Part 91

LAWTON AND LITTLE SUTTON, a township in Diddlebury parish, five and a half miles north from Ludlow, in 1841 had fifteen houses and eighty five souls. Lawton contains 460 acres, the tithes of which are commuted for £51. Sutton portion of the township comprises 331 acres, and the tithes are commuted for £33. 11s. The principal landowners are Herbert Cornewall, Esq., and Charles Powell, Esq.; the former is lord of the manor. SUTTON COURT is a handsome house of modern erection, and is the residence of Charles Powell, Esq., J.P., who, with William Cocks, farmer, Lawton, and Francis Keysell, farmer, Sutton, are the principal residents in the township.

LOWER PARK AND BRONCROFT, a small township in the parish of Diddlebury, comprising 795 acres of land, is situated eight and a quarter miles north-east from Ludlow. At the census of 1841 there were five houses and twenty-six inhabitants. Rateable value, £627. 13s. 4d. The small tithes are commuted for £27, and the large tithes for £47; the dean and chapter of Hereford are the appropriators. George Johnstone, Esq., is the principal landowner. The chief residents are George Johnstone, Esq., Broncroft castle; and John Price, farmer, the Lodge farm.

MIDDLEHOPE, a township in the parish of Diddlebury, contains 1,091 acres of land, which is mostly the property of John Francis Wright, Esq. At the census of 1841 there were sixteen houses and 100 inhabitants.

The tithes have been commuted for £60, of which £20 has been apportioned to the vicar and £14 to the dean and chapter of Hereford. The principal residents are Thomas Jones, farmer, Berwood; Thomas Jones, farmer; Thomas Webster, farmer; William Yapp, farmer; and John Yapp, farmer.

POSTON, a township in the parish of Diddlebury comprises 394 acres of land, two houses, and thirteen inhabitants, and is situated six and a half miles north from Ludlow; Archdeacon Vicers is the landowner. The small tithes are commuted for £8. 10s., and the large tithes for £13. 7s. John Chatham is the resident farmer.

PEATON, a small township and village in the parish of Diddlebury, with 22 houses and 103 souls, contains 1,022 acres of land, which is the property of Lady Louisa Clinton; the tithes have been commuted for £106, of which £30 has been apportioned to the vicar, and £76 to the dean and chapter of Hereford.

DIRECTORY.—William Dyer, shopkeeper; John Gwilt, farmer, New House; Thomas Passey, farmer; Samuel Price, farmer.

SUTTON GREAT, a township with a scattered population, in the parish of Diddlebury, six miles north-east from Ludlow, contains 734 acres of land, principally the property of Herbert Cornewall, Esq.; the vicarial tithes are commuted for £26, and the rectoral for £35. 14s. At the census of 1841 there were thirteen houses and a population of sixty-four souls. The chief residents in Sutton are Benjamin Pitt, farmer, and John Yates, farmer.

WESTHOPE, a township in the parish of Diddlebury, nine miles north-west from Ludlow, has 1186 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £668. In 1841 there were 17 houses and 103 inhabitants. There is a Chapel of Ease here, a small unpretending structure, the living of which is a curacy subordinate to the vicarage of Diddlebury; the small tithes are commuted for £25, and the large tithes for £82. 4s.

DIRECTORY.—John Banks, farmer, Westhope House; Thomas Banks, farmer, Lower Westhope; William Price, farmer, Chapel farm; Richard Smout, farmer; John Smout, farmer, The Hall End.

EASTHOPE

is a parish and small rural village, situated in Hopedale, in the lower division of the Munslow hundred, five miles south-west from the ancient town of Much Wenlock, eight miles east from Church Stretton, and ten miles west from Bridgnorth. The parish contains 815 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £803. At the census in 1801 there were 85 inhabitants; 1831, 103; and in 1841, 21 houses and a population of 103 souls. In the 34th Edward I. John de Easthope died seized of the manor of Easthope, 18th of Edward II. a fine was levied between Thomas de Easthope and John de Hopton defendant, of the manor and of the advowson of the church, to the use of Thomas and Joanna his wife in fee tail. The 21st of Richard II. Richard Earl of Arundel was found to have a knight’s fee in Easthope, holden then by Thomas de Hynkeley. In the 12th of Henry VII. a fine was levied between Henry Warley and Nicholas Warley complainants, John Haltman and his wife defendants, of both the manor and advowson of the church _et de terris_ in Easthope, Presthope, Astwale, Louthwyche, Willey, Bratton, Henley, and Bould. Moses George Benson, Esq. is the principal landowner and lord of the manor; the soil is mostly upon the limestone, and there is a good deal of limestone rock in the parish and neighbourhood. The water is very good and some of the springs are accounted efficacious in scorbutic complaints, and are also of a petrifying quality. The scenery is beautifully diversified and romantic, and some of the high grounds command fine views of the celebrated Wrekin, the Clee hill, and Caradoc, so named after Caractacus, who had a camp on the summit. The Wenlock edge is a great feature in this part of the country; it is a steep wooded acclivity which runs nearly through the centre of the parish, and is of an interesting nature to the geologist.

THE CHURCH is a small structure unpretending in its architecture, and dedicated to St. Peter. It has a short tower, and there is a well-proportioned window in the east end in the early English style: the font is very ancient. On the north side of the church, between two venerable yews, are two tombs without date or inscription but simply a cross upon each. It is supposed that two monks are interred there, who might be connected with the Abbey of Wenlock. The stones have given rise to some curious legends among the people. The living is a rectory valued in the king’s book at £3. 3s. 1½d., now returned at £133, in the patronage of M. G. Benson, Esq.; incumbent, Rev. Robert Armitage. The rectory is a neat structure in a sheltered situation, and there are thirty-six acres of glebe land.

On some rising ground situated about a mile west of the turnpike road leading from Wenlock to Ludlow, and about half way between Larden Hall and Lutwyche Hall, is a celebrated British encampment. It encloses about eight acres, and the form is nearly a circle, surrounded by inner and outer fosses; the inner wall falls on the side due east twelve feet, externally twenty-five feet, across the crest of the parapet, six feet. The relief of the second vallum rises ten feet from the foss, and is at present twelve feet wide across its parapet; externally it falls eight feet. It is however partially obliterated, either in consequence of the mounds and ditches being planted over, or through their being injured by natural causes. These ditches have formerly been a post of some importance, for they supply a necessary link in the chain of British entrenchments which stretch throughout the country. The present position is in the immediate view of Nordy Bank, and within observation of both the Caers Bury ditches and the Wrekin. The entrance appears to have been on the north-east side. Were there no other reason for the assumption, the fact of a British urn having been found here would sanction the idea that these were the works of the ancient Britons. A little to the north-west is the semblance of a tumulus, which a few years ago was more prominent than at present; on a recent occasion after making a cut from west to east, the workmen came to a black deposit which led to the supposition that the interment had been simple, and by cremation. On a previous occasion by mere accident an earthen vessel was found by making a drain about three hundred yards south-east from the encampment. It was formed of a sort of red clay so slightly baked on the outside that it washed away when a brush and water were applied to it. The inside was black and somewhat harder as though it had been baked by making the fire within. “Before I saw it,” says Mr. Mytton, “the workmen had broken the lower part which was next the surface of the ground, but by putting the pieces together the form could be made out. It was found with the mouth downwards, and contained fragments of bones. At seems most likely that Astorius made a diversion of part of his forces against Caer Caradoc and the ditches, and after having driven out the Britons from those elevated posts he left garrisons in the country.” The Mogg, or Mock Forest, in which the camp is situated, is reckoned among the ancient forests of this county.

The principal gentleman’s seat in this parish is LUTWYCHE HALL, built by Judge Lutwyche, in the time of Queen Elizabeth; a full length portrait of the judge adorns an apartment inside the mansion. It is supposed that there has been a mansion at Lutwyche from the time of, or probably earlier than the Conquest. It was sold in 1786 by the last of the Lutwyches, and after passing through several intermediate owners was purchased in 1806 by Moses Benson, Esq., whose grandson Moses George Benson, Esq. now resides there. The derivation of the word Lutwyche is said to be from _lut_, the gathering of an army, and _wyche_, a cleft or valley.

The chief residents in Easthope are Moses George Benson, Esq., Lutwyche Hall; The Rev. Robert Armitage, The Rectory; Edward Evans, shoemaker; Samuel Evans, farmer; Edward Preece, wheelwright; Francis Ray, farmer; Easthope Cottage; Margaret Wadlow, farmer and corn miller.

EATON-UNDER-HEYWOOD

is a parish, in the upper division of the Munslow Hundred, which comprises the townships of Eaton, Hatton, part of Longville-Lushcott-East Wall, part of Hungerford, Millichope Upper, and Ticklerton. Population in 1801, 513; 1831, 539; 1841, 579. The village of Eaton is pleasantly situated nine miles south-west from Much Wenlock, and the township contains 1,639 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £1,026. 3s. At the census in 1841 there were 12 houses and 77 inhabitants. Among the landowners are Miss Eatons, Mrs. Stackhouse, Mr. Powell, and Mr. Nugent; besides whom are several other proprietors. THE CHURCH is a neat structure, with nave, chancel, and a tower, in which are three bells. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £5. Gross income, £300. Patron and incumbent, Rev. Richard Sandford. The tithes are commuted for £178. 10s., and there are 148 acres of glebe land. The principal residents are Benjamin Beddows, farmer; Richard Cleeton, farmer; Thomas Farmer, farmer; Thomas Hince, farmer, New Hall; William Harris, corn miller, New Hall Mill; John Medlicott, farmer; Rev. Richard Sandford, rector.

HATTON is a township in the parish of Eaton, twelve miles south-west from Much Wenlock, with 644 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £407. 5s. In 1841 there were nine houses and 54 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Edwin W. W. Pendarvies, Esq., Rev. Thomas C. Powell, and Mr. Downward. The chief residents are Alice Benbow, victualler, The Bell; Susannah Evans, farmer; Edward Jones, farmer; Joice Rawlins, farmer; William Wall, farmer.

HUNGERFORD is a township partly in Eaton parish and partly in that of Munslow. In the former, at the census of 1841 were eight houses and 55 inhabitants, and in the latter one house and nine persons. It comprises 1,002 acres of land. Rateable value, £703. 1s. C. O. C. Pemberton, Esq., is the principal landowner. The residents are Robert Craig, farmer, miller, and tanner; Edward Rowley, victualler, Buck’s Head.

LONGVILLE LUSHCOTT AND EAST WALL township will be found in Rushbury parish.

MILLICHOPE is a small township, in the parish of Eaton, returned at the census of 1841 as having 15 houses and 94 inhabitants. John Francis Wright, Esq., is the principal landowner. The resident farmers are William Downs and John Preece.

TICKLERTON township has 1,384 acres of land, and is also in the parish of Eaton, and situated about a mile south-west from the church. The village is pleasantly situated, and in 1841 had 40 houses and 211 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,008. 10s. The Rev. Robert Joseph Buddicom is the principal landowner. The chief residents are the Rev. Robert Joseph Buddicom; William Downes, farmer; John Edwards, farmer; Thos. Galliers, farmer; Benjamin Pursland, beerhouse-keeper; Francis Wall, blacksmith.

HALFORD,

a chapelry and small village, formerly united to the parish of Bromfield, contains, with the hamlet of Dinchope, 1,320 acres of land, and in 1841 had 26 houses and 124 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,328. 19s. The whole of the land in this parish belongs to the Hon. R. H. Clive, except about fifty acres, which is the property of James Baxter, Esq. The former is lord of the manor. The soil is mostly upon the limestone, and produces tolerable crops of grain, but a considerable portion of the land is used for grazing purposes. THE CHAPEL is a small structure, and the living a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Hon. R. H. Clive, Esq., who is also lord of the manor. The Rev. William E. Lumb is the incumbent.

DIRECTORY.—John Dalloway, corn miller, Halford Mill; John Davies, farmer, Halford; Richard Jukes, farmer, Dinchope; Sarah Lambe, blacksmith, Newington; Richard Marston, farmer, Halford; Henry Ratcliffe, clerk; Joseph Swift, farmer, Dinchope.

HOLDGATE

is a parish in the lower division of the Munslow Hundred, which embraces the townships of Holdgate, Bouldon, and Brookhampton, and contains 1,623 acres of land. Population in 1801, 197; in 1831, 188; 1841, 224. At the latter period there were forty houses. The village of Holdgate seems once to have been a place of some note, and stands on rising ground, eleven miles north from Ludlow. The township comprises 649 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £854. At the census of 1841 there were 12 houses and 79 inhabitants. The principal landowners are Mrs. Thursby, Rev. Joseph Corbett, and George Phillips, Esq. The former is lady of the manor. There was anciently a castle here. Thomas Maudit being in arms with the rebellious barons, his castle was seized by the king and given to Hugh de Mortimer, but returning to his allegiance he had restitution of his castle at Holgot. In the 7th of Henry III., he obtained the charter for a market there every week upon a Thursday. After him William Maudit had a confirmation of the grant of the market. In the 19th of Edward I. Robert Burnel, bishop of Bath and Wells, procured a charter for changing the market day to Tuesday, and to keep a fair on the eve, the day, and on the day after the feast of the Holy Trinity. In the 15th of Richard II., Hugh Burnel, Knt., held the castle and manor of Holdgate at the yearly rent of £2. 13s. 3¼d., which was assessed upon several tenants at Clee St. Margaret. The service for the manor was to find two horsemen at Montgomery for forty days. The heiress of Burnel married Lord Lovell in the time of Edward II., in which family the inheritance rested till Jasper, of Hatfield, Earl of Pembroke, obtained a grant hereof in special trial, who, after the battle of Bosworth, was created duke of Bedford; but dying without issue, in the 24th of Henry VIII. the king gave the manor to Thomas, duke of Norfolk, and his heirs, to be held by the fourth part of a knight’s fee. THE CHURCH, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is evidently of Norman architecture, having the massive and lofty embattled tower peculiar to that style, adorned with rude figures, which may go far to prove the antiquity of the edifice. The principal entrance is through a fine stone doorway, with a cluster of slender pillars on each side, supporting a beautifully carved arch, the effect of which is considerably lessened by several coats of whitewash. The font is of primitive simplicity and curiously sculptured, seems coeval with the building itself, but is seen under similar disadvantage. The back of a large pew is ornamented with the coat of arms, handsomely carved in wood, of the family of Minton, who formerly resided at the Coates, in this parish. Near to the church-yard is an artificial mound called “The Mount.” It was probably thrown up to its present height for the purpose of erecting a watch-tower, or post, during the civil wars, or in the unsettled times when the warlike barons of the feudal system were perpetually invading each other’s territories. The situation is admirably adapted for this purpose, commanding, as it does, an extensive and important tract of country. The living of the church is a rectory with that of Tugford annexed, valued in the king’s book at £13. 9s. 9½d., now returned at £500, in the patronage of the Bishop of Hereford; incumbent, Rev. Joseph Corbett. In the 12th of King John it appears that the abbot of Salop had the third part of the advowson of the church at Castle Holdgate. Thomas Maudit released to him the right of patronage in two parts of the church; yet he reserved the third part to himself, for which he presented to the bishop his clerk. There is a daily school in the village. The poor of this parish enjoy a rent charge of 10s. per annum, under the will of Robert Ellis, in 1652.

BOULDON is a small township, with a few scattered houses, in the parish of Holdgate, which comprises 325 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £274. 10s. At the census of 1841 there were 13 houses and 61 inhabitants. There is a quarry in this township where stone is got in considerable quantities for building and other purposes.

BROOKHAMPTON is another township in Holdgate parish, with 549 acres of land, and in 1841 had fifteen houses and eighty-five souls; rateable value, £390. 15s. Mrs. Thursby and the Corporation of Ludlow are the landowners; the former is lady of the manor.

DIRECTORY.—Jeremiah Cox, farmer and maltster, Holdgate; William Wall, farmer, Holdgate; Edward Esq., farmer, Stanton Holdgate; William Cox, vict., Tally-Ho Inn, Bouldon; William Page, farmer, Bouldon; William Penn, corn miller, Bouldon; Richard Turner, farmer, Bouldon; Thomas Clark, farmer, Brookhampton; Thomas Edwards, farmer, Brookhampton; Ann Harper, shopkeeper, Brookhampton

HOPE BOWDLER

is a parish in the upper division of the Munslow hundred, which comprises the townships of Hope Bowdler, Chelmick, and Ragdon, and contains 1,385 acres of land. In 1801 the parish had a population of 130 souls; 1831, 202; 1841, 184; at the latter period there were thirty-four houses. The village of Hope Bowdler is pleasantly situated two and a half miles south-west from Church Stretton, and at the census of 1841 had 19 houses and 112 inhabitants: the township contains 741 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £672. 3s. 6d. Moses George Benson, Esq., is the principal landowner and lord of the manor. In the 1st of King Edward I., George de Cantilupe held Hope Bowdler by knight’s service under the barony of Montgomery. Philip Burnel, at the assizes in the 20th of King Edward I., upon a _quo warranto_ against him, was adjudged to have free warren in this manor, with the liberty of a fair and market both granted by the king. The manor was afterwards carried in marriage by an heiress of the Burnels to John, Lord Lovel, in whose family it continued till the attainder of Francis Lord Viscount Lovel, who was slain on the 16th of June, 3rd of Henry VII., at the battle of Stoke, near Newark-upon-Trent. THE CHURCH consists of nave and chancel, with a tower in which are three bells. In the 40th of Henry III. the parson of Hope Bullers impleaded the prior of Wenlock for estovers in the prior’s wood of Sutley and Eastwood, and for the common of pasture in the said woods lying in Eaton, as appendant to the church of Hope Bullers. The Prior pleaded that Stephen de Hope, patron of the church about twenty-five years past, dissiezed the prior of the said woods, and a verdict was accordingly granted to the prior. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £6. 13s. 4d., now £228, in the patronage of certain trustees: incumbent, Rev. George W. Marsh.

CHARITIES.—The charity commissioners state, “We are informed by the Rev. George Walkin Marsh, the rector of Hope Bowdler, that for about four years after he came to the benefice he received from his predecessor 12s. yearly, to be distributed in bread, 6s. to be given in money on St. Thomas’s day; that, upon the death of his predecessor about twenty-four years ago, he applied to his representatives for the principal, and ultimately received from them £18. This sum Mr. Marsh states he now has in his hands, that he has added thereto £4, so as to make up £22, and has signed a memorandum to that effect in one of the parish books. He pays 22s. yearly as the interest thereof, and with the churchwardens distributes to the poor of the parish 12s. yearly in bread and 10s. in money on St. Thomas’s day.”

CHELMICK is a township and village in the parish of Hope Bowdler, in a romantic district near the Ragdon and Hope Bowdler hills, about a mile south from the parish church. The township contains 305 acres of land, and in 1841 had thirteen houses and fifty nine souls. Rateable value, £281. 13s. 7d. The Corporation of Ludlow are the landowners.

RAGDON township in Hope Bowdler parish has 339 acres of land, two houses, and thirteen inhabitants. Rateable value, £309. 5s. 6d. The landowners are J. Stanier, Esq., and Thomas Dunn, Esq.

DIRECTORY.—_Hope Bowdler_: William Adams, farmer, The Hall; Richard Cartwright, farmer; John Craxton, farmer and blacksmith, Francis George, farmer, The Coombs; John Griffiths, shopkeeper; George Hills, farmer, The Coombs; John Jones, wheelwright; Rev. George W. Marsh, rector. _Chelmick_: John Rodgers, farmer. _Ragdon_: Martha Heynes, farmer; and Thomas, Wilding, farmer.

HOPTON-IN-THE-HOLE, OR HOPTON CANGEFORD,

is a small parish in the lower division of the Munslow hundred, four miles N.E. from Ludlow, containing 320 acres of land. At the census in 1801 there were 35 inhabitants, and in 1841 six houses and a population of thirty souls. The church is a small unpretending structure of brick, and the living a perpetual curacy returned in the king’s book at £5. 13s. 8d., now returned at £51 in the patronage of Sir W. R. Broughton. There is no resident clergyman in the parish. The resident farmers are Thomas Green and William Roberts.

LUDFORD