoolrooms for the poor children of this portion of the parish. The edifice contains 800 sittings, 620 of which are free, and has recently undergone alterations by which additional “sittings” are obtained for the already large and increasing population of the district. The judicious and economical arrangements of the burial ground merit the attentive consideration of every visitor.
It would ill beseem us to pass, without honourable mention, the talents of our ingenious townsman, Mr. David Evans, who, by unwearied exertions, and consummate skill, has raised the art of glass-staining to a degree of perfection unequalled in modern times, and nearly approaching, if not entirely equalling, the rich and mellow tints of the “royal glass” of ancient days. The numerous and singularly beautiful specimens of his elaborate labours, visible in the inimitable restorations of the splendid glass of Winchester and Lichfield Cathedrals, the churches of St. Mary, St. Michael, St. Chad, St. George, the Abbey, and domestic chapels of the nobility and gentry, in almost every part of the kingdom, speak, however, his merits more forcibly to the correct eye and refined taste, than whole volumes of our feeble encomiums. [56]Returning along the Castle Foregate, the more remarkable objects are the Shrewsbury and Ellesmere Canal, the Manufactory of linen-thread, the Coal Wharfs, the Gas-Works, and the Goods and Coal DepÔt of the Railway, the New Meeting House of the Wesleyan Reformers, and Buildings of the Freehold Land Society.
Passing up Howard Street, on the left-hand side of which is the New Butter and Cheese Market, we approach
THE COUNTY GAOL,
erected in 1793, on the principles of the benevolent Howard, after a design by Haycock, of Shrewsbury, at an expense of £30,000. The building is of brick, and is entered by a massive free-stone gate, on either side of which is a lodge. Over the gateway is a fine bust of Howard, by Bacon. Immediately behind is the governor’s house; an octagonal chapel occupies the centre; and the remainder of the structure is divided into four principal courts, with several smaller ones, around which are cloisters, with sleeping rooms above for the prisoners, and cells for the condemned and refractory. The male and female prisoners are kept apart, and distributed into classes. On the eastern side is the Infirmary, detached from the other buildings. A strong and lofty brick wall encompasses the whole.
The entire structure is strong, spacious, airy, well supplied with water, and every other necessary; and in point of situation for salubrity and beauty, vies with any of the adjoining eminences.
An admirable institution, supported by voluntary benevolence, entitled “The Prison Charities,” has subsisted within the walls for nearly fifty years, and has been productive of the most beneficial results. Its objects are to enable debtors and criminal prisoners, of deserving conduct, to provide by their industry for their better maintenance during confinement, and to furnish them with a seasonable supply of money and tools, for immediate use on their restoration to society.Nearly opposite the Gaol is a
BRIDGE
consisting of two timber arches, 85 feet clear span each, on the bow and string principle, which carries the public walk called
“THE DANA”
over the Railway Station, along the base of the Castle to the Street opposite the Free Schools. From the Dana walk a good view of the Station House and Railway is obtained, bounded by a long extent of the adjacent country in the back-ground.
In this direction however we must not proceed, but passing along the terrace on the south-east side of the Gaol, continue our walk on “the gentle Severn’s sedgy bank,” at the base of a steep and rugged declivity, most picturesquely planted and crowned with the Castle’s “worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,” and the antique gables of the Council House, and presenting pleasing views of the venerable Abbey, the adjacent suburb of the Abbey Foregate, and the massive and really grand
RAILWAY VIADUCT
over the river Severn, consisting of 7 elliptical arches, 45 feet span, rising 18 feet above the springings. The Viaduct is quite level throughout its whole length, in width is 39 feet, and the level of the rails about 36 feet above the ordinary level of the river.
Passing under an arch of the Viaduct we see immediately before us the elegant English Bridge, and arrive at
THE WATERLANE GATEWAY,
memorable as the avenue through which the Parliamentary forces were treacherously admitted into the town, at the siege of Shrewsbury, 22nd February, 1644–5.
Advancing up this narrow lane, we leave, on the left, the site of
THE DOMINICAN, OR BLACK, FRIARS,
long since cleared of its buildings, and now converted into a wharf, warehouse, and excellent gardens. These friars established themselves here as early as 1222, and assumed as their founder Matilda, grand-daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Lasci, lord of Ludlow, and wife of Geoffrey de Joinville, of Vaucoulour.
Edward IV., who, throughout the whole of his reign regarded Shrewsbury with much affection, selected this religious house as his occasional residence, and the place in which his Queen was delivered of her second and third sons, Richard Shrewsbury, (1473–4,) Duke of York, afterwards murdered in the Tower, and George Plantagenet, who died young. Many persons of distinguished rank, who fell in the battle of Shrewsbury, 1403, received interment here.
On levelling the ground in 1823, the foundations of three spacious apartments, fragments of mullions and pillars, emblazoned tiles, several skeletons enclosed in rude stone coffins, and great quantities of bones, were disclosed to view. The site is now the property of the Corbets of Sundorne.
The sloping ground rising above the site of this friary, and extending to the south and south-eastern wall of the town, where the Infirmary and other houses now stand, was, as we learn from a charter of Henry III., dated 1227, confirming the possessions of the Abbey of Shrewsbury, given by “divers citizens of Salopesbury” to the monks of that house “for the planting of a vineyard:”—a situation, according to the best writers on horticulture, eminently adapted to the cultivation of the vine.
Arrived at the top of the Water-lane, we enter, on the left, a cathedral-like close, in the centre of which the venerable edifice of
ST. MARY’S CHURCH
St. Mary’s Church
uprears its “heavenward spire.” This church, once collegiate, is said to owe its foundation to Edgar the Peaceable, (959 to 975,) who, at the suggestion of Archbishop Dunstan, placed in it a dean, seven prebends, and a parish priest, though there is every probability that the foundation was antecedent to his reign. In the Saxon times, it possessed a landed estate of about 1300 acres, which it continued to hold at the time of Domesday, but of which it was soon after deprived, by what means we have no power of ascertaining. At the dissolution of collegiate churches, 1 Edw. VI., the revenues, which consisted chiefly of tithes, amounted to £42; the greater portion of which was granted in 1550, by Edward VI., towards the endowment of the Free Schools.
From a very early period this church enjoyed the privilege of a Royal Free Chapel, exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop. This peculiar jurisdiction remained till the recent Act of Parliament (1846) restored it to the Bishop of the Diocese, and was held by lease, at an annual rent of £1 6s. 8d. of the Corporation, to whom Queen Elizabeth granted it by charter, dated 23rd May, 1571. The Minister was usually, though not necessarily, the lessee, and his style was “Ordinary and Official, Principal of the Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of the Free Royal Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” In his Court wills were proved, letters of administration were granted, and all ecclesiastical matters, arising within the parish and its subordinate chapelries, adjudicated. The Official also granted marriage licenses, and licenses to the curacies of St. Mary and its chapelries.
The appointment to the living was vested by Act of Parliament, passed in 1801, in the Corporation, who in their choice are directed to give the preference to the son of a burgess who has been educated at the Free School, or to one born in the parish of Chirbury, in this county. The Minister is, ex-officio, Public Preacher of the town.
The parish of Saint Mary includes about a fourth part of the whole town, nearly the entire suburb of the Castle Foregate, and extends several miles into the country.
Within these sacred walls the Pope’s Legatees held their court in 1232, for the adjustment of the differences subsisting between Henry III. and Llewellin, Prince of Wales. In 1642, the unhappy Charles I., during his residence at the Council-House, attended divine service here, received the Sacrament, and made solemn protestations of his fidelity to the principles of the reformed religion.
This fine structure is cruciform, and consists of a nave, side-aisles, transept, chancel, two chauntry chapels, and a tower at the western end, crowned with a lofty and elegant spire. In the architecture three very distinct styles are conspicuous: the Anglo-Norman of the 12th century, in the basement of the nave, most of the doors, and other portions; the lancet style of the 13th century, in the chancel and transept; and the more obtuse arch of the 15th century, in the clere-story, side-aisles, chapels, &c. with a few trifling additions of later date.The dimensions of the church are
| Feet | In. |
| Length from east to west, including steeple | 160 | 0 |
| Length of transept | 90 | 0 |
| Breadth of nave and side-aisles | 50 | 0 |
| Height of steeple | 220 | 2 |
| Height of steeple from the level of the river | 300 | 0 |
Esteeming this ancient fabric to be the principal ornament of our town, we deem it necessary to add the following detailed description, which we trust will prove serviceable to the visitor in his attentive examination of the building.
The tower is broad and low, the basement of red stone, and the upper portion of grey, and of the Anglo-Norman and early pointed styles of architecture. The entrance is on the west side, through a plain pointed arch of the very earliest kind, springing from square jambs with regular impost mouldings, and having an internal arch, nearly triangular, inserted within the head. On the opposite eastern side, a very early pointed arch without mouldings, resting on short round Norman pillars with indented capitals, communicates with the nave. Two tiers of small round-headed windows pierce the lower stories, on all sides except the east. The upper story is lighted on each side by two united and handsome pointed windows, bisected by single mullions, forming quatrefoil heads, and divided by transoms in the middle. A facia, charged with roses, and terminating at the angles in projecting grotesque heads, ornaments the upper and lower portions of this story, which is finished with a plain embattled parapet, and crocketed pinnacles at the corners. From the summit of the tower rises an octagonal spire, “fine by degrees, and beautifully less,” pierced on alternate sides, with three tiers of tabernacled openings, and crowned with an open flower, cross and vane. In the tower is a peal of ten bells, the eight largest of which are extremely melodious. This beautiful tower and spire have been thoroughly repaired and restored at considerable cost, raised by subscription, under the superintendence of Mr. S. Pountney Smith, of this town, whose skill, judgment, and taste, in ecclesiastical architecture, are worthy of the highest praise.
The nave and side-aisles, externally in the pointed style of the 15th century, and of grey stone, are entered on the north and south-west by beautiful semicircular arches, adorned with chevron, lozenged, and foliated mouldings. Before the south-west entrance is an ancient porch, principally of Anglo-Norman architecture; the outer arch of which is circular, enriched with chevron mouldings, and issues from clustered columns with foliated capitals. The interior rib is obtusely pointed and unadorned. On each side is a small pointed window, exhibiting specimens of the earliest rudiments of the mullioned Gothic style, in which have been lately placed some highly interesting “roundels” of old painted glass, of German execution, on which are depicted various incidents, chiefly from the Apocrypha. The groined ceiling rests on two strong and plain ribs, crossing in the centre. Over this is a small chamber, with a plain pointed window.
A stone porch, entered by a pointed arch, has recently been erected before the corresponding door, on the north side.
The nave is separated from the side-aisles by four semicircular arches, overspread with deep-cut early Gothic mouldings, springing from elegant clustered columns with foliated capitals of varied and beautiful designs. This union of the round arch and clustered pillar, which belong to such different Æras, is singular and very unusual in our ancient architecture. Above is a clerestory, which is continued along the walls of the chancel, lighted by short double windows, bluntly pointed, and bisected by single mullions.
By the pious munificence of the late Minister, the Rev. W. G. Rowland, the west end has been enriched by an elegant Organ-screen, [67] in the style of Henry 7th’s time, designed and executed by Mr. John Carline, of this town. Three obtusely pointed arches, overspread with deep-cut mouldings and richly foliaged spandrils, and separated by intervening buttresses elaborately adorned with open flowers in relief set in reticulated divisions, open to the nave and form the lower portion of the front. Above which, from a string-course, charged with finely sculptured heads, flowers, &c. rises the upper part or parapet, consisting of a series of similar, though smaller arches, divided by slender buttresses, and filled with the like ornamented reticulations. Around the soffits of the larger arches are the following inscriptions, in ancient church-text:—
Venite Domino exultemus;
Rupi salutatis jubilemus;
Jehovam hymnis concinamus;
Et grates illi persolvamus—Hallelujah.
Jehovam virgines laudate,
Senes et pueri celebrate;
Psalmis ecclesia sanctorum
Extollat Dominum Dominorum.
Laudate carminis clamore,
Laudate buccinÆ clangore,
Laudate organo sonoro,
Laudate cymbalis et choro.
This spacious gallery contains a remarkably fine-toned organ, made by John Harris and John Byfield, 1729.
The beautiful ceiling of the nave is of pannelled oak, richly studded with elegant and exquisitely carved pendants and foliated bosses, and merits the most minute attention, not only on account of its elaborate workmanship, but as being one of the richest and most highly preserved specimens of its kind now in existence.
The side-aisles are each lighted on the sides by three pointed traceried windows, with smaller and earlier ones at the western terminations, and communicate at their eastern extremities with the transept, by semicircular arches, rising from thick round pillars with indented capitals.
In the windows of the western ends are figures of St. Andrew and St. John. The central window of the north aisle contains some beautiful stained glass from Holland, depicting the following subjects—Holy Family; Kneeling figure; Balaam and the Angel; the Donor and patron Saint; Adam and Eve; Mater Dolorosa; Angel appearing to the Shepherds; Disciples washing each other’s feet:—Justice; Kneeling figure; a Bishop in grief or disgrace; the Donor’s Wife and patron Saint. The windows on either side are filled with various ecclesiastical subjects. The central window of the south-aisle contains part of the history of St. Bernard; that on the west, the adoration of the Magi; and the east one, St. Helena, Kneeling figure, and Charlemagne.
A lofty and graceful pointed arch, including in its span the entire breadth of the nave, rises from richly clustered piers with foliated capitals, and divides the nave from the ancient choir. Against the north pier is a beautiful Stone Pulpit, designed and executed by Mr. S. Pountney Smith, of this town, and erected by the parishioners as a Memorial of their late revered Minister, Rev. W. G. Rowland. Its plan is an unequal octagon, the sides of which are carved into deep-pointed arches, springing from round pillars with rich foliated capitals, resting on a basement of gradually receding mouldings, terminated by a richly carved boss representing the Saviour preaching. The trefoil and the dog-tooth are the prevailing ornaments throughout. The central panel towards the south bears a bas-relief of the Crucifixion; the arch on the east, a statue of St. Peter, and that on the west, St. Paul; the eastern panel represents the Angels appearing to the Shepherds; the western one, the Ascension; and the northern arch, the statue of St. John the Evangelist.
Eastward of this, on each side, is a similar arch of like dimensions, springing from the same pier. From these, the wings of the transept, corresponding in size and style, branch off to the north and south. In the eastern wall of each wing are two semicircular arches, those nearest the choir being larger than the others, and communicating with the chauntry chapels. At each extremity of the transept is a fine triple lancet window, highly enriched with slender shafts, foliated capitals, and delicate mouldings, and filled with beautiful stained glass. That at the north is of a rich and elaborate mosaic design, with oval compartments, enclosing figures of the Apostles and an escutcheon of the arms of George III., executed by Mr. David Evans. That at the south contains the memorial stained glass to the late Rev. W. G. Rowland, comprising figures of the Virgin and Child, St. Thomas, and St. Bartholomew, under rich florid canopies, with groups of angels above, bearing scrolls with inscriptions. The side walls are pierced with narrow lights, in couplets, in a similar but plainer style; one of which, on the west side of the north transept, contains the Virgin and Child, under a canopy; whilst the corresponding window in the south transept contains the arms of France and England quarterly, and the armorial bearings of the late Bishop Butler, and the alliances of his family. The narrow doorways [71] are semicircular, rising from round pillars with foliated capitals, and enriched with a moulding, consisting of a round branch, swelling at intervals into lozenged panels, charged with roses. Under the triple lancet window of the south transept is a large and bold Gothic monument, in three compartments, to the family of Lloyd, and to the widow of the late Bishop Butler: and around the walls of the north transept are placed the splendid Gothic monuments to
THE REV. J. B. BLAKEWAY,
Monument to Rev. J. B. Blakeway
and the families of Dukes, Parry, and Hughes.The following is the inscription on the former:—
TO THE MEMORY OF THE REVEREND
JOHN BRICKDALE BLAKEWAY, M.A. F.S.A.
THIRTY-ONE YEARS ORDINARY AND OFFICIAL,
AND THIRTY-TWO YEARS MINISTER OF THIS PARISH,
THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED
BY THE VOLUNTARY SUBSCRIPTION OF HIS PARISHIONERS
AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT FOR HIS TALENTS,
ESTEEM FOR HIS VIRTUES,
AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS LONG AND FAITHFUL SERVICES
AS THEIR FRIEND AND PASTOR.
HE DIED THE TENTH DAY OF MARCH, MDCCCXXVI,
AGED SIXTY YEARS.
These exquisite specimens of monumental skill, (together with many others in various parts of the edifice,) unrivalled in chaste elegance of design, and richness of execution, are the masterly productions of Mr. John Carline.
Triple lancet window The chancel is elevated above the rest of the church, and is filled with carved oak stalls recently erected for the scholars of the Free Grammar School. It has on each side a narrow pointed arch, with deep mouldings rising from clustered pillars, opening to the chauntry chapels. On the north side near the richly decorated altar, is a beautiful and uncommon TRIPLE LANCET WINDOW; the central arch, remarkably acute, rising far above the lateral ones, and resting internally on two slender insulated columns, with capitals richly decorated with a combination of heads and foliage. These ornaments are continued as a frieze to the wall, and from the imposts project busts of monsters. This window contains some remarkably fine and highly finished stained glass, representing the history of the life of St. Bernard, said to be by Albert Durer, or at all events of his age. Another portion of this glass is in the central window of the south aisle of the nave. The great eastern window occupies the whole extremity of the chancel. Its arch is broad and inelegant, divided by clumsy mullions and tracery, and exhibits a specimen of the debased style of church architecture of the Elizabethan sera. In this window is the curious and beautiful ancient stained glass which filled the east window of Old St. Chad’s Church, prior to its demolition, and which was presented to this church in 1791. The subject is that favourite one of the old glass-stainers—the Genealogy of Christ from Jesse. Jesse is represented reclining in sleep; from his loins springs a vine, which overspreading the whole window, encloses in its branches the several kings his descendants. In the lower compartments are figures of three knights banneret, and three ladies, kneeling under foliated tabernacles; the former habited in hawberks and yellow surcoats, charged with a lion rampant gules. Underneath is an inscription, requesting our prayers for “Monsr. John de Charleton and Dame Hawis, sa companion,” from which, and from the armorial bearings, we learn that this exquisite piece of ancient art was set up by the great Sir John de Charleton, lord of Powis, and must have been executed between 4 Edward II., (1310,) when he was married to Hawise Gadarn, the heiress of the ancient Princes of Powis, and 1353, the year of his death. It has been conjectured that this glass was originally presented to the Grey Friars, in this town, to which religious house Sir John and his wife were great benefactors, and that it was removed to St. Chad’s at the dissolution—a singular instance of so fragile a material surviving the destruction of two vast and substantial edifices. The whole of this window has lately been thoroughly and most judiciously restored. The clerestory windows are filled with figures of Apostles and Angels.
On the north side of the chancel is the vestry, recently erected in the Norman style, the windows of which are filled with “roundels” of old German and Flemish glass, exquisitely finished; and immediately adjoining is the chauntry chapel of St. Catharine; in the east wall of which is a window of very uncommon form, consisting of a pointed arch, within which is a trefoil, containing, in stained glass, Christ seated on a throne amid the clouds and the dead rising to judgment. Immediately beneath is a round-headed window, in which is a kneeling figure in stained glass of the Virgin Mary, with angels hovering over her head, bearing in their hands a crown. On the north side is a large window, of three lights, with perpendicular tracery, containing fine old German glass representing the Crucifixion; Saint and kneeling figure; Judas betraying Christ; and St. Lambert and kneeling figure. This chapel is now used as a Baptistery, and the beautiful Ancient Stone Font stands in the centre, on a rich pavement of modern encaustic tiles. Against the north wall, an alabaster slab, engraved with figures of a warrior and lady, commemorates Nicholas Stafford, Esq. and Katherine, his wife, the reputed founders of this chapel, who died 1463, which formerly lay under the arched recess in the north wall.
Ancient Stone Font, St. Mary’s Church
Over the door leading into the vestry is the monument, in white marble, erected by subscription, to the memory of the brave Admiral Benbow, a native of the parish. Monument to Admiral Benbow It represents an obtuse pyramid of black marble, against which leans an oval medallion full faced bust of the Admiral, surrounded with anchor, flags, and cannon; and below a delicately sculptured representation in bas-relief of a naval fight: underneath is the following inscription:—
ERECTED BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION TO COMMEMORATE
THE SERVICES OF
JOHN BENBOW, ESQ. VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE,
A SKILFUL AND DARING SEAMAN
WHOSE HEROIC EXPLOITS LONG RENDERED HIM THE BOAST OF
THE BRITISH NAVY,
AND STILL POINT HIM OUT AS THE NELSON OF HIS TIMES.
HE WAS BORN AT COTON HILL IN THIS PARISH, AND DIED AT
KINGSTON IN JAMAICA,
NOVEMBER 4TH, 1702, AGED 51 YEARS,
OF WOUNDS RECEIVED IN HIS MEMORABLE ACTION
WITH A FRENCH SQUADRON OFF CARTHAGENA IN THE
WEST INDIES,
FOUGHT ON THE 19TH AND FIVE FOLLOWING DAYS OF AUGUST
IN THAT YEAR.
Attached to the south side of the chancel is a large and lofty chapel, in ancient times variously called “The Leybourne Chapel” and “The Trinity Aisle.” There is every probability that it was founded about the year 1300, by one of the Leybournes of Berwick, as a place of sepulture for the family, and was subsequently enlarged into its present form by the Drapers’ Company of the town, soon after their incorporation in 1461. In the south-east wall are three stone sedilia, with canopied arches; and on the north side of the altar, a small locker, once used for keeping the Eucharist. A fine pointed arch, in the pure style of the 14th century, communicates with the chancel through the north-east wall. Under this is an altar, tomb, (probably of Simon de Leybourne, lord of Berwick, who died between 1300 and 1315,) Altar-tomb, Simon de Leybourne the sides of which are adorned with canopied niches, formerly containing figures; and on the table reclines the figure of a knight, cross-legged, and in chain armour. In this tomb the headless corpse of Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, “ill-spirited Worcester,” who was taken prisoner at the battle of Shrewsbury, 1403, and beheaded, is believed to have been interred. The windows on the south side contain figures in stained glass:—commencing eastward the subjects are—St. Christopher, Count Horne, St. Catherine:—Bishop, Count Horne, St. John, St. Catherine, St. Barbara:—St. John the Baptist, Angel, Count Horne, Joseph of Arimathea, and the dead Saviour, St. Anne, Angel, Countess Horne:—Bishop, Countess Horne, St. James, with armorial bearings of the family of Horne. Several of these figures are old, the rest are modern, executed by Mr. D. Evans, after designs by P. Corbet, Esq., of this town. Underneath which is a rich Gothic monument to Master Wigram.
Monument to Master Wigram
MAN KNOWETH NOT HIS TIME.
AT THE WEST SIDE OF THIS CHURCHYARD ARE INTERRED THE
MORTAL REMAINS OF
HEATHCOTE WIGRAM,
SECOND SON OF MONEY WIGRAM, ESQ. AND MARY HIS WIFE,
OF WOODHOUSE, IN THE COUNTY OF ESSEX,
HE WAS A PUPIL IN THE ROYAL FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL OF
THIS TOWN AND WAS DROWNED WHILE BATHING IN THE SEVERN
SEPTEMBER I, MDCCCXXXVIII, AGED XIV YEARS.
THE CONDUCT OF THIS AMIABLE YOUTH HAD GREATLY ENDEARED
HIM TO HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS
HIS NATURAL TALENTS IMPROVED BY SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION
HAD ALREADY GIVEN PROMISE OF FUTURE EXCELLENCE
WHEN HIS HEAVENLY FATHER CALLED HIM AWAY FROM THIS
EARTHLY STATE OF TRIAL
FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE UPON THEM THAT FEAR HIM
AND HOPE IN HIS MERCY TO DELIVER THEIR SOUL FROM DEATH.
THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY HIS MASTERS AND
SCHOOL-FELLOWS
TO THE MEMORY OF HIM WHOM THEY LOVED AND LAMENTED
AND FOR THE CONTINUAL ADMONITION OF THE YOUNG IN THIS
CONGREGATION THAT THEY—
REMEMBER NOW THEIR CREATOR IN THE DAYS OF THEIR YOUTH.
Against the east wall are large gothic monuments to John Jeudwine Esq. and Thomas Sutton, Esq. and between them is the statue erected by his pupils, at a cost of eight hundred guineas, to the memory of the late Bishop Butler. The figure is full-length, clothed in the Episcopal robes, sitting in an easy and graceful attitude; the right hand hanging over the chair, and the left supporting the head, which is leaning in thought. It is of pure white Carrara marble, and was sculptured by F. H. Baily, Esq. R.A. The pedestal which supports the statue is of dove-coloured marble from the Clee Hill, and bears the inscription below:—
SAMVELI BUTLER, S.T.P. R.S.S.
EPISCOPO LICHFIELDENSI
PRAESVLI PIO DILIGENTI DESIDERATO
PRAECEPTORI IN PRIMIS DOCTO AC SOLLERTI
CVIVS FAVSTIS ADMINISTRATA CONSILIIS
SCHOLA REGIA SALOPIENSIS
LITERARVM STVDIIS LAVDEM OMNEM SVPERGRESSA EST
DISCIPVLI MVNICIPES AMICI ET FAVTORES EIVS
VIRO EGREGIE MERITO
HONORIS EXEMPLIQVE CAVSA POSVERVNT
A.S. MDCCCXLIV.
Statue to Bishop ButlerDispersed in various parts of the edifice will be found many monuments of modern date, some of which bear elegant inscriptions.
The northernmost of the windows immediately above, is filled with stained glass representing our Blessed Saviour receiving young children, and figures of Charlemagne and Edgar below, and in the window adjoining, is the Adoration of the Magi, and figures of Alfred and David below, the latter the gift of Daniel Rowland, Esq. brother of the late Incumbent.
On the exterior western wall of the tower are some quaint verses, recording the death of Robert Cadman, who, on 2nd February, 1739, rashly attempted to slide down on his breast along a rope, extended from the summit of the spire to the opposite side of the river. The rope being drawn too tight snapped asunder as he was passing over the Dominican Friars, and he fell lifeless on the ice-bound earth.
On the south-west side of the church-yard lies Lieutenant Thomas Anderson, one of the last persons executed for adherence to the Stuart family. He was tried at Worcester for desertion, and shot here on 11th December, 1759.
On the west side, “grav’d in the hollow ground,” close to the tomb of the Rev. J. B. Blakeway, also repose the ashes of that amiable man, and indefatigable antiquary, Mr. David Parkes, who died 8th May, 1833, of whom there is a mural tablet in the Trinity Chapel. And also on the north-east side, those of the late zealous incumbent, the Rev. J. O. Hopkins, M.A. over which is a stone bearing the following inscription:—
JOHN OLIVER HOPKINS, M.A.
INCUMBENT OF THIS CHURCH, DIED AUGUST 1ST, 1853,
IN HIS 43RD YEAR.
“BE YE ALSO READY FOR IN SUCH AN HOUR AS YE THINK NOT,
THE SON OF MAN COMETH.”—MATT. XXIV. 44.
Westward of the church-yard are
ST. MARY’S ALMSHOUSES,
the safe asylum of feeble age and decent poverty. This foundation arose from the benevolence of the Worshipful Company of Drapers of this town, at a very early period; and was remodelled during the wardenship, of that company, of Degory Watur, a worthy burgess and draper of Shrewsbury, in the days of Henry IV., who, is believed (though whether on sufficient grounds is uncertain,) to have charitably devoted a portion of his substance to the erection and endowment of an almshouse, for thirteen poor persons of both sexes. This beneficent man is said to have “dwellyd in the almeshowse hall amongst the poor,” and a truly affecting sight must it have been to behold the pious old man, white with “the silver livery of advised age,” deprived of sight, and bowed with the weight of ninety-six years, daily accompanying the participators of his bounty to St. Mary’s church, where he “wold kneele amongst them in a fayre longe pewe made for them and hym selfe,” and offer up the grateful incense of thanksgiving to that Eternal Being, with whom there is no respect of persons. The good Degory
“Even in the downfall of his mellowed years,
When Nature brought him to the door of death,”
forgot not the objects of his charity, but in his will, dated on the day of his decease, 28th July, 1477, devised certain lands to the Wardens of the Drapers’ Company to “sufficientlie susteyne poore people in St. Mary Allmeshowse.” Other charitable individuals made subsequent additions to the endowment.
The almshouses originally stood within the churchyard, and were confined, unwholesome, and highly incommodious to the thoroughfare. In 1825 they were entirely removed, and the present comfortable habitations erected on the opposite side of the street, by the Drapers’ Company, at an expense of nearly £3000. The houses are sixteen in number, and the inmates, who must be parishioners of St. Mary’s, are appointed by the Drapers’ Company, and supported by them, at an annual expense of upwards of £100.
In an ancient timber house in the south-west corner of the church-yard, is
THE DRAPERS’ HALL.
This curious and spacious apartment retains many features of the good old fashioned days. Elevated on a dais, “richlie dyghte withe blazon’d tyle,” stands the massive oaken table at which the Company hold their meetings, and below at right angles, is another table, which in former times was wont to groan beneath the solid cheer, with which the worthy drapers feasted their tenants and dependents. A rudely carved muniment chest occupies the lower end, and portraits of the excellent Degory Watur and his spouse, and of King Edward IV. “The Royal Founder of their Companie,” decorate the dark and gloomy wainscot.
The Drapers were incorporated by Charters of Edward IV. and James I. and their Company is recognized by several subsequent Acts of Parliament. Seven years’ apprenticeship to a member of the company is the necessary qualification for admission, though foreigners may be admitted on payment of a fine, at the discretion of the company. Their income, which chiefly arises from lands originally purchased by the voluntary contributions of the members, is considerable, and is expended in the support of the inmates of St. Mary’s Almshouse, in liberal subscriptions to the charitable institutions of the town, and in relief to the widows and families of deceased members.The traffic in Welsh woollen-cloths, the staple trade of the place during three centuries, is now very inconsiderable, the market formerly held here every Thursday having been long since removed to Welshpool and Newtown in Montgomeryshire.
The next object which demands our attention is
THE SALOP INFIRMARY. [86]
“Here all have kindness, most relief—for some
Is cure complete,—it is the Suffers’ Home.”
Salop InfirmaryThis excellent institution was established in 1747, for the humane purpose of affording skilful medical assistance to the suffering poor, and is most munificently supported by the voluntary subscriptions and benefactions of the county. According to the last report the total number of persons who have received the benefit of this useful charity since its commencement, are,—In-patients 65204; whereof 32298 have been cured, and 25156 relieved; Out-patients 138039, of whom 98376 have been cured, and 24700 relieved. The yearly number of patients is 1277 in-patients, and 4835 out-patients. Several of the physicians and surgeons of the town most humanely afford their valuable advice and skill gratuitously; and in order that medical aid may always be ready in cases of emergency, a surgeon, retained at a salary, is constantly resident in the house. The pecuniary and ordinary concerns of the institution are superintended by a board of directors, consisting of eight trustees, the deputy treasurer, and secretary. The domestic economy is regulated by a matron. Two of the subscribers, weekly attend as house-visitors. The Chaplain the Rev. J. Lewis reads prayers daily and visits the sick in the wards. A treasurer is also annually appointed, who, on the anniversary day in the Hunt week, is accompanied to church by the subscribers and patrons of the charity, where, after a sermon, a collection is made in aid of the funds; the plates on this occasion, being held by two ladies and two gentlemen of rank or opulence.The house surgeon is allowed to take three pupils at a premium of 20 Guineas to himself, and 200 Guineas to the Infirmary, which entitles the pupil to board and residence for five years. Attendance at this hospital is recognized by the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Apothecaries’ Company, London.
There is a Library of about 3000 volumes, to which the best new medical works are yearly added by purchase.
The present building was erected in 1830, on the site of the Old Infirmary, after a design by Mr. Haycock, of this town, at an expense of £18,735 18s. 10d. of which £12,994 1s. 3d. was raised by subscription, and the remainder disbursed from the funded property of the charity.
It is constructed of freestone, in the Grecian style, is 170 feet in length by 80 feet in height, and has a handsome portico in the centre, supported by Doric pillars. The disposition of the interior is adequate to the accommodation of from 150 to 160 in-patients, and comprises four stories. The various offices, in number twenty-two, are arranged in the basement; the ground floor is appropriated to the board-room, dispensary, rooms for the admission of patients, the house-surgeon and matron’s apartments, and two wards for surgical cases; the first floor has seven wards for male patients, with day-room, scullery, and baths; the upper story contains a spacious operation room, with wards for female patients on each side; and in the attics are four other wards, with nurses’ rooms, &c. A staircase, at either end, communicates with spacious galleries extending the length of each story. A proper ventilation is kept up through the whole structure, and an uniform temperature preserved by a patent hot-water apparatus, which likewise affords a constant supply of warm water. The walls of the board-room are decorated with the portraits of Sir Rowland Hill, Bart., General Lord Hill, and Lord Clive, the armorial bearings of the successive treasurers, and the tables of benefactions.
The spacious terrace on the eastern side, commands an extensive view of unequalled richness and beauty. The eye, after dwelling on the nearer objects of the rugged declivities of the Castle Mount,—the Railway Viaduct over the Severn,—the majestic ruins of the Abbey,—the stately grandeur of the White Hall,—the elegant Column,—and the venerable church of St. Giles—wanders uninterruptedly over an extensive tract of fertile and finely wooded country, bounded by the long ridge of Haughmond Hill, the Wrekin, the Acton Burnell, Frodesley, and Stretton Hills.
Opposite St. Mary’s turnstile, at the corner of Church Street, stands
JONES’S MANSION,
the front of which is now obscured by modern erections, though portions of its lofty gables are still visible from the street. This house was built by Thomas Jones, Esq., called the Rich Jones, (the uncle of Sir Thomas Jones, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,) who, after serving the office of Bailiff six times, was appointed by Charles I., in 1638, the first Mayor of Shrewsbury. In 1624 he also served the office of Sheriff of the county. Subsequently the mansion became the residence of the Chief Justice Jones. In 1642, during Charles I. stay in Shrewsbury, the Duke of York was lodged here, and Prince Rupert also made it his residence after the battle of Worcester.
In the adjacent street, Dogpole, is
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE,
instituted with the object of affording to the young men of the town the means of acquiring general and scientific knowledge, by the formation of a library, delivery of Lectures, and establishment of Classes for French, Germany Drawing, &c., and an opportunity of spending their leisure hours profitably in a Reading Room supplied with the London and local Newspapers, and several of the leading Reviews, Magazines, and periodicals devoted to mechanical and artistical subjects. There is, also, a Debating Society connected with the Institution. The subscription is 15s. per annum, with free admission to the Lectures, Library, and Reading Room, the latter of which is open from 12 at noon to 10 o’clock at night, every day, (Sundays excepted.)
Behind the wainscot of the dining-room of a house situate a little below the Institute in Dogpole, now the property and residence of Dr. Henry Johnson, Senior Physician to the Salop Infirmary, and known in ancient documents by the name of
“THE OLDE HOUSE,”
was recently discovered an ancient painting, on canvas, fixed upon a board forming the mantelpiece over the fire-place of the room. In the centre is a shield of arms, France and England quarterly, surmounted by a royal crown, and on either side a pomegranate and Tudor rose (white and red conjoined), twice repeated. The ground of the whole dark-maroon, ornamented or damasked with white wavy feathery embellishments. Above, on the plaster of the wall, is a rude painting of heavy scroll-work ornaments; and it is thought that the rest of the walls, if the wainscot were removed, would be found covered with similar paintings.
In the absence of all positive evidence, conjectures can only be hazarded as to the cause of these arms, &c. having been placed here.
One thing, however, is certain that they are connected, in some way with Queen Mary, daughter of Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine of Arragon, inasmuch as the pomegranate was first introduced as a royal badge of England, upon Katherine’s marriage with prince Arthur, son of Henry VII. Now if we consider this painting contemporary with an inscription on the wainscot of the adjoining drawing-room, “PETRVS ROBERTS M M SECO 1553,” and interpret it thus, “PETRVS ROBERTS MARIÆ MATERNITATEM SECO, 1553. I Peter Roberts decide (the question of) the maternity or legitimacy of Mary, 1553.” Then we may regard it as a loyal demonstration on Mary’s accession to the English throne by some one of those many friends and adherents who so warmly sympathised in her early adversity, in the unjustifiable degradation of her royal mother and her own consequent exclusion from the succession to the throne.
If, however, the painting is considered to be anterior in time to the inscription on the wainscot, and such really appears to be the case from the style of the wainscot, then it may be connected with the possibility of the Court of the Marches of Wales, over which Mary presided in 1525, with the title of “Princess of Wales,” having been held here, since the Council House, where the Court usually sat afterwards, was not built till 1530; or it may be the memorial of an unrecorded visit of Queen Mary to our town; or the residence of one of her household, or of some member of the Council, amongst both of whom were many Cambrian names, and the following,—Ap Rice, Baldwyn, Basset, Bromley, Burnell, Burton, Cotton, Dod, Egerton, Pigot, Rocke, Sydnour, Salter, more or less connected with Shrewsbury; or it may have been the mansion of one of the many Welsh families of distinction, with whom Mary formed an intimacy during her residence in the Marches; or, as the crest of the Rocke family still remains on the leaden water-piping, and who in later times are remembered to have resided therein, it may have been the mansion of Anthony Rocke, who was a servant of Queen Katherine, and a legatee in her will to the amount of £20; and of whom the Princess Mary thus writes in one of her letters:—“For although he be not my servant, yet because he was my mother’s, and is an honest man, as I think, I do love him well, and would do him good.”
Which of these guesses may be the true solution, we are unable at present to decide.
We now pass down Church Street to
ST. ALKMUND’S CHURCH,
St. Alkmund’s Church
founded in the early part of the 10th century, by Ethelfleda, daughter of the great Alfred, and lady of Mercia, who endowed it with eleven manors. Edgar the Peaceable added other lands and possessions, and placed here a dean and ten prebends. At the time of Domesday the church held in Shrewsbury twenty-one burgesses, twelve houses for the canons, two of the hundred hides, for which the city paid Dane-geld, besides nine of the above manors, (the other two having been unjustly wrested from it, and fallen into lay hands,) in all, about 4020 acres, of which 620 were in demesne, and a rent of £8 8s. 8d. received for the remainder, which, with other rents of the amount of 13s. 8d. produced a revenue rather exceeding £500 of modern currency. Part of these estates, held of the church by Godebold, a Norman priest, and subsequently by his son, Robert, persons in great esteem with our Norman earls, were involved by some means in the confiscation of the property of the last Earl, Robert de Belesme, and fell into the hands of Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, to whom Henry I. had entrusted the government of Shropshire. On the death of this prelate in 1127, the king granted them to the Bishop’s nephew, Richard de Belmeis, also Bishop of London, and canon of this church. In his possession they did not long continue, for in 1147 he effected the dissolution of the college of St. Alkmund, and with the consent of King Stephen and Pope Eugenius III., transferred his own and all the other prebendal estates, to augment his brother Philip de Belmeis’s recent foundation of Lilleshall Abbey, in this county, by which means the benefice sank from a collegiate establishment into a poor vicarage.
After the dissolution of Lilleshall Abbey, the vicarage continued in the crown until 1628, when Charles I. sold it to Rowland Heylin, Alderman of London, a zealous member of a society for founding lectureships in populous towns, and augmenting small livings. On the suppression of this society in 1663, on the supposition of its being favourable to puritanical principles, St. Alkmund’s, with the other advowsons, purchased by the society, became vested in the crown, in whose patronage it still remains.
The old church was a spacious structure, exhibiting specimens of ecclesiastical architecture, from the Anglo-Norman period to the middle of the sixteenth century. The original form was a cross with nave, side aisles, transept, chancel, and western tower, but from the subsequent erections of chauntry chapels, the external elevation was very irregular. On the sudden fall of St. Chad’s Church, in this town, an unfounded apprehension of the instability of this curious building was excited and cherished in the breasts of the parishioners. Deliberations were speedily set on foot, and with ill-judged haste it was resolved to demolish the venerable structure, and erect a new church of more contracted dimensions on a part of the site. The strength and firmness of the masonry of the ancient but undecayed walls presented almost insurmountable obstacles to the efforts of the workmen employed to rend them asunder, and convinced the parishioners, when too late, of their premature folly. [97]
The present church was opened for divine service on 8th November, 1795, and cost in the erection £4000. It is of freestone, in the style usually denominated Modern-Gothic. The interior, though destitute of the solemn majesty of gothic edifices, is handsomely fitted up, and well arranged for the accommodation of a numerous congregation. In the gallery at the west end, is a small but well-toned organ, by Gray of London, erected by subscription in 1823. The east window contains some modern stained glass, emblematical of Evangelical Faith, painted by the elder Eglinton.
Of the old church the only portion which escaped destruction was the western steeple, erected probably as late as the Dissolution. It consists of a slender, but well-proportioned square tower of three chambers, flanked by light double angular buttresses, gracefully diminishing in their ascent, and finished on the summit by broaches or semi-pyramidal abutments. From this rises a spire of the finest proportions, brought to an exquisitely taper point, and crowned by an open flower. This has recently been repaired and restored by Mr. S. P. Smith. Under the tower, an elegant pointed arch, recessed within a square opening, leads to the interior; on each side are the remains of holy water niches. Above is a handsome pointed window, with delicate mullions, containing in ancient stained glass, preserved from the old church, the arms of France and England quarterly, and those of Richard Sampson, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. The bell-story contains a light peal of eight bells, cast by Bryan of Hertford, in 1812, and is lighted by four semicircular windows.
Of the ancient tombs and monumental brasses which abounded in the old edifice, none are preserved in the present structure, which contains no memorial worthy of note, with the exception of a tablet to Chief Justice Jones, and one to the late Rev. R. Scott, B.D.
The parish comprises only a small part of the town, but contains many insulated portions of the neighbourhood.
Strong foundations of red stone are extensively visible in the houses and walls on the north-west side of the church yard, which may possibly be the remains of the Saxon college.
Immediately adjoining, at the top of the Double Butcher Bow, is a lofty timber house, conjectured to have been
which anciently existed in the church of St. Alkmund.
Guild House of the Holy Cross
This curious tenement, now occupied as several dwellings, forms two sides of a square, and with the exception of its square windows, entirely of Gothic architecture of the fifteenth century.
The projecting stories are supported by elegant springers, enriched like the principal timbers, with carvings of small pointed arches, with trefoil and other ornaments. A cloister of obtusely pointed wooden arches, overspread with rich carvings and delicate mouldings, runs along the ground-story of the front.
Contiguous to St. Alkmund’s is
ST. JULIAN’S CHURCH.
St. Julian’s Churchof whose early foundation in the Saxon times, we possess no particulars. According to Domesday, it held before the Conquest half a hide of land in the city. It was a rectory and royal free chapel with a peculiar jurisdiction, and appears to have been annexed, at a very early period, to the chapel of St. Michael, in the castle. In 1410 the rectory was granted, amongst other things, by Henry IV., to augment his new foundation of Battlefield College, and thenceforth this living became a mere stipendiary curacy. On the dissolution of that college, St. Julian’s was granted by the crown, in 3rd Edward VI. to John Capper and Richard Trevor, and after numerous subsequent transfers, passed into the family of Prince, from whom it has descended to the present patron, the Earl of Tankerville.
The parish comprehends the Wyle, the Wyle Cop, and under the Wyle, and considerable disjointed portions extending wide into the country.
The present church, erected in 1749, on the site of an ancient irregular structure which had become ruinous, is an oblong Grecian building of brick and stone. The interior is handsome and conveniently fitted up. Four Doric pillars on each side of the nave support the ceiling, which is curved and decorated with considerable effect with carved foliated bosses, preserved from the beams of the old church. Over the side aisles, and at the west end, are commodious galleries, in the latter of which is an organ by Fleetwood and Bucer, erected by subscription in 1834. In the central light of the large Venetian window in the chancel, is a figure of St. James in ancient stained glass; and in the side lights are the royal arms, and those of Lichfield and Coventry impaling Cornwallis. The galleries on the north and south are lighted by large circular-headed windows, containing the arms of Queen Elizabeth, the town, and the families of Bowdler, Prynce, and Bennett.
The only existing portion of the old church is the slender square tower at the west end. The basement is of red stone, and has on its eastern side a remarkably acute and lofty arch opening to the nave. From this rises a superstructure of grey stone in the style of the 16th century; the upper chamber of which is lighted on every side by a broad short pointed mullioned window. Above is a frieze of quatrefoil pannels, with grotesque water-spouts projecting from the angles. An embattled parapet, enriched with eight crocketed pinnacles, crowns the summit. In the tower are six bells.
On the exterior of the south wall of the tower is a sculptured stone from the old church, representing St. Juliana within a foliated tabernacle.The south side of the church was, in 1846, stuccoed over, stone pillars inserted between the windows, and surmounted with a cornice and stone parapet.
The church-yard next the street was also enclosed by a pierced parapet stone wall, and the entire structure substantially repaired at the expense partly of the parish and of the late Rev. R. Scott.
The edifice contains only one monument of any antiquity; a coarse marble slab, inscribed in Longo-bardic capitals, to a member of the family of Trumwin, of Cannock, in Staffordshire.
The modern memorials most worthy of remark, as recording men “useful in their generation,” are those to Mr. John Allatt, the beneficent founder of Allatt’s School; Mr. Robert Lawrence, the public-spirited coach proprietor, to whose exertions we owe the great Holyhead Road, and the establishment of the first mail coach to this town;—and to the elegant-minded Hugh Owen, Archdeacon of Salop, one of the learned authors of the “History of Shrewsbury.”
We now reach
THE TOP OF THE WYLE,
the upper part of the street now called “The Wyle Cop,” which is believed to have been the part first inhabited by the Britons, and was in the immediate vicinity of their Prince’s palace, which occupied the site of Old St. Chad’s church. After the Saxon invasion the town gradually increased towards the north, as is evident from the situation of the churches of St. Alkmund and St. Mary, the former founded in the beginning, and the latter at the end of the 10th century.
On the right-hand side of the Wyle Cop, three doors below the Lion Hotel, is an
OLD TIMBER HOUSE,
in which Henry VII. is reported to have lodged during his short stay in the town, immediately previous to the battle of Bosworth. For the good services which Henry experienced from the burgesses on this occasion, he remitted, on his accession to the throne, ten marks annually for fifty years, of the fee farm at which they held their town, and exempted them from all taxes and contributions. The intercourse which had begun thus favourably was kept up in after years by Henry, who, with his queen and son, frequently visited this town, upon which occasions they were feasted by the Bailiffs in a most royal and hospitable manner.Opposite to St. Julian’s church is
SHEARMANS’, OR CLOTHWORKERS’ HALL,
an ancient red stone building, of whose original erection no particulars are now extant. The high gabled west end fronts the High Street, and displays a pointed window of the 14th century, long since deprived of its mullions. On the east and south sides are remains of similar windows. The interior, formerly in one apartment, is now converted into a dwelling-house and warehouses.
The business of the Shearman consisted in dressing the Welsh webs, by raising the wool on one side. In the reign of Elizabeth great numbers were employed in this process; but subsequent discoveries proving it to be injurious to the texture of the cloth, it was gradually laid aside. Few, if any, Shearmen now remain in our town. The precise date of their incorporation is unknown, though doubtless it was at a very early period.
From entries in their ancient books dated 7th, 8th, and 9th, Edward IV. we learn that the Company constituted the Guild or Fraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose chauntry was in the north aisle of St. Julian’s Church. From the same documents we find that it was the custom on their festival day, to erect in front of their Hall, a May-pole or green tree, thence called “the Shermen’s Tree;” the bringing in and fixing of which was accompanied with much festivity and expensive jollity. The ceremonies observed on these occasions, doubtless bore considerable resemblance to those practised at the erection of the May-pole on May-day, as described by old writers, when
“Forth goth all the court both most and lest,
To fetch the floures fresh, and braunch and blome.”
During the reign of Puritanism these pastimes caused great disgust to the professors of those principles, and strenuous efforts were used to suppress “the Shermen’s Tree.” Disturbances consequently ensued, in which the Bailiffs of the town appear to have espoused the cause of the Puritans, and even directed their Public Preacher to deliver sermons against the merriment of our honest forefathers.
Adjoining the south side of the Shearmen’s Hall is a large and curious old timber house, called
THE OLD POST-OFFICE,
which forms with it a court, entered from the street by a gateway. These premises were erected in 1568 by George Proude, draper, bailiff in 1569, and member of a family formerly of considerable note in our town.We now approach the only remaining portion of
OLD ST. CHAD’S CHURCH,
consisting of the Lady Chapel on the south side of the choir. The two semicircular arches, still visible in the masonry of the outer walls, communicated with the choir and south transept. The north-west angle is flanked by the great south-eastern pier of the central tower, and at the opposite corner are the remains of a staircase buttress. The southern and eastern sides are each lighted by two pointed windows, three of which are divided by elegant trefoil tracery. The south-western window is plainer, and of an earlier date than the rest. On the outside of the north wall are three stone stalls, with groined roofs, originally on the southern side of the altar, and used by the officiating clergy during the celebration of the mass. The roof is of a plain oak panelling.
Old St. Chad’s Church
This chauntry chapel was first erected in 1496, but having subsequently fallen into decay was nearly re-edified in 1571, at the expense of Humphrey Onslow, Esq. of Onslow, in this parish, for the reception of the altar tomb, (now in the Abbey Church,) of his nephew the Speaker Onslow, who died at Onslow during a visit to his uncle. After the Reformation it acquired the name of the Bishop’s Chancel, from being used as a consistory court at the visitations. Its present use is as a receptacle for the monumental memorials rescued from the wreck of the old church.
This church, when perfect, was a plain heavy, solid pile, totally devoid of ornamental sculpture on the outer walls, and from its situation on a commanding eminence, presented from a distance, a fine, solemn, cathedral-like appearance. It was cruciform, and comprised a nave, side aisles, transept, choir, a broad low central tower, and chauntry chapels north and south of the choir. The architecture was chiefly of the Anglo-Norman and lancet styles of the 13th century, with some subsequent additions of the 15th and 16th centuries. [109]
Early in the summer of 1788 considerable fissures were observed in the north-western pier of the tower, which continuing to increase, Mr. Telford was employed to examine and report the cause. On inspection, it was discovered that the foundations had been undermined by graves heedlessly made too near the walls, and that the pier, in consequence, had given way; that the tower and the whole of the north side of the nave were in a most dangerous state, and the chief timbers of the roof decayed. He recommended that the tower should be immediately taken down, the pier rebuilt, and the other parts of the fabric properly and substantially secured. This reasonable advice through ill-judged economy was fatally rejected, and a stonemason employed to cut away the infirm parts of the pier, and to underbuild it, without lessening any of the incumbent weight of the tower and bells. The workmen accordingly commenced, and proceeded in their operations for two days; but on the third morning, July 9th, 1788, just as the chimes struck four, the ruinous pier gave way, the tower was instantly rent asunder, and falling on the roofs of the nave and transept with a tremendous crash, involved those parts in one indescribable scene of desolation and horror. Many portions of the building still remained standing but so great was the panic occasioned by the catastrophe that they were all immediately taken down, with the exception of the present chapel.
The collegiate establishment of St. Chad consisted of a dean, ten secular canons, and two vicars choral, and was founded soon after the subjugation of Pengwern, in the 8th century, by Offa, king of Mercia, who, as tradition states, converted the palace of the kings of Powis into his first church. In Edward the Confessor’s time, this church held twelve hides of land, which it retained at the compilation of Domesday. Between the years 1086 and 1326, other considerable possessions were acquired by the college, so that at the dissolution their revenues amounted to the clear yearly sum of £49 13s. In 34th Henry VIII. on the apprehension of a dissolution, the last dean, Sir George Lee, granted a lease of the deanery, (with the exception of certain tithes previously disposed of) to Humphrey Onslow, Esq. for sixty-one years, at a rent of £10, and a payment of £4 6s. 8d. to a curate to celebrate divine service in the church. On the dissolution of colleges, 2nd Edward VI., the crown leased the collegiate property to George Beston, Esq. for a term of twenty-one years; and two years afterwards, without any notice being taken of that gentleman’s interest, it was appropriated to the Free Schools, in which it is now vested.The living, though properly a curacy, has long been styled a vicarage, and is in the patronage of the crown. The incumbent is always the mayor’s chaplain.
This parish is by far the largest in the place, comprising very nearly half the town, and a great extent of the surrounding country.
The day-spring of the Reformation early visited our town. In 1407, Master William Thorpe, a priest, came to Shrewsbury, and mounted the pulpit in St. Chad’s church, from whence he boldly condemned the favourite tenets of popery. Thorpe was in consequence thrown into prison, subsequently conveyed to Lambeth, and after a confinement of several months convened before the Archbishop of Canterbury at Saltwood, on a complaint exhibited against him by “the bailives and worshipful cominalte” of this town. In his examination he candidly admitted the charges laid against him, but adhered to his opinions with manly and unshrinking steadiness. Of the result of the trial and his subsequent history we possess no account.
In the year 1394, this church, which had at that time a wooden steeple covered with lead, was consumed by accidental fire, which extended its ravages to a great portion of the town, then chiefly consisting of timber houses with thatched roofs. The damage sustained was so considerable, that Richard II. remitted the payment of the fee farm of the town for three years towards the repairs.
In 1490, Henry VII., accompanied by his queen and son, Prince Arthur, kept the feast of St. George, (April 23,) in this church. In 1581, Sir Henry Sidney, President of the Council of the Marches, as a Knight of the Garter, kept the feast of St. George, (April 23,) in this town, with great splendour. He marched in solemn procession from the Council House to St. Chad’s Church, the choir of which was fitted up in imitation of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and the stalls decorated with the arms of the Knights of the Garter. Sir Henry sat in his proper stall, near that reserved for the Queen; in passing which he bowed with the same respect as if her Majesty had actually been present. On the conclusion of divine service Sir Henry devoted the afternoon to feasting the burgesses.
THE COLLEGE OF ST. CHAD
adjoined the south-western extremity of the church. Its buildings, now converted into three handsome houses, are so entirely modernized, that scarce a vestige is visible, except a portion of the wall adjacent to the church-yard. The outer walls of its precinct may be traced to a considerable distance in the neighbouring gardens.
North of the church-yard, in a close passage called “the Sextry,” are some old timber buildings, once communicating with the church by a covered passage over the street. These were, as is supposed, the dwellings of the Vicars Choral. In this old tenement the attendants of Henry VII. were lodged during his visit to the town in 1496, when the Bailiffs entertained him in almost sumptuous and royal manner. These premises were subsequently used as
THE MERCERS’ HALL,
though the Company have long since ceased to hold their meetings here. The Company of Mercers, on their union with the Ironmongers and Goldsmiths, received on May 11, 1480, a confirmation of their composition, from Edward V. then Prince of Wales, and resident in Shrewsbury. This fraternity were patrons of the Altar of St. Michael in St. Chad’s Church.
On the south side of the church-yard are
ST. CHAD’S ALMSHOUSES,
wretched hovels, projecting considerably into the adjoining street of Belmont. They were founded in 1409, by Bennet Tipton, a public brewer, then residing at the College, who, so far as can be ascertained, did not make any provision for the support of the almspeople. An annual rent-charge of £8, charged upon the Lythwood estate by the family of Ireland, and a payment of 2s. 2d. from the Mercers’ Company, constitutes the whole endowment, which is distributed in allowances of 14s. 7½d. per annum to each of the inmates. These tottering habitations, from the want of a fund for judicious repairs, are capable of affording little comfort or accommodation to the infirm tenants, who are nominated by the proprietors of the Lythwood estate.
Opposite to the almshouses are
THE JUDGES’ LODGINGS,
a handsome house, purchased by the county in 1821, and appropriated to the accommodation of the judges and their retinue during their attendance at the Assizes.
Passing down College Hill, we have on our right the south elevation of the Public Rooms. In this spot previously stood the remains of
VAUGHAN’S PLACE,
an ancient stone mansion, erected in the early part of the 14th century, by Sir Hamo Vaughan, knight, of West Tilbury, in Essex, or by his father, Sir Thomas Vaughan, knight, of Stepney, members of an old Welsh family, probably of the illustrious lineage of Owen Gwyned. By marriage with Eleanor, daughter and heiress of Sir Hamo, Reginald de Mutton, member of a family conspicuous among our early Bailiffs, acquired this property, which thenceforth became, for many generations, the town mansion of the Myttons, and by whose descendant, the late John Mytton, Esq. of Halston, it has been sold. The spacious hall and adjacent apartments now contain
THE MUSEUM
of the Shropshire and North Wales Natural History and Antiquarian Society.
This Society was established on the 26th June, 1835, and has for its object the formation of a Museum and Scientific Library of Natural History, Antiquities, &c. and the collection from every quarter, of accurate information respecting the Natural and General History of the important District of Shropshire and North Wales—its topography, statistics, climate, and meteorological phenomena—its geological structure, mineral, and organic fossils—its mines and collieries—its various animal and vegetable productions.
In order to place the Institution on the most liberal basis, and to render it of the greatest possible public advantage, the property of the Society is vested in the Lords Lieutenant, (for the time being,) of the county of Salop, and of the several counties of North Wales, as Trustees for the permanent use and benefit of the district at large; by which arrangement the perpetuity of the Institution is secured, and the possible dispersion of the Museum, at any future period, effectually guarded against.
The affairs of the Society are under the management of a Council, consisting of a President, and other Officers, elected annually, and twelve Members, of whom six retire by rotation.
All persons proposed to the Council by two Subscribers, and contributing One Guinea annually, are Members of the Society, and have the privilege of admission for themselves and families to the Museum and library, and of introducing Visitors.
To diffuse a taste for Science, periodical meetings of the Society are held, at which scientific communications are read, and popular lectures on the various branches of Natural History delivered.
In addition to the more local objects of the Society, the Museum is open to the reception of any specimens from distant localities, with which the friends of science in various quarters may be induced to enrich it, and which may serve to complete the series, and enhance the scientific value of those indigenous to the district. For this purpose the Council have authority to effect exchanges of the natural products of Shropshire and North Wales, for specimens furnished by the Cabinets of Societies, or Individual Collectors in other parts of the world.
A General Meeting of the Society is held in August, in each year, at which the officers are elected, the Annual Report of the progress of the Society is read, and an appropriate Address delivered by the President.
The Museum and library are open every day, (Sunday excepted); during the summer months, from ten o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the evening; but in the winter are closed at four o’clock in the evening.
In the same building is
THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN,
for the purpose of “establishing classes for acquiring elementary instruction in Art, in connexion with existing Public Schools and Institutions, with a view of diffusing a knowledge of Art among all classes of the public, whether artisans, manufacturers, or consumers, and for preparing students for entering the Schools of Art heretofore known as Schools of Design.”
On some part of this property it is supposed the chapel, dedicated to St. Blase, formerly stood.Turning to the left we proceed down Swan Hill, near the bottom of which, on the right-hand side is
THE INDEPENDENT MEETING-HOUSE,
a brick building, of an oblong form, erected in 1767.
Immediately adjoining is
ALLATT’S CHARITY SCHOOL,
erected in 1800, pursuant to the will of Mr. John Allatt, thirty-eight years chamberlain of the Corporation, who died 2nd November, 1796, and bequeathed his property for the education and clothing of the children of the more respectable classes of poor persons resident in the town, and for providing coats and gowns for a considerable number of indigent men and women. The structure is of freestone, plain but elegant, and comprises commodious houses for the schoolmaster and mistress, connected by arcades with spacious school-rooms.
The interest of the money unexpended in the building of the schools is applied to the maintenance of a master and mistress, who instruct twenty boys, and the same number of girls, in reading, writing, arithmetic, and the girls in sewing. They are clothed once a year, and at a proper age apprenticed. Twenty coats and eighty stuff gowns are also annually distributed to the poor.Proceeding on the left along Murivance, we soon arrive at
EBENEZER MEETING-HOUSE,
erected in 1834, by a congregation of seceders from the Wesleyan Methodists.
Contiguous to this is the only remaining
TOWER ON THE TOWN WALLS,
It is square, embattled, of two stories, lighted by narrow loops, the entrance to the upper being from the top of the wall, through a small plain pointed arch of the age of Henry IV. A similar arch forms the doorway of the lower story.
Tower on the Town Walls
The more accessible parts of the Town Walls, particularly on the south and south-western sides, were formerly strengthened by similar towers, all of which are now demolished.
At a short distance further on, a considerable portion of
THE TOWN WALLS,
now reduced in height and stripped of its battlements, forms an useful and agreeable public walk. This and the Walls on the north side of the town, called Roushill Walls, extending from the Castle Gates to the Welsh Bridge, are all the existing remains of our ancient fortifications, which, when entire, could not have been much less than a mile and half in compass.
At the end of the walls, on the left, is
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MEETING-HOUSE,
a neat building, erected in 1776, and enlarged in 1825. The interior is fitted up with much taste and elegance. The altar rests on a sarcophagus, on the front of which is a painting of the Last Supper, after Leonardi da Vinci. Above is a figure of Christ on the Cross, with the inscription “Thus God loved the world.” The roof is coved and rests on a broad cornice, consisting of angelic figures in relief united by wreaths and garlands of flowers. In the gallery is a small organ, and on each side the entrance an elegant white marble shell for the holy water.
BOWDLER’S CHARITY SCHOOL
next demands our attention; a plain brick building, founded in 1724, pursuant to the will of Mr. Thomas Bowdler, alderman and draper, for the instruction, clothing, and apprenticing poor children of St. Julian’s parish. The dress of the children is blue, whence the school is sometimes called “The Blue School.”
Passing at the bottom of the Wyle a curiously carved timber house, formerly the mansion of the highly respectable family of Sherar, we cross “swift Severn’s flood” by
THE ENGLISH, OR STONE BRIDGE.
This elegant structure was completed in 1774, after a design of Mr. Gwynn, a native of the town, at an expense of £15,710, of which £11,494 was raised by voluntary subscriptions. It is of freestone, 400 feet in length, and comprises seven semicircular arches, the central one being sixty feet in width, and forty in height, and is crowned with a fine balustrade. The fronts are embellished with light and graceful ornaments. The ascent, owing to the height of the central arch, is disagreeably steep, and the breadth of the thoroughfare, (only twenty-five feet,) highly inconvenient to the innumerable carriages and passengers which are continually passing over it.
English Bridge
The Old English Bridge, built probably by the Abbots and Burgesses conjointly, was taken down on the completion of the present one. It was constructed on seventeen arches, and extended over the main stream, and also an arm of the river now filled up, which crossing the road, flowed past the monks’ infirmary into the Meole Brook. The principal course of the river was extended by six large arches. Within two arches of the eastern extremity, was a gate and strong embattled tower, with chamber and portcullis, and beyond a drawbridge. The thoroughfare was of the extremely narrow width of twelve feet, and was greatly encumbered with houses built on the northern parapet.
We now enter the little hamlet of
MERIVALE,
where, on the left, are still seen several specimens of the timber architecture of our forefathers, and on the right stands
THE PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION CHARITY SCHOOL,
called also the “Brown School,” from the brown dress of the children, erected in 1778. Children from all quarters of the town are admissible on the recommendation of subscribers, and an useful religious education is afforded to them on the Madras system.
The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway here crosses the street by an
IRON BRIDGE,
with pierced balustrades, springing from stone abutments.
Our attention is next attracted by the venerable remains of
THE ABBEY OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.
which owes its foundation to Roger de Montgomery, the first Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, and arose on the site of a small wooden church dedicated to St. Peter, built in the reign of Edward the Confessor, by Siward, a Saxon gentleman, then resident in Shropshire. The earl peopled his abbey with monks of the Benedictine rule, whom he invited over from a religious house founded on the estates of Mabel, his first Countess, at Seez, in Normandy. During his last illness the warlike founder entered himself a monk of his own foundation, and received the tonsure on the 14th July, 1094. He had previously obtained from the Abbey of Clugni, in Burgundy, the kirtle of St. Hugh, which holy vestment he occasionally wore, doubtless in anxious hope of its communicating some portion of the sanctity of its former possessor. Three days after his assumption of the monastic garb he breathed his last, and was honourably interred in the Lady Chapel, between the two altars. His son Hugh, the second earl, who was slain by Magnus, King of Norway, near Castell Aber Lleiniog, in Anglesea, in the year 1098, also received interment in the cloisters.
On the confiscation of the Earldom of Shrewsbury, in the reign of Henry I., our Shrewsbury Abbots, became tenants in capite, and were thenceforth under the necessity, (as it was deemed in those days,) of attending the King in his Parliaments, as Barons or Peers of Parliament, which honour was continued to them by Edward III., who limited the number of mitred or Parliamentary Abbots to twenty-eight, and enjoyed by them down to the Dissolution.
In 1137, during the Abbacy of Herbert the third Abbot, the monastery was enriched through the exertions of the prior, Robert Pennant, by the acquisition of the bones of the martyred Virgin St. Wenefrede, which were translated from their burial place at Gwytherin, in Denbighshire, and placed with becoming solemnity in a costly shrine, prepared for their reception in the Abbey church. To this shrine, countless numbers of pilgrims and diseased persons continually resorted to pay their devotions, and to experience cures, which, according to assertion, must have been little less than miraculous; and the wealthy vied with each other in the costliness of their offerings. In addition to these treasured bones, the Monks appear to have possessed, in the reign of Henry II., a most extensive and varied assortment of other reliques, doubtless of equal value and efficacy. In 1486, the Abbot Thomas Mynde, incorporated the devotees, both male and female, of St. Wenefrede, into a religious Guild or fraternity founded by him in her honour. A great bell was also dedicated to her memory.
During the various visits with which the English Sovereigns from time to time honoured our town, it is highly probable that they took up their residence in the Abbey, and there can be little doubt that the Parliament of Edward I., 1283, [126] and that of Richard II., 1398, called the Great Parliament, were held within the spacious apartments of the monastery.
The original endowment was very slender, but within a century and half after the foundation the abbatial property comprised seventy-one manors or large tracts of land, twenty-four churches, and the tithes of thirty-seven parishes or vills, besides very extensive and valuable privileges and immunities of various kinds. In 26 Henry VIII. their possessions were found to be of the yearly value of £572. 15s. 5¾d. equal to upwards of £4700 in the present day. The monastery was dissolved on 24th January, 1539–40, and pensions assigned to the Abbot, Thomas Boteler, and the seventeen monks.
On the dissolution the burgesses presented a petition to the crown that the Abbey might be converted into a college or free school, which request Henry refused to accede to, alleging as a reason his intention of erecting Shrewsbury into one of his proposed thirteen new bishoprics. The diocese was to have comprehended the counties of Salop and Stafford, and the endowment to have consisted of the monastic revenues. We learn from undoubted authority that John Boucher, Abbot of Leicester, was actually nominated Bishop of Shrewsbury; [127] and hence doubtless arose the appellation of “Proud Salopians,” founded on the tradition that our townsmen rejected the offer of having their borough converted into a city, preferring to inhabit the First of Towns.
On the 22nd July 1546, Henry VIII. granted the site of the dissolved Abbey to Edward Watson and Henry Herdson, who, the next day, conveyed the same to William Langley of Salop, tailor, in whose family it continued for five generations until 1701, when Jonathan Langley, Esq. devised it to his friend Edward Baldwyn, Esq., who by will dated in 1726, devised it to his sister Bridget, the wife of Thomas Powys, Esq. for life, with remainder successively in tail male to her sons Henry, Edward, and John Powys. In 1810 the premises were sold by the Trustees of the will of Thomas, Jelf Powys, Esq. eldest son of the above named Edward Powys, to Mr. Simon Hiles, in whose devisees they are now vested.
The living is a vicarage, and prior to the dissolution was in the presentation of the monastery, but after that event it remained in the crown, until 1797, when it was transferred to the Right Honourable Lord Berwick, in exchange for certain advowsons in Suffolk.
From time immemorial certain lands in the Parish were given to and vested in the Churchwardens and their successors “for the maintenance and repairing of the Churches of the Holy Cross and St. Giles, and of either of them.” Consequently there has never been any need of a Church-rate. The lands, &c. are chiefly let out upon long building leases, and the present annual income is about £150, which upon the falling in of the several leases will of course be greatly increased. The Vicar and Churchwardens are a Corporation, with the power of making leases, &c. of the landed possessions of the said Churches, and have a common seal which is appended to such documents. The seal is kept in a chest secured by three locks, and the keys are severally in the possession of the Vicar and the two Churchwardens. It is of brass, of the vesica piscis form, and has in the centre a baton or mace, and on either side a clothed arm projecting towards the centre, that on the dexter side holding a pastoral crook, that on the sinister side, a naked sword: the ground-work studded with stars, and around the margin this inscription, * S COMMVNE DE FFORYATE MONACHOR’. This seal was, according to an entry in the Parish Book, “viewed and confirmed” by the Heralds, 16 Sept. 1623, for which 10s. was paid.
The site of the Abbey comprises ten acres. An embattled wall surrounded probably the whole. Of the once stately monastic buildings the remains are inconsiderable, and consist of the Church, the Infirmary, the Dormitory, the Reader’s Pulpit of the Refectory, the Guesten Chamber, and the Cloister of the Abbot’s Lodging.
The space of ground on the east of the present church, containing 7300 square yards, known lately by the name of “The Abbey Garden,” whereon formerly stood the Choir and Lady Chapel of the monastery, was in 1840 consecrated as a public Cemetery.
The present parochial church of The Holy Cross embraces within its walls the nave, side aisles, north porch, and western tower of the Abbey church. It is principally constructed of red stone, and though bearing deep marks of mutilation, is still venerable and spacious, and exhibits many curious and interesting features of ancient architecture. The principal entrance is at the west end under the tower, through a pointed doorway, richly laced with mouldings, skilfully inserted within a deeply recessed semicircular arch, the exterior rib of which springs on each side from a Norman pillar with indented capital. Immediately above rises a magnificent and elegantly proportioned window, its sides and arch enriched with delicate mouldings; in the deep hollow soffits of which is a series of pannels, having foliated arch heads. The outer mouldings of the arch rise high above it, forming a spring canopy, enriched with crockets, and ending in a flower; from which again springs very elegantly a niche or tabernacle, with a high straight-sided canopy, flanked with a small pinnacle at each impost, containing a figure of Edward III. in complete armour. The body of the window to the spring of the arch contains two stories, divided horizontally by embattled transoms, and perpendicularly by six upright mullions into seven compartments. The two central mullions, as they approach the spring of the arch, bisect the head into smaller arches on each side, and these are further subdivided into others, which are uncommonly acute, the interstices of all filled with several tiers of small open pannelled tracery, mingled with trefoiled and quatrefoiled foliage, in beautiful and varied profusion. To the angles of the tower are attached square shallow piers, ending in pointed canopies, and midway of each is a niche, containing statues of St. Peter and St. Paul. Two small double windows light each side of the upper story of the tower, the summit of which is terminated by an unsightly battlement of brick.
Abbey Church, or Church of the Holy Cross
The eastern portion of the nave is separated on either side from the side-aisles by three semicircular arches, resting on short massive round pillars, with shallow bases and filletted capitals, in the plainest and earliest Anglo-Norman style. Above, the remains of the triforium of the ancient church may be distinctly traced. The western portion has, on each side, two pointed arches in the pure Gothic of the 14th century, delicately lined with mouldings, and rising from well-proportioned clustered pillars, with capitals composed of a series of small horizontal mouldings. A clere-story, pierced with handsome Gothic windows, crowns this part of the edifice; and similar windows are continued along the north and south sides of the tower.
A lofty and graceful pointed arch, springing from high clustered imposts, opens from the nave to the tower, and affords a view of the fine west window; the upper portion of which is filled with the armorial bearings of Richard II.; his uncles, the Dukes of Gloucester, Lancaster, and York; and the alliances of the noble families of Fitzalan and Stafford, Earls of Arundel and Stafford, and the lower part with those of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Howley, William Lord Berwick, patron, the Rev. R. Lingen Burton, vicar, Dr. Butler, Bishop of Lichfield, Archdeacon Bather, and Rev. Richard Scott, (the donor). The whole area of the tower is occupied by a capacious gallery, erected in 1817, for the accommodation of the children of the National School, in which stands a fine-toned organ, made by Gray of London, and purchased by subscription.
The eastern extremity of the nave is terminated by a wall, built between the two great western piers which once supported the central tower, in which is inserted a fine triple Norman window, [133] elaborately adorned with mouldings, containing figures of David, Solomon, St. John, St. James, St. Peter, and St. Paul, executed by Mr. David Evans with his usual taste. Underneath this window is a stone altar screen, composed of an arcade of five Norman arches, with rich and varied mouldings, surmounted by a pierced balustrade. The central arch contains a painting of the Angels appearing to the Women at the Sepulchre, by Mr. John Bridges, of London. The holy table is fenced by a STONE RAILING, uniform in style. The whole of the stone work of the eastern portion, together with the windows on the south aide of the church, were designed and executed by Messrs. Carline and Dodson of this town, through the pious liberality of the late Rev. R. Scott, B.D.
Abbey Church, eastern end
The western ends of the side aisles are separated from the church, and used as a vestry and schoolroom. At their eastern extremities are the arches which communicated with the transept, now blocked up and pierced with square-headed windows, in which are some ancient shields of arms, in stained glass, preserved from the monastic buildings. The north-east window of the north aisle contains a large figure of St. Peter, the arms of the See of Lichfield, of Lord Berwick the donor, and of thirteen incumbents since the Reformation. The opposite window of the south aisle is of a rich mosaic design, enclosing shields of the marriages of the family of Rocke.
Stone Railing, Abbey Church
The remnant of the screen of a chauntry chapel, in the north aisle, decorated with a series of small foliated niches, each divided by a buttress and finial, and containing traces of sculptured imagery, appears to indicate the situation of the chauntry of the guild of St. Wenefrede.
The ancient and curious font originally belonged to the church of High Ercall, in this county. In the pavement, near the vestry-door, are many interesting specimens of emblazoned tiles; and a font, the basin of which, representing an open flower, wound with drapery festooned from the mouths of grotesque heads, was found among the ruins of the Abbey, and is fixed on a pedestal formed of the upper part of the ancient cross, called the “Weeping Cross,” and sculptured with the Visitation, the Virgin and Child, the Crucifixion, and a figure in the attitude of devotion.
Communicating with the north aisle by a fine semicircular arch, overspread with massy round mouldings, rising from clustered piers, is the spacious vaulted north porch. The exterior portal is formed by a deeply recessed square opening, the mouldings of which fall over the angles far down the sides, ending in mutilated busts. Within this is a graceful pointed arch, rising from a round column on each side. Above are two chamber stories, each lighted by a small window. On the right and left, a tabernacled niche, extends the whole height of the upper stories. An ill-designed stone parapet crowns the gable.
And now
“let’s talk of graves, of tombs and epitaphs;”
of which many ancient ones, either found among the ruins, or removed hither on the demolition of other sacred edifices in the town and county, are preserved in the ample side-aisles; the more remarkable of which, we shall briefly enumerate in the order of their supposed dates:—
Monument to Roger de Montgomery, Abbey Church Under an arch in the south aisle, a mutilated figure of a warrior in the costume of the reign of King John, found among the ruins, and said to represent the founder, Earl Roger de Montgomery.
In the north aisle, a cumbent figure, brought from St. Chad’s, of a person in the robes and coif of a judge.In the south aisle, a monument brought from St. Giles’ church, of the shape en dos d’ane, and probably of the early part of the thirteenth century. The sculpture consists of a rich foliated cross, in high relief: under which is a figure in priestly vestments with uplifted hands, also in relief, and the insignia of the priestly office, the chalice, bell, book, and candle, in outline. Round the edge of the stone are the letters, T : M : O : R : E : U : A.
Opposite to the last, a cumbent effigy of a cross-legged knight, in linked armour and surcoat, removed from the priory church of Wombridge, in this county, and conjectured, from the tradition of that neighbourhood, to commemorate Sir Walter de Dunstanville, the third lord of Ideshale, a great benefactor of that priory, who died 25th Henry III., 1240.
In the north porch, two very singular figures, which originally lay on a large double altar-tomb in the style of the fifteenth century, in old St. Alkmund’s church. One represents a knight in plate-armour of the fifteenth century, partly covered with the monastic dress, and the other a person in the dress of a hermit of the Romish church.
Near the founder’s tomb in the south aisle, an alabaster altar-tomb, bearing recumbent figures of a man, “plated in habiliments of war,” and his wife, originally erected in Wellington church, in this county, to William Charlton, Esq. of Apley Castle, who died the 1st July, 1544, and Anne his wife, who died the 7th June, 1524.
Altar-tomb of Richard Onslow, Esq., Abbey Church
At the eastern extremity of the north aisle, a large altar-tomb with cumbent effigies, to the memory of Richard Onslow, Esq. Speaker of the House of Commons in the 8th Elizabeth, who died 1571, and his lady Katherine Harding; formerly in the Bishop’s Chancel of Old St. Chad’s Church.
In a corresponding situation in the south aisle, an altar-tomb of alabaster, in the Grecian style of the age of James I., bearing two cumbent figures; an alderman in his civic “robe and furr’d gown,” and a lady in the scarlet gown formerly worn by the lady-mayoresses of our town, commemorating Wm. Jones, Esq. who died the 15th July, 1612, and Eleanor his wife, who died 26th February, 1623; the grand-father and grand-mother of Chief Justice Jones. This was removed from St. Alkmund’s.
Altar-tomb to Alderman Jones and his wifeAbove Speaker Onslow’s monument, a mural monument, from St. Chad’s, in the Grecian taste of the seventeenth century, representing a gentleman in a ruff and long gown, and a lady with a long veil thrown back, kneeling under two escallopped arches: above, a lady in a richly laced habit and coif, and a little girl kneeling;—inscribed to the memory of Thomas Edwardes, Esq., who died 19th March, 1634, and of Mary, the wife of his son, Thomas Edwardes, Esq., died July 18th, 1641.
Above Jones’s monument, a mural monument, from St. Alkmund’s, with the figure of an alderman as low as the waist, with falling band, representing John Lloyd, Esq., Alderman of Shrewsbury, who died 16th June, 1647.
Near the vestry is a mural monument to the Rev. R. Scott, with the following inscription:—
AS A MARK OF GRATITUDE TO
THE REVEREND RICHARD SCOTT, B.D.
WHOSE OWN WORKS ARE BETTER PRAISE
THAN THE WORDS OF OTHERS,
THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY THE PARISHIONERS
OF THE HOLY CROSS AND ST. GILES.
HE REBUILT THE EASTERN WINDOW OF THIS CHURCH, ADDING
A PART OF THE STAINED GLASS TO IT.
HE GAVE THE ALTAR SCREEN AND STONE RAIL, THE SERVICE
OF COMMUNION PLATE, WITH THE BOOKS, AND ALL
OTHER FURNITURE OF THE ALTAR.
HE REPEWED BOTH THE AISLES, THE NORTHERN BEING GIVEN
FOR THE USE OF THE POOR.
HE BUILT THE SIX WINDOWS IN THE SOUTH AISLE, AND THE
TWO SMALLER WINDOWS AT THE WESTERN END OF THE
CHURCH, ADDING STAINED GLASS TO THE
GREAT WESTERN WINDOW.
HE GAVE NEW FIGURES OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL TO BE
PLACED WHERE THE OLD HAD BEEN AT THE WESTERN
FRONT OF THE TOWER.
HE RESTORED THE ARCH OF THE WESTERN ENTRANCE.
HE ALSO GAVE MANY OTHER LESSER GIFTS TO THIS CHURCH.
HE RESTORED ST. GILES’S CHURCH, MAKING IT AGAIN
AVAILABLE FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD.
HE GAVE TO THE SAME CHURCH, PARTLY IN HIS LIFE TIME AND
PARTLY BY BEQUEST, THE SUM OF ONE THOUSAND POUNDS
VESTED IN THE PUBLIC FUNDS, AS AN ENDOWMENT
TOWARDS THE SUPPORT OF A CURATE.
HE DIED ON THE 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1848.
BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD FROM
HENCEFORTH; YEA, SAITH THE SPIRIT, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM
THEIR LABOURS AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.
REVELATION XIV. 13.
Numerous other mural monuments and inscriptions of more modern dates, many of which are chaste and elegant, record deceased members of the principal families of the parish.
Southwestward of the church, on the margin of the Meole Brook, stands,
THE MONK’S INFIRMARY,
where “crepytude and age a laste asylume founde.” The building is of red stone, in length about 130 feet, and originally consisted of two oblong wings, with high gable ends, pierced with round arched windows, connected by an embattled building resting on rude Norman arches, and lighted by three square headed windows between strong shelving buttresses. One of these wings next the street was in 1836 taken down, and modern houses erected on its site.On the south side of the church are the remains of a long building, now converted into stables, formerly the Dormitory, or Dorter.
Of the spacious Refectory no portion exists, with the exception of
THE READER’S PULPIT,
Reader’s Pulpit, Abbey Church
the admiration of every antiquary and person of taste. Its plan is octagonal; some broken steps lead to the interior through a narrow flat-arched door, on the eastern side. The southern half rests on the ruined walls, and originally looked into one of the outer courts. Its arches are open, unadorned with sculptured pannels, and bear marks of having been glazed. The corresponding moiety, which projected considerably within the hall, rests on a bracket enriched with delicate mouldings, which springs from a corbel. The western side is a blank wall. Six narrow pointed arches with trefoil heads support the conical stone roof, which is internally vaulted on eight delicate ribs, springing out of the wall, and adorned at their intersection in the centre, by a very fine boss, representing an open flower, on which is displayed a delicate sculpture of the Crucifixion, with St. John and the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross. The three northern arches, which were within the hall, are filled up, to the height of two feet from the floor, with stone embattled pannels, sculptured into crocketed tabernacles, with intervening buttresses terminating in pinnacles. On the central pannel is the Annunciation; the right-hand one bears figures of St. Peter and St. Paul; and that on the left, St. Wenefrede and the Abbot Beuno. The architecture of this elegant structure is referred to the fifteenth century. Much conjecture has arisen amongst the most eminent antiquaries respecting its probable use, but there can be little doubt, that it originally projected from the wall within the Refectory, and was used as a pulpit, from whence one of the junior brethren of the monastery, in compliance with the rule of the Benedictine order, daily, read, during meal times, some book of divinity to the Monks, seated at the tables below in the hall.
Southward of the pulpit is a large range of red stone building, now incorporated with the Abbey House, ending on the west with a high gable terminated by a flower, supposed to have been the Guesten Hall.
To the south-east of this is the Abbot’s Lodging; of which the only remnant is a portion of the cloister, consisting of three pointed arches, on the piers of which, are indications of the corbels and springers of an elegant groined roof. A similar fragment adjoins this at right angles.
North of the Abbey Church is the beautiful
HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY CROSS,
erected and endowed in 1852, by Daniel Rowland, Esq., in memory of his brother, the late Rev. W. G. Rowland, M.A., a native of Shrewsbury, who resided during a long life, in a house on the spot, and who for 32 years officiated as Curate of the Abbey Church, until his subsequent appointment to the living of St. Mary, which he held until his death, November 28th, 1851. The edifice comprises five houses, and was designed and executed by Mr. S. P. Smith. The appointment is vested in the Ministers of the Abbey and St. Mary, and the Head Master of the Free School, as Trustees. The Hospitallers must be widows, those residing in the Abbey and St. Mary’s parishes having a preference, and receive from the endowment an annual sum of £10. 8s. 0d.
A raised walk, formerly overshadowed by a venerable avenue of umbrageous horse-chesnut trees, but now flanked with modern houses, and called “Whitehall Place,” and “Tankerville Place,” conducts us to The White Hall.
This stately mansion acquired this appellation from the conspicuous appearance which its white-washed walls present from many points of the adjacent neighbourhood. It is, constructed of freestone; in plan is square and lofty, the summits of the walls broken into numerous pointed gables, and the roof adorned with highly ornamented chimneys, and crowned with a central octagonal turret. The gatehouse still remains, and opens through its arched portal to a small court in front of the house. The interior is spacious, and adapted by subsequent alterations to the modern notions of comfort and convenience. The walls of the extensive gardens are clothed with many curious and choice fruit trees; and at the back of the house is a fine Walnut-tree, magnificent in umbrageous expanse, apparently coeval with the mansion. This fine and perfect specimen of the domestic architecture of the reign of Queen Elizabeth was built in 1578, by Richard Prince, Esq. a native of Shrewsbury, who, by skill and integrity in the honourable and lucrative profession of the law, raised himself and his family to distinguished eminence.
White HallIn the adjacent fields is
THE RACE COURSE,
formed in 1833.
Constituting part of the race-ground is a field bearing the name of “The Soldiers’ Piece,” which “old folks, time’s doting chronicles,” point out as the spot on which the unfortunate Charles I., when at Shrewsbury in 1642, drew up his army and addressed the assembled gentry of the county on the subject of his distresses.
A short walk now brings us to The Column, erected by the voluntary subscriptions of the grateful inhabitants of the town and county of Salop, to commemorate the brilliant victories and achievements of that distinguished warrior, their countryman, Lieutenant General Lord Hill. This fine Doric pillar, considered to be the largest in the world, was completed on 18th June, 1816, the anniversary of the glorious Battle of Waterloo, at an expense of £5,973. The design was furnished by Mr. Edward Haycock, and the masonry executed by Mr. John Straphen, both of Shrewsbury. The height, including the statue, is 132 feet, and the weight 1120 tons. The chastely fluted shaft ascends from a square pedestal, raised on two steps, and flanked by angular piers, bearing lions couchant, and is surmounted by a cylindrical, pedestal, supporting a statue of his Lordship. Appropriate inscriptions are engraved on the panels of the basal pedestal. A beautiful spiral staircase of stone, the munificent donation of the spirited builder, Mr. Straphen, winds round the interior of the shaft, and opens on the summit, at the base of the pedestal of the statue, from whence the delighted visitor will enjoy a panoramic view over the fertile plain of Shropshire, unrivalled in extent and splendour:—
“Ten thousand landscapes open to the view,
For ever pleasing, and for ever new.”
Column in honour of Lord Hill
Near the column, in a neat Doric stone cottage, dwells the attendant who shows it.
At a few paces’ distance in a peaceful and retired spot stands the only ecclesiastical structure of the town, with
ST. GILES’S CHURCH,
St. Giles’s Churchthe exception of St. Mary’s church, which has descended to our times in an entire state. Of its foundation we possess no record, though it has been conjectured that its erection did not long precede the year 1136, when Robert, Prior of Shrewsbury, rested here with the bones of St. Wenefrede, previous to their translation to her shrine in the Abbey; and some confirmation is afforded to this conjecture by the arches of the northern and southern doors, the oldest existing portions of the structure, being of the architecture of that Æra. It was doubtless used as the chapel of the hospital for lepers, which formerly stood at the west end, but of which all traces have long been swept away. The edifice consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle, with an open stone bell-turret, pierced for two bells. The nave is entered by plain semicircular doorways on the north and south sides, and is divided from the side-aisle by three pointed arches on plain round pillars; attached to the north sides of which are massive square piers, having fillets above and on a level with the capitals, singularly adorned with sunk quatrefoils. A handsome pointed arch of the fourteenth century communicates with the chancel, in the flat-arched eastern window of which are spirited figures of the Evangelists under rich canopies, with their characteristic emblems above, and representations of the Visitation, the Wise Men’s Offering, and the Presentation, all most exquisitely executed in stained glass by Mr. David Evans. The small lancet window on the north side also contains a figure of the patron saint, St. Giles, in ancient stained glass.
In the floor are several ancient stones bearing crosses, probably memorials of the masters of the hospital. At the east end of the north aisle is a font originally in the Abbey Church, formed of a Norman capital.
According to entries in the Parish Books of the date 1665, this church originally possessed a “steeple” at the western end, probably an open stone bell-turret, somewhat similar to the present one, springing from corbels, which were visible in the western wall previous to its being rebuilt in 1852, and a porch before the south door. In the “steeple” was a “great bell” and two smaller ones, which were taken down in 1672, and used in the following year, with four lesser bells and the great “Wenefrede” Bell, in the recasting of the present ring of eight of the Abbey Church.
In 1740, a considerable sum raised by subscription was expended in a thorough repair of St. Giles’s Church, when probably the “steeple” and the porch were removed, a bell-turret and single bell erected, and the whole brought into the state in which it continued down to the recent restoration.
In 1827 this curious edifice was, through the laudable exertions and entirely at the expense of the Rev. W. G. Rowland, the liberal donor of the beautiful east window, thoroughly and judiciously repaired, and happily rescued from that ruin and decay to which its previous neglected condition was fast hastening.
Interior of St. Giles’s Church
The primitive rude and massive oak benches in the nave were subsequently removed, and replaced with new ones. A new pulpit, reading-pew, and altar-screen, of oak, beautifully carved and in unison with the architecture, were added, and the whole building fitted up for divine service by the pious munificence of the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D. Divine Service, which had previously been celebrated only on two Sunday evenings in the year, has, since June 1836, been regularly offered up every Sunday.
In the church-yard is a large stone with a cavity on the upper side, (doubtless the base and socket of the cross) termed “the PEST BASIN,” which tradition states to have been used during the time of the plague for holding water, in which, to avoid the spread of the disease, the towns-people deposited their money in their bargains for provisions with the country-folk. A portion of the head of this cross was discovered under the west wall of the church during the repairs in 1852. It is now placed in the north aisle, and displays sculptures of the Crucifixion, St. Giles, Virgin and Child, and St. Michael.
“Pest-Basin,” in St. Giles’s Churchyard
Our town has been many times visited with those severe scourges of Heaven, the dreadful pestilential diseases of the sweating sickness and the plague. The former desolated the town in the reign of Edward III. in 1349, and again in that of Henry VII., in the years 1485 and 1551; and the latter raged here with frightful fury in the years 1537, 1575, 1630, 1632, and 1634. In the years 1832 and 1849, also, many of the inhabitants fell victims to the cholera.
For the support of the Hospital of Lepers, Henry II. granted thirty shillings yearly out of the rent of the County of Salop, and a handful of two hands of every sack of corn, and a handful of one hand of every sack of flour, exposed for sale in Shrewsbury market. Henry III. also in 1232 gave them a horse-load of wood, daily, from his wood of Lythwood.
The appointment of the Master was vested in the Abbot and Convent of Shrewsbury, who, a short time previous to the Dissolution, granted a long lease of it to Richard Lee, Esq. of Langley, who assigning his interest to the family of Prince, of the White Hall, it passed with their other estates into the Tankerville family. The Earl of Tankerville still annually receives from the Sheriff the thirty shillings granted by Henry II. and nominates the four hospitallers, who now live in the adjoining comfortable cottages, and to each of whom his Lordship pays 1s. 6d. per week, 3s. at Midsummer for coal, and 12s. 6d. at Christmas for a garment. [153]Near St. Giles’s is a handsome edifice of brick, built by government in 1806, at an expense of £10,000, after a design by Wyatt, and intended as
for containing the arms of the volunteer corps in this and the adjoining counties.
The principal building is 135 feet by 39 feet, divided into an upper and lower story, and is surrounded by an oblong enclosure, within which are 13 small neat houses. Little use having for many years been made of this structure, it has, by purchase, become the property of the present Lord Berwick. Recently it has been adapted as the Military DepÔt of the Shropshire Militia. [154]We now return along the suburb of the Abbey Foregate,
“A long great streate, well builded large and faire,
In as good ayre, as may be wisht with wit.”
to the English Bridge.
Turning on the left we enter the suburb of Coleham, and soon arrive at
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY,
Trinity Church
consecrated August 25, 1837, for the accommodation of the numerous inhabitants of Coleham, by voluntary subscriptions, aided by grants from the Church Building Societies, at a cost of nearly £1900. Adjoining is a large cemetery for the whole parish of St. Julian, and also commodious school rooms. The church, which was made a district parish church in 1841, contains 812 sittings, of which 504 are free. In the gallery is a small organ, by Bishop; in the window over the altar are figures in stained glass of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul; and in two of the windows in the body of the church are various scriptural medallions in stained glass, which, together with a handsome service of communion plate, were presented by the piety of the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D.
Near to Belle Vue is the Dissenters’ Cemetery. [157]
Having passed the English Bridge we turn on the left, and following the course of “the sandy-bottom’d Severn,” soon arrive at the remains of
THE FRANCISCAN, OR GREY, FRIARS,
founded at an early period of the 13th century. Hawise Gadarn, (born 1291,) the heiress of the ancient Princes of Powis Gwenwynwyn, and wife of Sir John de Cherleton, was a great benefactress of this religious house, and contributed to the friars considerable aid in the erection of their church, which it is conjectured she adorned with the fine stained glass now in the east window of St. Mary’s church. This patronage was continued to them by her son Sir John de Cherleton. The corporation of the town also appear at all times to have regarded these friars with an eye of peculiar favour, and to have bestowed upon them various sums of money towards the repairs of their buildings. In the reign of Henry VIII. the greater part of the house was rebuilt by Dr. Francis Duff hill, at that time Warden. This and the other friaries of the town were on their dissolution granted by Henry VIII. in 1543, to Richard Andrewes, and Nicholas Temple. Portions of the friary converted into houses still exist. On the side next the river is a MULLIONED WINDOW, and on the other side a doorway, both of the obtusely pointed arch of the reign of Henry VIII. The walls of the garden may be traced far into the adjoining meadow.
Window in Franciscan FriaryThe Lady Hawise, according to Leland, “lyith buried under a flate marble by Chorleton’s tumbe,” in the church, and several members of her ancient family received interment here. The path on the “gentle Severn’s sedgy bank” soon leads us to
THE QUARRY,
“Whose walks are ever pleasant; every scene
Is rich in beauty, lively, or serene.”
The QuarryThis fine public promenade occupies a rich sloping meadow of about twenty acres, and derives its name from a disused stone quarry, nearly in the centre, which supplied a considerable part of the red sandstone visible in the older portions of the walls and churches of the town. Its site has long been designated “the Dingle,” and is planted with a bold clump of most magnificent horse-chesnut and lime trees. A noble avenue of lofty lime trees, gracefully unite their topmost boughs into a rich embowered arch, and with their lower branches feathering to the gentle windings of the beauteous river, forms the principal walk; to the middle and each end of which, three other shaded walks lead from various streets of the town. The still retirement and pleasing gloom of this delightful grove, from which the noise of the busy town, and even a prospect of its buildings, are almost entirely excluded,—the refreshing coolness of its shade,—the rich verdure which ever clothes its meadows,—the fine sweep of its umbrageous arch,—and the majestic flow of the river, which here
“with gentle murmur glides,
And makes sweet music with th’ enamel’d stones;
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage.”
all combine to render it the favourite and constant resort of the inhabitant, and a principal attraction to the stranger. The ground was laid out and planted in 1791, during the mayoralty of Henry Jenks, Esq., by Mr. Wright, a celebrated and intelligent nursery-man, resident in the adjacent village of Bicton.
On the west side of the Quarry, in the Dingle, called the Dry Dingle, are the remains of a rude amphitheatre, with ascending seats cut in the bank, where the Friars of the adjacent Convent performed the ancient religious Mysteries, or Miracle-plays, so famous in the days of our ancestors. Here, also, during the reign of Elizabeth many plays were exhibited in which the scholars of the Free Schools sustained the principal characters.
Close adjoining to the Quarry are
THE AUSTIN FRIARS,
of which the only remnant is the lower part of a square red stone building, probably the refectory, with two pointed doorways, and the bases of a range of handsome windows. We find these friars here as early as the year 1235, when they obtained from Henry III. a grant of a spot of ground outside the walls, which had been used as a burial-place when the kingdom was under an interdict, in the reign of King John. Upon this small space they erected their chapel and buildings, which they were enabled to enlarge and extend in the year 1295, by the piety of Geoffrey Randolf, a burgess of the town, who granted them a contiguous plot of ground for that purpose. At subsequent periods various portions of the lands in the immediate neighbourhood of the convent were successively added to their precinct. The corporation also were not wanting in frequent and liberal contributions to these, as well as to the other friars of the town. Still they never appear to have been either rich or numerous, and at the Dissolution their buildings were in a most deplorable state of ruin, inhabited only by a dissolute Prior, and two Friars not of the foundation, who had greatly and disgracefully wasted the conventual property. In 1403, several persons of note, who fell at Battlefield, are said to have found interment in the cemetery of this convent.
St. Chad’s Church
At the top of the Quarry stands the Church of St. Chad, a structure, which, notwithstanding its many and glaring defects, must still be pronounced handsome and commodious. The body is circular, and consists of a rustic basement with square windows, on which reposes a superstructure, containing a series of large arched windows; between each of which are coupled Ionic pilasters, resting on the basement, and supporting a bold cornice, crowned with an open balustrade. Attached to the body is a smaller circle, similarly decorated; at the extremity of which is the steeple, which consists of three stories: a square rustic basement, from which rises an octagonal belfry, enriched with Ionic pilasters, and above, a small cupola, supported on a heavy cylinder, surrounded by eight slender Corinthian pillars. A heavy cross and vane crowns the summit. On each side of the tower is a plain square wing, which contains a vestry-room. Beneath a handsome portico of four Doric pillars supporting a pediment, is the chief entrance, which opens into a circular vestibule beneath the tower; beyond which is a kind of ante-church, comprising the staircases leading to the galleries and communicating with the body of the church. The interior is not a complete circle, a segment having been taken off for two smaller staircases, and for the shallow oblong recess forming the chancel. A bold arch, resting on four rich composite pillars, marks the division of the body and chancel. Above the altar, (which contrary to ancient usage, is placed on the north side,) in a broad Venetian window is a representation, in stained glass, of the “Descent from the Cross,” after Rubens, the Salutation, and the Presentation in the Temple, executed by Mr. David Evans of this town, whose skill and taste have also been exercised in four other windows of this church, of which the subjects are, the Raising of Lazarus, Christ receiving little children, the Healing of the Sick, and the Tribute Money, all presented by the late Rev. R. Scott, B.D. One of the other windows of the Church contains a memorial in stained glass to E. Muckleston, Esq. A deep and capacious gallery, decorated in front with a handsome balustrade, surrounds the whole church, except the chancel, and reposes on a double range of short pillars, with Ionic capitals. From these a corresponding tier of slender fluted shafts, resembling the Corinthian order, rises to the ceiling, which is adorned with a glory in the centre, and a rich cornice, consisting of angels with wings interlaced. Over the chief entrance is a large and fine organ built by Gray of London, in 1794, and enlarged and improved by Gray and Davidson, in 1848. It has 30 stops, and comprises 1325 pipes.
This edifice, though possessing too much of the theatrical air, is handsomely and conveniently furnished, and by the ingenuity of the circular arrangement, all the congregation can distinctly hear and most see the officiating clergyman during the whole of the services. It will accommodate, in the pews below, 1000 persons, and in the gallery 750, besides 400 free sittings provided for the poor.
Font in St. Chad’s Church The font formerly belonged to the parish church of Malpas, Cheshire; and is that in which the late Bishop Heber was baptized.
The principal monuments are:—an oblong Grecian tablet, with an elegant Latin inscription to the Rev. Francis Leighton, his lady, and two grandchildren; a handsome pannelled marble tablet, supporting a fine bust of the deceased, by Chantrey, inscribed to Mr. John Simpson, the eminent architect and builder; and a similar tablet and bust, by Chantrey, to William Hazledine, Esq., the builder of the Menai Bridge; and in the Vestibule a marble mural monument to the Officers and Privates of the 53rd or Shropshire Regiment, who were killed on 10th February 1846, in the battles of Subraon, Aliwal, and the relief of Loodhiana on the Sutluj.
This church also contains a monument to the Rev. R. Scott, with the following inscription:—
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
THE REV. RICHARD SCOTT, B.D.
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
ON THE 6TH OCTOBER, 1848,
IN THE 68TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY HIS NEPHEW WILLIAM SCOTT,
AS A TOKEN OF REGARD AND AFFECTION TO
HIS LATE RELATIVE.
In the vestry is a carved figure of St. Chad in his episcopal robes, preserved from the old church.
Figure of St. Chad in St. Chad’s Church This church is used on most public occasions. The plan was furnished by Mr. Geo. Stewart, and the cost of erection amounted to £17,752; the greater part of which sum still remains a heavy debt on the parish. In the tower is a peal of twelve melodious bells, cast by Messrs. Meares of London, purchased by subscription, and inscribed with appropriate mottos. The deep-toned tenor, of the weight of forty-one cwt. on which the clock strikes, may be heard at a distance of several miles.
Turning on the left, we proceed down St. John’s Hill, and pass
THE QUAKERS’ MEETING-HOUSE,
a plain brick structure, built in 1746, and enlarged in 1807,—and
ST. JOHN’S, OR THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS’ MEETING-HOUSE,
a spacious and commodious brick building, erected in 1804, and subsequently enlarged and decorated in a handsome style.
Besides these, there are meeting-houses for the Calvinistic Methodists, and Sandemanians, or Scotch Baptists, in Hill’s Lane;—for the Baptists and Independents, in Doglane and Castle Forgate; and for the Unitarians, in High Street.
At the bottom of St. John’s Hill is
THE THEATRE,
the fine and lofty stuccoed front of which has a bold and imposing effect, and constitutes the principal ornament of the street. The central part comprises a range of excellent shops; at each end of which is a comfortable dwelling-house, with entrance doors to the Theatre. The interior is handsomely decorated, and adapted for the comfortable accommodation of a numerous audience. The scenery, properties, and other ornaments, are entirely new, and in a superior style.
The remains of an embattled stone mansion, called Charlton Hall, the residence of the ancient family of Charlton, Lords of Powis, previously occupied the site of the Theatre.
Opposite to the Theatre, in Barker Street, is
THE BELL STONE,
a red stone structure, surrounding three sides of a small quadrangle, erected in 1582, by Edward Owen, alderman and draper of Shrewsbury, but lately modernized, and completely re-cast, and now occupied as the banking-house of a Branch of the National Provincial Bank of England. The mansion derives its name of the Bell or Bente Stone, from a large block of Chert or Hornstone, which originally lay in the street, at the north angle of the outer wall, and which is still preserved in the court, whither it was removed during the late alterations. The derivation of the name and its connexion with the Stone have hitherto baffled the ingenuity and researches of antiquaries.
Passing onwards through Shoplatch, we have on our right a mass of red stone buildings, communicating with the street by a passage,—which conjecture has assigned, either as the remains of the town house of the Abbots of Haughmond, (that monastery having possessed property in this immediate locality,) or as the residence of the ancient and extinct family of Shutt, the name of Shutt Place being supposed to be preserved in the name of the adjoining street, Shoplatch.
We now proceed down Mardol, about the centre of which, on the left-hand side, is Hill’s Lane, in which stands
ROWLEY’S MANSION, OR HILL’S MANSION,
said to have been the first brick building erected in Shrewsbury. From dates still visible on the leaden pipes, it appears to have been built in 1618, by William Rowley, an eminent brewer. This gentleman was a favourer of Puritanism, and an intimate friend of Richard Baxter the Nonconformist, and is stated to have been instrumental in strengthening the prejudices of the latter against the church. He amassed a large property by fortunate speculations in Barbadoes, and is related to have planted Rowley’s Islands in the Caribbees. His son, Roger Rowley, Esq. was of Gray’s Inn, and was the first person in this town who kept his carriage. His eldest daughter and co-heiress Priscilla married John Hill, Esq. of Shrewsbury, who made this mansion his residence, and gave to it, and the street in which it stands, their present names.
At the bottom of Mardol are extensive Quays and Warehouses, at which the numerous vessels which navigate the Severn load and unload their burdens. Here also is
THE CIRCUS,
a spacious building, used occasionally for equestrian performances, but more constantly as a depository for the immense quantities of butter and cheese which are brought to the town for sale at the monthly fairs.
THE WELSH BRIDGE,
Welsh Bridge
called also in old times St. George’s Bridge, from the hospital of Saint George, which once stood adjacent to it, crosses the Severn at this point. It is a convenient, substantial, and handsome structure, consisting of five elegant arches, the length being 266 feet, the breadth thirty, and the height thirty, and was erected in 1795, after a design by Messrs. Tilly and Carline of this town, at an expense of £8,000, raised by subscription.
The old bridge which formerly stood here was removed on the erection of the present one, and though highly inconvenient and ruinous, was a most interesting monument of antiquity, and consisted of seven arches, with massive gate towers at each extremity, in the finest style of castellated building. It is described in his usual quaint style by the accurate Leland, who visited Shrewsbury in 1539, “as the greatest, fayrest, and highest upon the stream, having 6 great arches of stone.” “This bridge,” he further says, “standeth on the west syde of the towne, and hath at the one end of it a great gate to enter by into the towne; and at the other end towardes Wales a mighty stronge towre to prohibit enemies to enter on the bridge.”
Having passed the Welsh Bridge we enter
“An auncient streate cal’d Franckwell many a day:
To Ozestri, the people passe through this,
And unto Wales, it is the reddie way.”
The suburb of Frankwell, was in 1234, during the wars of Henry III. and Llewellin Prince of Wales, reduced to ashes by the Welsh army.
Shrewsbury was the first place in England in which that dreadful epidemic, the Sweating Sickness, broke out in the year 1551; and there is a tradition that it made its first appearance in a passage in Frankwell, called the White Horse Shut. This disease again appeared in this suburb in the early part of June 1650, and continued its ravages throughout the town until the middle of the January following. It is said that the Butchers escaped the pestilence; and the fact of there being fewer entries of burials in the register of St. Alkmund’s, the parish in which they chiefly resided during that time, tends greatly to confirm the tradition.
About the middle of Frankwell on the right hand side, stands
ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH.
St. George’s Church
This neat structure was erected in 1829, on a site presented to the parish by Richard Drinkwater, Esq. and designed as a chapel of ease to St. Chad’s Church. It is constructed of free-stone, in the lancet style of architecture, and comprises a nave, transept, chancel, and western tower. The interior is fitted up with due regard to elegance and convenience, and will contain a congregation of 750 persons, for 460 of whom free kneelings are provided. By the pious liberality of the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D. of this town, the chancel has been graced with a carved altar screen and chairs of an architectural Gothic design, the gallery with a small organ by Fleetwood, and the triple lancet windows filled with most brilliant and spirited figures of Isaiah, St. Matthew, and St. Mark, in stained glass, in the execution of which, that ingenious artist Mr. D. Evans has, if possible, surpassed his previous elegant productions. The windows of the transept likewise contain fine stained glass of a rich and elaborate mosaic pattern, by which a mellowed and devotional gloom is shed over this portion of the fabric, which contributes considerably to the imposing effect of the splendid east window.
The edifice was designed by Mr. Edward Haycock, and erected by Messrs. Joseph Birch and Sons of this town, at a cost of nearly £4000, raised by the voluntary subscriptions of the parishioners. The township of Frankwell has been assigned as a district parish to this church.The adjoining eminence is crowned by
MILLINGTON’S HOSPITAL,
founded in 1734, by Mr. James Millington of Shrewsbury, draper, and endowed with the greater part of his ample fortune. This charitable institution consists of a school-master and mistress, who have each a house and salary, and instruct twenty poor boys and as many girls, natives of Frankwell. These children are completely clothed twice in every year, and at the age of fourteen are clothed and apprenticed with a small premium, and at the expiration of their first year’s apprenticeship rewarded with a gratuity, upon their producing a certificate of good conduct. Twelve poor men or women selected from the single housekeepers of Frankwell, or the nearest part of St. Chad’s parish, reside in the Hospital, to each of whom are allotted two comfortable rooms and a small garden, with an allowance of £6 per annum, a gown or coat on St. Thomas’s day, and a load of coals on All Saints’ day. Gowns or Coats and forty shillings each are also dispensed every year to ten poor single housekeepers resident in Frankwell, the eldest of which pensioners in time, succeeds to a vacancy in the hospital. The hospitallers and out-pensioners receive likewise two twopenny loaves weekly. A chaplain daily attends and reads prayers.
Two exhibitions of £40 a year each are founded for students of Magdalen College, Cambridge, to which, scholars originally on the hospital foundation have the preference, or in default of such, two born in Frankwell, educated at the Free Schools, and having been one year in the upper form in the head school are most eligible.
The hospital is a plain brick building. The central portion surmounted by a pediment and clock turret comprises the chapel and school-room, and the houses of the master and mistress, and in the wings on each side are the apartments of the hospitallers. A lodge has recently been erected and the ground in front enclosed from the street by an iron railing. [176]
We now continue our walk along the undulating eminence, which rises abruptly from the Severn opposite the Quarry, until we arrive at
KINGSLAND,
a large tract of ground, the common property of the Burgesses, studded with small enclosures and buildings called “Arbours,” to which the several incorporated trading companies of the town annually resort in procession on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday, accompanied by bands of music, flags, devices emblematical of their crafts, and preceded by “a king” on horseback, gaily dressed with “crownlets and gauds of rare device,” either representing the monarch who granted their charters, or some principal personage of their trades. The Mayor and Corporation, attended by many of the respectable inhabitants of the place, visit the several Companies, and partake of refreshments prepared in their respective arbours:—
“Whilst the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecks sound,
To many a youth and many a maid
Dancing in the chequered shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On this sunshine holiday,
Till the live-long day-light fail.”
The pageant of “Shrewsbury Show” originated, no doubt, in the procession which took place on Corpus Christi day, one of the most splendid festivals of the Romish Church. The several Companies, preceded by their Masters and Wardens, attended the Bailiffs and Corporation, who with the Abbot and dignified Ecclesiastics of the Abbey, Friaries, and Churches of the town, clad in their splendid robes, and bearing the Holy Sacrament under a rich canopy, lighted with innumerable wax tapers, proceeded in solemn order to a stone cross called the Weeping Cross, without the town. Here having bewailed their sins, and offered up petitions for a joyous harvest, they returned in the same order to St. Chad’s church, and attended the celebration of High Mass. Three days of unbounded jollity and recreation followed this magnificent festival. On the Reformation of religion this ceremonious procession was of course discontinued, and the present single day of relaxation and amusement substituted in its stead by the authorities of the place.While on the subject of our ancient customs, we must not omit the popular one of Heaving, formerly prevalent over most of the kingdom, but latterly confined to Shropshire. Heaving is performed on Easter-Monday, by men who perambulate the streets, and call at the houses with chairs gaily adorned with ribbons and flowers, in which they sportively hold down any young woman they meet, and heaving her up three times, turn her round and set her down again. The ceremony invariably concludes with a hearty kiss, to which is often added by the more opulent of the inhabitants a small present of money. On Easter-Tuesday the young women perform the same ceremony to the men. This custom is supposed to have originated in the usage of binding persons in chairs, anciently practised on Hock Tuesday, or Binding Tuesday, designed to represent the stratagems employed by the English women to aid their husbands in massacreing the Danes on St. Brice’s day, 1002. At the Reformation, this, with many other old customs, of which the origin was imperfectly remembered, was spiritualized, and intended to represent the Resurrection of our Lord. For more particulars of the custom of Heaving we would refer the reader to Brand’s Popular Antiquities, i. 155, and Hone’s Every Day Book; in which latter excellent work there is a spirited engraving of the ceremony.
On the north side of Kingsland is
THE HOUSE OF INDUSTRY.
which crowns the steep eminence above the river, from whence a prospect of the town and environs, more pleasing and comprehensive than can be obtained from any other station, bursts upon the view.
This handsome brick building was erected in 1765, at an expense of £12,000, and used for a few years as a Foundling Hospital, until the funds becoming inadequate to the support of the charity, it was shut up in 1774. It was afterwards employed during the American War, as a prison for Dutch prisoners, until 1784, when it was purchased by the several parishes of the town, and appropriated to the use of their infirm and helpless poor, who in their declining years here find a comfortable shelter from the pitiless compassion of the world, and are supplied with the decent and wholesome necessaries of life.
Descending the eminence, we cross the river by the ferry, proceed up the Quarry, down St. John’s Hill, and passing the Talbot Buildings, re-enter the Market Square, from whence we commenced our perambulation.
And now, traveller,
our tale is told,
and in sending you onward on your way,
we would heartily bid you “good speed,”
with a sincere hope that when in after years,
amid the storms and sunshine
which checquer the great journey of life,
thy restless memory in the stillness of reflection
shall recur to the few incidents which,
like oases in the desert,
have ministered to thy happiness,
recollection may long and fondly dwell
on those pleasing hours
you spent amid
the antient walls of
Shrewsbury.
