Russell John, tailor, Sidnall lane
Sherratt John, farmer, Low Wood Farm
Ward Matthew, Esq., Blue House
Wilkes Samuel, farmer and corn miller, Shakerley
KEMBERTON,
a parish and small rural village, pleasantly situated two miles and a
half S.W. by S. from Shiffnal, at the census in 1801 contained 289
inhabitants; 1831, 318; and in 1841, 79 houses and a population of 380
souls. The parish comprises 1,385A. 2R. 16P. of land, of which
twenty-three acres are in woods and plantations. Rateable value, £1,930.
The Shiffnal, Madeley, Bridgnorth, and Ironbridge turnpike roads
intersect the parish. The principal landowners are Robert Aglionby
Slaney, Esq., M.P., Mr. John Bradburne, Lord Sudeley, Mr. Henry Thomason,
and Mr. T. L. Beddows; besides whom Mr. Thomas Harper, Mr. Ward, Mr. S.
Broughall, Mr. John Cherrington, Mr. William Harper, and others, are also
proprietors. The soil is variable; in some parts a light loam prevails,
in other parts the soil is strong, and there is a portion of clay. This
locality is noted for the salubrity of the air. The land is broken into
bold swells, from the high grounds of which some fine views of the
surrounding country and of the distant county of Stafford are seen.
THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a small fabric, with a square
tower ornamented with pinnacles. The interior consists of nave and
chancel, and is neatly pewed with oak sittings; the tower contains four
bells. A neat marble tablet has been erected, at the expense of the
parishioners, in memory of the Rev. John Williams. The living is a
rectory, with the vicarage of Sutton Maddock annexed; valued in the
king’s book at £5. 6s. 5½d., in the patronage of Robert Aglionby Slaney,
Esq., M.P.; incumbent, Rev. George Whitmore, M.A. The tithes are
commuted for £580. THE RECTORY is a handsome stuccoed residence
adjoining the church-yard, beautified with pleasure grounds, tastefully
laid out. There is a PAROCHIAL SCHOOL in the village, which is chiefly
supported by the rector.
DIRECTORY.—George Adlington, wheelwright; Samuel Barker, shoemaker;
William Bowdler, farmer; John Cherrington, gentleman; James Clulow,
farmer; Wm. Downes, shoemaker; Charles Gough, shopkeeper and wheelwright;
Thomas Harper, victualler, Masons’ Arms; Wm. Harper, bricklayer and
parish clerk; Benjamin Heyward, gardener; William Richard Jackson,
farmer; William Lumley, farmer; John Onions, maltster; Peter Reynolds,
farmer; Elizabeth Rogers, school-teacher; Thomas Spenser, gentleman,
Langley Cottage; Thomas Stonely, corn-miller; Mrs. Eliza Lloyd Thomas,
farmer; Mary Ann Tomkins, shopkeeper; James Vaughan, blacksmith; Rev.
George Whitmore, M.A., The Rectory; William Williams, tailor.
RYTON
is a parish, in the Shiffnal Division of the Brimstree Hundred, which
embraces 1,390 acres of fertile land, yielding fine crops of wheat,
barley, and turnips. The village is pleasantly situated, three miles S.
from Shiffnal, and the same distance W. of Albrighton. The river Worf,
which is celebrated for the excellency and abundance of its trout,
intersects the parish. At the census in 1801 there were 160 inhabitants;
1831, 154; and in 1841, 41 houses and 195 souls. Rateable value of the
parish, £2,507. The principal landowners are William Angeworth, Esq.,
Charles Head, Esq., Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A., and R. A. Slaney,
Esq.; there are also several smaller proprietors. THE CHURCH is a neat
structure of free-stone, erected in the year 1710, to which additions
have from time to time been made. It consists of nave, chancel, and side
aisles, with a square tower, in which are three bells and a clock; the
interior has a neat and orderly appearance: the pews are of oak, and the
east window is beautifully ornamented with stained glass, with figures
illustrative of Scripture history. There are some neat tablets and
memorials to the Hardings, Heads, Sansoms, and others. The living is a
rectory, valued in the king’s book at £5. 12s. 1d., now returned at £508,
in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A.;
curate, Rev. Richard Seddon, B.A. The tithes for Royton parish are
commuted for £445. THE RECTORY is a handsome modern residence,
pleasantly situated a little south from the church, and was built on the
site of the old rectory. THE NATIONAL SCHOOL, a neat Elizabethan brick
structure, situated a little east from the church, was built in the year
1850. The average attendance of children is about forty. Not far from
the National School the stream of the Worf is crossed by a small stone
bridge.
DIRECTORY.—Robert Bradley, farmer; John Candlin, farmer; Edward Corbett,
blacksmith; Elizabeth Corbett, schoolmistress; Samuel Dalloe,
schoolmaster; Rev. Robert William Eyton, M.A., The Rectory; Charles Head,
farmer, Atchley House; Thomas Hodgkiss, shoemaker; William Holloway, shoe
and patten maker; John Knight, wheelwright; William Miles, farmer and
beerhouse-keeper, Grindle; George Powell, farmer, Grindle; John Roberts,
butler; Rev. Richard Seddon, B.A., curate, Ryton Bank; Thomas Wheeler,
farmer, Atchley; John Yates, farmer, Grindle.
SHIFFNAL,
anciently called IDESALL, or IDSAL, is a parish and market town the head
of a division of the Brimstree hundred, eight miles south from Newport,
ten miles north from Bridgnorth, and eighteen miles east by south from
Shrewsbury. The town chiefly consists of one street upwards of a mile in
length, with several minor streets diverging from it. The houses are
irregularly built, and many of the cottage residences have a mean
appearance; there are however several good inns and private houses, and a
number of respectable shops in most of the branches of the retail trade.
Though the situation of the town is low, it is built on a dry sandy soil,
and by no means unpleasant. According to tradition Idesall was a place
of more considerable note in former times, and the principal portion of
the town stood westward of the church; foundations and traces of
buildings have frequently been discovered which would seem to confirm
this supposition. In the 9th of Edward II. Bartholomew de Badlesmere
obtained for him and his heirs a market on Monday and Friday, and two
fairs in the year, one on the eve of the day, and the day after the feast
of the Holy Trinity, and the other on the eve, the day, and the morrow
after Michaelmas, as also the liberty of free warren in his demesnes in
Ideshall, Adderley, Sponley, Calverhall, and Shavington. He was one of
those mutinous lords who took part in the battle of Boroughbridge, March
16th, 1322, where he was taken prisoner and afterwards executed at
Canterbury. The possessions of Bartholomew Badlesmere were granted in
the 15th of Edward II. to Edmund Earl of Arundel and the heirs male of
his body, but that noble lord was in like manner attainted about four
years after, and so we find Giles de Badlesmere, son of the said
Bartholomew, restored to the inheritance of his family. In the 11th of
Edward IV., John Earl of Shrewsbury had a grant of a market and two fairs
at the Ville of Suffenhall. The market is still held on Tuesday, but is
not of much consideration; formerly corn was sold to a considerable
extent. Fairs are held on the first Monday in April, August 5th, and
November 22nd. The great London and Holyhead road passes through the
town, upon which there were formerly seventeen coaches passing and
repassing daily, which, with other traffic, added much to the commercial
importance and advantage of Shiffnal. Although the inhabitants have the
facilities of railway communication and a station in a central part of
the town, this has rather had a tendency to diminish the importance of
Shiffnal, by diverting the attention of parties who formerly frequented
the market here to places of more consideration at no great distance.
The parish contains 11,433 acres of land, of which 1,090 acres are in
woods and plantations, 74A. 3R. 28P. in roads and waste, and there are 60
acres of glebe. Rateable value, £24,561. 16s. Population in 1801,
3,632; 1831, 4,779; 1841, 5,244; 1851, 5,616; of whom 2,820 were males,
and 2,796 females; at the latter period there were 1,050 houses. The
Marquis of Stafford is lord of the manor and a very considerable
landowner. The parish comprises four divisions, viz.: that of Shiffnal,
embracing the town and its suburbs; Hatton district, comprising the
hamlets of Idsal, Hem, Wyke, Evelith, and Hinnington; Priors Lee, those
of Snedshill, Haughton, and Woodhouse; and the division of Woodside,
containing the hamlets of Crackley bank, Decker hill, the Lizzard, Aston,
Stanton, Upton, and Coppice green. The parish is intersected by the
London and Holyhead, Shiffnal and Bridgnorth, and the Albrighton and
Newport turnpike roads, and is watered by the small streams of the Sal,
Worfe, Cosford, and the Lizzard. The township of Shiffnal contains 188A.
2R. 10P. of land, and in 1841 had 412 houses and 1,872 inhabitants.
Rateable value, £4,153. 4s. The principal freeholders are the Marquis of
Stafford, W. H. Slaney, Esq., William Cope, Esq., Mr. Edward Cherrington,
and Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander, besides whom there are between forty and
fifty small freeholders. The tithes were commuted in 1839, when the
rectoral tithes were apportioned as follows, viz: £923 to the Rev. John
Brooke; £580 to Henry Sidney Herbert, Esq.; £105 to the Duke of
Cleveland; and £26 to Messrs. John and George Pritchards. The vicarial
tithes are commuted for £307. A considerable extent of land, the
property of the Duke of Cleveland, Lord Forester, R. A. Slaney, Esq.,
Rev. John Brooke, and others, is tithe free, and other portions of the
parish pay a small modus.
THE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a large interesting cruciform
structure, exhibiting various styles of architecture, with a handsome
square tower rising from the centre and supported by four pointed arches
resting on massive pillars with ornamented capitals. The side aisles are
separated from the nave by four semi circular arches, and terminated by
side chapels. The chancel is spacious, and was re-roofed a few years ago
at the expense of the late vicar, the Rev. John Brooke. The ceiling is
of oak, and varnished, which gives the venerable structure a very
interesting appearance. On the gallery at the west end is a fine toned
organ; a noble old window at the east end is beautifully foliated. The
altar is remarkably fine. Among the numerous memorials is a magnificent
altar tomb, having a full length figure in a recumbent position, with the
hands joined and uplifted in prayer, in memory of Oliver Briggs, who died
20th November, 1596. Another alabaster tomb of beautiful workmanship,
with the figure of a knight and his lady, remembers Humphrey Briggs,
Esq., and Ann, his wife, dated 1622. In a niche in the wall is a full
length figure of Thomas Forester, some time prior of Wombridge, warden of
Tong, and vicar of Idesall, dated 1526. A splendid white tablet has been
erected to the memory of Dame Magdalene Briggs, who died September 15th,
1698. There are also handsome tablets to the Slaneys, Corbets, Pitts,
Jackson, Charltons, and Brookes. The memorial to George Brooke, Esq., of
Haughton, who died in 1776, is beautifully executed in free stone. A
neat marble tablet has been erected to the memory of Mary Bagott,
daughter of Ralph Clayton, of Sheffield, in the county of Yorkshire; she
died July 27th, 1748, aged 88 years. From the inscription on the tablet
to William Wakley, we learn that he was baptised at Idsal, May 1st, 1590,
and was buried November 28th, 1714, aged 124 years. He lived in the
reigns of eight kings and queens, viz., Elizabeth, James I., Charles I.,
Charles II., James II., William and Mary, Anne, and George I. Mary, wife
of Joseph Yates, who died August 7th, 1776, aged 127 years; she is stated
to have married a third husband at the age of 92, and to have been hearty
and strong when 120 years old. Besides which are recorded in the church
yard many instances of extreme longevity, for which this parish is
peculiarly eminent. The advowson of the church in early times was
granted to the abbey of Shrewsbury; in the 24th of Henry VI. the
impropriation was annexed to the college of Battlefield, near Salop. The
living is now a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £15. 6s. 8d.; now
returned at £492.; in the patronage of the Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton
Hall; incumbent, Rev. Townshend Brooke, M.A. THE VICARAGE is a handsome
residence pleasantly situated a short distance from the church.
THE BAPTISTS have a neat chapel situated on the Salop road, built in
1843, and another chapel in Aston street. THE WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL
is situate in the Back lane. THE NATIONAL SCHOOLS are situated in the
Innage. Seventy-five boys and about seventy girls attend. It is
supported by endowments and annual subscriptions, together producing
about £40 per annum. The endowments of the schools will be found noticed
with the charities. THE CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY have a branch
depository for the circulation and sale of religious books, situated in
High street; Mr. Cornelius Bennet is the librarian.
THE MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION was established in 1849, and is under the
management of a president, vice-president, and committee of proprietary
members. The general object of the institution is for the establishment
of classes for the study of most of the branches of a liberal education,
the formation of a library, and affording the members facilities for
hearing lectures on literary and scientific subjects. A READING-ROOM has
been established, which is furnished with many of the leading newspapers,
and some of the most popular periodicals of the day. _President_: Rev.
J. Brooke, Haughton Hall. _Vice-President_: W. Cope, Esq. _Secretary
and Librarian_: Mr. B. L. Beddow. THE TOWN HALL, situated in High
street, was built in the year 1840. The Petty Sessions are held here on
the first Friday in each month. The officiating magistrates are Thomas
Charlton Whitmore, Esq., M.P., Uvedale Corbet, Esq., Robert Henry Cheney,
Esq., and George Holyoake, Esq. Mr. Peter Osborne is clerk to the
magistrates. In 1850, a Lock-up and residence for the constable was
erected adjoining the Town Hall. THE STAMP OFFICE is at Mrs. Ann
Edmunds, Market-place. The EXCISE OFFICE is at the Bell Inn.
THE SAVINGS BANK was established in 1819, and is situated in New-street
Terrace. The capital stock of the bank on November, 20th, 1850, amounted
to £15,198. 3s. 2d., at which period there were 469 separate accounts; of
which nine were charitable societies, and three friendly societies. Of
the respective balances, 260 did not exceed £20, 108 were above £20 and
not exceeding £50, 46 did not exceed £100, 30 were above £100 and not
exceeding £150, and the deposits of 13 were above the latter amount and
under £200. The amount received from depositors from November 20th,
1849, to November 20th, 1850, was £2,204. 14s. 8d. The payments during
the same period were £2,275. 4s. 7d. Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander,
_Treasurer_; and Mr. Peter Osborne, _Secretary_. The bank is open every
alternate Tuesday from ten till one o’clock.
THE SHIFFNAL UNION HOUSE, a brick structure, situated a short distance
from the town, was partly built in 1817, at the expense of the
ratepayers. In the year 1840, additional buildings were erected by the
guardians of the union, at a cost of about £800, which will accommodate
about one hundred and fifty inmates. The interior arrangements are well
contrived for the comfort, convenience, and cleanliness of the inmates,
the number of whom is usually about sixty. The union comprises an area
of sixty-seven square miles, and embraces the parishes of Albrighton,
Badger, Beckbury, Boninghall, Donington, Kemberton, Ryton, Shiffnal,
Stockton, Sutton Maddock, and Tong, in the county of Salop; and the
parishes of Blymhill, Pateshull, Sheriff Hales, and Weston-under-Lizard,
in the county of Stafford. There are twenty guardians appointed for the
several parishes, who meet at the board-room every alternate Monday. The
Rev. John Brooke is the chairman; Mr. Peter Osborne, clerk and
superintendent registrar; John Fielding, deputy-registrar; Mr. William
Roden, of Haughton, registrar of births and deaths for the Shiffnal
district; Mr. John Totty, registrar for the Albrighton district;
surgeons, Mr. Thomas Eaton Lander and Messrs. Bennett and Orwin;
relieving officer, Mr. Richard Venables; master, Mr. George Bailey;
matron, Mrs. Bailey; schoolmistress, Hannah Maria Thomason.
THE GAS WORKS, situated in High street, were established by a company of
shareholders, with a capital stock of £2,300. The premises are
conveniently adapted for the purposes intended, and there is a gasometer
for the reception of the luminous vapour, which will hold 10,000 cubic
feet. A charge of 7s. 6d. per 1,000 feet is made to the consumer.
THE RAILWAY STATION, situate in the Market place, near the centre of the
town, presents a beautiful pile of buildings, in the Italian style, and
is approached by a flight of fifty-seven steps. The railway is carried
over the town, and crosses the Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, and
Newport turnpike roads, at an elevation of sixty feet above the level of
the ground. This noble viaduct comprises twenty brick arches, of
thirty-seven feet span each; and at the turnpike roads, which are eighty
feet wide, are six semi-circular metal arches, resting on brick
abutments, with stone capitals. The embankment extends for several
miles. The metal viaduct and its battlements were cast at the Horseley
Iron Works, Tipton, in the year 1848, and the railway was opened on the
12th of November, 1849. Twelve trains leave the station daily for
Shrewsbury and Birmingham. Mr. George Augustus Frederick Hill is
station-master and resident manager. Mr. Charles Lloyd, station-clerk.
Omnibuses leave the railway station daily for Bridgnorth and Ironbridge.
Shiffnal was the birth-place of Dr. Thomas Beddoes, a physician of
considerable eminence and a talented author, whose works are
characterized by much acuteness of observation. He died in 1808. In a
field contiguous to Shiffnal is a military station; the mound was
circumscribed by a ditch, which may still be traced.
ASTON HALL, a handsome mansion, the property of Major Moultrie, is the
residence of Uvedale Corbet, Esq., J.P., and Judge of the County Court.
The house is delightfully situated about half a mile east from Shiffnal.
CRACKLEY BANK is a hamlet, about two miles north from Shiffnal. Here the
Wesleyan Methodists have a small chapel. DECKERHILL HALL, a spacious
stuccoed mansion, delightfully situated, is the residence of Mrs.
Botfield. The pleasure grounds and shrubberies are of considerable
extent, and laid out with great taste. COPPICE GREEN and LIZARD are
hamlets north east of Shiffnal. BURLINGTON, three miles north of
Shiffnal. STANTON, a hamlet, a mile and a half east from the parish
church, is noted as the residence of Mr. Henry Wadlow, a celebrated
race-horse trainer. Stanton Farm, the residence of John Eyke, Esq.,
land-agent to Lord Stafford, comprises upwards of one thousand acres.
Mr. Eyke is noted for having extensive flocks of superior bred sheep.
HATTON is an extensive district, in the parish of Shiffnal, comprising
3,982A. 0R. 3P. of land, the soil of which in many parts is a strong
fertile loam, producing good crops of barley, wheat, and turnips.
Rateable value, £5,761. 12s. The township of Hatton, situated two miles
and a half south from Shiffnal, at the census of 1841 was returned as
containing 108 houses and 542 inhabitants. The principal landowners are
Robert Aglionby Slaney, Esq., M.P., Lord Forester, Michael Goodall, Esq.,
The Duke of Cleveland, Thomas Eaton Lander, Esq., Rev. George Burder,
Mrs. Ann Turner, and the Rev. Townshend Brooke; besides whom there are
several smaller proprietors. This is a pleasantly situated district,
with a fine undulating surface, containing many good family mansions and
farm residences; the houses are mostly built of brick, and the farms are
of considerable extent. HUTTON GRANGE, a handsome brick mansion, the
residence of William Henry Slaney, Esq., barrister-at-law, is
delightfully situated in a sequestered part of the country, three miles
south-east from Shiffnal. The park grounds are beautifully studded with
timber, and the gardens and pleasure grounds are of considerable extent,
and laid out with great taste. EVELITH MANOR, a beautiful modern
mansion, situated a mile and a half south from Shiffnal, is the residence
of Michael Goodall, Esq. HEM is a hamlet, a mile and a half south-west
from Shiffnal. IDSAL contains several rural villas, and forms a southern
suburb to the town of Shiffnal. HINNINGTON, a hamlet south of Shiffnal;
and WYKE is situated about a mile to the south-west.
PRIORS LEE
is a chapelry, township, and populous district, situated three miles N.W.
from Shiffnal, and four and a half miles N.E. from Wellington,
intersected by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham railway, and the Shiffnal
and Wellington turnpike road. This is a flourishing district, the
inhabitants of which are busily engaged in the coal and iron-stone mines,
and the extensive iron works, with which this part of the county abounds.
The houses are irregularly built, and chiefly occupied by a labouring
population; the cottage property in this township is scattered over an
area of 86 acres. At the census of 1801 there were 1,589 inhabitants;
1831, 2,130, and in 1841 there were 480 houses and a population of 2,470
souls. This portion of the parish comprises 3,077 acres of land, the
rateable value of which is £9,045. On the eastern side is an extensive
farming district, the land of which is broken into bold undulations. The
Marquis of Stafford, the Rev. John Brooke, W. H. Slaney, Esq., and
others, are landowners. The Lilleshall company are also considerable
holders of leasehold property. At Oakengates, adjoining Priors Lee,
there is a railway station. THE EPISCOPAL CHAPEL is a brick structure in
the decorative style, with a square tower containing one bell. It was
rebuilt in 1836, when it was enlarged; the interior consists of nave,
chancel, and side aisles, and contains 415 sittings, 210 of which are
free and unappropriated, in consequence of a grant from the Incorporated
Society for building and enlarging churches. The living is a perpetual
curacy endowed with £600 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and
£1,400 parliamentary grant, in the patronage of the vicar of Shiffnal;
incumbent, Rev. James Thomas Matthews, B.D.; clerk, James Astbury. THE
WESLEYANS have a chapel which will hold about 300 hearers. THE NATIONAL
SCHOOL has an attendance of seventy boys and fifty girls. PRIORS LEE
HALL, the residence of John Horton, Esq., is pleasant situated a short
distance from the village. The offices of the Lilleshall company are at
the hall. There are several good residences in the village.
HAUGHTON is a pleasantly situated village in a secluded vale about a mile
W. from Shiffnal, watered by the small stream of the Sal, and crossed by
the Newport and Priors Lee turnpike road. There are several neat villa
residences here, beautified with tasteful gardens. HAUGHTON HALL, a
spacious and elegant mansion, is the residence of the Rev. John Brooke.
The edifice is of brick, and stuccoed, and being situated on a gentle
eminence commands some fine views of the surrounding country. The
gardens and pleasure grounds are beautifully laid out, and the park is
richly wooded with fine timber.