The morning mists hang white and chill about the ghostly landscape, like
a world rolled up in cotton wool, as, turning our backs upon Bridgnorth,
we hie away southwards adown the vale of Severn. The sun, robbed of his
rays, and wan as the moon herself, looks over the low hills of the
Staffordshire border; and a fleecy, mackerel sky, gives promise of a
likely day in store for folk who fare abroad.
Descending the hill and crossing Severn bridge, we push onward at a good
round pace along Hospital Street, so named from the Leper House, or
Hospital, which in mediæval days occupied the site of yonder old brick
mansion, called St. James's, which now comes in sight among the trees
upon our left.
A mile farther on, where the road bifurcates, we are within a measurable
distance of the Gallows Leasow, the site of another grim relic of feudal
times. Here, too, is Danesford; a name that carries us still farther
back into the past.
Towards the close of the ninth century, the Danes, driven out of Essex
by King Alfred, sought refuge in this locality, and entrenched
themselves in the great Forest of Morf, which in those days covered all
this countryside.
Presently as we travel along, Quatford church-tower is seen overlooking
a bend of the river. Quatford, the Cwth-Briege of the Saxon Chronicle,
is a very ancient place, the earliest records of which take us back to
King Alfred's days.
In the year 896 the Danes, to quote an old chronicler, 'toke their way
towards Wales, and came to Quadruge, nere to the River of Severne,
where, upon the borders thereof, they buildid them a Castle.' Here, on
the spot overlooking the Severn still called the Danish Camp, they spent
the winter, 'not without dislike of their lodging, and cold
entertainment'; withdrawing eventually into East Anglia again.
Towards the close of the eleventh century, Roger de Belesme began the
building of his 'New House and Borough,' mentioned in Domesday, which
probably occupied the site of the earlier Danish encampment. After the
death of Earl Roger, his son, Robert de Belesme, removed both castle and
Burgh to the spot where Bridgnorth now stands. 'At Quatford,' says John
Leland, 'yett appeare great Tokens of a Pyle, or Mannour Place, longing
that tyme to Robert de Belesme.'
Occupying the summit of a rocky standstone knoll, Quatford church is
approached by a long flight of steps, leading up to the south porch. In
accordance with a romantic vow, the church was dedicated to St. Mary
Magdalene, as a memorial of and thank-offering for escape from
shipwreck, by Adeliza, wife of Earl Roger the Norman; and was
consecrated in the year 1086. The chancel arch and adjacent walls, built
of a peculiar porous stone called tufa, or travertin, quite different
from the rest of the structure, may possibly have formed part of that
ancient edifice.
In a meadow near Hillhouse Farm, a quarter of a mile north-east of
Quatford church, we come to the 'Forest Oak,' a queer old stunted tree
which might be of almost any age, with its two short, gnarled stems,
supporting a head of wrinkled foliage. So let us give this venerable
weed the benefit of the doubt, by accepting the local tradition that
here, beneath its shade, the Countess Adeliza met Earl Roger her husband
after her perilous voyage, and prevailed upon him to erect the votive
church to St. Mary Magdalene, at Quatford.
Away across the Severn, at Eardington, is (or was) a small farm called
The Moors; a place that gives rise to a quaint ceremony, performed every
year in London. On October 22, a proclamation is made in the Exchequer
as follows: 'Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Tenants and occupiers of a piece of
waste ground called "The Moors," in the County of Salop, come forth and
do your service!' The tenants in question then proceed to do sergeantry
by cutting two faggots of wood, one with a hatchet, the other with a
bill-hook.
The fons et origo of this curious feudal custom has long since been lost
in the mists of antiquity; but the earliest recorded instance of the
service was in the reign of King John, 1210.
Bidding adieu to Quatford, we descend the hill, pass the 'Danery,' or
Deanery, Inn, and the site of Quatford bridge, and plod on between
hedgerows bejewelled with glistening dewdrops. The 'charm' of the birds,
to use the Shropshire phrase, no longer enlivens the byway; but a
solitary songster every now and again wakes the echoes of woodland or
coppice. Atalanta, yonder, taking heart of grace, suns her glossy wings
on a spray of the 'swete bramble floure'; while the rabbits, startled at
our approach, bob off to their burrows in the sandy bank.
Dudmaston Hall is left away to our right, and anon we come to Quat, a
mite of a place whose name, derived from Coed, a wood, shews it once
stood within the bounds of Morf Forest.
Some three miles to the eastward, close to the Staffordshire border,
stands Gatacre Hall, the ancestral home of the family of that ilk, which
has been settled here, it is said, ever since the reign of Edward the
Confessor. Major-General Sir W. Gatacre, one of the victors of Omdurman,
is a distinguished scion of this good old stock, having first seen the
light, if we are rightly informed, at Gatacre Hall.
The existing mansion, a modern, red-brick edifice, seated in a beautiful
locality, has usurped the place of the original house, which must have
been unique of its kind, to judge from the following description.
'It was built,' writes Camden, 'of a dark grey free stone, coated with a
thin greenish vitrified substance, about the thickness of a crown piece.
The hall was nearly an exact square, and most remarkably constructed. At
each corner, in the middle of each side, and in the centre, was an
immense oak tree, hewed nearly square, and without branches; set with
their heads on large stones laid about a foot deep in the ground, and
with their roots uppermost, which roots, with a few rafters, formed a
compleat arched roof. The floor was of oak boards three inches thick,
not sawed, but plainly chipped.'
[Illustration: The Butter Cross. Alveley.]
Beyond Hampton Load ferry we ascend a lane shewing evidences of having
been paved. Coming to a corner where four ways meet, we see, by the
laneside, the old stone Cross illustrated here; a monolith about 5 feet
in height, upon a circular stone base. On each side of the rounded head
a cross is faintly distinguishable; but, as a passer-by truly remarks,
'They've yacked un and yowed un, so as you canna very well make out what
it be all about.'
When and why the cross was erected there is no record to shew, but it is
evidently of great antiquity, and probably was used as a meeting place
for holding a sort of open-air market. It is sometimes called the Butter
Cross, the lower stone being supposed to represent a cheese, and the
round head a pat of butter!
A quarter of an hour's walk brings us to Alveley, a rather untidy
village, scattered higgledy-piggledy along a crooked roadway. St. Mary's
church, however, proves interesting enough to make amends for other
shortcomings.
Many styles of architecture, from Norman to late Decorated, are
represented here. The Norman nave has clerestory windows, in one of
which we espy some good pre-Reformation glass; and a flattish oak roof
spans the whole.
[Illustration: Alveley Church.]
At the east end of the south aisle rises a beautiful fifteenth-century
chantry chapel, dedicated to St. Mary, upon the walls whereof
considerable remains of ancient frescoes are still discernible. They
appear to represent, the Fall: the Redemption of Man: the Annunciation:
and the Salutation; but, as they are all much worn and faded, this is
somewhat conjectural.
Upon the wall of the adjacent aisle is a curious old altar-frontal,
which formerly belonged to St. Mary's chantry. It dates from about 1470,
and is wrought upon coloured silk, depicting the Church at rest in
Abraham's bosom. The figure of Abraham is admirably portrayed, his
countenance being of a decidedly Jewish cast; while the Church, in the
form of a group of diminutive figures, is seen snugly ensconced in a
sort of napkin, held between Abraham's outstretched hands.
The west tower is early Norman, and in spite of late excrescences, is
probably the oldest part of the church. Nor must we omit to mention the
very ancient 'excommunication' door, now blocked, near the west end of
the north aisle. An inscription of some interest to the Freemason
fraternity appears upon the outer lintel of this doorway; to wit: ano .
domini . 1585 : IHON . DAAIS . FREEMASON : This fine church was well
restored by Blomfield, in 1878.
From Alveley we make a detour to visit Pool Hall, which is interesting
mainly from its past associations, the present house being a somewhat
shabby, neglected-looking building of no great antiquity. 'Polehous'
first figures in history about the middle of the fourteenth century,
when we find it in the possession of Henry de la Pole. The Manor of
Alveley, in which Pool Hall is situated, formed one of the four manors
held by Algar, Earl of Mercia, before the Normans had penetrated into
this part of England.
Retracing our steps to Alveley, we drop down to the ferry at Potter's
Load, a pleasant, sequestered spot, where the ferryman's picturesque
cottage is the only habitation in sight. A shady path, climbing steeply
up through the woods, soon brings us to Highley village. The place, as
its name suggests, stands at a considerable elevation, affording
frequent glimpses of the surrounding country, a hilly-and-daley region.
Conspicuous at the top of the village rises its parish church, on the
south side whereof we find the interesting fragment of a Calvary cross
depicted in the sketch on p. 213. The broken shaft, which has
angle chamfers terminating in small heads, stands upon a massive base
edged with bold cable mouldings, and ornamented with sphinx-like faces
at the corners. On the west side of the base is the curious crocketed
niche seen in the cut; it may conjecturally have been used to display
the Paschal light at Easter-tide. The southern side has a hand and the
letters I . H . C cut upon it.
The adjacent church, though ancient, is somewhat featureless; and the
Church-house, an antiquated structure of timber and plaster overlooking
the graveyard, seems quite the oldest residence in the village.
Southward from Highley, the Severn itself forms for several miles the
Shropshire boundary, an outlying elbow of Staffordshire coming in upon
the east, and giving a curious local twist to the frontier hereabouts.
Until comparatively recent times, there was an isolated cantle of
Shropshire lying derelict, so to speak, far away towards the east, upon
the confines of Worcester and Stafford. The quiet old townlet of
Halesowen, with its ruined Premonstratensian Abbey founded by King
John, was formerly included in Shropshire; as was also the curious
little chapel of St. Kenelm, on the slopes of the Clent Hills, and the
pleasant estate of the Leasowes, with its groves and pseudo-classic
ruined temples, in the taste of the last century, and its memories of
Shenstone the poet.
But we digress, so now, revenons à nos moutons.
Laying a south-westerly course from Highley, we set out anon for Kinlet
Hall, a place seated in a wild, secluded locality, on the borders of
Wyre Forest. Our way lies in the main through a country of low, tumbled
hills, thatched with woodland; one or two colliery chimneys, emitting
grimy smoke, seeming out of place amid these green, pastoral landscapes.
After passing the vicarage we enter Kinlet Park, a tract of undulating
country about 500 acres in area, containing bosky dells and sylvan
glades, where flourish some of the finest oaks and beeches in the
county.
[Illustration: Kinlet Hall.]
The Hall and church soon come in sight, the former a fine, spacious
structure of brick, with stone quoins, built in the year 1729 by an
ancestor of the present proprietor; the original half-timbered mansion,
which stood nearer the church, having been pulled down at that time.
Though lacking the picturesque variety of an earlier style, Kinlet Hall
impresses one by a certain serene dignity as it rises, four-square and
ruddy, and flanked by large arched gateways, from the smooth,
close-cropped greensward of the home-park; a worthy example of an
English country residence of the early Georgian period. Some good
ancestral portraits lend interest to the interior, including likenesses
of the builder of the existing mansion, and his lady.
[Illustration: Kinlet.]
At the time of the Norman Conquest, the estate of Kinlet appertained to
Editha, Edward the Confessor's widow, and in after years passed
successively to the houses of Cornewall and of Blount. The Blounts, as
Camden tells us, were 'an antient, illustrious, and numerous family in
these parts, who have extended their branches a great way, and who
certainly have their name from their yellow hair.' Kinlet eventually
came into the possession of the Baldwyns, a widely connected Shropshire
family, and is now the residence of Captain C. Baldwyn-Childe.
Kinlet church, nestling in a grove of trees almost under the shadow of
the Hall, is a small but interesting cruciform structure. In the Blount
chapel we find monuments to various members of that family, as well as
to the Childes. The finest of these is a richly canopied table-tomb,
with the figures of Sir George Blount and his wife kneeling beneath
niches, a recumbent effigy in the arched vault below, and a quaint Latin
epitaph alongside. This knight was a distinguished soldier, and
sometime High Sheriff of Salop; he died in the year 1581. Against the
adjacent wall there is a curious representation of the Crucifixion, in
stone, and there are one or two sixteenth-century marble monuments in
the chancel.
Some idea of the exterior of Kinlet church may be gathered from the
little sketch on the previous page, which shews the half-timbered
clerestory, the pretty gable-end of the Blount chapel, and a certain
small stone structure which rises in the churchyard. It is square on
plan, with an arched recess on each side, the one towards the west
having a shallow niche on the inner face. It appears to have been
surmounted by a cross, of which the base-stone may be seen upon the apex
of the roof.
Dotted here and there about the valley of the Rea, as it comes down from
Brown Clee Hill, are a number of obscure villages and isolated hamlets,
which have remained as primitive, probably, as any in all broad
Shropshire. It is the country, par excellence, of stiff red clay, as the
oft-repeated name of 'Clee' plainly indicates; and its sunny barley
fields, its orchards and bosky woodlands, have given rise to the local
adage:
'Blest is the eye 'twixt Severn and Wye,
But thrice blessed he 'twixt Severn and Clee!'
Ditton Priors, with its interesting old church, carved oak roodscreen,
stalls and lectern, lies under the shadow of Brown Clee, near the
head-waters of the Rea. Cleobury North, on the Ludlow road, had a church
subject to Brecon Priory as long ago as Henry the First's time. One or
two epitaphs in the graveyard here are worth a passing notice.
Then we come to Burwarton, whose inn, the Boyne Arms, offers bed and
board for the wayfarer in a better style than one is wont to find in
this remote locality, where as a rule the traveller is fortunate who,
like the proverbial Scotsman, is 'contented wi' little, an' cantie wi'
mair.'
Burwarton church is mainly of Norman date, having a plain, semi-headed
chancel arch of that period, and a little carved woodwork. Brown Clee
Hill, lying due west, may be easily climbed from here; and the view from
the top, described on a previous page, will well repay the scramble.
A mile south-east is Aston Botterel, where, in the south aisle of the
church, may be seen an altar-tomb with pillared canopy to one of the
Botterels, who held the Manor of Aston of the Earls of Arundel. At the
Bold, hard by, are some slight remains of an ancient building, probably
a chapel.
Proceeding on our way adown the vale, we come presently to Wheathill, a
place that in the Conqueror's time formed a portion of the vast estates
of Earl Roger de Montgomery. Wheathill church is of Norman origin,
having a fine south doorway with cable moulding, and tympanum with
axe-hewn ornamentation. The Hakets were the great folks here in olden
times, John Haket, Rector of 'Wheathull,' being mysteriously drowned in
the Teme, near Ludlow, in 1342.
Some forty minutes later we find ourselves at Stottesdon; our way
thither leading by unfrequented lanes across the Rea brook. Here we
happen upon a church which, though restored about thirty years ago,
retains many points of interest to the antiquary.
Stottesdon church has one of the finest Norman fonts in the county. It
is ornamented with an interlaced border, and other enrichments; and the
carvings of the west doorway are so rude and primitive, they might have
formed part of the earlier church known to have existed here in Saxon
times. The base of the tower is also possibly pre-Norman, while the
Wrickton chantry dates from the fourteenth century.
In 1085, Roger de Montgomery gave Stottesdon church, with all its rich
endowments, to his great Abbey at Shrewsbury. When visiting Stottesdon
in the year 1290, so poor was this neighbourhood, that Bishop Swinfield
had to send all the way to Kidderminster market for provender, and for
shoes for his coach horses.
Bestowed by the Conqueror upon Roger de Montgomery, the 'Marquis de
Carabas' of the Welsh border, Stottesdon manor became the caput, or
chief place, of one of the Shropshire Hundreds. Becoming forfeit to the
Crown, the King bestowed the manor, about 1159, on Godfrey de Gamages,
in which family it remained until the year 1230. Thereafter we find de
Plaesto and de Seagrave enrolled as over-lords of Stottesdon; claiming
free-warren, and holding free-courts, with all the rights and privileges
thereto attached.
Pushing on towards Cleobury Mortimer through a rough, broken country, we
come by-and-by to a farmhouse called Walltown, occupying the site of a
Roman encampment, whose outer lines are still clearly traceable. In
Blakeway's time, the old road from Cleobury to Bridgnorth passed
directly through the centre of the camp, 'entering at the Prætorian, and
passing out at the Decuman Gate,' but its course has since been altered.
Leaving Neen Savage in the vale upon our right, we cut off a corner by a
lane that drops steeply to the Rea; and after sighting the broken walls
of Lloyd's Paper-mill, looking like a ruined castle, we make our entry
into Cleobury Mortimer, with the tall, twisted spire of St. Mary's
church rising above the housetops, like a crooked, beckoning finger.
So, while beating up for the 'Talbot,' let us call to mind a few facts
about the history of the town. 'The village of Clebyri,' to quote Leland
once again, 'standythe in the Rootes by est of Cle Hills, seven myles
from Ludlow, in the Way to Beaudeley.' At the time of Domesday Survey
'Claiberie' was held by Queen Editha, and in mediæval days formed, with
the circumjacent country, part of the great Honour of Mortimer. These
haughty Mortimers, indeed, ruled the roost for many a long day at
Cleobury; but their castle was destroyed during the Barons' Wars, and
the site alone, 'nighe the churche by Northe,' was to be seen in
Leland's time.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Queen Elizabeth's 'sweet Robin,' was
for a while the lord of Cleobury. In the 'Lives of the Dudleys' we read:
'He was a compleat Gentleman in all suitable employments; an exact
seaman, an excellent architect, mathematician, physician, chymist and
what not. He was a handsome, personable man, tall of stature, red
haired, and of an admirable comport; and above all noted for riding
the great horse for tilting, and for his being the first of all that
taught a dog to sit in order to catch partridges.'
At Cleobury was born in the fourteenth century William Langland, the
'Poet of the Lollards.' About the year 1362, Langland composed those
'Visions of Piers Plowman,' which have caused their author to be
acknowledged as one of the earliest of England's songsters.
So much, then, for the brave days of old. Cleobury Mortimer as we see it
to-day is a long, straggling, torpid townlet, whose agricultural
proclivities are chequered by the mining industries carried on around
Titterstone Clee Hill, and the woodcraft of the people who dwell in the
neighbouring Forest of Wyre.
Having secured a night's billet at the Talbot Inn, we sally forth again
and proceed to spy out the land. Out in the High Street is seen a block
of timeworn sandstone, whereon, according to a credible tradition, young
Arthur Tudor's body was laid, he having died while travelling this way
from Ludlow Castle to Bewdley.
A few yards farther on we come to the parish church, a noble old pile
dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, the central and dominant feature of
Cleobury town. Its graceful arches and elegant fenestration mark the
Early English period; though the tower, the oldest portion of the
fabric, dates back to Norman times. Far aloft soars the tall wooden
steeple, whose old warped timbers, stripped of their clumsy boarding,
are now being clad in a weatherproof garb of stout oak shingles.
A large, handsome south porch gives access to the interior, where, inter
alia, we observe a remarkably shapely chancel arch, and some modern
stained glass in the east window, a memorial to William Langland, the
poet, who may be descried therein, dreaming over his 'visions' as he
reclines on a bank, with Malvern Hills away in the background.
[Illustration: Cleobury-Mortimer, from the Wells.]
A further ramble about the town introduces us to Cleobury College, a
handsome building in a pleasant situation, erected, as a tablet informs
us, by Sir Lacon W. Childe, of Kinlet, in 1740, and recently enlarged
and improved. Then, down in a hollow of the highway, we stumble across
the quaint view which our artist has here reproduced; the crooked church
steeple soaring heavenwards above a tall Scotch fir, while the
foreground is occupied by an arched grotto enclosing the crystal-clear,
perennial spring, called the Wells, whence the townsfolk draw their
unfailing supply of water.
From Cleobury Mortimer we will make an excursion towards Bewdley; our
route, for a large part of the way, lying through the heart of Wyre
Forest. The forest is worth a visit, though nowadays the 'tall oaks' of
Camden's time are conspicuous by their absence, having long since been
cut down and carried off to smelt the iron ore of the Midlands, ere
'sea-coal' came into use.
'When soon the goodlie Wyre, that wonted was soe hie,
Her statelie top to reare, ashamed to behold
Her straighte and goodlie Woods unto the furnace sold;
And looking on herself, by her decay doth see
The miserie wherein her sister forests bee.'
Covering a broken, dimpled country, with many quiet sylvan nooks
enlivened by streams and brooklets, Wyre Forest is still a pleasant,
wild, out-of-the-way district to ramble in; and is a favourite haunt of
birds, butterflies, beetles, moths, and similar 'small deer,' as many a
naturalist knows. The former extent and importance of the forest may be
gathered from the fact that the County of Worcester is named after it,
and that to this day it remains one of the largest tracts of woodland in
the Marches of Wales. Old, disused coalpits here and there, shew that
the coveted 'black diamonds' lie underfoot, though of a quality so poor
as scarce to repay the cost of winning--'thank goodness,' one is minded
to say.
[Illustration: Dowles Manor House.]
So by cross-country cuts and woodland ways we ramble through the forest,
until, just short of the Bewdley road, we get a pretty peep of Dowles
Manor-house, an ancient timbered dwelling seated in a dell, embosomed
amidst trees, and bearing the date 1560 cut upon one of its old black
beams. Then we come to Dowles church, a fifteenth-century building,
though it doesn't look it, having been encased in brick about a hundred
years ago.
Strolling along the towing-path by Severn side, we presently catch sight
of
'Fair seated Bewdley, a delightful Towne,
Which Wyre's tall oaks with shady branches crown.'
Situated on the western bank of the Severn, 'the Towne of Beaudley is
sett on the Syde of an Hill, so comely, a Man cannot wish to see a Towne
better,' as friend Leland remarks. 'At the Rising of the Sunne from
East,' he tells us, 'the whole Towne glittereth as it were of gould'; an
observation which shews that the famous antiquary had an eye for the
picturesque.
Bewdley Bridge, an elegant stone structure, built by Telford about a
century ago in place of an older one, connects Bewdley itself with its
staid old neighbour Wribbenhall. 'To this bridge resort many flatt long
Vessells, to carry up and downe all manner of Marchandize,' writes
Leland; but the railways have driven the traffic from the river, so that
nowadays the merchants' stores and warehouses stand empty and idle
beside the silent highway.
Time was when this ancient borough of Bewdley drove a thriving trade in
Welsh flannels, and other produce of the border; shipping her wares
down-stream to Bristol, or sending them away on pack-horses by
bridle-paths, such as the hollow way called the Welsh Gate that runs
below Ticknell hill. The old 'George' posting-house, with a handful of
substantial-looking houses, mostly of the Georgian era, lend a
respectable, well-to-do air to the town: but its parish church, at the
top of the main street, is unspeakably ugly; a red-brick abomination of
the true 'churchwarden' type.
Bewdley has been a borough town ever since the days of Edward IV.; and,
until 1885, returned its own member to Parliament. A quarter of a mile
south of the town stands the old manor-house of Ticknell.
'Bewdele, the Sanctuary Towne, hath hard by it the Kynge's Maner of
Tikile, stonding on a Hill.' At Ticknell was formerly held the famous
Court of the Marches: and hither, in 1502, the body of Prince Arthur was
brought, after his death while travelling from Ludlow. The earlier
house, mentioned by Leland, was destroyed by the Covenanters, but the
mansion now standing has some pretensions to antiquity.
The Tenbury and Bewdley railway, as it traverses the valley of Dowles
brook, gives us some interesting glimpses of the Forest, whose russet
foliage glows resplendent in the level rays of this September sunshine.
After passing Cleobury station we run between steep, rocky banks,
fringed with broom, heather and bracken, getting every now and again
wide views of forest land overtopped by distant hills. Then Mawley Hall
is seen, an old-time abode of the Blounts; and running past a large
seventeenth-century brick-and-stone house called Reaside farm, we come
by-and-by to Neen Sollers, a quiet agricultural village with an ancient
cruciform church, whose old grey tower and spire are seen overtopping
the nearer trees. Thenceforward we travel on amidst tranquil, rural
landscapes, where the ruddy apples lie in piles about the orchards, and
the willow-fringed Teme winds along through the vale on her way to meet
Father Severn.
Arrived at Tenbury station we quit the train, and, passing near the
Castle Tump, a grass-grown mound marking the approach to the ancient
ford, we traverse an old stone bridge and trudge on into Tenbury, a
pleasant little Worcestershire town on the banks of Teme, a famous
fishing river. The Swan Hotel at the entrance to the town looks the
picture of an angler's inn; so there we will rest awhile.
[Illustration: Burford.]
A meadow path by Temeside leads us towards Burford, of whose fine church
we presently obtain an effective view, its broad, richly embattled tower
grouping prettily, as shewn in our sketch, with a quaint churchyard
cross, and the feathery foliage of the surrounding trees.
Burford church is of very ancient foundation, but has been much altered
at various times, and has recently undergone a thorough restoration by
Mr. Aston Webb, the well-known architect. There is much to interest the
ecclesiologist in this handsome, well-cared-for church; but chief among
its attractions is the wealth and variety of its monuments.
A low table-tomb in the centre of the chancel bears the figure of Edmund
Cornwaylle, clad in plate armour, and wearing the gilded spurs of an
equitis aurati. Beneath a handsome ogee canopy in the adjacent wall
lies the effigy of a female, with the following inscription: HERE LYETH
THE BODY OF THE MOST NOBLE ELIZABETH, DAUGHTER OF JOHN OF GAUNT DUKE OF
LANCASTER, OWN SISTER TO KING HENRY IV., WIFE OF JOHN HOLLAND, EARL OF
HUNTINGTON, AND DUKE OF EXETER; AFTER MARRIED TO SIR JOHN CORNWALL,
KNIGHT OF THE GARTER. SHE DIED THE 4TH YEAR OF HENRY VI. AN DNI
MCCCCXXVI.
A curious brass in the north-east corner of the chancel, bearing an
inscription in old Norman-French, commemorates Dame Elizabeth, wife of
Sir Elmon de Cornewaylle, a fourteenth-century knight. On the wall above
is a remarkable triptych, a memento of the Cornewall family, said to be
the work of one Melchior Salaboss, a foreign artist.
There is a fine fifteenth-century font; and in the south chancel wall we
notice two curious little 'heart-shrines,' small circular receptacles
with lids, beneath a pointed arch. The custom was in early times, when a
nobleman died abroad, to embalm his heart, and send it home to be buried
amongst his kinsfolk; under the circumstances a convenient method of
sepulture.
After the Mortimers, the Cornewalls ruled here for generations as Barons
of Burford, being under service to find five men to fight in Edward the
Third's Welsh wars. The Ledwyche Brook, flowing into the Teme near
Burford church, gives its name to Ledwyche farm, in bygone times the
home of the famous Benbows.
Retracing our steps to Tenbury station, a two-mile walk brings us to
Boraston, scenes of rural industry enlivening the way. In yonder upland
field the harvesters are busy carting the wheat, the golden shocks
shewing up sharp and clear against the purple background of the Clee
Hills; while the wavering hum of a threshing-machine drones a homely
accompaniment. Then we descend into a vale, and trudge along the green
alleys of a hop-yard, the fragrant bines drooping beneath their wealth
of fruit and foliage, and clinging each to its neighbour with slender,
outstretched tendrils.
Boraston comprises a handful of rustic dwellings, scattered about a
little church, one or two of the older ones displaying half-timbered
gables towards the road. Boraston church has been much restored, but
retains several early-cusped windows, and an old roof whose rafters are
carried half-way down the southward wall. On either side the nave is a
curious, plain, arched recess, the use whereof is not apparent; and
there are traces of a very ancient doorway, now built up. The apsidal
east end, a south porch, and a shingled bell-turret above the western
gable, are the most salient points of the exterior.
Nash chapel, a mile or so to the north, is almost a replica of Boraston.
This church has been quaintly described by Mr. Cranage as, 'a
"Decorated" building which is _not decorated_.' Court-of-Hill is the
most interesting house in this locality.
In the broken country west of Boraston lies the hamlet of Greete, with a
small, aisle-less church, dedicated to St. James, of Norman and Early
English date. The pleasant rural vicarage and oldfashioned Court-house
farm are almost its only neighbours, but about a mile to the west stands
Stoke House, a plain but good example of a brick-built Tudor residence.
Very rustic and unsophisticated are the country folk hereabouts, even in
these fin-de-siecle days; and it is within living memory that Parson
J----, coming to take up his new duty in a neighbouring parish, walked
into the village driving his cow before him! Time was when some of these
country parsons were mighty hunters before the Lord. There is a story of
one of them who, when about to start for the meet, got wind that his
Bishop was coming to pay him a visitation. Jumping into bed, scarlet
jacket and all, he leaves word with his old housekeeper that he is ill
upstairs, and the tale is repeated to his lordship. 'Dear me, I'm very
sorry; tell him I'll walk up and see how he's getting on,' says the
Bishop. The message is duly delivered, whereupon our Nimrod sends back
his reply, 'No, no, it's quite impossible; I'm down with a shocking bad
attack of _scarlet_ fever!'
The road ascends as we make our way northwards, with quarries and
lime-works defacing the heights that buttress Clee Hill on this side.
After a stiffish bit of collar work we come to Whitton Chapel, a
simple, solitary building, with a good though plain Norman south
doorway, and a primitive-looking old tower.
A bowshot farther on we enter the demesne of Whitton Court, a charming,
seventeenth-century mansion, whose ruddy old brick gables, clustered
chimney stacks and mullioned windows, all wreathed in luxuriant ivy and
set against a background of autumnal foliage, make as pleasant a picture
as one could wish to see. Inside and out alike, this venerable abode is
a delight to the lover of things antique and curious, its owners having
displayed rare good taste in such renovations as have been found
needful. Though in the main of Elizabethan style, the oldest portions of
the house date back as early as the fourteenth century; and some richly
carved woodwork, some good pictures and curious old tapestry, are
features of the interior. An admirable sketch of Whitton Court appeared
in Mr. Oliver Baker's 'Ludlow Town and Neighbourhood.'
Tinker's Hill is full in view towards the west as we push on for Hope
Bagot, its tree-begirt slopes crowned by the old British earthwork
called Caynham Camp, of which the Parliamentarians availed themselves
when besieging the town of Ludlow. In the vale below lies Caynham
church, an ancient but much restored edifice, which has a curious triple
chancel arch of rather unusual character.
Ashford Bowdler, with its quaint old church overlooking the Teme, lies
but a few miles beyond, in a picturesque nook of the county adjacent to
the Herefordshire border.
Hope Bagot itself stands high up in the world, looking out across the
pleasant vale of Teme from its 'hope,' or upland valley, among the
foothills of Titterstone Clee. So now we stroll on to the church, which
is seen a short distance away under the shoulder of Knowl Hill.
It is an ancient place, and, with its grey stone walls and timbered
porch, falls in pleasingly with its rustic environment, tempting the
wayfarer to make a closer acquaintance. Many notable objects here meet
our gaze, a curious sedilia and piscina in the chancel, to reach which
we pass beneath a chancel arch evidently built by the Normans; and the
plain, bowl-shaped font is perhaps of equal antiquity, while the carving
upon the old oak pulpit calls for a passing notice.
A great dark yew-tree flings its shadow athwart the graveyard, and
yonder is the Holy Well, famed in bygone times as a sovereign remedy for
curing sore eyes.
But the day wears towards a close, and it behoves us to be up and away;
for it is a far cry yet to our night's bivouac at Cleobury Mortimer.
So climbing the steep flank of Titterstone, we win our way to the high
road, 'high' indeed at this point, where we stand some 1,250 feet above
the sea. Far and wide extends the bounteous landscape, a maze of hill
and dale, tilth and pasturage; its remoter features veiled in the soft,
warm haze of an autumn afternoon, lending an added charm to everyday,
familiar objects.
Swinging along downhill we pass Hopton Wafers, a high-lying village,
bowered in trees, beside a rill coming down from Clee. Anon the jolly
moon rolls up above the dusky breadths of Wyre Forest; children,
homeward-bound from blackberry gathering, give us a 'Good-evening' as
they pass; the night wind rustles the silvery willows beside the brook,
and a wandering owl raises his melancholy shout from somewhere in the
vicinity.
And so beneath the frosty stars we enter old Cleobury again, and,
passing the substantial looking manor-house, come to a late meal at the
Talbot, just as the curfew bell in the steeple hard by tolls the 'knell
of parting day.'
[Illustration: Ancient Cross at Highley.]