SHROPSHIRE. 



SHROPSHIRE. 



636 



faimil t 8hrbury, Onmfary, Church Strettoii, and Worlben ; 

 auw Uou and liaro thread ; c*rpU at Bridgenorth ; glove* at 

 Ludlow. Ac. There arc alii nuineroui paper-mill* and mill* for 

 4?tnc wooiUoHiloth. 



Jirimm. Ttoiu, *f. Shropshire i* divided into 12 hundred*, a 

 htwrty, and a franchise : North Bradford in the north-east of the 

 county; South Bradford, central and ea*t; Brimstrsy, east ; Chirbury, 

 west; Coodorcr, central: Ford, we*t ; Munilow, aonth; Oswwtry, 

 aorth-wwt; Oven, aouth ; Pimhill, north; Purslow, couth-west; 

 aoath-eaat; Shrew.bury liberty, central; Wenlock fr.m- 



It coo taint the parliamentary borough* and market-towns of BRIDGE- 

 SOUTH, LUDLOW, SRKBWUOBT, and \VK.M. o> K ; and the market-town* 

 at Honor' CASTLE, BBOUCLKT, CUWBOBT MORTIMER, CLUN, 1 )IIA vrox- 

 IX-HALM. or MARKET DRATTON, KLUUMKRE, HAUSS-OWEX, NEWPORT, 

 OBWESTRY, Sinn > vi i, CHURCH STRETTON, WELLINGTON, WKJC, aud 

 WHITVHUII..II. lUch of thee towns will be found described under 

 it* titl-. 



The more important village* we notice here ; the populations are 

 thowaf 1851: 



Awijt*U, population of the township 511, is situated on the loft 

 bank of the Teiue, near the point where it receives the Onny, 3 miles 

 from Ludlow. A short distance south from the village are the 

 fine mansion and the grounds of Oakley Park. There ore some remains 

 of Bromfield priory, an establishment for monks of the Benedictine 

 order. DmeUy, population of the parish 9201, about 14 miles E. by 

 S. from Shrewsbury, possesses a small market held on Saturday, and 

 an annual fair. There are extensive cool, iron, and lime-works in the 

 neighbourhood ; the chain manufacture is carried on ; bricks and 

 tile* are made, and numerous tram-roads afford means for transmit- 

 ting the produce from the respective works. Besides the parish 

 church there are a chapel of ease ; chapels for Wesleyan, Primitive, 

 and New Connexion Methodists ; National and British schools ; and 

 a parochial library. The street* are lighted with gas. Jlodnet, 

 population 2057, about 13 mile* N.N.E. from Shrewsbury, has an 

 ancient parish church, a Free school, and a National school. Malt- 

 ing i* carried on, and there are flour-mills. Three annual fairs are 

 held. LMakaU, population of the parish 3987, about 4 miles S.S.W. 

 from Newport, is chiefly remarkable for its ancient Augustiuian abbey. 

 There are some beautiful remains of the Abbey church ; the west and 

 south doorways are of rich Norman character. The remains are in 

 the occupation of a farmer. There are schools supported by the Duke 

 of Sutherland aud by the Lille-shall Mining Company ; there is also 

 a saving* bank. Pvntesbury, population of the parish 3363, about 

 7 mile* S.S.W. from Shrewsbury, has some lead-mines, which employ 

 a considerable number of persons. The parish church, which was 

 formerly collegiate, was rebuilt some years ago. There are chape-Is 

 for Baptist* and Independents ; also Natioual schools. Pries, popula- 

 tion of the parish 3196, about 6 miles N.N.E. from Wem, had formerly 

 a market, which has been Ion; discoutinutd. Two annual fairs are 

 held. The parish church is an ancient cruciform edifice. The Inde- 

 pendent* have a chapel, and there are Free and Infant schools. Malt- 

 ing is carried on. Tesselated pavements and other antiquities have 

 been found here. Titttoct, population of the ecclesiastical district 

 593, about 3 mile* 8. from Whitchurch, has a neat chapel of ease, 

 erected in 1834, a chapel for Wesleyan Methodists, and National 

 schools. Wkittington, population of the parish 1927, about 2i miles 

 N.K. from Oswestry, has a parish church, a chapel for Independents, 

 and a Free school. Malting is carried on. The ancient castle is 

 noticed elsewhere, tt'ombridge, population of the parish 2166, is 

 about 3 miles E. from Wellington, in an extensive mining district 

 The Shrewsbury Canal and the Shropshire Canal form a junction near 

 Wombridge. Oakengatrs station of the Shrewsbury and Birmingham 

 railway i* close to the village. Coal and iron are extensively worked. 

 Baaide* the parish church there are well-attended National schools. 

 tt'rurheanliae, population of the parish 3107, is near the left bank of 

 the river Trine, about 2 miles W. by N. from Wellington. The parish 

 church is a venerable structure, strongly built. At Wrockwardine 

 Wood is a chapel of ease, in connection with which, as well as with 

 Uw parish church, are Natioual schools. The Shrewsbury Canal, and 

 the Shrewsbury and Birmingham railway, pass near the village. Coal 

 and iron are extcusii ely wrought. 



Shropshire is partly in the diocese of Hereford, partly in that of 

 Cheater. The whole of the county is in the proviuce of Canterbury. 

 The county is included in the Oxford circuit. The assizes and quarter 

 *t*aiou* arc held at Shrewsbury, where is the county jail. County 

 courts are held in Bishop's Castle, Bridgenorth, Cleobury Mortimer, 

 Harket-Drayton, Ludlow, Madeley, Newport, Shrewsbury, Wellington, 

 Wm,nnd Whitchurch. Shropshire returns 12 members to parliament, 

 of whom four are for the county, namely, two for the northern division 

 and two for the southern ; aud two each for the boroughs of Shrews- 

 bury, Bridgenorth, Ludlow, aud Wenlock. By the Poor-Law Commis- 

 sioner* tbe county in divided into 16 unions, namely Atcham, Bridge- 

 north, Church Stretton, Cleobury Mortimer, Clun, Ellesmere, Ludlow, 

 Madeley, M*rket-L>rayU>n, Newport, Oswestry, Suiffnall, Shrewsbury, 

 Wellington, Wem, and Whitchurch. These unions comprise 295 

 pariah** and township*, with an area of 927,380 acres, and a popula- 

 tion in 1861 of 249,716. 



' J/iitory, Anliquitia, <te. Previous to tho Roman invasion, the 

 district of which this county is now a part was inhabited by th< 

 uavii and the Ordovices, their territory being divided by the S 

 It is probable that part of the south of Shropshire was possessed by 

 the Silure*. After the subjugation of Britain this county formed part 

 of the Roman province of Flavia Caaarienais. The western side of 

 the county bean numerous traces of this remote period. There ara 

 remains of various British camps. The Gaer ditches near Clun, which 

 bear traces of an ancient fortification, have been assigned by Cam.l n 

 and others as the spot where Caraotucus encountered Ostorius Scapula 

 and was vanquished. On a hill called Tongley, near Wolcot, the seat 

 of tbe Earl of Powis, are vestiges of a British encampment called 

 j Bury Ditches. Other British remains may be traced at Br. 

 Castle, near Church Stretton ; at Old Port (a corruption of Old Fort), 

 near Oswestry; and oa the Wrekin and Clee Hills. Of 11 

 stations, one of the principal was Uriconium, or Viriconium, now 

 Wroxetcr, a village on the Severn, about 6 miles S.E. from S: 

 bury. A rampart and ditch, with remains of walls, 3 miles i 

 cumferenoe, mark the ancient boundaries of the city. Anuthi-r 

 Roman station was Meiiiolauum, supposed by some to have been near 

 Market-Drayton, by others near Meivod ; and a third was Rutunium, 

 at Rowton. There were also Bravinium at Rushbury, Sariconium ut 

 Bury Hill, and Uricona at Sheriff-Hales. Near the village of Chesterton, 

 in the neighbourhood of Bridgenorth, are the remains of a Roman 

 camp called the Walls : the form is nearly square, aud compri-fa 

 upwards of 20 acres. The Roman road known as Watling 

 traversed this county from east to south-west, as far as Church 

 Stretton, whence it took a more southerly course, crossed the Onny 

 at Little Stretton, and entered Herefordshire at the village of 

 Leintwardine. 



In the contests between the British and Roman inhabitants a::,l 

 the new invaders, the Saxons, the latter destroyed the Roman towns, 

 Uriconium among- the rest; they soon however built another city, to 

 which they gave the name of Scrobbes-burg, the 'town of shrubs' 

 (from the wooded appearance of the neighbourhood), now softened to 

 Shrewsbury. These contests lasted for nearly a century and ,1 half, 

 when the Saxons ultimately succeeded in subduing the inland Britons. 

 The district thus occupied by the Saxon chiefs extended as far as the 

 base of the Welsh mountains, and became oue extensive Saxon 

 known by the name of Myrcnaland, or Myrciia-rice, ' the land or 

 kingdom of the borderers;' Latinised into Mercia, aud subsequently 

 corrupted into the Marches of Wales, which were united to the 

 kingdom of Mercia by Penda in 626. In consequence of attacks upon 

 this portion of his territory by the Welsh priuces, Offa, king of Mercia, 

 formed the dyke or rampart which still bears his name, extending 

 from Flintshire on the north to the Bristol Channel on tbe south, and 

 which seems to have been intended as a defence as well as a boundary 

 between the Saxons and the Britons. It crosses several portions of 

 the western part of this county, aud may be traced on the high ground 

 where cultivation and the ploughshare have not levelled it. in 849 

 the Danes penetrated as far as the Severn, aud in the following year 

 reached Wales. In 896 they established themselves at Cwntbricge 

 (Quatford) on the Severn, south of Bridgenorth, where they built a 

 fortress, and passed the winter. At Cleobury Mortimer are the 

 remains of what is supposed to have been a Danish camp. When 

 Alfred succeeded in subduing the Danes, and uniting the seven Saxon 

 kingdoms into one, Scrobbesburg was one of his principal cities, aud 

 he gave the same name to the shire of which it is the capital : from 

 this name, Scrobbesburg-scire, has come tho present designation, 

 Shropshire. 



William the Conqueror granted to his relative Roger de Montgomery 

 nearly the whole of the county, aud to many of his followers all the 

 lands they might conquer from the Welsh ; the consequence was, that 

 a bitter warfare was carried on against the ancient possessors of tho 

 soil for upwards of three centuries. These Lords Marchers in course 

 of time established a court of their own to settle disputes among 

 themselves. They built towns and erected castles, and to them may 

 be attributed the greater portion of the numerous castles in this 

 county. 



In consequence of repeated incursious of the Welsh, Edward I., in 

 order to be near the seat of war, removed the courts of King's Bench 

 and Exchequer to Shrewsbury, where they were held for some time. 

 In 1397 Richard II. adjourned his parliament from Westminster to 

 Shrewsbury, where it was held with great splendour. In the revolt 

 of Owen CJlyudwr, in the reign of Henry IV., this county was tho 

 theatre of several contests. The memorable couflict between Henry IV. 

 and the Percies, known as the Battle of Shrewsbury, took place on the 

 21st of July, 1403, at Berwick, within three miles of Shrewsbury, and 

 terminated in the defeat and death of Hotspur. 



In the contests between the houses of York and Lancaster, Shrews- 

 bury, Ludlow, and the border country in general, espoused the cause 

 of the former ; aud it was perhaps in gratitude for these services that 

 Edward IV. re-established the court of the resident aud council of the 

 marches of North Wales, which was held at Ludlow till its abolition 

 by act of Parliament in the reign of William III. The Duke of Rich- 

 mond, afterwards Henry VII., having assembled his army on the Long 

 Mountain on the borders of this county, marched to Shrewsbury, 

 where, after some hesitation on the part of the bailiff, he was enthu- 



