Part 1

Transcribed from the 1824 (second) edition by David Price, email [email protected]

[Picture: Public domain book cover]

[Picture: Shrewsbury Castle from river]

THE STRANGER IN SHREWSBURY: OR, _AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE_ VIEW OF SHREWSBURY AND _ITS ENVIRONS_.

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_BY THOMAS HOWELL_.

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SECOND EDITION. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A lovely spot For all that life can ask! Salubrious! mild! Its hills are green: its woods and prospects fair! Its meadows fertile! And to crown the whole In one delightful word—it is our Home— Our Native Place.

COTTLE’S ALFRED.

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Shrewsbury: _PRINTED AND SOLD BY THE AUTHOR_, And by the Booksellers in the County.

1824.

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THE author cannot permit a second edition of the Stranger to issue from the press, without acknowledging the lasting obligation he is under to his fellow-townsmen, for the friendly patronage bestowed on its first appearance.

Shrewsbury, _May_ 18, 1824.

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_HISTORY_.

THE carelessness which in many instances is evident in the orthography of our ancestors, frequently renders it matter of extreme difficulty to fix, with accuracy and precision, the etymology of places which in early times were conspicuous for the parts they bore in our national transactions.

This is in some measure the situation of Shrewsbury, which by the ancient Welsh was called Ymwithig, or “the Delight;” by the Britons Pengwern; and by the Saxons Scrobbesbyrig; the two latter names signifying nearly the same, “the Head of the Alder Groves.” But it is probable that the Normans after their conquest of the Island, either from inability to pronounce the harsher Saxon words, or from the spirit of innovation on the names and manners of the inhabitants, generally possessed by conquerors, were induced to soften the term into Shrobbesburie and Sloppesburie, from whence were derived the modern names of Shrewsbury and Salop, in latin Salopia. Some are inclined to think the latter name was formed from the two Saxon words _sel_, signifying pleasant, and _hope_, the side of a hill, which certainly accords with its situation.

Leland, the antiquary and poet, in his description of the town, thus accounts for its name:—

Built on a hill, fair Salop greets the eye, While Severn forms a crescent gliding by; Two bridges cross the navigable stream, And British Alders gave the town a name.

Although much doubt remains relative to the founder of Shrewsbury, it is certain that “it was repaired about the year 552 by Maelgwyn, king of North Wales;” and the most probable conjecture is, that it was erected between the years 520 and 594 by the Britons, in order to protect themselves from the bloody ravages and harrassing incursions of the Saxons who had previously levelled the Roman Uriconium (the present Wroxeter) and its fortress with the ground, and forced them to retreat beyond the Severn, which then became the boundary of the kingdom of Mercia.

The Britons having established themselves on the hill Pengwerne, founded a city, which became the metropolis of that part of Wales called Powis, one of the princes of which, Brochwell Ysithroc, had his residence here in 617, and thence it was named Pengwerne Powis.—The blood-thirsty spirit of their Saxon invaders still pursued them: after several dreadful and sanguinary contests with the merciless Offa, the British Prince was at length compelled to abandon the patrimony of his ancestors and retire to Mathrafal, amidst the mountains of Montgomeryshire, after witnessing the destruction of his princely mansion, which stood on the spot lately occupied by the church of St. Chad; and finally, in 777, to surrender that part of the country situated between the Severn and a deep dyke and high rampart, extending 100 miles over roads and mountains and across deep vallies and rivers, which Offa threw up as a new boundary between them and Mercia.

In the reign of Alfred, Shrewsbury was numbered among the British cities, by the name of Caer Pengwerne; and during that of Edward the elder, a mint was established here, as appears from a piece of coin now in preservation, with this inscription, _Edward Rex Angliæ_, and on the reverse _Aelmaer on Scrobe_.

Ethelred, with his court, kept the Christmas of 1006 at Shrewsbury, and being unable to resist the perpetual attacks of the Danes, then invading England under Swaine, he summoned a council here, by whose advice he paid £30,000, to procure a temporary and inglorious peace. About the same time Alfhelm, a prince of the blood, was invited to a banquet here by Edric, duke of Mercia and whilst hunting in the neighbourhood was murdered by one Godwin Porthund, a butcher, at the instigation of Edric, and from whence it is supposed arose the custom, recited in Doomsday Book, that whenever the king was here, twelve of the chief citizens should guard his person during his residence in the city, and attend him when he enjoyed himself with the pleasures of the chase.

In the year 1016, the inhabitants having revolted to Canute, Edmund, afterwards, when king surnamed Ironside, marched quickly hither from the north, and having taken the city, exercised every species of cruelty on them as a punishment for their revolt.

No material transactions appear to have occurred in the annals of Shrewsbury for nearly half a century, from the last named date until the conquest of England by the Normans under William. The city was then granted, together with nearly the whole of the county and a great proportion of land in other parts of the kingdom, to Roger de Montgomery, a Norman chief related to William, and by whom he was attended in his English expedition. Roger was no sooner put in possession of his newly acquired property, than being sensible of the advantages resulting from the situation of the town, he constituted it the capital of his earldom, and fixed his abode in it as lord paramount of the county; and having judiciously built a castle on the isthmus, for the purpose of protecting his residence from the attack of his enemies, with the assistance of inferior barons of his court, administered various solemn and kingly acts of justice, donation, and investiture within its walls. Earl Roger was, however, not suffered to enjoy the immense possessions bestowed on him by the Norman conqueror without molestation: Owen Gwynedd, a spirited Welsh chieftain, excited either by hopes of plunder or a desire to dispossess the invaders, of a place which was capable of being rendered a great annoyance to his countrymen in the hands of powerful enemies, attacked it with a considerable body of Welsh; and so important was his attack considered by William, that he marched with a numerous army from the north, for the purpose of repelling the daring disturber; nor did his usual good fortune desert him in this instance, Owen being defeated and a great portion of his followers slain. As a suitable acknowledgment to divine providence for his good fortune and the splendid triumphs of his arms, the Earl founded the benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. A short time previous to his death he was shorn a monk. He died July 27th, 1094, and was buried in the chapel of the Abbey; over his tomb was placed an armed knight in stone.

Robert de Belesme, son of Roger de Montgomery, who succeeded his brother Hugh the Red in the earldom of Shrewsbury, united with the party who wished to seat Robert, duke of Normandy, on the throne, in lieu of Henry the First; and on the coronation of that monarch, openly rebelled against his authority, placing the castle under the command of Roger de Corbet, and garrisoning it with 80 soldiers. Henry immediately marched for Shrewsbury at the head of 60,000 men, and threatening, if the town was not delivered up to him in three days, to hang all he should find therein, Robert surrendered, and sent the keys to the king by Ralph, abbot of Seez, imploring his clemency: this was granted, but Robert was banished to Normandy, his immense estates forfeited, and the splendour of his baronial house for ever extinguished. Henry then took the government of the town into his own hands, and granted the inhabitants their first charter.—The restless disposition of Robert however still incited him to fresh acts of rebellion, but being taken prisoner, he was brought over to England, and being sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, he at length died a miserable death in Wareham castle.

In 1116, the nobility of the realm did homage to William, Henry’s son, at Shrewsbury, and swore allegiance to his father.

The conquest of Wales had always been a leading object in the politics of England, not only from the desire of more extensive dominion, but as a means of preventing in future the devastation and misery which the animosity of a warlike and injured people had occasioned on the English borders. The utility likewise of employing in foreign enterprises a martial nobility, inclined the Norman princes to encourage, by every incitement of advantage and honour, the dangerous designs of subduing or of making settlements in Wales. The consequence of the attacks of the rapacious Norman barons on the Welsh was, that Shrewsbury was continually subject to the ravages and injuries of the contending parties. Besides this, its natural strength and situation on the borders, or as they were then termed the Marches of Wales, rendered it extremely eligible for the rendezvous of the army employed in the Principality, and it was therefore frequently honoured with the presence of those who swayed the sceptre of Britain.

During the struggles between Stephen and the empress Maud, William Fitz Alan, governor of the castle of Shrewsbury, espoused the cause of the latter, and being joined by several noblemen and gentlemen in these parts, left his castle in the care of a deputy, from whom he exacted an oath that he would not deliver up his charge to the king. Stephen having taken the castle, and hanged several of the garrison for the obstinacy of their defence, Alan was forced to fly, leaving his castle and estates in the possession of the king; but on the accession of Henry II. he was restored to all his honours and estates, for his faithful adherence to the fortunes of the family.

In the beginning of the reign of king John, a royal council was assembled in Shrewsbury for the purpose of devising means to put a stop to the continual and harrassing incursions of the Welsh. Gwenwynwyn, prince of Powis, offered terms of reconciliation, but, without any apparent cause, he was detained a prisoner.—The Welsh shortly after attempted to recover their liberties; on this occasion John assembled a large army at Oswestry, and released Gwenwynwyn and several other Welsh chieftains, who immediately repaired to his standard with all the forces they could muster. Llewellin ap Jorwerth, who then governed Wales, was obliged to retire before this powerful army of the British monarch, and delivered hostages to answer for the rectitude of his conduct. But Llewellin, fired with the idea of rescuing his countrymen from the yoke of foreign government, once more broke the truce which had been concluded.

When intelligence of this event reached John, his heart was so steeled against the feelings of humanity that he ordered the immediate execution of the hostages, 28 in number, and chiefly children allied to the first families in Wales—a deed which renders his name worthy to be recorded on the same page, in the annals of cruelty, with that of Nero. Nottingham was the place in which this tragical drama was acted, and from thence John marched with his army for the purpose of chastising the Welsh; but fear and distrust took possession of his mind, and learning that the Pope had dissolved the allegiance of his subjects, he dismissed his army on a sudden and returned to London. Llewellin soon after suddenly appeared before Shrewsbury, which he now entered without opposition; nor did a long period elapse before the Welsh took ample vengeance for the cruelties committed on their countrymen. An insurrection having broke out in England, in consequence of the unpopular ministry of Peter de Roche bishop of Winchester, in the 17th of Henry III. many of the barons joined Llewellin, and having united their forces, laid waste the Marches, and entering Shrewsbury, after having plundered and burnt the town, in which were considerable riches, they put many of the inhabitants to the sword. Notwithstanding peace was established between the contending monarchs, the national jealousies and deep rooted hatred of the two nations were the fruitful source of perpetual conflicts, to repress which, Henry marched with his array to Shrewsbury, where, in 1269, peace was again restored, through the mediation of the Pope’s legate; and the town and castle of Shrewsbury were placed under the care of Edward, the king’s eldest son, afterwards the celebrated Edward I.

On the death of his father, Edward succeeded to the throne, and determined to exert every effort which his power and talents afforded, to obtain what had long been the object of his ambition, the entire conquest of Wales. Soon after Easter, 1277, Edward left London to regulate the measures of the ensuing campaign; and that the administration of justice might not be delayed, by the absence of the king and the length of the war, he removed the Court of Exchequer and the Court of King’s Bench to Shrewsbury.

In the general accommodation made with the vanquished followers of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, in 1264, Llewellin ap Gryffydd was included; but he saw that a blow was meditating by the English king, which though suspended for a time, would be the more severe, and fall with greater weight on his country. Llewellin thought it prudent to secure the support of the adherents of the house of Montfort, of whom many yet remained in England by solemnizing his marriage with the daughter of the late earl. He therefore demanded the young lady from the French king, to whose court on the demise of her father she had retired, but on her passage to Wales she was taken by some of the English vessels and detained at the court of Edward. Llewellin demanded the fulfilment of a treaty made between Henry III. and himself and the release of his bride from Edward, while the latter required Llewellin to appear and do homage for his kingdom, which he refused to perform unless hostages were delivered for the safety of his person. This was the ostensible cause of the war undertaken by Edward, and the pretext for attempting an entire conquest of the principality. Edward cautiously avoided putting to the test the well known valour of a nation inflamed with a just sense of their wrongs and proud of their ancient independence.—Llewellin unable to face an enemy pressing on by slow, cautious, and decisive operations, returned to the mountains of Snowdon, and Edward not choosing to enter the recesses of that difficult country, calmly awaited the result of his policy. The prospect of a famine seconded his prudential schemes, and Llewellin had no better alternative than to implore the clemency of the English monarch. Little generosity or pity was to be expected in the terms granted by Edward, and accordingly Llewellin agreed to pay 5000 marks as a fine; to do homage for his crown; to relinquish all the country between Chester and the river Conway; and to deliver hostages for his future submission.

On his return to London, Edward was attended by the Welsh prince and a numerous retinue of chieftains, for the purpose of swearing fealty to their conqueror. During their stay they were continual subjects of derision to the populace, who treated them as savages and laughed at their foreign garb and unusual appearance. To a people proud and irascible, and who, though vanquished, were still alive to injury and insult—to a sense of their own valour, and to the fond idea of their native independence, this treatment could not be pleasing. They therefore, privately entered into an agreement to revolt on the first opportunity; resolving to die in their own country as freemen, rather than come any more as vassals into England, to be the sport of a haughty and contemptuous nation. Accordingly they flew to arms. Edward, surprised to find himself again attacked by the Welsh prince, determined to crush effectually the rebellious spirit of the Welsh, and advanced from Shrewsbury with a considerable army. The progress of the king was at first slow, in consequence of several advantages gained over him by Llewellin, but the latter being at length surprised near Builth, in Brecknockshire, he was defeated, and together with 2000 of his soldiers, slain. Gratitude could pay no tribute to his memory so expressive, as the tears which his country shed upon the tomb of their prince, who, after many efforts to preserve the freedom of the land which gave him birth, fell in the conflict, and found an honorable grave in its ruins.

David who had previously forgotten the feuds which disturbed the peace of his family and country, assumed, on the death of his brother, the sovereignty of North Wales; but after various unsuccessful struggles, he was basely betrayed into the hands of Edward, who confined him in Rhuddlan castle, and soon after sent him in chains to Shrewsbury.

Edward now (1283) summoned a parliament to meet at Shrewsbury, for “consulting what course to take with David prince of Wales,” whence, in a few days it was removed to Acton Burnell. David, whilst at the English Court had been made a baron of the realm, and it was in consequence determined to proceed against him as a subject of the crown. His judges, deaf to the claims of humanity and justice, and influenced, no doubt, by their desire to gratify the implacable and vindictive spirit of their master, condemned him to die as a traitor. For this act of revenge, new tortures were invented.—He was sentenced to be drawn at a horse’s tail through the town—to be hanged—his heart and bowels to be burnt—his head to be cut off, and exposed at the tower of London, and his body quartered and hung up in different parts of the kingdom. On the death of this prince, the Welsh every where submitted to the victorious arms of the conqueror.

The tragical and cruel death of David closed the only sovereignty which remained of the ancient British empire: an empire which through various changes of fortune, had opposed the disciplined legions of imperial Rome; and for more than eight hundred years, had valiantly withstood the most strenuous efforts of their Saxon and Norman invaders.

The conquest of Wales by the English monarch was of great importance to Shrewsbury, the inhabitants of which had now time for breathing, after having been for nearly 800 years in the scene of continual warfare.

Edward II. visited Shrewsbury in 1322, on his march to subdue the barons who had justly banished the Spencers and was met by the burgesses in armour, who escorted him into the town. About this period, John, one of the sons of the famous Roger Mortimer, earl of March, was slain in a tournament held here. In 1326, Edmund Fitz Alan, earl of Arundel, who had been a faithful adherent of the weak and unfortunate Edward, was apprehended in the neighbourhood of this place by the partizans of the abandoned Queen and her paramour Roger Mortimer.

Richard II. who appears to have been particularly attached to the inhabitants of these marches, summoned a parliament to assemble at Shrewsbury in 1397, and which is called by Speed the “great parliament,” in consequence of the extraordinary number of peers who assembled here. The king was sumptuously entertained, and the parliament too much devoted to his interests, passed several very oppressive acts. One of the articles of accusation on which he was afterwards deposed, charges him with “procuring the many oppressive acts passed in the parliament of Shrewsbury, and with intimidating the judges and other persons whom he caused to come before him there.”

In the following reign the Welsh made another attempt to recover their freedom under the celebrated Owen Glyndwr. Twice were Henry and his generals obliged to retire from their meditated attack of Owen without bringing him to any action, and his rebellion assumed a more serious appearance from the support which he received from the earls of Northumberland and Worcester, and the earl of Douglas, who were disgusted with the treatment which they had received from Henry. At the commencement of the war, Northumberland was suddenly taken ill at Berwick—Hotspur his son accordingly took the command of the troops, amounting to about 12,000 chosen men, and marched towards Shrewsbury to unite his forces with those of the Welsh chieftain. The king aware of the importance of every moment, also hurried to Shrewsbury, and interposed himself between Hotspur and Glyndwr. This moment saved his crown; and the prudence of the one leader and the impetuosity of the other induced them to hasten a general engagement.

Previous to the engagement, Henry sent Thomas Presbury, abbot of Shrewsbury, with offers of pardon to Percy’s army if they would disperse, but this message being misrepresented to Percy by the earl of Worcester, the former sent a manifesto into the royal army in which he renounced his allegiance to Henry and enumerated at length various grievances and indignities of which he conceived the nation in common with his own family had to complain. This manifesto tended to inflame the passions of both parties; and the ability of the respective commanders, the valour of the soldiers and their equality in point of numbers, gave reason to expect a dreadful and doubtful contest. The battle was fought at Oldfield or Bullfield, now Battlefield, about 3 miles north of Shrewsbury, on St. Magdalene’s eve, July 22, 1403. The onset commenced near Berwick with a terrible discharge of arrows from both lines. The Scots rushed with impetuous fury upon the front of the royal army, which began to give way, but the king arriving with reinforcements they again rallied and recovered their ground. Henry exposed his person in the thickest of the fight and combated with an ardour worthy the crown he was defending. His valiant son whose military achievements in France were afterwards so renowned and whose wild youthful excesses are so beautifully pourtrayed by our great dramatic bard, here performed his noviciate in arms, signalized himself on his father’s footsteps, and regained his good opinion. The gallant Percy supported that brilliant fame he had acquired in so many bloody engagements, and Douglas,

Whose high deeds, Whose hot incursions, and great name in arms Holds from all soldiers chief majority,