situated about a mile from the parish church, in 1841 had 41 houses and
223 inhabitants. There is a national school in the village, which is
supported by the lord of the manor; upwards of seventy scholars attend.
The rectory of Culmington, a handsome residence, is situated in this
township. The Earl of Craven and George Wood, Esq., are the landowners.
The principal residents are Rev. William Johnstone, rector; William Bach,
farmer, New House; Richard Bach, farmer, Madeley Park; Henry Instone,
farmer; Thomas Lucas, schoolmaster.
DIDDLEBURY
is an extensive parish in the lower division of the Munslow hundred,
which comprises the townships of Corfton, Diddlebury, Earnstrey Park,
Lawton and Little Sutton, Lower Parks and Broncroft, Middlehope Paston,
Peaton, Sutton Great and Westhope, together containing 9,043 acres of
land: population in 1801, 837; 1831, 920; 1841, 896; at the latter period
there were 190 houses. The village of Diddlebury is pleasantly situated
seven miles and a half north from Ludlow, and in 1841 had 25 houses and
132 inhabitants. The township contains 1,149 acres of Land; rateable
value, £1,191. 16s. 8d. The principal landowners are the Cornewall
family, James Davies, Esq., Mr. E. Lodge, William A. Roberts, Esq., and
George Wood, Esq. There was formerly an alien priory at Diddlebury,
which was subordinate to the convent of Seez, in Normandy, and was
afterwards appropriated to the abbey of Shrewsbury. The church,
dedicated to St. Peter, consists of nave and chancel, and has a square
tower, in which are five bells: there are several memorials, chiefly to
the family of Cornewall. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s
book at £12. 1s. 3d.; now returned at £384; in the patronage of the dean
and chapter of Hereford; incumbent, Rev. Thomas Underwood. There is a
National school in the village, attended by about forty scholars. The
tithes of this township have been commuted, and £35 apportioned to the
vicar, and £45. 10s. to the dean and chapter of Hereford. DELBURY HALL,
in this township, the property of Herbert Cornewall, Esq., and residence
of Henry Wood, Esq., is said to have formerly belonged to the monks of
Wenlock Abbey, from whom it passed to the family of Baldwin, whose
monuments are in the chancel of Diddlebury church. It was purchased by
Captain Cornewall, father of the late bishop of Worcester, and
grandfather of the present proprietor. There has existed a school at
Diddlebury every since the year 1595. Lord Herbert, of Chirbury, was
partly educated at this school in his youth.
CHARITIES.—The parish officers are in possession of a house which was
purchased in 1720 for £150, of which, £128 was money belonging to the
parishioners of Diddlebury; the residue £22 was borrowed of Philip
Luttley. After paying of interest for the said £22, it was agreed to
appropriate the rent in equal moieties to the support of a school, and to
the benefit of the poor. At a meeting of the parishioners, held May
13th, 1830, it was resolved that the clear rents (then £8 per annum)
should in future be applied to the support of a Sunday school. There was
a sum of £21 in the hands of Mr. Beddoes when the charity commissioners
published their report, for which he paid £4 a year as the interest; but
it is not known from whose gift this charity was derived. This money has
been improperly, as it seems to us, carried to the poor’s rate; but at
the parish meeting above mentioned it has been determined to apply the
interest also for the benefit of the school.
_Mary Valentine_, by her will, bearing date 23rd May, 1822, bequeathed to
the minister, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor of the parish of
Diddlebury, £1,000 four per cent. consols, to be transferred into their
names as trustees, the dividends to be laid out in bread, and distributed
every Sunday to poor housekeepers of this parish not receiving parochial
relief. The dividends, amounting to £35 per annum, are received through
a bank at London. The income is applied in a weekly distribution of
bread amongst all the poor belonging the parish, and not receiving
parochial relief; some who are not resident in the parish being included.
For the purpose of regulating the distribution, the parish is divided
into three districts; and about twenty-six persons from each district in
rotation receive a sixpenny loaf each every third Sunday.
The principal residents are John Child, farmer; Mrs. Mary Downes, Melford
Lodge; Henry Wood, Esq., Delbury hall; John Morris, farmer; Frederick
North, schoolmaster.
CORFTON
is a township and village in the parish of Diddlebury, containing 1,205
acres of land, and in 1841 had 48 houses and 232 inhabitants. Rateable
value, £1,453. 3s. 4d. The tithes of Corfton and Sparchford are commuted
for £116. 17s. The church of Culmington, with the manors of Corfeham,
Culmington, Erneston, and Les Clyves, were held by Walter de Clifford of
King Henry II., by the service of one knight’s fee, paying £31 rent.
“This Walter was the father of Fair Rosamond, the mistress of Henry II.,
and mother of the noted William, Earl of Salisbury, whom she bore to the
king. Walter de Clifford, grandson of the first Walter, espousing the
cause of Richard Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, then in rebellion, was
outlawed 17th of Henry III., and his castle and manor of Corfeham seized
by the sheriff of Shropshire for the king’s use; but restored to him
shortly after upon his submission. He married the daughter of Lewelin,
Prince of Wales, relict of John de Braose, and left issue by her one
daughter, first married to William Longspe, Earl of Sarum, who had with
her in frank marriage Culmington, in the county of Salop, valued at £28.
8s. 2d. per annum, with this proviso, that in case it did not yield the
sum aforesaid, the deficiency was to be made up out of the manor of
Corfeham: the whole estate given to her in frank marriage being £200 per
annum. After the decease of the Earl of Sarum, her second husband was
John Giffard, of Brimsfield, Knt., of whom she complained to the king,
that he had taken her by force out of her own castle and carried her to
his at Brimsfield, where she was kept in duress. To this accusation Sir
John Gifford made answer that he had the free consent of the countess, as
the sequel would prove, and so tendered the king a fine of three hundred
marks for marrying the lady without licence, which was accepted in
satisfaction of the contempt, if the countess made no further application
upon that score.” It would appear, therefore, that the ancient owners of
the manor were the daughters of the Fair Rosamond.
The principal residents in Corfton are Richard Bowen, farmer, Hill house;
Edward Bowen, farmer, Lower house; James Beddoes, farmer, Sparchford;
Mary Dyer, vict., Sun Inn; Edward Pearce, farmer; William Hince, butcher;
Rev. Thomas Underwood, vicar of Diddlebury.
EARNESTRY PARK is a township in the parish of Diddlebury, situated at the
foot of the Brown Clee Hill, which contains 1,017A. 1R. 33P. of land, a
great part of which is shaded from the sun a considerable portion of the
day by that lofty eminence. The Misses Mytton, of Cleobury North, are
the proprietors of the whole township. The summit of the Brown Clee Hill
is 1,805 feet above the level of the sea, and commands a most extensive
and magnificent prospect of the surrounding country. At the census in
1841 there were six houses and thirty-eight inhabitants. The vicarial
tithes have been commuted for £20, and the rectoral for £33. The chief
residents are Thomas Bradley, farmer; John Evans, farmer; John Hanson,
farmer; and Thomas Hanson, farmer.
LAWTON AND LITTLE SUTTON, a township in Diddlebury parish, five and a
half miles north from Ludlow, in 1841 had fifteen houses and eighty five
souls. Lawton contains 460 acres, the tithes of which are commuted for
£51. Sutton portion of the township comprises 331 acres, and the tithes
are commuted for £33. 11s. The principal landowners are Herbert
Cornewall, Esq., and Charles Powell, Esq.; the former is lord of the
manor. SUTTON COURT is a handsome house of modern erection, and is the
residence of Charles Powell, Esq., J.P., who, with William Cocks, farmer,
Lawton, and Francis Keysell, farmer, Sutton, are the principal residents
in the township.
LOWER PARK AND BRONCROFT, a small township in the parish of Diddlebury,
comprising 795 acres of land, is situated eight and a quarter miles
north-east from Ludlow. At the census of 1841 there were five houses and
twenty-six inhabitants. Rateable value, £627. 13s. 4d. The small tithes
are commuted for £27, and the large tithes for £47; the dean and chapter
of Hereford are the appropriators. George Johnstone, Esq., is the
principal landowner. The chief residents are George Johnstone, Esq.,
Broncroft castle; and John Price, farmer, the Lodge farm.
MIDDLEHOPE, a township in the parish of Diddlebury, contains 1,091 acres
of land, which is mostly the property of John Francis Wright, Esq. At
the census of 1841 there were sixteen houses and 100 inhabitants.
The tithes have been commuted for £60, of which £20 has been apportioned
to the vicar and £14 to the dean and chapter of Hereford. The principal
residents are Thomas Jones, farmer, Berwood; Thomas Jones, farmer; Thomas
Webster, farmer; William Yapp, farmer; and John Yapp, farmer.
POSTON, a township in the parish of Diddlebury comprises 394 acres of
land, two houses, and thirteen inhabitants, and is situated six and a
half miles north from Ludlow; Archdeacon Vicers is the landowner. The
small tithes are commuted for £8. 10s., and the large tithes for £13. 7s.
John Chatham is the resident farmer.
PEATON, a small township and village in the parish of Diddlebury, with 22
houses and 103 souls, contains 1,022 acres of land, which is the property
of Lady Louisa Clinton; the tithes have been commuted for £106, of which
£30 has been apportioned to the vicar, and £76 to the dean and chapter of
Hereford.
DIRECTORY.—William Dyer, shopkeeper; John Gwilt, farmer, New House;
Thomas Passey, farmer; Samuel Price, farmer.
SUTTON GREAT, a township with a scattered population, in the parish of
Diddlebury, six miles north-east from Ludlow, contains 734 acres of land,
principally the property of Herbert Cornewall, Esq.; the vicarial tithes
are commuted for £26, and the rectoral for £35. 14s. At the census of
1841 there were thirteen houses and a population of sixty-four souls.
The chief residents in Sutton are Benjamin Pitt, farmer, and John Yates,
farmer.
WESTHOPE, a township in the parish of Diddlebury, nine miles north-west
from Ludlow, has 1186 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £668.
In 1841 there were 17 houses and 103 inhabitants. There is a Chapel of
Ease here, a small unpretending structure, the living of which is a
curacy subordinate to the vicarage of Diddlebury; the small tithes are
commuted for £25, and the large tithes for £82. 4s.
DIRECTORY.—John Banks, farmer, Westhope House; Thomas Banks, farmer,
Lower Westhope; William Price, farmer, Chapel farm; Richard Smout,
farmer; John Smout, farmer, The Hall End.
EASTHOPE
is a parish and small rural village, situated in Hopedale, in the lower
division of the Munslow hundred, five miles south-west from the ancient
town of Much Wenlock, eight miles east from Church Stretton, and ten
miles west from Bridgnorth. The parish contains 815 acres of land, the
rateable value of which is £803. At the census in 1801 there were 85
inhabitants; 1831, 103; and in 1841, 21 houses and a population of 103
souls. In the 34th Edward I. John de Easthope died seized of the manor
of Easthope, 18th of Edward II. a fine was levied between Thomas de
Easthope and John de Hopton defendant, of the manor and of the advowson
of the church, to the use of Thomas and Joanna his wife in fee tail. The
21st of Richard II. Richard Earl of Arundel was found to have a knight’s
fee in Easthope, holden then by Thomas de Hynkeley. In the 12th of Henry
VII. a fine was levied between Henry Warley and Nicholas Warley
complainants, John Haltman and his wife defendants, of both the manor and
advowson of the church _et de terris_ in Easthope, Presthope, Astwale,
Louthwyche, Willey, Bratton, Henley, and Bould. Moses George Benson,
Esq. is the principal landowner and lord of the manor; the soil is mostly
upon the limestone, and there is a good deal of limestone rock in the
parish and neighbourhood. The water is very good and some of the springs
are accounted efficacious in scorbutic complaints, and are also of a
petrifying quality. The scenery is beautifully diversified and romantic,
and some of the high grounds command fine views of the celebrated Wrekin,
the Clee hill, and Caradoc, so named after Caractacus, who had a camp on
the summit. The Wenlock edge is a great feature in this part of the
country; it is a steep wooded acclivity which runs nearly through the
centre of the parish, and is of an interesting nature to the geologist.
THE CHURCH is a small structure unpretending in its architecture, and
dedicated to St. Peter. It has a short tower, and there is a
well-proportioned window in the east end in the early English style: the
font is very ancient. On the north side of the church, between two
venerable yews, are two tombs without date or inscription but simply a
cross upon each. It is supposed that two monks are interred there, who
might be connected with the Abbey of Wenlock. The stones have given rise
to some curious legends among the people. The living is a rectory valued
in the king’s book at £3. 3s. 1½d., now returned at £133, in the
patronage of M. G. Benson, Esq.; incumbent, Rev. Robert Armitage. The
rectory is a neat structure in a sheltered situation, and there are
thirty-six acres of glebe land.
On some rising ground situated about a mile west of the turnpike road
leading from Wenlock to Ludlow, and about half way between Larden Hall
and Lutwyche Hall, is a celebrated British encampment. It encloses about
eight acres, and the form is nearly a circle, surrounded by inner and
outer fosses; the inner wall falls on the side due east twelve feet,
externally twenty-five feet, across the crest of the parapet, six feet.
The relief of the second vallum rises ten feet from the foss, and is at
present twelve feet wide across its parapet; externally it falls eight
feet. It is however partially obliterated, either in consequence of the
mounds and ditches being planted over, or through their being injured by
natural causes. These ditches have formerly been a post of some
importance, for they supply a necessary link in the chain of British
entrenchments which stretch throughout the country. The present position
is in the immediate view of Nordy Bank, and within observation of both
the Caers Bury ditches and the Wrekin. The entrance appears to have been
on the north-east side. Were there no other reason for the assumption,
the fact of a British urn having been found here would sanction the idea
that these were the works of the ancient Britons. A little to the
north-west is the semblance of a tumulus, which a few years ago was more
prominent than at present; on a recent occasion after making a cut from
west to east, the workmen came to a black deposit which led to the
supposition that the interment had been simple, and by cremation. On a
previous occasion by mere accident an earthen vessel was found by making
a drain about three hundred yards south-east from the encampment. It was
formed of a sort of red clay so slightly baked on the outside that it
washed away when a brush and water were applied to it. The inside was
black and somewhat harder as though it had been baked by making the fire
within. “Before I saw it,” says Mr. Mytton, “the workmen had broken the
lower part which was next the surface of the ground, but by putting the
pieces together the form could be made out. It was found with the mouth
downwards, and contained fragments of bones. At seems most likely that
Astorius made a diversion of part of his forces against Caer Caradoc and
the ditches, and after having driven out the Britons from those elevated
posts he left garrisons in the country.” The Mogg, or Mock Forest, in
which the camp is situated, is reckoned among the ancient forests of this
county.
The principal gentleman’s seat in this parish is LUTWYCHE HALL, built by
Judge Lutwyche, in the time of Queen Elizabeth; a full length portrait of
the judge adorns an apartment inside the mansion. It is supposed that
there has been a mansion at Lutwyche from the time of, or probably
earlier than the Conquest. It was sold in 1786 by the last of the
Lutwyches, and after passing through several intermediate owners was
purchased in 1806 by Moses Benson, Esq., whose grandson Moses George
Benson, Esq. now resides there. The derivation of the word Lutwyche is
said to be from _lut_, the gathering of an army, and _wyche_, a cleft or
valley.
The chief residents in Easthope are Moses George Benson, Esq., Lutwyche
Hall; The Rev. Robert Armitage, The Rectory; Edward Evans, shoemaker;
Samuel Evans, farmer; Edward Preece, wheelwright; Francis Ray, farmer;
Easthope Cottage; Margaret Wadlow, farmer and corn miller.
EATON-UNDER-HEYWOOD
is a parish, in the upper division of the Munslow Hundred, which
comprises the townships of Eaton, Hatton, part of Longville-Lushcott-East
Wall, part of Hungerford, Millichope Upper, and Ticklerton. Population
in 1801, 513; 1831, 539; 1841, 579. The village of Eaton is pleasantly
situated nine miles south-west from Much Wenlock, and the township
contains 1,639 acres of land, the rateable value of which is £1,026. 3s.
At the census in 1841 there were 12 houses and 77 inhabitants. Among the
landowners are Miss Eatons, Mrs. Stackhouse, Mr. Powell, and Mr. Nugent;
besides whom are several other proprietors. THE CHURCH is a neat
structure, with nave, chancel, and a tower, in which are three bells.
The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £5. Gross income,
£300. Patron and incumbent, Rev. Richard Sandford. The tithes are
commuted for £178. 10s., and there are 148 acres of glebe land. The
principal residents are Benjamin Beddows, farmer; Richard Cleeton,
farmer; Thomas Farmer, farmer; Thomas Hince, farmer, New Hall; William
Harris, corn miller, New Hall Mill; John Medlicott, farmer; Rev. Richard
Sandford, rector.
HATTON is a township in the parish of Eaton, twelve miles south-west from
Much Wenlock, with 644 acres of land, the rateable value of which is
£407. 5s. In 1841 there were nine houses and 54 inhabitants. The
principal landowners are Edwin W. W. Pendarvies, Esq., Rev. Thomas C.
Powell, and Mr. Downward. The chief residents are Alice Benbow,
victualler, The Bell; Susannah Evans, farmer; Edward Jones, farmer; Joice
Rawlins, farmer; William Wall, farmer.
HUNGERFORD is a township partly in Eaton parish and partly in that of
Munslow. In the former, at the census of 1841 were eight houses and 55
inhabitants, and in the latter one house and nine persons. It comprises
1,002 acres of land. Rateable value, £703. 1s. C. O. C. Pemberton,
Esq., is the principal landowner. The residents are Robert Craig,
farmer, miller, and tanner; Edward Rowley, victualler, Buck’s Head.
LONGVILLE LUSHCOTT AND EAST WALL township will be found in Rushbury
parish.
MILLICHOPE is a small township, in the parish of Eaton, returned at the
census of 1841 as having 15 houses and 94 inhabitants. John Francis
Wright, Esq., is the principal landowner. The resident farmers are
William Downs and John Preece.
TICKLERTON township has 1,384 acres of land, and is also in the parish of
Eaton, and situated about a mile south-west from the church. The village
is pleasantly situated, and in 1841 had 40 houses and 211 inhabitants.
Rateable value, £1,008. 10s. The Rev. Robert Joseph Buddicom is the
principal landowner. The chief residents are the Rev. Robert Joseph
Buddicom; William Downes, farmer; John Edwards, farmer; Thos. Galliers,
farmer; Benjamin Pursland, beerhouse-keeper; Francis Wall, blacksmith.
HALFORD,
a chapelry and small village, formerly united to the parish of Bromfield,
contains, with the hamlet of Dinchope, 1,320 acres of land, and in 1841
had 26 houses and 124 inhabitants. Rateable value, £1,328. 19s. The
whole of the land in this parish belongs to the Hon. R. H. Clive, except
about fifty acres, which is the property of James Baxter, Esq. The
former is lord of the manor. The soil is mostly upon the limestone, and
produces tolerable crops of grain, but a considerable portion of the land
is used for grazing purposes. THE CHAPEL is a small structure, and the
living a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Hon. R. H. Clive,
Esq., who is also lord of the manor. The Rev. William E. Lumb is the
incumbent.
DIRECTORY.—John Dalloway, corn miller, Halford Mill; John Davies, farmer,
Halford; Richard Jukes, farmer, Dinchope; Sarah Lambe, blacksmith,
Newington; Richard Marston, farmer, Halford; Henry Ratcliffe, clerk;
Joseph Swift, farmer, Dinchope.
HOLDGATE