Part 1

Transcribed from the 1880 _Wrekin Echo_ Office edition by David Price, email [email protected]

[Picture: Book cover]

HISTORY OF MADELEY, INCLUDING IRONBRIDGE, COALBROOKDALE, AND COALPORT,

From the earliest times to the present,

WITH NOTICES OF Remarkable Events, Inventions, AND PHENOMENA, MANUFACTURES, &c.

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ILLUSTRATED

With twelve wood-cut illustrations, and photographs.

—:o:—

The work will be found to contain a copious Index, and list of old family names.

—:o:—

BY John Randall, F.G.S., Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports and Sportsmen,” “History of Broseley,” &c., &c.

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Published at “The Wrekin Echo” Office, Madeley, Salop, 1880.

INTRODUCTION.

THE delay which has arisen in the publication of this work since it was first announced needs some apology. It arose from two causes; one the hope that fuller information might be forthcoming on some obscure points, the other that the book is chiefly made up of matter reprinted from the _Salopian and West Midland Illustrated Magazine_. It is therefore, to some extent, fragmentary, and not one for which the author can hope to receive the meed of praise bestowed upon his “Severn Valley,” “Old Sports,” &c. Notwithstanding this, the author believes the work will be found to be a satisfactory compendium of historical facts connected with the parish; and now that they are known it would be a comparatively easy task to produce a more creditable literary work. Johnson says we never do anything conscientiously for the last time without sadness of heart; the only sadness here arises from the consciousness that the opportunity, however much desired, of reproducing the work in an improved form is scarcely likely to occur in the lifetime of the author.

_Madeley_, 1880.

PREFACE.

THE field of history is a wide one, but, in addition to its well-beaten track, there yet remains less frequented paths to explore in connection with our smaller villages and towns.

The design of the present work may be stated in a few words. It is simply to place before the inhabitants of Madeley, and those interested in its history, the various phases through which it has passed in its progress from feudal times to the present. Strangers often come and seek for information which they do not always get: and much that is known by old people of Madeley and its traditions would be lost unless noted down at once.

It will be seen that our information extends from the notice we get in Norman times, when tillers of the soil, swineherds, fishermen, a miller or two, and foresters, composed the population, the profits of whose labours were reaped by a priest and the monks of Wenlock Priory.

After the Dissolution it will be seen that the mansion was sold to the Brooke family, particulars of which we have given, both in the earlier and later parts of the work.

MADELEY.

There is a touch alike of poetry and of meaning in the name. Our ancestors were delineators of natural scenery, verbally, and by the use of names. Taking possession of primeval lands and uncleared forests, driving their aboriginal owners before them—in one or more syllables they were wont to give the history of a place, or the more distinguishing features of a country, and word-pictures then current come down to us little altered, having coiled up within them considerable sense and by-gone meaning. Tradition, no less than the popular and generally accepted etymology of the name, informs us that Shrewsbury was originally the place of shrubs; that the dusky crow croaked at Crawley, and the chattering daw built its nest at Dawley. The broc or brag—Anglo-Saxon terms for the badger, once numerous along the Severn Valley—gave us the Brocholes. To reynard we are indebted, in like manner, for the modern name of Foxholes—a place near to the latter, where this animal flourished when Madeley Wood, now covered with cottages, was what its name implied.

Little local or archæological lore is required to know that Madeley Wood was the wood bordering on the meadow, or that Madeley is a name derived from meadowly, or mead—a term still used in poetical productions of the day. In like manner, Mad-brook, a little stream on the borders of the village, meandering through meadow land, was Mead or Meadow-brook—as one of our smaller English rivers is called the Medway, from like circumstances, and as Brockton on Madbrook was formerly Brook-town—the town or enclosure on the brook. A tolerable estimate of Madeley, in one of its early phases, and as it appeared to the commissioners appointed to carry out the Domesday Survey, at the time it formed part of the manor belonging to the Abbey of Much Wenlock, may be gleaned from the following extract:—

“The same (St. Milburg’s) holds Madeley, and held it in the time of King Edward. Here is one hide (100 or 120 acres) not geldable (not liable to pay taxes) and three other hides geldable. In demesne are eleven ox teams, and six villiens (those employed in ignoble service) and (there are) IIII. boors (peasants) with IIII. teams. Here are IIII. serfs (slaves of the lower class) and there might yet be VI. teams more here. There is a wood sufficient to fatten 400 swine. In the time of King Edward the manor was worth £4 per annum; now it is worth £5 per annum.”

England at that time was covered over with such manors; they had overgrown the free peasant proprietors which previously existed in Saxon times. On each manor was the house of the lord with the Court yard and garden, &c., comprising several acres. The manor land was for the use of the lord, but portions were let off. Some doubt now exists as to the true meaning of a hide of land, as both hides and virgates on adjoining lands differed, but the conclusion that the hide was a land measure of 33 English acres has been received by some, whilst others hold that it meant a measure of land sufficient for the support of a family. The most important agricultural operation of the period was ploughing, and a peasant rarely undertook this for himself on his own little plot, which was not sufficient for separate or independent management, with his own team and plough. The team of a plough consisted then as a rule of not less than 8 draught cattle, and this continued to be the case, as recorded by Arthur Young. The bad fodder of that period diminished the labour power of the draught cattle, especially during winter ploughing, which was on straw feeding alone. Madeley is undoubtedly derived from terms still in use, Meadow and ley, or lia; meadows having sometimes been subjected for a whole year to common pasturage whilst the adjoining land lay fallow, in order not to exhaust it by constant hay crops.

Such was Madeley in the olden time, when men were goods and chattels, subject to the rapacity and oppression of their owners, when laws were enacted by which to kill wild animals was a crime equal in enormity to killing human beings, and punished with the same rigour; when the right to hunt was in the hands of kings and those holding tenure to whom they thought proper to delegate it. The park, to which the modern names of Park, Rough Park, and Park Street, now apply—names that serve to recall former features of the surface—was enclosed from the forest, mentioned in the above extract. Its origin was this; November 28th, 1283, King Edward (1st) being petitioned that it would not be detrimental to his forest of Mount Gilbert if the Prior and Convent of Wenlock should enclose their Wood of Madeley (though within the limits of the forest) with a ditch, and fence, (haia) and make a park there—allowed them to do so. The same park is alluded to in a valuation taken 1390; together with one at Oxenbold, which—including the meadows—was said to be scarcely sufficient to maintain the live stock of the Priory. The Prior, who appears to have built houses within the boundary of the forest, in 1259 was ordered to pull them down; but having offered a fine to the king a charter was granted the following year, stating that, “for £100 now paid the Prior and Convent may have the houses in peace, although within the forest.”

The Court House, formerly surrounded by this park, and near to the station now called by its name—on the Great Western line—is an exceedingly interesting building, and one claiming the attention of the visitor. The present structure is in the Elizabethan style of architecture; but the grounds present traces of earlier buildings. In the years 1167, 1224, 1250, and again in 1255, mention is made of the Madeley Manor. In 1379 the estimated value of pleas and perquisites of the court is entered at two shillings.

Near the old mansion is the Manor-mill, formerly worked by a steam called Washbrook, which formerly supplied the extensive vivaries or fishponds that furnished the kitchen of the establishment with the necessary means of observing fast-days. Interesting traces of former pools and fisheries are observable. Under date 1379, we find the water-mill at the Court or Manor house “fermed” for 10s. per annum, and at a valuation taken of the prior’s temporalities at an earlier period, viz., 1291, the same mill is mentioned. Mills, then, were invariably the possession of the lord of the manor, lay or ecclesiastical, and tenants were compelled to grind there. They were therefore an important source of profit, and carefully enumerated, and it is worthy of remark that where a mill is described as being at a particular place, even at an earlier period—as in the Domesday survey of the country—there, as in the case of the Manor mill at the Court, one is now generally to be found in ruins or otherwise. In the garden, which is still highly walled, and which was probably originally an enclosed court, upon an elegant basement, approached by a circular flight of steps—the outer one being seven feet in diameter and the inner one about three—is a very curious planetarium, an horological instrument serving the purpose of a sundial, and that of finding the position of the moon in relation to the planets. It is a square block of stone three feet high, having three of its sides engraved, and the fourth or north side blank. Over this is a semicircular slab of stone so pierced that the eye rests upon the polar star.

Although little of the original building where festivals were held, suitors heard, or penalties inflicted, remains, the present edifice has many points of interest. The substantial, roomy, and well-panelled apartments, upon the ground floor, and the solid trees, one upon the other, forming a spiral stair-case to the chambers above, are objects of no little interest. Ascending these stairs the visitor finds himself in the chapel, the ceiling of which is of fine oak, richly carved, having the arms of various ancient families in panels. The arms of the Ferrars family may be seen in a shield over the principal doorway,—indicating the proprietorship at one time of some member of that family. It was also the residence of Sir Basil Brooke, fourth in descent from a noble knight of that name, a zealous royalist in the time of Charles I.

This family appears to have been resident at Claverley in the fourteenth century. Mr. Brooke, of Haughton, near Shifnal, has deeds in his possession showing the purchase of certain arable and pasture lands at Beobridge, by Richard de la Broke, of Claverley, in 1316, and again in 1318, where he is described as Richard de la Broke, clerk, son of Richard de la Broke, Claverley.

Mailed and full-length fine stone figures of this highly-distinguished family, who lived here, and shed a lustre on the place, formerly reposed in the church, to whose sacred keeping they bequeathed their dust. Equally vain, however, were their bequests and hopes, for when the originals were no longer able to put a copper on the plate their very tombs were destroyed, and their stone effigies ruthlessly turned out of doors, and placed in niches outside the church, where, shorn of a portion of their limbs, they still do penance in pleading attitudes, and look as though they implored a bit of paint to prevent the inscriptions beneath from being lost for ever. The stone in one case has lost its outer coating, and the artifice of the sculptor in tipping nose and chin with a whiter material has been disclosed, and thick coats of paint are peeling off the defaced epitaphs which set forth the merits of their originals. The inscriptions are in Latin, but the following is, we believe, a free, if not an exact, translation:—

“Here lieth interred John Brooke, Esquire, the son of Robert Brooke, Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was a zealous and loyal subject of Queen Mary, and assisted her in securing her rights in opposition to the violent factions of the time. He published an excellent commentary on the English Law in several volumes. After a study of jurisprudence and science, being of an extensively liberal mind and universally beloved, he made a Christian-like end, October the 20th, in the year of our Lord, 1598, in the 62nd year of his age.”

The following is another:—

“Here lieth the remains of Etheldreda, the wife of Basil Brooke, Knight, a woman not only well-skilled in the knowledge of the Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish languages, and in the science of music, but also exemplary for piety, faith, prudence, courage, chastity, and gentle manners. She left to lament her loss a husband, with an only son, named Thomas, and five daughters, namely—Anne, the wife of William Fitzherbert, Esquire, the grandson of Henry, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, eminent for his commentary on our laws; Mary, the wife of Thomas More, a descendant of that renowned character, Thomas More, formerly Lord High Chancellor of England, a man in his life and death universally esteemed; Dorothy, Agatha, and Catherine, all of whom were of amiable dispositions. She died in the year of our Lord —” (the date is defaced).

The original is in Latin. The pillared arches and backs of the recesses are elaborately carved.

In “Villages and Village Churches,” published a few years ago, in describing Claverley, we stated that the present vicarage was supposed at one time to have been the residence of the Lord Chief Justice, whose likeness is carved upon one of the timbers. We also described a magnificent tomb of Lord Chief Justice Brooke, in the north-east corner of the Gatacre chancel, which is both elaborate and imposing. On the top are recumbent figures of the Lord Chief Justice in his official robes, and of his two wives, with ornamental head-gear, mantles, ruffs, ruffles, &c., of the period; and round the tomb are their eighteen children, also in the respective costumes of their time. On the outside is the following inscription, in Old English characters:—

“Here lyeth the body off Robert Brooke, famous in his time for virtue and learning; advanced to be com’on Serjaunt of the Citie of London, Recorder of London, Serjaunt at Law, Speaker of P’lyament, and Cheife Justice of the Com’en Pleace, who visiting his frendes and country, deceasd the 6th day of September 1558, after he had begotton of Anne and Dorothee, his wiefs, XVIII children. Upon whose sowles God have mercy.”

Jukes, in his Antiquities of Shropshire, says:—

“This Robert was the son of Thomas Brooke de Claverley, in this county, and was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the first year of Queen Mary, when he received the honour of Knighthood. He died in the communion of the church of Rome, A.D. 1558, and left his zeal for his religion to posterity, and his excellent performance of the Abridgment of the Common Law to the Students of that Profession. 36th Hen. VIII. William Astun did homage for a shop here. 38th Hen. VIII, the said Robert Brooke likewise did homage pro shopa in Madalie. Recorda Paschæ, 2d Edw. VI rot. 11, de Roberto Brooke, Armigero, et Dorothea uxore ejus occasionalis ad ostendendum qualiter ingressi sunt et tenent unam shopam et dimid. acræ terræ in Madeley. 3d. Edw. VI, the king grants to Edward Molyneux and Robert Brooke, of London, Esqrs. all that annual rent of £4 13s. 9½d. reserved to the crown out of this manor, together with the demenses of the same, and other lands therein specified, in fee simple. John Brooke, Esq. 27th Eliz. made a settlement of Madeley on Richard Prince, Esq. Sir Basil Brooke, Knight, 3d James I, sold lands here to David Stilgo, Robert and Edward Stilgo. Matthew Fowler, Gent. son and heir of Roger Fowler, had general livery 17th James for his lands in Madeley.”

Mr. Brooke had the reputation of being a great lawyer, and whilst a barrister we find him engaged by the Corporation of Shrewsbury to examine a petition from the town “for the discharge of the subsidies.” According to the entry in the Corporation books (1542) he and Serjeant Molyneux were paid 15s. for their services. He is described as Recorder of London whilst visiting the town, with Roger Townesende, Chief Justice of Wales, and Richard Hasshall, Esqr., “one of the Commissioners of our Lord the King,” and as being presented with “wayffers and torts,” at the expense of the corporation.

With regard to Basil Brooke, we find by an indenture of release, dated the 29th of May, 1706, that he, Basil Brooke, Esq., of Madeley, deceased, by his will bequeathed to the poor of the parish of Madeley the sum of £40, which the churchwardens and parishioners of the parish desired might be laid out in the purchase of lands and tenements for the use of the poor. And it was witnessed that Comerford Brooke, in consideration of the said £40, and also a further sum of £30 paid to him by Audley Bowdler and eight other parties to the said indenture, granted to the said Audley Bowdler and others, their heirs and assigns, three several cottages or tenements, with gardens and yards thereto belonging, situated in Madeley Wood, in the said parish, and in the said indenture, more particularly described, on trust to employ the rents and profits thereof for the use of the poor of the said parish in such manner as the grantees, with the consent of the vicar and parish officers, should think fit.

Near one of the fields adjoining the Court House, called the “Slang,” a man, while clearing a piece of rough ground, which appeared not previously to have been cultivated, a few years ago, came upon a large number of gold coins, chiefly of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and of the modern value altogether of between three and four hundred pounds.

Looking at what the place now is, and calling to mind what it must have been when the spacious rooms rang with the joyous laugh, and echoed the minstrel songs of bygone days, one is reminded of Southey’s Eclogues, in one of which he seeks to connect the past and present by an old man’s memory, only that in this case more than one generation has gone to rest since the old Court House was complete with park, and moat, and fish-ponds. The old stonebreaker bemoans the change in some old mansion-house thus—

“If my old lady could rise up— God rest her soul!—’twould grieve her to behold What wicked work is here.

* * * *

Aye, master, fine old trees. Lord bless us! I have heard my father say His grandfather could just remember back When they were planted there. It was my task To keep them trimmed, and ’twas a pleasure to me; My poor old lady many a time would come And tell me where to clip, for she had played In childhood under them, and ’twas her pride To keep them in their beauty.

* * * * *

I could as soon Have ploughed my father’s grave as cut them down. Then those old dark windows— They’re demolished too; The very redbreasts that so regular Came to my lady for her morning crumbs Won’t know those windows now. There was a sweet briar, too, that grew beside; My lady loved at evening to sit there And knit, and her old dog lay at her feet, And slept in the sun; ’twas an old favourite dog. She did not love him less that he was old And feeble, and he always had a place By the fireside; and when he died at last, She made me dig a grave in the garden for him, For she was good to all: a woeful day ’Twas for the poor when to the grave she went. —At Christmas, sir! It would have warmed your heart if you had seen Her Christmas kitchen—how the blazing fire Made her fine pewter shine, and holly boughs So cheerful red; and as for mistletoe, The finest bush that grew in the country round Was marked for madam. Then her old ale went So bountiful about! A Christmas cask, And ’twas a noble one. God help me, sir, But I shall never see such days.”

Still greater changes than those described in the lines quoted above are witnessed at the old Court House and in its immediate vicinity,—changes so great that were it possible for one of its former feudal owners to revisit the scene he would fail to recognise the place. Ugly pit-mounds are seen surrounding the building; the place is illumined by the blaze of the blast-furnace, the screech of machinery is heard around it, and the snort of the iron horse sounds across the park, where the hounds were wont to

“Rend the air, and with a lusty cry Awake the echo, and confound Their perfect language in a mingled voice.”

The fashions and manners here represented have passed away, and these relics of antiquity look like fossils of old formations, or like dismantled wrecks cast up by the ever-moving current of time. They contrast strangely enough—these trophies of times gone by—with the visible emblems of man’s altered genius around. Modes of life have changed; every age has turned some new page as it passed. Instead of monasteries and moated manor-houses, with country waste and wood, thistled and isolated, whose wild possessors neglected even to till the surface, we have men of active mould, who do daily battle with the stubborn elements of the earth, while flashing fires flicker round their stolid effigies, telling of wealth-producing agencies that make millions happy. Ideas begotten of time, not then dreamt of, have leaped over moat and rampart, re-constituted society, converted parks into pit-mounds, and around the habitations of knighted warriors reared forges and constructed railways.