Part 14

At two o’clock the drapers, with their clerks and shearmen, assembled under the Market-house, and proceeded up stairs (according to ancient usage) in seniority. The market being over, drays were seen in all directions conveying the cloths to the several warehouses, and more than six hundred pieces of web have been sold in a day. The whole was a ready money business; and as the Welshmen left much of their cash behind them in exchange for malt, groceries, and other shop goods, the loss of such a trade to the town may be easily conceived. This took place about the year 1795, and was occasioned by individuals (not members of the Shrewsbury fraternity of drapers) travelling into those parts where the goods were made, from which the manufacturers soon learnt that they might find a mart for their goods at home without the trouble and expence of a journey to the walls of Amwythig. In March, 1803, the company relinquished the great room over the market-hall, where they had for nearly two centuries transacted their business, and though much traffic in flannels was subsequently carried on in the town, the total extinction of this branch of our local commerce is fast approaching, from the market having diverged to Welshpool, Newtown, and Llanidloes, where the advantages of machinery are now substituted for manual labour in its manufacture.

The cessation of the woollen market in this town has been ascribed to the improvement of the roads in Wales, which opened a more free communication to the interlopers of the Drapers’ company; and this again afforded some compensation to the town for the loss of this branch of its trade. For if Shrewsbury was no longer the emporium of North Wales, it was becoming the centre of communication between London and Dublin; and the agriculture of the neighbourhood and the trade of the town received a new impulse from the vast increase of posting and stage coaches, but far inadequate to the advantage which it derived from its trade in Welsh woollens and the weekly visits of the Cambrian farmers.

That Shrewsbury, however, may reap the full benefit of its central situation as the great thoroughfare from whence all the roads into North Wales diverge, and being also the general market of the surrounding country, acknowledged to be one of the finest agricultural districts in the kingdom, it is highly expedient that our town should possess the advantage of a RAILWAY communicating with the great lines to Birmingham, London, Liverpool, &c.

Prospectuses have been issued showing the eligibility of the plan, and the position in which the trade and general intercourse of the town will be placed if unprovided with those facilities of cheap and expeditious conveyance enjoyed by other large towns; and when it is considered that a great portion of the provisions which supply the thickly-populated neighbourhoods of Wolverhampton, Bilston, Birmingham, &c. are purchased at our weekly markets and monthly fairs, and the deficient and expensive means of transit on this line, a Railway would produce incalculable benefit to the town by an increased traffic, and thereby contribute to reinstate it in that important situation which it once held as THE EMPORIUM OF NORTH WALES.

The chief manufactories at present are the extensive concern of Messrs. Marshall for thread and linen yarns, three iron foundries, and Messrs. Jones and Pidgeon’s for tobacco and snuff. The vicinity being a good barley country, the malting business is carried on to a considerable extent, and divided among sixty maltsters. Glass-staining has been brought to the highest state of perfection in this town, completely disproving assertions made some few years since that the powers of this ancient science had then extended almost beyond the hope of eventual excellence. The gothic chain, however, which for so long a period had confined the mystery of this beautiful art, once, indeed, considered as entirely lost, has been effectively broken by our townsman, Mr. D. Evans, of whose productions our churches and many other ecclesiastical buildings and noblemen’s mansions in different parts of the kingdom afford specimens, contending in effect with some of the finest works of the ancient masters.

Among the _delicacies_ for which our town is so deservedly celebrated may be mentioned a most delicious CAKE, {204} of which but few strangers in passing through fail to partake, especially if they have read the encomium of the poet Shenstone:

“For here each season do these cakes abide, Whose honoured names th’ inventive city own, Rend’ring through Britain’s isle Salopia’s praises known.”

SHREWSBURY CAKES appear to have been presented to distinguished personages on their visit to this town as early as the reign of Elizabeth; and when their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria arrived here in 1832, they were graciously pleased to accept a box of them from the Mayor.

THE SIMNEL made here is much admired, and great quantities of this kind of cake are prepared about the season of Christmas and Lent. The word is supposed to have been derived from the Latin _simila_, signifying fine flour; but the common tradition fixes its origin to a dispute between a man named “Simon” and his wife “Nell.” One of them was desirous that the plum pudding should be baked, while the other insisted that it should be boiled: neither party being disposed to yield, it was therefore first boiled and afterwards baked (the processes that it now undergoes), and thus produced Sim-nell. The exterior crust, or shell (enclosing a compound of fruit) is hard, and deeply tinged with saffron.

THE SHREWSBURY BRAWN is unrivalled, and has lately been patronised by His Majesty William the Fourth. Brawn is a Christmas dish of great antiquity, and may be found in most of the ancient bills of fare for coronations and other great feasts. “Brawn, mustard, and malmsey” were directed for breakfast during the reign of Elizabeth; and Dugdale, in his account of the Inner Temple Revels, states the same directions for that society. It is prepared from the flesh of boars fattened for the purpose.

SHREWSBURY ALE has been commended from a remote period. _Iolo Goch_, the bard of Owen Glendower, eulogises the profusion with which “Cwrw Amwythig,” or Shrewsbury Ale, was dispensed in the mansion of his hero at Sycarth, which he seems to have visited previously to the insurrection of 1400.

In the last century the properties of this beverage were thus extolled:—

“Hops, Water, and Barley, are here of the best, Your March and October can well stand the test; The body is plump, and the visage ne’er pale, That imbibes, or is painted, with _Shrewsbury Ale_.”

MARKETS.

The market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. The former is small, but that on the latter day is well attended and abundantly supplied. In fact, few towns enjoy the advantage of a better or cheaper supply of meat, poultry, butter, vegetables, fruit, &c. But it must be confessed that many places of far less importance than the capital of Shropshire possess more suitable accommodations befitting the ample produce brought from the surrounding districts to its markets.

The space allotted for the sale of vegetables is in the spacious square opposite the County Hall, commonly called the “Green Market;” that for poultry, eggs, &c. on Pride Hill and in the Butter Cross. The shambles for butchers’ meat is in a street called “the Double Butcher Row;” and in Fish-street, near St. Julian’s church, are sheds and stands for the country butchers. The corn mart is held under the old market house.

THE FAIRS.

The fair for the sale of horses, cattle, butter, cheese, &c. is held on the second Wednesday in every month; and that for sheep and pigs on the preceding day. It has long been in contemplation to form a proper “Smithfield” for cattle, &c. which are now disposed of in the streets, much to the annoyance of passengers. The wool fairs are in July and August.

THE SEVERN.

This beautiful stream, the queen of rivers,—famed in British story and noticed by classic historians,—the theme of poets and the admiration of tourists, is next in importance to the Thames.

It rises in Plinlimmon mountain, Montgomeryshire, and pursues its course through that county, receiving in its meanderings numberless tributary streams, and presenting to proud Salopia the richest variety of picturesque scenery. After winding sixty or seventy miles through the centre of Shropshire, passing Worcester, &c. it at length becomes “a mighty river, potent, large,” and empties itself into the Bristol Channel, fifty miles below Gloucester.

THE NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER

is free for barges from thirty to eighty tons burden, during the whole of its course throughout Shropshire, which are towed up the stream by horses belonging to a company; but the navigation is liable to interruption from high and rapid floods in winter, and occasional want of depth of water in summer.

THE ENVIRONS OF SHREWSBURY

Present an agreeable variety of pleasant drives and interesting walks, unfolding from most points some changing feature of landscape scenery, insulated, or grouped in picturesque masses, and interspersed with lofty hills, which afford an imposing back-ground to the town, producing a succession of rich and varied prospects calculated to interest the lover of nature, while the artist, the antiquary, the botanist, or the geologist, may find an ample field for the cultivation of their respective pursuits.

The limited plan of the present work will only admit of a very brief notice of some of those objects that might claim the attention of the enquiring stranger, or present themselves in the course of a drive.

BATTLEFIELD,

Three miles N.E. by N. of Shrewsbury. Perhaps few events, so recent and of such importance in the annals of our country, have left so few local traditions to awaken the dream of ancient chivalry as the Battle of Shrewsbury.

The site of this momentous conflict for the crown of England is no longer unenclosed, but seems thriving with the culture of centuries of peace. Some armour and military weapons occasionally turned up remind us of the event, or, but for the Church piously founded by King Henry the Fourth, in commemoration of his victory over Hotspur, Douglas, Worcester, and the rebel army, we might rejoice that the breath of tranquillity has hushed the tale of death.

The many associations, however, connected with this event, are not easily banished from the mind during a visit to this spot, particularly when it is considered that it afforded matter for the classic pen of Shakspeare.

BATTLEFIELD CHURCH,

According to the foundation of King Henry the Fourth, consisted of five secular canons, and among other endowments possessed the churches of St. Michael within the Castle of Shrewsbury, and also St. Julian’s, in the same town. The clear annual revenues of the college at the dissolution being £54. 1s. 10d. as stated by Tanner.

[Picture: Battlefield Church]

The fabric, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, stands in the centre of a pasture field, and consists of a nave, chancel, and finely proportioned tower, crowned with eight pinnacles and a richly decorated frieze and parapet. The choral division, from the style of the windows, was undoubtedly erected in the time of the founder, and the western portion under the auspices of the Very Reverend Adam Grafton, Dean of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Shrewsbury, Archdeacon of Salop, &c. &c. a person of great eminence in his day, and who possessed much architectural taste. His name is inscribed on the east side of the tower as warden of the college in 1504. Length of the church, including the tower, 94 feet.

The roof of the nave and chancel having fallen in from decay early in the last century, the latter was restored and supported by four doric pillars. The interior is neat.

In the south wall is the piscina and the sedilia for the officiating priests. In one of these is a curious wooden figure, called “Our Lady of Pity.” It represents the Virgin seated and bearing on her knees a dead Christ.

The eastern window is of five divisions, and contains some remains of the stained glass with which this church was once enriched. The other portion having been taken down during a repair of the fabric some years since, was either lost or destroyed, through the negligence of the person to whom it was entrusted.

The subjects comprised a history of the death of John the Baptist, with various portraits of the knights who fell on the King’s side in the battle at this memorable place. The crowned heads of King Henry the Fourth and his Queen, the portraits of a bishop or abbot, and the head of John the Baptist in a charger, may yet be distinguished, and are tastefully pencilled. The red and yellow colours throughout are particularly vivid. A beautiful border of foliage, with a mutilated inscription, is at the base of the window.

At the east end of the north wall is a handsome florid gothic monument to the memory of the late John Corbet, Esq. of Sundorne, who died in 1817. The basement is after the model of an ancient altar tomb, from whence rises five panelled buttresses with mouldings supporting the canopy, which consists of four pointed ogee arches crocketed and crowned with finials. The interior is a richly groined vault, and at the angles are small turrets. The whole is beautifully worked in grained free-stone from the neighbouring quarry of Grinshill.

The nave of the church is roofless: on each side are three elegant mullioned windows, with tracery of different devices. In the walls are corbels formed into grotesque heads, on which rested the timbers that supported the roof.

The shaft of the ancient font (sunk in the ground) stands at the north-east angle of the pointed arch which separates the nave from the tower. The second floor of the tower is singularly furnished with a fire-place, having a chimney formed within the thickness of the wall and opening outside beneath the belfry window.

A tabernacled niche above the chancel window contains the crowned statue of Henry the Fourth: the right hand once sustained a sword, and on the same side also hangs the scabbard.

The college stood at the east end of the church, the moat which surrounded it being still visible. Near this part is a field called the “King’s Croft,” in which were placed a portion of the royal army. The troops of Hotspur appear to have been chiefly stationed on the north side.

On the south side of the church is a small cemetery, in which is deposited the remains of the late Rev. Edward Williams, M.A. who for nearly half a century was the Minister of this parish—loved and honoured by his flock as a spiritual father, and the remembrance of whose virtues and christian instruction still lingers like a lovely twilight. He died January 3d, 1833, aged 70 years. {212}

GRINSHILL

Is four miles distant from hence. The village is picturesquely sequestered beneath the extensive stone quarries, of which great use has been made in the bridges, churches, and public buildings of Salop. About the year 1630 a large stone building was erected at this place for the reception of the scholars under instruction at the Royal Free Grammar School during the time any contagious disorder might prevail in the town. It is now used as a private classical and commercial school.

HAWKSTONE,

Being six miles further in this direction, is consequently beyond the prescribed limit of my pen. I cannot forbear, however, to remark that the scenery in the park is truly grand, and the objects which meet the eye are varied and interesting, consisting of a succession of hills and dales, rocks and caverns, connected together in a comparatively small space. The walks are twelve miles round, and the obelisk erected on the terrace of the park commands a prospect one hundred miles in diameter.

Amid this beautiful natural scene, the hand of art has introduced many interesting features calculated to interrupt for an interval the associations of the mind, that it might return with renewed vigour and fresh delight to the enjoyment of the more exalted feast of contemplative wonder, which nature has so lavishly bestowed on this elysian spot. The noble proprietor kindly permits visitors to gratify themselves with a walk over the grounds.

HAUGHMOND ABBEY,

Three miles north-east of the town, is approached from the Old Heath, by a road full of picturesque beauty. The vale is watered by the Severn, while swelling hills fill up the distance.

This monastery was founded in the year 1100 by William Fitz Alan, for canons regular of St. Augustine, and is situated on the side of a gentle eminence. The ruins form a most imposing object, and are of sufficient consequence to attract the steps of the pedestrian. Of the Abbey church few remains exist. The door which opened into the cloister is an elegant specimen of anglo-norman architecture.

THE CHAPTER HOUSE is almost in a perfect state of preservation: the front parallel with the cloister consists of a fine entrance through a circular arch, with a window in the same style on each side, divided into small lights. The shafts of these arches have canopied niches containing mutilated statues; the angel Gabriel, St. Catharine, and St. John may yet be distinguished.

THE ABBOTT’S LODGING is in part standing, being beyond the cloister and refectory southward. There is likewise the shell of a noble hall, having very early mullioned windows, and a very large one at the west end, the tracery of which is destroyed. At the extremity of this was the great chamber, lighted by a beautiful bow window (probably a later addition), and divided into an upper and lower story.

On the north side of the Chapter House are two monumental stones: the largest indicates the death of John Fitz Alan, Lord of Clun, great-grandson of William, the founder of the monastery, and the least that of his wife Isabel, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore.

The revenues of this Abbey at the dissolution were, according to Speed, £294. 12s. 9d. The buildings were sold, and converted into a spacious mansion. Haughmond demesne comprises about 1100 acres, within which is situated the castellated MANSION OF SUNDORNE, the property of Mrs. Corbet.

South-east, clothed with masses of woody verdure, is

HAUGHMOND HILL,

the etymology of which is derived from _haut mont_, the high mount. An easy ascent from the abbey leads to the summit, from whence is a rich panoramic prospect over a portion of the fertile vale of Shropshire, with the lofty steeples of its ancient capital, and the blue mountains of Cambria in the distance.

A castellated turret is erected on a steep crag of the hill, down which the Scottish Earl Douglas leaped with his horse, on being closely pursued after his escape from the Battle of Shrewsbury, and received a severe injury. He was taken prisoner, but the king, in admiration of his valour, set him at liberty.

At the foot of the hill is

THE VILLAGE OF UFFINGTON,

which is delightfully situated, and affords many rural beauties. Here for a time the lover of nature may enjoy that calm delight which moves the soul to contemplation; and whilst the eye has been charmed with the prospect enjoyed from the summit of the adjoining eminence, the heart seems hushed to the noise of a populous town, and a feeling of tranquillity imperceptibly steals upon the mind, for which a cause can scarcely be assigned.

Parties from the town are often tempted by the beauty of the situation to make this place a holiday retreat, whose enjoyment is enhanced by the accommodations of a good inn, attached to which, above the banks of the Severn, is a pleasant bowling green.

The church, overshaded by two venerable yews, possesses a primitive simplicity, quite in character with the village.

THE VILLAGE OF ALBRIGHTON,

distant three miles N.E. of the town on the Chester road, is a township in the parish of St. Mary, Shrewsbury. The church, a small humble structure, has been so effectually repaired by the modern goths with red stone and brick, that no reasonable conjecture can now be formed as to the period of its erection. A wooden loft issues from the west end, and inside the building is a curious ancient font, that will admit of total immersion, which has no doubt stood here for several centuries.

The fine old mansion near the church was formerly the residence of the ancient family of Ireland, who purchased this manor {215} on the dissolution of Shrewsbury Abbey.

A bridle road across a field leads to Albright Hussey and Battlefield. The former was the moated mansion of the Husseys, Barkers, and Corbets, but is now converted into a farm house. Here was a chapel, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, as appears by the grant of the land on which Battlefield church stands from Henry IV. to Roger Ive, of Leaton, who is there described as rector of the chapel of St. John the Baptist at Albright Hussey, and which chapel was by the said grant for ever annexed to the collegiate church of Battlefield; and Richard Hussey and his heirs were to be perpetual patrons of the same. The only vestige of the chapel is an old arch in a barn called the “chapel barn.”

THE VILLAGE OF MEOLE,

otherwise Meole Brace, is one mile south of the town. {216} The church stands on a little knoll above the Rea brook, and was erected on the site of an ancient edifice in the year 1800. It is a plain cruciform building, with a tower rising from the roof at the west end.

From this place many agreeable walks branch off in the direction of Kingsland, Sutton, and the Sharpstones. Near the latter place, at Bayston Hill, is an earthwork of an irregular form, which seems to have been surrounded on all sides but the east by two fosses, the abrupt formation of the ground in that direction rendering such a protection unnecessary. The entrance was no doubt from the Stretton road at the west. The _double_ entrenchment admits a probability that it belonged to the Anglo-Saxons, but it is difficult to distinguish between their encampments and those of the Danes, both forming their camps nearly alike and on elevated spots. The present site possesses every advantage for a military post of observation to the adjoining country. The residents in the vicinity designate it by the common appellation of the “Buries,” and which appears to have escaped the notice of former topographers.

Two miles beyond this spot is the pleasant

VILLAGE OF CONDOVER.

The church is a spacious building, displaying examples of early Norman architecture. It contains several handsome monuments in memory of the ancient family of Owen, among which one from the chisel of Roubiliac is considered a remarkably fine production. The adjoining mansion, a most interesting specimen of the Elizabethan style of building, was erected by Sir Thomas Owen, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, who died in 1598. Within the hall is the finest collection of paintings in the county. This village was the birth-place of Richard Tarlton, the earliest English comedian of celebrity, who for his surprisingly pleasant extemporaneous wit, as an actor and jester, was the wonder of his time. Fuller states, that “when Queen Elizabeth was serious and out of good humour, he could undumpish her at his pleasure.” After a free and eccentric life, it is said he died penitent in 1588.

PITCHFORD,