square yards, known lately by the name of “The Abbey Garden,” whereon
formerly stood the Choir and Lady Chapel of the monastery, was in 1840
consecrated as a public Cemetery.
The present parochial church of THE HOLY CROSS embraces within its walls
the nave, side aisles, north porch, and western tower of the Abbey
church. It is principally constructed of red stone, and though bearing
deep marks of mutilation, is still venerable and spacious, and exhibits
many curious and interesting features of ancient architecture. The
principal entrance is at the west end under the tower, through a pointed
doorway, richly laced with mouldings, skilfully inserted within a deeply
recessed semicircular arch, the exterior rib of which springs on each
side from a Norman pillar with indented capital. Immediately above rises
a magnificent and elegantly proportioned window, its sides and arch
enriched with delicate mouldings; in the deep hollow soffits of which is
a series of pannels, having foliated arch heads. The outer mouldings of
the arch rise high above it, forming a spring canopy, enriched with
crockets, and ending in a flower; from which again springs very elegantly
a niche or tabernacle, with a high straight-sided canopy, flanked with a
small pinnacle at each impost, containing a figure of Edward III. in
complete armour. The body of the window to the spring of the arch
contains two stories, divided horizontally by embattled transoms, and
perpendicularly by six upright mullions into seven compartments. The two
central mullions, as they approach the spring of the arch, bisect the
head into smaller arches on each side, and these are further subdivided
into others, which are uncommonly acute, the interstices of all filled
with several tiers of small open pannelled tracery, mingled with
trefoiled and quatrefoiled foliage, in beautiful and varied profusion.
To the angles of the tower are attached square shallow piers, ending in
pointed canopies, and midway of each is a niche, containing statues of
St. Peter and St. Paul. Two small double windows light each side of the
upper story of the tower, the summit of which is terminated by an
unsightly battlement of brick.
[Picture: Abbey Church, or Church of the Holy Cross]
The eastern portion of the nave is separated on either side from the
side-aisles by three semicircular arches, resting on short massive round
pillars, with shallow bases and filletted capitals, in the plainest and
earliest Anglo-Norman style. Above, the remains of the triforium of the
ancient church may be distinctly traced. The western portion has, on
each side, two pointed arches in the pure Gothic of the 14th century,
delicately lined with mouldings, and rising from well-proportioned
clustered pillars, with capitals composed of a series of small horizontal
mouldings. A clere-story, pierced with handsome Gothic windows, crowns
this part of the edifice; and similar windows are continued along the
north and south sides of the tower.
A lofty and graceful pointed arch, springing from high clustered imposts,
opens from the nave to the tower, and affords a view of the fine west
window; the upper portion of which is filled with the armorial bearings
of Richard II.; his uncles, the Dukes of Gloucester, Lancaster, and York;
and the alliances of the noble families of Fitzalan and Stafford, Earls
of Arundel and Stafford, and the lower part with those of the late
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Howley, William Lord Berwick, patron, the
Rev. R. Lingen Burton, vicar, Dr. Butler, Bishop of Lichfield, Archdeacon
Bather, and Rev. Richard Scott, (the donor). The whole area of the tower
is occupied by a capacious gallery, erected in 1817, for the
accommodation of the children of the National School, in which stands a
fine-toned organ, made by Gray of London, and purchased by subscription.
The eastern extremity of the nave is terminated by a wall, built between
the two great western piers which once supported the central tower, in
which is inserted a fine triple Norman window, {133} elaborately adorned
with mouldings, containing figures of David, Solomon, St. John, St.
James, St. Peter, and St. Paul, executed by Mr. David Evans with his
usual taste. Underneath this window is a stone altar screen, composed of
an arcade of five Norman arches, with rich and varied mouldings,
surmounted by a pierced balustrade. The central arch contains a painting
of the Angels appearing to the Women at the Sepulchre, by Mr. John
Bridges, of London. The holy table is fenced by a STONE RAILING, uniform
in style. The whole of the stone work of the eastern portion, together
with the windows on the south aide of the church, were designed and
executed by Messrs. Carline and Dodson of this town, through the pious
liberality of the late Rev. R. Scott, B.D.
[Picture: Abbey Church, eastern end]
The western ends of the side aisles are separated from the church, and
used as a vestry and schoolroom. At their eastern extremities are the
arches which communicated with the transept, now blocked up and pierced
with square-headed windows, in which are some ancient shields of arms, in
stained glass, preserved from the monastic buildings. The north-east
window of the north aisle contains a large figure of St. Peter, the arms
of the See of Lichfield, of Lord Berwick the donor, and of thirteen
incumbents since the Reformation. The opposite window of the south aisle
is of a rich mosaic design, enclosing shields of the marriages of the
family of Rocke.
[Picture: Stone Railing, Abbey Church]
The remnant of the screen of a chauntry chapel, in the north aisle,
decorated with a series of small foliated niches, each divided by a
buttress and finial, and containing traces of sculptured imagery, appears
to indicate the situation of the chauntry of the guild of St. Wenefrede.
The ancient and curious font originally belonged to the church of High
Ercall, in this county. In the pavement, near the vestry-door, are many
interesting specimens of emblazoned tiles; and a font, the basin of
which, representing an open flower, wound with drapery festooned from the
mouths of grotesque heads, was found among the ruins of the Abbey, and is
fixed on a pedestal formed of the upper part of the ancient cross, called
the “Weeping Cross,” and sculptured with the Visitation, the Virgin and
Child, the Crucifixion, and a figure in the attitude of devotion.
Communicating with the north aisle by a fine semicircular arch,
overspread with massy round mouldings, rising from clustered piers, is
the spacious vaulted north porch. The exterior portal is formed by a
deeply recessed square opening, the mouldings of which fall over the
angles far down the sides, ending in mutilated busts. Within this is a
graceful pointed arch, rising from a round column on each side. Above
are two chamber stories, each lighted by a small window. On the right
and left, a tabernacled niche, extends the whole height of the upper
stories. An ill-designed stone parapet crowns the gable.
And now
“let’s talk of graves, of tombs and epitaphs;”
of which many ancient ones, either found among the ruins, or removed
hither on the demolition of other sacred edifices in the town and county,
are preserved in the ample side-aisles; the more remarkable of which, we
shall briefly enumerate in the order of their supposed dates:—
[Picture: Monument to Roger de Montgomery, Abbey Church] Under an arch in
the south aisle, a mutilated figure of a warrior in the costume of the
reign of King John, found among the ruins, and said to represent the
founder, Earl ROGER DE MONTGOMERY.
In the north aisle, a cumbent figure, brought from St. Chad’s, of a
person in the robes and coif of a judge.
In the south aisle, a monument brought from St. Giles’ church, of the
shape en _dos d’ane_, and probably of the early part of the thirteenth
century. The sculpture consists of a rich foliated cross, in high
relief: under which is a figure in priestly vestments with uplifted
hands, also in relief, and the insignia of the priestly office, the
chalice, bell, book, and candle, in outline. Round the edge of the stone
are the letters, T : M : O : R : E : U : A.
Opposite to the last, a cumbent effigy of a cross-legged knight, in
linked armour and surcoat, removed from the priory church of Wombridge,
in this county, and conjectured, from the tradition of that
neighbourhood, to commemorate Sir Walter de Dunstanville, the third lord
of Ideshale, a great benefactor of that priory, who died 25th Henry III.,
1240.
In the north porch, two very singular figures, which originally lay on a
large double altar-tomb in the style of the fifteenth century, in old St.
Alkmund’s church. One represents a knight in plate-armour of the
fifteenth century, partly covered with the monastic dress, and the other
a person in the dress of a hermit of the Romish church.
Near the founder’s tomb in the south aisle, an alabaster altar-tomb,
bearing recumbent figures of a man, “plated in habiliments of war,” and
his wife, originally erected in Wellington church, in this county, to
William Charlton, Esq. of Apley Castle, who died the 1st July, 1544, and
Anne his wife, who died the 7th June, 1524.
[Picture: Altar-tomb of Richard Onslow, Esq., Abbey Church]
At the eastern extremity of the north aisle, a large altar-tomb with
cumbent effigies, to the memory of RICHARD ONSLOW, Esq. Speaker of the
House of Commons in the 8th Elizabeth, who died 1571, and his lady
Katherine Harding; formerly in the Bishop’s Chancel of Old St. Chad’s
Church.
In a corresponding situation in the south aisle, an altar-tomb of
alabaster, in the Grecian style of the age of James I., bearing two
cumbent figures; an alderman in his civic “robe and furr’d gown,” and a
lady in the scarlet gown formerly worn by the lady-mayoresses of our
town, commemorating WM. JONES, Esq. who died the 15th July, 1612, and
Eleanor his wife, who died 26th February, 1623; the grand-father and
grand-mother of Chief Justice Jones. This was removed from St.
Alkmund’s.
[Picture: Altar-tomb to Alderman Jones and his wife]
Above Speaker Onslow’s monument, a mural monument, from St. Chad’s, in
the Grecian taste of the seventeenth century, representing a gentleman in
a ruff and long gown, and a lady with a long veil thrown back, kneeling
under two escallopped arches: above, a lady in a richly laced habit and
coif, and a little girl kneeling;—inscribed to the memory of Thomas
Edwardes, Esq., who died 19th March, 1634, and of Mary, the wife of his
son, Thomas Edwardes, Esq., died July 18th, 1641.
Above Jones’s monument, a mural monument, from St. Alkmund’s, with the
figure of an alderman as low as the waist, with falling band,
representing John Lloyd, Esq., Alderman of Shrewsbury, who died 16th
June, 1647.
Near the vestry is a mural monument to the Rev. R. Scott, with the
following inscription:—
AS A MARK OF GRATITUDE TO
THE REVEREND RICHARD SCOTT, B.D.
WHOSE OWN WORKS ARE BETTER PRAISE
THAN THE WORDS OF OTHERS,
THIS MEMORIAL IS PLACED HERE BY THE PARISHIONERS
OF THE HOLY CROSS AND ST. GILES.
HE REBUILT THE EASTERN WINDOW OF THIS CHURCH, ADDING
A PART OF THE STAINED GLASS TO IT.
HE GAVE THE ALTAR SCREEN AND STONE RAIL, THE SERVICE
OF COMMUNION PLATE, WITH THE BOOKS, AND ALL
OTHER FURNITURE OF THE ALTAR.
HE REPEWED BOTH THE AISLES, THE NORTHERN BEING GIVEN
FOR THE USE OF THE POOR.
HE BUILT THE SIX WINDOWS IN THE SOUTH AISLE, AND THE
TWO SMALLER WINDOWS AT THE WESTERN END OF THE
CHURCH, ADDING STAINED GLASS TO THE
GREAT WESTERN WINDOW.
HE GAVE NEW FIGURES OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL TO BE
PLACED WHERE THE OLD HAD BEEN AT THE WESTERN
FRONT OF THE TOWER.
HE RESTORED THE ARCH OF THE WESTERN ENTRANCE.
HE ALSO GAVE MANY OTHER LESSER GIFTS TO THIS CHURCH.
HE RESTORED ST. GILES’S CHURCH, MAKING IT AGAIN
AVAILABLE FOR THE SERVICE OF GOD.
HE GAVE TO THE SAME CHURCH, PARTLY IN HIS LIFE TIME AND
PARTLY BY BEQUEST, THE SUM OF ONE THOUSAND POUNDS
VESTED IN THE PUBLIC FUNDS, AS AN ENDOWMENT
TOWARDS THE SUPPORT OF A CURATE.
HE DIED ON THE 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1848.
BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE IN THE LORD FROM
HENCEFORTH; YEA, SAITH THE SPIRIT, THAT THEY MAY REST FROM
THEIR LABOURS AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.
REVELATION XIV. 13.
Numerous other mural monuments and inscriptions of more modern dates,
many of which are chaste and elegant, record deceased members of the
principal families of the parish.
Southwestward of the church, on the margin of the Meole Brook, stands,
THE MONK’S INFIRMARY,
where “crepytude and age a laste asylume founde.” The building is of red
stone, in length about 130 feet, and originally consisted of two oblong
wings, with high gable ends, pierced with round arched windows, connected
by an embattled building resting on rude Norman arches, and lighted by
three square headed windows between strong shelving buttresses. One of
these wings next the street was in 1836 taken down, and modern houses
erected on its site.
On the south side of the church are the remains of a long building, now
converted into stables, formerly the DORMITORY, OR DORTER.
Of the spacious Refectory no portion exists, with the exception of
THE READER’S PULPIT,
[Picture: Reader’s Pulpit, Abbey Church]
the admiration of every antiquary and person of taste. Its plan is
octagonal; some broken steps lead to the interior through a narrow
flat-arched door, on the eastern side. The southern half rests on the
ruined walls, and originally looked into one of the outer courts. Its
arches are open, unadorned with sculptured pannels, and bear marks of
having been glazed. The corresponding moiety, which projected
considerably within the hall, rests on a bracket enriched with delicate
mouldings, which springs from a corbel. The western side is a blank
wall. Six narrow pointed arches with trefoil heads support the conical
stone roof, which is internally vaulted on eight delicate ribs, springing
out of the wall, and adorned at their intersection in the centre, by a
very fine boss, representing an open flower, on which is displayed a
delicate sculpture of the Crucifixion, with St. John and the Virgin Mary
at the foot of the cross. The three northern arches, which were within
the hall, are filled up, to the height of two feet from the floor, with
stone embattled pannels, sculptured into crocketed tabernacles, with
intervening buttresses terminating in pinnacles. On the central pannel
is the Annunciation; the right-hand one bears figures of St. Peter and
St. Paul; and that on the left, St. Wenefrede and the Abbot Beuno. The
architecture of this elegant structure is referred to the fifteenth
century. Much conjecture has arisen amongst the most eminent antiquaries
respecting its probable use, but there can be little doubt, that it
originally projected from the wall within the Refectory, and was used as
a pulpit, from whence one of the junior brethren of the monastery, in
compliance with the rule of the Benedictine order, daily, read, during
meal times, some book of divinity to the Monks, seated at the tables
below in the hall.
Southward of the pulpit is a large range of red stone building, now
incorporated with the Abbey House, ending on the west with a high gable
terminated by a flower, supposed to have been the GUESTEN HALL.
To the south-east of this is the ABBOT’S LODGING; of which the only
remnant is a portion of the cloister, consisting of three pointed arches,
on the piers of which, are indications of the corbels and springers of an
elegant groined roof. A similar fragment adjoins this at right angles.
North of the Abbey Church is the beautiful
HOSPITAL OF THE HOLY CROSS,
erected and endowed in 1852, by Daniel Rowland, Esq., in memory of his
brother, the late Rev. W. G. Rowland, M.A., a native of Shrewsbury, who
resided during a long life, in a house on the spot, and who for 32 years
officiated as Curate of the Abbey Church, until his subsequent
appointment to the living of St. Mary, which he held until his death,
November 28th, 1851. The edifice comprises five houses, and was designed
and executed by Mr. S. P. Smith. The appointment is vested in the
Ministers of the Abbey and St. Mary, and the Head Master of the Free
School, as Trustees. The Hospitallers must be widows, those residing in
the Abbey and St. Mary’s parishes having a preference, and receive from
the endowment an annual sum of £10. 8s. 0d.
A raised walk, formerly overshadowed by a venerable avenue of umbrageous
horse-chesnut trees, but now flanked with modern houses, and called
“Whitehall Place,” and “Tankerville Place,” conducts us to THE WHITE
HALL.
This stately mansion acquired this appellation from the conspicuous
appearance which its white-washed walls present from many points of the
adjacent neighbourhood. It is, constructed of freestone; in plan is
square and lofty, the summits of the walls broken into numerous pointed
gables, and the roof adorned with highly ornamented chimneys, and crowned
with a central octagonal turret. The gatehouse still remains, and opens
through its arched portal to a small court in front of the house. The
interior is spacious, and adapted by subsequent alterations to the modern
notions of comfort and convenience. The walls of the extensive gardens
are clothed with many curious and choice fruit trees; and at the back of
the house is a fine Walnut-tree, magnificent in umbrageous expanse,
apparently coeval with the mansion. This fine and perfect specimen of
the domestic architecture of the reign of Queen Elizabeth was built in
1578, by Richard Prince, Esq. a native of Shrewsbury, who, by skill and
integrity in the honourable and lucrative profession of the law, raised
himself and his family to distinguished eminence.
[Picture: White Hall]
In the adjacent fields is
THE RACE COURSE,
formed in 1833.
Constituting part of the race-ground is a field bearing the name of “The
Soldiers’ Piece,” which “old folks, time’s doting chronicles,” point out
as the spot on which the unfortunate Charles I., when at Shrewsbury in
1642, drew up his army and addressed the assembled gentry of the county
on the subject of his distresses.
A short walk now brings us to THE COLUMN, erected by the voluntary
subscriptions of the grateful inhabitants of the town and county of
Salop, to commemorate the brilliant victories and achievements of that
distinguished warrior, their countryman, Lieutenant General Lord Hill.
This fine Doric pillar, considered to be the largest in the world, was
completed on 18th June, 1816, the anniversary of the glorious Battle of
Waterloo, at an expense of £5,973. The design was furnished by Mr.
Edward Haycock, and the masonry executed by Mr. John Straphen, both of
Shrewsbury. The height, including the statue, is 132 feet, and the
weight 1120 tons. The chastely fluted shaft ascends from a square
pedestal, raised on two steps, and flanked by angular piers, bearing
lions couchant, and is surmounted by a cylindrical, pedestal, supporting
a statue of his Lordship. Appropriate inscriptions are engraved on the
panels of the basal pedestal. A beautiful spiral staircase of stone, the
munificent donation of the spirited builder, Mr. Straphen, winds round
the interior of the shaft, and opens on the summit, at the base of the
pedestal of the statue, from whence the delighted visitor will enjoy a
panoramic view over the fertile plain of Shropshire, unrivalled in extent
and splendour:—
“Ten thousand landscapes open to the view,
For ever pleasing, and for ever new.”
[Picture: Column in honour of Lord Hill]
Near the column, in a neat Doric stone cottage, dwells the attendant who
shows it.
At a few paces’ distance in a peaceful and retired spot stands the only
ecclesiastical structure of the town, with
ST. GILES’S CHURCH,
[Picture: St. Giles’s Church]
the exception of St. Mary’s church, which has descended to our times in
an entire state. Of its foundation we possess no record, though it has
been conjectured that its erection did not long precede the year 1136,
when Robert, Prior of Shrewsbury, rested here with the bones of St.
Wenefrede, previous to their translation to her shrine in the Abbey; and
some confirmation is afforded to this conjecture by the arches of the
northern and southern doors, the oldest existing portions of the
structure, being of the architecture of that æra. It was doubtless used
as the chapel of the hospital for lepers, which formerly stood at the
west end, but of which all traces have long been swept away. The edifice
consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle, with an open stone
bell-turret, pierced for two bells. The nave is entered by plain
semicircular doorways on the north and south sides, and is divided from
the side-aisle by three pointed arches on plain round pillars; attached
to the north sides of which are massive square piers, having fillets
above and on a level with the capitals, singularly adorned with sunk
quatrefoils. A handsome pointed arch of the fourteenth century
communicates with the chancel, in the flat-arched eastern window of which
are spirited figures of the Evangelists under rich canopies, with their
characteristic emblems above, and representations of the Visitation, the
Wise Men’s Offering, and the Presentation, all most exquisitely executed
in stained glass by Mr. David Evans. The small lancet window on the
north side also contains a figure of the patron saint, St. Giles, in
ancient stained glass.
In the floor are several ancient stones bearing crosses, probably
memorials of the masters of the hospital. At the east end of the north
aisle is a font originally in the Abbey Church, formed of a Norman
capital.
According to entries in the Parish Books of the date 1665, this church
originally possessed a “steeple” at the western end, probably an open
stone bell-turret, somewhat similar to the present one, springing from
corbels, which were visible in the western wall previous to its being
rebuilt in 1852, and a porch before the south door. In the “steeple” was
a “great bell” and two smaller ones, which were taken down in 1672, and
used in the following year, with four lesser bells and the great
“Wenefrede” Bell, in the recasting of the present ring of eight of the
Abbey Church.
In 1740, a considerable sum raised by subscription was expended in a
thorough repair of St. Giles’s Church, when probably the “steeple” and
the porch were removed, a bell-turret and single bell erected, and the
whole brought into the state in which it continued down to the recent
restoration.
In 1827 this curious edifice was, through the laudable exertions and
entirely at the expense of the Rev. W. G. Rowland, the liberal donor of
the beautiful east window, thoroughly and judiciously repaired, and
happily rescued from that ruin and decay to which its previous neglected
condition was fast hastening.
[Picture: Interior of St. Giles’s Church]
The primitive rude and massive oak benches in the nave were subsequently
removed, and replaced with new ones. A new pulpit, reading-pew, and
altar-screen, of oak, beautifully carved and in unison with the
architecture, were added, and the whole building fitted up for divine
service by the pious munificence of the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D.
Divine Service, which had previously been celebrated only on two Sunday
evenings in the year, has, since June 1836, been regularly offered up
every Sunday.
In the church-yard is a large stone with a cavity on the upper side,
(doubtless the base and socket of the cross) termed “the PEST BASIN,”
which tradition states to have been used during the time of the plague
for holding water, in which, to avoid the spread of the disease, the
towns-people deposited their money in their bargains for provisions with
the country-folk. A portion of the head of this cross was discovered
under the west wall of the church during the repairs in 1852. It is now
placed in the north aisle, and displays sculptures of the Crucifixion,
St. Giles, Virgin and Child, and St. Michael.
[Picture: “Pest-Basin,” in St. Giles’s Churchyard]