THE field of history is a wide one, but, in addition to its well-beaten
track, there yet remains less frequented paths to explore in connection
with our smaller villages and towns.
The design of the present work may be stated in a few words. It is
simply to place before the inhabitants of Madeley, and those interested
in its history, the various phases through which it has passed in its
progress from feudal times to the present. Strangers often come and seek
for information which they do not always get: and much that is known by
old people of Madeley and its traditions would be lost unless noted down
at once.
It will be seen that our information extends from the notice we get in
Norman times, when tillers of the soil, swineherds, fishermen, a miller
or two, and foresters, composed the population, the profits of whose
labours were reaped by a priest and the monks of Wenlock Priory.
After the Dissolution it will be seen that the mansion was sold to the
Brooke family, particulars of which we have given, both in the earlier
and later parts of the work.