Part 44

is a parish and village in the Ellesmere division of the Pimhill hundred, pleasantly situated three miles east from Ellesmere. This parish lies on the northern verge of the county, adjoining Flintshire, in Wales. At the census in 1801, there was a population of 373 souls, in 1831, 532; and in 1841 there were 118 inhabited houses, four uninhabited, and 569 inhabitants. The parish contains 2,970 acres of land, the soil of which is various; in some places it is highly fertile, and in other parts of an inferior quality. The principal landowners are the trustees of the late Earl of Bridgewater, Charles K. Mainwaring, Esq., Mr. Samuel Reeves, Mr. Richard Thomas, Mr. James Smith, Mr. Thomas James, Joshua Lewis Menlove, Esq., Mr. Thomas Grindley, Mr. Richard Evans, Mr. William Hewes, Mr. Thomas Williams, Mr. Thomas Baleman, Sir John Hanmer, Mr. Thomas Speakman, Lord Kenyon, Mr. William Williams, Mr. William Cartwright, Mr. John Price, and Mr. William Stant; besides whom there are several other small proprietors. The living of the church is a perpetual curacy, valued in the king’s book at £6, now returned at £139; in the patronage of Charles K. Mainwaring, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. George S. Master.

Lane Mary, schoolmistress, Hampton Wood

Lawrence Mr. Thomas, Hampton House

Master Rev. George Streyncham

Speakman Thomas, assistant overseer

Thomas John, parish clerk

Warwick Emma, schoolmistress

Windsor Mrs. Jane, Hampton Wood

Blacksmith.

Marth Clay, Hampton Wood

Boot and Shoemakers.

Dodd John

Harris Edward

Kynaston John

Ralphs Matthew

Sproston William

Stant William

Butcher.

Morgan Thomas

Carpenter and Joiner.

Hatton Thomas

Farmers.

Bowen John

Brigg John Bishop

Cooper John

Cook Mary

Downward Peter

Edge Joseph, The Roe

Grindley Mary

Harris John

Holbrook John

Hughes William

Jones John

Lewis Thomas

Lewis William

Oakley Edward

Pay John

Phillips Joseph

Price John

Speakman Thomas

Stant William

Williams Edward, The Fields

Woodall Mary

Grocers & Provision Dealers.

Davies John

Peate Edward

Inns and Taverns.

Red Lion, William Sproston

Royal Oak, Wm. Williams

Sun, Thomas Hatton

Maltsters.

Edge Joseph

Jones John

Stay Makers.

Hughes Jane

Lloyd Sarah Ann

Tailors.

Deakin Benjamin

Trevor Thomas

Wheelwrights.

Jones John

Lloyd William

Speake Thomas

THE NORTH BRADFORD HUNDRED.

The hundred of North Bradford is bounded on the north by Cheshire, on the east by Staffordshire, on the west by the hundred of Pimhill and the Albrighton division, and on the south by the hundred of South Bradford. There is a considerable extent of land in this hundred which is highly fertile, and the cheese, which is extensively made, is said to be quite equal in quality to the celebrated Cheshire cheese in the adjoining county. The soils are various. The meadow lands in general produce a rich herbage, and the arable lands are seen covered with luxuriant crops of grain. The scenery is rich and beautiful, and in some places highly picturesque. The land in most parts is pleasingly diversified with gentle undulations, and in some places there are considerable inequalities of surface and bold swells, interspersed with rising plantations and woody scenery, which add to the beauty of the prospects. In this hundred is found superior clay for making bricks, marl for improving the land, and peat or turf for firing. The hundred is divided into the Drayton Division, Wem Division, and Whitchurch Division, and at the census of 1841 contained 5,428 inhabited houses, 204 uninhabited, and 26 houses building, with a population of 27,971 souls.

_The Drayton Division_ contains the parishes and townships of Adderley, Bearstone, Betton, Betchley, Bolas Little, Cheswardine, Chipnall, Childs Ercall, Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Dorrington, Eaton, Goldstone, Gravenhanger, Hinstock, Hodnet (part of), Hawkstone, Hopton, Kenstone, Longslow, Losford, Longford, Marchamley, The Morrey, Moreton Say, Norton-in-Hales, Ollerton, Peplow, Sambrook (part of), Sowdley, Spoonley, Sutton, Styche and Woodlands, Stoke-upon-Tern, Woodseaves, Wollerton, Westanswick, and Woore.

_The Wem Division_ contains the parishes and townships of Acton Reynold, Aston, Besford, Cotton, Edgbolton, Edstaston, Horton, Lacon, Lowe and Ditches, Moreton Corbet, Muckleton, Newtown, Northwood, Preston Brockhurst, Shawbury, Sleap (part of), Soulton, Tilley and Trench, Weston-under-Redcastle, Wem, Wolverley, Wytheford Magna, and Wytheford Parva.

_The Whitchurch Division_ contains Alkington, Ash Magna, Ash Parva, Black Park, Broughall, Booley, Calverhall or Corra, Chinnell, Darliston, Dodington, Edgeley, Fauls, Harcourt, High Hatton, Hinton, Hollyhurst, Ightfield, Lee Brockhurst, Mickley, Millenheath, Moston, Prees, Tilstock, Sandford, Steel, Stanton-upon-Hine-Heath, Whitchurch, Whixall, Willaston, Woodhouses New, and Woodhouses Old.

ADDERLEY

is a parish and small rural village, four miles N.N.W. from Market Drayton, which contains 3,938A. 2R. 38P. of land, and comprehends the townships of Adderley, The Morrey, Spoonley, and part of Shavington. In 1801 there were 365 inhabitants in the parish; in 1831, 468; and in 1841, 64 houses and 404 inhabitants. The township of Adderley, in 1841, contained 48 houses and 297 inhabitants. Rateable value, £3,096. 10s. Though now an inconsiderable village, it was in early times of sufficient importance to become a market town. In the 9th of Edward II., Bartholomew Badlesmere had a charter for keeping a market on a Thursday, at his manor of Adderley, and a fair on the eve, and the day and the morrow after the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, with the privilege of free warren. The manor and estate were afterwards carried in marriage to William Lord Roos, who died in the Holy Land, without issue. Thomas Lord Roos died on his journey thither. John Lord Roos died on his journey to Jerusalem. His son, Thomas Lord Roos, for his fidelity to the Lancasterian interest, was attainted in the parliament 1st of Edward IV., and the manor was seized by the king. Richard Corbet, Esq., and the Earl of Kilmorey are the principal landowners. THE CHURCH is a neat structure, dedicated to St. Peter, and consists of nave, chancel, transept, and side chapel. The tower is dated 1732, and the body of the church was rebuilt in 1801. On the north side is the Kilmorey chapel and family vault, the windows of which are ornamented with armorial bearings in stained glass. There are several neat tablets in memory of this family, one of which contains the following inscription:—

Sacred to the memories of Robert Viscount Kilmorey and Frances Viscountess Kilmorey, daughter of Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, Bart., of Combermere Abbey. Their conjugal felicity, during an union of twenty-seven years, knew no interruption, felt no decline. The blow which severed them on earth was mercifully healed by an early reunion in heaven; and their mortal remains were together consigned to the vault beneath, on the 7th day of December, A.D. M,DCCCXVIII.

There is also a brass plate, with representations of one of the Earls of Kilmorey, his lady, and the figures of seven boys and two girls, in fine preservation, dated 1556; near to which is another brass plate, with the mutilated figure of a person in priestly vestments. The church-yard is ornamented with several fine yew trees, and the ancient font has been placed in the church-yard, and converted into a sun dial. The living is a rectory, in the patronage of the Cotton family, and incumbency of the Rev. William Cotton. The Rev. Leonard Slater is the officiating curate, and resides at the Rectory; a good residence, a little north from the church. ADDERLEY HALL, a handsome stuccoed mansion, with centre and wings, is approached by a noble portico, and is the seat and property of Richard Corbet, Esq. It is beautified with pleasure grounds and shrubberies, and stands in a well wooded park, ornamented with a fine sheet of water.

CHARITIES.—_The Rev. Robert Adams_, in 1719, devised certain lands, in trust, for charitable uses, which then produced a yearly income of £13. 12s. per annum. The donor directed £8 to be paid by the rector, vicar, and churchwardens of Muccleston, Adderley, and Drayton, alternately, on the 25th of March every year, for the setting a poor boy or girl yearly apprentice; the yearly sum of 30s. to be paid for the instruction of children in Adderley; the same sum for the like purpose in Muccleston; and the sum of 52s. to be expended in bread, and distributed to the poor who should attend divine service in the parish of Adderley. The estate now produces a yearly income of £35. 12s.; and the whole of the clear rents, since 1815, have been applied to the charitable uses mentioned in the will. The same person also bequeathed £20, to be placed out at interest, and distributed among the poor of the parish of Adderley. There is no evidence to show how this legacy has been applied.

_Thomas Reynolds_, in 1725, devised a messuage at Walkerton, near Wybunbury, in Cheshire, to apply one moiety of the rents and profits thereof, for the benefit of the poor of Adderley; and the other moiety among the poor of Dodcot-cum-Wilksley, in the parish of Audlem. The premises at Walkerton were subsequently sold for £1,050; and in 1814 the amount was placed in the hands of Sir Corbet Corbet, on the security of a messuage in Staffordshire-street, Market Drayton, and certain lands situated in Betton-lane, subject to redemption on the payment of £1,050, and lawful interest for the same. The yearly sum of £42 is now received from the trustees, under the will of Sir Corbet Corbet, by the churchwardens of Adderley, and one half is transmitted to the overseers of Dodcott-cum-Wilksley; and the other moiety is distributed among the poor of this parish, in sums varying from 5s. to 10s.

_Thomas Viscount Kilmorey_, by will, 1766, charged his whole estate with the payment of £1 per month, to be laid out in bread, and distributed among the poor every first Sunday in the month, in the parish church of Adderley.

_Thomas Clayton_, in 1760, left £100, and directed the interest to be expended in bread for the benefit of the poor. This money was invested in the purchase of £131. 7s. 3d. three per cent. consols, and the dividends, amounting to £3. 18s. 8d., are applied by the churchwardens in the purchase of bread, which is distributed every third Sunday in the month amongst seven poor widows.

Corbet Richard, Esq., Adderley Hall

Burgwin William, gardener, The Hall

Burrows Hester Maria, boarding school

Campell Archibald, farm bailiff, The Hall

Duckers John, farmer, The Lees

Groucott John, farmer

Hudson Thomas Heath, farmer

Kemp John, farmer, Pool farm

Lee Robert, shoemaker and parish clerk

Lowe John, shoemaker

Malem Thomas, farmer

Massey William, victualler, The Raven Inn

Moore George, shopkeeper and blacksmith

Moore John, farmer, Adderley Lodge

Moore Thomas, farmer

Pearce Richard, farmer

Roberts John, lime burner; Ellis Wynne, agent

Simons John, blacksmith

Slater Rev. Leonard, B.A., The Rectory

SPOONLEY,

a small township two miles N. from Market Drayton, at the census of 1841 contained 12 houses and 82 inhabitants, the acres of which are included in the return of Adderley. Rateable value, £1,421. 1s. Richard Corbet, Esq., is owner of the whole township, and lord of the manor. The poor of this township participate in the benefit of the charities noticed with Adderley. The principal residents are John Hudson, farmer, Castle Hill; William Lewis, farmer; Thomas Mulliner, farmer; and Richard Swan, farmer.

SHAVINGTON, OR THE MORREY,

is a township four miles N.W. from Market Drayton, partly in this county and partly in that of Cheshire, situated on the northern verge of Shropshire. In 1841 there were three houses and 25 inhabitants returned as within the bounds of this county, and in the parish of Adderley. Rateable value £1,541. 9s.; the acres are given with the parish. The Earl of Kilmorey is owner of the land, and lord of the manor, and occasionally resides at SHAVINGTON HALL—a spacious and elegant mansion of brick, surrounded with a park richly wooded, and beautifully adorned with sylvan beauty, comprising upwards of fifteen hundred acres. The noble owner enlarged the park, and began to enclose the whole with a brick wall several years ago—upwards of five miles of the wall has already been built; the park is about seven miles in circumference.

DIRECTORY.—The Earl of Kilmorey, Shavington Hall; John Gregory, Esq., steward, Shavington Hall; James Lunt, farmer, The Morrey; and Richard Vernon, farmer, The Morrey.

CHESWARDINE

is a parish and village delightfully situated near the N.E. verge of the county, four miles S.S.E. from Market Drayton. The parish comprehends the townships of Cheswardine, Chipnall, Goldstone, Sambrook, and Sowdley, and contains 5,723A. 3R. 4P. of land. In 1801 there was a population of 628 souls; 1830, 1051, and in 1841, 1015. The township of Cheswardine contains 1,715A. 3R. 10P. of land, and in 1841 had 71 houses and 367 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,989. 10s. 9d. In the time of King Henry II. Cheswardine was held by John L’Estrange by knight’s service, and in the 32nd of Edward I. Roger L’Estrange had the grant of a market to be held on a Monday, and a fair on the eve, the day, and the day after the translation of St. Swithin. Sir John Mainwaring, knight, was keeper of the park of Cheswarthyn in the 13th of Edward IV. The church is an ancient structure, dedicated to St. Swithin, and consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower, in which are six musical bells, which were put up, and also a new clock, about two years ago; from the summit of the tower a most extensive and beautiful prospect of the country is seen. The clock and the bells were purchased with money raised by voluntary subscriptions, and the gallery on the west side of the church was erected at the joint expense of John Butter, of Sowdley Park; William Butter, of Chipnall, and Richard Meeson, of Little Sowdley. There is a mural tablet in memory of the Rev. Samuel Orpe, who was vicar of this parish for 56 years; he died in 1724, aged 86 years. A small memorial of brass remembers Gabriel Lloyd, who died in the year 1623, and another brass plate states that Richard Jervis died in the year 1688. The living is a vicarage valued in the king’s book at £5. 6s. 8d., now returned at £260, in the patronage of T. Smallwood, Esq.; the Rev. Charles Miller is the officiating curate. This church was anciently held by the abbot of Haughmond, having been given to the Abbey by John L’Estrange in the time of Henry II. He also gave to the abbey the mill at Cheswarthyn, with the appurtenances. Queen Elizabeth, in the 26th of her reign, devised the tithes of the parish to Richard Corbet, Esq. On the western verge of the parish there is an open common, covering an area of about 100 acres. The Shropshire Union Canal intersects the parish, taking its course through some deep cuttings about a mile west from the church; on the banks of the canal there is a wharf called the Goldstone Wharf. The National School for boys was built in 1838; there is also a girl’s school, which was erected in 1738.

CHARITIES.—The girls’ school was originally built by Richard Smithiman, and in 1738 it was rebuilt by the parishioners.

_Richard Meeson_, in 1712, left the yearly sum of £4, to be applied by the ministers and churchwardens of the parish, as an additional salary to the schoolmaster there, for instructing four poor boys in the English tongue, for so many years as the minister and churchwardens should think fit.

_John Sawdley_ left to the poor of this parish £100. The churchwardens have been in possession of several closes at Foxbrook, in the parish of Dilhorne, in Staffordshire, from the year 1721. Altogether there are about ten acres, and it would appear from entries in the churchwarden’s book, that this property was purchased with the legacy above mentioned, but the purchase deeds are not now in the possession of the parishioners. The land is let at a yearly rent of £12.

Several sums of money, amounting in the whole to £172, left at different periods, and by various donors, were held by the churchwardens in trust for the poor of the parish, previous to 1754; in that year the sum of £155 was laid out in the purchase of an estate in the parish of Hinstock, comprising between eight and nine acres, which now produces a yearly income of £20. The rents of the above two charities are received by the churchwardens, and the amount, with the produce of other charities, is given away on the Friday before the first of July, and on St. Thomas’s day, in wheat to the poor parishioners in quantities varying from two gallons to a bushel.

_Richard Jervis_, by will, 24th July, 1688, gave to the poor of Cheswardine parish £10, to be disposed of at the discretion of his executors. The yearly sum of 10s. has been paid in respect of this legacy. The last payment was made by Cresswell Pigott, Esq., as executor of Henry Z. Jervis, who was the personal representative of the donor. For two years previous to the Charity Commissioners publishing their report nothing had been received, in consequence of a suit in the Court of Chancery having been instituted respecting the estate of Mr. Jervis. An affidavit was sworn by one of the churchwardens in support of a claim to this legacy.

_Francis Butler_, by will, 1694, gave a rent charge of £2 10s. per annum for the benefit of the poor of Cheswardine parish. The property from which this gift is payable is situate in the township of Chipnall, and was part of the estate of the late Henry Zachariah Jervis, whose property became the subject of a suit in the Court of Chancery, as already mentioned.

In the parliamentary returns of 1786 it is stated that Sarah Sambrook left 2s. 2d. per month, to be given to the poor in bread. A distribution of bread takes place on the first Sunday in every month, in respect of this charity, and the amount, £1. 6s. per annum, is paid by the owner of Sowdley Park farm, upon which the payment appears to be charged.

In the parish books in which the distribution of charities is entered from 1721 to 1767, there is a memorandum stating that John Butter gave to the poor of this parish three dozen of bread on Good Friday, in respect of the legacy left by John Bold, of Great Sawdley. The last entry to this effect is in 1760, and we have not met with any proof of bread having been distributed on Good Friday since that time.

_William Goodall_, who died in 1808, left £10 to the poor of the parish, and John Goodall, who died in 1826, left the like sum for the same purpose; 20s., the interest of these legacies, are expended in bread and given amongst the most deserving poor.

There is an estate in Sowdley, the rents of which have been applied from time immemorial in aid of the church rate. The estate consists of two closes called Denway Croft and Ames Field, and two other closes containing altogether about eight acres and a half, which is let at a yearly rental of £14. 14s. There are also two cottages, with gardens, let by the overseers for the use of poor persons, at the yearly rental of £3. The rents are applied in aid of the church rates, and in paying the interest of £150 borrowed towards the erection of the new church.

POST OFFICE.—At Mr. Henry Bates.

Arkinstall William, tailor

Bate Edwin, butcher

Bate Henry, parish clerk and schoolmaster

Bayley Mr. Edward, surgeon, &c.

Beeston James, grocer and druggist

Beeston William, maltster & beerhouse keepr

Boffey Samuel, tailor

Challenor John, corn miller

Cooper George, shoemaker

Edge Samuel, beerhouse keeper & maltster

Goodall John, farmer

Green Samuel, draper and tea dealer

Hoole John, farmer

Hudson Thomas, Esq., Cheswardine Hill Hall

Hughes Theodore Alfred, plumber & glazier

Hurst Mr. John

James George, wheelwright

Lamford James, shoemaker

Lea James, shopkeeper

Marsh George, farmer

Miller Rev. Charles, curate, The Vicarage

Nagginton James, farmer

Nicholas Abraham Barlow, shopkeeper

Pearce James, shoemaker

Pointer Edward, farmer

Ratcliffe Mr., farmer

Spender William, farmer, Haywood

Shropshire John, farmer and butcher

Shropshire William, tailor

Turnbull Mr. John, builder and victualler, Fox and Hounds

Wakefield Thomas, farmer

Walker Mr. John

Whilton Matthew, farmer, Haywood

Whittaker Henry, saddler

Wild John, farmer

Williams William, blacksmith

CHIPNALL, OR CHIPPENHALL,

is a township and village in the parish of Cheswardine, four miles N.E. from Market Drayton. At the census of 1841 there were 30 houses and 70 inhabitants. The township contains 1,309A. 0R. 10P. of land, which is the property of Thomas Hudson, Esq. Rateable value, £1,615. 15s. 11d.

The principal residents in Chipnall township are William Adams, farmer, Lipley; Joseph Duckers, farmer, Chipnall Hall; James Goodall, farmer and beerhouse keeper; John Moreton, farmer, Lipley; Matthew Plant, farmer and corn miller; John Taylor, blacksmith; Thomas Birbeck Wakefield, farmer, Lipley; Henry Yates, farmer.

ELLERTON

township is situated three miles from Cheswardine church, and contains 448A. 2R. 0P. of land, the whole of which is the property of Robert Masefield, Esq. At the census in 1841 there was no separate return for Ellerton as a distinct township, but the inhabitants were included in the returns for Cheswardine. ELLERTON HALL, a handsome modern mansion, the residence of Robert Masefield, Esq., was built in 1836, on the site of an ancient house composed of timber and plaster. The hall is delightfully situated on an acclivity near the verge of the county, and commands a beautiful prospect of great extent over the counties of Salop and Stafford. The county is here separated from Staffordshire by a small stream, which meanders in the front of the hall. Not far from the hall is a fine sheet of water, which covers upwards of six acres, near to which is a corn mill. Rateable value of the township, £732. 4s. 1d.

The residents are Robert Masefield, Esq., Ellerton Hall, John Challenor, farmer and corn miller; and William Challenor, farmer.

GOLDSTON

is a township and small village pleasantly situated on the declivity of a hill about a mile and a half west by south from Cheswardine church. The township contains 452A. 1R. 16P. of land, and at the census of 1841 there were 14 houses and 75 inhabitants. Rateable value, £598. 1s. 6d. There are only three farms in this township, two of which are the property of William Vardon, Esq., and the other is possessed by Mrs. Charlotte Masefield. GOLDSTON HALL is a neat brick house, the occasional residence of William Vardon, Esq. Near to the hall is an antique house, chiefly composed of timber and plaster, which was most probably erected about the middle of the fifteenth century; it is now the residence of Mr. Alfred Holden, farmer. On the banks of the Shropshire union canal, which passes about half a mile from the village, there is a wharf where coal is sold, called the Goldston wharf.

The resident farmers in this township are Thomas Beeston, Alfred Holden, and Ann Lea; William Vardon, Esq., The Hall; Thomas Finn, gardener to W. Vardon, Esq.

SAMBROOK