A TRIBUTARY OF THE SEVERN 81 
does important work at Bearstone mills, Thence it 
proceeds past Oakley Hall. The late Colonel Sir 
George Chetwode, who lived here many years, 
served in the Crimea and in the Indian Mutiny. 
His son, Lieut.-General Sir Philip Chetwode, 
won his D.S.O. in the Anglo-Boer War, and dis- 
tinguished himself still further in 1914-1918, in 
the European and Palestine warfare. 
At Oakley, a flourishing farming district, rare 
specimens of Shropshire sheep are bred, and from 
one of these Oakley farms went out into the 
world, thirty odd years ago, a farmer’s son to make 
his fortune in business. After a successful start 
near London, he and his partner boldly invaded 
Oxford Street. The wise father feared his son 
might lose the money he had already made; but 
the son proved wise also, and the Oxford Street 
establishment now is one of the shopping sights 
of town. 
A couple of miles from Oakley, and not far 
from the hamlet of Mucklestone, is the site of the 
battle of Blore Heath, fought in 1459 during the 
Wars of the Roses, Here Lord Audley was slain, 
and the battle-cross erected to his memory is to 
be seen to this day. The victors had feigned 
flight, and on reaching a summit turned sharply 
upon their adversaries—when the latter were in 
the Valley. Great was the slaughter that day ; 
tradition has it that Hemp Mill Brook ran for 
three days with blood. At Betton Old Hall, 
Queen Margaret slept the night before Blore 
Heath battle, and, when the next day had gone 
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