the Abbey Foregate, the living of which is annexed to that of Holy Cross.
It is a small plain building consisting of nave, chancel, and north,
aisle, with a small bell turret at the west end. Of its foundation we
possess no record, but the structure is doubtless as old as the early
part of the twelfth century, and some confirmation is afforded to this
conjecture by the arches of the northern and southern doors, having the
characteristics of that era. The nave is divided from the side aisle by
three pointed arches, sustained on plain round pillars. It is highly
probable that the north aisle was made for the accommodation of persons
afflicted with leprosy—the hospital of which formerly stood near the
church, and from which they had access by a pointed doorway, when they
might hear the offices of religion without endangering other worshippers
with their contagious malady. A lofty pointed arch separates the nave
from the chancel, which is terminated by a flat arched eastern window,
which is exquisitely beautified with stained glass, executed by Mr.
Evans. The four lower compartments have full length figures of the
Evangelists, standing upon hexagonal pedestals. Over each figure is a
beautiful canopy of tabernacle work, and the intersections of the tracery
contain the symbols of the Evangelists. In the three principal
compartments of the upper division, are fine representations of the
salutation, the wise men’s offering, and the presentation in the temple.
The small lancet window on the north side, contains a figure of the
patron saint, St. Giles, exquisitely executed. On the floor are several
ancient stones bearing crosses, probably denoting the interment of some
of the masters of the old hospital. From an entry in the parish
registrar of the date 1655, it appears this church formerly possessed a
steeple at the west end. 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 bells in the Abbey church. For a long period this
venerable edifice exhibited a rude appearance of damp and neglect, and
divine service was celebrated only on two Sunday evenings during the
year. In 1827, however, the Rev. W. G. Rowland, the liberal donor of the
beautiful east window, thoroughly repaired and happily rescued it from
the ruin and decay to which in its previous condition it was fast
hastening. Subsequently the massive oak benches were removed, and
replaced with new ones; a new pulpit and altar screen of oak, beautifully
carved in unison with the architecture were added, and the whole building
fitted up for divine service by the munificence of the Rev. Richard
Scott, who also gave £500 towards augmenting the salary of the
officiating minister. Since June, 1836, divine service has regularly
been performed on the Sabbath. The Rev. Joseph Simpson, M.A., is the
officiating minister. In the parish book is the following
memorandum:—“1585, paid Barnett and his sonne for pulling down the crosse
of St. Gyles, xviij d.” This cross formerly stood in the church yard,
and was curiously sculptured. A large stone which now lies in the church
yard, with a cavity on the upper side, was most probably the base and
socket of the cross. It is now 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 people deposited their
money in their bargains for provisions with the country folk.
ST. ALKMUND’S CHURCH, situated in St. Alkmund’s Square, is a neat
structure of freestone, erected in 1795, with the exception of the tower
and spire, which fortunately escaped the fate of a former edifice,
inconsiderately destroyed under a mistaken apprehension of its stability.
The original church was founded by Ethelfleda, daughter of Offa, King of
Mercia, who governed that kingdom at the beginning of the ninth century.
King Edgar, by the advice of St. Dunstan, gave other lands and
possessions, and placed here a dean and ten prebends. Its patron saint
was a prince of the Northumbrian family, who is said to have been buried
at Lilleshall. At the Doomsday survey, this church had possession of
nine manors, in all about 4,020 acres, out of which 620 were in demesne,
and a rent of £8. 8s. 8d., which, with other rents, produced a revenue of
£500 per annum. The manner in which it lost this appendage, as recorded
in Dugdale, is an example of the fluctuations to which, in those days of
turbulence, even the most sacred property was liable. King Edward the
Confessor wrested these lands from one Spirtes, a canon of St. Alkmund’s,
and gave them to Godfrey Wiffesune. On his death, about two years after
the conquest, Nigel, an ecclesiastic, obtained them. After his decease,
one Gilbert de Cundore, a layman, had possession of them, and retained
them till he was excommunicated by the bishop. In order to obtain
absolution, he and his knights submitted to do penance, and were flogged
by the canons at the altar of St. Alkmund’s church. The property finally
centred in Roger, Earl of Hereford, who held it by force of arms.
“The superior and dean of this collegiate church had, in common with
those of other Saxon foundations, the right of hereditary succession, and
even claimed a privilege of alienating the property to other than
religious uses. In the year 1150, when monastic institutions were
universally popular, and the colleges of the secular clergy had fallen
into disrepute, Richard de Belesme, then dean of St. Alkmund’s,
voluntarily surrendered the estates of the deanery, which lay at
Lilleshall, towards the endowment of an abbey of canons regular of St.
Augustine, about to be erected on that spot made sacred by the sepulchre
of the patron saint of his church; and so great was his zeal for this new
institution, that he solicited and obtained the consent of the Pope and
King Stephen for dissolving the college entirely, and for transferring
all its estates to the new abbey. Thus stripped of all its landed
property, the benefice sank from a collegiate establishment to a poor
vicarage, which continued in the patronage of the monks of Lilleshall
till the dissolution, when it became vested in the crown.”
The old church was a spacious structure, exhibiting various styles of
architecture, from the Anglo-Norman period to the middle of the sixteenth
century. Of its antiquity, however, few features remain; for the panic
caused by the sudden fall of St. Chad’s church, induced the parishioners
of St. Alkmund to petition parliament to pull down the body of the old
church, and erect a new one on its site. The modern building is in the
ancient pointed style of architecture; an oblong square, eighty-two feet
by forty-four feet, with a recess for the altar. The ancient tower,
terminated with crochetted pinnacles, remains, and is seventy feet high,
surmounted with a chaste and elegantly proportioned spire, one hundred
and fourteen feet—making a total of 184 feet from the ground. Over the
altar is a window of painted glass, executed about fifty years ago by
Eginton, representing Evangelical Faith, in a female figure as large as
life kneeling on a cross, with the eyes elevated and the arms extended
towards a celestial crown, which appears amidst the opening clouds, This
window was erected at a cost of two hundred guineas. The church is
handsomely fitted up, and will accommodate a congregation of 800 persons.
Upon the gallery, at the west end, is a good organ, erected by
subscription in 1823. The tower contains a peal of eight bells, recast
in 1813. The sound of church bells was supposed to be very efficacious
in chasing away the spirit of darkness by our superstitious ancestors.
The following curious notice will shew that they were not at all times
proof against infernal agency:—
“This yere, (1533) upon twelfe daye, in Shrowsbury, the dyvyll appearyd
in St. Alkmund’s churche, there when the preest was at high masse, with
great tempeste and darknesse, so that as he passyd through the churche he
mountyd up the steeple in the saide churche, tering the wyers of the
saide clocke, and put the print of his clawes upon the 4th bell, and took
one of the pinnacles away with him, and for the time stayed all the bells
in the churches within the saide towne, that they could neyther toll nor
ringe.”
Of the ancient tombs and mural monuments which abounded in the old
edifice, none were preserved in the present structure worthy of notice,
with the exception of a tablet to Chief Justice Jones, who died in 1692.
Several tablets of a modern date adorn the walls. The living is a
vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £6, now returned at £219. Patron,
the Lord Chancellor; incumbent, the Rev. Charles Edward Leopold Wightman,
M.A.
ST. JULIAN’S CHURCH is situated upon elevated ground, at the top of the
Wyle-cop, near to St. Alkmund’s church. Of its early foundation in Saxon
times we possess no particulars. It was distinguished through several
reigns as a rectory and a royal free chapel, with a peculiar
jurisdiction. According to Tanner, at a very early period it was annexed
to the free chapel of St. Michael, within the castle, and so continued
until the reign of Henry IV., when they were both resigned into the
king’s hands. Subsequently, the rectory was granted, among other things,
to augment the new foundation of Battlefield College, and thenceforth the
living became a mere stipendiary curacy. On the dissolution of that
college, the living was granted by the crown to John Capper and Richard
Trevor; and after many subsequent transfers, passed into the family of
Prince, from whom it has descended to the present patron, the Earl of
Tankerville.
The present church, built in 1749 on the site of a former edifice, which
had become ruinous, is an oblong structure in the Grecian style,
consisting of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower at the west
end. This tower is the only existing portion of the old church which
remains, and is crowned with eight crochetted pinnacles. It has an
excellent illuminated clock; and a peal of six bells, which were recast
in 1706. The interior has a handsome appearance: four Doric pillars on
each side the nave support the ceiling, which is carved and decorated
with the fret-work of the old church. Over the side aisles and west end
are commodious galleries, in the latter of which is a superior organ,
erected by subscription in 1834. The east window contains a figure of
St. James, in ancient stained glass, which was purchased from a splendid
collection brought from Rouen in 1804. Several of the other windows are
ornamented with armorial bearings. There is only one monument of any
antiquity: a coarse marble slab, inscribed in Longobaric capitals to a
member of the Trumwin family. Among the memorials of a modern date is
one to the memory of Mr. John Allatt, the benevolent founder of Allatt’s
Free School. The south aisle contains a neat memorial, of the Grinshill
freestone, to commemorate the liberality of the late Rev. Richard Scott,
B.D., who expended upwards of £1,500 in the reparations of this church,
and other improvements connected with the fabric. It contains the
following inscription, dated 1847, in reference to the improvements made
by Mr. Scott: “Who, in Christian love, and a desire to honour God with
his substance, has caused an effective architectural character to be
given to the exterior of the south side of this sacred edifice, which,
from the limited funds raised for its re-edification in 1750, necessarily
induced brick as a material, and a design possessing little claim to
taste; stone piers are now set at each end of the building and between
the lower windows, which have been lengthened. Above, on a block
cornice, are Roman Doric pilasters which sustain an entablature, crowned
by an open balustrade and vase-shaped acroteria. Fretted console tables
have been added to the upper windows, the architecture entirely renewed,
and, like those below, re-glazed with metallic frame-work. A new portal
and door at the eastern end of the south aisle, and the surface of this
portion of the church and chancel, covered with stucco; the apex of the
gable being finished with an appropriate ornament.”
In the north aisle is a similar memorial, inscribed to the same
individual for his munificent beneficence “In erecting an ornamental
stone wall and parapet round the church-yard, flagging the foot-path
underneath and that on the eastern side, and likewise along the basement
of the church, renewing the steps at the south-east thoroughfare, and
lowering, repairing, and enclosing those which form the main approach
from the street to the cemetery; also for a new pavement in the area
leading to and from before the south door, rebuilding the steps of the
portico with the addition thereto of a continuous pedestal, painting the
north side of the church, and cleaning the stone work, roofing the
chancel, and placing thereon a stone cornice and blocking course, with a
foliated cone at each angle, as well as for other useful improvements
connected with the fabric.” The living of St. Julian’s is a perpetual
curacy, returned at £159, in the patronage of Earl Tankerville, and
incumbency of the Rev. James Jardine Rogerson, M.A. The chapel of Ford
was formerly an appendent of this church.
ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH, situated at Frankwell, is a neat cruciform
structure, in the Gothic style, with a short tower at the west end,
ornamented with four pinnacles. It is built of the beautiful Grinshill
freestone, from a design by Mr. Haycock. The cost was nearly £4,000,
raised by voluntary subscription. It was consecrated for divine service
on January 30th, 1832. The interior has a chaste and elegant appearance,
and will contain a congregation of 750 persons. Of the sittings, 460 are
free and unappropriated. By the liberality of the late Rev. Richard
Scott, B.D., the chancel has been beautified with an altar screen, the
gallery with a small organ, and the triple lancet windows filled with
splendid stained glass. The centre window contains a full-length figure
of Isaiah, clothed in a brilliant vest of purple, over which is thrown a
green robe lined with ermine, denoting his royal descent. The windows on
each side have spirited figures of St. Matthew and St. Mark. The former
exhibits deep and serious meditation, and holds a manuscript in his left
hand; and the latter, a venerable figure, is pointing to an open gospel,
which he holds in his left hand. The windows in the north and south
transepts are also embellished with glass of a rich and elaborate mosaic
pattern, which contributes to the imposing effect of the splendid east
window. The living is a perpetual curacy, returned at £118, in the
patronage of the vicar of St. Chad; incumbent, the Rev. John Harding,
M.A.
ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH, situated in the populous suburb of Castle Foregate,
is a neat brick structure, in the Grecian style of architecture,
consisting of nave, side aisles, and elliptical recess for the communion,
with an octagonal tower in three divisions, rising to the height of
seventy feet, over the side aisles are galleries which are free; there is
also a spacious gallery in the west end for the use of the school
children, in which stands a small organ the gift of the Rev. W. G.
Rowland, M.A. The pulpit and reading desk are octagonal, and placed on
opposite sides of the church; the roof is panelled in large square
compartments, and painted in imitation of oak. Three windows of stained
glass which decorate the chancel are the exquisite productions of Mr.
David Evans. The centre one is illustrative of the Nativity, from the
celebrated “La Notte” of Correggio. The windows on each side represent
the Annunciation, and the Presentation in the Temple; the former from a
picture by Guido, and the latter from a celebrated painting by Rubens.
These windows were the gift of the Rev. W. G. Rowland, M.A., to whose
liberality the parishioners are also indebted for the service of
communion plate, the peal of six bells, which hang in the tower, and the
erection of the adjacent school rooms, for the education of the poor
children of this populous portion of the parish of St. Mary’s. The
church was erected at an expense of £2000, raised by subscription, and
consecrated on the 24th August, 1830, as a chapel of ease to St. Mary’s
church. The edifice contains 800 sittings, of which 600 are free and
unappropriated.
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY, situated on the Meole-road, was erected
in 1837, for the accommodation of the inhabitants of the populous suburb
of Coleham. It was built at a cost of nearly £1900, raised by
subscription, aided by the grant of £600, from the Lichfield Diocesan
Society, and a further grant of £150, from the Incorporated Church
Building Society. The structure is a neat fabric of brick with a short
tower; the body of the church has five windows on each side, and an
elliptical recess for the communion, separated, internally, from the nave
by a circular arch. The church contains 812 sittings, of which 504 are
free. The window over the altar contains beautifully executed figures in
stained glass, of the Evangelists, and St. Peter and St. Paul; several of
the other windows are beautified with scriptural medallions, in stained
glass, which together with a handsome service of communion plate, were
presented by the late Rev. Richard Scott, B.D. This place of worship was
formed into a district parish church in 1841. The living is a perpetual
curacy enjoyed by the Rev. James Colley, M.A.
ANCIENT CHAPELS.—Several ancient chapels formerly stood in various parts
of the town, the most considerable of which seems to have been the
collegiate chapel of ST. MICHAEL, within the castle. No vestige of its
site now remains, though it probably existed, at least in a ruinous
state, in the reign of James II., for, it appears at that time, an order
was made by the corporation, “that enquiry should he made after the
stones taken away from the ruins of St. Michael’s chapel within the
castle.” Part of the CHAPEL OF ST. NICHOLAS, on the left hand entrance
to the council house, is still standing; it is of the early Norman era,
and most probably was built by the first Norman, Earl of Shrewsbury, for
the use of such of his retainers as resided in the outer works of the
castle. The only portions of this edifice at present remaining are the
nave, a massive arch formerly opening into the chancel, and two similar
side arches. The building is now converted into a stable. ST.
CATHERINE’S CHAPEL is stated to have occupied an elevated site upon
Coton-hill. The CHAPEL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, a site near Trinity
Church. ST. BLASE’S CHAPEL was situated in the Murivance. A tea garden
near the site of the Belle-vue, was formerly called the Hermitage. These
and other ecclesiastical edifices which once adorned this eminent town,
have now disappeared; yet their faint traces still afford matter of
interesting speculation for the antiquary.
DISSENTING CHAPELS.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHAPEL, situated in High-street, as the first dissenting
place of worship established in the town, claims our first attention. To
the act of uniformity, which, on St. Bartholomew’s day, 1662, drove from
their livings upwards of two thousand clergymen of the church of England,
Shrewsbury is indebted for its first dissenting church. It was formed by
the Rev. John Bryan, M.A., and the Rev. Francis Tallants, M.A., ejected
from the livings of St. Chad’s and St. Mary’s. Their meetings were first
held in the house of Mrs. Hunt, and after experiencing various
alternations of suffering and indulgence during the unsettled times that
followed the act of uniformity, in 1683 their meetings were suppressed,
and these eminent preachers of the gospel were forced into obscurity. On
King James II. allowing liberty to Dissenters to meet for worship, they
assembled as before in Mrs. Hunt’s house. In 1691, they built a chapel
in High-street, and Mr. Tallants caused the following (with the latter
sentence the Hugonists, of France, usually began their worship,) to be
painted on the walls:—“_This place was not built for a faction or a
party_, _but to promote repentance and faith in communion with all those
who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity_. ‘_Our help is in the name
of the Lord who made heaven and earth_.’” The year 1715 was particularly
unfortunate for Protestant Dissenters; mobs and riots arose in various
places, particularly in Lancashire, Shropshire, and Staffordshire—among
the chapels pulled down in Shropshire were those of Wem, Whitchurch, and
Shrewsbury. The chapel, in High-street, was soon after rebuilt by the
government, and the liberties of Dissenters confirmed and fixed upon a
solid foundation. In 1839 the venerable chapel was almost entirely taken
down, owing to the building being considered unsafe, and because the
commissioners under the street act required a part of the premises. It
was rebuilt nearly on the old site, and re-opened for public worship in
July, 1840. The interior has a simple and primitive appearance, the
fittings are of old oak; there is accommodation for about 300
worshippers. The Rev. Richard Astley has been the respected pastor of
the congregation since the year 1831. For a more extended and very
pleasing account of this place of worship, we beg to refer our readers to
the “History of the Presbyterian Meeting House of Shrewsbury,” published
by the present minister in 1847.
THE INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, situated on Swan-hill, had, its origin in some
unhappy disputes which arose in the congregation worshipping in
High-street chapel, relative to the invitation of a minister being
invited to settle among them. The chapel is a substantial brick edifice,
with a neatly furnished interior, and contains six hundred sittings. On
a stone tablet in the front is the following inscription:—“This building
was erected in the year 1767, for the public worship of God, and in
defence of the rights of majorities in Protestant Dissenting
congregations, to choose their own ministers.” There is a cemetery
adjoining the chapel. The Rev. Thomas Weaver has been the pastor of the
congregation worshipping here for 52 years.
THE INDEPENDENT CHAPEL, Castle-gates, a handsome building of free stone,
is the most imposing structure in connection with the nonconformists in
the town of Shrewsbury. It was erected in 1845, at a cost (including the
site) of £3000. The interior has a very chaste, and beautiful
appearance; it will hold six hundred persons. The Rev. Edward Hill is
the minister.
THE CATHOLIC CHAPEL is situated in Beeche’s-lane, near the southern
portion of the town walls. It is a neat building erected in 1776, and
enlarged in 1825; the front is stuccoed, and surmounted by a plain cross.
The interior has a tasteful and elegant appearance; the altar rests on a
sarcophagus, on the front of which is a painting of the last supper,
above is a figure of Christ on the cross. On the gallery is a small
organ, and on each side the entrance an elegant marble shell for the holy
water. The chapel will hold about three hundred worshippers. The Rev.
Eugene Egan is the priest. A plot of land, extending from Belmont to the
southern walls, has been purchased, with the intention of erecting a new
Catholic church, on a scale commensurate with the wants of an increasing
congregation. The Catholics formerly met for worship in an upper room of
an old house in St. Alkmund’s-square.
THE BAPTIST CHAPEL, situated in Claremont-street, a plain brick building,
was opened for divine worship in 1780, and enlarged in 1810. A society
of this persuasion is stated to have existed in this town, in the time of
the Commonwealth. In the chapel is a small memorial, of Mr. Palmer, who
was pastor of the congregation for twenty-seven years.
THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL is a commodious building, on St.
John’s-hill, erected in 1804, and subsequently enlarged and decorated.
It is neatly fitted up, and surrounded with galleries, in which is a
small organ. It is calculated to hold 700. The Methodists have also
small places of worship in the Castle Foregate and New-street, Frankwell.