Part 45

is a small rural village, partly in the parish of Cheswardine, and partly in that of Chetwynd, three and a half miles south from Cheswardine, and three miles north from Chetwynd church. At the census of 1841 there were 22 houses and 96 inhabitants in the former parish, and 15 houses and 80 inhabitants in the latter. John Charles Burton Boroughs, Esq., is the principal landowner; Dr. Swanwick is also a proprietor. A small chapel of ease was erected here in the year 1839. The turnpike road from Newport to Market Drayton intersects the township; and at Stamford Bridge there is a respectable inn, kept by Mr. Cordwell.

DIRECTORY.—Thomas Beddall, mason; John Cordwell, timber merchant, Oak Cottage; Thomas Cordwell, timber merchant and vict., Talbot Inn, Stamford Bridge; Thomas Dix, blacksmith; Joseph Goodwin, blacksmith and beerhouse keeper; William Jones, farmer; Joseph Lockley, wheelwright; Miss Stanley, The Cottage; George Stokes, farmer; Joseph Wainwright, farmer.

SOWDLEY GREAT

is a township and scattered village in the parish of Cheswardine, situated about three quarters of a mile south-east from the church. The township contains 1,497A. 3R. 22P. of land, and in 1841 there were 75 houses and 333 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,280. 3s. 8d. The principal landowners are Robert Masefield, Esq.; Thomas Addison, Esq.; George Addison, Esq.; Mr. Thomas Buckley; Mr. William Buckley; Mr. William Manley; Mr. Stanley; and Mr. William Brian. THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS have a small chapel in Great Sowdley, built in the year 1837, on land given by Mr. John Butterton. The poor of the several townships in this parish participate in the general charities noticed with the township of Cheswardine.

Allen Sarah, farmer

Arkinstall Henry, farmer

Ashley John, farmer, Little Sowdley

Beeston Joseph, tailor

Benbow James, farmer, Sowdley park

Brian William, farmer

Buckley Thomas, shopkeeper

Hamner George, farmer

Hayward John, carpenter, wheelwright, and beerhouse keeper, Hopshort

Hazledine Thomas, farmer, Sowdley park

Hughes James, shoemaker, Hopshort

Jackson Thomas, farmer

Lea John, farmer

Lee Philip, farmer, Little Sowdley

Pointon George, farmer

Robinson William, beerhouse

Simkin Thomas, farmer, Little Sowdley

Stanley Henry, farmer, Hanwood House

Swinnerton William, blacksmith and farmer

Walton John, farmer

Whittall John, schoolmaster

Worrall John, farmer

Worrall William, brickmaker

DRAYTON-IN-HALES, OR MARKET DRAYTON,

is a parish and considerable market town, in the Drayton division of the North Bradford Hundred, 153 miles N.W. by N. from London, 19 miles N.E. by N. from Shrewsbury, 11 miles N. from Newport, and 12 miles S.E. from Whitchurch. The town is pleasantly situated on the north-east extremity of the county, and is watered by the river Tern. It is a place of great antiquity; and, according to Nennius, was one of the principal cities of the ancient Britons. From the discovery of foundations, and other traces of buildings in the fields adjoining the town, it is probable that its extent was once more considerable than at present; and though no coins, pavements, or other monuments of antiquity have been discovered here, it is nevertheless strongly conjectured that this town was the Roman Station, MEDIOLANUM. It is still a place of importance, and the head of a division of the county, in which the petty sessions are held. It contains several good inns, and many respectable shops in all the different branches of the retail trade. There are three firms engaged in the manufacture of hair seating, which together employ about two hundred operatives. The manufacture of paper was formerly carried on to some extent, but was discontinued about five years ago. Here is a tannery, ironfoundery, and agricultural implements are extensively made. The various handicraft trades, in which a considerable number of the population are employed, will be seen on reference to the directory. The general traffic of this locality is facilitated by the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal, which passes on the eastern side of the town. Drayton is twice mentioned in the Domesday survey, and it was then held by knights’ service under Earl Roger. In the 30th of Henry III. the Abbot of Combermere had a grant of a market here on a Wednesday, and a fair on the eve, the day, and the day after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The market is still held on Wednesdays, and numerously attended by the farmers who reside in the surrounding district, when considerable quantities of grain are sold. Fairs are held on the first Wednesday in February, Wednesday before Palm Sunday, first Wednesday in May, Wednesday before June 22nd, first Wednesday in August, September 19th, October 24th, and the last Wednesday in November. The parish comprehends the townships of Betton, Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Longslow, Sutton and Woodseaves, in this county; it also extends into the Pirehill hundred, in the county of Stafford, and is divided into four quarters for parochial purposes, viz.:—Church quarter, containing Drayton Magna and Drayton Parva; the north quarter, containing Betton, Ridgewardine, and Tunstall; south quarter, Longslow, Sutton, and Woodseaves; and Tirley quarter, containing Almington, Blore, Hales, and Tirley. The entire parish, in 1801, contained a population of 3,162 souls; 1831, 3,882; and in 1841, 4,680 souls. It embraces 7,726A. 3R. 11P. of land. The township of DRAYTON MAGNA contains 678A. 2R. 35P. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 361 houses and 1,699 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Richard Corbet, Esq., P. Sillitoe, Esq., the Earl of Powis, William Church Norcop, Esq., Thomas Whitfield, Esq., and John E. Wilson, Esq. The former is lord of the manor, and impropriator of the rectoral tithes, which are commuted for £51. 5s. 9d. The vicarial tithes are commuted for £40. 19s. 9d. DRAYTON PARVA is a populous district, forming a western suburb to the town, chiefly consisting of cottage residences, many of which are small, ill-ventilated, and have a miserable appearance. At the census of 1841 there were 352 houses and 1,462 inhabitants. The township contains 520A. 2R. 32P. of land. Among the principal landowners are Thomas Whitfield, Esq., and Mr. Brocklehurst. Richard Corbet, Esq., and Peter Broughton, Esq., are joint lords of the manor. Mr. Benjamin Beeston, Mr. William Godwin, and Mr. Samuel Swinnerton, are also landowners; besides whom there are upwards of one hundred and fifty small freeholders. Little Drayton Common, containing 97A. 0R. 36P., was enclosed in 1850, when five acres were allotted for the site of the new church, the parsonage, and the burial ground. The rectoral tithes have been commuted for £54. 19s. 7d., and the vicarial for £21. 13s. 1d.

THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Mary, is a massive structure, void of architectural beauty, consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a castellated tower, supported by butresses. It was built in the reign of King Stephen, and underwent a complete reparation in 1786, when it was stripped of its gothic honours. But little of the original structure remains; the pillars and arches which separate the nave from the side aisles are undoubtedly the most ancient part of the building. The approach is at the west end, under a tower, by a Norman doorway, ornamented in the zig-zag style; the ornaments and clustered pillars are, however, much corroded by time. The tower, with the exception of a small portion at the bottom, appears to have been wholly rebuilt. On a beam in the belfry there is the date 1590, but there is no historical record to show that the tower was rebuilt in that year. There are six musical bells; the tenor bell, weighing 17½ cwt., was added about five years ago. The interior is spacious and lofty, and provided with commodious galleries. Upon the gallery at the west end is a small organ. Each side aisle is divided from the nave by five pointed arches rising from octagonal pillars, the ornamental portions of which have been defaced. In the centre aisle is a capacious font, of an octagonal form. The east window is richly beautified with stained glass, which was added about twenty-five years ago, at the expense of Sir Andrew Corbet. An antique tablet remembers Dame Anne Corbet, who died in 1682, aged 80 years. “She was the mother of ten sons and ten daughters, whereof seventeen lived to be men and women.” The walls of the chancel and side aisles are ornamented with numerous other tablets in memory of members of some of the principal families resident in this neighbourhood, but which our limits will not allow us to notice; several of modern erection are very beautifully designed. There was a chantery in this church, founded by Ralph de Basset in the 14th of Edward I., for three chaplains, who had three acres of land here. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £12. 10s. 7½d., now returned at £173, in the patronage of Richard Corbet, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. James Lee, M.A. THE VICARAGE, a neat residence a little west from the church, was erected in 1837, at a cost of £1,000, by the present incumbent. The old vicarage stood near the west end of the church, and was taken down when the present edifice was built. The site and the garden, measuring about half an acre, were sold by the vicar to the parishioners for the sum of £400, and were added to the church-yard. The church stands considerably elevated, and is a conspicuous and imposing object when seen from the Newport road, the southern approach to the town. The church-yard commands a fine prospect towards the south. Immediately before you is an abrupt declevity, with cottages nestling under the cliff; the meanderings of the Tern water the fertile meadows beneath; and on the opposite acclivity is seen the beautiful seat of Purney Sillitoe, Esq., embosomed in thriving plantations with a fine extent of richly-wooded country extending into Staffordshire.

THE NEW CHURCH, situated on Little Drayton Common, is dedicated to our Saviour, and was built in 1846. It is a neat structure, in the early English style of architecture, with nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower at the north-west corner. The interior has a chaste and pleasing appearance, and will accommodate about six hundred worshippers. The sittings are uniform in character, and are all free, with the exception of forty. The total cost of the structure was £2,600, of which Mrs. Nonelly gave the munificent sum of £500, and a like sum towards the erection of a residence for the minister. The parsonage stands a little south from the church, and was built in 1847, on the five acres of land given for the site of the church and parsonage. About an acre and a half has been enclosed for a burial ground, and the rest is appropriated as gardens and pleasure grounds to the parsonage. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Drayton; incumbent, Rev. Edward Cheere, M.A. The district of this church comprises Little Drayton, the township of Sutton, and part of Woodseaves.

THE INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, a plain brick structure, situated in Back-lane, was built in the year 1778. It is neatly fitted up and provided with galleries. The congregation had no settled pastor when our agent visited Drayton.

THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL, situated in Shropshire-street, within the bounds of the township of Little Drayton, was built in the year 1808. The structure is plain, is provided with a gallery, and will accommodate between four and five hundred people.

THE BAPTIST CHAPEL, a small structure, situate at Little Drayton, has a residence attached. There is no baptist minister residing here, but members of this persuasion meet for worship every alternate Sunday.

THE PRIMITIVE METHODISTS have a small chapel, situated a little back from Cheshire-street. This is the only place of worship in the town,—too small for the number of hearers who attend religious service. It is expected a new chapel will shortly be built.

THE FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, situated on the south-east side of the church yard, was founded by Sir Rowland Hill, in 1554, who charged the manor at Wellington Hey, with the lands thereto belonging, with the payment of £22 per annum, for the support of the said school. The churchwardens of the parish were incorporated governors of the school, and were directed to pay twenty marks yearly out of the above sum to the master, to the usher £6. 13s. 4d., and the yearly sum of 40s. residue thereof should be kept as a fund for the reparations of the school. The governors covenanted for themselves and their successors that the hall or tenement on the south side of the church yard at Drayton, commonly called St. Mary’s Hall, wherein a grammar school was then kept, or such other house as should be thereafter erected on the site, should be for ever used for the said grammar school. The school was to be free for all children whose parents should place them there for learning to read English, the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and that neither the master nor the usher should agree for any recompense for such instruction. Sir Thomas Lake, in 1662, gave a rent charge issuing out of certain lands in the parish of Baschurch, amounting to £9. 19s. per annum, £6. 12s. 8d. thereof to the schoolmaster, and £3. 6s. 4d. to the usher. By an order in the Court of Chancery made 22nd January, 1816, on a petition presented by the governors it was ordered that the offices of master and usher should be consolidated, and that the office of usher should be abolished. That the governors should be at liberty to expend a sum not exceeding £191 in repairing the school house and other buildings belonging to the school; and that such sum should be raised by a mortgage of the said premises. That the governors should let the house then occupied by the usher. That a salary of £25 should be paid to the master, and that the residue of the annual revenues of the school should be applied in discharge of the principal money to be borrowed for the said repairs, and of the necessary repairs that might from time to time be wanted. The income of the school consists of the two rent charges above mentioned, and £7 per annum arising from the rent of the house formerly occupied by the usher. Out of the income amounting to £38 19s. there is paid a salary of £25 to the master, £9. 2s. as interest on the £182 laid out in the repairs of the school premises, and some small sums annually for repairs and incidental expenses. The Rev. Charles Cooke, M.A., is the master.

THE PAROCHIAL AND NATIONAL SCHOOL is a neat brick structure in the Elizabethan style of architecture, situated on a bold eminence a short distance west from the church. It was built in the year 1835, and is supported by annual subscriptions, and small weekly payments received from the children. There are one hundred and sixty boys and one hundred and thirty girls now educated in the school. William Scott is the teacher.

THE MARKET DRAYTON POOR-LAW UNION comprehends twelve parishes, embracing 61,637 acres of land, and an area of 91 square miles, with a population returned at the census of 1841 of 13,925 souls. The Union House, situated in Shropshire-street, was formerly used as the parish workhouse; it was enlarged by the poor-law guardians in the year 1839; the average number of inmates is usually about one hundred. A new Union House will shortly be built upon Little Drayton Common, which will accommodate about 350 inmates. The district comprised within the union is the same as that of the county court, the several places of which are stated here below:—_Chairman of the Guardians_: Thomas Twemlow, Esq. _Vice Chairman_: Walter Minor, Esq. _Clerks_: Messrs. Wilkinsons. _Chaplain_: Rev. Robert Upton. _Surgeons_: William W. Saxton, Market Drayton district; John Hopkins, Moreton Say district; John Walmsley, Hodnet district; Edward Bayley, Cheswardine district; and Michael Ryan, Ashley district. _Master_: William Crutchley. _Matron_: Mary Crutchley. _Schoolmistress_: Martha Crutchley.

THE COUNTY COURT OFFICES, situated in Cheshire-street, is a neat structure of brick with stone finishings, and was built in the year 1850, at the expense of Joseph Loxdale Warren, Esq. The lower part of the building is used as offices for the despatch of business connected with the county court, and above is a large room capable of holding upwards of 400 people, which is used for magisterial purposes. The court embraces within its jurisdiction the following townships and places, viz.:—Adderley, Almington, Ashley, Aston, Bearston, Betchley, Betton, Blore, Bolas Parva, Cheswardine, Childs Ercall, Chipnall, Dorrington, Drayton Magna, Drayton Parva, Eaton, Ellerton, Goldstone, Gravenhanger, Hales, Hinstock, Hodnet, Hopton and Espley, Howle, Hungary Hatton, Kenstone and Hopley, Knighton, Langford, Longslow, Losford, Marchamley, Moreton Say, Muckleston, Norton-in-Hales, Ollerton, Peplow, Pickstock, Sambrook, Shavington, Sowdley, Spoonley, Stoke-upon-Tern, Stych and Woodlands, Sutton, Tittenley, Wistanswick, Woodseaves, Woolerton, and Woore. _Judge_: Uvedale Corbett, Esq. _Clerk_: Joseph Loxdale Warren, Esq., The Lodge. _Bailiff_: Mr. William Darbyshire Green, Cheshire-st.

PETTY SESSIONS are held on the last Saturday in every month, in the spacious room above the county court offices, when prisoners are committed to Shrewsbury or Stafford, as the case may occur, in which county the offence is committed, the magistrates having jurisdiction in both counties.

THE POLICE OFFICE is situated in Cheshire-street nearly opposite the county court office. It was built in 1850, and has two cells, where prisoners are confined before committal by the magistrates. In which case they are sent to Shrewsbury if the offence has been committed in this county, and to Stafford if committed in Staffordshire. Attached to the cells is a residence for the constable; William Hemming is the police officer.

THE MARKET DRAYTON SOCIETY FOR THE ACQUIREMENT OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE was established in September, 1850. The objects of the institution are to extend to all classes aid for cultivating, and occasion for exercising their mental powers; to afford to its members the powerful advantages and incitement of association for prosecuting their several studies in the various branches of useful knowledge, and to secure to them opportunity for engaging in such pursuits as shall tend to their moral as well as intellectual advancement. For these objects the society has taken convenient premises situate in the beast market; classes for mutual improvement have been formed, a library and news room have been established, and it is intended to have lectures on natural and experimental philosophy, and the fine arts, as occasion may occur; the news room is furnished with the principal London and provincial journals and the most popular periodicals of the day; and the library, although only recently established, contains many valuable and standard works. Persons are admitted to all the privileges of the institution on the payment of 8s. per annum. An annual subscription of 21s. per annum constitutes an honorary member, and any person giving the sum of £10. 10s., or books, or apparatus to that amount, or a course of not less than ten lectures, is considered an honorary member for life. The honorary members have the exclusive use of the reading room from nine o’clock in the morning till six o’clock in the evening. The institution has the patronage and active support of the principal gentry and clergy of the town and neighbourhood. _Patrons_: Henry Bayley Clive, Esq., M.P.; John Whitehall Dod, Esq., M.P. _President_: Thomas Twemlow, Esq. _Treasurer_: W. M. Wilkinson, Esq. _Secretary_: Mr. William Crutchley.

A NEWS ROOM has been established by the gentry and tradesmen in the town, at Mrs. Barnett’s, High-street. It is supported by subscriptions of 21s. per annum.

THE GAS WORKS are situated in the outskirts of the southern side of the town, near the river Tern; they were established by a company of shareholders, who reside in Staffordshire, and the town is expected to be lighted with gas during the autumn of the present year (1851).

PROVIDENT SOCIETIES.—There are in this town several societies or clubs, the members of which pay small contributions to their respective funds, from which they are relieved in case of sickness, infirmity, or superannuation, and from which the friends of deceased members receive a sufficient sum for their decent interment. Among these are the Market Drayton Tradesmen Club, and the fraternities or sacred Orders of Oddfellows, M.U.; Ancient Forresters, and Female Societies, &c.

THE GROVE is a handsome brick mansion, a quarter of a mile east from the church, the residence and property of John E. Wilson, Esq.—SPRING FIELDS, a good house a little west from the church, situated on elevated ground, commands fine prospects of the country, and is the residence and property of Thomas Whitfield, Esq.

Near this town, during the desolating wars between the houses of York and Lancaster, a desperate conflict took place at BLORE HEATH, on the borders of Staffordshire, which proved very disastrous to numbers of the Cheshire gentry, and many of the principal families of the adjoining district. The battle took place on the 23rd of September, 1459, when Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, commanded the forces of the white rose, and had an army of 5,000 men encamped on a hill near Market Drayton. He was opposed by James Touchet, Lord Audley, on the part of the red rose, with an army of 10,000. Though so disproportionate in numbers, the army of Salisbury proved victorious: 2,400 men are said to have been slain in this bloody conflict, together with their brave and loyal chief, who fell by the hand of Robert Kynaston, Esq., of Hordley, a zealous partizan of the house of York. In a field adjoining the turnpike road from Market Drayton to Newcastle, a stone has been set up to mark the spot where Lord Audley fell. What rendered the battle more calamitous was, that the principal families ranged nearly in equal numbers on the side of each of the contending parties. The old English poet, Michael Drayton, in his “Polyalbion,” represents the conflict as partaking of the form of a duel, in which one relative falls a sacrifice to the resentment of the other:—

“There Dutton Dutton kills; a Done doth kill a Done; A Booth a Booth; and Leigh by Leigh is overthrown; A Venables against a Venables doth stand, A Troutbeck fighteth with a Troutbeck hand to hand; There Molineux doth make a Molineux to die, And Egerton the strength of Egerton doth try. O Cheshire! wert thou mad of thine own native gore, So much until this day thou never shedd’st before; Above two thousand men upon the earth were thrown, Of whom the greater part were naturally thine own.”

Thomas Whitfield, Esq., of Drayton, has in his possession the crest of the Egertons, a sword handle, and a brass stirrup, richly ornamented and in good preservation, which were found about thirty years ago on the field of battle. During the struggles between Charles I. and the parliament, a skirmish took place in the neighbourhood of Drayton, between the King’s party, under the command of Prince Rupert, and the parliamentary forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, when the royal cause gained a temporary success.