THE WILLEY SQUIRE AMONG HIS NEIGHBOURS.
The Squire among his Neighbours—Roger de Coverley—Anecdotes—Gentlemen
nearest the Fire in the Lower Regions—Food Riots—The Squire quells the
Mob—His Virtues and his Failings—Influences of the Times—His Career draws
to a Close—His wish for Old Friends and Servants to follow him to the
Grave—That he may be buried in the Dusk of Evening—His Favourite Horse to
be shot—His Estates to go to his Cousin, Cecil Weld, the First Lord
Forester.
LIKE Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley, the Willey Squire lived a father
among his tenants, a friend among his neighbours, and a good master
amongst his servants, who seldom changed. He feasted the rich, and did
not forget the poor, but allowed them considerable privileges on the
estate; and there are a few old people—it is true there are but few—who
remember interviews they had with the Squire when going to gather
bilberries in the park, or when sent on some errand to the Hall. An old
man, who brightened up at the mention of the Squire’s name, said,
“Remember him, I think I do; he intended that I should do so. I was sent
by my mother to the Hall for barm, when, seeing an old man in the yard,
and little thinking it was the Squire, I said, ‘Sirrah, is there going to
be any stir here to-day?’ ‘Aye, lad,’ says he, ‘come in, and see;’ and
danged if he didn’t get the horse-whip and stir me round the kitchen,
where he pretended to flog me, laughing the while ready to split his
sides. He gave me a rare blow out though, and my mother found
half-a-crown at the bottom of the jug when she poured out the barm.”
“Did you ever hear of his being worsted by the sweep?” said another. “He
was generally a match for most, but the sweep was too much for him. The
Squire had been out, and, being caught in a storm, he called at a
public-house to shelter. Seeing that it was Mr. Forester, the customers
made way for him to sit next the fire, and whilst he was drying himself a
sweep came to the door, and looked in; but, seeing the Squire, he was
making off again. ‘Hollo,’ said Mr. Forester, ‘what news from the lower
region?’ ‘Oh,’ replied the sweep, ‘things are going on there, Squire,
much as they are here—the _gentlemen are nearest the fire_!’” A third of
our informants remarked: “He was one of the old sort, but a right ’un.
Why, when there was a bad harvest, and no work for men, after one of them
war times, and the colliers were rioting and going to break open the
shops, to tear down the flour mill, and do other damage, the old Squire
was the only man that could stop them—he had such influence with the
people. The poor never wanted a friend whilst old George Forester lived.
There were plenty of broken victuals to be had for the fetching, a
tankard of right good ale, with bread and cheese, or cold mutton, for all
comers.”
[Picture: Willey Church]
The years 1774–1782 were periods of local gloom and distress, when
haggard hunger and ignorant force banded together to trample down the
safeguards of civil rights, and armed ruffians took the initiative in
violent scrambles for food. The cavalry were called out, and fierce
battles were fought in the iron districts, where the rioters sometimes
took refuge on cinder heaps, which supplied them with sharp cutting
missiles. In 1795 the colliers and iron-workers being in a state of
commotion, were only prevented from rising by assurances that gentlemen
of property were disposed to contribute liberally to their relief, and
thousands of bushels of Indian corn were obtained by the Squire and
others from Liverpool to add to the grain procurable in the neighbourhood
to meet immediate necessities. A meeting of gentlemen, farmers, millers,
and tradesmen was held at the Tontine Hotel, on the 9th of July in that
year, to consider the state of things arising out of the scarcity of corn
and the dearness of all other provisions, at which a committee was formed
for the immediate collection of contributions and the purchase of grain
at a reduction of one-fourth, or 9_s._ for 12_s._ Mr. Forester at once
gave notice to all his tenants to deliver wheat to the committee at
12_s._, whilst he himself gave £105, and agreed to advance £700 more, to
be repaid from the produce of the corn sold at a reduced price. Such
were the wants of the district, the murmurs of the inhabitants, and the
distinctions made between those who were considered benefactors, and
others who were not, that fear was entertained of a general uprising; and
application was made to Mr. Forester, both as a friend and a magistrate.
He assumed more the character of the former, and his presence acted like
magic upon the rough miners, who by his kindness and tact were at once
put into good humour. Having brought waggons of coal, drawn with ropes,
for sale, the first thing the Squire did was to purchase the coal: he
then bought up all the butter in the market, and purchased all the bread
in the town, he emptied the butchers’ shops in the same way, and advised
the men to go home with the provisions he gave them.
We are quite aware that it might be said that Squire Forester was not a
model for imitation; and it might be replied that no man ever was,
altogether, even for men of his own time, much less for those of one or
two generations removed, always excepting Him whose name should never be
uttered lightly, and in whom the human and divine were combined. He had
sufficient inherent good qualities, however, to make half a dozen
ordinary modern country gentlemen popular; still his one failing, shared
among the same number, might no less damn them in the eyes of society.
Some would, no doubt, have liked Dibdin’s heroes better if he had been
less truthful, by making the language more agreeable to the ear, by
substituting, as one writer has said, “dear me” for “damme,” and lemonade
for grog; but such critics are what Dibdin himself called “lubbers” and
“swabs.” In the same way, some would be for toning down the characters
of Squire Forester and Parson Stephens; but this would be a mistake: an
artist might as well smooth over with vegetation every out-cropping rock
he finds in his foreground. We might say a great deal more about the old
Squire, and the Willey Rector too, but there is no reason why we should
say less. If we err, we err with the best and gravest writers of
history, who, without fear or favour, wrote of things as they found them;
and those who are familiar with the writings of men of the past—such as
the Sixth Satire of Juvenal, will admit that men like Squire Forester
were examples of modesty. Men of all grades, every day, are brought in
contact with much that might more strongly be objected to in the public
Press; and there is no reason why the veil should not be raised in order
that we may view the past as it really was.
The fact is, the Squire found the atmosphere of the times congenial to
his temperament. A very popular Shropshire rake and play writer,
Wycherley, had done much to lower the tone of morality by representing
peccadilloes, not as something which the violence of passion may excuse,
but as accomplishments worthy of gentlemen,—his “Country Wife” and “Plain
Dealer” being examples. Congreve followed in his wake, with his “Old
Bachelor,” which may be judged by its apothegm:—
“What rugged ways attend the noon of life;
Our sun declines, and with what anxious strife,
What pain, we tug that galling load—a wife!”
A fair estimate of the looseness of the time may be formed from another
representation:—
“The miracle to-day is, that we find
A lover true, not that a woman’s kind;”
and from the fact that even Pope, in his “Epistle to a Lady,” out of his
mature experience could write—
“Men some to business, some to pleasure take,
But every woman is at heart a rake.”
The Squire had been jilted, and breathing such an atmosphere, no wonder
he cast lingering looks to the time
“Ere one to one was cursedly confined,”
or that he never married. It is fortunate he did not, for Venus herself,
we fancy, could not have kept him by her side. His amours were
notorious, and some of his mistresses were rare specimens of rustic
beauty. Two daring spirits who followed the hounds were regular Dianas
in their way, and he spent much of his time in the rural little cottages
of these and others which were dotted over the estate at no great
distance from the Hall. As rare Ben Jonson has it:—
“When some one peculiar quality
Doth so possess a man that it doth draw
All his effects, his spirits, and his powers,
In their confluction all to run one way,
This may be truly said to be a humour.”
Such a humour the old Squire had. Towards the last he found that some of
his mistresses gave him a good deal of trouble; for in carrying out his
desire to leave them comfortably provided for, his best intentions
created jealousy, and he found it difficult to adjust their claims as
regarded matters of income, Phœbe Higgs, who survived the Squire many
years, and lived in a cottage with land attached, on the Willey side of
the Shirlot, being the most clamorous. She set out one night with the
intention of shooting the Squire, but was unnerved by her favourite
monkey, who had stealthily gone on before, and jumped unobserved on her
shoulder as she opened a gate. On another occasion she succeeded in
surprising the Squire by forcing her way into his room and pointing a
loaded pistol at him across the table, vowing she would shoot him unless
he promised to make the sum left for her maintenance equal to that of
Miss Cal—t. He had his children educated; they frequently visited at the
Hall, and some married well. He speaks of them as his children and
grandchildren in his letters, and manifested the greatest anxiety that
everything should be done that could be done, by provisions in his will
for those he was about to leave behind him. Indeed the same
characteristics which gave a colouring to his life distinguished him to
the last; and if the old fires burnt less brightly, the same inner sense
and outward manifestations were evident in all he did.
One thing which troubled him was the chancel of Barrow Church, as will be
seen by the following characteristic letter to his agent, Mr. Pritchard,
asking him to procure a legal opinion about certain encroachments upon
what he conceived to be his rights, and those of the parishioners:—
“DEAR SIR,—
“You must remember Parson Jones has oft been talking to me about the
pews put up, unfairly, I think, in the chancel of Barrow church. The
whole of the chancel is mine as patron, and I am always obliged to do
all the repairs to it, whenever wanted. There is a little small pew
in it of very ancient date, besides these other two; in this, I
suppose, it is intended to thrust poor me, the patron, into; humble
and meek, and deprived of every comfort on my own spot, the chancel.
The parson, you know, has been saucy on the occasion, as you know all
black Toms are, and therefore I’ll now know my power from Mr. Mytton,
and set the matter straight somehow or other. I can safely swear at
this minute a dozen people of this parish (crowd as they will) can’t
receive the Sacrament together, and therefore, instead of there being
pews of any kind therein, there ought to be none at all, but a free
unencumbered chancel at this hour. Rather than be as it is, I’ll be
at the expense of pulling the present chancel down, rebuilding and
enlarging it, so as to make all convenient and clever, before I’ll
suffer these encroachments attended with every insult upon earth.
Surely upon a representation to the bishop that the present chancel
is much too small, and that the patron, at his own expense, wishes to
enlarge it, I cannot think but it will be comply’d with. If this is
not Mr. Mytton’s opinion as the best way, what is? and how am I to
manage these encroaches?
“Yours ever,
—
“P.S.—If the old chancel is taken down, I’ll take care that no pew
shall stand in the new one. Mr. Mytton will properly turn this in
his mind, and I’ll then face the old kit of them boldly. The old pew
I spoke of, besides the other two in the chancel (mean and dirty as
it is to a degree), yet the parson wants to let, if he does not do so
now, to any person that comes to church, no matter who, so long as he
gets the cash. It’s so small no one can sit with bended knees in it;
and, in short, the whole chancel is not more than one-half as big as
the little room I am now seated in; which must apparently show you,
and, on your representation, Mr. Mytton likewise, how much too small
it must be for so large a parish as Barrow, and with the addition of
three pews—one very large indeed, the next to hold two or three
people abreast, and the latter about three sideways, always standing,
and totally unable to kneel in the least comfort.”
Years were beginning to tell upon the old sportsman, reminding him that
his career was drawing to a close, and he appeared to apprehend the truth
Sir Thomas Brown embodied in the remark, that every hour adds to the
current arithmetic, which scarce stands one moment; and since “the
longest sun sets at right declensions,” he looked forward to that setting
and made arrangements accordingly, which were in perfect keeping with the
character of the man. He felt that his day was done, that night was
coming on; and it was his wish that those who knew him best should be
those chosen to attend his funeral, that his domestics and servants who
had experienced his kindness should carry him to the tomb. And let it be
when the sun goes down, when the work of the day is done; let each have a
guinea, that he may meet his neighbour afterwards and talk over, if he
likes, the merits and demerits of his old master, as none—next to his
Maker—know them better. The provisions in the will of the old Squire, in
which he left his estates to his cousin Cecil, afterwards Lord Forester,
father of the present Right Hon. Lord Forester, made about five years
before his death, were evidently made in this spirit.
He became ill at one of his cottages on Shirlot, was taken home, attended
by Dr. Thursfield (grandfather of the present Greville Thursfield, M.D.),
and died whilst the doctor was still with him, on the 13th of July, 1811,
in the seventy-third year of his age.
* * * * *
EXTRACTS _from the last Will and Testament_ (_dated the_ 3_rd_ _day
of November_, 1805) _of George Forester_, _late of Willey_, _in the
County of Salop_, _Esquire_.
“I desire that all my just debts and funeral expenses, and the
charges of proving this my Will, may be paid and discharged by my
Executors hereinafter named, with all convenient speed after my
decease, and that my body may be interred in a grave near the
Communion table in the Parish Church of Willey aforesaid, or as near
thereto as may be, in a plain and decent manner. And it is my Will
that eight of my Servants or Workmen be employed as Bearers of my
body to the grave, to each of whom I bequeath the sum of One Guinea,
and I desire my Cousin Cecil Forester, of Ross Hall, in the County of
Salop, Esquire, Member of Parliament for the Town and Liberties of
Wenlock, in the same County, the eldest son of my late uncle, Colonel
Cecil Forester, deceased, to fix upon and appoint six of those of my
friends and companions in the neighbourhood of Willey aforesaid, whom
he knew to have been intimate with, and respected by, me, to be
Bearers of the Pall at my funeral, and I request that my body may be
carried to its burial-place in the dusk of the evening.
“And I do hereby direct that my chestnut horse, commonly called the
Aldenham horse, shall be shot as soon as conveniently may be after my
decease by two persons, one of whom to fire first, and the other to
wait in reserve and fire immediately afterwards, so that he may be
put to death as expeditiously as possible, and I direct that he shall
afterwards be buried with his hide on, and that a flat stone without
inscription shall be placed over him. And I do hereby request my
Cousin Cecil Forester and the said John Pritchard, as soon as
conveniently may be after my decease, to look over and inspect the
letters, papers, and writings belonging to me at the time of my
decease, and such of them as they shall deem to be useless I desire
them to destroy.”
His wishes, we need scarcely say, were carried out to the letter. He was
buried by torchlight in the family vault in Willey Church, beneath the
family pew, to which the steps shown in our engraving lead. Founded and
endowed by the lords of Willey at some remote period, this venerable
edifice has remained, with the exception of its chancel, the same as we
see it, for many generations past. It stands within the shadow of the
Old Hall, and might from its appearance have formed the text of Gray’s
ivy-mantled tower, where
“The moping owl does to the moon complain;”
being covered with a luxuriant growth of this clinging evergreen to the
very top. Standing beneath, and peering through the Norman-looking
windows, which admit but a sober light, glimpses are obtained of costly
monuments with the names and titles of patrons whose escutcheons are
visible against the wall. The Squire’s tomb remains uninscribed; but in
1821 Cecil Weld, the first Lord Forester, erected a marble tablet near,
with the simple record—“To the memory of my late cousin and benefactor,
George Forester, Esq., Willey Park, May 10, 1821.”
THE SQUIRE’S CHESTNUT MARE.
A NEW HUNTING SONG.
_Written for the present Work by_ J. P. DOUGLAS, ESQ.
AWAY we go! my mare and I,
Over fallow and lea:
She’s carried me twenty years or nigh—
The best of friends are we.
With steady stride she sweeps along,
The old Squire on her back:
While echoes far, earth’s sweetest sound,
The music of the pack.
Ah! how they stare, both high and low,
To see the “Willey chestnut” go.
Full many a time, from dewy morn
Until the day was done,
We’ve follow’d the huntsman’s ringing horn,
Proud of a gallant run.
Well in the front, my mare and I—
A good ’un to lead is she;
For’ard, hark for’ard! still the cry—
In at the death are we.
My brave old mare—when I’m laid low
Shall never another master know.
The sailor fondly loves his ship,
The gallant loves his lass;
The toper drains with fever’d lip,
His deep, full-bottom’d glass.
Away! such hollow joys I scorn,
But give to me, I pray,
The cry of the hounds, the sounding horn,
For’ard! hark, hark away!
And this our burial chant shall be,
For the chestnut mare shall die with me!
APPENDIX.
A.—_Page_ 10.
STRUTT, quoting from the book of St. Alban’s the sort of birds assigned
to the different ranks of persons, places them in the following order:—
The eagle, the vulture, and the melona for an emperor.
The ger-falcon and the tercel of the ger-falcon for a king.
The falcon gentle and the tercel gentle for a prince.
The falcon of the rock for a duke.
The falcon peregrine for an earl.
The bastard for a baron.
The sacre and the sacret for a knight.
The lanere and the laneret for an esquire.
The marlyon for a lady.
The hobby for a young man.
The gos-hawk for a yeoman.
The tercel for a poor man.
The sparrow-hawk for a priest.
The musket for a holy-water clerk.
The kesterel for a knave or a servant.
Of some of the later and milder measures taken to protect the hawk, it
may be remarked that the 5th of Elizabeth, c. 21, enacts that if any
person shall unlawfully take any hawks, or their eggs, out of the woods
or ground of any person, and be thereof convicted at the assizes or
sessions on indictment, bill or information at the suit of the king, or
of the party, he shall be imprisoned three months, and pay treble
damages, and after the expiration of three months shall find sureties for
his good abearing for seven years, or remain in prison till he doth, § 3.
The last statute concerning _falconry_ (except a clause in 7 Jac. c. 11,
which limits the time of hawking at pheasants and partridges) is that of
the 23rd Eliz. c. 10, which enacts that if any manner of person shall
hawk in another man’s corn after it is eared, and before it is shocked,
and be therefore convicted at the assizes, sessions, or leet, he shall
pay 40_s._ to the owner, and if not paid within ten days he shall be
imprisoned for a month.
B.—_Page_ 41.
Mr. Eyton, to whose learned and valuable work on the “Antiquities of
Shropshire” the author again acknowledges his obligations, as all who
follow that painstaking writer must do, with regard to the holding at the
More, says, “The earliest notice of this tenure which occurs in the Roll
of Shropshire Sergeantries, is dated 13th of John, 1211, and merely says
that Richard de Medler holds one virgate of land, and renders for the
same annually, at the Feast of St. Michael, two knives (knifeulos). A
second contemporary roll supplies the place of payment, viz., the
Exchequer; a third writes the name, Richard le Mener. In 1245 Nicholas
de More is said to pay at the Exchequer two knives (cultellos)—one good,
the other very bad—for certain land which he holds of the King in capite
in More. In 1255 the Stottesden Jurors report that Nicholas de Medler
holds one virgate in More, in capite of the Lord King, rendering at the
Exchequer two knives, one of which ought to cut a hazel rod, and he does
no other service for the said land. In that of 1274 Jurors of the same
Hundred say at length that Nicholas de la More holds one virgate in that
vill of the Lord King, in capite, by sergeantry, of taking two knives to
the King’s Exchequer, at the feast of St. Michael in each year, so that
he ought to cut a hazel rod with one knife, so that the knife should bend
(plicare) with the stroke; and again, to cut a rod with the other knife.
The record of 1284 describes Nicholas de la More as holding three parts
of a virgate and two moors, by sergeantry, &c. The Jurors of Oct. 1292
say that William de la More, of Erdington, holds one virgate in the More,
by sergeantry of taking two knives to the King’s Exchequer on the morrow
of St. Michael, and to cut with the same knives two hazel rods.”
C—_Page_ 49.
This bold projecting rock is called, from Major Thomas, “Smallman’s
Leap,” from a tradition that the major, a staunch Royalist, being
surprised by a party of Cromwell’s horse, was singly and hotly pursued
over Westwood, where, finding all hope of escape at an end, he turned
from the road, hurried his horse into a full gallop to the edge of the
precipice, and went over. The horse was killed by falling on the trees
beneath, but the major escaped, and secreted himself in the woods.
Certain historical facts, showing that the family long resided here,
appear to give a colouring to this tradition. Thus, in the reign of
Henry III. (57th year) William Smallman had a lease from John Lord of
Brockton par Shipton, Corvedale, of 17½ acres of land, with a sytche,
called Woolsytche, and two parcels of meadow in the fields of Brockton.
John Smallman possessed by lease and grant, from Thomas de la Lake, 30
acres of land in the fields of Larden par Shipton, for twenty years from
the feast of St. Michael, living 4th Edward II. (1310) 41st Edward III.
(1367), Richard Smallman, of Shipton, granted to Roger Powke, of
Brockton, all his lands and tenements in the township and fields of
Shipton, as fully as was contained in an original deed. Witnesses—John
de Galford, Sir Roger Mon (Chaplain), Henry de Stanwy, John Tyklewardyne
(Ticklarton), of Stanton, John de Gurre of the same, with others. 1st
Henry VI. (1422), John Smallman was intrusted with the collection of the
subsidies of taxes payable to the Crown within the franchise of Wenlock.
Thomas Smallman, of Elton, co. Harford, and Inner Temple,
barrister-at-law, afterwards a Welsh judge, purchased the manor of
Wilderhope, Stanway, and the teg and estates, and had a numerous grant of
arms, 5th October, 1589. Major Thomas Smallman, a staunch royalist, born
1624, compounded for his estate £140.
Underneath this bold projecting headland, sometimes called “Ipikin’s
Rock,” is Ipikin’s Cave, an excavation very difficult of approach, where
tradition alleges a bold outlaw long concealed himself and his horse, and
from which he issued to make some predatory excursion.
The term _hope_, both as a prefix and termination, is of such frequent
occurrence here that it is only natural to suppose that it has some
special signification; and looking at the positions of Prest_hope_,
East_hope_, Millic_hope_, Middle_hope_, Wilder_hope_, _Hope_say, and
_Hope_ Bowdler, that signification appears to be a recess, or place
remote between the hills. Easthope is a rural little village about two
miles beyond Ipikin’s Rock, pleasantly situated in one of these long
natural troughs which follow the direction of Wenlock Edge.
It appears to have been within the Long Forest, and is mentioned in
Domesday as being held in Saxon times by Eruni and Uluric; it was
afterwards held by Edric de Esthop, and others of the same name. There
was a church here as early as 1240, and in the graveyard, between two
ancient yews, are two tombs, without either date or inscription, in which
two monks connected with the Abbey of Wenlock are supposed to have been
interred.
Near Easthope, and about midway between Larden Hall and Lutwyche Hall, is
an enclosure comprising about eight acres, or an encampment, forming
nearly an entire circle, surrounded by inner and outer fosses. The
internal slope of the inner wall is 12 feet, and externally 25, while the
crest of the parapet is 6 feet broad. The relief of the second vallum
rises 10 feet from the fosse, and is about 12 feet across its parapet.
There is also a second ditch, but it is almost obliterated. It is
supposed to have been a military post, forming an important link in the
chain of British entrenchments which stretched throughout this portion of
the county. Near it a mound resembling a tumulus was opened some years
since by the Rev. R. More and T. Mytton, Esq., and in or near which a
British urn of baked clay was discovered, on another occasion, while
making a drain.
D.—_Page_ 66.
“Proavus meus Richardus de isto matrimonio susceptus uxorem habuit
Annam Richardi dicti Forestarii filiam qui quidem Richardus filius
erat natu minor prænobilis familiæ Forestariorum (olim Regiorum
Vigorniensis saltûs custodum) et famoso Episcopo Bonnero a-Secritis
Hic Suttanum Madoci incolebat, et egregias ædes posuit in urbicula
dicta Brugge, sive ad Pontem vel hodie dictas Forestarii Dementiam,”
E.—PEDIGREE OF THE FORESTER FAMILY, _Page_ 69.
In his “Sheriffs of Shropshire,” Mr. Blakeway in speaking of the Forester
family, says: “They were originally Foresters, an office much coveted by
our ancestors, which latter seems probable, from the fact, that on the
Pipe Rolls of 1214, Hugh Forester accounts for a hundred merks that he
may hold the bailiwick of the forest of Salopscire, as his father held it
before him.” King John, however, remits thirty merks of the payment in
consequence of Hugh having taken to wife the niece of John l’Estrange, at
_His Majesty’s request_. It does not seem clear, however, that Hugh, the
son of Robert, can be traced to have been in the direct line of the
Willey family, he having been ancestor to Roger, son of John, the first
of the king’s six foresters. The other, Robert de Wellington, the late
Mr. George Morris, in his “Genealogies of the Principal Landed
Proprietors,” now in the possession of T. C. Eyton, Esq., to whose
kindness we are indebted for this extract, says was the earliest person
that can certainly be called ancestor of the present family of Forester.
His sergeantry is described as the custody of the King’s Hay of Eyton, of
which, and several adjoining manors, Peter de Eyton, lineal ancestor of
the present Thomas Campbell Eyton, of Eyton, and grandson of Robert de
Eyton, who gave the whole of the Buttery estate to Shrewsbury Abbey, was
the lord.
Thomas, a son of Robert Forester of Wellington, in the Hundred Rolls, in
1254, is said by the king’s justices itinerant to hold half a virgate of
the king to keep the Hay of Wellington. Roger le Forester of Wellington,
who succeeded Robert, appears to have died 1277–8, and to have left two
sons, Robert and Roger. Robert had property in Wellington and the
Bailiwick of the forest of the Wrekin, and is supposed to have succeeded
his father, whom he did not long survive, having died the year following,
1278–9. Roger his brother succeeded to his possession, and held also the
Hay of Wellington, of which he died seized in 1284–5. Robert, the
Forester of Wellington, Mr. Blakeway says, occurs in the Hundred Roll of
Bradford in 1287, and is shown to have held the Hay of Wellington till
1292–3, when Roger, son of Roger, proving himself of age, paid the king
one merk as a relief for his lands in Wellington, held by sergeantry, to
keep Wellington Hay, in the forest of the Wrekin, &c. This is the Roger
de Wellington before-mentioned, as one of King Edward’s foresters by fee,
recorded in his Great Charter of the forests of Salopssier, in the
perambulation of 1300. He died 1331.
John le Forester, as John, son and heir of Roger le Forester de Welynton,
succeeded to the property, and proved himself of age in the reign of
Edward III., 1335. With John de Eyton he attested a grant in Wellington,
and died 24th of Edward III., 1350.
William le Forester succeeded his father, John, in 1377, and died 19th of
Richard II., 1395.
In 1397 Roger Forester de Wellington is described as holding Wellington
Hay and Chace. He died in 1402.
Roger, his son and heir, was in 1416 appointed keeper of the same haia by
the Duchess of Norfolk and the Lady Bergavenny, sisters and co-heiresses
of the great Thomas Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel.
His son and successor, John, died 5th of Edward IV. 1465, seized of the
lands, &c., in Wellington, and the custody of the forest of the Wrekin.
He had two sons, William and John, also a son Richard; and William, son
of the above, appears to have been the father of another John, the former
John having died without issue. John, in 1506, witnesses a deed of
Thomas Cresset, as John Forester the younger; he married Joice Upton, the
heiress of Philip Upton, of Upton under Haymond, and obtained the estate
of that place, which is still inherited by his descendants.
This John Forester first resided in Watling Street, where his ancestors
for several generations had lived, in the old timbered mansion, now
occupied by Dr. Cranage, but he afterwards removed to Easthope, whilst
his son William resided at Upton; and Richard Forester, alias Forster of
Sutton Maddock, secretary to Bishop Bonner, who built the old mansion in
Bridgnorth, called “Forester’s Folly,” which was burnt down during the
siege of the castle, when the high town became a heap of ruins, appears
to have been a son of John Forester, of Easthope; and Anthony Forester or
Foster of Sir Walter Scott’s novel, who was born about 1510, was a son of
his.
In the 34th of Henry VIII., 1542–3, Thomas Foster and Elizabeth his wife,
account in the Exchequer for several temporalities in connection with the
monastery of St. Peter’s, Shrewsbury. Sir William Forester, KB., married
Lady Mary Cecil, daughter of James, third Earl of Salisbury. He was a
staunch Protestant, and represented the county with George Weld, as
previously stated, with whom he voted in favour of the succession of the
House of Hanover, and the family came into possession of the Willey
estates by the marriage of Brook Forester of Dothill Park, with one of
the Welds, the famous George Forester, the Willey Squire, being the fruit
of that marriage. George Forester left the whole of his estates to his
cousin, Cecil Forester, of Ross Hall, who was allowed by George the
Fourth, whose personal friendship he had been permitted to enjoy for many
years, to add the name of Weld in 1821. Cecil Weld Forester, Esq., was
ennobled the same year by George the Fourth, who, when Prince of Wales,
honoured him with a visit at Ross Hall. He married Catherine, daughter
of His Grace the fourth Duke of Rutland, and was not less renowned than
his cousin, as a sportsman. His eagerness for the chase was happily
characterised by the late Mr. Meynell, who used to say, “First out of
cover came Cecil Forester, next the fox, and then my hounds.” A famous
leap of his, thirty feet across a stream, on his famous horse Bernardo,
has been recorded in some lines now at Willey which accompany the
portrait of the horse. He is supposed to have been one of the first who
instituted the present system of hard riding to hounds, and a horse known
to have been ridden by him, it is said, would at any time fetch £20 more
than the ordinary price. Speaking of the classic proportions of a horse,
and the perfection of the art of riding in connection with his lordship
as a sportsman, Colonel Apperley, remarked some years ago, “Unless a man
sits gracefully on his horse, and handles him well, that fine effect is
lost. As the poet says, he would be incorporated with the brave beast,
and such does Lord Forester appear to be. His eye to a country is also
remarkably quick, and his knowledge of Leicestershire has given him no
small advantage. On one occasion he disregarded the good old English
custom of ‘looking before you leap,’ and landed in the middle of a deep
pool. ‘Hold on,’ a countryman who saw him, shouted to others coming in
the same direction. ‘Hold your tongue—say nothing, we shall have it full
in a minute,’ said Lord Forester.” The Colonel added, “In consequence of
residing in Shropshire, a country which has been so long famous for its
breed of horses, he has a good opportunity of mounting himself well. He
always insisted on the necessity of lengthy shoulders, good fetlocks,
well formed hind legs and open feet; and knowing better than to confound
strength and size, his horses seldom exceeded fifteen hands. On anything
relating to a hunter his authority has long been considered classic, and
if Forester said so it was enough. Lord Forester will always stand
pre-eminent in the field, whilst in private life he is a very friendly
man, and has ever adhered to those principles of honour and integrity
which characterise the gentleman.” He died on the 23rd of May, 1828, in
his 61st year. He had, as we have said, ten children, the gallant Frank
Forester, as Colonel Apperley styles him, being one. The oldest was the
present Right Hon. J. G. W. Forester, whose popularity in connection with
the Belvoir Hunt is so well known.
His lordship, whose portrait we give at the commencement of this work,
and who is now in the 73rd year of his age, has added very much to the
Willey estates, both by purchase and by improvements, and is very much
esteemed by his tenantry.
The Right Hon. General Forester, who succeeded his brother in the
representation of Wenlock, has sat for the borough for forty-five years,
and is now the Father of the House of Commons. Whether out-door
exercises, associated with the pleasures of the chase, to which the
ancestors of the Foresters have devoted themselves for so many centuries,
have anything to do with it or not we cannot say; but the Foresters are
remarkable for masculine and feminine beauty, and the General has
frequently been spoken of by the press as the best looking man in the
House of Commons. Neither he nor his elder brother, the present Rt. Hon.
Lord Forester, are likely to leave behind them direct issue. The younger
brother, the Hon. and Rev. O. W. W. Forester, has one son, Cecil, who has
several sons to perpetuate the name of Forester, which we hope will long
be associated with Willey.
INDEX.
Abbot of Leicester, 15
,, Salop, 6
„ Tavistock, 15
Addison, 80
Albrighton red-coats, 30
Aldenham, 32
Alfred, 19
Algar, 19
Apley, 32
Apperley, Col., 84
Arrows, 22
Atterley, 22, 32
* * * * *
Bachelors’ Hall, 104
Badger, 52
Barons’ War, 25
Barrow, 32
Battle of Worcester, 26
Baxter, 65
Beacons, 168
Beaver, 4
Bellet’s, Rev. George, Antiquities of Bridgnorth, 66
Belswardine, 32
Benson, M., Esq., 48
Benthall, 32
Benthall Edge, 53
Bernard’s Hill, 23
Bishop Bonner, 66
,, Percy, 65
Bittern, 5
Black Toms, 182
Bold, 32
Boney, 167
Bowman’s Hill, 26
Bow, the weapon of sport and of war, 22
Brock-holes, 52
Broseley, 32, 40
Brown Clee, 96
Brug, 40
Buck, 16
Buildwas, 100
* * * * *
Cantreyne, 32
Castellan, 23
Castillon, 14
Cask of wine, 24
Castle, 22
Caughley, 32
Chace of Shirlot, 31
Chaucer, 46
Chesterton, 18
Chester, Earl of, 25
Chetton, 31
Childers, 88
Christmas Day, 38
Claverley, 25
Clee Hills, 39
Cliffords, 40
Coalbrookdale, 40
Coed, 19
Colemore, 32
Collars of gold, 9
Constable, 45
Coracle, 6
Corbett, 24
Corve Dale, 51
Cox Morris, 115
Craft of Hunting, 16
Cressage, 49
Creswick, 45
* * * * *
D—n the Church, 116
Danesford, 19
Dastardly devils, 157
Dawley, 58
Dean, 32
Deer, 31, 36, 37, 39
Deer Leap, 36
Dibdin, 141
Ditton, 39
Dodos, 4
Domesday, 71
Dothill, 65
Druids, 46, 50
Drury Lane, 144
Duke’s Antiquities, 28
Duke of York, 171
* * * * *
Early features of the country, 8
Earl of Derby, 26
Earl Dundonald, 171
Easthope, 49
Egret, 5
Elk, Gigantic, 11
England, The, of our ancestor, 79
Evelith, 66
Eyton, 58
Eyton, Sir H, 63
Eyton, T. C, 63
* * * * *
Falcon, 9
First iron barge, 170
Fishing a recreation for the sick, 7
Fishing an attractive art, &c., 6
„ practised by primitive dwellers, 5
Forest Lodge, 28
Forest Roll, 58
Forester, Brook, 76
„ George, 76
,, Hugh, 58
„ John, 63
„ Robert, 58, 60, 63
„ Roger, 63
„ Squire, 76
„ William, 73
Forester’s Folly, 66
Forster, Richard, 64
Foster, Anthony, Lord of the Manor of Little Wenlock, 64
Foster, Anthony, a different character to what Sir Walter Scott
represents him, 67, 68
Fox-holes, 52
Fox-hunters’ Christening, 120
Fox-hunting Moll, 121
* * * * *
Gammer Gurton’s Needle, 26, 29
Gatacre, 26
Gentlemen nearest the fire, 175
George Earl of Shrewsbury, 29
Goats, 25
Grant, singular, to John Forester, 63
* * * * *
Hangster’s Gate, 145
Harold, 48
Harpswood, 33
Hay Gate, 59
Haye, 60
Haye of Shirlot, 40
,, Wellington, 58
Hawking, 10
Hermitage, 26, 27
Heron, 10
Hill Top, 49
Hinton, 115
Honest old Tom, 89
Hope Bowdler, 49
Hughley, 49
Hugh Montgomery, 39
Hunting as old as the hills, 1
Hunting-matches, 61
* * * * *
Imbert, 40
Incledon, 143
Ipikin’s Rock, 49
Iron, 41
* * * * *
Kennels, 86
King Canute, 12
„ Edward I., 24
,, „ VI., 29
„ Henry I., 13
„ „ III. in Shrewsbury, 14
,, ,, III., 28
,, ,, VII., 29
„ „ VIII., 10, 63
„ John, 10
,, Richard I., 13
„ „ II., 28
„ William I., 12
* * * * *
Lacon, 73
Lady Oak, 49, 50
Larden, 48
Larry Palmer, 109
Latimer, 15
Legend, 20
Leland, 41
Lilleshall, 5
Linley, 42
Little Wenlock, 10
Lodge Farm, 36
Long runs, 96
Lutwyche, 48
* * * * *
Major Forester and his Volunteers, 159
Marsh and forest periods, 8
Maypoles, 86
Merrie days, 16
Mog Forest, 49
Moody, 11
Moody’s Horn, 127
Morfe Forest, 17
„ Volunteers, 172
Morville, 31
Mount St. Gilbert, 57
Muckley Row, 34
Needle’s Eye, 56
* * * * *
Oaks, 51
Offenders in forests, 14
Old boots, 138
Old Hall, 73
„ Lodge, 29
„ names, 27
„ records, 96
„ style of hunting, 84
,, Simkiss, 96
„ tenures, 41
,, Tinker, 96
„ trees, 50, 55
„ Trojan, 130
Ordericus Vitalis, 13, 18
Original letters, 90, 91
* * * * *
Parson Stephens in his shirt, 111
Parson Stephens and the poacher, 119
Pendlestone Mill, 57
Phœbe Higgs, 95
Pigmy, 88
Pilot, 88
Piers Plowman, 14
Prince Rufus, 13
* * * * *
Quatford, 21
* * * * *
Red deer, 30
Robin Hood, 23
Roger de Montgomery, 21
* * * * *
Savory, 92
Seabright, 130
Second Wenlock Loyal Volunteers, 165
Shade of Tom Moody, 146
Sherwood, 47
Shirlot, 34
Shipton, 51
Smallman’s Leap, 49
Smith, Sidney Stedman, Esq., 66
Smithies, 42
Sore sparrow-hawk, 9
Spoonhill, 48
Sporting priors, 37
Sporting visitations, 38
Sportsmen attend, 136
Squire Forester’s gift to Dibdin, 143
Squire Forester among his neighbours, 173
Squire Forester and the rioters, 177
Squire Forester in Parliament, 151
Squire Forester not a model for imitation, 177
Squire Forester notorious for his amours, 180
Squire Forester, Death of, 185
,, „ Extracts from the will of, 185
Stoke St. Milburgh, 40
Stubbs, 89
Sutton Maddock, 65
Swainmote, 24, 37
Swine, 20
Sylvan slopes, 47
* * * * *
Tasley, 32
Taylor, the water-poet, 60
Tevici, huntsman to Edward I., 12
Thursfield, Thomas, 44
„ William, 84
Tickwood, 100
Tom Moody, 122
Tom Moody’s last request, 135
Trencher hounds, 130
Tumuli, 18
Turner, 114
* * * * *
Venison, 35
Vivaries, 5
Volunteers, 158, 166
* * * * *
“Walls,” The, 18
Wastes, 25
Weirs, 5
Welds, The, 73
Wenlock (Loyal Volunteers), 159
Wenlock, 38, 152
Wheatland, 45
Who-who-hoop, 129
Wild boar, 29
Wilkinson, 114
Willey, 70
,, Church, 173, 186
„ rector, 118
,, Wharf, 170
Williley, 72
Wilton, 79
Windfalls, 35
Woodcraft, 14
Worf, 18
Wrekin, 55
* * * * *
* * * * *
PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., CITY ROAD, LONDON.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
_Price One Shilling_.
* * * * *
HANDBOOK
TO THE
SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY,
With Twenty-five Illustrations.
BY J. RANDALL, F.G.S.
Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports and Sportsmen,” “Villages
and Village Churches,” &c.
[Picture: Illustration of from Severn Valley Railway book]
VIRTUE & CO., 26, IVY LANE, LONDON;
J. RANDALL, MADELEY, SHROPSHIRE.
* * * * *
TENT LIFE
WITH
ENGLISH GIPSIES IN NORWAY.
BY HUBERT SMITH,
Member of the English Alpine Club; Norse Turist Forening; and Fellow
of the Historical Society of Great Britain.
_With Five full-page Engravings_, _Thirty-one smaller_
_Illustrations_, _and Map of the Country_, _showing Routes_.
* * * * *
The following is a recent Review of the Book:—
“We do not know any similar kind of work, and we believe that it will
stand alone in the speciality of its interest.
“In addition to much adventure resulting from a nomadic life in a
foreign country, it contains descriptions of scenery, besides
information which may instruct the philologist. A carefully prepared
map shows the routes and camp grounds of the Author’s nomadic
expedition.
“The work, in consequence of the death of his late Majesty, Carl XV.,
on the 18th Sept., 1872, is dedicated by permission of his present
Majesty, Oscar II., ‘_In Memoriam_.’
“The work has clearly been undertaken at considerable cost, and the
scenes of travel described extend over nearly 2,000 miles of sea and
land traversed by the Author with tents, gipsies, animal
commissariat, and baggage, independent of any other shelter or
accommodation than what he took with him. In the course of the
expedition one of the highest waterfalls of Norway was visited,
‘Morte fos,’ and the highest mountain in Norway, the ‘Galdhossiggen’
was ascended. The book is cheap at a guinea, being illustrated with
five full-page engravings, all of which are taken from the Author’s
original sketches, or photographs specially obtained for the purpose;
they are beautiful works of Art, and are admirably executed by the
celebrated Mr. Edward Whymper, Author of ‘Scrambles amongst the
Alps.’”
* * * * *
LONDON: S. KING & CO., 63, CORNHILL;
AND 72, PATERNOSTER ROW.
* * * * *
[Picture: Decorative graphic with letters C S N on it, underneath which
is written Coalport]
JOHN ROSE & CO.,
_PORCELAIN MANUFACTURERS_,
COALPORT, SHROPSHIRE.
_Five minutes’ walk from Coalport Station on the Severn Valley and_
_Shropshire Union Railways_.
* * * * *
MEDAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, 1820.
FIRST CLASS MEDAL, EXHIBITION, 1851.
First Class Medal, Paris Exhibition, 1855.
FIRST CLASS MEDAL, EXHIBITION, 1862.
* * * * *
The _Court Journal_, speaking of the productions exhibited by William
Pugh, Esq., May, 1871, says—
“We do not think that any porcelain productions would equal those of
the Coalport works. The show-case that the owners exhibit
independently, and their manufactures, displayed by various firms,
have, in all instances, the highest merit. We are well aware we
shall be informed that our praise is but a stale echo, as this firm
is renowned of old for producing the finest china, having some
process of blending or applying chemical agencies known only to
themselves, and being celebrated over Europe for the beautiful colour
of the gold—a matter of course of very considerable consequence, as
it is used so bounteously in the ornamentation of china.”
In an article on the “world’s great show,” as the Viennese were pleased
to call it, the same Journal remarked—
“We have latterly challenged the continental world to compete with us
and to contend for equality in many branches of manufacture into
which art excellence and refinement of taste enter, and we have
carried off the palm. Neither Sèvres nor Dresden has of late years
compared with the best English productions. There is no doubt of
this; and most especially we might instance as successful rivalry the
progress that the Coalport Works have made. The marked patronage of
Royal circles on the Continent and at home for their productions is,
perhaps, the best proof of the truth of our statement. . . . They
have been especially practical in their catering for the Vienna
Exhibition, and met the foreigner at his weak point rather than
courted rivalry at his strongest. No nation on the Continent can
compete with the French as regards the painting, though Coalport
could and will challenge with every hope of success for the first
place when it comes to the question of rivalry in design, exquisite
form, graceful ornamentation, brilliancy of colour, bright burnish of
gold, and tenderness of glaze in merely decorative porcelain works.
The specimens of this character which are sent will, we are sure,
worthily maintain the reputation of Coalport.”
* * * * *
The _Standard_ also, May 23, 1873, in an article on the “Ceramic Art,”
had the following:—
“Messrs. Daniell have so many good things from Coalport Works that it
would be difficult to present even a brief mention of them all.
There is one beautiful pair of vases in imitation Cashmere ware which
Sir R. Wallace has already purchased, and the same gentleman has also
secured a number of plates delightfully painted by Faugeron with
exotic leaves. Two portrait vases of the Emperor and Empress of
Austria are of old Sèvres shape, the bodies being of turquoise and
gold, and the paintings by Palmere, almost miniatures in their fine
detail. Two gros bleu vases, with raised and chased gold
ornamentation and panels, choicely painted with birds by Randall, are
as elegant as a pair of jardinières, with a cobalt ground and gold
ferns and grasses in relief, butterflies touched up in bright enamel,
toning the otherwise too great richness of the dark gold and blue.
These are only a few of the attractions of one of the finest, though
not largest, cases in the section. Messrs. Pellatt exhibit some
Coalport ware, which is in every respect worthy of the high repute of
that renowned manufactory.”
* * * * *
MARBLE AND STONE WORKS, SWAN HILL, SHREWSBURY.
* * * * *
R. DODSON
Respectfully begs to intimate that the Show Rooms contain a large
collection of
MARBLE, STONE, & ENAMELLED SLATE CHIMNEY PIECES,
MARBLE AND STONE MURAL MONUMENTS,
CEMETERY AND CHURCHYARD MEMORIALS,
FONTS, FOUNTAINS, VASES, SLATE CISTERNS,
&c. &c. &c.
_Designs forwarded for inspection_; _and communications by letter will_
_receive immediate attention_.
* * * * *
THE COALBROOKDALE CO.
MANUFACTURERS OF ALL KINDS OF
BRICKS AND TILES,
RIDGING, FLOORING,
FIRE BRICKS, SQUARES, CHIMNEY
TOPS, &c.
* * * * *
_PRESSED & MOULDED BRICKS_
FOR FACING STRING COURSES,
And other Architectural Purposes, in Blue, White,
and Red.
* * * * *
_ALSO PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL_
RADIATING ARCH BRICKS,
FOR WINDOWS AND OTHER OPENINGS,
IN THE ABOVE COLOURS.
* * * * *
FLOWER POTS, BOXES, PENDANTS,
&c.
* * * * *
ALL MATERIALS OF THE BEST AND MOST DURABLE DESCRIPTION.
* * * * *
CRAVEN, DUNNILL, & CO.
(LIMITED),
Encaustic & Geometrical Tiles,
JACKFIELD WORKS,
NEAR IRONBRIDGE, SHROPSHIRE.
* * * * *
PATTERN SHEETS, SPECIAL DESIGNS, AND
ESTIMATES,
ON APPLICATION TO THE WORKS.
* * * * *
Elementary Geological Collections, at 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, to 100 guineas
each, and every requisite to assist those commencing the study of this
interesting branch of Science, a knowledge of which affords so much
pleasure to the traveller in all parts of the world.
A collection for Five Guineas, to illustrate the recent works on Geology,
by Ansted, Buckland, Lyell, Mantell, Murchison, Page, Phillips, and
others, contains 200 specimens, in a plain Mahogany Cabinet, with five
trays, comprising the following specimens, viz.:—
MINERALS which are either the components of Rocks, or occasionally
imbedded in them—Quartz, Agate, Chalcedony, Jasper, Garnet, Zeolite,
Hornblende, Augite, Asbestos, Felspar, Mica, Talc, Tourmaline, Spinel,
Zircon, Corundum, Lapis Lazuli, Calcite, Fluor, Selenite, Baryta,
Strontia, Salt, Sulphur, Plumbago, Bitumen, &c.
NATIVE METALS, or METALLIFEROUS MINERALS; these are found in masses or
beds, in veins, and occasionally in the beds of rivers. Specimens of the
following Metallic Ores are put in the Cabinet:—Iron, Manganese, Lead,
Tin, Zinc, Copper, Antimony, Silver, Gold, Platina, Mercury, Titanium,
&c.
ROCKS: Granite, Gneiss, Mica-slate, Clay-slate, Porphyry, Serpentine,
Sandstones, Limestones, Basalt, Lavas, &c.
PALÆOZOIC FOSSILS from the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous,
and Permian Rocks.
SECONDARY FOSSILS from the Rhætic, Lias, Oolite, Wealden, and Cretaceous
Groups.
TERTIARY FOSSILS from the Plastic Clay, London Clay, Crag, &c.
In the more expensive collections some of the specimens are rare, and all
more select.
JAMES TENNANT, Mineralogist (by Appointment)
to Her Majesty, 149, Strand, London, W.C.
* * * * *
THE
OLD HALL SCHOOL,
WELLINGTON, SALOP.
* * * * *
RESIDENT MASTERS:
Principal.
J. EDWARD CRANAGE, M.A., Ph.D. of the University of Jena; Author of
“Mental Education;” Lecturer to the Society of Arts, &c., &c.
* * * * *
Head Master.
DAVID JOHNSTON, Esq., M.A., Aberdeen.
Second Master.
THOMAS WILLIAMS, Esq., B.A.,
(In Mathematical Honours) Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Modern Languages Master.
MONSIEUR VIDAL, of the University of Louvain.
* * * * *
TERMS FOR BOARD AND LODGING.
(EXCLUSIVE OF SCHOOL FEES, FOR WHICH SEE SEPARATE CIRCULAR.)
PER QUARTER. £ _s._ _d._
Private pupils above 18 years of age, with separate 42 0 0
bedroom, horse riding, and other privileges
Ditto, without horse exercise, under 18 26 5 0
Boarders 12 12 0
Ditto, under 10 years of age 10 10 0
Separate bedroom for one boy 5 5 0
Ditto, for two boys (each) 4 4 0
Ditto, for three boys (each) 3 3 0
Washing, according to clothes used, generally 0 15 0
DR. CRANAGE’S undeviating aim is to train the boys committed to his care,
not only in mental acquisitions, but in their whole moral and physical
being; believing, that as much pains and unremitting attention are
required for the latter as the former. Attention is given not only to
the studies which the boys pursue, but to their recreation, games, and
amusements—upon the principle that almost every incident affords
materials for improvement, and opportunities for the formation of good
habits.
His main object in the intellectual culture is to teach the boy to think;
without omitting the positive work and hard study to brace “the nerves of
the mind” for the making of a scholar.
The system of rewards and punishments is peculiar, with the general
absence of corporal punishment; but the experience of more than
twenty-four years has fully proved its efficiency.
Above all, his desire is to bring them to Christ as their Saviour, and
then to help them to walk like Christ, as their example.
Dr. Cranage finds the most wonderful difference in the progress and
conduct of the boys committed to his care according to the measure of
moral support he receives from the parents and guardians of the boys. He
earnestly solicits their hearty and constant co-operation in his anxious
labours.
The skeleton Report will give a succinct view of the subjects of study.
The aim is to give a thoroughly liberal education, without too exclusive
attention to Latin and Greek. In the study of languages the system of
Arnold is considered admirable, but not perfect; the grammar is therefore
supplied, and iteration and reiteration of declensions, conjugations, and
rules to impress indelibly, by rote even, all the fundamentals are
resorted to. Latin, as the basis of most of the modern European
languages, is considered—even to boys not going to college—very
important; it is deemed also very desirable for _all_ boys to be able to
read the Greek Testament before leaving school.
Some objects are taught by familiar Lectures only, illustrated by
extensive apparatus; while many other subjects are occasionally thus
exemplified.
A report of each boy’s improvement and conduct is sent to his parents or
guardians eight times in each year.
At the end of each year the School is examined by the authority and
direction of the Syndicate appointed by the University of Cambridge, and
a copy of the Report is sent to the parents or guardians of each boy.
There is also an examination at midsummer by the masters of the school on
the work of the previous half-year; a report of which is sent to the
parents.
The boy’s Reading Room is furnished with good Periodicals and a
well-selected Library.
There is a well-furnished Laboratory for the study of Chemistry,
Photography, &c.; Dr. Cranage himself instructing in science in the
school.
A Museum is established for collecting specimens to illustrate natural
history, arts, and sciences, together with articles of virtû and
antiquity—the boys themselves being the principal collectors and
contributors.
There are three orders of distinction in the school conferred for
proficiency, combined with good conduct:—1st, Holder of a Certificate;
2nd, Palmer, or Holder of the Palm; 3rd, or highest, Grecian.
The School-house is delightfully situated within a mile of the
railway-station of Wellington; it is well adapted for its purpose, and
fitted up with the necessary appliances. The school-room, reading-room,
dining-room, lavatory, bath-room, and dormitories are spacious, airy, and
convenient; the playgrounds very extensive, and well fitted for healthy
recreation.
There is a swimming-bath on the grounds.
* * * * *
BUNNY AND EVANS
(LATE J. D. SANDFORD),
25, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY,
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URICONIUM.
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* * * * *
FOOTNOTES.
{10} Appendix A.
{28} Inquis. Henry III., incerti temporis, Nu. 6, 156.
{41} For additional particulars respecting this interesting tenure we
refer the reader to the Appendix B.
{49a} There is a legend that Major Smallman, a staunch royalist,
surprised by some of Cromwell’s troopers, hotly pursued over Presthope,
turned from the road, spurred his horse at full gallop to the edge of the
precipice, and went over. The horse is said to have been killed on the
trees, whilst the Major escaped, and secreted himself in the woods.
Facts and local circumstances concur in giving a colouring to the
tradition, and deeds extant show that the family resided here from the
reign of Henry III. to the time mentioned. See Appendix C.
{49b} See Appendix.
{63} In 1390, Sir Humphrey de Eyton, an ancestor of T. C. Eyton, Esq.,
of Eyton, was ranger of this forest.
{64} The Old Hall, which we suppose to have been the old hunting lodge,
the residence of Dr. Cranage, Watling Street, is another interesting
specimen of the residences of the Forester family, and of the style of
building and profusion of wood used therein during the great forest
periods. Dothill, now the residence of R. Groom, Esq., is another of the
old family residences of the Foresters.
{66} Appendix D.
{69} For a more complete account of the Forester family, we refer the
reader to the Pedigree given in the Appendix E.
{171} Lord Dundonald, who lived in the old mansion, still standing, at
the Tuckies, was an excellent chemist, and constructed some ingeniously
contrived ovens, by which he extracted from coal a tar for the use of the
navy, and which also became an article of general commerce.