certain lands for the endowment of a grammar school and other charitable
uses, in Newport, in 1656. By an act of parliament passed in the 12th
year of the reign of King Charles II., after reciting the erection of the
school-houses and alms-houses by William Adams, and his settlement of
lands for the maintenance thereof, it was enacted that the master and
four wardens of the Company of Haberdashers in London for the time being,
and their successors, should be governors of the possessions of the Free
Grammar School of Newport; and that they should have a common seal, for
the sealing of their affairs, and hold all possessions granted by Mr.
Adams for the maintenance of the school and other charitable uses. Among
the objects of the trust Mr. Adams directed £20 yearly to be paid to the
minister of Newport, for his encouragement in the works of the ministry,
and upon the condition that the preacher for the time being should weekly
catechise the scholars, children, and servants of the town of Newport, or
such of them as for that purpose should repair to the parish church; and
if the preacher should wilfully neglect to perform the weekly duty, the
governors should apply the said £20 for the benefit of the poor, or in
such charitable uses as they should think fit. A yearly sum of £60 was
to be paid to the schoolmaster, and £20 to the usher; also £24 per annum
to the inmates of the four alms-houses which he caused to be erected, and
a like annual sum to be paid in apprentice fees, with various other
gifts. The estate which Mr. Adams devised is situated at Knighton, in
Staffordshire, and comprises 797A. 2R. 26P. of land. There is also a
farm situated at Woodseves, in the parish of Market Drayton, containing
85A. 1R. 38P., which was purchased with the sum of £500, obtained from a
sale of timber cut from the Knighton estate. In 1667 the testator
demised the premises at Knighton for a term of twenty-one years to Luke
Justice, at the annual rent of £175; and in 1714 the governors, on the
surrender of the lease, which had become vested in William Justice,
re-demised the premises to the said William Justice for another term of
seventy years, at the same rent. The provisions of the will in behalf of
Luke Justice were evidently intended as matter of favour to that
individual; but it is difficult to conceive that two successive terms,
embracing a period of 106 years, were in contemplation of the testator,
when he authorized the granting of a lease for so long a time. Upon the
expiration of the last lease the premises were let in several farms, on
leases of twenty-one years and a half, at rents amounting to £476. 14s.,
which considerably exceeded the amount of the several payments prescribed
by the founder; and it became necessary to obtain the directions of a
Court of Chancery as to the disposal of the surplus. In the course of
the proceedings which were instituted on that occasion, the heir-at-law
of William Adams interposed his claim to the surplus rents beyond the sum
of £175, the amount of the several charitable uses appointed by the
founder; but it was determined by the court that there was no resulting
trust in the charity estate for the said heir-at-law. By a decree made
November, 1797, and a subsequent decree made December, 1808, on the
occasion of a further advance of the rents to the sum of £768. 17s., a
scheme for the disbursement of the income was established, which
augmented the expenditure to £692 per annum. The leases having expired
in 1814, new leases were granted under the direction of the court, and
the advanced rents made the yearly income £957. 3s. 6d. From this fund
the head master receives £200 per annum, the second master £100, and the
third £100. The other principal items of expenditure are a sum of £60
per annum paid to the minister of Newport; to putting out three
apprentices yearly, £54; exhibitions to four scholars at the university,
£90; to the four alms-people, £78; to twenty-four persons free of the
Haberdashers’ Company, £75; an allowance for books, £10; repairs of the
school-house and alms-house, £10; to a boy for ringing the school bell,
£3; to a boy for sweeping the school, £3; to the clerk of the
Haberdashers’ Company, £6; to the two beadles, £3; Woodreave, £2; the
receiver, £21; besides which there are several small items for incidental
expenses.
The school premises is a spacious building situated a little back from
the High street, and is respectively appropriated to the use of the
school, and to the residence of the master and usher, as directed by the
founder. By the statutes of the school it was intended for the
instruction of eighty scholars; but the town of Newport and its
neighbourhood, to which a preference was given by the founder, not being
able to supply the full number, the scholars are admitted indifferently
from other parts; and to facilitate their admission, it has been left to
the head master to appoint them on their application to him, without the
intervention of visitors, on whom that duty was imposed by the statutes.
The course of education was intended to embrace the Hebrew language; but
it appears to have been hitherto confined in practice to Greek and Latin,
with the addition of writing and arithmetic. In December, 1850, there
were 59 scholars on the foundation. Charles Waring Saxon, D.D., is the
head master; Rev. William Sandford, M.A., second master; Mr. Richard
Crowther, third master. The particulars of the four exhibitions on
Careswell’s foundation will be found noticed with Bridgnorth Grammar
School. The alms-houses above mentioned are situated near the gates, at
the entrance to the Grammar School.
THE ENGLISH SCHOOL is a neat brick building, erected in 1843, and
situated on the Wellington road. This school appears to have had its
origin in a certain grammar school, which, by the certificate of the
commissioners under the statute of the 1st of Edward VI., now remaining
in the augmentation office, was certified to have been always kept by
Richard Robins, one of the Fellows of the college of Newport, to whom was
paid out of the revenues of that college the annual stipend of £5. In
the twenty-third year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, her Majesty
granted to Edmund Downing and Peter Ashton, “all that site of the late
college of Newport, in the county of Salop, late the possession of the
said college, with all rights, members, and appurtenances, rendering to
her said Majesty £15 yearly, to be paid for a salary or stipendary curate
of Newport, and school-master there—that is to say, to the curate £10,
and to the schoolmaster £5.” William Robson, in 1633, deposited £5,000
in the hands of the Salters’ Company for charitable uses, among which he
directed £5 per annum to be paid to the master of the free school at
Newport, and £10 per annum to a lecturer, and a like sum annually for the
benefit of the poor. William Adams gave to the bailiffs and burgesses of
Newport, and their successors for ever, all those two closes, situate at
Norbroom, upon trust, to apply the rents for the support of the English
school. William Barnfield, in 1665, gave “six days’ work of ground in
Norbroom, four tenements let for 16s. a year each, and a shop let for
30s. per annum, towards the support of the free school.” The total
income, when, the charity commissioners published their report, amounted
to £49. 1s., of which £24 arises from Adams’s gift, £15. 11s. from
Barnfield’s, £5 from Robson’s benefaction, and £4. 10s. from the
receiver-general. The school has long been confined to the instruction
of children in reading English, and we find it described by the name of
the English school as early as 1660. How long before that period it had
ceased to teach grammar we have not been able to discover; but it may
reasonably be conjectured to have been about the time when that branch of
education became otherwise so largely provided for by the establishment
of the Free Grammar School of William Adams. The school is free to the
children of the humbler classes of society for instruction in English:
fifty-four scholars now attend.
THE INFANT SCHOOL, situate on the Wellington road, was built in 1841 at a
cost of £250; the room is spacious and lofty, and has an average
attendance of 95 scholars. The Sunday school in connection with the
Independent Chapel is also situated on the Wellington road, and has an
attendance of 150 children.
THE GIRLS’ NATIONAL SCHOOL is a neat brick structure, situated in the
Workhouse lane; it was built in 1842, and has an average attendance of
seventy children.
THE TOWN’S ALMSHOUSES. In 1446 the burgesses or commonalty of Newport
granted to William Glover a plot of land between the church-yard and the
king’s highway, towards the north, between two stiles in the said
church-yard, that the said William Glover should build on the land a
hospital for the use of the poor. The almshouses are appropriated to the
use of four poor old women of the town of Newport, who are appointed from
time to time by the trustees, and retain their respective places for
life. The rents of lands and dividends of funded property, left by
various benefactors, produced a yearly income of £69. 14s. when the
charity commissioners published their report. Each inmate has a weekly
payment of 4s. 6d. from Lady-day to Michaelmas, and 5s. from Michaelmas
to Lady-day. They also receive 10s. each for coals, and a gratuity of
5s. each at Christmas. The present almshouse was built in 1836, and is
situate in Workhouse lane.
THE SAVINGS’ BANK, held at Mr. Silvester’s, High street, was enlarged in
1818, on November 20th; the capital stock of the bank amounted to
£36,221. 12s. 10d., at which period there were 1,450 separate accounts,
of which twelve were charitable and seven friendly societies. Of the
total number of depositors 963 had respective balances under £20; 268
were above £20 and less than £50; 135 did not exceed £100; 51 did not
exceed £150; 31 were above the latter sum and less than £200; and two
exceeded £200. Mr. Charles Silvester is the secretary.
THE COUNTY COURT OFFICE, for the recovery of debts, and in all pleas of
personal action where the damage does not exceed £50, is situated in High
street. The several parishes and places within the jurisdiction of the
court in Shropshire are Adney, Brockton, Caynton, Cherrington, Cheswell,
Chetwynd. Chetwynd Aston, Chetwynd End, Church Aston, Donington,
Donington Wood, Edgmond, Howle, Lilleshall, Longford, Littlehales, Lynn,
Muxton, Newport, Pave Lane, Pickstock, Pilston, Sambrook, Stockton,
Tibberton, Vauxhall, Woodcote. The places in Staffordshire are Adbaston,
Alston, Apeton, Aqualate, Batchacre, Beffcote, Bishops Offley, Bromstead,
Coton, Cowley, Flashbrook, Forton, Gnosall, Great Chatwell, High Offley,
Knighton, Knightley, Loynton, Meertown, Moreton, Norbury, Oulton,
Outwoods, Plardiwick, Shebdon, Sutton, Tunstall, Weston Jones,
Wilbrighton, and Woodseaves. _Judge_: Uvedale Corbett, Esq., Aston Hall.
_Clerk_: William Liddle, Esq., Newport. _High Bailiff_: George Hill
Townsend, Wolverhampton. _Appraiser and Auctioneer_: Joseph Doody, High
street, Newport. _Bailiff_: Thomas Roberts, Upper Bar, Newport.
THE NEWPORT UNION HOUSE, situated in Workhouse lane, a plain brick
structure, will accommodate about sixty inmates; the aged, infirm, and
the older children are sent to the union house of Gnosall, in
Staffordshire, which is connected with the Newport union, and this house
is for the reception of the able-bodied poor and very young children.
The several places comprised in the union in the county are Newport,
Chetwynd, Chetwynd Aston, Church Aston, Cherrington, and Edgmond. The
townships and places in Staffordshire are Adbaston, Forton, Gnosall, High
Offley, Norbury, and Weston Jones. _Chairman to the Guardians_: John
Cotes, Esq. _Clerk_: Henry Heane, Esq. _Chaplain_: Rev. William
Sandford. _Surgeons_: Mr. William Lindop, Mr. Godley, and Mr. John
Green. _Relieving Officer_: Mr. Benjamin Rees. _Master_: Samuel
Winnell. _Matron_: Emma Wellings.
THE MARKET HALL is an ancient structure, standing upon pillars, and
situate nearly in the centre of High street. The area between the
pillars is appropriated to a corn market; and here the farmers assemble
on a market day for the sale of corn and other grain, which is sold by
sample. The market is held on Saturday, when the town has a busy and
animated appearance. Above the corn market is a spacious room, which is
used for magisterial purposes. Here the petty sessions are held every
alternate Tuesday, and the official business of the county court is also
transacted here. An adjoining room is used as a Sunday school. The
Market Hall was chiefly erected at the expense of William Adams, the
munificent founder of the Grammar School, who “gave £550 towards building
a town house.” Near to the Market Hall is a butter market, a covered
area, which is of more modern construction. Under this covering is the
market cross, a structure of considerable antiquity, consisting of four
steps, and a fluted pillar broken at the top, the whole much dilapidated
by time.
FAIRS.—The chartered fairs at Newport have merged into the fortnightly
cattle market, held every alternate Tuesday, except the fair held on May
28th, which is still continued. These markets are well attended by the
farmers in the surrounding district, and considerable quantities of fat
and other stock are sold. Whether the growing importance of the
Shrewsbury cattle market, which is held on the same day, will not tend to
diminish the number of buyers at Newport remains to be seen.
THE GAS WORKS, situate in Marsh lane, were established in 1835 by a
company of shareholders with a capital stock of £1,800, since which £400
has been added to the capital. There are two gasometers, each of which
will hold about 8,000 cubic feet of gas. A charge of 7s. 6d. per 1000
cubic foot is now made to the consumer. The expense of lighting the
streets is paid from the income arising from the town lands, and the cost
of pitching the streets is also paid from the same source.
THE LOCK-UP, situate on the Stafford road, has been built within the last
few years. It is a small structure with two cells, and residence for the
constable.
THE RAILWAY STATION is situated about half a mile S.E. from the church,
within the bounds of the township of Field Aston. There are six trains
each way daily; an omnibus meets the different trains, and calls at the
principal inns in the town. Newport is distant 17½ miles from Shrewsbury
and 11½ miles from Stafford by railway.
Newport sustained great damage by a fire which broke out on the 16th May,
1655; it consumed 162 houses, the loss of which with what they contained
was estimated at £30,000. It is stated that a festival was formerly kept
on the 30th August, in memory of Mr. Adams, the founder of the Grammar
School and almshouses. Tradition says that Charles II., being informed
what large sums Mr. Adams had expended in charitable uses, expressed a
desire to see him when he was on a visit to the city; and Mr. Adams being
introduced to his Majesty, the King asked him whether he had not
straitened his fortune by his great benefactions. Mr. Adams replied that
he had not, and if his Majesty pleased he would present him with £1,000,
provided he would procure an act of parliament to exempt his land from
taxes, to which the king consented. How far the above may be true we are
unable to affirm; it is certain, however, that the estate at Knighton,
with which the Grammar School is endowed, is exempt from parliamentary
and parochial taxation.
THE MARSH TRUST.—By an Act of Parliament passed in the 4th of George
III., intituled “An act for dividing and inclosing a waste ground called
the Marsh, in the township of Newport, in the county of Salop, and for
applying the produce thereof to the several purposes therein mentioned;”
after reciting that there was within the said township a common waste
ground called the Marsh, containing 117 acres, or thereabouts, wherein
each householder in the said town had from time immemorial a right of
turning a milch cow, which privilege had proved of very little advantage
to the town, but rather an inconvenience, by increasing the poor thereof;
and that it was apprehended that the enclosing and improving the said
Marsh, and applying the profits thereof from time to time, after making
satisfaction to the lords of the manor for their respective rights
therein, in paving and keeping in repair the streets of the town of
Newport, and in keeping in repair the Market Hall and Cross there; and
also in establishing and encouraging some manufacture, and in
apprenticing the children of the poor parishioners of Newport, would be
of great advantage to the town in general, and might be a means of
extending a manufactory throughout the neighbourhood; it was enacted,
that certain persons therein named, and their heirs and successors
respectively should be trustees, for enclosing, improving, and dividing
the said Marsh, and for putting the said act into execution: and it was
further enacted, that from and immediately after passing that act, all
right of common or pasturage in or upon the said Marsh should cease and
be extinguished; and the trustees were authorized to set out to the Earl
of Shrewsbury such portion of the Marsh as two indifferent persons should
appoint, as a recompense and satisfaction for the said earl’s four
beast-gates upon the Marsh: and it was further enacted, that the residue
of the said Marsh, after the allotment so made, should be vested in the
said trustees and their successors, and be freed from all right, title,
and interest whatsoever, of the householders of the township.
A survey being made in pursuance of the directions of the act, the Marsh
was found to contain 111A. 3R. 31P., of which four acres being allotted
to the Earl of Shrewsbury for beast-gates, there remained 107A. 3R. 31P.
to be employed for the beneficial objects of the trust. This remainder,
the trustees then proceeded to inclose and subdivide; and as an effective
mode of providing for the fencing-in and improvement of the different
parcels, they granted leases for 99 years, determinable on three lives,
binding the lessees by covenants to plant and set the fences, within a
limited time, with good hawthorn sets; to make ditches of certain
dimensions; and otherwise to improve and properly manage the respective
parcels demised to them. The leases originally granted produced a yearly
income of £91. 7s.; but a considerable income may reasonably be looked
for on the falling of leases, determinable on three lives, the lands
being valued at upwards of £3 per acre, which would produce an annual
rental of about £350. The income is subject to a charge for land-tax of
£6. 2s.; chief rent, £1; and £5. 5s. to the collector of rents. In the
application of their annual rents, the trustees were in the first
instance called upon to defray the expenses attending the Act of
Parliament and the preliminary arrangements in execution of their trust,
which amounted to £663. 0s. 8d. These expenses being discharged, the
income was next applied, for several years, to the purpose of repairing
the streets and public buildings specified in the act; and having
appropriated to those uses, from time to time, the sum of £808. 3s. 5½d.,
the trustees had in hand, on the balancing of their accounts in April,
1785, the sum of £93. 8s. 7½d. In the year 1787 the benefits of the
trust were extended to the establishment of a Sunday school, and in 1790
to that of a stocking manufactory. This undertaking being found not to
prosper, was superseded in 1796 by the erection of a wind-mill for
grinding corn. This measure appears to have been loudly called for by
the inhabitants of Newport, as a means of protecting themselves against
what were deemed the extortionate demands of the millers of the
neighbourhood. The speculation, however, proved exceedingly ruinous, and
was finally abandoned in the year 1801; since which time the rents of the
premises have been applied, as before, to the repairs of the streets and
public buildings, as far as there has remained a surplus, after keeping
down the annual interest of the debts which these abortive schemes have
entailed upon the trust. It appears that £460 was expended in the
attempt to establish the manufacture of stockings, and the corn-mill cost
£2,000. The latter, however, was subsequently sold for £900. Previously
to the year 1799 debts had been contracted to carry on these schemes,
amounting to £2,300. This sum had been reduced to £1,100, when the
Charity Commissioners published their report, which had been secured by
mortgage of the Marsh, at five per cent. interest; so that there remained
an annual charge of £55 in respect of the debts which remained unpaid.
In addition to the debts contracted for the purposes above mentioned,
£192. 4s. 3d. was borrowed from the treasurer in 1811, for the benefit of
the public repairs, for which it was agreed to allow him five per cent.
interest until he should reimburse himself from the rents.
THE BRIDGE TRUST.—By an indenture, dated 5th May, 1749, purporting to be
made between the Earl of Shrewsbury and Earl Gower, lords of the manor of
Newport, and Robert Pigot, Esq., steward of the borough of Newport, and
the burgesses of the said borough, of the first part, and Robert Barber,
Esq., and others, of the second part, it was witnessed that the said
earls, steward, and burgesses, granted to the said Robert Barber, and
others, all those parcels of lands lying waste, but formerly covered with
water, called the Strine, or Newport Pool, and the Flags, with the
appurtenances, in trust, that, with the rent, issues, and profits
thereof, the Pool Dam, at the lower end of the town, should be repaired
and kept in good order; and if any surplus should remain, the same should
be appropriated to keeping in good order the pavement of the streets, or
in the reparation of the Market House or Town Hall. A subsequent
indenture was made, dated 17th October, 1750, granting the waste lands
called the Flags, and also a small parcel of land lying near the entrance
to the same, rendering the annual rent of 5s. The premises conveyed in
these indentures were found by a survey, made in 1804, to contain 2A. 2R.
21P. of land, which produced an annual rental of £18. The rent, after
deducting the 5s. reserved to the burgesses, and certain incidental
expenses, appears to have hitherto been confined to the repair of the
Bridge and Bridge-street; which not having exhausted the whole, the
surplus has been deposited, from time to time, in the Newport Bank.
CHARITIES.—_The Rev. Thomas Perkes_, by will, dated 26th March, 1734,
gave (after the death of his wife, Hannah) to the minister and
churchwardens of the parish of Newport, and their successors, the sum of
£200, to be laid out in lands, and the profits thereof (except the sum of
20s. to be paid to the minister, as a recompense for disposing of the
charity) to be expended in purchasing Holy Bibles, Books of Common
Prayer, and books intitled The Whole Duty of Man, to be yearly
distributed among the poorer sort of inhabitants of Newport; and when
such poor people should, in the judgment of the minister, be sufficiently
supplied with such books, then the yearly rent should be laid out in
clothing old people residing in and being parishioners of the town of
Newport. A preference to be given to those that should be of the most
religious and orderly life.
_Hannah Perkes_, wife of the above Mr. Perkes, who appears to have died
in 1766, bequeathed £600, to be put upon land or other good security, to
the intent that the interest should be duly applied towards the setting
out three poor boys, of the parish of Newport, apprentices in some place
of manufacture, to be elected annually by the minister, church-wardens,
head-schoolmaster, together with five men nominated by the parish
yearly,—especial regard being had that the boys so chosen should be able
to read the English tongue well. She likewise left £100, to be laid out
in land, or some other good security, the interest to be distributed
amongst the poorest inhabitants of the parish, upon St. Thomas’s day.
These several legacies, amounting together to the sum of £900, were laid
out in the purchase of £996. 1s. 9d. three per cent. reduced annuities,
producing annual dividends amounting to £29. 17s.; two-ninths of which
are annually paid to the minister on account of Mr. Perkes’s charity, and
on account of Mrs. Perkes’s charity six-ninths are annually applied on
apprentice fees, and one-ninth is expended in bread for the poor.
_Mrs. Mary Scott_ bequeathed £100, and desired the minister and two
masters of the free-school, whom she constituted trustees, to dispose of
the yearly produce in the relief of poor housekeepers of this parish,
except that every fourth year they should lay out the income in Bibles,
Common Prayer Books, and The Whole Duty of Man, which should be
distributed among poor children whose parents should not be able to
provide them. This gift, and a further legacy of £20, the gift of _Mrs.
Felicia Vyse_, was laid out on the 8th of March, 1786, in the purchase of
a plot of land, situated at Chetwynd End, called the Four-day Math, and
containing 3A. 0R. 36P., which land was conveyed to the then minister and
two masters of the grammar school, on trust, to apply five-sixths of the
rents to the charitable uses appointed by Mrs. Scott, and to pay the
remaining sixth among the poor of the parish. The land produces an
annual rental of £13. 17s. The rent is received by the minister, as one
of the trustees; but in the application of it the trusts do not appear to
have been duly kept in view, the rent having been paid to the
churchwardens for general distribution among the poor, without reserving
any portion for the purchase of books, as directed by the will of Mrs.
Scott.
DOLE CHARITIES.—By an indenture, dated the 23rd of March, 1675, certain
lands, situated at Little Aston, called the Foxhall lands, were conveyed
for the sum of £220 to William Harding, one of the churchwardens of the
parish, for charitable uses, subject to a yearly rent of 3s. 6d. to
Thomas Talbot, the lord of the manor. It does not appear from what
source the consideration money of this purchase was derived, but it is
probable that it arose from a stock of £161, recorded in an inquisition
as having been given by several donors, and the additional sum might be
the subsequent accumulations of interest upon it. The premises consist
of a cottage and garden, and three closes; containing in the whole about
13 acres of land. They were let under a lease of 14 years at Lady-day,
1814, at the annual rent of £82. It appears Mr. Leek was induced by
particular circumstances to offer the above mentioned rent, though far
exceeding the fair value of the premises.
_Robert Hawkins_, on the 15th December, 1660, charged a certain house in
Newport, with the payment of 13s. 4d. per annum, and directed the same to
be distributed to the poor.