Part 10

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.

EMINENT NATIVES OF SHREWSBURY;

WITH REFERENCES TO WORKS IN WHICH THEIR BIOGRAPHIES ARE DETAILED.

“There is a history in all men’s lives.”

SHAKSPEARE.

Name. Distinction. Born. Died. References. Adams, Wm. divine, 1706 1789 Owen and Blakeway’s History of Shrewsbury, ii. 218. Gent. Mag. March, 1789. Armstead, T. author, 1662 Wood’s Athenæ Oxon. iii. 661. Arnway, John, divine and 1601 1653 Wood’s Athenæ author, Oxon. iii. 307. Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy. Benbow, John, admiral, 1650 1702 Owen and Blakeway’s History of Shrewsbury, ii. 390. Biographia Britannica. Blakeway, J. divine and 1765 1826 Gent. Mag. Brickdale, topographical xcvi. pt. 1. p. historian, 277. Bowers, John, Bishop of 1724 Chichester, Bowen, James, genealogist, 1774 Bowen, John, genealogist, 1832 Gent. Mag. cii. pt. 2. p. 185. Burney, Chas. historian of 1726 1814 Gent. Mag. music, 1726 1814.

Owen and Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 388. Life by his daughter, Madame d’Arblay. Churchyard, Thomas, poet, 1520 1604 Wood’s Athenæ. Oxon. Life prefixed to Chalmers’ edit. of Churchyard’s Chips. Costard, Geo. divine, 1709 1782 Biographia biblical Britannica. critic, & Owen and mathematician, Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 388. Cresset, Edw. Bishop of 1697 1755 Llandaff Davies, Sneyd, divine and 1709 1769 Owen and poet, Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury. ii. 387. Nichols’s Illustrations, i. 485. Farmer, Hugh, presbyterian 1714 Life by Hugh divine and Dodson, Biogr. author, Brit. v. 664. Greisley, Hen. divine and 1678 Wood’s Athenæ. poet, Oxon, iii. 1167. Gwynn, architect, Haynes, Jos. artist and 1830 Gent. Mag. c. engraver, pt. 1. p. 379. Jones, Sir, Thomas, Lord Chief 1614 1692 Justice of the Common Pleas. Onslow, Rich. Speaker of the 1528 1571 Owen and House of Blakeway’s Commons, Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 167. Orton, Job, Non-conformist 1717 1783 Life by S. divine Palmer, prefixed to his Letters. Owen and Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 478. Owen, Hugh, divine and 1760 1827 Gent. Mag. topographical xcviii. pt. 1. historian, p. 478. Parkes, James, artist, 1794 1828 Gent. Mag. xcviii. pt. 1. p. 376. Pemberton, Thomas, lawyer and 1763 1833 Gent. Mag. author, ciii. pt. 1. p. 377. Phillips, Ambrose, poet, 1674 1749 Owen and Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 284. Plantagenet, Rd. Duke 2nd son of 1473 1483 of York, Edwd. IV. Plantagenet, George, youngest son of Edw. IV. Price, Samp. D.D. divine, and 1585 1630 Owen and chaplain to Blakeway’s James I. and Hist. of Charles I. Shrewsbury, ii. 212. Price, Daniel, D.D. divine, 1631 Wood’s Athenæ. Oxon. Scott, John, Non-conformist divine, Scott, Jona. Dr. oriental 1753 1829 Gent. Mag. professor and xcix. pt. 1. p. author, 470. Shrewsbury, Ralph, Bishop of Bath elect’d 1329 1363 and Wells, Shrewsbury, Robert, Biographer of flo. 1140 St. Wenefrede, Shrewsbury, Robert, Bishop of consecrated 1215 Owen and Bangor, 1197 Blakeway’s Hist. of Shrewsbury, ii. 98. Talbot, Thos. antiquary, 1538 Talbot, Robt. antiquary, 1558 Taylor, John, editor of 1704 1776 Some Account of Demosthenes, the antient and present State of Shrewsbury, p. 371. Thomas, Jno. Bishop of translated 1761 1766 Some Account of Salisbury, the antient and present State of Shrewsbury, p. 374. Tomlins, Thomas, musician and 1778 1847 composer, Turner, John, lawyer and 1680 Wood’s Athenæ. author, Oxon. iii. 1269. Waring, John Scott, friend and 1749 1819 defender of Warren Hastings, and author, Wooley, Edw. Bishop of consecrated Wood’s Fasti, Clonfert, 1665 54.

BIRDS

SEEN IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF SHREWSBURY.

“And now is Mirthe therein, to here The birdes how they singen clere, The manis and the nightingale, And other jollie birdes smale.”

_Chaucer’s Romaunt of the Rose_.

THE NAMES AND ARRANGEMENT ARE THOSE OF BEWICK.

Falco Buteo, Buzzard, Haughmond Hill; Grinshill; Wrekin. — Milvus, Kite, Bomere Pool. — cyaneus, Hen Harrier, meadows about Berwick. — Pygargus, Ringtail, Westfelton Moors. — Tinnunculus, Kestrel, Shrewsbury; Wrekin. — Nisus, Sparrow-hawk, near Castle Foregate; Old Heath. Strix Otus, Long-eared Owl, Westfelton, but rarely. — flammea, Yellow Owl, meadows;—Shrewsbury. — stridula, Tawny Owl, very common. Lanius Excubitor, Ash-coloured Shrike, Babin’s Wood, near Whittington. — Collurio, Red-backed Shrike, Wolf’s Head; Shottaton; Lowe Bank. Corvus Corax, Raven, Wrekin; Aston. — Corone, Crow, every where. — Cornix, Hooded Crow, Weston Lullingfield. — frugilegus, Rook, common;—Whittington Castle. — Monedula, Jack-daw, common;—Nesscliffe. — Pica, Magpie, common. — glandarius, Jay, Almond Park; Berwick. Ampelis Garrulus, Chatterer, nr. Oswestry, occasionally. Sturnus vulgaris, Starling, common; Westfelton. Turdus viscivorus, Missel Thrush, Shrewsbury Castle. — musicus, Throstle, common. — pilaris, Fieldfare, common. — iliacus, Redwing, common. — Merula, Blackbird, common. — torquatus, Ring Ouzel, Breidden Mountains. Cuculus canorus, Cuckoo, common:—Fairyland, Westfelton. Yunx Torquilla, Wryneck, Shrewsbury Quarry and Meole Brace.