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instances elsewhere similar to that of St. Margaret's Chapel in which Churches 

 have been disused and demolished without leaving any memorial of their previous 

 existence, and that the multiplicity of small parishes, which a glance at the 

 Diocesan map will show you is to be found in the neighbourhood of Hereford, and 

 in some less degree in that of Ludlow, may be accounted for by the retention 

 of clerical establishments at those places which rendered it more easy to maintain 

 the services of religion in them. 



Plaish remained in the hands of the Leightons for two generations only 

 after the death of the Chief Justice. Harcourt Leighton, his grandson, who took 

 the side of the Parliament, and was outlawed about the year 1633, sold it to 

 Colonel Hunt, a commander in the army of the Parliamentarians, and mentioned 

 in the history of the times as having taken Shrawardine Castle from the forces of 

 the king in 1645. Harcourt Leighton died childless, and was buried in Cardington 

 Church in 1658. The family of Hunt, whose chief seat is Boreatton, near 

 Shrewsbury, continued to own Plaish until 18S3, when it was purchased by 

 Edward Sayer, Esq., to whose courtesy we are indebted for the present oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting the mansion. 



Such is the short and uneventful story of this Manor and Manor-house. 

 There is nothing in it to stimulate the imagination ; it tells you of no great events 

 of political history ; no battles, no sieges, marked the spot ; the old walls never, 

 so far as we know, gave shelter or welcome to any royal, or otherwise dis- 

 tinguished, visitors. The house does not even, so far as I ever heard, own its 

 proper and familiar ghost. Although it is true a legend remains of some murder 

 having been committed in it, in witness whereof are certain stains and finger 

 marks, said to be of blood, which are to be seen upon a door upstairs, and which, 

 it is averred, no amount of paint or scrubbing is sufficient to obliterate. All that 

 yoii can do is to let your fancy, if you choose, recall the successive generations of 

 those who, through seven hundred years, played out here each the short drama of 

 his quiet life in the fulfilment of the duties of their station amongst their rural 

 neighbours, and who did their parts as English country gentlemen towards making 

 England what she is. 



A few words respecting the most notable of these may be permitted in 

 conclusion. Chief Justice Leighton died in 1607, bequeathing certain moneys to 

 the poor and Church of Cardington. In that church he lies buried, and an 

 alabaster monument in the chancel stands over his remains. On my succeeding 

 to the Vicarage this was in an exceedingly dilapidated condition ; but when, 

 shortly after, the Church was restored, it was repaired and re-embellished in its 

 original colours at the cost of Mr. Stanley Leighton, the present M.P. for one of 

 the divisions of Shropshire. Though .somewhat shorn of its first splendour and 

 proportions it is still a striking structure, and indicates how handsome as well as 

 costly it must have been. The Judge is represented in a recumbent posture, 

 lying on his left side, clad in scarlet gown, black cassock, cap, and ruffs. 

 On the back of the recess in which the figure thus lies are carved 

 flowers, together with such emblems of mortality as a skull, an hour 

 glass, a scythe, and a spade, with this brief motto, " Qualis vita, finis ita," 



