Part 4

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.

[Picture: 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

[Picture: 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.