THE PROVINCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
CXIII.—THE WELSH MARCHES :--SHROPSEEIRE.—THE TOWNS. fpliE town of Shrezvsbury is situated nearly in the centre of the
county of which it is the capital, on two gently rising emi- nences, which are made a peninsula by the Severe, being surrounded by that stream on three sides, with an isthmus not more than three hundred yards across. In its situation it has been said to resemble Durham and Bristol. Its origin we have given reason for assigning to the Saxons rather than the Britons, and we look upon it as the Saxon successor of URIOCONIUM, built to some extent, no doubt, from the materials of the ruined and deserted Romano- British city, and called Scrobbesbyrig, or Sciropisberie. Its early history is wholly unknown, the so-called British legends respecting it being quite untrustworthy. In the year 1,006 Ethelred kept his Christmas holidays here, and in the year 1,016 the inhabitants revolted to the Danish Canute ; but being reduced by Edmund Ironside, were severely punished by him for their defection. This incident makes it probable that the Northmen, in their occupation of the Murcian principalities, to some extent colonized Shrewsbury. In the reign of Edward the Confessor there were 252 houses in Shrewsbury, inhabited by the same number of burgesses, who paid seven pounds sixteen shillings and eightpence by way of rent. "The customs, as they stood in the time of the Con- fessor, are very minutely enumerated in Domesday Survey. If anyone knowingly broke the peace which the King had given under his hand he was outlawed. If anyone broke the peace which the sheriff pre- served he was fined a hundred shillings ; and he gave the same for forestel or heinfare. These three forfeitures, it is added, the King had throughout England, exclusive of rents. When the King rested in the city, twelve of the principal inhabitants formed his guard ; and in like manner, when he took the exercise of hunt- ing, the principal burgesses who had horses attended him armed. The sheriff sent thirty-six men on foot to the deer-stand while the King remained there. He also found, by custom, thirty-six men for eight days at the park of Marsetelie. When the sheriff went into Wales, whoever was called upon to attend him and did not go paid forty shillings as a forfeiture. A widow receiving a husband paid twenty shillings to the King ; a maid paid ten shillings. If any burgess' house was burnt, either by negligence or accident, he paid a forfeiture of forty shillings to the King, and two shillings each to his two nearest neighbours. When a burgess in the King's demesne died, the King had ten shillings for a heriot. If any burgess broke the time assigned hint by the sheriff he paid ten shillings. When the King (at any time) left the city, the sheriff furnished him with twenty-four, horses, and the King took them as far as the first house in Staffordshire. The English burgesses in Shrewsbury complained that at the time of forming the Survey they paid the whole geld or civil tax for the support of the State, as it was paid in the time of King Edward, although the castle of Earl Roger (De Montgomery) had occupied the site of fifty-one matures, and fifty others were lying waste. In
the time of ring Edward, too, 40 burgesses also were Fraticigerze (foreign burgesses), held taxable mansions, and Earl Roger had given to the abbey at its formation 39 burgesses, who formerly had paid tax with the rest." At Shrewsbury the King had three nioneyers, who, after they had purchased their dies like the other moueyers of the country, on the fifteenth day gave, each, twenty shillings to the King, and this was done while the money was in coining. At the time of the Survey the geld paid by the town was for 100 hides. In the whole, 193 measures did not then pay a geld. The Bishop of Chester had 16 measures, and as many burgesses in the time of Edward the Confessor. Of these, 10 had become waste, the remaining 6 still paid customary rent. The Survey styles Shrewsbury a city (civitas), and the abbey is said to have been founded where the parish church of the city stood. The whole amount of annual taxes was £20, of which the King had two-thirds and the sheriff one. Before passing from the Saxon times, we may mention that the Lady Ethelfleda is said to have founded the collegiate church of St. Alkmund, and that Athelstane established a mint here.
Roger de Montgomery erected his castle at the entrance of the peninsula on which the town stands. We have already mentioned the fortunes of this family, and how their estates reverted to the Crown. The town received a charter from Henry 11., but the earliest charter extant is of Richard I. Llewellyn and the Welsh, in alliance with the insurgent Barons, took the town in 1215, but did not long hold it. It was again taken by Simon de Montfort in 1264 and another Llewellyn, Prince of the Welsh. In 1283 a Parliament was assembled at Shrewsbury for the trial of David, the last native prince of Wales. In the reign of Richard II. (1397-8), at a Parliament held here, Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford (afterwards Henry IV.), brought his famous charge of treason against Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. In 1402 Henry (then King) assembled his army here to march against Owen Glyndwr, and we need not refer to the achieve- ments of Falstaff, measured in duration by Shrewsbury clock, in the battle near that town in the succeeding year. Edward IV. showed much favour to the townsmen for their support of the Yorkist cause. His second son, Richard, whom Perkin Warbeck personated, was born here. In the civil wars of Charles I., that King received here large contributions of men and money from the neighbouring districts, and a Cavalier garrison was placed there under the command of Sir Francis Ottley. In July, 1643, the Parliamentary forces, under the Earl of Denbigh and Colonel Mytton, were repulsed from the neighbourhood of the town by Sir Fulke Hunkes, an officer of the garrison ; but it was sup- prised and taken in February, 1644.
The town, which is a borough by prescription, has sent two representatives to the House of Cominous ever since the 23rd of Edward I. The church of a Benedictine abbey, founded by Roger de Montgomery, in 1083—a cruciform structure—was in great part demolished at the Dissolution of the Monasteries ; but the nave, western tower, and north porch now constitute the church of Holy Cross parish. "The great west window of the tower is only equalled by that of York Cathedral." There are also some remains of monasteries of the Augustinian and Fran- ciscan orders. "St. Mary's, a cross church of Norman and early English architecture, has a spacious chancel and chautry chapels, and a fine tower, surmounted by a spire, one of the loftiest in the kingdom." St. Alkmuud's was rebuilt in 1795, except the tower and spire (184 feet in height). The large structure of St. Chad's and the other churches of Shrewsbury are of modern erection. The keep of Roger de Montgomery's castle still remains, being converted into a modern dwelling-house, and there are some remains of the old walls of the town. The town "has gradually extended beyond the Severn, on the east and west sides, forming the suburbs of Abbey Foregate and Coleham on the east, and of Frankwell on the west, and on the north, extending beyond the isthmus or neck occupied by the castle, forming the suburb of the Castle Foregate." The Severn is crossed by two bridges,—the English bridge, built in 1774, which connects the Abbey Foregate with the town, and the 1Velsh bridge, finished in 1795, connecting it with the suburb of Frankwell. The Market-house, built in the reign of Elizabeth, is by topographers declared to be " unequalled in point of ornamental decoration by
any similar structure in the kingdom." There is also a Doric column 116 feet in height, crowned by a statue of General Lord Hill. Almost all denominations of Christians have places of wor- ship in this town, and there are many charitable schools and other public institutions of every description. The most remarkable is the Free Grammar School, founded and endowed by Edward VI., and greatly enlarged by Queen Elizabeth. It fell into decay, but in 1798 an Act was passed for its better governinent, and under
the head-mastership of Dr. Butler, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, the school attained a high reputation, which has been fully sustained in the present day, and it is now one of the best classical grammar-schools in England. "On the south side of the town is one of the most celebrated promenades in the king- dom, called the Quarry." Shrewsbury was once a great mart for flannels from Welshpool and Newtown, but this trade has nearly expired. It has, however, a large factory for spinning flax, and a large iron-foundry. It is also a favourite residence for persons of small income and men retired from business. The Severn is navi- gable as far as Shrewsbury by vessels of from thirty to sixty tons, and there is canal communication with the coal districts of Staffordshire. "The vicinity being a good barley country, the malting business is carried on to a considerable extent." There is also some good railway communication, owing to the competition between the North-Western and Great Western Companies. There is a market twice a week, and a monthly fair of two days for cattle, horses, cheese, and butter. The population of the borough, which in 1851 was 19,681, was in 1861, 22,163.
Ludlow is situated on the left bank of the river Tone, 25 miles south by east from Shrewsbury. Its history is chiefly that of its castle, "which stands on a bold rock overhanging the river, at the north-west angle of the town. It is supposed to have been built in 1130. The walls and towers which still remain present a mass of extensive and magnificent ruins, and round the castle are public walks, shaded with trees, from which there is a fine prospect of the surrounding country." The castle was one of the most extensive fortresses on the Welsh borders, and, as we have seen, became the seat of the governing body of the Marches. In the reign of Henry VI. it was held by Richard, Duke of York, but abandoned by him in 1459 on the advance of the King's army, by whom it was then plundered. Edward IV. repaired the castle, and made it the Court of his son the Prince of Wales. It continued a royal residence in the reign of Henry VII., and here Prince Arthur held a court to celebrate his marriage with Catherine of Arragon, and died in the castle in the following year. Sir Henry Sidney, one of the Lords President, made it his private resi- dence, and thoroughly repaired it. During the Presidency of the Earl of Bridgewater, Milton's play of Comas was performed' here in 1634. In the civil wars of Charles I. the castle was garrisoned for the King, but was surrendered to the Parliament's forces in June, 1646. After the dissolution of the Lord President's Court in the reign of William III., the castle was suffered to fall into decay. The parish church, at the upper end of the town, is a large cruciform building, dating from the reign of Edward III.; the interior is very beautiful. The corporation charter of Ludlow was granted by Edward IV., in the 12th year of whose reign it first returned two members to Parliament, and continued to do so till the number was reduced to one by the Reform Act of 1868. As a place of trade, Ludlow is of little importance. The glove trade, which once employed several hundred hands, has now much diminished ; but there is some malting and tanning. There are several fairs, at one of which large quantities of hops are exported for sale. There is a grammar- school, founded in the reign of Edward VI. The population of the municipal borough was, in 1861, 5,178, against 4,691 in 1851, so that the town must be considered to be flourishing.
Bridgenorth is situated on the river Severn, 20 miles south-east by east from Shrewsbury. It lies on both sides of the river, the larger portion being on the right bank, on a red-sandstone rock. The name of the town was anciently Bruges or Brug, and it claims a Saxon origin. The first known charter is of the 16th of King John. It has sent members to Parliament since the 23rd of Edward
I. The two divisions made by the river are called the upper and lower towns, the former being built "up the acclivities and on the summit of a rock rising abruptly from the west bank of the stream to the height of 180 feet. Ranges of detached houses, many of which are handsome modern structures, are built each over the other from the base to the summit of the precipice ; with these are intermixed other dwellings, excavated in the rock itself, rude caves, gardens, and trees. Crowning the summit at the south end is the ruined square tower of the ancient castle, leaning considerably from the perpendicular. The date of the castle is uncertain, but it has undergone many sieges. In 1102 Robert de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, built or rebuilt a castle here, and strengthened the walls of the town, which had six gates ; but he defended it unsuccessfully against Henry I. In 1156-7 Henry II. besieged it, and narrowly escaped being killed during the siege. In the civil wars of Charles I.'s reign the inhabitants declared for the King, and the place was held for three weeks against the Parliament, and a large part of the town, including the Church of St. Leonard, was burned during this siege. The Church of St. Mary Magdalen, which stands close to the castle, and was rebuilt in 1792, was formerly the castle chapel. That of St. Leonard's, with a square-pinnacled tower, was built in 1448. The town has several good streets, and a carriage road winds round the rock, while several flights of "almost perpendicular pebbled steps, secured in iron framing, lead up through the rock into the interior of the town. The whole has a singularly picturesque effect." There is a free grammar school, founded in 1503, and a public library. "There is a carpet manufactory, and another for tobacco .pipes. Its iron trade has declined, but nails are still made to some extent, and vessels are built for the navigation of the Severn. The greatest part of its labouring population are employed upon the river. It has a spacious line of quay, and large quanti- ties of corn, malt, beans, &c., are sent from various parts of the country, and it has become a thriving inland port." The popula- tion (municipal), which in 1851 was 6,172, in 1861 was 6,240.
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