SHREWSBURY. 



occurred in Auguft 1687, when James II. held his court 

 here. On this occafion, the " fentimcnts of loyal attachment, 

 for which Shrewfbury has ever been confpicuous, buril forth 

 with chivalrous enthufiafm." 



General Appearance of the roTf/J— Shrewfbury, from its 

 lofty and peninfular fituation, prefents, at every approach, 

 a pleafmg variety of views ; " and the noble fweep of the 

 river, which feems to embrace it, heightens at every turn 

 the charms of the fcene." Except on the north and well 

 fides, where the ilreets approach clofe to its banks, a narrow 

 margin of meadow, or of garden ground, interpofes be- 

 tween the houfes and the river. The exterior circle of 

 the town is lined with an unbroken range of well-built 

 houfes, moll of which command beautiful views over 

 the adjacent country. On its weilern fide is a public 

 field, called the Quarry, which occupies about twenty acres 

 of ground, and is adorned with avenues of trees. At 

 one extremity of this field are the remains of a rural amphi- 

 theatre, where the Augulline friars of the adjoining convent 

 were probably wont to exhibit thofe ancient facrod dramas 

 called myileries, or Whitfun plays ; which were certainly 

 afted here in the reign of queen Elizabetli. 



Such is the exterior afpeft of Shrewlbury ; but it is to 

 be regretted that its interior appearance is far from corre- 

 fponding with the external afpeft. The ilreets are ill ar- 

 ranged, and fome of them narrow and ftccp, and but in- 

 differently paved. The houfes are extremely mixed in their 

 architeftural charafter, exhibiting a ftrange contrail of an- 

 cient and modern buildings. This circumltance is in part to 

 be attributed to the happy freedom which Shrewlbury has 

 enjoyed, from thofe general conflagrations which have occa- 

 fionally devaltated other towns within the lall two centuries. 



Civil Government and Corporation. — Shrewlbury is a cor- 

 poration, both by charter and preicription. The firll 

 charter was granted by Henry I. ; but other princes have 

 fince altered and extended the privileges it conferred. By 

 tlie charter now in force, granted by king Charles I., the 

 corporation confills of a mayor, recorder, Reward, town- 

 clerk, 24 aldermen, 48 alTillants, or common council- 

 men, two chamberlains, a fword-bearcr, ferjeants at mace, 

 &c. Four general quarter-feffions are held in the courfe of 

 the year, and the mayor and fome of tlie aldermen, who are 

 ma^iftrates, hold a court every Tuefday. The chartered 

 companies, befides the general corporations, are lixteen in 

 number, of which thofe of the drapers and mercers are the 

 moil confiderable. 



Shrewlbury fent members to parliament from their earlieft 

 ellablifhment. They are chofen by the inhabiting burgedes, 

 who have been legally adefled to the parilh rates. The 

 mayor is the returning officer. The markets are on Wed- 

 nefday and Saturday, weekly ; and there are eight annual 

 fairs. 



Public Buildings and In/lituiions. — The public ftruftures 

 of Shrewlbury are, the caftle, the town-hall, the churches, 

 the charitable inilitutions, the town and county gaol and 

 Bridewell, the market-houfe and crofs, the theatre, and the 

 bridges. 



The Cajlle Hands on a narrow neck of land, about five 

 liundred yards in breadth, which is formed by the windings 

 of the Severn. It was founded by Roger de Montgomery, 

 as before mentioned, and became the chief feat of his baro- 

 nial power. As all the tranfaftions of intere'.l connedled 

 with this edifice have been noticed under the head Hi/lorical 

 Events, &c. it id unnecelfary to repeat then). This ftruc- 

 ture has evidently undergone fo many alterations, and is fo 

 greatly dilapidated, that it is difficult to form any probable 

 idea of its ancient ftate. The buildings of it now remaining 



confill of the keep, the walls of the inner court, and the 

 great arch of the interior gate-way. The keep, which is 

 converted into a handfome dwelling-houfe, confills of two 

 round towers of equal fize, embattled and pierced, and con- 

 nefted by a fquare building, about one hundred feet long, 

 and nearly of the fame height. The inner court is now a 

 garden, " on a circular grafs-plat in which, the newly 

 elefted knights of the (hire have been girt with their fwords 

 by the (heriff, from perhaps the firil foundation of our inva- 

 luable conftitution." The arch of tlie gateway is clearly 

 part of the original caftle. It is eighteen feet high, maffive, 

 and femi-circular, and appears to have fupported a tower, 

 from which hung the portculIiF. On the oppofite fide of the 

 court is a fmall poftern, probably built in the time of Charles I.; 

 and on its fouth fide is a lofty mount, the fummit of which 

 is furrounded by a ruinated wall, at one part of which rifes a 

 fmall watch-tower, now a beautiful fummcr room, much 

 reforted to on account of the fine views which it commands. 

 This caitle was defended by ramparts of (lone thrown acrofs 

 the peninfula, from the callle to the river, on eacli fide. 

 One of them was formed by Robert de Belefme, and the 

 other by order of Oliver Cromwell. Ramparts and walls 

 with towers likewife defcr.ded the town on its northern and 

 eaftern fides, but few traces of thefe remain. The prin- 

 cipal gates were three in number, and called the Caftle or 

 North-gate, the Eall or Abbey-gate, and the VVelih-gate, 

 the latter of which Hood on the Wellh bridge. 



The To'wn-/jall \s a modern llru£ture, finifhcd in 1786. It 

 was defigned by Mr. Haycock, a native of the town, and 

 exhibits a handfome Hone front. Here are held all meetings 

 of the corporation, and grand juries, likewife the courts of 

 juilice for the town and county. The grand jury room is 

 decorated with portraits of George I. and II., and of admi- 

 ral Benbow ; and another room is appropriated to the re- 

 ception of a valuable colleftion of books. 



The ejlabli/hed churches are St. Giles's, St. Chad's, St. 

 Mary's, St. Alkmund, and St. Julian's. St. Giles's is a fmall 

 plain building, and appears, from fome remains of maflive 

 fquare piers, and a femi-circular arch, to have been partly 

 built in the Norman era, and probably on a larger fcale than 

 it is at prefent. Moil of the other piers are round, and fupport 

 pointed arches. St. Chad's church is of modern ereftion, 

 having been built between 1790 and 1792, in lieu of the old 

 collegiate church, which fell down in the firft mentioned 

 year, in confequence of its repair having been too long ne- 

 gleftcd. It is, " upon the whole, a fplendid, and, in many 

 refpefts, an elegantly ornamented llrufli^re." In thi& 

 church the mayor and corporation are accullomed to fit on 

 fellival and other public days. Here are but few monuments, 

 and none of note ; but in the church-yard is a chapel, in 

 which many of the tombs and infcriptions refcued from the 

 ruins of the old church are depofittd : the principal of them, 

 however, were removed to the refpeftive parifh-chiirches of 

 the fjmiliej to which tliey belonged. St. Mary's church was 

 likewife collegiate, and had (he privileges of a royal chapel, 

 of which advantages it was deprived in the reign of king 

 Edward VI. It is a venerable pile, in the form of a crofs, 

 and comprifes a nave, fideaifles, tranfept, choir, and chapels, 

 with a tower at the wed end. Its architefturc embraces al- 

 molt every llyle prevalent from the Norman conquell to the 

 reign of Henry VIII. The nave is divided from the fide- 

 aifles by femi-circular arches ; but thofe feparatiKg it from 

 the choir are lofty and pointed. The cieling here is of oak, 

 and rifes in an extremely flat arch, divided by its principal 

 beams into fquare panels, including circles richly adorned 

 with quatre-foils and foliage ; the ribs and bofles being 

 carved into double rofes, with devices and knots at their in- 



terfeAion. 



