Three miles and a half east of the town, is delightfully seated on the
banks of the Severn, over which there is a handsome bridge of seven
arches, designed by Mr. Gwyn, a native of Shrewsbury.
The etymology of the place seems to be derived from _Eatta_, a Saxon
saint to whom the parish church is dedicated. It was anciently called
Ettingeham and Attingesham. In the Saxon period it belonged to the
college of St. Alkmund, Shrewsbury; and when that church was annexed to
Lilleshull Abbey, the advowson of Atcham made part of the transfer.
The present edifice consists of a nave without aisles; the predominant
styles of the windows may be attributed to the fifteenth century; some of
them are decorated with stained glass. The interior contains monuments
belonging to the family of Burton, of Longner, removed hither on the fall
of St. Chad’s church, Salop {219}
The basement of the tower is early Norman, and flanked with broad shallow
buttresses. The portal at the west is a deeply recessed round arch,
resting on five slender pillars on each side; above is an early lancet
window, over which is another of smaller dimensions, bisected by a short
pillar into narrow lights. The superstructure of the tower (like many
others in the vicinity) is of the sixteenth century, and was once crowned
with eight pinnacles, the remains of which are now only visible above the
frieze of the battlements.
The village is remarkable as being the birth-place of Ordericus, the
earliest Salopian historian. He was the son of Odelerius Constantius, of
Orleans, a chief councillor to Roger de Montgomery, born (as he informs
us) Feb. 16, 1075, “and on the Easter Sunday following was baptised by
Ordericus the priest at Ettingesham, in the church of St. Eatta the
Confessor,” and received the rudiments of his education under Siward the
priest, in the little church of St. Peter, Shrewsbury, on the site of
which the stately Benedictine abbey was afterwards built. Ordericus’s
great work is entitled an “Ecclesiastical History,” but is more properly
a record of the events of his own time.
Atcham once had the privilege of a fair, and the inhabitants were styled
burgesses.
Opposite the inn, a pleasant drive leads through the village of
Uffington, by which Shrewsbury may be regained. Continuing our course
for half a mile on the London road, we pass over TERN BRIDGE, below which
the river Tern fells into the Severn. On the left, ATTINGHAM HALL, the
elegant mansion of the Right Hon. Lord Berwick, with its lofty portico,
forms a bold and imposing object, and its beautiful situation near the
confluence of the rivers Tern and Severn, imparts an additional charm to
the surrounding scenery. To the right is