are situate near the Castle, and display a handsome spacious structure of
free-stone, built in the incongruous but fashionable style of
architecture which prevailed in the 16th and 17th century; wherein the
Grecian and pointed arches are fantastically mixed together. The
building occupies two sides of a quadrangle, with a square pinnacled
tower at the angle, partly rebuilt in 1831.
The original school-room was of timber, to which the tower, chapel, and
library were added in 1595. In the year 1630 the wooden portion was
removed, and its site occupied by the present edifice, in the centre of
which is a gateway, having a Corinthian column on each side, upon which
are statues of a scholar and a graduate, bareheaded, in the dress of the
times. Above the arch is a Greek inscription from Isocrates, which
implies that a love of literature is necessary to the formation of a
scholar. Over this are the armorial bearings of Charles the First.
The upper story of this part is occupied by the principal school-room, an
apartment 82 feet by 21, and in the basement is the head master’s school,
in which are several panels containing the names of gentlemen educated
here, and who have subsequently distinguished themselves at the
Universities. {103} The upper moulding of each panel contains one of the
following lines:—
TV • FACITO • MOX • CVM • MATVRA • ADOLEVERIT • AETAS SIS • MEMOR •
ATQVE • ANIMO • REPETAS • EXEMPLA • TVORVM ET • TVA • TE • VIRTVS •
MAGNA • INTER • PRAEMIA • DVCET.
The chapel forms the other wing of the building, and was consecrated
Sept. 10th, 1617, when a sermon was preached on the occasion by Sampson
Price, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, from John x. 22, 23. It is
62 ft. long by 22 ft. wide, and contains a handsome pulpit and bible
stand, and is separated from the ante-chapel by a carved skreen,
displaying a series of interlaced arches resting on fluted Corinthian
columns. Prayers are read here twice on school days.
Above the chapel, and of the same size, is the library, a noble room,
rebuilt in 1815. The ceiling is richly adorned, and panelled into Gothic
and ornamental compartments, on which are displayed the armorial bearings
of the first and subsequent trustees. It contains a valuable collection
of printed books and manuscripts, one side being occupied by the library
of the late Dr. Taylor, editor of Demosthenes. Among the portraits which
decorate the walls of this elegant apartment are those of the Bishop of
Lichfield (late head master), the Reverends John Lloyd and Leonard
Hotchkiss (formerly masters), Queen Elizabeth, King Henry VIII. Edward
VI. (the Founder), Locke, Judge Jefferies, &c. &c.
At the south end of the room are four sepulchral stones found at
Wroxeter, near this town, three of which are fully described by Pennant,
in his North Wales. A small museum likewise contains other Roman
antiquities from the same place, with fossils and other curiosities.
The windows are embellished with escutcheons of the arms of Edward VI.
Queen Elizabeth, St. John’s College, Cambridge, the See of Lichfield, and
the town, in stained glass.
In front and at the back of the schools is a spacious area, used as a
promenade or play-ground for the scholars; contiguous to which are houses
for the head, second, and assistant masters, and ample halls for the
accommodation of boarders, who are numerous, and from all parts of the
kingdom.
Several exhibitions of £70 and £80 a-year belong to this school, to which
the freemen’s sons are entitled for a certain number of years. At a
meeting of the trustees, held 23d May, 1836, it was resolved, in order
more fully to testify their own sense, and to perpetuate the memory, of
the unremitting assiduity and eminent ability with which Dr. Butler has
performed the duties of head-master of this school for a period of
thirty-eight years, restoring and augmenting by his energy and learning
the utility and celebrity of this ancient and royal foundation, to found
an additional exhibition of £100 per annum, to be called for ever “DR.
BUTLER’S EXHIBITION,” and to be tenable by the sons of freemen entering
at either University.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CHARTERS, &c.
[Picture: Town Arms]
SHREWSBURY has received a succession of thirty-two royal charters from
the time of King William the First to the first year of the reign of
James the Second. The earliest charter preserved in the corporation
archives is dated Nov. 11, 1189, being the first year of King Richard the
First, which recites that a previous corporation had existed.
The last governing charter of the town was granted the 16th of June,
1639, by Charles the First.
The component parts of the corporation were a mayor, recorder, steward,
common clerk, twenty-four aldermen, forty-eight assistants or common
councilmen, two chamberlains, sword-bearer, serjeants at mace, &c.
The mayor was elected annually by the majority of aldermen and
assistants, in council assembled, on the first Friday after the feast of
St. Bartholomew, and sworn into office the first Friday after
Michaelmas-day. Robert Burton, jun. Esq. was the last mayor chosen under
the old charter.
The aldermen were elected by the mayor and aldermen from the assistants,
and the latter from the burgesses at large.
Burgesses obtained their freedom by descent, or birth, or by serving a
bona fide apprenticeship of seven years within the ancient limits of the
borough to a freeman of one of the ancient incorporated companies.
According to the Municipal Act, which received the royal assent in 1835,
the town was divided into five wards. {106}
On the 26th of December, 1835, each of the wards returned six members to
form the new Town Council, who elected to their number, on the 31st, ten
aldermen, which constitutes the municipal body of the town, from whom
William Hazledine, Esq. was elected Mayor. To assist in the local
government, the Secretary of State has subsequently appointed eight
magistrates. Under the provisions of the above cited act, the annual
election of mayor is fixed for the 9th of November.
The ancient COMMON SEAL of the municipal body is very curious,
representing a view of the town,—its churches, domestic habitations,
fortified gates and walls, beneath which the river is seen flowing under
a bridge; above the latter is a shield bearing the arms of England, and
on each side are similar shields charged with the cross of St. George and
the town arms,—Azure, three leopard’s faces Or. The inscription round
this seal is—Sigilin • commune • libertatis • ville • Salopesburie •
factu • ano • gre • m cccc xxv.