finely-proportioned square tower in which is a peal of bells. This
fabric was built in 1795, and subsequently enlarged; it is partly fitted
up and provided with commodious galleries, having accommodation for
upwards of a thousand worshippers; the organ is a handsome fine-toned
instrument. The old church which was taken down on the erection of the
present building exhibited the Norman style of architecture; a chantry
was erected in the ancient structure and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in
the 11th of Richard II. Several of the ancient monuments were removed
from the old church when it was taken down and are now placed in the new
one. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s book at £4. 17s.
10d., now returned at £305; incumbent, Rev. James H. Gwyther, who is also
chaplain to the Madeley Union, and the Right Hon. Lord Milford. The
tithes have been commuted, and £226 apportioned to the vicar, and £115.
10s. to Sir Joseph Hawley, Bart., the impropriator. The vicarage,
situated near the church, is a good residence mantled with ivy, and is an
object of attraction to strangers, as being the residence of the
celebrated pious Fletcher, formerly vicar of Madeley, a short account of
whose life will be found on the following page. THE CATHOLIC CHAPEL, a
neat structure, was built about the year 1760, and will hold 300 persons.
The interior has a chaste appearance, and the altar is beautified with
some fine workmanship. The Rev. William Molloy, the priest, resides in a
house adjoining the chapel. THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS have a neat chapel
built in 1841, capable of holding about 600 hearers. THE NATIONAL SCHOOL
is a handsome structure of brick with stone finishings, built in the year
1845, exhibiting the Elizabethan style of architecture. The cost of the
building was £859. 1s. 4d., towards which the sum of £629. 1s. 4d. was
raised by local subscriptions, and a grant of £230 was obtained from the
Committee of Council on Education. One hundred and thirty boys and one
hundred and twenty-five girls attend the school; it is conducted by Mr.
and Mrs. Johnson and three pupil teachers.
IRONBRIDGE, a populous and interesting portion of the parish of Madeley,
takes its name from an iron bridge which has been erected across the
Severn at this place. Here are many handsome residences, good inns, and
shops in all the different branches of the retail trade. A flourishing
market is held on Friday. A market hall has been built, gas introduced,
and the whole has a thriving and prosperous appearance, and may be
considered the focus of commercial pursuits in the parish. The iron
bridge which spans the Severn is a magnificent structure, and was cast at
the Coalbrook Dale Works, in 1799. The span of the arch is one hundred
feet six inches, height forty feet, and the road way twenty four feet
broad. It was the first iron bridge erected in England. The total
weight of the iron in the bridge is three hundred and seventy-eight tons,
and the whole was erected in the space of three months. The abutments of
the bridge are of stone, covered with plates of iron, with mortices, in
which stand two upright pillars of the same. Against the foot of the
inner pillar, the bottom of the main rib bears on the base plate. This
rib consists of two pieces connected by a dove-tail point, in an iron
key, and secured by screws. The cross stays, braces circle in the
spandrils, and the brackets connect the larger pieces, so as to keep the
bridge perfectly steady; while a diagonal and cross stays, and top
plates, connect the pillars and ribs together in opposite directions.
The bridge is covered with iron top plates, projecting over the ribs on
each side, and on this projection stands the balustrade of cast iron.
The bridge being private property a small charge is made to pass over.
Large quantities of iron, all kinds of castings, coal, and lime are
shipped at the wharf to distant parts of the country. Near to the Lodge
Farm are several beds of fine sand, which is much used by the Coalbrook
Dale Company in their beautiful castings.
THE CHURCH, a handsome structure of brick, dedicated to St. Luke, is
situated on elevated ground, and approached by a flight of steps one
hundred and nineteen in number. It was built in the year 1836, and
consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a tower, in which is one
bell. The east window is richly beautified with stained glass, and has
full length figures of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John, executed by
the celebrated Evans, of Shrewsbury. The church is provided with
galleries, and has a small organ. There are a thousand and sixty-two
sittings, of which six hundred and sixty-two are free and unappropriated.
The living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the vicar of Madeley.
Incumbent, Rev. John Andrew Jetter. THE WESLEYAN METHODISTS have a
chapel at Madeley Wood, built in the year 1837, which will hold about
seven hundred persons. They have also a place of worship near to the
wharf, and a spacious Sunday school at Madeley Wood, where four hundred
children are instructed. THE WESLEYAN NEW CONNECTION have a chapel
situated at Foxholes. THE DISPENSARY and SAVINGS’ BANK are at Mrs.
Rogers’s, Bridge-street; Mr. William Smith is the secretary of the
latter. THE PAROCHIAL SCHOOL, situate on the Madeley road, is numerously
attended, and there is a RAGGED SCHOOL situated in Milner’s-lane. THE
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION was established in the year 1840. The objects of
the institution are to afford to mechanics and others opportunities of
acquiring at their leisure hours the principles of science and the arts,
and for the cultivation of literature. THE GAS WORKS, situated near the
Madeley Wood brick works, were established in 1839, and the streets in
Ironbridge were first lighted with gas on November 5th, 1839; Mr. Charles
W. Smith is the manager and secretary. An extraordinary phenomenon
occurred at the Birches not far from the iron bridge in 1775, a
particular account of which has been given with Broseley.
COALBROOK DALE, a winding glen two miles from Madeley, hemmed in by lofty
hills and hanging woods, is celebrated for the most considerable iron
works in England; the forges, mills, and steam engines, with all their
vast machinery,—the flaming furnaces, and smoking chimneys, with handsome
residences nestling under the cliffs of the hills, have altogether a most
romantic and singular appearance, and perhaps in no part of the globe are
features of so diversified and wonderful a character brought together
within so limited a compass,—here art has triumphed over nature, and the
barren wilderness has been converted into one of the most animating
abodes of commerce, and being studded with residences of taste and
elegance, it gives the whole a very interesting appearance. Coalbrook
Dale is chiefly the property of the Darby family, who carry on the
extensive iron works here and in the adjoining parish of Dawley, where
they have been already noticed. The Coalbrook Dale Company is one of the
largest establishments in England, justly celebrated for the superiority
of their castings, and for the manufacture of every description of iron
goods. THE FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, a neat brick structure, was built in
1789, and has a small burial ground attached. It stands near the site of
a former meeting house. THE WESLEYAN CHAPEL, a plain brick structure,
was occasionally the scene of the labours of the eminent Fletcher, the
vicar of Madeley. A spacious school room has been built at the expense
of the Coalbrook Dale Company, where about eighty boys are instructed.
It is chiefly supported by the liberality of the same company. The room
above the school is used as an episcopal place of worship, and here the
curate of Madeley usually officiates twice on the Sabbath. A commodious
school for girls has been built near the works, which is supported by
Mrs. Abraham Darby; here about one hundred girls and an equal number of
infants are now receiving instruction. Sunny-side House, a good brick
residence on the heights above the dale, was unoccupied when our agent
visited Coalbrook Dale. The residences of Abraham Darby, Esq., Richard
Darby, Esq., and the Mrs. Darby, are handsome mansions, situated near the
works in the dale. East Field is a good residence at the bottom of the
dale, the seat of Barnard Dickinson, Esq., near to which is Severn House,
the residence of Henry Dickinson, Esq., besides which there are several
other handsome residences.
COALPORT, celebrated for its rich and extensive china works, is situated
about two miles from Ironbridge. The eminent firm of Rose and Company
has been established here upwards of half a century; and the articles
produced at this manufactory, for superior taste and elegant workmanship,
are nowhere excelled. The establishment is known as the Coalbrook Dale
China Manufactory, and is the most extensive in the kingdom. The firm
employs 537 operatives.
CHARITIES.—By an Indenture dated 29th May, 1706, we find that _Basil
Brook_, by his will bequeathed to the poor of the parish of Madeley the
sum of £40, which the churchwardens and parishioners desired might be
laid out in the purchase of lands and tenements for the use of the poor
of the parish. It was witnessed that Comerford Brook, in consideration
of the said £40, and also of a further sum of £30 paid to him by Audley
Bowdler and eight others, parties to the said indenture, granted to
Audley Bowdler and others three cottages with gardens thereto, on trust,
to employ the rents and profits thereof for the use of the poor. By
another indenture, dated 26th December, 1713, William Johnson, in
consideration of £30, conveyed a tenement in Madeley Wood to the trustees
mentioned in the former deed, upon similar trusts. No further account
can be obtained of the source from whence the two sums of £30
consideration money were derived. In course of time, the cottages having
become out of repair, and there being no fund for repairing them, it was
thought advisable to sell them for long terms at nominal rents, and apply
the money received for the leases towards the building of a house of
industry. Accordingly, on the 2nd January, 1797, the vicar, parish
officers, and trustees granted six leases of the trust property for terms
of 999 years, in consideration of a sum of £235. 15s. and a nominal rent
of 4s. 6d. per annum. The sum thus received was added to a subscription
raised in the parish to the further amount of £806. 13s. 6d., making
together £1,042. 8s. 6d., and applied in the erection on a part of the
charity land of a house of industry, the cost of which was £1,086. 14s.
7½d.; and a lease of that piece of land, with the house so erected upon
it, containing 3R. 12P., was granted to certain trustees for the use of
the parish for a term of 999 years, at the yearly rent of £18. The
income of these premises, amounting to £18. 14s. 6d., together with 5s. a
year derived from another fund, has been for many years applied in
providing clothing for the poor.
The annuity of 5s. above mentioned was formerly paid out of premises
belonging to Mr. Beddoes, but by whom given is not known. In the returns
made under the Act of the 26th George III., it is attributed to a person
of the name of Johnson, and there was formerly such a person who had
property in this parish. A person of the name of Bowdler, who held the
premises after Beddoes, became bankrupt, when the premises were sold, and
there being no means of establishing a claim to this annuity against the
purchase, it was agreed that the trustees of the other charity should
receive from the assignees the sum of £5, in lieu and in discharge of
this annuity. This sum, and 20s. for four years arrears, was accordingly
paid to the trustees, and by them placed in the savings bank. _Mr.
William Yate_, in 1810, bequeathed four kneelings in his pew in the
gallery of the church for the benefit of the Sunday school.
The following biographical sketch of the Rev. John Fletcher, formerly
vicar of Madeley, is taken from the account of that celebrated individual
published by the Rev. Robert Cox, curate of St. Leonard’s, Bridgnorth,
and other authorities:—“John Guillaume de la Flechere, or as he was
generally designated in this his adopted country, John William Fletcher,
was born in Switzerland, at Nijon, in the Pays de Vaud. His father, in
the early part of his life, had been an officer in the French service,
but on his marriage retired from the army, and afterwards became a
colonel in the militia of his own country. Young Fletcher having passed
the early part of his boyhood at Nion, was sent to the University of
Geneva, where he was soon distinguished by the superiority of his
talents, and the intensity of his application. About this period
Fletcher met with a providential escape, which he never afterwards
mentioned without the strongest expressions of gratitude. He lived for
some time at a place very near the Rhine, where he frequently bathed,
being careful to keep near the shore that the stream might not carry him
away. Once, however, being less careful than usual, he was drawn into
mid-channel, where the course of the water was very swift. He
endeavoured to swim against it, but in vain, till he was hurried a
distance of five miles from home. At last, despairing of life, he was
cheered by the sight of a fine smooth creek, into which he was swiftly
carried by a violent stream. A powder mill stood directly across it, and
the last thing he could remember was the striking of his breast against
one of the piles on which it stood. He then lost his senses, and knew
nothing more till he rose on the other side of the mill, in a calm safe
place, perfectly well. Many persons gladly welcomed him on shore; and
one gentleman in particular said, ‘I looked when you went under the mill,
and again when you rose on the other side. The time of your being
immerged among the piles was exactly twenty minutes.’”
After Fletcher had gone through the usual course of study at the
university, he was sent to Leutzbourg, a small town in the Swiss cantons,
when, in addition to his other literary pursuits, he studied Hebrew and
German. Hitherto it had been the intention of Fletcher to enter into the
church; but, contrary to all expectation, before he had arrived at the
age of twenty, he manifested views of a very different nature. Disgusted
by the necessity of subscribing to the high Calvinism of the Geneva
articles, and disinclined to enter upon so sacred an office from any
secular motives, he yielded to the desire of some of his friends, and
entered the army. Soon after he obtained a commission in the Portuguese
service, and was ordered to hold himself in readiness to sail to Brazil;
but an accident, occasioned by a servant overturning a kettle of boiling
water on his leg, confined him to his bed until the ship had sailed.
Being disappointed in a subsequent attempt to enter into the Dutch
service, he resolved to visit England, partly from a desire for further
improvement, and partly from a hope of obtaining some situation for his
future support.
After the arrival of Mr. Fletcher in this country, he resided about
eighteen months in the house of a Mr. Burchell, in Herefordshire, under
whose directions he studied the English and various branches of polite
literature. At length he was engaged as a tutor in the family of Mr.
Hill, M.P. for Shrewsbury, who resided at Tern Hall, in this county. Mr.
Fletcher generally accompanied the family to London, when Mr. Hill went
to attend his parliamentary duties; and on one of these journeys he
accidentally met with a poor woman who, he said, talked to him so
delightfully of Jesus Christ, that he knew not how the time passed away.
This little circumstance was attended with the most important results;
and although at first he felt somewhat indignant at the idea of not being
perfectly acquainted with the nature of religion, yet at length he
obtained that lively faith which, through the grace of God, will incite
men to do all they can do, whilst it teaches them to rely upon nothing
which they have done.
Not long after this period, Mr. Fletcher’s attention was again directed
to the work of the ministry; but being diffident of his qualifications
for so weighty an office, two years elapsed before his ordination.
“Before,” said he, “I was afraid; but now I tremble to meddle with holy
things.” At length his reluctance being overcome, he solemnly determined
to offer himself as a candidate for holy orders in the English Church,
and was accordingly ordained deacon at the Chapel Royal of St. James’s,
on the 6th of March, 1757, and preached on the following day. After
having preached to some French refugees in his own language, and also in
several chapels belonging to Mr. Wesley, with whom he was now acquainted,
he determined to return to the charge of his pupils at Tern Hall. The
churches of Atcham, Wroxeter, St. Alkmunds, and the Abbey Church in
Shrewsbury, were now the occasional scenes of his gratuitous services.
In the summer of 1779 he was frequently engaged in performing the duty of
Madeley, and during the following year was presented to the vicarage of
that place. This living he accepted in preference to another of above
double the value, which was offered to him about the same time; his
affection for the people to whom he had ministered would not allow him to
be separated from them. The circumstance of his appointment to Madeley
is worthy of notice. One day, Mr. Hill informed him that the living of
Dunham, in Cheshire, then vacant, was at his service: “The parish,” he
continued, “is small, the duty light, the income good (£400 per annum),
and it is situated in a fine healthy sporting country.” After thanking
Mr. Hill most cordially for his kindness, Mr. Fletcher added, “Alas, sir!
Dunham will not suit me; there is too much money, and too little labour.”
“Few clergymen make such objections,” said Mr. Hill, “it is a pity to
decline such a living, as I do not know that I can find you another: What
shall we do? Would you like to go to Madeley?” “That, sir, would be the
very place for me.” “My object, Mr. Fletcher, is to make you comfortable
in your own way; if you prefer Madeley, I shall find no difficulty in
persuading Chambray, the present vicar, to exchange it for Dunham, which
is worth more than twice as much!” In this way he became vicar of
Madeley, with which he was so perfectly satisfied that he never after
sought any other honour or preferment. The inhabitants of Madeley, at
this period, were notorious for ignorance and impiety; and in this
benighted village Fletcher stood forth as a preacher of righteousness for
the space of twenty-five years.
There was an energy in his preaching, observes Mr. Gilpin, that was
irresistible; his subjects, his language, his gestures, the tone of his
voice, and the turn of his countenance, all conspired to fix the
attention and affect the heart. Without aiming at sublimity, he was
truly sublime, and uncommonly eloquent without affecting the orator. He
was wonderously skilled in adapting himself to the different capacities
and conditions of his hearers. He could stoop to the illiterate and rise
with the learned; he had incontrovertible arguments for the sceptic, and
powerful persuasions for the listless believer; he had sharp remonstrance
for the obstinate, and strong consolation for the mourner. Mr. Wesley
describes him as superior to Whitfield in his qualifications as a public
preacher. Instead of being confined, says he, to a country village, he
ought to have shone in every corner of our land. He was full as much
called to sound an alarm through all the nation as Mr. Whitfield himself;
nay, abundantly more so, seeing he was much better qualified for that
important work. He had a more striking person, an equally winning
address, together with a richer flow of fancy, a stronger understanding,
a far greater treasure of learning, both in languages, philosophy,
philology, and divinity; and above all, which I can speak with full
assurance, a more deep and constant communion with the Father and with
the Son Jesus Christ. It is not to be supposed that so zealous a
minister of the gospel would meet with no opposition. The drunken
colliers and self-interested publicans were his special enemies. The
voluptuary detested his temperance; the licentious were offended at his
gravity and strictness; and the formal were roused to indignation by that
spirit of zeal and devotion which influenced his whole conduct. And to
these opponents must be added some of the neighbouring clergy and
magistrates, who objected to his well-intended but unauthorised
interference in their parishes. In spite, however, of these oppositions,
his piety and benevolence won upon the people, and the church, which at
first was so thinly attended that he was discouraged by the smallness of
the congregation, began to overflow, and he saw an effectual change take
place in many of his flock. Madeley abounded with persons in extreme
indigence, and over this destitute part of his flock Mr. Fletcher watched
with peculiar concern. The whole rents of his small patrimonial estate
were set apart for charitable uses, and he drew so liberally from his
other funds as at times almost to deprive himself of the necessaries of
life. In order to feed the hungry, he led a life of self-denial and
abstinence; and to cover the naked he clothed himself in the most homely
attire.