SHROPSHIRE. 



pington, the lands defcend to the youngeft fon ; and in the 

 manors of Cardigan and Stretton, (where the eldeft fon fuc- 

 ceeds,) in default of fons, the daughters are co-heireffes. 



/Agriculture. — The extent of farms is nearly as various as 

 that of eftates ; but in general they are of a large fize, and 

 are, in feme inllances, held on leafes for life ; in others, for 

 feven, ten, or twenty-one years ; and, in many cafes, from 

 year to year only. The crops commonly cultivated are 

 wheat, barley, oats, peafe, turnips, and potatoes; hops, 

 hemp, flax, and cabbages, are only railed in fmall quan- 

 tities. The growth of hay and the improvement of pallure 

 lands are rather neglefted branches of Shropfliire agricul- 

 ture ; but on the borders of the Severn, and in the vicinity 

 of feveral of the Ictfer ftreams, there are many excellent 

 trafts of mcr.dovv lard, which produce grafs in great luxu- 

 riance, without the aid of any other manure than what 

 is depofited by the floods. The grafles molt common in 

 the county are the following : the fweet-fcented vernal 

 grafs, Timothy grafs, meadow fox-tail, and fome fpecies 

 of the agrollis ; but the latter flower too late to be of much 

 ufe for cultivation. Several varieties of the poa and feftuca 

 are likcwife common. 



Woods and Plantations. — Notwithftanding large yearly 

 falls of timber, there tliU remain in Shropfliire fome fine 

 woods of oak, and a vaft number of good hedge-row trees, 

 chiefly a(h and oak. Birches, both as trees and as fences, 

 are common in the fouth-welt diftrift. There are befides, 

 in this county, many large trafts of coppice-wood, and fe- 

 veral extenfive modern plantations ; but the former fuflx;r 

 much by the demand for charcoal, which the numerous iron 

 works in this and the adjoining counties occafion. 



Of nvajle lands, Shropfliire is comparatively free. Al- 

 moft all the lands in cultivation are inclofed ; and the com- 

 mons are every day decreafing, fo that few of any great 

 extent remain, except that of Morf, near Bridgenorth, 

 which meafures five miles in length, and nearly three in 

 breadth ; and the high lands between Church-Stretton and 

 Bifliop's-Caflle, and from Clwn to the borders of Radnor- 

 fiiire, which are folely occupied as fliecp-walks, and perhaps 

 could not be better employed. There are feveral large 

 mofles, and many firtaller ones, in Shropfliire. The chief 

 diftrift of moor-land is that in the vicinity of the village of 

 Kinnerfley. 



Roads and Canals. — The turnpike-roads of tliis county 

 are excellent ; but the parifli roads are in general bad, and 

 the repair of them mucli negletled, from the want of pro- 

 per furveyors. Canalf, though late of introduftion into 

 Shropfliire, are now frequent. The chief cuts are the 

 Shropfliire canal, which commences at Donnington wood, 

 and terminates at Coal I'ort on the Severn, running through 

 an extenfive allemblage of coal and iron works ; the Kctley 

 canal, which joins that of the Shropfliire ; the Shrewfljury 

 canal ; and tlic EUefmere Navigation, which forms in itfelf 

 a fyftem of canals, extending through that large and fertile 

 traft of country which lies between the Severn on the fouth 

 and the Merfey on the north, and between the confines of 

 North Wales on tlie wtit and the borders of StaflFordfliire 

 on the eaft, a fpace of 50 miles in length, and upwards of 

 20 in breadth, exclufive of the valhes which open into 

 North Wales. Its grand objed is to unite the Severn, the 

 Dee, and the Merfey, and by that means open a communica- 

 tion between the diflrift above mentioned and the ports of 

 Liverpool and Briflol. 



Manufadures and Commerce. — Among the manufadlures 

 of Shroplhirc, thofc of Ketley and other places in the iron 

 diltrift are the molt confiderable. Garden-pots, and other 

 coarfe earthen veliels, are made at Brofeley, which is likewife 



noted for the manufafture of excellent tobacco-pipes. At 

 Caughley, in the fame neighbourhood, is a china manufac5- 

 ture of great excellence, and at Coal Port is another of the 

 fame kind ; befides one of that fpecies of earthenware called 

 the Queen's or Wedgewood ware. Shrepfliire alfo contains 

 feveral mills for dyeing woollen cloths, and fome cotton and 

 linen manufaftories. Thefe various produfts of courfe form 

 a confiderable fliare in the commercial means of Shropfliire, 

 but its principal traffic is probably the llaple trade of Shrewf- 

 bury, in flannels and Welfli webs, which are bought in large 

 quantities at the markets of Pool and Ofweltry, and are not 

 only fcnt to every part of the kingdom, but are exported to 

 different quarters of the world, particularly to the Weft 

 Indies and to South America. 



Ciiid and Ecclejtajiical Divtjwns and Government. — Shrop- 

 fliire, like every other county in England, is governed by a 

 lord lieutenant and cuitos rotulorum, a high flieriff, and a 

 number of jufticcs of the peace, befides the magiftrates of 

 the privileged towns. It is divided into fifteen hundreds, or 

 dillrifts, anfwering to that denomination ; namely, Ofwef- 

 try, Pimhill, North and South Bradford, Brimllrey, the* 

 liberty of Shrewlbury, the franchiles of Wenlock, and the 

 hundreds of Stottefdcn, Ford, Chirbury, Cundover, Mnnf- 

 low, Overs, Purflow, and the honour of Clun. Thefe 

 again are fubdivided into 229 pariflies, part of which are 

 within the diocefe of Litchfield and Coventry, and part 

 within thofe of Hereford and St. Afaph. 



Parliamentary Reprefentation and Chief lotuns. — Shropfliire 

 fends twelve members to parliament, two knights of the 

 fliire, and tvvo burgeiles for each of the boroughs of .Shrewf- 

 bury, Ludlow, Bridgenorth, Wenlock, and Bifliop's-Caftle. 

 The principal landed proprietors who have an influence in 

 the reprefentation, are the earl of Powis, the lord Bradford 

 and Berwick, the Hills, the Corbets, and colonel Forefter. 

 The market-towns in the county are, Church-Stretton, Cleo- 

 bury-Mortimer, EUefmere, Hales-Owen, Madeley, New- 

 port, Wem, Great-Wenlcck, Ofweftry, Whitchurch, and 

 Wellington. 



/Antiquities. — Shroplhire contains a great many obje<Els of 

 antiquarian interell. The chief Roman flations within its 

 limits were Uriconium, now Wroxeter, Mediolanum, near 

 Drayton, and Rutunium, near Wem. Antiquaries differ 

 refpe£ting the precife pofition of the two laft, but with re- 

 gard to the former, there is little doubt but it was a chief 

 city of tlie Cornavii, founded and fortified by the Romans. 

 Watling-flreet enters the county on the eail, between Crack- 

 ley-wood and Welton, and pailes through it in a bending 

 line to Leintwardine, in Herefordlbire, on the fouthern 

 borders. Of the Saxon period no afcertained remains exifl ; 

 but of the Norman era, and of fubfequent times, there are 

 many ; as the caftles of Shrewfbury, Ludlow, Bridgenorth, 

 Clun, and Red Caltle, and the abbies of Shrewfbury, Haugh- 

 mond, Buildwas, Wenlock, and Hales-Owen, feveral priories, 

 and a great number of curious churches. The moft remark- 

 able encampments are tliofe of Bury Ditches and the Walls, 

 and at Purflow, Basford Gate, and Hawkltone. A General 

 View of the Agriculture of Shroplhire, bv Jofeph Plyni- 

 ley, M.A. Archdeacon of Salop, 8vo. 1803. Beauties of 

 England and Wales, vol. xiii. by J. Nightingale and Ralph 

 Rylance, 8vo. i8ii. 



SHROUD, from the Sa-^on Jlroud, a Jhelter, or cover, is 

 ufed to denote the drefs of the dead. This is required by 

 ftatute to be made of flieep's wool only. See Burial. 



If any one, in taking up a dead body, fteals the fhroud, 

 the property of which remains in the executor, or the perfon 

 who was at the charge of the funeral, it is felony. 

 SHROUDS, in Sea Language. See Shrowds. 



SHROVE- 



