Heaven, the dreadful pestilential diseases of the sweating sickness and
the plague. The former desolated the town in the reign of Edward III. in
1349, and again in that of Henry VII., in the years 1485 and 1551; and
the latter raged here with frightful fury in the years 1537, 1575, 1630,
1632, and 1634. In the years 1832 and 1849, also, many of the
inhabitants fell victims to the cholera.
For the support of the Hospital of Lepers, Henry II. granted thirty
shillings yearly out of the rent of the County of Salop, and a handful of
two hands of every sack of corn, and a handful of one hand of every sack
of flour, exposed for sale in Shrewsbury market. Henry III. also in 1232
gave them a horse-load of wood, daily, from his wood of Lythwood.
The appointment of the Master was vested in the Abbot and Convent of
Shrewsbury, who, a short time previous to the Dissolution, granted a long
lease of it to Richard Lee, Esq. of Langley, who assigning his interest
to the family of Prince, of the White Hall, it passed with their other
estates into the Tankerville family. The Earl of Tankerville still
annually receives from the Sheriff the thirty shillings granted by Henry
II. and nominates the four hospitallers, who now live in the adjoining
comfortable cottages, and to each of whom his Lordship pays 1s. 6d. per
week, 3s. at Midsummer for coal, and 12s. 6d. at Christmas for a garment.
{153}
Near St. Giles’s is a handsome edifice of brick, built by government in
1806, at an expense of £10,000, after a design by Wyatt, and intended as
A DEPÔT
for containing the arms of the volunteer corps in this and the adjoining
counties.
The principal building is 135 feet by 39 feet, divided into an upper and
lower story, and is surrounded by an oblong enclosure, within which are
13 small neat houses. Little use having for many years been made of this
structure, it has, by purchase, become the property of the present Lord
Berwick. Recently it has been adapted as the Military Depôt of the
Shropshire Militia. {154}
We now return along the suburb of the Abbey Foregate,
“A long great streate, well builded large and faire,
In as good ayre, as may be wisht with wit.”
to the English Bridge.
Turning on the left we enter the suburb of Coleham, and soon arrive at
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY,
[Picture: Trinity Church]
consecrated August 25, 1837, for the accommodation of the numerous
inhabitants of Coleham, by voluntary subscriptions, aided by grants from
the Church Building Societies, at a cost of nearly £1900. Adjoining is a
large cemetery for the whole parish of St. Julian, and also commodious
school rooms. The church, which was made a district parish church in
1841, contains 812 sittings, of which 504 are free. In the gallery is a
small organ, by Bishop; in the window over the altar are figures in
stained glass of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul; and in two
of the windows in the body of the church are various scriptural
medallions in stained glass, which, together with a handsome service of
communion plate, were presented by the piety of the late Rev. Richard
Scott, B.D.
Near to Belle Vue is the Dissenters’ Cemetery. {157}
Having passed the English Bridge we turn on the left, and following the
course of “the sandy-bottom’d Severn,” soon arrive at the remains of
THE FRANCISCAN, OR GREY, FRIARS,
founded at an early period of the 13th century. Hawise Gadarn, (born
1291,) the heiress of the ancient Princes of Powis Gwenwynwyn, and wife
of Sir John de Cherleton, was a great benefactress of this religious
house, and contributed to the friars considerable aid in the erection of
their church, which it is conjectured she adorned with the fine stained
glass now in the east window of St. Mary’s church. This patronage was
continued to them by her son Sir John de Cherleton. The corporation of
the town also appear at all times to have regarded these friars with an
eye of peculiar favour, and to have bestowed upon them various sums of
money towards the repairs of their buildings. In the reign of Henry
VIII. the greater part of the house was rebuilt by Dr. Francis Duff hill,
at that time Warden. This and the other friaries of the town were on
their dissolution granted by Henry VIII. in 1543, to Richard Andrewes,
and Nicholas Temple. Portions of the friary converted into houses still
exist. On the side next the river is a MULLIONED WINDOW, and on the
other side a doorway, both of the obtusely pointed arch of the reign of
Henry VIII. The walls of the garden may be traced far into the adjoining
meadow.
[Picture: Window in Franciscan Friary]
The Lady Hawise, according to Leland, “lyith buried under a flate marble
by Chorleton’s tumbe,” in the church, and several members of her ancient
family received interment here. The path on the “gentle Severn’s sedgy
bank” soon leads us to
THE QUARRY,
“Whose walks are ever pleasant; every scene
Is rich in beauty, lively, or serene.”
[Picture: The Quarry]
This fine public promenade occupies a rich sloping meadow of about twenty
acres, and derives its name from a disused stone quarry, nearly in the
centre, which supplied a considerable part of the red sandstone visible
in the older portions of the walls and churches of the town. Its site
has long been designated “the Dingle,” and is planted with a bold clump
of most magnificent horse-chesnut and lime trees. A noble avenue of
lofty lime trees, gracefully unite their topmost boughs into a rich
embowered arch, and with their lower branches feathering to the gentle
windings of the beauteous river, forms the principal walk; to the middle
and each end of which, three other shaded walks lead from various streets
of the town. The still retirement and pleasing gloom of this delightful
grove, from which the noise of the busy town, and even a prospect of its
buildings, are almost entirely excluded,—the refreshing coolness of its
shade,—the rich verdure which ever clothes its meadows,—the fine sweep of
its umbrageous arch,—and the majestic flow of the river, which here
“with gentle murmur glides,
And makes sweet music with th’ enamel’d stones;
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage.”
all combine to render it the favourite and constant resort of the
inhabitant, and a principal attraction to the stranger. The ground was
laid out and planted in 1791, during the mayoralty of Henry Jenks, Esq.,
by Mr. Wright, a celebrated and intelligent nursery-man, resident in the
adjacent village of Bicton.
On the west side of the Quarry, in the Dingle, called the Dry Dingle, are
the remains of a rude amphitheatre, with ascending seats cut in the bank,
where the Friars of the adjacent Convent performed the ancient religious
Mysteries, or Miracle-plays, so famous in the days of our ancestors.
Here, also, during the reign of Elizabeth many plays were exhibited in
which the scholars of the Free Schools sustained the principal
characters.
Close adjoining to the Quarry are
THE AUSTIN FRIARS,
of which the only remnant is the lower part of a square red stone
building, probably the refectory, with two pointed doorways, and the
bases of a range of handsome windows. We find these friars here as early
as the year 1235, when they obtained from Henry III. a grant of a spot of
ground outside the walls, which had been used as a burial-place when the
kingdom was under an interdict, in the reign of King John. Upon this
small space they erected their chapel and buildings, which they were
enabled to enlarge and extend in the year 1295, by the piety of Geoffrey
Randolf, a burgess of the town, who granted them a contiguous plot of
ground for that purpose. At subsequent periods various portions of the
lands in the immediate neighbourhood of the convent were successively
added to their precinct. The corporation also were not wanting in
frequent and liberal contributions to these, as well as to the other
friars of the town. Still they never appear to have been either rich or
numerous, and at the Dissolution their buildings were in a most
deplorable state of ruin, inhabited only by a dissolute Prior, and two
Friars not of the foundation, who had greatly and disgracefully wasted
the conventual property. In 1403, several persons of note, who fell at
Battlefield, are said to have found interment in the cemetery of this
convent.
[Picture: St. Chad’s Church]
At the top of the Quarry stands the CHURCH OF ST. CHAD, a structure,
which, notwithstanding its many and glaring defects, must still be
pronounced handsome and commodious. The body is circular, and consists
of a rustic basement with square windows, on which reposes a
superstructure, containing a series of large arched windows; between each
of which are coupled Ionic pilasters, resting on the basement, and
supporting a bold cornice, crowned with an open balustrade. Attached to
the body is a smaller circle, similarly decorated; at the extremity of
which is the steeple, which consists of three stories: a square rustic
basement, from which rises an octagonal belfry, enriched with Ionic
pilasters, and above, a small cupola, supported on a heavy cylinder,
surrounded by eight slender Corinthian pillars. A heavy cross and vane
crowns the summit. On each side of the tower is a plain square wing,
which contains a vestry-room. Beneath a handsome portico of four Doric
pillars supporting a pediment, is the chief entrance, which opens into a
circular vestibule beneath the tower; beyond which is a kind of
ante-church, comprising the staircases leading to the galleries and
communicating with the body of the church. The interior is not a
complete circle, a segment having been taken off for two smaller
staircases, and for the shallow oblong recess forming the chancel. A
bold arch, resting on four rich composite pillars, marks the division of
the body and chancel. Above the altar, (which contrary to ancient usage,
is placed on the north side,) in a broad Venetian window is a
representation, in stained glass, of the “Descent from the Cross,” after
Rubens, the Salutation, and the Presentation in the Temple, executed by
Mr. David Evans of this town, whose skill and taste have also been
exercised in four other windows of this church, of which the subjects
are, the Raising of Lazarus, Christ receiving little children, the
Healing of the Sick, and the Tribute Money, all presented by the late
Rev. R. Scott, B.D. One of the other windows of the Church contains a
memorial in stained glass to E. Muckleston, Esq. A deep and capacious
gallery, decorated in front with a handsome balustrade, surrounds the
whole church, except the chancel, and reposes on a double range of short
pillars, with Ionic capitals. From these a corresponding tier of slender
fluted shafts, resembling the Corinthian order, rises to the ceiling,
which is adorned with a glory in the centre, and a rich cornice,
consisting of angels with wings interlaced. Over the chief entrance is a
large and fine organ built by Gray of London, in 1794, and enlarged and
improved by Gray and Davidson, in 1848. It has 30 stops, and comprises
1325 pipes.
This edifice, though possessing too much of the theatrical air, is
handsomely and conveniently furnished, and by the ingenuity of the
circular arrangement, all the congregation can distinctly hear and most
see the officiating clergyman during the whole of the services. It will
accommodate, in the pews below, 1000 persons, and in the gallery 750,
besides 400 free sittings provided for the poor.
[Picture: Font in St. Chad’s Church] THE FONT formerly belonged to the
parish church of Malpas, Cheshire; and is that in which the late Bishop
Heber was baptized.
The principal monuments are:—an oblong Grecian tablet, with an elegant
Latin inscription to the Rev. Francis Leighton, his lady, and two
grandchildren; a handsome pannelled marble tablet, supporting a fine bust
of the deceased, by Chantrey, inscribed to Mr. John Simpson, the eminent
architect and builder; and a similar tablet and bust, by Chantrey, to
William Hazledine, Esq., the builder of the Menai Bridge; and in the
Vestibule a marble mural monument to the Officers and Privates of the
53rd or Shropshire Regiment, who were killed on 10th February 1846, in
the battles of Subraon, Aliwal, and the relief of Loodhiana on the
Sutluj.
This church also contains a monument to the Rev. R. Scott, with the
following inscription:—
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
THE REV. RICHARD SCOTT, B.D.
WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE
ON THE 6TH OCTOBER, 1848,
IN THE 68TH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY HIS NEPHEW WILLIAM SCOTT,
AS A TOKEN OF REGARD AND AFFECTION TO
HIS LATE RELATIVE.
In the vestry is a carved figure of ST. CHAD in his episcopal robes,
preserved from the old church.
[Picture: Figure of St. Chad in St. Chad’s Church] This church is used on
most public occasions. The plan was furnished by Mr. Geo. Stewart, and
the cost of erection amounted to £17,752; the greater part of which sum
still remains a heavy debt on the parish. In the tower is a peal of
twelve melodious bells, cast by Messrs. Meares of London, purchased by
subscription, and inscribed with appropriate mottos. The deep-toned
tenor, of the weight of forty-one cwt. on which the clock strikes, may be
heard at a distance of several miles.
Turning on the left, we proceed down St. John’s Hill, and pass
THE QUAKERS’ MEETING-HOUSE,
a plain brick structure, built in 1746, and enlarged in 1807,—and
ST. JOHN’S, OR THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS’ MEETING-HOUSE,
a spacious and commodious brick building, erected in 1804, and
subsequently enlarged and decorated in a handsome style.
Besides these, there are meeting-houses for the Calvinistic Methodists,
and Sandemanians, or Scotch Baptists, in Hill’s Lane;—for the Baptists
and Independents, in Doglane and Castle Forgate; and for the Unitarians,
in High Street.
At the bottom of St. John’s Hill is
THE THEATRE,
the fine and lofty stuccoed front of which has a bold and imposing
effect, and constitutes the principal ornament of the street. The
central part comprises a range of excellent shops; at each end of which
is a comfortable dwelling-house, with entrance doors to the Theatre. The
interior is handsomely decorated, and adapted for the comfortable
accommodation of a numerous audience. The scenery, properties, and other
ornaments, are entirely new, and in a superior style.
The remains of an embattled stone mansion, called Charlton Hall, the
residence of the ancient family of Charlton, Lords of Powis, previously
occupied the site of the Theatre.
Opposite to the Theatre, in Barker Street, is
THE BELL STONE,
a red stone structure, surrounding three sides of a small quadrangle,
erected in 1582, by Edward Owen, alderman and draper of Shrewsbury, but
lately modernized, and completely re-cast, and now occupied as the
banking-house of a Branch of the National Provincial Bank of England.
The mansion derives its name of the Bell or Bente Stone, from a large
block of Chert or Hornstone, which originally lay in the street, at the
north angle of the outer wall, and which is still preserved in the court,
whither it was removed during the late alterations. The derivation of
the name and its connexion with the Stone have hitherto baffled the
ingenuity and researches of antiquaries.
Passing onwards through Shoplatch, we have on our right a mass of red
stone buildings, communicating with the street by a passage,—which
conjecture has assigned, either as the remains of the town house of the
Abbots of Haughmond, (that monastery having possessed property in this
immediate locality,) or as the residence of the ancient and extinct
family of Shutt, the name of Shutt Place being supposed to be preserved
in the name of the adjoining street, Shoplatch.
We now proceed down Mardol, about the centre of which, on the left-hand
side, is Hill’s Lane, in which stands
ROWLEY’S MANSION, OR HILL’S MANSION,
said to have been the first brick building erected in Shrewsbury. From
dates still visible on the leaden pipes, it appears to have been built in
1618, by William Rowley, an eminent brewer. This gentleman was a
favourer of Puritanism, and an intimate friend of Richard Baxter the
Nonconformist, and is stated to have been instrumental in strengthening
the prejudices of the latter against the church. He amassed a large
property by fortunate speculations in Barbadoes, and is related to have
planted Rowley’s Islands in the Caribbees. His son, Roger Rowley, Esq.
was of Gray’s Inn, and was the first person in this town who kept his
carriage. His eldest daughter and co-heiress Priscilla married John
Hill, Esq. of Shrewsbury, who made this mansion his residence, and gave
to it, and the street in which it stands, their present names.
At the bottom of Mardol are extensive Quays and Warehouses, at which the
numerous vessels which navigate the Severn load and unload their burdens.
Here also is
THE CIRCUS,
a spacious building, used occasionally for equestrian performances, but
more constantly as a depository for the immense quantities of butter and
cheese which are brought to the town for sale at the monthly fairs.
THE WELSH BRIDGE,
[Picture: Welsh Bridge]
called also in old times St. George’s Bridge, from the hospital of Saint
George, which once stood adjacent to it, crosses the Severn at this
point. It is a convenient, substantial, and handsome structure,
consisting of five elegant arches, the length being 266 feet, the breadth
thirty, and the height thirty, and was erected in 1795, after a design by
Messrs. Tilly and Carline of this town, at an expense of £8,000, raised
by subscription.
The old bridge which formerly stood here was removed on the erection of
the present one, and though highly inconvenient and ruinous, was a most
interesting monument of antiquity, and consisted of seven arches, with
massive gate towers at each extremity, in the finest style of castellated
building. It is described in his usual quaint style by the accurate
Leland, who visited Shrewsbury in 1539, “as the greatest, fayrest, and
highest upon the stream, having 6 great arches of stone.” “This bridge,”
he further says, “standeth on the west syde of the towne, and hath at the
one end of it a great gate to enter by into the towne; and at the other
end towardes Wales a mighty stronge towre to prohibit enemies to enter on
the bridge.”
Having passed the Welsh Bridge we enter
“An auncient streate cal’d Franckwell many a day:
To Ozestri, the people passe through this,
And unto Wales, it is the reddie way.”
The suburb of Frankwell, was in 1234, during the wars of Henry III. and
Llewellin Prince of Wales, reduced to ashes by the Welsh army.
Shrewsbury was the first place in England in which that dreadful
epidemic, the Sweating Sickness, broke out in the year 1551; and there is
a tradition that it made its first appearance in a passage in Frankwell,
called the White Horse Shut. This disease again appeared in this suburb
in the early part of June 1650, and continued its ravages throughout the
town until the middle of the January following. It is said that the
Butchers escaped the pestilence; and the fact of there being fewer
entries of burials in the register of St. Alkmund’s, the parish in which
they chiefly resided during that time, tends greatly to confirm the
tradition.
About the middle of Frankwell on the right hand side, stands
ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH.
[Picture: St. George’s Church]
This neat structure was erected in 1829, on a site presented to the
parish by Richard Drinkwater, Esq. and designed as a chapel of ease to
St. Chad’s Church. It is constructed of free-stone, in the lancet style
of architecture, and comprises a nave, transept, chancel, and western
tower. The interior is fitted up with due regard to elegance and
convenience, and will contain a congregation of 750 persons, for 460 of
whom free kneelings are provided. By the pious liberality of the late
Rev. Richard Scott, B.D. of this town, the chancel has been graced with a
carved altar screen and chairs of an architectural Gothic design, the
gallery with a small organ by Fleetwood, and the triple lancet windows
filled with most brilliant and spirited figures of Isaiah, St. Matthew,
and St. Mark, in stained glass, in the execution of which, that ingenious
artist Mr. D. Evans has, if possible, surpassed his previous elegant
productions. The windows of the transept likewise contain fine stained
glass of a rich and elaborate mosaic pattern, by which a mellowed and
devotional gloom is shed over this portion of the fabric, which
contributes considerably to the imposing effect of the splendid east
window.
The edifice was designed by Mr. Edward Haycock, and erected by Messrs.
Joseph Birch and Sons of this town, at a cost of nearly £4000, raised by
the voluntary subscriptions of the parishioners. The township of
Frankwell has been assigned as a district parish to this church.
The adjoining eminence is crowned by
MILLINGTON’S HOSPITAL,
founded in 1734, by Mr. James Millington of Shrewsbury, draper, and
endowed with the greater part of his ample fortune. This charitable
institution consists of a school-master and mistress, who have each a
house and salary, and instruct twenty poor boys and as many girls,
natives of Frankwell. These children are completely clothed twice in
every year, and at the age of fourteen are clothed and apprenticed with a
small premium, and at the expiration of their first year’s apprenticeship
rewarded with a gratuity, upon their producing a certificate of good
conduct. Twelve poor men or women selected from the single housekeepers
of Frankwell, or the nearest part of St. Chad’s parish, reside in the
Hospital, to each of whom are allotted two comfortable rooms and a small
garden, with an allowance of £6 per annum, a gown or coat on St. Thomas’s
day, and a load of coals on All Saints’ day. Gowns or Coats and forty
shillings each are also dispensed every year to ten poor single
housekeepers resident in Frankwell, the eldest of which pensioners in
time, succeeds to a vacancy in the hospital. The hospitallers and
out-pensioners receive likewise two twopenny loaves weekly. A chaplain
daily attends and reads prayers.
Two exhibitions of £40 a year each are founded for students of Magdalen
College, Cambridge, to which, scholars originally on the hospital
foundation have the preference, or in default of such, two born in
Frankwell, educated at the Free Schools, and having been one year in the
upper form in the head school are most eligible.
The hospital is a plain brick building. The central portion surmounted
by a pediment and clock turret comprises the chapel and school-room, and
the houses of the master and mistress, and in the wings on each side are
the apartments of the hospitallers. A lodge has recently been erected
and the ground in front enclosed from the street by an iron railing.
{176}
We now continue our walk along the undulating eminence, which rises
abruptly from the Severn opposite the Quarry, until we arrive at
KINGSLAND,
a large tract of ground, the common property of the Burgesses, studded
with small enclosures and buildings called “Arbours,” to which the
several incorporated trading companies of the town annually resort in
procession on the second Monday after Trinity Sunday, accompanied by
bands of music, flags, devices emblematical of their crafts, and preceded
by “a king” on horseback, gaily dressed with “crownlets and gauds of rare
device,” either representing the monarch who granted their charters, or
some principal personage of their trades. The Mayor and Corporation,
attended by many of the respectable inhabitants of the place, visit the
several Companies, and partake of refreshments prepared in their
respective arbours:—
“Whilst the merry bells ring round,
And the jocund rebecks sound,
To many a youth and many a maid
Dancing in the chequered shade;
And young and old come forth to play
On this sunshine holiday,
Till the live-long day-light fail.”