Part 88

The hundred of Munslow comprehends the Upper and Lower divisions, and is bounded on the north by the hundred of Condover, on the east by the Wenlock Franchise, the Stottesden hundred, and a detached part of the hundred of Overs; on the west are the hundreds of Clun and Purslow, and on the south the county of Hereford. In the hundred of Munslow there is much clay, with considerable quantities of a stony soil of a great variety lying upon the lime stone. The upper surface of the rocks is frequently broken up by the plough and becomes with the soil a rocky loam, which produces good crops of grain. The population in 1821 was 10,478, exclusive of the borough of Ludlow; the number of houses 1,888. In 1841 there were 12,043 inhabitants, of whom 8,126 were in the Upper division, and 3,917 in the Lower division. At the same period there were 1,576 inhabited houses, 49 uninhabited in the Upper division, and 747 inhabited, and 36 uninhabited in the Lower division. The Lower division comprises the following parishes, viz.: Abdon, Ashford Bowdler, Ashford Carbonell, Bromfield, Clee, St. Margaret, Diddlebury, Easthope, Holdgate, Hopton in the Hole, Halford Chapelry, Ludford, Munslow, Onibury, Richards Castle, Skirmage Extra Parochial, Staneton Lacy, Stanton Long, Stoke St. Milborough, Stokesay, Tugford, and Weston Cold.

The Upper division contains the parishes of Acton Scott, Cardington, Eaton, Hope Bowdler, Rushbury, Shipton, and Church Stretton.

ABDON

is a small parish and village in the Lower division of the Munslow hundred, ten miles south-east from Much Wenlock, which contains 710 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £609. At the census in 1801 the parish had a population of 134 souls; 1831, 170; and in 1841 there were 36 houses and 155 inhabitants. Sir Sidney Herbert is the principal landowner and lord of the manor. THE CHURCH is a small structure dedicated to St. Margaret, and consists of nave and chancel. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £3. 6s. 8d., now returned at £147; patron, Sir Sidney Herbert; incumbent, Rev. John Sheppard. A commodious school, with a residence for the teacher, has recently been built by the lord of the manor, at a cost of upwards of one thousand pounds; it is also munificently supported by the founder. About thirty children attend.

DIRECTORY.—George Bradley, farmer; Thomas Bradley, farmer; Cheswick Cooper, farmer; Rev. John Sheppard, rector; Robert Williams, schoolmaster.

ACTON SCOTT, OR ACTON-ON-THE-HILL,

a parish in the upper division of the Munslow Hundred, three miles and a half S.S.E. from Church Stretton, is bounded on the western side by the Shrewsbury and Ludlow turnpike road, and that from Wenlock to Bishop’s Castle passes through it. It is divided into the townships of Acton Scott and Alcaston, and contains 1,889 acres of hilly land, moderately fertile, resting on sand-stone, in some places rich in fossil shells, and watered by the Quenny and Marbrook streams. At the census of 1801, the parish contained 164 souls; 1841, 34 houses and 204 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,727. On an eminence, above the Shrewsbury road, called the Castle Hill, it is supposed a fortification once existed; and in a field, adjoining the church-yard, some remains of a tower were standing in the memory of some of the old inhabitants, but all traces of it are now gone. In the year 1817, in straightening a road, some remains of a Roman ville were discovered, consisting of hypocausts, tiles, &c. Several eastern coins were also found, which is remarkable as being the only instance in which these coins have been found in Roman stations in England. On some of the tiles were impressions of the sandals of the Roman soldiers, made before the clay had been burned; there were also the foot-marks of dogs and other animals. These remains were found within a mile of the Roman road which runs from Wroxeter, by Church Stretton, to Shenchester. The name of Acton is derived from _Ac_ (the Saxon for oak) and _ton_ (a town), and that of Scott from a family who were very early settled here, and about the 12th century ceased to use their original name and adopted this of their residence only. At the time of the Doomsday survey the manor belonged to Rainald, the Sheriff, and it afterwards passed to the Fitzalans. In the year 1290, an inquest was held to determine the boundaries of the royal forests in Shropshire, when Acton Scott, Henly, and Alcaston, were declared to be without the limits, though Shetton, Minton, and Rushbury, were found to be within them, and subject to all the grievances of forest laws. The present lord of the manor is Edward William Wynne Pendarves, Esq., of Pendarves, in Cornwall, one of the representatives in parliament for that county, who succeeded to the property in 1835, on the death of his brother, who inherited this and other estates in right of his mother, the only daughter of Edward Acton, Esq., of Acton Scott, the last male representative of the elder branch of the family, who died in 1775, Sir John d’Albery Acton, Bart., being descended from a younger branch. The mansion house of Acton Scott is of the Elizabethan period, with projecting gables and bay windows, and stands in a commanding situation near to the church. It is at present occupied by Mrs. Stackhouse Acton. The whole of the township of Acton Scott is the property of E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq.

THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Margaret, though devoid of architectural beauty, is remarkably neat, and contains a few monuments, chiefly to the Acton family, and a brass tablet, of the date of 1579, to the memory of Elizabeth Mytton. The tower is of much older date than the body of the church, and was probably an appendage to the church to which the bishop of Hereford inducted Hugh de Pentone (by lapse of time) in 1276. In the tower are three bells, on two of which are inscribed in old letters:—“Ave Maria in gratia plena dominus tecum,” and on the other, “Marie eternis et bonis resonet campana.” The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 10s.; patron, the lord of the manor; incumbent, Rev. Walter Corbett, chancellor of the diocese; curate, Rev. George Magee. THE RECTORY is a neat residence, pleasantly situated, and there are 40 acres of glebe land. The tithes are commuted for £230.

CHARITIES.—_John Monsell_ devised four parcels of land, containing, by estimation, 60 acres, in the parish of Mainstone, upon trust, to pay thereout the following sums on the 1st March, viz.:—20s. to the parish of Morvill; 10s. to the poor of Wistanstow; 10s. to buy Bibles for poor children of Bishop’s Castle; and 5s. to the poor of Acton Scott. The above sums had all been regularly paid when the Charity Commissioners published their report, except the yearly sum of 5s. to Acton Scott, which the owner of the estate agreed for the future to pay. In the parliamentary returns of 1786 three donations are mentioned as given for the benefit of poor housekeepers of this parish. To the two first, amounting to £36, no names are given as the donors thereof; the third, being £20, is attributed to _Edward Acton_. Interest on the sum of £56 is now paid, which is laid out in fuel by the resident curate, which he distributes to the poor.

ALCASTON, a small village and township in the parish of Acton Scott, comprises 527 acres of land, and is situated about a mile south from the parish church. Rateable value, £381. 14s. Alcaston was at an early period taken out of the manor of Acton Scott; it consists of three farms, belonging respectively to Thomas Dunne, Esq., G. M. Benson, Esq., and the Rev. Mr. Hill; the latter gentleman being of the same family as the Hills of Hawkestone. This branch was settled here in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and occupied a curious old timber mansion, a great part of which was taken down about ten years ago. Mr. Benson’s farm house also bears marks of antiquity; it is of brick, and has been moated, but it has lost much of its ancient character by modern repairs. A portion of the long line stone ridge, known as Wenlock Edge, stretches into this township.

DIRECTORY.—The residents in Acton Scott are Mrs. Stackhouse Acton, The Hall; Rev. George Magee, curate; John Monsell, farmer, Henley; Robert Morgan, farmer, Church Farm; Joseph Hotchkiss, blacksmith; Mary Keep, farmer; Thomas Parker, farmer. The residents of Alcaston are Benjamin Martin, farmer; Richard Edwards, farmer; Thomas Lewis, farmer.

ASHFORD BOWDLER

is a parish and village delightfully situated on the south west bank of the River Terne, on the southern verge of the county, adjoining Herefordshire, and about three miles south from Ludlow. The parish comprises upwards of 600 acres of land, the principal owners of which are Mrs. Walker and General Russell. Rateable value of the parish, £884. 3s. At the census in 1801, there were 79 inhabitants; 1831, 99; and in 1841, 17 houses and 96 inhabitants. The village contains several handsome family residences, and a small but elegant church, consisting of nave and chancel, with a tower surmounted with a spire. The living is a perpetual curacy, valued at £55 per annum, in the patronage of the Walker family. Mrs. Mary Green, of this parish, by will dated October 16th, 1832, bequeathed to the minister and churchwardens for the time being, the sum of £55, to be invested in the funds in trust, to pay the interest thereof annually among such of the poor inhabitants as they should consider most in need of aid. “Between the village of Ashford Bowdler and Ludlow is Huck’s Barn, said to have been the residence of George Barnwell, the hero of the popular tragedy named after him. Barnwell’s Green, near it, was so called from his waiting there to rob his uncle as he returned from Leominster fair: adjoining the green is the wood in which he perpetrated the murder of his relative.”

The principal residents are Mr. William P. Bale, Grove Cottage; Isaac Froggatt, farmer, Feather Knowl; Thomas Harper, farmer, Ashford Grove; Thomas G. Powis, farmer; General Lechmere Russell, Ashford Hall; Robert Thomas, Esq., Church House.

ASHFORD CARBONELL

is a parish and village delightfully situated in the lower division of the Munslow hundred, three miles south-east from Ludlow. The parish contains 1335 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £1,890. 5s. 11d. The principal landowners are J. F. Downes, Esq.; Mr. Walker; John Carter, Esq.; and William Eaton, Esq.; besides whom there are a few smaller proprietors. At the census in 1801, the parish contained 227 inhabitants; 1831, 289; and in 1841, 58 houses, and a population of 226 souls. The church is a small unpretending structure, the living of which is a perpetual curacy, endowed with £800 royal bounty: the living is annexed to the rectory of Little Hereford, and the patronage is vested in the Chancellor of Hereford Cathedral. The Rev. William Tomkin is the officiating minister. ASHFORD HALL is an elegant modern mansion, on rising ground, commanding extensive prospects, and embellished with tasteful pleasure grounds. ASHFORD COURT, the residence of Mrs. Walker, is also a handsome residence.

DIRECTORY—Mr. William A. Bate; John Bloom, boot and shoe maker; Mary Eaton, farmer; William Eaton, farmer; Mr. Thomas Evans; Edward Evans, maltster; James Davies, carpenter; Joseph Davies, carpenter; John F. Downes, Esq., Ashford Hall; Thomas Cantrill, corn miller and vict., The Bridge Inn; John Carter, farmer, Brook House; Henry George, farmer, Huntingdon; John Jones, wheelwright; Mrs. Mary Lowe; John Mason, wheelwright; James Powell, farmer; William Roberts, farmer, Huntingdon; John Thompson, blacksmith; Mrs. Bridgett Walker, Ashford Court; Richard Whiteman, farmer.

BROMFIELD

is a parish and pleasant rural village, two miles north-west from Ludlow, formerly distinguished for its priory which was situated near or adjoining to the present church. The parish comprises 5,592A. 2R. of land, the principal owner of which is the Hon. R. H. Clive; the trustees of Ludlow charities are also proprietors. At the census in 1801, this parish contained 540 inhabitants; 1831, 517; and in 1841, 114 houses, and 531 souls. Rateable value, £7,308. 17s. 7d. The few remains of the ancient priory are situated near to the church. The establishment in the time of Henry I. consisted of a small college of prebendaries or secular canons. Osbertus Prior, of Bromfield, is witness to a deed before the year 1148. This priory was greatly enriched by Henry II., who granted to it his church in Bromfield, which was dedicated to the blessed St. Mary, with his royal licence and protection of their extensive possessions of the towns and lands of Haverford, Dinchope, Efford, Felton, Burghey and Lethewick; three prebends in Bromfield, and three in Halton. In the second of Henry II. the prior and brothers of Bromfield subjected themselves, by authority of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter’s, near Gloucester, called Lanthony Secunda, and became Benedictines, and continued so to the time of the general dissolution of religious houses. At the assizes of Salop, 20th Edward I., the prior of Bromfield claimed free warren in the manor of Bromfield by charter of Henry II., which was allowed. The said charter also comprised a grant of Infangthef; and a jury found one Henry de la Chapele guilty of theft, who was tried and condemned by the prior, and hanged at Bromfield. The yearly revenues of the priory were valued at the dissolution at £78. 19s. 4d. In the 4th of Philip and Mary it was granted to Charles Fox. He was the founder of four families, most of which were in opulence for four generations; but his estate at Bromfield, including what is now called Oakley Park, passed by marriage to Matthew Herbert, whose descendant George, late Earl of Powis, devised it to his nephew, the Hon. Henry Clive, whose representative of the same name now inherits the estate, and resides at OAKLEY PARK, an elegant mansion, mostly of modern construction, delightfully situated on the banks of the Terne. The surrounding grounds are extremely romantic and beautiful, and the pleasure grounds and gardens are tastefully laid out. It commands many fine views in different directions; the meanderings of the river adding much to the effect. The park, which formerly contained nine hundred acres, and included within its circuit the priory to which it belonged, is yet of considerable extent. It is finely adorned with groves and clumps of stately oaks. The lordship of Bromfield is co-extensive with the parish, and the chapelry of Walford and Dinchope, and the township of Ledwich. The manor abounds with game, and is watered by the river Terne, esteemed one of the finest fishing streams in the kingdom.

THE CHURCH is picturesquely situated, and consists of nave, chancel, transept and tower: it exhibits some fine specimens of elaborate workmanship, and is said to have formed a part of the structure belonging to the benedictine priory. The interior has a chaste and elegant appearance; the roof is beautifully painted, and the windows are adorned with stained glass. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £6, now returned at £350; the patronage is vested in the Hon. R. H. Clive; incumbent, Rev. Thomas J. Longworth. The Court of Augmentation decreed the vicar of Bromfield a yearly pension from the dissolved monastery at Gloucester; and there are, in vellum hooks in the king’s remembrancer office, accounts of several decrees relating to the possessions of the priory and the rights of the vicar of this place.

DIRECTORY.—The Hon. Robert Henry Clive, Oakley Park; Samuel Bluck, farmer, Bromfield house; the Misses Davies, ladies’ academy; Peter Davis, farmer, King’s head farm; Henry Fletcher, farmer; George Jacks, cow-leech; Rev. Thomas I. Longworth, vicar; Henry Lippitt, farmer, Priors Walton; Thomas Payter, shoe maker; John Preece, vict., The Clive Arms; William Swift, farmer, Hill Halton; Herbert Titley, farmer, Cookridge; Richard White, agent to the Hon. R. H. Clive; Henry Vaughan, farmer, The Butts.

CARDINGTON

is a considerable parish, in the upper division of the Munslow Hundred, comprising upwards of 6,000 acres of land, and containing the several townships of Cardington, Broome, Chatwall, Comley, Enchmarsh, part of Gretton, Holt-Preen, Lydley Heys, Plaish, and Willstone. At the census of 1801 the parish had a population of 623 souls; 1831, 718; and in 1841 there were 138 houses and 691 inhabitants. The village of Cardington is situated is a secluded and romantic country, three miles and a half E.E. by N. from Church Stretton, having the lofty heights of the Caradoc and Lawley to the east, and the Hope Bowdler hills on the south-west. The township contains 995 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £815. 15s. Panton Corbett, Esq., is the principal landowner; there are also a few small freeholders. THE CHURCH is a plain unpretending structure, consisting of nave and chancel, with a tower, in which is a peal of bells. The handsome altar tomb, erected in memory of Sir William Leighton, of Plaish, who died December 20th, 1607, is now much dilapidated. He was chief justice of North Wales, and one of the council of the Marches of Wales, which offices he held with integrity and honour for more than forty years. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £6. 2s. 6d., now returned at £294, in the patronage of Rowland Hunt, Esq.: incumbent, Rev. William J. Hughes. The court leet and court baron, with view of frank-pledge, held for the manor of Lydley and Cardington, as a court of record, is of the highest antiquity, and accounted a king’s court, of which Panton Corbett, Esq., is the present lord. The jurisdiction existed long before the conquest, and the first formation of it is attributed by several law authorities to King Alfred. “The term leet is not discoverable in Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence, but is understood to be derived out of the Sheriffs’ tourn, whose power therein was suspended, if not superseded.” The nature and extent of the court leet jurisdiction, in its first formation, may probably be best illustrated by a brief view of the different ranks of people and the mode of administering justice in the Anglo-Saxon era. The lowest order of the people were complete slaves, either by birth or by forfeiture of their freedom, by crimes or breach of faith, and were incapable of any office of trust or honour. But the spread of Christianity led to the frequent manumissions, and established a class of people called Frilazin; and persons so made free were considered to be in a middle state only, between slaves and freemen. Those who were freemen from birth were called Ceorls, and constituted a middle class between the nobility and such labourers and mechanics as were slaves, and being generally devoted to agriculture, a Ceorl was the usual appellation of a husbandman; but the acquisition of 500 acres of land, the attainment of holy orders, or by the owner of a ship or cargo making three voyages beyond sea, advanced a Ceorl to the dignity of a Thane of the lower order; and the higher class of this order, which were styled King’s Thanes were of three different degrees. The Thanes were the only nobility among the Anglo-Saxons; but all members of royal families were of superior rank. The kings were chief judges in their respective territories, and frequently administered justice in person. King Alfred employed both day and night in hearing appeals, with the aid of learned assessors; thus forming a supreme court of justice, until the establishment of monarchy, when it was found necessary to appoint a chief justicary to preside in the king’s court; and the first institution of such office is supposed to have been at the time of the incursion of the Danes. In 1622, Sir John Hayward obtained from the crown a licence to alienate the manor of Lydley and Cardington to Edward Corbett, Esq., for the sum of £3,200.

CHARITIES.—THE SCHOOL.—_William Hall_, by his will, dated 6th April, 1720, bequeathed £400 to the parsons of the parishes of Cardington, Hope Bowdler, and Longnor, in trust, for the building a schoolhouse at Cardington, and the maintenance of a schoolmaster. A school was subsequently built with part of the above mentioned legacy, and the residue was laid out in the purchase of copyhold lands, held of the manor of Lydley and Cardington. In 1827, an order was made in the Court of Chancery, on the petition of Richard Butcher and others, overseers and inhabitants of the parish of Cardington, whereby it was referred to the master to take an account of the charity estate, and of the value thereof, and to approve of a scheme for the future management of the charity. The master, by his report made April 1st, 1828, directed £10 a-year to be reserved out of the rents, to put the schoolhouse and the premises on the school estate in good repair, and afterwards such less sum as the directors should see fit, but not less than £5; and that the surplus rents should be paid to the schoolmaster and his assistant. The school estate consists of 27A. 3R. 32P., and an allotment containing 5A. 1R. 10P. on Cardington Moor, allotted to the trustees of the school under an enclosure act, passed 41st Geo. III. The estate now produces £34. 3s. 1d. per annum. The school is open to all the children of the parish (boy and girls) without any charge, except 1s. for entrance and 1s. yearly for fuel. They are taught reading, writing, and accounts.

_Roger Maunsell_, by will, 1651, devised a piece of ground, called Bowneford, in the parish of Long Stanton, to the churchwardens of the parish of Cardington, and their successors, and to Thomas Powell and his heirs, and ordered that the said churchwardens, at the feast of St. Michael, should receive the sum of 26s. 8d. yearly for ever. He directed the first three years after his decease, the said sum of 26s. 8d. should be expended in a weekly distribution of bread, to be divided among six poor men one week, and among six poor women the following week; and that for the next three years it should be laid out in buying sacramental bread and wine; and the seventh year in adorning or buying any ornament to be used in the church at Cardington; and so from seven years to seven years.

_Anne Tipton_ gave a rent charge of £1. 10s. per annum, issuing out of the Day House, and directed six penny loaves to be given to six poor men and six poor women of this parish, alternately every Sunday in the year; but on Easter Sunday, Whit Sunday, the last Sunday in the old and first Sunday in the new year six threepenny loaves each day.

The sum of £1. 6s. is paid every alternate year to the churchwardens of Cardington, as a gift of _Dinah Roberts_. This and the like payment made to the parish of St. Julian, in Shrewsbury, are charged upon a farm in Wilstone, which was purchased by Archdeacon Corbett about fifty years ago. The amount is applied in a distribution of six penny loaves every Sunday in the year in which it is received.