dividends of £200 stock, consolidated three per cents, belonging to her,
should be yearly, at Christmas, distributed by her brother, Francis
Turner Blithe, and his heirs, and the minister of Benthall, as they
should think fit. The dividends are received under the power of
attorney, and are paid to the minister, who regularly distributes them
about Christmas in small sums among the poor.
_Edward Brown_, _Esq._, of Broseley, bequeathed £200 to the minister and
churchwardens for the time being of Bethnall in the county of Salop, on
trust to invest the same in funds, or government or real securities, and
to apply the interest in repairing and maintaining the vault and
tombstone of his late brother in-law, Sir Humphrey Charlton, situated in
the church yard at Benthall, and to apply the surplus to the relief of
poor persons from time to time resident in the parish.
POSENHALL is an extra parochial liberty, contiguous to Benthall, which at
the census of 1841 is returned as containing five houses and twenty-two
inhabitants. There is only one farm here, which is in the occupancy of
Mr. Thomas Pitt; there is also an earthenware manufactory: the names will
be found included in the Benthall directory.
DIRECTORY.—Edwin Bathurst, earthenware manufacturer, Benthall Pottery;
John and Edward Burton, farmers and brick makers; Joseph Currier,
shopkeeper; John Duckett, timber merchant; Rev. Thomas H. Edwards, B.A.,
curate, Benthall House; Mary Gother, vict., Britannia Inn; John Gother,
joiner; Hiram Hill, lime burner, residence, Broseley; Joshua Instone,
blacksmith; John Jones, vict., Leopard Inn; Warren Taylor Jones,
earthenware manufacturer, Posenhall Pottery; John Patten, lime burner and
barge owner; Ann Pitt, farmer; Thomas Pitt, farmer, Posenhall; Edward
Roden, farmer and corn miller; Mary Roden, farmer; Noah Roden, tobacco
pipe manufacturer; James Shepard, maltster.
BROSELEY,
anciently written BURWARDSLEY, is a parish and considerable market town
in the Wenlock franchise, four miles east from Much Wenlock, 13 miles
south-east from Shrewsbury, and 146 miles north-west from London. The
town is seated on an eminence above the Severn, and consists principally
of one long irregular built street, with minor streets branching off in
different directions. The houses are mostly of brick, some of them of
respectable appearance, interspersed with others of a more humble
description, inhabited chiefly by miners and the operatives employed in
the brick and iron works. It stands in the middle of an extensive mining
district, in which coal and ironstone are obtained; and there is an
extensive iron foundry here, with others in the immediate vicinity. The
town and neighbourhood are also famous for the manufacture of fire bricks
and tobacco pipes, which are exported to all parts of the kingdom.
Broseley is the only place in England where the celebrated glazed tobacco
pipes are manufactured, and it is supposed this was the first place where
the manufacture of this article commenced; upwards of two centuries ago
they were made from clay procured in this locality, now the clay got here
is used for the manufacture of bricks, tiles and earthenware, and the
pipeclay is procured from Devonshire and Cornwall. Messrs. William
Southron and Co. have an extensive establishment for the manufacture of
the glazed pipes, employing upwards of forty operatives, and using forty
tons of the Devonshire pipeclay annually. The bricks and tiles made at
Broseley are not surpassed by any in the kingdom; there are several
extensive establishments conducted by the Messrs. Davies and others. The
parish contains 1,970A. 3R. 24P. of land, the principal owners of which
are Lord Forester: Francis Harrison, Esq.; John Onions, Esq.; John
Davenport, Esq.; and William Taylor, Esq. There are also a number of
other freeholders. At the census in 1801, this parish had a population
of 4,832 souls; 1831, 4,299; 1841, 4,829, and in 1851 there were 4,738
inhabitants, of whom 2,229 were males, and 2,509 females: at the latter
period there were 1,005 inhabited houses, 43 uninhabited, and two
building; rateable value of the parish, £7,891. 8s. 6d. The market held
on a Wednesday is not very numerously attended. Fairs are held on the
last Tuesday in April, and October 28th. The Market Hall is a brick
structure, situated in High street, built about the year 1779. The Court
Room, over the market hall, contains a fine oak chair beautifully carved,
and dated 1626; in this room the petty sessions are held every six weeks.
Here also was formerly held the court of requests, which had jurisdiction
in eight of the neighbouring parishes; this, however, has been superseded
by the new County Court Act.
THE CHURCH, dedicated to All Saints, is a free-stone structure,
consisting of nave, chancel and side aisles, with a square tower in which
are six bells; the nave is separated from the side aisles by five pointed
arches on each side; over the side aisles and at the west end are
galleries; upon the latter is placed an organ. The church was rebuilt in
1845, and in consequence of a grant of £400 from the Incorporated
Society, 694 of the sittings are free and unappropriated for ever; there
is now accommodation for 1,200 hearers; it is neatly fitted up with oak
sittings, and the roof is of groined timber. The old church was a brick
structure, with a low tower of free stone, and had sittings for 782
persons. The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s book at £7. 18s.
6d., in the patronage of Lord Forester: incumbent, the Hon. and Rev.
Orlando Watkin Weld Forester, M.A.; curate, Rev. Andrew Burn, B.A. The
tithes are commuted for £453. THE BAPTISTS have small chapels in Duke
street and on Harris’s Green. THE INDEPENDENTS have a chapel in Duke
street. THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS have a chapel at Duke street and one at
Coalford. THE PRIMITIVE METHODISTS have a chapel at Broseley Wood. THE
NATIONAL SCHOOL is held in a spacious room over the Market Hall, which
measures sixty-one feet long and twenty-one feet broad. The average
attendance of scholars at the present time is one hundred and
ninety-five.
JACKFIELD is a populous hamlet, in the parish of Broseley, stretching
along the banks of the Severn, and situated near a mile north of the
parish church. Here the inhabitants are busily engaged in extensive
works for the manufacture of bricks and tiles. At this place is also
situated the IVANHOE POTTERY, an establishment conducted by Mr. George
Proudman, where all kinds of earthenware are manufactured. The clay used
in the manufacture is got from mines on the premises, and is found in
regular layers above the coal and limestone; some of the mines extend to
the depth of one hundred yards. THE CHURCH (or Chapel of Ease) at
Jackfield is a handsome brick structure, with stone finishings,
consisting of nave and chancel, with a square tower. It is situated on
an eminence overlooking Ironbridge and a part of Coalbrook Dale. It is
dedicated to St. Mary, and was built in 1759, by Francis Turner Blythe,
Esq. The interior has a neat appearance, and on the south side there is
a neat marble tablet to the memory of Alexander Brodie, Esq., ironmaster,
of Calcutt, who died June 5th, 1830. Another neat tablet remembers the
founder of the church, Francis T. Blythe, Esq., who died September 22nd,
1770, aged 61 years. There is also a tablet to Thomas Carter Phillips,
Esq., who died in 1783. THE NATIONAL SCHOOL is a commodious brick
structure, erected in the year 1844. The school-room is used as a place
of worship on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. The rector and curate of
Broseley officiate alternately.
Not far from Jackfield formerly stood the ancient mansion of the Tuckies.
About sixty years ago this house was repaired for Lord Dundonald, father
of Lord Cochrane, who resided here a considerable time, making chemical
experiments, among the principal of which was that of extracting tar from
coals. For this purpose many kilns or ovens were erected on the banks of
the Severn, and the process was conducted in the following manner:—“A
range of stoves was supplied with coal kept burning at the bottom; the
smoke was conveyed by horizontal tunnels into a capacious funnel built of
brick, supported by arches, and covered on the top by a shallow pond of
water. The smoke, condensed by the chill of the water, fell on the
bottom of the funnel in the form of tar, and was conveyed by pipes into a
receiver, whence it was pumped into a large boiler, and boiled to a
proper consistence, or otherwise inspissated into pitch; the volatile
parts which arose during this inspissation were again condensed into oil
used for varnish.” Great quantities of this useful article were sent for
the use of the navy, and much of it was used in japanning. Lord
Dundonald expended large sums of money in these undertakings, which were
unsuccessful as to profitable remuneration. On the site of these
operations was afterwards erected the great iron foundry where so many
cannon were cast by Mr. Brodie during the late war.
A most melancholy accident occurred near Broseley on October 23rd, 1799.
The passage boat in crossing the Severn, which at this place is very
rapid, was overturned. There were forty-one persons in the boat who were
employed in the china works of Messrs. Rose and Co., of these thirteen
only escaped, the remaining twenty-eight were all drowned. Tradition
states that a large house in Broseley was formerly in possession of some
Dutchmen, who had a mint for coining money secreted in cellars under the
house. They lived in a very expensive style, and kept race horses.
There is a curious fossil found here in the stratum of coal resembling a
fish with the head and tail cut off. It is covered with scales, and
measures about eight inches long. Its solidity is much greater than the
substance in which it is infolded, and when broken appears like
limestone; if thrown into the fire it explodes with considerable
violence.
In the year 1711 a very remarkable inflammable spring was discovered at
Broseley, of which the Rev. Mr. Mason, professor at Cambridge, gives the
following account:—“The well for four or five feet deep is six or seven
feet wide, within that is another hole of like depth, dug in clay; in the
bottom whereof is placed a cylindric earthern vessel, of about four or
five inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the
sides well fixed in, the clay rammed close about it. Within the pot is a
brown water as thick as puddle continually forced up with a violent
motion, beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noise rising
and falling by fits; but there was no appearance of any vapour arising,
which perhaps might have been visible had not the sun shone so bright.
Upon putting the candle down at the end of a stick, at a quarter of a
yard distance, it took fire, darting and flashing after a very violent
manner, for about half a yard high, much in the manner of spirits in a
lamp, but with great agitation. It was said that a tea kettle had been
made to boil in about nine minutes time, and that it had been left
burning for forty-eight hours without any sensible diminution. It was
extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it, which it was necessary to keep
there for a considerable time, otherwise it would not go out. Upon the
removal of the mop there arises a sulphurous smoke, lasting about a
minute, and yet the water is cold to the touch. The cause of this
inflammable property is most probably the mixture of the waters with
petroleum, which is one of the most inflammable substances in nature, and
has the property of burning on the surface of water.” In the year 1755
this well entirely disappeared by the sinking of a coal pit in its
neighbourhood.
CHARITIES.—_John Barrett_, _Esq._, of the Madeiras, bequeathed the sum of
£200 to the poor of Broseley. _Frances Morgan_ left £50, the interest to
be divided among twelve poor widows on Christmas-day annually. _Richard
Edwards_, of Rowton, left £110 to be laid out in land, and the profits
thereof to be distributed on Christmas-day and Easter-day, in equal
proportions, among such poor widows of the parish as his heirs and the
minister of the parish should judge proper objects of charity. _Esther
Hollyman_ left £20 to be added to the poor’s stock in 1730. It appears
from entries in a modern parish book and from a memorandum in the
handwriting of a late curate of the parish, that the several legacies
above specified, amounting together to the sum of £380, were lent to the
parish about the year 1777, and employed (with other monies borrowed and
raised by subscriptions) in building a market house and shops, from the
rents of which it was agreed that a sum not exceeding £18 should be
annually distributed among the poor. By a more recent resolution, which
purports to have been made at a parish meeting held on the 31st May,
1802, it was resolved—“That there should be paid to the poor, from the
revenues of the market hall, in half yearly payments, the annual sum of
£18 until the £3 above £15 should liquidate a debt which appeared due to
the said poor of £43; and that then £15 per annum should be paid only as
the permanent interest of £380 borrowed of the trustees of the said poor,
and for the purpose of building the said market hall.” How the debt of
£43 originated we are not able to state, the old parish books, which
would probably have thrown some light upon the subject, having been lost.
It appears to us, however, not improbable that this sum may be the
remains of the poor’s stock arising from the benefactions which are
recorded on the tables in the church, left by ten several donors, and
amounting to £51. 10s. If the debt of £43, stated to be due from the
parish to the poor, was part of the stock arising from the above
benefactions, the resolution by which it was determined to distribute it
by instalments among the poor seems to be at variance with the intentions
of the respective donors, whose object clearly was the establishment of a
fund that should continue permanently productive. It may be necessary to
observe that although by the payment of £3 per annum, according to the
terms of the resolution above mentioned, the debt of £43 would be wholly
liquidated in the year 1816, yet the annual payment of £18 has been since
continued without any abatement. This sum is distributed by the minister
in equal moieties at Christmas and Easter, among the poor inhabitants of
Broseley, in sums proportioned to their necessities.
_William Lewis_, by indenture, dated January 2nd, 1740, granted a yearly
rent charge of 20s., issuing out of a messuage and two acres of land,
situate near the church, in Broseley, with the penalty of 6s. for every
day that the payment should be in arrear, and directed the same to be
distributed among twenty poor widows. It further appears from the
benefaction table that _Andrew Langley_, of the Woodhouse, left 12s.
yearly to be distributed by the minister and churchwardens on St.
Andrew’s-day yearly, and to be paid for ever by the owner of the
Woodhouse estate.
_Mary Cotton_, who died in 1838, bequeathed to the minister and
churchwardens for the time being of this parish the sum of £300, three
per cent consolidated bank annuities, upon trust, to receive the interest
and divide it among forty poor widows of this parish on the 29th of
December, yearly. _Fanny Pritchard_ left £100 in trust to the same
parties, to be invested in government securities, and directed the
interest to be divided among ten poor widows on St. Thomas’s day.