Part 4

As the various parish histories of this county contains frequent extracts from this document, it may be necessary to explain the land measures and other obsolete feudal terms used at the time to which it refers. A _perch_, five yards and a half; an _acre_, 160 square perches; an _ox gauge_, or _bovate_, as much as an ox can till, or 28 acres; a _virgate or yard of land_, 40 acres; a _carucate_, _carve_, or _plough land_, generally eight ox gangs; a _hide_, as much as one plough would cultivate in one year; a _knight’s fee_, five hides, or 200 acres of land; _berewicks_ are manors within manors; _merchet_, or _maiden’s rent_, a fine anciently paid by inferior tenants for the liberty to dispose of their daughters in marriage; a _heriot_, a fine paid to the lord on the death of a landholder; _tol_, a tribute for liberty to buy and sell; _theane_, a liberty to a lord of a manor for judging bondmen and villeins in his own court; _infangtheof_, a privilege of certain lords of manors to pass judgment of theft, committed by the servants within their district; _thelonia_, a writ lying for one who has the king’s demesne in fee-farm to recover reasonable toll; _sockmen_, tenants who hold by servile tenure; _borderers_, cottagers; _villein_, a member belonging to a manor. In the time of the Conqueror _Earls_ began to be _feudal_, _hereditary_ and _patrimonial_; and these, as appear by Doomsday, were styled simple Earls, as Earl Hugh, Earl Roger, &c. Afterwards Earls were created with an addition of the name of the place over which they had jurisdiction, or of the principal seat where they resided; and they had, as had been customary, the _third penny_ from the county where they resided for their support. Soon after the conquest they began to be created by charter, without any ceremony further than the delivery of it. King John is the first mentioned who used the girding of the sword, by which they were said to be invested with this honour. Thereupon the Sheriff had command to make livery unto them the third penny of the plea of the county, after which the Earl had a certain sum only allowed him out of the profits of his county, as expressed in the patent for his better support and dignity, and sometimes great possessions were given in lands for the same purpose.

In the reign of William III., Hugh de Montgomery, second son of Earl Roger, and who succeeded him in the Earldom of Shrewsbury, with the Earl of Chester and Owen, a Welsh Lord, made an unexpected attack upon Wales, and committed great atrocities upon the inhabitants. Many of the Welsh fled into Ireland, and left their country to the mercy of the English. Their flight gave their enemies an opportunity of continuing their march, and they penetrated into Anglesey, where they destroyed all before them with fire and sword. While they were thus exercising their cruelties, Magnus, King of Norway, who had lately made himself master of the Isle of Man, advanced as far as Anglesey. On the English endeavouring to hinder him, the Earl of Shrewsbury was slain in the skirmish. His death was looked upon as a just judgment for the cruelties committed by him in that isle. The Earl’s death caused some disorder among the English troops, and constrained them to abandon the shore; when Magnus landed, and finding the English had left nothing to plunder, he shortly after re-embarked. Earl Roger, who succeeded his brother Hugh in the Earldom of Shrewsbury, being of a rash and discontented spirit, was among those who favoured the claims of Duke Robert, in place of Henry I. On the accession of Henry I. he rebelled, and fortified his castles in Shropshire, and at Shrewsbury built and fortified a flank wall from each side of the castle, across the isthmus, down to the Severn side; hereupon the king declared him a traitor, and marched with a considerable force against him. The earl perceiving that he had no forces to withstand the attack of the king, confessed his treason, and was shortly after banished to Normandy; but again appearing in arms, he was taken prisoner, and ended a miserable life in close confinement at Wareham. About this period the king sent several of his council to Shrewsbury, among whom were Richard de Belmarsh, bishop of London, warden of the Marches, and governor of the county of Salop, and others, to meet there Jorweth ap Blithyn, on pretence of consulting with him about the king’s affairs; but when he came there, contrary to all equity, he was condemned for treason and committed to prison. The Marches of Wales are supposed to have been settled by the Saxons, to prevent the incursions of the Welsh. The Lords of the Marches claimed to provide silver spears, and support the canopy of purple silk at the coronation of Queen Eleanor, consort of King Henry III. The court of the Lord’s Marches was held at Ludlow, and the jurisdiction extended from Chester to Bristol. All the country between Offa’s Dyke and England was called the Marches, the Lords of which had the power of life and death in their respective courts. In every frontier manor a gallows was erected, and if any Welshmen came over the boundary they were taken up and hanged; and if any Englishman was caught on the Welsh side, he suffered the same fate. The houses were frequently moated round, and palisades set round the edge of the moat, into which place the inhabitants every night drove their cattle for better security. If a Welshman got a cow or a horse over the bar he cried out “my own,” and any person pursuing them further would be at the risk of his life. After the death of the Earl of Macclesfield, the last lord president, the court was dissolved. Shropshire being the frontier between England and Wales, had more castles in it than any other county in England; on the west side they stood so thick, says Dr. Fuller, “that it might seem divided from Wales with a wall of continued castles.” Speed tells us, “that besides several towns strongly walled, there were two and thirty castles in this shire.”

In the year 1233, Richard, Earl of Pembroke, and several other noblemen, being disgusted with the conduct of the King, broke out into open rebellion, and taking advantage of the animosities subsisting between the English and the Welsh, fled into Wales and joined Llewellyn, Prince of Wales. Having collected an army, they laid waste all the Marches between Wales and Shrewsbury, which town they plundered and put the inhabitants to the sword. The King being then at Gloucester, called a council there, when it was determined that the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of Chester and Rochester, should be sent into Wales with offers of pardon for all past injuries, and proposals of peace if they would return to their obedience, which being accepted, peace was restored; notwithstanding, soon after this the Earl was treacherously drawn away into Ireland, and there killed, being stabbed in the back with a dagger. The peace with the Welsh had but a short continuance, for in the year 1241 the King marched with his army from Gloucester to Shrewsbury, designing from thence to have proceeded into Wales against David ap Llewellyn, but during his residence here, a submission being made by David, he stopped his march. In 1267, Henry again appeared in Shrewsbury at the head of his army, designing to march against Llewellyn, whose restless temper created new disturbances; but by the mediation of the Pope’s Legate, and upon Llewellyn’s submission, a peace was concluded. In the reign of Edward I. we find the disturbances of the Welsh still continued; upon which account the courts of exchequer and king’s bench were removed to Shrewsbury, that the Welsh might be awed into submission. The situation of the inhabitants of Shropshire at this period was peculiarly distressing: they were continually subject to the depredations and incursions of the Welsh, their hostile and unmerciful neighbours; and the wolves inhabiting the desolate mountains of that country, frequently came down in herds, and ravaged whole districts. A commission was given to Peter Corbet to destroy all he could find; and by offering a sum of money to those who killed a certain number, and brought their heads to Shrewsbury, they were in a short time considerably reduced.

Bishop Burnell was Chancellor in the year 1283, and the Lords and Commons assembled at his seat at Acton Burnell, the Lords sitting in the castle, and the Commons in a barn belonging to the monastery of Shrewsbury. On this occasion, the famous statute of Acton Burnell was made, called the statute merchant, by which act debtors in London, York, and Bristol were obliged to appear before the different mayors, and agree upon a certain day for payment, otherwise an execution was issued against their goods, for imprisonment for debt did not take place till some hundred years after this time. The Parliament was again summoned to meet at Shrewsbury, on the morrow after Michaelmas day, to consult what course should be taken with David, Prince of Wales, whom the King declares he had received in his banishment, had nursed while an orphan, and enriched out of his possessions. David, having fled from his brother Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, who had imprisoned his two brothers, Owen and Roderick, the King received him into his service, created him Earl of Denbigh, and gave him land to the yearly value of a thousand marks, in lieu of those possessions he ought to have had in Anglesey, and, to attach him to the interests of England, gave him to wife a rich English heiress; David, however, never ceased to excite his brother Llewellyn, to free himself from the English yoke, because, as his brother had no children, he was his presumptive successor. Llewellyn took up arms, and penetrated into the territories of the English, where he defeated two of their armies. Edward, in hopes of being more fortunate, marched, at the head of a numerous army, when Llewellyn retired to Snowdon Hill, where he could not be attacked, but at length, regardless of the inequalities of his forces, he descended into the plain, to fight the English. The English proved victorious, Llewellyn was slain on the spot, and his army entirely routed, and David, his brother, after some time roving about the country, was taken by the English, and, with his wife, two sons, and seven daughters, sent to Rhyddlan Castle, where the King then was. As he was the last of the race of the Welsh Princes, Edward was inclined to secure his late conquest by his death; accordingly, after having been for some time kept prisoner, he was brought to Shrewsbury, where he was tried by the Parliament, and, by their advice, on the 30th September, 1283, he was condemned to die. Thus the last of the ancient British princes was ignominously drawn at a horse’s tail about the town, then hanged, afterwards beheaded, his body quartered, and his bowels burnt; his head was fixed near that of his brother, on the tower of London, and his four quarters were sent to York, Bristol, Northampton, and Winchester. This barbarous execution is said to have been the first of the kind, and it was afterwards usually inflicted upon traitors. An account of the Great Parliament, held in Shrewsbury, in the time of Richard II., and of the famous battle of Shrewsbury, will be found noticed at a subsequent page.

RIVERS.—The Severn is the principal river in the county. This magnificent stream ranks next to the Thames in point of celebrity, for the extent of its course, the distance for which it is navigable, and the commerce it sustains. It has its rise on the mountain of Plynlimmon, on the verge of Montgomeryshire, and enters Shropshire, near Melverley, and at Cymmeran Ferry receives the waters of the river Vernieu. Between Montford Bridge and Fitz, the river Perry falls into the Severn, which here makes a great bend, and encloses a fine estate, of five miles in circuit, called the Isle, the property of the Rev. H. Sandford. It then passes Berwick House, and speedily arrives at Shrewsbury, from whence it takes a circuitous route to the rural village of Uffington, and passes by Longnor Hall, to Atcham, where it is crossed by a noble stone bridge, not far from which it receives the waters of the Tern. Winding its devious way, the Severn skirts the village of Cound, and near the ruins of Buildwas Abbey, is crossed by a neat iron bridge. It shortly after passes by Coalbrook dale, near to which it is crossed by a second iron bridge, which gives name to the populous district surrounding it. Two miles below is Coalport, celebrated for the extensive porcelain manufactures. The river, having passed here, proceeds to Apley Castle, and shortly after reaches the town of Bridgnorth, and is here crossed by a magnificent stone bridge. Thence proceeding to the south-east, it passes by Quatt, and leaves this county by the parish of Alveley, passing through a narrow slip of the county of Stafford, it arrives at Bewdley, in Worcestershire. From its source in Plynlimmon Hill to the sea, the Severn runs about 220 miles. It is navigable to Shrewsbury, but few vessels, however, proceed further than Ironbridge, the navigation being interrupted by shallows, and the great irregularities of the water. By means of numerous canals the navigation is extended into every part of the kingdom, being united with the Thames on the east, and with the Trent, the Humber, and the Mersey, towards the north; thus forming the grand outlet and channel for the commerce of the kingdom on the south east. The river takes its name from _Sabi_ and _Sabrin_, sandy; in Latin _Sabrina_; in Welsh, _Haurian_, signifying the queen or chief of rivers. By the statute of 23rd of Henry VIII., it is enacted, that no person shall ask or demand any toll for going on the path, by the side of the said river, upon pain to forfeit forty shillings. These statutes were to supersede all patents and commissions granted to particular persons by the prerogative of the Crown. Excellent fish are caught in this river, particularly salmon, trout, pike, shad, flounders, and carp.

Among the waters which contribute to swell the current of the Severn, in addition to the Vernieu and Perry, already noticed, is the Meole-brook, a considerable stream, which enters the river at Coleham. The Meole is increased by the Rea, before it joins the Meole, the former receiving upwards of a dozen smaller streams, before it has its confluence with the Meole. The Tern has its rise from a large pool in Staffordshire. At Willow Bridge, it first takes the name of Tern, and, from this place to within a short distance of Drayton, divides the counties of Salop and Stafford. A little below Ternhill, it crosses the turnpike road, where there is a stone bridge, called Tern Bridge; it then proceeds by Stoke, Bolas, Upton Waters, and has its junction with the Severn a little below Atcham Bridge. This river has a course of about thirty miles, and receives the Cherrington brook, the Strine, the Roden, and several other nameless streams, on its route. Between Cound and Bridgnorth the Severn receives five or six small brooks, which flow from the western part of the county, and two small streams join it from the east. Below Bridgnorth the river Worfe and several small brooks, add their influence to swell the current of the majestic Severn.

The streams that irrigate Shropshire, north of the Severn, and do not fall into it, are the Morles, which rises in Sellatyn, and runs into the Ceiriog, which joins the Dee near Chirk. Shel-brook runs into the Dee from near Welsh Hampton. Elf-brook, near Whitchurch, and the Weever, with three contributary streams, become a considerable river through Cheshire. South of the Severn, and not far from the course of the Camlet, we meet with the Clun, which joins the Teme, near Leintwardine, in Herefordshire. Kemp brook, and four others, fall into the Clun. The Ony joins the Teme near Oakley Park. This river, for some distance, runs parallel with the Camlet, which, in its course, has a fall of about 300 feet. Stadbrook, and another small stream, having joined the Ony, have their confluence with the Teme, and at Ludlow the Teme is augmented by the Corve, which flows for many miles through a valley, to which it gives name. The Corve is augmented by two brooks, one of which is a junction of three small streams. Ledwick brook, with three contributary streams, and the Rea, with five, joins the Teme, which, having formed the boundary of the county, finally leaves it near Tenbury, in Worcestershire, and falls into the Severn below the capital of that county. The Rodon is formed by the confluence of three streams, which, in very dry summers, lose their currents. The first of these rises on Whixall Moss; the second, on Bettesfield Heath, in Flintshire; and the third proceeds from the White Meer, in the township of Lee. The three rivulets meet on Wolverly meadows, and passing by Loppington, runs on to Wem, and thence by Shawbury, to Roddington, and has its confluence with the Tern not far from Withington.

CANALS.—The first canal in Shropshire was formed by William Reynolds, Esq., in 1788, for the purpose of conveying ironstone and coal from the Oaken Gates to Ketley. Shortly after an act of parliament was obtained for the SHROPSHIRE CANAL, which was finished in 1792. It commences at Donington Wood, and proceeds about one hundred yards on a level; it then descends one hundred and twenty feet, by an inclined plane of three hundred and twenty yards from the top of this inclined plane, which is the highest level of the canal; it proceeds by Wrockwardine and Snedshill, and near to Oaken Gates, where it is joined by the Ketley canal. From this junction it is continued to Southall Bank, where a branch strikes off to the right, and terminates at Brierly Hill. The main line, turning to the Southall Bank, goes on to the Windmill farm, and passes to the east of Madeley, until it reaches the banks of the Severn; here it descends 207 feet by an inclined plane, which is 350 yards in length, from whence it proceeds parallel with the river to Coalport, where it terminates. Immediately after the completion of this, the SHROPSHIRE CANAL was projected. The Company, having purchased about a mile of the north end of the canal cut by Mr. Reynolds, erected an inclined plane of 233 yards in length, and 75 feet of fall. From the termination of this plane the canal passes on by Eyton Mill, to Long lane, where it traverses a valley of considerable length, and crosses the river Tern, 16 feet above the surface of the Meadow, by means of an aqueduct and an embankment. Near this place it crosses the turnpike road from Shrewsbury to Wellington, then passing on to Rodington, and over the river Roden, through Wellington, to Atcham, it enters a tunnel of 970 yards in length. Thence it passes at the base of Haughmond Hill, and along the banks of the Severn, it terminates in a large basin, near the Castle Foregate, at Shrewsbury.

The Ellesmere navigation, or the Shropshire Union railway and canal company may be called a system of canals extending through the large and fertile tract of country which lies between the banks of the Severn and those of the Mersey, and between the confines of North Wales on the west and the borders of Staffordshire on the east—a space of fifty miles in length, and more than twenty in breadth, exclusive of the valleys which open into North Wales. Its grand object is to unite the Severn, the Dee, and the Mersey, and by that means to open a communication from the above mentioned districts to the ports of Liverpool and Bristol. There is a short canal formed by the Marquis of Stafford, which commences at Donington Wood and proceeds to Pave-lane, near Newport, a distance of nearly seven miles, with a branch to his lordship’s lime works at Lilleshall, This canal was made for conveying coal to the latter place from the works at Donington, now held on lease by the Lilleshall company. The Montgomeryshire canal, a branch of Ellesmere, also passes through a portion of this county.

LAKES OF SHROPSHIRE.—The lakes of this county are neither numerous nor extensive. At Marton, near Baschurch, is the Marton and Fennymere pool, covering 96A. 2R. 15P. At Marton, near Chirbury, is a pool covering 40A. 2R. 37P., from which issue three streams running in different directions. At Ellesmere is a magnificent sheet of water covering 116 acres; Colemere 87 acres; Crosemere 44 acres; Whitemere 62 acres; Blackmere and Newtonmere are in the same neighbourhood. A fine sheet of water at Shrawardine covers 40 acres. South of the Severn are a few small lakes, but not of any considerable extent. Thus the part of the country which abounds most in running water has the fewest pools. At Walcot and Hawkstone are lakes of considerable extent, the latter stretches two miles in length. Sundorne, Halston, and Tong, have embellishments of the same kind.