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Title: History of Madeley - including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and Coalport
Author: Randall, John
Language: English
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Transcribed from the 1880 _Wrekin Echo_ Office edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org
[Picture: Book cover]
HISTORY OF MADELEY,
INCLUDING
IRONBRIDGE, COALBROOKDALE, AND
COALPORT,
From the earliest times to the present,
WITH NOTICES OF
Remarkable Events, Inventions,
AND
PHENOMENA, MANUFACTURES, &c.
—:o:—
ILLUSTRATED
With twelve wood-cut illustrations, and photographs.
—:o:—
The work will be found to contain a copious Index,
and list of old family names.
—:o:—
BY
John Randall, F.G.S., Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports
and Sportsmen,” “History of Broseley,” &c., &c.
* * * * *
Published at “The Wrekin Echo” Office, Madeley, Salop, 1880.
INTRODUCTION.
THE delay which has arisen in the publication of this work since it was
first announced needs some apology. It arose from two causes; one the
hope that fuller information might be forthcoming on some obscure points,
the other that the book is chiefly made up of matter reprinted from the
_Salopian and West Midland Illustrated Magazine_. It is therefore, to
some extent, fragmentary, and not one for which the author can hope to
receive the meed of praise bestowed upon his “Severn Valley,” “Old
Sports,” &c. Notwithstanding this, the author believes the work will be
found to be a satisfactory compendium of historical facts connected with
the parish; and now that they are known it would be a comparatively easy
task to produce a more creditable literary work. Johnson says we never
do anything conscientiously for the last time without sadness of heart;
the only sadness here arises from the consciousness that the opportunity,
however much desired, of reproducing the work in an improved form is
scarcely likely to occur in the lifetime of the author.
_Madeley_, 1880.
PREFACE.
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.
MADELEY.
There is a touch alike of poetry and of meaning in the name. Our
ancestors were delineators of natural scenery, verbally, and by the use
of names. Taking possession of primeval lands and uncleared forests,
driving their aboriginal owners before them—in one or more syllables they
were wont to give the history of a place, or the more distinguishing
features of a country, and word-pictures then current come down to us
little altered, having coiled up within them considerable sense and
by-gone meaning. Tradition, no less than the popular and generally
accepted etymology of the name, informs us that Shrewsbury was originally
the place of shrubs; that the dusky crow croaked at Crawley, and the
chattering daw built its nest at Dawley. The broc or brag—Anglo-Saxon
terms for the badger, once numerous along the Severn Valley—gave us the
Brocholes. To reynard we are indebted, in like manner, for the modern
name of Foxholes—a place near to the latter, where this animal flourished
when Madeley Wood, now covered with cottages, was what its name implied.
Little local or archæological lore is required to know that Madeley Wood
was the wood bordering on the meadow, or that Madeley is a name derived
from meadowly, or mead—a term still used in poetical productions of the
day. In like manner, Mad-brook, a little stream on the borders of the
village, meandering through meadow land, was Mead or Meadow-brook—as one
of our smaller English rivers is called the Medway, from like
circumstances, and as Brockton on Madbrook was formerly Brook-town—the
town or enclosure on the brook. A tolerable estimate of Madeley, in one
of its early phases, and as it appeared to the commissioners appointed to
carry out the Domesday Survey, at the time it formed part of the manor
belonging to the Abbey of Much Wenlock, may be gleaned from the following
extract:—
“The same (St. Milburg’s) holds Madeley, and held it in the time of
King Edward. Here is one hide (100 or 120 acres) not geldable (not
liable to pay taxes) and three other hides geldable. In demesne are
eleven ox teams, and six villiens (those employed in ignoble service)
and (there are) IIII. boors (peasants) with IIII. teams. Here are
IIII. serfs (slaves of the lower class) and there might yet be VI.
teams more here. There is a wood sufficient to fatten 400 swine. In
the time of King Edward the manor was worth £4 per annum; now it is
worth £5 per annum.”
England at that time was covered over with such manors; they had
overgrown the free peasant proprietors which previously existed in Saxon
times. On each manor was the house of the lord with the Court yard and
garden, &c., comprising several acres. The manor land was for the use of
the lord, but portions were let off. Some doubt now exists as to the
true meaning of a hide of land, as both hides and virgates on adjoining
lands differed, but the conclusion that the hide was a land measure of 33
English acres has been received by some, whilst others hold that it meant
a measure of land sufficient for the support of a family. The most
important agricultural operation of the period was ploughing, and a
peasant rarely undertook this for himself on his own little plot, which
was not sufficient for separate or independent management, with his own
team and plough. The team of a plough consisted then as a rule of not
less than 8 draught cattle, and this continued to be the case, as
recorded by Arthur Young. The bad fodder of that period diminished the
labour power of the draught cattle, especially during winter ploughing,
which was on straw feeding alone. Madeley is undoubtedly derived from
terms still in use, Meadow and ley, or lia; meadows having sometimes been
subjected for a whole year to common pasturage whilst the adjoining land
lay fallow, in order not to exhaust it by constant hay crops.
Such was Madeley in the olden time, when men were goods and chattels,
subject to the rapacity and oppression of their owners, when laws were
enacted by which to kill wild animals was a crime equal in enormity to
killing human beings, and punished with the same rigour; when the right
to hunt was in the hands of kings and those holding tenure to whom they
thought proper to delegate it. The park, to which the modern names of
Park, Rough Park, and Park Street, now apply—names that serve to recall
former features of the surface—was enclosed from the forest, mentioned in
the above extract. Its origin was this; November 28th, 1283, King Edward
(1st) being petitioned that it would not be detrimental to his forest of
Mount Gilbert if the Prior and Convent of Wenlock should enclose their
Wood of Madeley (though within the limits of the forest) with a ditch,
and fence, (haia) and make a park there—allowed them to do so. The same
park is alluded to in a valuation taken 1390; together with one at
Oxenbold, which—including the meadows—was said to be scarcely sufficient
to maintain the live stock of the Priory. The Prior, who appears to have
built houses within the boundary of the forest, in 1259 was ordered to
pull them down; but having offered a fine to the king a charter was
granted the following year, stating that, “for £100 now paid the Prior
and Convent may have the houses in peace, although within the forest.”
The Court House, formerly surrounded by this park, and near to the
station now called by its name—on the Great Western line—is an
exceedingly interesting building, and one claiming the attention of the
visitor. The present structure is in the Elizabethan style of
architecture; but the grounds present traces of earlier buildings. In
the years 1167, 1224, 1250, and again in 1255, mention is made of the
Madeley Manor. In 1379 the estimated value of pleas and perquisites of
the court is entered at two shillings.
Near the old mansion is the Manor-mill, formerly worked by a steam called
Washbrook, which formerly supplied the extensive vivaries or fishponds
that furnished the kitchen of the establishment with the necessary means
of observing fast-days. Interesting traces of former pools and fisheries
are observable. Under date 1379, we find the water-mill at the Court or
Manor house “fermed” for 10s. per annum, and at a valuation taken of the
prior’s temporalities at an earlier period, viz., 1291, the same mill is
mentioned. Mills, then, were invariably the possession of the lord of
the manor, lay or ecclesiastical, and tenants were compelled to grind
there. They were therefore an important source of profit, and carefully
enumerated, and it is worthy of remark that where a mill is described as
being at a particular place, even at an earlier period—as in the Domesday
survey of the country—there, as in the case of the Manor mill at the
Court, one is now generally to be found in ruins or otherwise. In the
garden, which is still highly walled, and which was probably originally
an enclosed court, upon an elegant basement, approached by a circular
flight of steps—the outer one being seven feet in diameter and the inner
one about three—is a very curious planetarium, an horological instrument
serving the purpose of a sundial, and that of finding the position of the
moon in relation to the planets. It is a square block of stone three
feet high, having three of its sides engraved, and the fourth or north
side blank. Over this is a semicircular slab of stone so pierced that
the eye rests upon the polar star.
Although little of the original building where festivals were held,
suitors heard, or penalties inflicted, remains, the present edifice has
many points of interest. The substantial, roomy, and well-panelled
apartments, upon the ground floor, and the solid trees, one upon the
other, forming a spiral stair-case to the chambers above, are objects of
no little interest. Ascending these stairs the visitor finds himself in
the chapel, the ceiling of which is of fine oak, richly carved, having
the arms of various ancient families in panels. The arms of the Ferrars
family may be seen in a shield over the principal doorway,—indicating the
proprietorship at one time of some member of that family. It was also
the residence of Sir Basil Brooke, fourth in descent from a noble knight
of that name, a zealous royalist in the time of Charles I.
This family appears to have been resident at Claverley in the fourteenth
century. Mr. Brooke, of Haughton, near Shifnal, has deeds in his
possession showing the purchase of certain arable and pasture lands at
Beobridge, by Richard de la Broke, of Claverley, in 1316, and again in
1318, where he is described as Richard de la Broke, clerk, son of Richard
de la Broke, Claverley.
Mailed and full-length fine stone figures of this highly-distinguished
family, who lived here, and shed a lustre on the place, formerly reposed
in the church, to whose sacred keeping they bequeathed their dust.
Equally vain, however, were their bequests and hopes, for when the
originals were no longer able to put a copper on the plate their very
tombs were destroyed, and their stone effigies ruthlessly turned out of
doors, and placed in niches outside the church, where, shorn of a portion
of their limbs, they still do penance in pleading attitudes, and look as
though they implored a bit of paint to prevent the inscriptions beneath
from being lost for ever. The stone in one case has lost its outer
coating, and the artifice of the sculptor in tipping nose and chin with a
whiter material has been disclosed, and thick coats of paint are peeling
off the defaced epitaphs which set forth the merits of their originals.
The inscriptions are in Latin, but the following is, we believe, a free,
if not an exact, translation:—
“Here lieth interred John Brooke, Esquire, the son of Robert Brooke,
Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was a zealous and
loyal subject of Queen Mary, and assisted her in securing her rights
in opposition to the violent factions of the time. He published an
excellent commentary on the English Law in several volumes. After a
study of jurisprudence and science, being of an extensively liberal
mind and universally beloved, he made a Christian-like end, October
the 20th, in the year of our Lord, 1598, in the 62nd year of his
age.”
The following is another:—
“Here lieth the remains of Etheldreda, the wife of Basil Brooke,
Knight, a woman not only well-skilled in the knowledge of the Latin,
Italian, French, and Spanish languages, and in the science of music,
but also exemplary for piety, faith, prudence, courage, chastity, and
gentle manners. She left to lament her loss a husband, with an only
son, named Thomas, and five daughters, namely—Anne, the wife of
William Fitzherbert, Esquire, the grandson of Henry, Lord Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, eminent for his commentary on our laws;
Mary, the wife of Thomas More, a descendant of that renowned
character, Thomas More, formerly Lord High Chancellor of England, a
man in his life and death universally esteemed; Dorothy, Agatha, and
Catherine, all of whom were of amiable dispositions. She died in the
year of our Lord —” (the date is defaced).
The original is in Latin. The pillared arches and backs of the recesses
are elaborately carved.
In “Villages and Village Churches,” published a few years ago, in
describing Claverley, we stated that the present vicarage was supposed at
one time to have been the residence of the Lord Chief Justice, whose
likeness is carved upon one of the timbers. We also described a
magnificent tomb of Lord Chief Justice Brooke, in the north-east corner
of the Gatacre chancel, which is both elaborate and imposing. On the top
are recumbent figures of the Lord Chief Justice in his official robes,
and of his two wives, with ornamental head-gear, mantles, ruffs, ruffles,
&c., of the period; and round the tomb are their eighteen children, also
in the respective costumes of their time. On the outside is the
following inscription, in Old English characters:—
“Here lyeth the body off Robert Brooke, famous in his time for virtue
and learning; advanced to be com’on Serjaunt of the Citie of London,
Recorder of London, Serjaunt at Law, Speaker of P’lyament, and Cheife
Justice of the Com’en Pleace, who visiting his frendes and country,
deceasd the 6th day of September 1558, after he had begotton of Anne
and Dorothee, his wiefs, XVIII children. Upon whose sowles God have
mercy.”
Jukes, in his Antiquities of Shropshire, says:—
“This Robert was the son of Thomas Brooke de Claverley, in this
county, and was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the
first year of Queen Mary, when he received the honour of Knighthood.
He died in the communion of the church of Rome, A.D. 1558, and left
his zeal for his religion to posterity, and his excellent performance
of the Abridgment of the Common Law to the Students of that
Profession. 36th Hen. VIII. William Astun did homage for a shop
here. 38th Hen. VIII, the said Robert Brooke likewise did homage pro
shopa in Madalie. Recorda Paschæ, 2d Edw. VI rot. 11, de Roberto
Brooke, Armigero, et Dorothea uxore ejus occasionalis ad ostendendum
qualiter ingressi sunt et tenent unam shopam et dimid. acræ terræ in
Madeley. 3d. Edw. VI, the king grants to Edward Molyneux and Robert
Brooke, of London, Esqrs. all that annual rent of £4 13s. 9½d.
reserved to the crown out of this manor, together with the demenses
of the same, and other lands therein specified, in fee simple. John
Brooke, Esq. 27th Eliz. made a settlement of Madeley on Richard
Prince, Esq. Sir Basil Brooke, Knight, 3d James I, sold lands here
to David Stilgo, Robert and Edward Stilgo. Matthew Fowler, Gent. son
and heir of Roger Fowler, had general livery 17th James for his lands
in Madeley.”
Mr. Brooke had the reputation of being a great lawyer, and whilst a
barrister we find him engaged by the Corporation of Shrewsbury to examine
a petition from the town “for the discharge of the subsidies.” According
to the entry in the Corporation books (1542) he and Serjeant Molyneux
were paid 15s. for their services. He is described as Recorder of London
whilst visiting the town, with Roger Townesende, Chief Justice of Wales,
and Richard Hasshall, Esqr., “one of the Commissioners of our Lord the
King,” and as being presented with “wayffers and torts,” at the expense
of the corporation.
With regard to Basil Brooke, we find by an indenture of release, dated
the 29th of May, 1706, that he, Basil Brooke, Esq., of Madeley, deceased,
by his will bequeathed to the poor of the parish of Madeley the sum of
£40, which the churchwardens and parishioners of the parish desired might
be laid out in the purchase of lands and tenements for the use of the
poor. And it was witnessed that Comerford Brooke, in consideration of
the said £40, and also a further sum of £30 paid to him by Audley Bowdler
and eight other parties to the said indenture, granted to the said Audley
Bowdler and others, their heirs and assigns, three several cottages or
tenements, with gardens and yards thereto belonging, situated in Madeley
Wood, in the said parish, and in the said indenture, more particularly
described, on trust to employ the rents and profits thereof for the use
of the poor of the said parish in such manner as the grantees, with the
consent of the vicar and parish officers, should think fit.
Near one of the fields adjoining the Court House, called the “Slang,” a
man, while clearing a piece of rough ground, which appeared not
previously to have been cultivated, a few years ago, came upon a large
number of gold coins, chiefly of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and of the
modern value altogether of between three and four hundred pounds.
Looking at what the place now is, and calling to mind what it must have
been when the spacious rooms rang with the joyous laugh, and echoed the
minstrel songs of bygone days, one is reminded of Southey’s Eclogues, in
one of which he seeks to connect the past and present by an old man’s
memory, only that in this case more than one generation has gone to rest
since the old Court House was complete with park, and moat, and
fish-ponds. The old stonebreaker bemoans the change in some old
mansion-house thus—
“If my old lady could rise up—
God rest her soul!—’twould grieve her to behold
What wicked work is here.
* * * *
Aye, master, fine old trees.
Lord bless us! I have heard my father say
His grandfather could just remember back
When they were planted there. It was my task
To keep them trimmed, and ’twas a pleasure to me;
My poor old lady many a time would come
And tell me where to clip, for she had played
In childhood under them, and ’twas her pride
To keep them in their beauty.
* * * * *
I could as soon
Have ploughed my father’s grave as cut them down.
Then those old dark windows—
They’re demolished too;
The very redbreasts that so regular
Came to my lady for her morning crumbs
Won’t know those windows now.
There was a sweet briar, too, that grew beside;
My lady loved at evening to sit there
And knit, and her old dog lay at her feet,
And slept in the sun; ’twas an old favourite dog.
She did not love him less that he was old
And feeble, and he always had a place
By the fireside; and when he died at last,
She made me dig a grave in the garden for him,
For she was good to all: a woeful day
’Twas for the poor when to the grave she went.
—At Christmas, sir!
It would have warmed your heart if you had seen
Her Christmas kitchen—how the blazing fire
Made her fine pewter shine, and holly boughs
So cheerful red; and as for mistletoe,
The finest bush that grew in the country round
Was marked for madam. Then her old ale went
So bountiful about! A Christmas cask,
And ’twas a noble one. God help me, sir,
But I shall never see such days.”
Still greater changes than those described in the lines quoted above are
witnessed at the old Court House and in its immediate vicinity,—changes
so great that were it possible for one of its former feudal owners to
revisit the scene he would fail to recognise the place. Ugly pit-mounds
are seen surrounding the building; the place is illumined by the blaze of
the blast-furnace, the screech of machinery is heard around it, and the
snort of the iron horse sounds across the park, where the hounds were
wont to
“Rend the air, and with a lusty cry
Awake the echo, and confound
Their perfect language in a mingled voice.”
The fashions and manners here represented have passed away, and these
relics of antiquity look like fossils of old formations, or like
dismantled wrecks cast up by the ever-moving current of time. They
contrast strangely enough—these trophies of times gone by—with the
visible emblems of man’s altered genius around. Modes of life have
changed; every age has turned some new page as it passed. Instead of
monasteries and moated manor-houses, with country waste and wood,
thistled and isolated, whose wild possessors neglected even to till the
surface, we have men of active mould, who do daily battle with the
stubborn elements of the earth, while flashing fires flicker round their
stolid effigies, telling of wealth-producing agencies that make millions
happy. Ideas begotten of time, not then dreamt of, have leaped over moat
and rampart, re-constituted society, converted parks into pit-mounds, and
around the habitations of knighted warriors reared forges and constructed
railways.
We are tempted to dwell a little longer here in connection with the Old
Court, because considerable interest attaches to features, memorials, and
traditions of such places. Viewed from the position we now occupy, a
position the culminating result of past efforts and past struggles, they
remind us of less favourable phases of society, and picture to the mind
ideas, manners, and institutions—the cradle of our present privileges.
Manor houses, many of which were destroyed during the Civil War, were
held by the Church, and by distinguished personages, lay or clerical, who
granted or leased land they did not themselves require. Hence the rise
of copyholds—estates held by copy of the roll of the Court of the Manor.
Courts were held within these manors and jurisdiction was had of
misdemeanours and disputes. On forest borders, on grassy plains, amid
fat meadow lands, by rivers, on rocky spurs and projections, these
mansions or castelled structures stood, whilst their occupiers, with
little industrial or political activity to escape the _ennui_ of their
position, were often driven upon the high road of adventure. One can
scarcely conceive the privileged owners of such mansions to do otherwise
than despise the dependent population—boors, serfs, and villeins, who
cultivated their domains. Salient and strongly marked were the two
classes—knowledge and power paramount with the one, ignorance and
incapacity characterising the other: a proud supremacy and
subserviency—claimed and admitted. Priors, bishops, and lay proprietors
moved from manor to manor, taking their seats in these feudal courts,
receiving homage and inflicting penalties. Woe to the bondsmen of the
estate—doomed from the cradle to the grave to slavery—found guilty of an
attempt to “steal himself,” as the old Roman law had it, from his lawful
owner. Even tenants under these proud holders were subject to great
exactions,—the cattle of the manor, boar or bull, by the condition of the
tenure being free to roam at night through standing corn or grass: a
provision as just as that with which in this the nineteenth century the
lord of the manor has power, after purchase, to mine under and throw down
the house one has built, in this same manor of Madeley, without one
farthing compensation. Sturdy radicals, troublesome fellows, then as now
held up at times the glass by means of political squibs to perpetrators
of such injustice. One quaint old Shropshire satirist in the 14th
century lashes severely the vices of the times. Another in a political
song colours his picture deeply. The church at times interfered to
mitigate the condition of the people, but the spiritual overseers of the
poor, as a rule, thought more of the sports of the field than of their
flocks except, indeed, at shearing time. Chaucer in estimating their
qualifications was of opinion that “in hunting and riding they were more
skilled than in divinity.”
We need not wonder, then, to find in the thirteenth century the Rector of
Madeley a sportsman. Henry III, being in Shrewsbury, in Sept. 1267, at
which time he concluded a treaty with Llewellyn, and settled sundry
little differences with the monks and burgesses respecting a monopoly
claimed by the former, of grinding all corn used in the town, and
possessing all mills within its limits, granted through Peter de Neville
to Richard de Castillon the rector, licence to hunt in the royal forest
of Madeley. In such sport the clergy were borne out by their prelates.
Of one Walter, bishop of Rochester, it is recorded that he was so fond of
the sport that at the age of four score he made hunting his sole
employment, to the total neglect of other duties. There were jolly
churchmen in those days, for
“The Archdeacon of Richmond, we are told, in his initiation to the
Priory of Bridlington, came attended by ninety-seven horses,
twenty-one dogs, and three hawks. Walter de Suffield, Bishop of
Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of hounds to the king; whilst
the Abbot of Tavistock, who had also a pack, was commanded by his
bishop, about the same time, to break it up. A famous hunter,
contemporary with Chaucer, was the Abbot of Leicester, whose skill in
the sport of hare hunting was so great, that the king himself, his
son Edward, and certain noblemen, paid him an annual pension that
they might hunt with him.”
The faithful portraits Chaucer drew of the Sumptner and Pardoner, agents
of ecclesiastical courts—one to hunt out delinquents who were wealthy,
the other to make them pay well for their sins—are familiar to most. The
prior of the Madeley manor carried this so far that he drew down upon him
one bright day in April, 1243, before he was aware of it, a king’s writ
for exacting “toll,” “on beer, seizing the third of widows’ goods who
died within the _vill_ of any deceased tenant, before his debts were
paid, and otherwise oppressing those within the limits of the priory.”
As the author of the “Antiquities of Shropshire” has said,
“The prior ground down the vicar, the vicar in turn impoverished his
subordinates, and they (the chaplains) either starved their flocks or
were themselves paupers. The bishops moreover, doubtless for certain
considerations, connived at, nay, prominently aided the whole system
of extortion.”
This had been carried so far as to require the presence of Bishop
Swinfield, who held the See, in 1285, to rectify misappropriations of
tithe in sheep and corn, and to arrange disputes respecting them within
the boundaries of the Priory. In April, 1290, the bishop paid another
visit, being by invitation the guest of the Prior; we do not get the
expenses of the feast, but he is known to have been a joval soul, well to
do, with two palaces in the country, and three in London, constantly
moving about, taking care to carry about with him his brass pots, earthen
jugs, and other domestic utensils for his retainers, who were littered
down in the great halls of the manors, at each stage of the journey. He
had numerous manor houses of his own, a farm at each, stables for many
horses, kennels for his hounds, and mews for his hawks. His kitchens
reeked with every kind of food; his cellars were filled with wine, and
his spiceries with foreign luxuries. Take a glance at the bishop’s feast
after a fast at his residence on the Teme. On Sunday, October the
second, at the bishop’s generous board, the consumption was, three
quarters of beef, three sheep, half a pig, eight geese, ten fowls, twelve
pigeons, nine partridges, and larks too numerous to mention, the whole
accompanied with a due proportion of wine.
Madeley not being a “fat living,” there was great shuffling on the part
of the incumbents, none of them caring to hold it very long. One, master
Odo de Horbosio, who was instituted March 14, 1299, on presentation of
the Convent and Prior of Much Wenlock; and again, June 4th, 1300, has
license to study, and to attend to business of himself and friends.
August 2nd, 1300; William de Fonehope, who was presented by the Bishop of
Hereford, (by lapse,) on March 18th, 1318, we find exchanging in 1322,
with Sir William Hoynet, rector of Westbury; the said William the fifth
of August, the same year, exchanged with James de Tifford, who exchanged
with another, John Aron, who resigned it in November, 1319.
The oftener these changes occurred the better for the priors, who held
the right of presentation to the bishop, and exacted fealty and fees. In
Madeley, being lords of the manor, they nominated and presented the
vicars: and in Badger, Beckbury, and elsewhere, where there were lay
lords who nominated, they held the right of presenting such as were
nominated to the bishop, and of exacting fees for their mediate offices
between the nominators and the bishop.
As the land came to be cultivated, and the population engaged in
agricultural and other pursuits increased in number, the living, we
imagine, improved in value, and the advowson in importance. We have
shown from the commissioners’ description in Domesday what was the state
of Madeley just subsequent to the Norman conquest, and Madeley being
still within the limits of the forest of the Wrekin, which surrounded it
on three sides, little progress was made in the way of cultivation. From
the “Survey of Shropshire Forests” in 1235, it appears that the following
woods, besides those of Madeley, were subject to its
jurisdiction:—Leegomery, Wrockwardine Wood, Eyton-on-the-Weald Moors,
Lilleshall, Sheriffhales, the Lizard, Stirchley, and Great Dawley.
Forest laws were rigorously enforced, and encroachments, either by
cultivation or building without royal license to do so, were severely
punished.
Prior Imbert was fined for three such trespasses, in 1250, in the heavy
sum of £126 13s. 4d., chiefly in connection with Madeley. In 1390 the
park and meadows the prior had been permitted to enclose with those at
Madeley, Oxenbold, and other manors, were estimated as barely capable of
maintaining the livestock of the priory.
A perambulation of forests in the reign of Edward I. shows the village of
Madeley, with its bosc and two plains, to be disforested, as well as
Coalbrookdale, one half of Sutton Maddock, and some other places. Coming
down, however, to a much later period,—to the thirty-sixth year of the
reign of Henry VIII., when he sold the Madeley manor,—cultivation had
made considerable progress, and the property of the priory had very much
increased in value. The last of the Wenlock priors, Sir John Bailey,
_alias_ Cressage, gave up possession on the morrow of the Conversion of
St. Paul, 1539, _with his own free will and consent_, according to the
deed, together with that of the sub-prior, and eleven monks. Take
“The fourth part of the Close Rolls of the 31st King Hen. VIII. 26th
January, 31st Hen. VIII. Deed of Surrender to the Crown of the
Monastery of Wenlock.
“To all faithful christians to whom the present writing shall come,
we, John Cressegge, Prior of the monastery of St. Milburgh the
Virgin, of Wenlock, in the county of Salop, and the Convent of the
same place, greeting in the Lord everlasting, know ye that we the
aforesaid Prior and Convent, with our unanimous assent and consent,
and with our deliberate purpose, certain knowledge and mere motion
for certain just and reasonable causes, as our mind and consciences
specially moving, have freely and spontaneously given and granted,
and by these presents do give, grant, and yield up, and deliver and
confirm to our most illustrious and invincible prince and lord Henry
the Eighth, by the grace of God of England and France king, defender
of the faith, lord of Ireland and on earth of the church of England
supreme head, all that our said monastery, and also all the scite,
ground, circuit, and precinct, and church of the same monastery, with
all our movable debts, chattels, and goods to us or our said
monastery belonging or appertaining, as well those which we at
present possess, as those which by bond or any other cause whatsoever
to us and our said monastery are due in any manner; and also all and
singular our manors, lordships, messuages, gardens, curtilages,
tofts, lands, and tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, woods, and
underwoods, rents, reversions, and services, mills, passages,
knights’ fees, wards, marriages, bondmen, villains, with their
sequels, commons, liberties, franchises, privileges, jurisdictions,
offices, courts leet, hundred courts, views of frankpledge, fairs,
markets, parks, warrens, vivaries, waters, fisheries, ways, paths,
wharfs, void grounds, advowsons, nominations, presentations, and
donations of churches, vicarages, chapels, chanteries, hospitals, and
other ecclesiastical benefices whatsoever, rectories, vicarages,
chanteries, pensions, portions, annuities, tithes, oblations, and all
and singular other our emoluments, profits, possessions,
hereditaments, and rights whatsoever, as well within the said county
of Salop, and in the liberties’ of London, Sussex, Chester, and
Stafford, as elsewhere in the kingdom of England and Wales, and the
marches of the same, to our same monastery aforesaid, in any manner
belonging, appertaining, appended, or incumbent, and all and all
manner of our charters, evidences, obligations, writings, and
muniments whatsoever to us or our said monastery, lands, or
tenements, or other the premises with their appurtenances, or to any
part thereof in any manner belonging or appertaining, to have, hold,
and enjoy our said monastery and the aforesaid scite, ground,
circuit, and precinct, and our church aforesaid, with all our debts,
goods, and chattels, and also all and singular manors, lordships,
messuages, lands, and tenements, rectories, pensions, and other
premises whatsoever, with all and singular their appurtenances, to
our aforesaid most invincible prince and king aforesaid, his heirs,
successors, and assigns for ever; and in this behalf, to all effects
of law, which shall or can result therefrom, we subject and submit
ourselves and our said monastery, with all and singular the premises,
and all rights to us in any wise howsoever acquired (as is fitting),
giving and granting, and by these presents we do give and grant,
yield up, deliver, and confirm to the same king’s majesty, his heirs,
successors, and assigns, all and all manner of full and free faculty,
authority and power to dispose of us and our said monastery, together
with all and singular manors, lands, and tenements, rents,
reversions, and services, and every of the premises, with all their
rights and appurtenances whatsoever, and according to his free and
royal will and pleasure to be alienated, given, exchanged, or
transferred to any uses whatsoever agreeable to his majesty, and we
ratify such dispositions, alienations, donations, conversions, and
appropriations by his aforesaid majesty henceforth in any wise
however to be made, promising, moreover by these presents that we
will hold firm and valid all and singular the premises for ever; and
that moreover all and singular the premises may have due effect we
publicly, openly, and expressly, and of our certain knowledge and
spontaneously will, renounce and withdraw all elections from us and
our successors, and also all plaints, challenges appeals, actions,
suits, and other processes whatsoever, rights, remedies, and
benefits, to us and our successors in that behalf by pretext of the
disposition, alienation, donation, conversion, and translation
aforesaid, and other the premises in any wise howsoever competent and
to be competent, and laying aside and altogether putting away all
objections, exceptions, and allegations of deceit, error, fear,
ignorance, or of any other matter or disposition, whatsoever as by
these presents we have renounced and withdrawn and from the same do
recede by these presents: and we the aforesaid prior and convent, our
successors, our said monastery, and also all the scite, ground,
circuit, precinct, mansion, and our church aforesaid, and all and
singular our manors, lordships, messuages, gardens, curtilages,
tofts, lands, and tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, woods, and
underwoods, rents, reversions, and services, and all and singular
other the premises, with all their rights and appurtenances, to our
aforesaid lord the king, his heirs, successors and assigns, to the
use aforesaid, against all men will warrant and for ever defend by
these presents. In testimony aforesaid, we the aforesaid prior and
convent to this our present writing have subscribed our names and put
our common seal. Given at our chapter house the twenty-sixth day of
the month of January, in the thirty-first year of the reign of our
aforesaid most invincible prince and lord Henry the Eighth.”
At any rate the prior, sub-prior, and eleven monks retired upon a pension
of £100, which was divided between them thus:—
£ s. d.
Extranni Baylie (alias Cressage) nuper 30 0 0
priori ibidem
Willielmus Corfeld nuper sub prior ibidem 6 13 4
Richard Fishewyke presbitero 6 0 0
Thomas Acton presbitero 6 0 0
Johanni Caslett presbitero 6 0 0
Richardo Fenymo presbitero 6 0 0
Richardo Benge presbitero 6 0 0
Richardo Norgrave presbitero 6 0 0
Thomas Ball presbitero 6 0 0
Willielmo Morthowe presbitero 5 6 8
Johanni Lee presbitero 5 6 8
Willielmo Chamberlain presbitero 5 6 8
Johanni Hopkins presbitero 5 6 8
Summa 100 0 0
Sir John, the last of the long list of Wenlock priors,—many of them noble
and distinguished men,—retired upon his life-pension of £30 to the old
Court House, Madeley, where he resided till his death, which took place
in 1552. Mr. Eyton says he died on Christmas-day, at the Madeley
manor-house, and was buried next day in Madeley church. The Wenlock
register, at Wynnstay, contains the following entry by Sir Thomas Butler,
the then vicar:—
“1549. 25 Decr departed and dyed in the manor place of Madeley about
IX of the clock in the nyght Sir John Baily Clercke the last Prior of
Moncks that was in the Monastre of Moch Wenlock prior ther at the
tyme of the Surrender thereof, whose bodie was buryed on the morrow,
vz fest of St. Stephan in the parish churche of Madeley aforesaid.”
The same authority, Sir Thomas Butler, who seems to have been a most
painstaking recorder of events, under date of February 20, 1539, has the
following entry a little higher up:
“Edwd Browne Servant to my Lord Prior was married in Madeley and the
Certf. entered in the book of the parish Church of Madeley.”
Unfortunately that register has been lost, if it existed. It may be that
it did not, as many existing churches were then chapels, that is
affiliations without a baptistery or a cemetery.
Madeley was subject to the mother-church of Wenlock, and we know how
zealously the vicars of that church guarded their privileges. Broseley
was in the same position, and in our “Tourists’ Guide to Wenlock” we
quoted a memorandum made in the Wenlock register, in which the vicar
says:—
“1542. Feb. 3rd Mem. at the same time in this Chancel of the Holy
Trinity that I went to bury the Corpse of the sd John, Sir Edmund
Mychell Parson of Browardesley aforsaid, in the presence of Rowland
Wilcocks of the same Browardesley, willed me to give my consent that
they of Browardesley might have their chapel there dedicate for the
Burial there so to be had unto whom I answered (if the law would so
bear me) I would not consent to the dedicating of that their Chapel
of Browardesley nor of none other annexed and depending unto this the
mother Church of the Holy Trinity of Moch Wenlock.”
These privileges were not strictly regarded, we believe, but as a rule
the dead had to be carried to Wenlock to be buried, excepting in the case
of persons of distinction, like lords of the manor or wealthy tenants of
the prior, who were buried in the church.
The king having got possession of the property of the Wenlock priory,
proceeded to dispose of it; and Madeley was sold to Robert Broke for what
must have seemed a good round sum in those days. The following
translation, which a friend has been kind enough to make for us, from a
Latin copy of the original deed preserved in the archives of Madeley
church, may be of interest.
Patent Roll, 36 Henry VIII., Part V. Grant to Robert Broke, Esquire, of
the title and advowson of Madeley, co. Salop.
“The king to all whom it may concern, etc. salutation.
“Be it known to you all that we, in consideration of the sum of £946
3s. 8d., of our own legal English money, delivered over for our use
into the hands of our legal treasurer, for the increase of the common
revenue of our crown, by our beloved subject, Robert Broke, Knight,
the sureties having been paid on the said sum of £946 3s. 8d., we
declare that we shall be satisfied, contented, and fully indemnified,
and that thenceforward Robert Broke, his heirs and executors, are to
be exonerated and free from molestation, by force of these present
letters, which we have given and conceded from our own special
goodwill, certain knowledge, and of our own accord; and by these same
present letters we give and concede to the aforesaid Robert Broke the
whole of that manor named Madeley, with all and each of its rights,
connections, and patronages, in our county of Salop, enjoyed lately
over the priory of Wenlock, lately suppressed, in the abovementioned
county, and all the belongings formerly attached to the lately
existing monastery. Likewise all the other revenues of ours
whatsoever, with their patronages in the above-named Madeley, and
elsewhere in the above-named county, which have been part members or
subject to the above-named manor, either by acknowledgment,
acceptation, enjoyment, reputation, localization, or even by forcible
separation.
“Likewise the advowson, the free enjoyment and the right of patronage
of our vicariate parish-church of the above-named Madeley, in the
above-mentioned county, as well as the rights attached to the whole
of the place and buildings that go under the one name of the Smithy
Place, and Newhouse called Calbrooke Smithy, with its patronages in
the aforesaid Madeley.
“Likewise all our tithes of all fruits and grain annually growing,
being renewed or produced in Madeley the afore mentioned, and now or
lately in the possession of Richard Charleton; also the whole of that
yearly and perpetual endowment of ours, viz., of three shillings
annually, coming to us from the vicarage or church of the aforesaid
Madeley; and the whole of that annual and perpetual pension of ours
of 3s. 4d. annually, due from the rectory or church of Badger, in the
above-named county.
“Likewise the messuages, tofts, houses, dwellings, stables, dovecots,
stagnant ponds, and vivaries, springs, gardens and orchards, lands,
tenements, incomes, revenues, dues, meadows, pasturages, woods,
shrubberies, and trees.
“Likewise all the permanent feudal rights and customs, the permanent
dues, endowments, tithes, offerings, belongings, annuities, products,
revenues, and the annual result of engagements entered into by
whomsoever such engagements and provisions were made . . . common
fisheries, ways, paths, void grounds, as well, moreover, as the
liberties, franchises, and jurisdictions, profits, emoluments,
rights, possessions, and the rest of our heraditaments, both
spiritual and temporal, with all their rights, situated, lying,
within, and existing in the manor of the above-named Madeley, over
the late priory, whether belonging to the possessions or revenues of
the late existing. . . .
“This manor, in truth, with its tenements, and the other things
premised, reaching the clear annual value of £46 17s. 7d., not
considering the tithe. The aforesaid manor, its advowson, rents,
revenues, services, and all and each of the other of its rights, are
to be possessed and held by the aforesaid Robert Broke, his heirs and
assigns, for the personal use of the said Robert Broke, his heirs and
assigns in perpetuity.
“In consideration of the military service due in taxation to us, our
heirs and successors, viz., the twentieth part of the value of one
feudal knight, £4 13s. 9¼d. of our legal English money are to be paid
to our legal treasurer, for the increase of the common revenues of
our crown, on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, each year, for
all the rents, services, and demands whatsoever . . .
“We also wish, and by these presents we concede, to the aforesaid
Robert Broke that the said Robert Broke shall have and retain these
letters patent of ours, drawn up in the usual manner, under our great
seal of England, and signed without fine or tax, heavy or light, to
be paid into our revenue office, or in any other way to be demanded
or paid to the use of us, our heirs, or successors.
“Therefore express mention of this our will has been made, etc. In
testimony of which, etc., T. R. Signed at Westminster, 23 July
[1544]. On behalf of the king himself, in virtue of the royal
commission.”
The MS. breaks off abruptly in places, probably from the copyist not
being able to decipher the original. Of the Richard Charleton here
mentioned we have no account in connection with Madeley, but a Richard
Charlton is mentioned some ten years earlier, in the accounts of the
first-fruits office, as the king’s bailiff or collector at the Marshe,
near Barrow, where the Wenlock priors had one of their principal granges,
and held a manorial court.
This was in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Henry VIII., and
shortly after the very subservient parliament of 1534–35 had requested
the king “to be pleased, as their most gracious sovereign lord, upon whom
and in whom depended all their joy and wealth, to receive the
first-fruits of all spiritual dignities and promotions.” An earlier
member of this family is also mentioned as Bishop of Hereford, examining
the titles of the prior to certain privileges in Madeley, during one of
his Visitations. We have also heard it said, but are not aware on what
authority, that one of this very ancient and distinguished family at one
time lived at the Hay, in the parish of Madeley.
The deed is further interesting from its mention of the ironworks at
Coalbrookdale, described as Smithy Place and New House. It is earlier by
a century than any notice previously met with, and we shall further
allude to it when we come to speak of these works. The patronages spoken
of, probably, were the rights exercised over the minerals by the Wenlock
priors, one of whom, in the exercise of such rights, had, in 1322, for
the sum of six shillings, granted a license to Walter de Caldebroke to
dig for coals in the Brockholes, for the term of one year.
Some light is thrown upon the advowson and tithe of Madeley by
interesting old documents carefully preserved in the vestry of Madeley
church. The following copy of the “Terrier,” kindly lent by Joseph Yate,
Esq., made March 14th, 1710, shows the kind of tithe then collected:
“True copy of the Terrier of the parish of Madeley, in the county of
Salop. For the vicar and clerks’ fees, tythes, offerings, and
minister’s fees, &c.
“Imprimis. The court demesnes pays Easter offerings for master and
servants, but no other tythes, except eight shillings at Easter, in
lieu of tythes. The general way of tything within the parish is: hay
and clover is due throughout the whole of the parish, except the
demesnes, and is to be gathered at every eleventh cock; grass at the
tenth cock; every pig and goose pay at the tenth, but for want of
that number pay at the seventh; wool and lambs pay at the tenth, but
in case they are set, is twopence a fleece and threepence a lamb, and
for what lambs are fallen in wintering the owner pays twopence;
calves are gathered in like kind, at the tenth, but for want of ten,
at sixpence per calf. One penny a cow, in lieu of milk. Tythes of
orchards or fruit-trees are gathered in kind throughout the parish,
except the demesnes. The parishioners pay twopence for every stall
of bees they put down, in lieu of tythe-money. Twopence for every
colt, and two eggs for every hen or duck. Three eggs for every cock
or drake at Easter. Surplice fees are paid after this manner: every
marriage solemnized by banns, three shillings and sixpence; if by
license, five shillings (let the parishioner be man or woman). For
churching every woman, sixpence. Easter dues are: every man pays
threepence, every woman pays twopence; one penny smoke, and one penny
garden, clerks fees. Every hen at Easter, one egg; every marriage by
banns, sixpence; if by license, one shilling. Churching every woman,
twopence. Every burial without a coffin and ringing the bell,
twopence; if with a coffin, one shilling and sixpence. Fourpence for
every plough land; twopence every householder; double fees for all
strangers (and likewise the minister). Ten shillings per year for
looking after the clock. Tythes of corn-mills are due in all
parishes except demesnes.
“Taken 14 March, 1710. Jeremy Taylor, vicar. John Stringer and
William Wood, churchwardens.”
It would appear from this that the dead were sometimes buried without a
coffin, in which case a coarse cloth was, we believe substituted. The
“smoke penny” was a penny collected for every chimney emitting smoke, or
rather a tithe paid to the vicar upon the wood burnt. A dispute having
arisen in the earlier part of the last century between the vicar and
impropriator, respecting the right of the former to tithe on woods, a
parish meeting was called and a case got up by the vicar and
churchwardens for the opinion of counsel, in which the payment of the
smoke-penny was quoted to establish the vicar’s claim. We give the
queries put and counsel’s replies in the Appendix.
Tithe and Easter offerings were occasionally paid in kind, as appears
from the churchwardens’ accounts. In one case two heifers are mentioned,
which it is added, produced forty shillings.
In the churchwarden’s accounts of Easter offerings to the vicar of
Madeley, in 1693, we get an insight of the household of the Court. The
sums given are not stated, but the entry is as follows:—
“Basil Brooke and wife gave —, John Brooke gave —, John Bowdler gave
—, John the butler gave —, Dennis — gave —, Joseph Littlehales gave
—, Thomas gave — Francis, — gave —, Anthony — gave —, Edward — gave
—, Mrs. Lawson gave —, Margaret — gave —.”
We have already referred to this distinguished family in connection with
Madeley and Claverley, where one branch continued to reside for many
generations, whilst another was seated at Blacklands, in the neighbouring
parish of Bobbington. Dukes says:—
“The family of Brooke, formerly of Lapley, in Staffordshire, and
afterwards of Bobbington, and subsequently of Haughton, in
Shropshire, had possessions in this parish, in whose family it
continued until 1800, when the capital mansion and estates belonging
thereto were sold by George Brooke, Esq. to different purchasers.”
In Claverley the name of John de la Broke occurs in 1242, and that of
Thomas de la Bruche, in 1260, both of whom are supposed to have resided
there. In 1268 a Geoffrey de la Broke is mentioned as having been on an
inquest at Kinver. From 1299 to 1338 Richard de Broke, of Claverley, is
sometimes called Richard atte {35} Broke, in connection with juries on
which he sat, and in attesting deeds at Claverley, Bridgnorth, and
elsewhere. In 1316 he was a grantee of land at Beobridge, whilst his son
Richard is mentioned as a clerk in 1318, and the same son is again
mentioned with his father in 1324. In 1342 and 1343 this succession, Mr.
Eyton thinks, continues in Thomas atte Broke, of Claverley; but Randolf
atte Broke, who was at Enville, in 1347, he takes to have been an
ancestor of Brooke of Blacklands, one of whom (deceased in 1385) seems to
have married a co-heiress of the Gravenors.
We have already noticed the very magnificent alabaster tomb, in the N.E.
corner of the Gatacre chancel, on which are the recumbent figures of Lord
Chief Justice Brooke, in his official robes, and his two wives, one on
each side; and a subsequent visit enables us to add some additional
particulars. The female-figures have ornamental head-gear, flowing
mantles, single ruffs round their necks, three rows of chain necklaces
hanging loose, and ruffles with braid at the hands. On the three sides
of the tomb are figures of their eighteen children, in the dresses of the
time. This tomb must have been a gorgeous one, for a close inspection
shows traces of gold and colour, which once adorned the principal
figures. It is to be regretted that the arms of this distinguished
family, like those of the Gatacre, the Beauchamp, the Talbot, the
Ferrers, and some others, which, about the end of the seventeenth century
adorned this church, have disappeared. Among others Mr. Eyton, in his
“Antiquities of Shropshire,” gives the following:—
“Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * *, and * *, a crescent for
difference; second and third, * * a Cross Flory * *. (‘Thomas Broke’
written over this Coat.)
“Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * * and * *, on a Chief * *, a
Brock * *; second and third, Arg, a Cross Flory Sa.
“Brooke (quarterly) empaling—Paly of six, Or and Az, a Canton Erm.
“Quarterly—first and four, Chequy Arg and Sa; second and third, Arg a
Cross Flory Sa.”
Over each of the doors, forming an entrance to, or egress from, the
gardens, at the old Court House, Madeley, are massive stones, with the
arms of the Brooke family, but without the crest. These correspond, too,
with the arms of the Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton, near Shifnal, who
represents another branch of the family of the Brookes, of Claverley.
They are as follows:—
Parted per pale first Chequy * * and * *, second, Paly of six * * and *
*, a Canton Ermine.
Parted per pale first Chequy * * and * *, second * * a Chevron, * *
between three Helmets.
ARMS ON CEILING OF CHAPEL.—Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * * and *
*, second and third, * * a cross Flory * *.
SHIELD OF ARMS IN WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY THE LARGE DINING HALL
BELOW.—Quarterly—first Chequy, * * and * *, second * *, a cross Flory *
*, third * *, a fess Chequy * * and * *, between ten Billets * *,
fourth * *, a fess * *, thereon three Bugle Horns * *, stringed * *,
garnished * *, between three Bucks’ Heads cabossed * *.
Crest: Ostrich.
There are also coats of arms over the gatehouse of the Brooke family,
{37} those over the window and doorway being—
Party per pale. First Chequy * * * and * * *. Second paly of Six, and
a Canton Ermine.
On the right tower—
Paly of Six * * * and * * * with Canton Ermine.
On this tower also is an heraldic rose, and on the left * *, a Cross
Pommee, * *.
The first entry of an interment in the register at Claverley, the vicar
tells us, is that of a Brooke, and the second entry in the register at
Madeley is also the interment of a member of the same family.
Subsequent and more detailed examinations of the arms in various parts of
the Court House and adjacent buildings throw a doubt upon the statement
in a previous page, as to the proprietorship or occupation at one time of
the Ferrers family. These arms differ, it will be seen, as may be
expected, from marriages and inter-marriages, but we are not sufficiently
acquainted with the arms of other old families of the time to say with
what or whose arms they were incorporated, and it would be overloading
our pages with genealogical lore to go into details. A family, some of
the members of which had two wives and eighteen children, would naturally
soon spread itself about the country.
The Rev. C. Brooke, of Brackley, Northants, as these pages are going
through the press, writes to say:—
“From the similiarity in the arms it would seem that there was a
connection between Robert Brooke of Madeley Court, and Brooke of
Blacklands, whose arms are given by Dr. Plot, in his ‘History of
Staffordshire,’ as ‘Chequy, arg. and sable;’ but it does not appear
to be so by the pedigree in the Visitation taken 1623, or by the
pedigree of Brooke of Blacklands, compiled by Mr. Eyton, for the Rev.
J. Brooke, from original deeds at Haughton, which he did as well as
the scanty records would allow.”
A contributor to “Salopian Shreds and Patches” (Feb. 9, 1876) says one of
the bells of Church Stretton church has the following inscription:—
“Donatum pro avi Edwardo Brooke de Stretton Generoso. 1711.”
And adds—
“Assuming that this is a correct reading of the abbreviated words on
the bell, the following is a literal translation:—‘Given for luck by
Edward Brooke, of Stretton, gentleman. 1711.’”
The Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton, unwilling that one of the family
should have been supposed to have associated the word “luck” with things
so sacred, writes to say:—
“On referring to the copies of the Claverley registers, as I have, I
find that ‘Avis’ was the Christian name of one of his wives, 1636;
therefore, after all, Edward Brooke probably gave the bell in memory
of either his wife or a daughter of that name.”
One of the Brookes, residing or having property, or both, at
Coalbrookdale, went to Ireland, taking the name of the place with him,
and calling it “Colebrook.”
In a work published on distinguished Shropshire families is the
following, which is interesting from its bearing upon an important
historical fact:—
“Robert Brooke Miles married three wives; one, Anne, d. and heir of
Michael Warringe de Salop. He died 1558.
↓
John B. died 1598, aged 60. + Anne, d. of Francis Shirley, of
Staniton, co. Leicester.
↓
Sir Basil Brooke Miles, 1623, died 1646. + Etheldreda, d. and sole
heir of Edmund Boudendil.”
Sir Basil was one of the sporting friends whom Giffard of Chillington
drew around him at his housewarming on the border of Brewood Forest, a
house which subsequently gave shelter to the Earl of Derby and King
Charles the First. It was built nominally as a hunting-seat, but really
for purposes of concealment; and the site on the bolder of two counties,
deep in the recesses of woods, traversed by no public roads, was
exceedingly suitable. It is said that on the completion of the building
the owner invited a few friends to dinner, to celebrate the occasion, and
amongst them Sir Basil Brooke, of the Court House, Madeley, who had
recently returned from Italy, and who on being requested by his host to
supply a name for the place, suggested Boscobel, or Bos co Bello; and
this was considered so appropriate, from the prospect it commanded of the
beautiful woods around, that it is said to have been at once adopted.
It will be seen from what we have previously stated that the family of
Brooke continued to reside at Madeley till 1706, when, according to the
benefaction-table in the church, Basil Brooke by will bequeathed the sum
of £40, and for a further sum of £30, paid him by Audley Bowdler and
eight other parties, sold three several cottages or tenements, with
gardens and yards, at Madeley Wood, for the use of the poor. {40}
The next tenant of the Court appears to have been the first Abraham
Darby, for we find that he died there, after which time we find no
tenants of more importance than the Purtons and the Triggers, who were
farmers, and held the land around.
Thus early, even in Madeley, did the great owners of the soil—who merely
tilled the surface, and scarcely that—give place to miners and ironmakers
who knew how to win wealth from beneath.
With regard to this fine old mansion itself, having about it the symbols
of ancient and distinguished Shropshire families, and associated at still
earlier periods with the history of the wealthy monastery of St.
Milburgh, it is fast going to decay. The last of the long and
distinguished line of Wenlock priors lived and died here, as did the
first great Shropshire ironmaster, the first Abraham Darby, afterwards,
and one almost regrets that the wish of the late James Foster, who
purchased the property, to repair and restore it, was not carried out.
The temptation to get the mines underneath it, however, proved too
strong: the whole has been undermined, and from attacks below and above,
with all the usual elements of decay at work, must ere long disappear,
rich as it is in associations of the past.
It is one of that class of buildings the country can ill afford to spare,
for it speaks not to the antiquarian or the historian merely, but to all
who take an interest in the manners, customs, and domestic arrangements
of the past. It is difficult to say which are the original portions, but
the vaults and cellaring, and some other parts appear to have belonged to
a building which has undergone many changes. The windows, walls, and
doorways of that portion of the building occupied by Mr. Round, and the
substantial foundations that gentleman found beneath the surface in
cutting a drain in the same direction, with a well 15 yards deep,
indicate pretty clearly an extension of the buildings formerly on that
side.
On going inside, and descending a spiral stone staircase to the basement
story of the building, visitors will have opportunities of seeing how
substantially the walls are built. They are a yard and a half in
thickness, and have narrow openings, each growing narrower towards the
outside, every two converging towards a point similar to what the reader
has witnessed in many a fortress of byegone times, and designed no doubt
for the same purpose, for defence. This staircase did not then as now
terminate in what was the large hall, but in the adjoining apartment, now
used as a brewhouse. The partition, too, which shuts off the entrance to
another pair of stairs near the coat of arms on the north did not exist,
nor the stairs either. The room is now 38½ feet long; then it would be
40, by 22 feet wide, and 14 feet high. Beneath these arms, on a daias,
probably, the head of the house would sit dispensing hospitality. The
chief staircase was near the other end of the hall, and composed of
immense blocks of solid oak. The spiral stone staircase from the base of
the building to the chapel at the top of the house was for the use, it is
supposed, either of the dependents or the officiating priest. A further
examination of the arms on the ceiling and a comparison with those in
other parts of the building show them to be those of the Brooke family.
An oak screen divides the chapel, which is wainscoted to the ceiling with
oak. On the eastern side of this screen is a piscina, which has been cut
out of the solid brickwork, and which at a subsequent period must have
been concealed by the wainscoating. In the western division, behind the
wainscoating, is a secret chamber, a yard square; probably for
concealment in times of danger. It is communicated with by a panel in
the wainscoat just large enough to admit a man, who, once inside, had the
means of bolting and barring himself in behind the oak panel, which would
look in no respect different to the others. This is called king
Charles’s hole, but there is no evidence or well-founded tradition that
he occupied it. There are a number of other curious nooks and small
chambers which might have served purposes of concealment in troubled
times, and probably did so, when the votaries of the two dominant
religions, fired with a zeal inspired by their positions, alternately
persecuted each other, as in the times of James, Mary, and Elizabeth. It
is an error however, and one which Harrison Ainsworth among others
appears to have fallen into, to suppose that the unfortunate king Charles
either came to the Court House or was secreted in it. It is probable
enough that, from the well known loyalty of the owner, the house would be
searched by the Parliamentarians for the king, and the fact that they
were likely to do so would lead to more discretion in selecting a place
of concealment. The fine old wainscoating is falling from the rooms, and
the whole place presents a scene of utter desolation.
From the upper portion of the building a pit, said to be without a
bottom, and leading to a subterranean passage to Buildwas Abbey, may be
seen. There is of course no ground for either tradition: a house which
belonged to the priors of Wenlock would want no communication with a
rival monastery, which was looked upon with jealousy, and the more
abstemious habits of the inmates of which were in some measure a
reflection upon their own. The pit or well has no bottom, inasmuch as it
slants when it gets below the building in the direction of the pool in
which it terminates.
Outside the building are some of the grotesque, nondescript stone figures
which builders of the Gothic age indulged in. On this side, too, is a
handsome stone porch, which, like some other portions of the same
building is more modern than others. The gate-house, like the porch, is
both more modern, and more Elizabethan than the other. It is a
well-proportioned and beautiful building, exciting the admiration of all
who see it. It possesses several heraldic embellishments, relating to
the Brooke family.
It is a pity that the memorials of a family so ancient and distinguished,
and so connected with the early history of Madeley, have not been better
preserved. There must, one would think, have been mural monuments of a
costly kind in the old church, seeing that the family lived at the Court
for two centuries and a half at the least.
The stone of which the house was built was quarried near the spot, but
the shelly limestone covering for the roof must have been brought from
Acton Burnell, or somewhere near. It is from the pentamerous beds of the
Caradoc sandstone. The house is supplied with spring-water by pipes from
an ancient reservoir on the high ground near where the stone used was
probably quarried.
KING CHARLES’S VISIT TO, AND CONCEALMENT AT, MADELEY.
The first indication we find at Madeley of the troubled times which
ushered in the most remarkable episode in the history of the 17th century
is an entry in the church register, under date of April 14, 1645,
informing us that on the above date one William Caroloso was buried, the
church at the time being garrisoned by a Parliamentary regiment,
commanded by Captain Harrington. A page of history was being written
which in all future times would be read with interest; agencies, the
growth of centuries, had been developed; struggles for political and
polemical equality had disturbed the stagnation of ages. The injustice
of the courts, the persecutions, pillorings, and beheadings of reformers
and standard-bearers of truth, and the weakness and insincerity of
monarchs, had culminated in revolution, and six years later the weak
vacillating monarch, Charles II., after the battle of Worcester, where
3,000 of his army had been left upon the field, came a fugitive to
Madeley. The story of his flight, his disguise, and of his lodging in
“Wolfe’s bam,” is an episode in history that illustrates the vicissitudes
of life, affords a startling lesson to royalty, and brings into relief
the devotion and faithfulness of those in humble spheres to others when
in misfortune. Having ridden in hot haste from Worcester, and fallen in
with the Earls Buckingham, Derby, Wilmot, and others, “I strove,” he
tells us, “as soon as it was dark, to get them to stand by me against the
enemy, I could not get rid of them now I had a mind to it, having,
afterwards slipt away from them by a by-road when it was dark.”
The story of his retreat through Kidderminster, where Richard Baxter
describes the balls flying all night, and the hurried northward flight
under the trusty scout, Master Walker; then the second pause of terror on
Kinver Heath; the stolen and breathless flight through Stourbridge; the
short and poor refreshment at Kingswinford; and the long gallop to the
White Ladies;—the whole flight being certainly forty miles—has been so
often told as to be familiar to the reader.
These and other incidents of the flight have been worked up in a drama,
in five acts, by Mr. George Griffiths, of Bewdley. Scene 2 is laid at
the White Ladies (nine miles from Wolverhampton and one from Brewood, now
occupied by Mr. Wilson).
“_Enter_ Col. Roscarrock, Richard Penderell, of Hobbal Grange, Edward
Martin, a servant, and Bartholemew Martin, a boy in the house.
“_Col. Roscarrock_ (to the boy Martin):
Come hither, boy, canst thou do an errand,
And speak to no one on the road to Boscobel?
“_Boy_.—That I can, Sir, without reward or fee;
Trust me, I will not say one word
To any he or she, so tell me what’s my duty.
“_Col. Roscarrock_.—Go off to Boscobel the nearest road,
And one that fewest folks do travel by.
Tell William Penderell to hasten hither,
Without a minute’s stopping,
And should he ask thee why and wherefore,
Tell him Good Master Giffard wants him here
Without delay, and see thou com’st back with him;
And shouldst thou meet or pass folks on the road,
Say nought unto them as to where thou’rt going
Or what thy errand is. Haste, and some coin
Shall warm thy pocket if thou mind’st my words.
“_Boy_.—Aye, aye, sir, humble boys have sharpish wits.
Because their simple food keeps them in health;
I’se warrant the Squire’s son, though so well fed,
Cannot leap gates like I, or ride a horse
Barebacked across the hedges of our farm.
Aye, aye, sir, I can keep my counsel, too;
I know a hay-fork from a noble’s sword,
And I do feel that with my harvest fork
I could defend a king as stoutly
As those who carry golden-handled swords.
I go, and no man, no, nor woman either,
Shall coax one word from off my faithful tongue.
[_Exit_.
“_Col. Roscarrock_.—See now, how this young varlet guesses all,
His eye alone told all I thought unknown;
Well, trusty friends dwell oft in rustic hearts
With more sincerity than in the breasts
Of those who fill the highest offices.”
Boscobel was selected upon the suggestion of the Earl of Derby, who,
defeated and wounded on the 25th of August, 1651, at the battle of Wigan,
by the Parliamentary forces under Colonel Lilburn, found his way hither
whilst seeking to join Charles at Worcester, and who, after four or five
days rest here, went on, and reached Worcester on the eve of the famous
battle.
Boscobel, so named, as we have seen, by Sir Basil Brooke, of the Court
House, Madeley, on account of its beautiful and well-wooded situation,
and built ostensibly as a hunting-lodge, but in reality as a hiding-place
for priests, amid the sombre forest of Brewood, was often used for the
purpose for which it was designed, as well as a shelter for distressed
Cavaliers.
The story of the disfigurement of Charles, and his crouching wet and
weary in the woods, has been often told in prose and verse. We quote
Griffiths again:—
“_W. Penderell_ (to the King).—Sire, disguise is your first need,
henceforth your title must not pass
Our lips; here in this chimney rub your hands
And then transfer the blackness to your face.
We must in, and clothe you in a rustic suit
Of green, with leathern doublet and a noggain shirt
For we have heard that troops have come to Codsall
But three miles off, under the traitor Ashenhurst.
Haste! Haste! and when your rough disguise is donned
We must take shelter in the thick Spring Coppice,
The darkest covert Boscobel doth claim.
“SCENE 4. Richard Penderell’s house at Hobbal Grange. Enter the
King, old Mrs. Penderell, and her son Richard.
“_The King_.—We must not stop here long, the air is full of spies,
The night now favours us; no moon nor stars
Shine out to show us to our enemies.
Let’s hence to Wales, fidelity lives there
More than on English soil. Oft have I read
Of their unvarying faith to those they served,
What straits and stratagems they felt and wrought,
To save misfortune’s sons from grievous fates.
“_R. Penderell_.—We must disguise you more;
Rub well your hands in the wet dirt,
Here, take this bill, a woodman you must be,
And for a name let William Jones suffice;
Shew no dread, but speak few words,
For fear they should betray your better teaching.
Come, let’s away, I have a friend at Madeley,
Wolfe by name, faithful and trusty.”
William Penderell acting as barber, the king was eased of his royal
locks, his hands and face were toned down to that of a country labourer,
and he sallied forth, wood-bill in hand, in the direction of Madeley,
with “a country-fellow,” whose borrowed suit he travelled in. To
understand his majesty’s toilet the reader must conceive the royal person
in a pair of ordinary grey cloth breeches—“more holy than the
wearer”—rather roomy in the slack; a leathern doublet, greasy about the
collar; hose much darned; shoes that let in dirt and wet to the royal
feet—ventilators in their way; and above all a sugar-loaf hat, rain proof
by reason of grease, turned up at the sides, the corners acting as
water-spouts. Thus disguised, the rain pouring in torrents, on a dark
night, along a rough by-road, “guided by the rustling sound of Richard’s
calf-skin breeches,” through mud and mire, over ruts, plunging now and
then into swollen streams, the king and his guide travelled in the
direction of Madeley. Slamming the gate at Evelyth bridge, in the middle
of the night, brought out the miller, who ordered them to stand, and
raised an outcry of “Rogues, rogues.” Foot-sore and weary, resolving
sometimes to go no farther, then plucking up their spirits and trudging
on, the house of Mr. Wolfe, who had “hiding holes for priests,” was
reached, where the king slept in a barn.
Hearing from Mr. Wolfe’s son, who had escaped from Shrewsbury, that every
bridge and boat were in the possession of the Roundheads, so that escape
in that direction was hopeless, it was decided to advise his majesty to
return. Mr. Wolfe, according to Pepys, persuaded the king to put on “a
pair of old green yarn stockings, all worn and darned at the knees, with
their feet cut off, to hide his white ones, for fear of being observed;”
and Mrs. Wolfe having again had recourse to walnut-juice for the purpose
of deepening the tone upon the royal face, he again set out in the
direction of Boscobel. The king, in the diary above quoted, is made to
say:—
“So we set out as soon as it was dark. But, as we came by the mill
again, we had no mind to be questioned a second time there; and
therefore asking Richard Penderell whether he could swim or no, and
how deep the river was, he told me it was a scurvy river, not easy to
be past in all places, and that he could not swim. So I told him,
that the river being a little one, I would undertake to help him
over. Upon which we went over some closes to the river side, and I,
entering the river first, to see whether I could myself go over, who
knew how to swim, found it was but a little above my middle; and
thereupon taking Richard Penderell by the hand, I helped him over.”
They reached Boscobel at five o’clock on the morning of Saturday,
September 6th. Penderell, leaving the king in the wood, went to the
house to reconnoitre. All was secure, and he found Colonel Carless, who
was also hiding at Boscobel. He had been an active soldier throughout
the war. His presence cheered the tired and wandering monarch, who now
for the first time was brought into the house, and sitting by the fire
was refreshed with bread and cheese and a warm posset of beer, prepared
by W. Penderell’s wife, Joan, who also brought him warm water to bathe
his feet, and dried his shoes by placing in them hot embers. After a
short slumber the king was aroused by his anxious attendants, he not
being safe in the house in the daylight. With Colonel Carless he then
climbed into an oak tree that stood a few yards from the house, at some
distance from the other trees. It had been lopped or pollarded, some
years before, and in consequence had grown very bushy, and afforded a
good hiding-place. They took provisions for the day with them. Screened
from view, the king, resting his head on the knees of Carless, slept
soundly for some time. The king, in his narrative, as recorded by Pepys,
says:—“While we were in the tree we saw soldiers going up and down in the
thickets of the wood, searching for persons escaped, we seeing them now
and then peeping out of the wood.”
Saturday evening brought darkness, of which the fugitives availed
themselves by going into the house, and Penderell’s wife, Dame Joan,
provided a dainty dish of roast chickens for the king’s supper. That
being over, the king retired to a hiding-hole at the top of the stairs,
where a pallet was laid ready, and there he passed the night. On Sunday
morning the king arose refreshed, and passed the day partly at his
devotions, partly in watching, and partly reading in the garden. We must
not forget to mention that he cooked his meat, frying some collops of
mutton. Meanwhile, John Penderell had gone in search of Lord Wilmot,
whom he found at Moseley Hall with Mr. Whitgreave, and in the evening he
returned, bringing tidings that the king could be received at Moseley.
Whereupon Charles, taking leave of Carless, set out on Humphrey
Penderell’s (the miller’s) horse, attended by the five Penderells and
their brother-in-law, Yates, well armed with bills and pike-staves, as
well as pistols. The king complained of the rough motion of the horse.
“Can you blame the horse, my liege,” said the honest miller, “to go
heavily, when he has the weight of three kingdoms on his back?” At
Moseley Hall the king remained from Sunday night till Tuesday evening,
when Colonel Lane came from Bentley, bringing a horse for him. Being
dressed in a suit of grey hose, and with the name of Jackson, he acted as
serving-man to Miss Jane Lane, rode before her, and eventually embarked
for France, which country after many narrow escapes, he reached safely on
the 16th of October.
To Mr. Wolfe, of Madeley, the king presented a very handsome silver
tankard with the inscription, “Given by Charles the Second, at the
Restoration, to F. Wolfe, of Madeley, in whose barn he was secreted after
the defeat at Worcester, 1651.” The tankard is now in the possession of
W. Rathbone, Esq., of Liverpool, but a print of it hangs in the old
house. The tankard has upon the cover a coat of arms: the crest is a
demi-wolf supporting a crown. In the hall there is an old panel, which
was cut out of the wainscoating of the dining-room, with the initials,
thus:—
F. W. M.
1621.
In the church register we find the burial of Barbara Wolfe, January 13th,
1660; of Ann Wolfe, September 19th, 1672; of Francis Wolfe, December 7th,
1665; and of Sarah Wolfe, late wife of Francis Wolfe, January 10th, 1698.
The house is a very old one, and Mr. Joseph Yate, of the Hall, close by,
says he remembers his father telling him that in former times it was “a
house of entertainment.” The barn which is not more than twenty feet
from the house, afterwards became the Market House, the butchers’
shambles being still discernible. The upper portion was rebuilt, or
cased, a few years ago, but the old timber skeleton remains.
It is pleasant to find that Charles, at the restoration, further
remembered his preservers, and settled pensions on their survivors; but
not till 1675 was permanent provision made. Certain rents from estates
in Stafford, Salop, Hereford, &c., were intrusted to Sir Walter
Wollesley, John Giffard, of Black Ladies, and Richard Congreve, of
Congreve, to pay the yearly proceeds to the Penderell family, the sum
amounting to about £450 per annum, thus:—
£100 a-year to Richard Penderell or his heirs,
£100 a-year to William or his heirs.
100 marks, or £66 13s. 4d. a-year to Humphrey or his heirs.
100 marks to John or his heirs.
100 marks to George or his heirs.
£50 a-year to Elizabeth Yates or her heirs.
The surviving trustee is John Giffard, of Black Ladies, and his lineal
descendants, the present squire of Chillington, who is now sole trustee.
{54}
THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON.
Another notable event noticed by an old book in the vestry of Madeley
Church already quoted, is the Great Fire of London, September, 1666,
sixteen years subsequent to the stirring drama previously recorded. It
comes before us in a house-to-house visitation, by the vicar and
churchwardens, for the purpose of raising subscriptions “in aid of a fund
to relieve the sufferings by the Great Fire.”
In this account nine sugar-refiners are said to have lost £20,000; but,
notwithstanding the house-to-house visitation, only £1 2s. 10d. was
raised, which speaks little for the sympathy or wealth of the inhabitants
at that time.
ASSESSMENTS IN MADELEY, AND ABOLITION OF THE CHIMNEY TAX OR SMOKE-PENNY.
The Smoke-Penny, Chimney Tax, or Hearth-Money, previously alluded to, so
oppressive to the poor, and so obnoxious generally, by exposing every
man’s house to be entered and searched at pleasure, had become so
unpopular that one of the earliest proceedings of the first Parliament of
William and Mary was to substitute a grant in “aid,” of £68,820 per
month, for six months, payable in proportions; the entire assessment for
Shropshire being £1203, and those for the several parishes in the
allotment of Madeley, at 12d. in the £, as under:—
£ s. d.
Madeley 17 02 04
Little Wenlock 10 04 06
Huntington 03 11 10
Beckbury 05 09 02
Badger 03 13 06½
£40 01 7½
The principle ever since continued of specific annual grants to the king
by votes of Parliament, partially acted upon by Charles II., but wholly
disregarded by the Parliament of the succeeding reign, was now fully
established.
THE LAW OF SETTLEMENT.
From an order given to the constables of the parish of Madeley in 1690,
we get an insight of the laws of Settlement which imposed such
restrictions upon our ancestors, compelling a labourer to remain in the
place where he was born to the end of his days, and preventing him
bettering his condition. The order was that whereas Thomas Richardson
had endeavoured to make a settlement in Madeley contrary to the law, &c.,
that they, the constables, bring his body to the serjeant’s house, Much
Wenlock, to answer all matters brought against him by the overseers of
the poor of the parish of Madeley. The constables were also to bring
John York, smith, before some justice of the peace to give sureties for
his own and his wife’s good behaviour.
VAGRANTS AND STURDY BEGGARS.
Paupers having been created by restraints preventing them seeking employ
where work was to be had, of course became troublesome. Hence the
serjeant-at-mace orders the constables at Madeley upon oath to report
what felonies have been committed, and what vagrants and sturdy beggars
have passed through.
The same constables were to ascertain how many persons of the age of
sixteen absented themselves from church, and for how many Sabbaths. Also
who destroyed hawks, hares, pheasants, &c.; and who bought by greater and
sold by lesser weights.
THE OATHS OF SUPREMACY.
In the fifth year of William and Mary (1691) constables were to give
notice to all above sixteen and under sixty, whom they believed to be
disaffected, to appear before the serjeant-at-mace to take the oaths,
&c.: but a goodly number of the Madeley and Little Wenlock allotment
appear to have been guilty of contempt, and were ordered to pay the sum
of 40s. by them forfeited. Having been guilty of further contempt, the
constables are ordered to seize and bring the bodies of the delinquents.
(See Appendix.)
THE POLL TAX.
In the same year, 1692, constables are instructed to look-up all loose
seamen and watermen, and bring them before one of the justices of the
peace; and to collect 4s. in the £, towards carrying on a vigorous war
with France. An order (September, 1693), signed “George Weld, Bart.,”
addressed to Mr. Brooke, of Madeley, calls upon the constables to summons
the Militia to appear at Shrewsbury &c., &c. Under the act passed for
collecting 4s. in the £, for carrying on the war, constables were
instructed to charge papists and all who had not taken the oaths of
supremacy double.
ASSESSMENT FOR CARRYING ON A VIGOROUS WAR.
The assessment for Madeley for three months, on the allotment of Little
Wenlock by the commissioners, towards the raising of £1,651,702, as
granted by Parliament to the king for carrying on a vigorous war against
France, was £8 2s.
PRESS LAWS.
In the same year constables were commanded to make diligent search for
all straggling seamen and watermen who were of able bodies, fit for
service at sea, and, to impress them, giving them one shilling. The
assessment in Madeley of 4s. in the £, for 1694, produced, on land,
works, &c., £149 1s. 4d., “one pound having been abated on the
lime-works.”
TAX UPON MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, BURIALS, &c.
In 1695 the Madeley constables were to collect duties upon “marriages,
births, and burials, and upon bachelors and widows,” for carrying on the
war with France, according to the rank of the individuals.
In 1696, and 1697, we find constables have various duties assigned them;
and in 1698, they are required to carry out an act for preventing frauds
and abuses in the charging and collecting, and paying of duties upon
marriages, births, and burials, bachelors and widows. Also for
collecting a quarterly poll for the year.
In 1702 instructions are given to constables to present all papists,
Jesuits, and all others that have received orders from the see of Rome.
Also all popish recusants and others that do not come to their several
parish churches within the divisions.
In 1703 they were to collect subsides for her majesty (Queen Anne), for
carrying on the war with France and Spain, and to charge those who had
not taken the oath of allegiance double.
In 1708 constables were to ascertain what masters or servants gave or
took greater wages than were allowed by law.
Our account of instructions to constables continues to 1714, but nothing
to merit comment occurs. Many names of old Madeley families occur, which
we shall notice hereafter.
RENT AND VALUE OF LANDS IN THE LORDSHIP OF MADELEY, in 1702.
Demesne lands in Madeley, (537a. 3r. 33p.) or those attached to the Court
House, with the 770 trees upon it, valued at twenty years purchase, was
said to be £6,459 10s. 4d.; yearly rent, £289 13s. 6d. The whole acreage
of Madeley, including the above, was 2073 acres, the yearly value of
which was £1,021; trees, 3369; loads of wood, 160; purchase, £17,366 9s.
4d. For names of proprietors, see Appendix.
We find from a survey of the lordship of Madeley, that the demesne lands
of the Court in 1786, belonged to Richard Dyett, Esq., one of an old
Shropshire family, from whom it was purchased by William Orme Foster,
Esq., about the year 1830.
THE COAL AND IRON INDUSTRIES OF MADELEY.
During the period events previously recorded were being enacted, the coal
and iron industries now employing so many hands, and which have brought
so much wealth to individual proprietors, were being developed. Francis
Wolfe, who gave shelter to King Charles, is supposed to have been a
shareholder in some ironworks at Leighton, and probably at Coalbrookdale,
from the fact that an iron plate, bearing date 1609, has the initials
“T.R.W.,” and another with the date 1658 (the latter removed here from
Leighton), also bears a “W” among other initials. We read also of a
clerk of a Shropshire ironworks being the first to convey the news of the
disastrous defeat of the royal army at Worcester. We find, too, that as
early as 1332 Walter de Caldbroke obtained from the Wenlock monks license
to dig for coals at the outcrop at the Brockholes. We also learn from
Fuller, who lived and wrote in the seventeenth century, that what he
calls “fresh-water coal” was dug out at such a distance from the Severn
as to be easily ported by boat into other shires.
Iron, too, was made as we have seen from the Patent Roll, 36 Henry VIII.,
part v., where the grant of the manor of Madeley to Robert Brooke, Esq.
is expressly said to include “the rights attached to the whole of the
place and buildings that go under the one name of the Smithy Place, and
Newhouse called Caldbrooke Smithy, with its patronages in the aforesaid
Madeley.”
THE FIRST IRONWORKS.—THE REYNOLDSES.
The first ironworks were of course of a very humble description; the
outcrop of the mines did not then determine the situation so much as the
presence of a powerful stream which supplied a force to work the leathern
bellows which blew the fires. The first Abraham Darby came to the Dale
in 1709, and in 1713 the make was but from five to ten tons per week. In
1712 he used coal in smelting iron. He died at the Court House, Madeley,
in 1717, and was succeeded by his son, the second Abraham Darby, who in
1760 is said to have laid the first rails of iron for carriages with
axles having fixed wheels. The third Abraham Darby effected another
great achievement, the casting and erecting the first iron bridge, for
which he obtained the medal of the Society of Arts. The credit of having
laid the first iron rails is claimed for Richard Reynolds, who succeeded
the second Abraham Darby in the management of these works in 1763, and
who, according to Sir Robert Stephenson, who examined the books of the
works, cast six tons of iron rails for the use of the works in 1767. It
was at these works, too, that the brothers Cranege anticipated Henry Cort
by seventeen years by the discovery of the process of puddling in a
reverberatory furnace, by the use of pit-coal, in 1766, under the
management of Mr. Reynolds.
Mr. Reynolds also took a warm interest in the success and introduction of
the steam engine, which he adopted in 1778. “For no one,” observes his
daughter, “did he entertain sentiments of more affectionate esteem than
for James Watt,” with whom, as well as with Wedgwood and Wilkinson, he
was associated in several public movements of the time. Being a Friend
he was opposed to war and refused Government orders for cannon; and he
was stung to the quick when Pitt’s ministry proposed to lay a war tax
upon coal. The country had been carrying on wars—wars everywhere, and
with everybody, and to meet the lavish expenditure, the popular minister
of the day, on whom Walpole tells us, “it rained gold boxes” for weeks
running, “the pilot that weathered the storm,” sought to replenish the
exchequer by a tax of 2s. per ton, to be paid on all coal without
exception raised to the pit’s mouth. The iron-masters of Shropshire,
Staffordshire and Yorkshire, as well as those of other English and
Scottish counties were alarmed; it was felt to be an important crisis in
the history of the trade. Deputations and petitions were sent up, but
the wily premier had so carefully yet quietly surrounded himself with
facts, that he knew of every pound of iron made and of every ton of coal
that was raised. Pitt received the gentlemen connected with the trade
with the greatest freedom and affability; bowed them in and out;
appointed hours and places to meet their convenience, and left them
dumbfounded at his knowledge of details of their own business. Mr.
Reynolds entered the field in opposition to the tax, gave evidence before
the Privy Council, and by petitions to the House and letters to members
of the Cabinet, materially aided in defeating the attempt. The gravity
of the occasion is, perhaps, even more evident to us, on whom the
advantages of a cheap and plentiful supply of iron have fallen. We can
better measure the consequences that must have followed. A tax upon coal
at that period would have paralysed the trade, checked its development in
this country, and thrown into the lap of others benefits we ourselves
have derived; would have disendowed the island of advantages in which it
is peculiarly rich,—upon which it is mainly dependent for its wealth, its
progress, and its civilization. A tax upon coal would have been a tax
upon iron, upon the manufacture of iron, upon its consumption, and its
use in the arts and manufactures of the kingdom,—a tax upon spinning,
weaving, and printing,—a tax upon the genius of Watt and Arkwright, whose
improvements it would have thrown back and thwarted,—upon the extension
of commerce at home and abroad. The immense advantages possessed by the
manufacturers of the New World would then have given them the lead in a
race in which, even now, it is as much as we can do to keep up. Our
energies, just at a time when the iron nerves of England were put to
their greatest strain, would have been paralysed, and we should have been
deprived of our railways, our locomotives, our steam-fleets, and much of
our commerce, and prosperity. Mr. Reynolds saw the evil in prospective,
and in a letter to Earl Gower, President of the Council, dated the 7th
month, 1784, takes a very just review of the past history of the trade
and the improvements then about to be adopted. He says:—
“The advancement of the iron trade within these few years have been
prodigious; it was thought, and justly, that the making of pig iron
with pit coal was a great acquisition to the nation by saving the
woods and supplying a material to manufactories, the make of which,
by the consumption of all the wood the country produced, was unequal
to the demand; and the nail trade, perhaps the most considerable of
any one article of manufactured iron, would have been lost to this
country, had it not been found practicable to make nails of iron made
with pit coal; and it is for that purpose we have made, or rather are
making, the alterations at Donnington-Wood, Ketley, &c., which we
expect to complete in the present year, but not at a less expense
than twenty thousand pounds, which will be lost to us and gained by
nobody if this tax is laid on our coals. The only chance we have of
making iron as cheap as it can be imported from Russia, is the low
price of our fuel, and unless we can do that there will not be
consumption equal to half the quantity that can be made, and when we
consider how many people are employed on a ton of iron, and the
several trades dependent thereupon, we shall be convinced the Revenue
is much more benefited even by the consumption of excisable articles,
&c., than by the duty on a ton of foreign iron; nor will it, I
believe, escape observation that the iron trade, so fatally affected
by this absurd tax, is only of the second, if indeed, on some
account, it is not of the first importance to the nation. The
preference I know is given, and I believe justly, as to the number of
hands employed, to the woollen manufactory; but when it is remembered
that all that is produced by making of iron with pit coal is
absolutely so much gained to the nation, and which, without its being
so applied, would be perfectly useless, it will evince its superior
importance, for the land grazed by sheep might be converted with
whatever loss to other purposes of agriculture or pasturage; but coal
and iron stone have no value in their natural state, produce nothing
till they are consumed or manufactured, and a tax upon coal, which,
as I said, is the only article that in any degree compensates for our
high price of labour, &c., or can be substituted in the stead of
water for our wheels, and bellows, would entirely ruin this very
populous country, and throw its labouring poor upon the parishes,
till the emigration of those of them who are able to work shall
strengthen our opponents, and leave the desolated wastes, at present
occupied by their cottages, to the lords of the soil.”
In the year following (1785) the interests of the iron trade were again
considered to be endangered from commercial arrangements proposed by the
Irish House of Commons for the consideration of Parliament. Mr.
Reynolds, Messrs. Boulton, Watt, Wedgwood, Wilkinson, and others, united
in forming an association for the protection of the trade, under the
title of “The United Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain.” The
Shropshire iron and coal masters petitioned the House, and Mr. Reynolds
again wielded the pen in defence of the trade. We extract sufficient to
show the extent of the works. He says, addressing Earl Gower, under date
28th of the third month, 1785,—
“We solicit thy effectual interposition against a measure so
injurious to us and to the many hundreds of poor people employed by
us in working and carrying on mines, &c., for the supply of a large
sale of coals by land and water, and of coals and mine for sixteen
fire-engines, eight blast furnaces, and nine forges, besides the air
furnaces, mills, &c., at the foundry at Coalbrookdale, and which,
with the levels, roads, and more than twenty miles of railways, &c.,
still employs a capital of upwards of £100,000, though the declension
of our trade has, as stated in a former letter, obliged us to stop
two blast furnaces, which are not included in the number before
mentioned. Nor have we ever considered ourselves as the first of
many others employed in iron or coal works in this kingdom.”
We have considered the subject of our present sketch chiefly under one
aspect only—as a man of action—and that mainly in connection with the
iron trade, and in providing against those reverses to which not only
that but other branches of industry were peculiarly liable, more
particularly during the latter end of the last and the commencement of
the present centuries. Mr. Reynolds, however, has claims no less
distinguished under a classification beneath which is frequently found
another division of human benefactors. He was not only a man of
action—great in dealing with things tangible,—but he was a man of thought
and of genius—as quick to devise and to plan as to execute. What is
still more rare, he possessed those qualities in proportions so finely
balanced, that their happy combination, during a long and active life,
gave birth to schemes of noble enterprise, valuable to the district, and
important to the nation. That which merited, from vulgar
shortsightedness, the epithet of eccentricity, a state of deep and
penetrating thought, was oftentimes the conceiving energy of a vigorous
mind mastering in the mental laboratory of the brain, plans and schemes
of which the noblest movements of the day are the just and legitimate
offspring. The schemes he inaugurated were victories won, the
improvements he effected were triumphs gained to the nation or for
humanity.
That quality of mind which too often runs waste or evaporates in wild
impracticable ideality, with him found an object of utility on which to
alight, and under the magic of a more than ordinary genius difficulties
disappeared, formidable obstacles melted into air, and the useful and the
true were fused into one. He never felt the fluttering of a noble
thought but he held it by the skirts, and made it do duty in this
work-day world of ours, if it had relation to the tangible realities of
time. “Though I do not adopt,” he writes to a friend, “all the notions
of Swedenbourg, I have believed that the spiritual world is nearer to us
than many suppose, and that our communication with it would be more
frequent than many of us experience, did we attain to that degree of
purity of heart and abstraction from worldly thoughts and tempers which
qualify for such communion or intercourse.” He was not a man whose soul
ran dry in solitude, or that grew melancholy the moment the click of
money-making machinery no longer sounded in his ears. He was one of the
old iron-kings, ’tis true, but with a soul in harmony with the silvery
music of the universe. Often with no companion but his pipe, he retired
to some retreat, consecrated perhaps by many a happy thought, and watched
the declining sun, bathing in liquid glory the Ercall woods, the majestic
Wrekin, the Briedden hills, and the still more distant Cader Idris. A
deep vein of genuine religious feeling often appeared upon the surface,
and seemed to penetrate reflections of the kind. Speaking of a new
arbour he had made, be says—
“From thence I have seen three or four as fine sunsets as I at any
time have seen, and if the gradual going down, and last, last twinkle
of the once radiant orb, the instant when it was, and was not, to be
seen—made me think of that awful moment when the last sigh consigns
the departing soul to different if not distant scenes, the glorious
effulgence gilding the western horizon with inimitable magnificence,
naturally suggested the idea of celestial splendour, and inspired the
wish that (through the assistance of His grace) a faithful obedience
to the requirings of our great Maker and Master, may in that solemn
season justify the hope of my being admitted into that city which
hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine on it, for the
glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
The Wrekin was a favourite object; to its summit he made his annual
pilgrimage, together with his family, his Dale relations, his clerks, and
most of the members of the little Society of Friends. The following bit
of landscape painting betrays a master hand, and is so faithful in
itself, depicting no less the features of the country than the genius of
his mind, that we incorporate it with our present sketch:—
“We went upon the Wrekin,” he writes, “sooner than usual this year,
that my children might partake of the pleasure. The weather was
pleasant, though rather windy. From the top of that hill the
prospect is so rich, so extensive, so various, that, considered as a
landscape only, it beggars all description; and yet I cannot forbear,
as thou desirest it, mentioning the tufted trees in the adjoining
woods, upon which, occasioned perhaps by the uncommonness of the
scene, I always _look down_ with a particular pleasure, as well as
survey those more distant, which are interspersed among the corn and
meadows, contrasted with the new-ploughed fallow-grounds and pastures
with cattle; the towns and villages, gentlemen’s seats, farm-houses,
enrich and diversify the prospect, whilst the various companies of
harvest men in the different farms within view enliven the scene.
Nor are the rivers that glitter among the laughing meadows, or the
stupendous mountains which, though distant, appear awfully dreary
without their effect considered part of the landscape only. But not
to confine the entertainment to visual enjoyment, what an
intellectual feast does the prospect from that hill afford when
beheld, ‘or with the curious or pious eye.’ Is not infinite power
exerted, and infinite goodness displayed, in the various as well as
plentiful provision for our several wants. Should not the
consideration expand over hearts with desires to contribute to the
relief of those whose indigence, excluding them from an equal
participation of the general feast, is for a trial of their faith and
patience and of our gratitude and obedience! Whilst with an
appropriation of sentiment which receives propriety from the
consciousness of our unworthiness, we substitute a particular for the
general exclamation of humble admiration, in the word of the
psalmist—‘Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son
of man that thou (thus) visitest him?’ The romantic scenes of
Benthall Edge,—its rocks and precipices, its sides and top covered
with wood; the navigable Severn, in which its feet are immersed; the
populousness of the opposite shore; the motion, noise, and life on
the river; the adjoining wharves and manufactories, are capable of
affording a high entertainment, and I should willingly devote one day
in the year to a repetition of the enjoyments of the pleasures I have
heretofore received from them: though equally near, and equally
desirable, a jaunt to Benthall Edge is not equally facile with one to
the Wrekin. It seems more out of my province.”
Our readers, ere this, must have discovered a power of description, a
grace and polish, blended with a masculine force of thought, in the
correspondence of Mr. Reynolds, of a more than common order; and would
still more, could we feel at liberty to quote more copiously from
numerous letters to his friends. If we follow him more closely into
private life, and lift the veil that too often hides a dualism of
character from the unsuspicious public eye, we find the sterling elements
of the gentleman and the Christian.
Take the experience of the past as recorded, or the traditions of the
present, as found among a generation second in remove from Richard
Reynolds’s time, and they bring out into relief still more striking
traits of character, that do honour to our common nature. The guiding
principle of his life, in all cases of bargain and of sale, Mrs. Rathbone
tells us, were in accordance with the old adage—“Live and let live;” and
as an instance of the consistency with which he acted up to his motto she
adds that, at the breaking out of the American war, when bar-iron rose to
an extravagant price, and the makers of pig-iron could obtain their own
terms, instead of taking an unreasonable advantage of the opportunity, he
proposed to his customers that it should be left to one of themselves to
name a fair price for pig-iron in the _then state_ of the trade, and to
determine the scale of proportionate reduction which should take place
when the price of bar-iron should fall, as he foresaw that it would
follow the _then_ great and unsatisfied demand. The proposal was
accepted, and by the scale which was then fixed his conduct was governed.
Order and punctuality were exemplified in his dealings. “A place for
everything and everything in its place”—a maxim for which he confessed
his obligation to De Witt—was not only his rule, but was painted in large
characters in the kitchen, over the fireplace, for the benefit of the
servants. The appellation “honest,” given to his father, was a term
equally applicable to the son, who at the outset and in after life made
it a rule to regulate his affairs by that principle of prudence and of
equity.
He yielded to every man his own, not only as concerned demands upon his
purse, but in what are usually deemed small matters, such as those of
respect which one man owes to another. He would follow a poor person to
his or her home to apologise if he had spoken warmly or unbecomingly in
the heat of temper. It was painful, his granddaughter tells us, for him
to see waste. “I cannot bear to see sweeping on the ground that which
would clothe a poor shivering child” was his remark made respecting the
long dresses of the time.
Mrs. Rathbone, in her memoir, says:—
“My grandfather had great respect and regard for a very amiable and
excellent minister of the Gospel, who lived in his neighbourhood, the
Rev. Joshua Gilpin; and it was mainly through his exertions and
personal interest that Mr. Gilpin was presented to the living of
Wrockwardine. He also enjoyed the acquaintance of many scientific
and well-informed men. His manners, as a host, were courteous and
dignified, and his conversation, when he was perfectly at ease,
animated, and often diversified with a quaint wit and humorous
satire. His fine countenance beamed with intelligence and kindness;
his eyes were piercing, and were remarkable for the brightness which
seemed literally to flash from them under strong emotion. It was
something almost fearful to meet their glance in anger or
indignation, whilst equally striking was their beautiful expression
under the excitement of admiration or affection.”
In the short sketch we gave of Mr. Reynolds in the “Severn Valley,” we
said, “the stamp of heaven’s nobility was visible in his face, and the
free and open features with which nature had endowed his person were not
dwarfed by the uniform look and expression sometimes demanded by sects.
Eyes of liquid blue, full-orbed, gave back the azure tint of heaven, and
lighted up a manly face, fair and ruddy. To these indications of a Saxon
type were added others, such as light brown hair, that in flowing curls
fell upon the shoulders of a tall and full-developed figure.”
The portrait we have hereafter described was obtained with some
difficulty, as Mr. Reynolds refused for a long time to concede to the
wishes of his friends on the subject; and the first attempt made was by a
miniature-painter, who made a sketch from the garden as he sat reading by
candle-light. This was not successful, and a second attempt, made as he
sat at meeting, being no better, he was induced to sit to Mr. Hobday.
The books shown in the background were favourites of his, and they are
arranged in the order in which he regarded them.
In a letter to his son, dated 8th of 12th month, 1808, he says:—
“John Birtell has paid £48 4s. 7d. for the pictures, frames and
cases, which should be repaid to him. I understood from S. A. it was
thy wish to make thy sister a present of one of them, and in that
case please to remit the amount to John Birtell; if she (S. A.) is
mistaken, remit the money to J. B. nevertheless, and I will repay
thee the half of it; but I insist upon one condition both from thee
and thy sister: that as long as I live, the pictures be nowhere but
in your bed-chambers. The first was begun without my knowledge, and
indirect means used to accomplish it; at length I was candidly told
it was determined to have it, and when I saw what was done, I thought
it better to sit for the finishing than to have it a mere caricature;
but I think it a very moderate performance at last. I was willing
too, to avail myself of the opportunity, if such a one must be
presented, of exhibiting my belief of Christianity as exhibited in
the 5th chapter of the Romans; and my estimation of certain authors,
by affixing their names to the books delineated in the back ground.”
In reference to this subject (his portrait), some twelve months after, in
a letter to his son, he says:—
“This reminds me to mention what I intended to have mentioned before;
that is, an alteration I propose to be made in the one here, and if
this could be done in the others, I should like it; and which, I
suppose, would be best effected by obliterating the books, and
arranging them differently, according to the estimation in which
their writings or character may be supposed to be held; with the
addition of Kempis and Fenelon, not only for their intrinsic merits,
but to show that our good opinion was not confined to our own
countrymen. They would then stand thus:—
“Fox and Penn.
Woolman and Clarkson.
Hanway and Howard.
Milton and Cowper.
Addison and Watts.
Barclay and Locke.
Sir W. Jones and Sir W. Blackstone.
Kempis and Fenelon.
“I do not know whether I gave thee my reasons, as I did to thy
sister, for the original selection. She may shew thee my letter to
her, and thou may communicate the above to her, with my dear love to
all, repeated from
“Thy affectionate father,
“RICHARD REYNOLDS.”
It was the custom when Mr. Reynolds had charge of the Coalbrookdale works
to perform long journeys on horseback, and we have heard it said that on
one occasion, being mounted on the back of an old trooper, near Windsor,
where George III. was reviewing some troops, the horse, on hearing
martial music, pricked up his ears, and carried Mr. Reynolds into the
midst of them before he could be reined up. He was a good horseman, and
a grandson of Mr. Reynolds writes:—
“We also enjoyed very much our grandfather’s account of a visit paid
to the Ketley Iron Works by Lord Thurlow, the then Lord Chancellor.
My grandfather, having gone through the works with his lordship, and
given him all requisite information and needful refreshment, proposed
to accompany him part of the way on his return, which offer his
lordship gratefully accepted, and the horses were ordered to the door
accordingly. They were, both of them, good riders, and were, both of
them, well mounted. The Lord Chancellor’s horse, no doubt a little
instigated thereto by his owner, took the lead, and my grandfather’s
horse, nothing loth to follow the example, kept as nearly neck and
neck with his rival as _his_ owner considered respectful. The speed
was alternately increased, until they found themselves getting on at
a very dashing pace indeed! and they became aware that the steeds
were as nearly matched as possible. At last, the Chancellor pulled
up, and complimenting my grandfather upon his ‘very fine horse’
confessed that he had never expected to meet with one who could trot
so fast as his own. My grandfather acknowledged to a similar
impression on his part; and his lordship, heartily shaking hands with
him, and thanking him for his great attention, laughed, and said, ‘I
think, Mr. Reynolds, this is probably the first time that ever a Lord
Chancellor and a Quaker rode a race together.’”
The years 1774, 1782, and 1796 were periods of great distress. Haggard
hunger, despairing wretchedness, and ignorant force were banded to
trample down the safeguards of civil right, and armed ruffians took the
initiative in scrambles for food. The gravity of the occasion, in the
latter case, may be estimated by the subscriptions for the purchase of
food for the starving population. We give those of the iron companies of
this district only: Messrs. Bishton and Co. gave £1,500; Mr. Botfield,
for the Old Park Company, £1,500; Mr. Joseph Reynolds, for the Ketley
Company, £2,000; Mr. R. Dearman, for the Coalbrookdale Company, £1,500;
Mr. William Reynolds, for the Madeley-Wood Company, £1000. Mr. Richard
Reynolds gave £500 as his individual subscription. Applications, in
times of distress, from far and near were made to Mr. Reynolds for
assistance. Taking a general view of the distress existing in the
beginning of the year 1811, he says, in reply to a letter from a
clergyman, “I am thankful I am not altogether without sympathy with my
fellow-men, or compassion for the sufferings to which the want of
employment subjects the poor, or the sufferings still more severe of some
of their former employers. Thou mentions Rochdale, Bolton, Leeds, and
Halifax. Wilt thou apply the enclosed towards the relief of some of
them, at thy discretion? Those who want it most and deserve it best
should have the preference,—the aged, honest, sober, and industrious. I
am sensible how limited the benefits from such a sum in so populous a
district must be, and of the difficulty of personal investigation before
distribution. If it could be made subservient to the procuring an
extensive contribution it would be of more important service. If it
cannot I think it would be best to commit it to some judicious person or
persons in each place, to distribute with the utmost privacy, and (that)
for their own sakes, were it only to avoid applications from more than
they could supply, and yet the refusal would subject them to abuse. But
in whatever manner thou shalt dispose of it, I send it upon the express
condition that nobody living knows thou ever had it from me; this is
matter of conscience with me. In places where we are known, and on
public occasions, when one’s example would have an influence, it may be
as much a duty to give up one’s name as one’s money; but otherwise I
think we cannot too strictly follow the injunction:—‘Take heed that ye do
not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven.’”
If some poor tradesman in London or elsewhere was tottering on the verge
of bankruptcy, and a friend was found to write to Richard Reynolds, he
was put upon his legs again. Poor debtors found themselves relieved from
the King’s Bench by an unknown hand. Unwilling to be known as the giver
of large sums, he would sometimes forward his subscriptions with his
name, and send a larger contribution anonymously afterwards. In this way
he gave a sum in his own name on behalf of the distress in Germany, and
then forwarded a further sum of £500 privately. For years he had
almoners in London and elsewhere, dispensing sums to meet distress, and
on behalf of public and private charities, scrupulously enacting that his
name should not appear in the transactions. To one party he sent £20,000
during the distress of 1795. He had four distributors of his bounty
constantly employed in Bristol alone. They brought in their accounts
weekly, giving the names of persons or families, the sums given, and the
circumstances under which they were relieved. Not the least to be
appreciated was the consideration and delicacy with which he assisted
persons not ostensibly objects of charity (to use the word in its common
sense) and many who, through relationship, personal interest, or
estimable conduct were felt to have claims on his kindness and
generosity.
He solicited in Bristol subscriptions on a large scale for augmenting the
fund for the payment of a weekly sum to the inhabitants of the
almshouses, going from house to house,—his own zeal kindling that of
others. One gentleman to whom he applied, of acknowledged wealth and
importance in the city, having given him a cheque for £500, he said he
would give him back the cheque, as such a sum from _him_ would do more
harm than good. The gentleman immediately wrote another for £1000. He
himself gave £2000 (one of his friends says £4000), and £4000 to the
Trinity almshouses. In 1808 he placed in the hands of the trustees the
sum of £10,500 to be invested in land, the rent of which was to be
devoted to seven charitable institutions in Bristol, named in the deed
and trust, in such manner and proportion, either to one alone, or between
any, as should at the time appear expedient to the trustees. An addition
to the infirmary being needed, he devoted much of his time to that
object, subscribing £2,600. The committee also received an anonymous
donation of £1000, entertaining no doubt who was the giver; and on the
following day one of their number happening to meet Richard Reynolds,
thanked him in the name of the committee for his acceptable donation. He
said—“Thou hast no authority for saying I sent the money,” and the
gentleman repeating the acknowledgment of the committee, Mr. Reynolds
quietly said—“Well, I see thou art determined that I should give thee a
thousand pounds,” and the next day they received a donation of that sum
with his name attached, thus doubling his first contribution. To these
gifts may be added (besides his annual subscription) donations:—£1,260 to
the Stranger’s Friend; £900 to the Misericordia; £500 to the Refuge, and
the same to the Orphan Asylum; and to the Bible Society, £900. Of
several other small amounts one need only be mentioned, from his
purse,—that of £300 to the Temple parish, towards providing a better
supply of water to the poor.
Mr. Reynolds’s last visit to Ketley, the scene of his labours, and the
source of his vast income, was in June, 1816. His funeral took place on
the 18th of September, amidst a manifestation of respect, as marked and
profound as ever was paid to the remains of mortal man. The city of
Bristol offered spontaneously to his memory that signal tribute of
general regard that a name embalmed by good deeds alone can win. Columns
of schoolboys, with mournful recollections of the good man’s smile,
formed a melancholy passage to the dwelling of their benefactor. These
were flanked by vast crowds of sympathising poor, who felt they had lost
a friend. The clergy of the Church of England, ministers of dissenting
congregations, gentlemen forming the committees of various societies, and
other leading men, besides a large body of the Society of Friends,
followed the several members and relatives of the family in procession.
So great was public curiosity excited on this occasion, and such the
eagerness manifested by the poor, who had lost their best friend, to pay
their last respect to his remains, that not only was the spacious
burial-ground filled with spectators and mourners, but the very tops of
walls and houses surrounding the area were covered. The behaviour of the
vast concourse of people was in the highest degree decent, orderly and
respectful, the poor, considering it a favour to be permitted in their
turn to approach the grave of their departed friend, and to drop the
silent tear as a mark of their regard for the man whose life had been
spent in doing good.
Montgomery, in verses from which we extract the following, paid a just
tribute to his memory:
Strike a louder, loftier lyre;
Bolder, sweeter strains employ;
Wake remembrance! and inspire
Sorrow with the song of joy.
Who was he for whom our tears
Flowed, and will not cease to flow?
Full of honours and of years,
In the dust his head lies low.
. . . . . . .
He was one whose open face
Did his inmost heart reveal;
One who wore with meekest grace
On his forehead heaven’s broad seal.
Kindness all his looks express’d,
Charity was every word;
Him the eye beheld and bless’d,
And the ear rejoiced and heard.
Like a patriarchal sage,
Holy, humble, courteous, mild,
He could blend the awe of age
With the sweetness of a child.
. . . . . . .
Oft his silent spirit went,
Like an angel from the throne,
On benign commission bent,
In the fear of God alone.
Then the widow’s heart would sing,
As she turned her wheel, for joy;
Then the bliss of hope would spring
On the outcast orphan boy.
To the blind, the deaf, the lame,
To the ignorant and vile,
Stranger, captive, slave, he came,
With a welcome and a smile.
Help to all he did dispense.
Gold, instruction, raiment, food,
Like the gifts of Providence,
To the evil and the good.
Deeds of mercy, deeds unknown,
Shall eternity record,
Which he durst not call his own,
For he did them for the Lord.
As the earth puts forth her flowers,
Heaven-ward breathing from below;
As the clouds descend in showers,
When the southern breezes glow.
. . . . . . .
Full of faith, at length he died,
And victorious in the race,
Wore the crown for which he died,
Not of merit but of grace.
WILLIAM REYNOLDS.
The father, Richard Reynolds, as will be seen from our sketch, managed to
realize immense wealth at Ketley, and, what is more, to remain superior
to the influence wealth too often has upon its possessor. The finer
feelings of the man never succumbed to the vulgar circumstances of his
position, but maintained their freshness, and graduated to maturity by
the mastering force of a resolute will and a well-disciplined and highly
enlightened mind. Never so completely absorbed in the arts and
intricacies of money-making as to lose sight of higher and worthier aims,
he sought an opportunity earlier than men in his circumstances usually do
of enjoying the well-earned fruits of an active life; of indulging in
that repose and retirement congenial to minds similarly constituted to
his own. Accordingly, his shares in the works were turned over to his
two sons, William and Joseph. William was the more distinguished of the
two in carrying out improvements connected with the works. Like his
father, he possessed an active mind, an elevated taste, and a desire for
knowledge; to which were added a mechanical genius, and an aptitude for
turning to account resources within his reach. He saw the necessity of
uniting science with practice in developing the rich resources of the
district; and that knowledge and discovery must keep pace with aptitude
in their use.
“An equal appreciation of all parts of knowledge,” it was remarked by
Humboldt, “is an especial requirement of an epoch in which the
material wealth and the increasing prosperity of nations are in a
great measure based on a more enlightened employment of natural
products and forces. The most superficial glance at the present
condition of European states shows that those which linger in the
race cannot hope to escape the partial diminution, and perhaps the
final annihilation, of their resources. It is with nations as with
nature, which, according to a happy expression of Goethe, knows no
pause in ever-increasing movement, development, and production—a
curse, still cleaving to a standstill. Nothing but serious
occupation with chemistry and physical and natural science can defend
a state from the consequences of competition. Man can produce no
effect upon nature, or appropriate her powers, unless he is
conversant with her laws, and with their relations to material
objects according to measures and numbers. And in this lies the
power of popular intelligence, which rises or falls as it encourages
or neglects this study. Science and information are the joy and
justification of mankind. They form the spring of a nation’s wealth,
being often indeed substitutes for those material riches which nature
has in many cases distributed with so partial a hand. Those nations
which remain behind in manufacturing activity, by neglecting the
practical application of the mechanical arts, and of industrial
chemistry, to the transmission, growth, or manufacture of raw
materials—those nations amongst whom respect for such activity does
not pervade all classes—must inevitably fall from prosperity they
have attained; and this so much the more certainly and speedily as
neighbouring states, instinct with the power of renovation, in which
science and the arts of industry operate or lend each other mutual
assistance, are seen pressing forward in the race.”
Upon this principle Mr. Reynolds placed himself under the teaching of Dr.
Black, the discoverer of latent heat, a gentleman who by his eminent
ability and teaching did so much to inspire a love for the science in
England during the latter part of the last century. He was thus enabled
to bring the knowledge he possessed of elementary substances and of their
peculiar qualities, gained in the laboratory, to bear upon the
manufacture of iron in the furnace and the forge, and to anticipate some
of the discoveries of later times.
Steel and iron have long been manufactured at Ulverstone, and the quality
or fitness of the ore for the purpose is attributed to the presence of
manganese in the ore, which since the establishment of railways has come
into general use. In Mr. Reynolds’s time we imported large quantities of
iron and steel; and ignorant of what constituted the difference between
our own and that of foreign markets, had with some humiliation to confess
our dependence. In no case had a uniform quality of bar-iron with the
superior marks of Sweden and Russia been produced. A great variety of
processes had been tried, and makers were not wanting who made laudable
efforts for the accomplishment of the object, feeling that in so doing
they devoted their time to the service of their country, and that in a
national as well as a commercial point of view no experiments were
fraught with more important consequences.
Mr. Reynolds thought he saw the solution of the problem how to produce
metal equal to that made from the magnetic and richer ores of the Swedish
and Siberian mines, when Bergman published his analysis of Swedish iron,
showing the large percentage of manganese it contained. The analysis
showed the following results:
CAST IRON.
Parts.
Plumbago 2.20
Manganese 15.25
Silicious Earth 2.25
Iron 80.30
100
STEEL.
Plumbago .50
Manganese 15.25
Silicious Earth .60
Iron 83.65
100
BAR-IRON.
Plumbago .50
Manganese 15.25
Silicious Earth 1.75
Iron 84.78
100
In order to effect a combination corresponding with this analysis of the
French chemist he introduced manganese into the refinery during the
re-smelting process, and succeeded in producing bar-iron capable of
conversion into steel of better quality than had previously been made
from coke-iron. From subsequent experiments the per-centage introduced
of metallic manganese could be traced into bar-iron, the inference being
that the purpose served was the additional supply of oxygen it gave to
burn out the impurities—a result the Bessemer process has since attained
in another way. When it is remembered that the end to be attained in
these processes is to consume the impurities of the metal, and that those
impurities are of such a nature as to unite with oxygen at a high
temperature and form separate compounds, also that this boiling and
bubbling up of the liquid metal was carefully watched and tended
formerly, one can understand how near the iron-kings of a past age were
to the Bessemer discovery of the present.
“The old men,” as they are frequently called in the works, appear to have
had an inkling of the real nature of the process: The rising impurities
and combination of opposite gases indicated by bubbles were called the
“Soldier’s coming.” At any rate the Bessemer invention is an adaptation
of a principle acted upon during the past century in the Shropshire
ironworks. Mr. Reynolds’s patent was obtained December 6, 1799, and was
stated to be for “preparing iron for the conversion thereof into steel.”
In his specification he described his invention to consist in the
employment of oxide of manganese in the conversion of pig-iron into
malleable iron or steel, but did not enter into details as to the method
he employed for carrying his invention into effect.
John Wilkinson obtained a patent January 23, 1801, for making “Pig or
cast metal from ore, which when manufactured into bar-iron will be found
equal in quality to any that is imported from Russia or Sweden.” The
patentee states his invention to consist “in making use of manganese, or
ores containing manganese, in addition to ironstone and other materials
used in making iron, and in certain proportions, to be varied by the
nature of such ironstone and other materials.”
Mr. Reynolds was not only a chemist, but a geologist. He succeeded in
forming a collection of carboniferous fossils to which modern professors
acknowledge their obligations, and which, with the additions made by Mr.
William Anstice, Dean Buckland pronounced one of the finest in Europe.
Other manufacturers, every day dealing with subterranean treasures that
give iron in abundance, were as dwellers amid the ruins of some ancient
city, taking down structures of the builders of which and of the history
of which they were ignorant. With him minerals had an interest beyond
their market value. Coal and ore from the dusky mine, raised at so much
per ton, were not minerals merely, but materials prepared to his hand by
Nature. He detected traces of that venerable dame’s cast-off garments in
one; the others were fabrics, the result of processes as varied as his
own, the produce of machinery more wonderful and powerful than that he
was about to employ in converting them to the general uses and purposes
of mankind. His pit-shafts to him were mere inlets to the deep
storehouse of the globe where Providence had treasured means whereby to
enrich future inhabitants of the surface. Geology as a science, ’tis
true, was but beginning to shed its light on the cosmogony of the world;
endeavours to make out a connected history of the earth from examinations
of the structure itself were deemed strange; and the more intelligent of
his contemporaries, who without hesitation adopted speculations daring
and beyond the province of human intellect, looked coldly upon his
labours. The old workmen to whom he offered premiums for the best
specimens could not for the life of them make out the meaning of his
morning visits to the mines, his constant inquiries respecting fossils,
his frequent hammering at ironstone nodules, his looking inside them and
loading his pockets with them—seeing that he did not confine attention to
those that seemed likely to make good iron. Some considered it to be one
of the good old Quaker’s eccentricities, and did not forget when he
turned his back to point to their heads, intimating that “all was not
right in his upper garrets.” Others, knowing that he sometimes used the
blow-pipe and tried experiments in his laboratory, believed his aim to be
to extract “goold,” as they said, from the stone—a supposition to which
the presence of iron pyrites gave some degree of colouring. One fine
morning, in particular, as flitting gleams of sunshine came down to
brighten young green patches of copse and meadow, telling of returning
spring, a group of his men were seated with bottle and tot, drinking the
cuckoo’s foot-ale, when, “Here comes Measter William, here comes Old
Broadbrim,” it was said, “with his pecker in his pocket, fatch the
curiosities from the crit.” Mr. Reynolds was not very well pleased, for
large orders were in the books unexecuted, and coal and ore could not be
got fast enough. Every engine had its steam up; but not a beam-head or
pulley creaked or stirred. One or two bands of workmen had gone down,
but had come up again. The cuckoo’s voice that morning for the first
time had been heard, and it was more potent than the master’s; for it was
the custom, and had been from time immemorial, to drink his foot-ale, and
to drink it out of doors; and the man was fined, who proposed to deviate
from custom by drinking it in-doors. On May Day too it was the custom,
as it now is, to gather boughs or sprigs of the birch, with its young and
graceful fronds, and mount them on the engines, the pit heads, and
cabins, and on the heads of horses, to proclaim the fact that we had
entered upon the merry, merry month of May.
Mr. Reynolds was generally pleased with meeting his men, and would
readily enter into their whims, and turn such interviews to account. By
such means he often obtained from them a knowledge of their wants, and
received hints and suggestions that aided him in carrying out
improvements in the works. The same disruption of social ties did not
then exist as now; that mutual relation that beautified the olden time,
and gave men and master an interest in each others welfare existed. A
master, then, was more like the chief of a tribe, the father of a family;
he had generally sprung from the ranks, he felt himself to be of the same
flesh and blood, removed only a little by circumstances, and bound by a
community of interest. Money-making had not then been reduced to a
science, nor men to machines. With some degree of pride the men laid
their stony treasures at the master’s feet. There were amongst them what
the colliers call millers’ thumbs, horses’ hoofs, snails’ houses,
“shining scales,” “crucked screws,” “things-like-leaves, and rotten
wood.” “You should have heard,” said an old sage, “Mr. Reynolds give a
description of them, and have seen the effect upon his audience. If I
remember rightly, millers’ thumbs were orthoceratites, shells—as the name
implies—like horns, but not pointed, and having several air-chambers.
Horses’ hoofs, were portions of others, coiled, and spiral—that could
float on the water, sink to the bottom, or rise to the surface, by a
peculiar mechanical apparatus—like the forcing pump of a steam engine.
The shining scales, were scales of fish coated with armour, hard as
flint, and furnished with carvers to cut up the smaller fry on which they
fed.” He showed that the nodules of ironstone contained exact
impressions of leaves and fruits that grew beneath the golden beams of a
tropical sun; that the bits called rotten wood were really wood, showing
the beautiful anatomy of the tree, that it had been water-worn by being
carried down the dancing stream into the soft and yielding mud in which
it ultimately sank and was preserved. Coal, he explained, was nothing
more than the vegetation of former periods, which accumulated where it
grew, or was swept down by rains or streams into beds where it was
hermetically sealed, fermented, and converted into mineral fuel for
future use. “Lord, sir,” said our informant, “you should have seen how
they all stared. Flukey F’lyd, one of the butties of Whimsey pit, said
he little thought they were working in the gutters, or grubbing in the
mud-banks of slimy lakes of a former world; he had seen stems of trees
and trunks in the roof, but he thought they had got there at the Flood,
and turned to stone. Gambler Baugh, of the Sulphur pit, said he thought
the coal had been put there at the creation, and was intended to be used
to burn up the world at the last day; and that he sometimes considered it
a wrong thing to get it, believing they ought to use wood, and concluded
by inviting the Governor to ‘wet,’ as he said, ‘the other eye, by taking
another tot.’ The company drank his health, his long life and happiness,
and exclaimed—’who’d have thought it.’” “Aye, who would have thought
it,” continued Mr. Reynolds, warming with his subject, “when the first
iron mine was tapped that in the slime and mud of those early times, now
hardened into stone lay coiled up a thousand conveniences of mankind;
that in that ore lay concealed the steam-engines, the tramways, the
popular and universal metal that in peace and war should keep pace with
and contribute to the highest triumphs of the world.” Upon such
occasions questions of improvement, invention, adaptation, &c., &c.,
would often be freely discussed, and we have it upon the authority of
some of the old workmen that many of the achievements in engineering we
applaud in the present day, were the result of such suggestions in part.
Nothing, in fact, was known about iron ore, iron making and machinery,
but what he knew or else took steps to acquaint himself with, if he had
the opportunity. We have a number of large foolscap MS. volumes of
experiments and extracts neatly copied, with pen and ink drawings of
machines, parts of machines, &c.; shewing that whilst Smeaton and Watt
were engaged in perfecting the construction of the steam engine, Mr.
Reynolds was endeavouring to apply it to purposes similar to those to
which it is now applied as a locomotive. Thus he constructed a
locomotive with a waggon attached, the cylinder and boiler of which are
still preserved. An accident, we believe a fatal one, which happened to
one of the men upon starting the engine led Mr. Reynolds to abandon the
machine; but he by no means lost faith in the invention. On the
contrary, he was wont to say to his nephew, the late William Anstice,
father of the present Mr. Reynolds Anstice, “I may never live to see the
time, but thee may, William, when towns will be lighted by gas instead of
oil and candles, when vessels will be driven without sails, and when
carriages will travel without horses.”
This was before Trevithic invented a machine which travelled at a slow
rate with heavy loads on a railway at Merthyr. It was prior to 1787,
when Symington exhibited his model steam carriage in Edinburgh, and to
the time when Darwin, (1793), with equal poetry and prophecy, wrote—
“Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car.”
Mr. Reynolds indeed contemplated, it is believed, a subterranean tram
road from the banks of the Severn right up into the heart of the iron
districts of Ketley and Donnington Wood, upon which his engine was to
travel, but the prejudice against the scheme was so great, and the jury
empanelled to inquire into the nature of the accident inflicted such an
enormous fine to be enforced every time the engine was used, that it was
abandoned. There are also a pair of partially rotatory brass cylinders
in existence which Mr. Reynolds intended as models for a boat on the
Severn. This was before Shropshire generally, and the iron districts
more particularly, had begun to participate in the advantages of
still-water communication. With the superior advantages of railways, it
is difficult to appreciate the full benefit of such communication for
manufacturing and agricultural purposes at that time in inland counties
like our own. Mr. Reynolds however, with full faith in the future
development of the powers of steam by means of improved machinery, took
great pains to extend and perfect canal navigation, and his name is
associated with every important work of improvement in the district
during the latter end of the last and the beginning of the present
centuries, and especially with a very ingenious contrivance by means of
which the inequalities of surface were overcome, and the old-fashioned
locks were dispensed with.
Mr. Reynolds commenced his canal for the conveyance of minerals from
Oakengates and Ketley in 1788; and shortly after its completion an Act of
Parliament was obtained for one from Donnington Wood which, forming a
junction therewith, was to proceed along the high ground above
Coalbrookdale, on one hand, and Madeley and Coalport on the other. The
difference of level was 73 feet in one case and 207 feet in the other.
Telford, speaking of the difficulties to be encountered from the nature
of the country, says:
“The inequality of the ground and the want of sufficient water seemed
insuperable, and might probably have been so for ages to come had not
Mr. William Reynolds, of Ketley, whose character is too well known to
need any eulogium, discovered the means of overcoming them. Having
occasion to improve the method of conveying ironstone and coals from
the neighbourhood of Oakengates to the ironworks at Ketley, these
materials lying generally about the distance of a mile and a half
from the ironworks, and 73 feet above their level, he made a
navigable canal, and instead of descending in the usual way by locks,
contrived to bring the canal forward to an abrupt part of the bank,
the skirts of which terminated on a level with the ironworks. At the
top of this bank he built a small lock, and from the bottom of the
lock, and down the face of the bank, he constructed an _inclined
plane_, with a double iron railway. He then erected an upright frame
of timber, in which was fixed a large wooden barrel. Round the
latter a rope was passed that led to a moveable frame, the frame
being of a sufficient size to receive a canal boat, resting and
preserved in nearly a horizontal position, by having two large wheels
before and two small ones behind—varying as much in the diameters as
the inclined plane varied from a horizontal plane. This frame being
placed in the lock, the loaded boat was brought to rest upon it. The
lock gates were shut, the water was drawn from the lock into a
side-pond, the boat settled upon a horizontal wooden frame, and—as
the bottom of the lock was formed with nearly the same declivity as
the inclined plane—upon the lower gates being opened, the frame with
the boat passed down the iron railway into the lower canal, which had
been formed on a level with the Ketley ironworks, being a fall of 73
feet. A double railway having been laid upon the inclined plane, the
loaded boat in passing down brought up another boat containing a load
nearly equal to one-third part of that which passed down. The
velocity of the boats was regulated by a break acting upon a large
wheel, placed upon the axis on which the ropes connected with the
carriages were coiled.”
This contrivance has been in use up to the present time. During Mr.
Reynolds’s life a representation of it figured upon copper tokens, one of
the first iron bridge being upon the opposite or obverse side.
Another of these contrivances is still in use near the Hay, in the parish
of Madeley, called the Coalport Incline. This is 207 feet in length, and
the gradient is much greater, being about one in three. So great indeed
that on the chain snapping we have known a canal boat with five tons of
iron pigs on board gain such velocity that on coming in contact with the
water in the lower canal it has broken away from the iron chains which
held it to the carriage, bounded into the air, clearing two other boats
moored on the side, together with the embankment, and alighted in the
Severn, close to the ferry-boat, into which it pitched some of the
iron-pigs it contained. At the foot of this incline Mr. Reynolds drove a
level to the shaft of the Blissers Hill pits, to bring down the coals to
the lower canal for loading into barges on the Severn. This was the
famous Tar Tunnel from which petroleum was formerly exported in large
quantities to all parts of Europe.
William Reynolds removed from Ketley to a large house formerly occupied
by Lord Dundonald, at the Tuckies, where he continued to superintend the
ironworks he had leased at Madeley Wood, familiarly known as Bedlam
Furnaces, and was succeeded by his brother, Mr. Joseph Reynolds, who
continued to carry on the Ketley Works till the recurrence of one of
those fearful revulsions that have marked the history of the trade. For
a quarter of a century we had been carrying on wars, levying troops, and
interfering with everybody’s business but that which properly belonged to
ourselves. We had obtained our object of ambition by bribery, strategy,
and force of arms combined. We had restored the ancient families of
France, reduced that country to its ancient limits, and annihilated its
commerce. With glorious victory came fearful collapse, and the country
awoke to find that a fallacy which it had been taught to regard as
truth—that war brings commercial advantages that compensate for fearful
waste and lavish expenditure. To add to the calamity, a succession of
bad harvests was experienced, and the reduction of the army served to
swell the poor’s-rates upon which working men and their families had been
thrown for a bare support. Iron from £18 had gone down to £7 per ton,
carriage paid from Ketley to Stourport. Mr. Reynolds believed the trade
would never again rally, and resolved to blow out the furnaces at Ketley.
This was in 1817. In 1818, at an immense sacrifice of property,
consisting of the usual apparatus for making and manufacturing iron, he
sold off at an immense loss, and removed to Bristol. Language cannot
paint the deep distress which accompanied and followed this step. Men,
with wives and families dependent upon them, saw their only ground of
hope taken from them. Starving by thousands, and yoked like horses, they
might be seen drawing materials for the repair of the roads, or conveying
coal into Staffordshire. One third of the Shropshire banks failed.
Disturbances were frequent; mobs of men collected in bodies and went
about taking food where they could find it, and the militia had often to
be called out to quell disturbances. Not only ironmasters, but
manufacturers generally were reduced to despair. The parish authorities
of Wellington advertised in the public journals for persons to come
forward and take the Ketley works; and a company, consisting of the
Messrs. Montford, Shakeshaft, Ogle, Williams, Hombersley, and others, was
formed.
From what we have written, it will be seen that Mr. William Reynolds was
on familiar terms with his men. In severe weather and distressed times,
he made soup to give away three times a week, and he generally kept
“open-house” for his workmen and friends; of the latter he had a large
circle. He did not like idleness or indiscriminate almsgiving. A number
of men thrown out of employ came to him in a body for relief during a
deep snow. He set them to clear an entire field, and to make him a
snow-stack; which they did of large proportions, receiving daily wages
for the same. He allowed a house and garden rent-free to “Sniggy Oakes,”
as he was called—heaven knows what his right name was, for in that day it
was seldom known in the mining districts—on condition that the said
Sniggy ferry’d him and his family across the river when they required it.
One evening Sniggy, knowing he was out on the other side, went to bed
instead of sitting up, which he found a deal more comfortable on a cold
wet night, and Mr. Reynolds, after calling him first one name and then
another, ringing the changes upon every alias, and changing it for “boat!
boat!” “ferry! ferry!” had to go round by the bridge. Coming opposite
the cottage where Sniggy was snug in bed, he smashed every window,
shouting “boat” at every blow of his huge stick. Sniggy roared with
fright, and promised better things another time. “On another occasion,”
says our informant, “while having a balcony put up in front of the
Tuckies, he gave strict injunctions that the martins’ nests should not by
any means be disturbed, threatening to shoot the man who violated his
instruction. They all obeyed him but one man, and he—.” “What, you
don’t mean to say he was going to carry out his threat?” said we. “But
he was,” it was replied, “and did.” “What shoot him?” “Yes; shot him,
sir—shot him with a pop-gun!” Being a Quaker, many anecdotes are told of
him not paying church-rates, and what are called Easter offerings,
showing a rich vein of genuine humour running through a warm and generous
nature. Old people too tell with much glee of a grand illumination they
remember to celebrate one of those interludes of war, termed “a peace
rejoicing,” when the bridge across the river, and a large revolving
wheel, were lighted up with lamps, and the manufactory, in which—together
with Messrs. Horton and Rose—he was a shareholder, was illuminated.
“He is a wise son who knows his own father,” it is said, but it is
sometimes more difficult to trace the paternity of an anecdote, and we
tell the following as it was told to us.
“Mr. Reynolds was kind and generous to a fault, but he did not like
to be tricked. Returning late from a party on horseback, he was
requested to pay again at a turnpike gate. Old Roberts, who having
been in the army, looked with contempt upon all but a red uniform,
and hated Quakers’ plain suits in particular, the more so as the
wearers were known to be averse to war, now found himself, as he
imagined, in a position to ‘take the small change,’ out of the
Quaker. Mr. Reynolds disputed the charge, knowing from the time he
left his friend’s house that he must be in the right; but, as the
other insisted upon being paid, he paid him. When the latter had
opened the gate, Mr. Reynolds remarked, ‘Well, friend, having paid, I
suppose I am at liberty to pass through as often as I like?’
‘Certainly, sir,’ said the old robber—as the juveniles would persist
in calling the old man, adding an additional ‘b’ to his name, and
clipping it of the two terminating letters. Mr. Reynolds had not
travelled far on the home-side of the gate—sufficiently far however
to allow the other to get into bed, before he returned, and called up
the gatekeeper; having occasion, as he said, to go back. By the time
he had again got into bed back came his tormentor at an easy jog-trot
pace; and as he again passed through the gate he begged to be
accommodated with a light. ‘Thou art sure it is past twelve o’clock,
friend?’ said Mr. Reynolds. ‘Quite sure,’ said the other, adding ‘I
thought I had done with you for to-night.’ ‘Thou art mistaken,’ said
Mr. Reynolds, ‘it is a fine night, and I intend to make the most of
it.’ In about ten minutes time the hated sound of ‘Gate, gate,’
brought old Roberts to his post, muttering curses between his teeth.
‘Thou art quite sure it is past twelve, art thou?’ was the question
asked, and asked again, till at last the gatekeeper begged of his
tormentor to take back the toll. ‘It cured him, though,’ said our
informant, ‘and made him civil; but they called him ‘Past Twelve’ for
the rest of his days.’”
When Mr. Reynolds removed from Ketley to Madeley Wood, he also removed
from the former to the latter place some very primitive steam engines,
from the fact that they were constructed by a man named Adam Hyslop, and
differed from the ordinary condensing engines of Boulton and Watt in
having a cylinder at each end of the beam: one a steam cylinder and
condensing box; the other a condensing cylinder only, into which the
steam, having done duty in the steam cylinder is conveyed. They were
invented prior to Boulton and Watt’s final improvements. Three of these
singular looking engines are still used in the field, and work most
economically, with five pounds of steam to the square inch.
Of the early history of the Madeley Wood Works, we have been able to
glean little satisfactory, beyond the fact that Richard Reynolds, who
bought the manor in 1781 or 1782, granted a lease in June 1794 of the
Bedlam or Madeley Wood furnaces to his son William, and Richard Rathbone,
who very shortly after gave up his interest to William Reynolds, who
afterwards carried them on himself. The site was a good one at that
time, being at the base of the outcrop of the lowest seams of coal and
ironstone, which could thus be obtained by levels driven into the hills,
or by shallow shafts, from either of which they were let down inclined
planes to the furnaces, close by which flowed the Severn, to take away
either coal or iron.
It was on the side of this hill on which the Madeley Wood works were
situated, at a place called the Brockholes (_broc_, or badger-holes),
that in 1332 Walter de Caldbrook obtained a license from the prior of
Wenlock to dig for coal. Speaking of coal found in this or similar
situations in Shropshire, we find, too, that quaint old writer, Thomas
Fuller, two centuries ago, as quoted by W. O. Foster Esq., at the meeting
of the Iron and Steel Institute at Coalbrookdale, in 1871, giving his
opinion thus:—
“One may see a three-fold difference in our English coal—(1) the sea
coal brought from Newcastle; (2) the land coal at Mendip, Bedworth,
&c., and carried into other counties; (3) what one may call river and
fresh water coal, digged out in this county at such a distance from
Severn that they are easily ported by boat into other shires. Oh, if
this coal could be so charmed as to make iron melt out of the stone,
as it maketh it in smiths’ forges to be wrought in the bars. But
Rome was not built all in one day; and a new world of experiments is
left to the discovery of posterity.”
It seems probable, therefore, that for five hundred years coal has been
gotten out of the sides of these hills at Madeley Wood, either for use in
local forges or for export by the river Severn, or both; and the more so
that old levels are numerous along their side where coal crops out, and
that wooden shovels, wooden rails, and other primitive implements have
been found in them.
Some of the shafts sunk by Mr. Reynolds came down upon old workings for
smiths, or furnace coal, as at the Lodge Pit, as shown by the section.
This shaft, after passing through five yards of sand, six of brick and
tile clays, thirteen of rough rock, and thirteen of other measures, came
upon the Penneystone, the Sulphur coal, the Vigor coal, the Two-foot
coal, the Ganey coal, the Best coal, and the Middle coal, which, like the
Penney measure, were all entire; but instead of the Clod coal they found
Clod-coal gob (the refuse thrown into the space from which the coal had
been removed).
William Reynolds, the proprietor of these works, died at the Tuckies
House, in 1803, and was followed to his grave in the burial-ground
adjoining the Quaker’s chapel, in the Dale, by a very large concourse of
friends and old neighbours. His son, Joseph Reynolds, and Mr. William
Anstice succeeded to the works, the latter being the managing partner;
and in consequence of the mines being exhausted on the Madeley Wood side
of the field, new shafts were sunk to the east, the first of importance
being the Hill’s Lane pits. The Halesfield, and then the Kemberton,
followed; and the mines having been thus proved on that side, the idea
first suggested by William Reynolds, of removing the works to that side,
was acted upon by Mr. William Anstice, who built his first furnace at
Blisser’s Hill in 1832. A second was built in 1840, and a third in 1844.
Of these and other works we propose to speak in connection with events of
a later period.
EVENTS RELATING TO THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF MADELEY, FROM THE
13TH TO THE 19TH CENTURIES, NOT PREVIOUSLY NOTICED.
We have no means at command for giving anything like such a consecutive
account of Madeley as would show its growth and progress from the feudal
times, when first noticed in the Domesday Survey, to the present time;
and the facts that we have to offer on this head must necessarily appear
disjointed and isolated.
The next notice we find succeeding that in Domesday is one in 1291, when
it was taxed to the _Ninth_, twelve merks, but whether of gold or silver
we cannot say, probably the latter, as one merk of gold was equal to five
of silver—to £3 16s. 8d.
Land was being gradually won from the forests, but it was as yet of small
value. Thus we read, under date of March 28th, 1322, of a man named
Bercar and his wife, who, for the payment (or fine) of three shillings,
bought small parcels of _new_ land in the fields of Madeley and of
Caldbrook (Coalbrookdale), of William, the bailiff, to hold for their
lives.
In the year 1341 the parish was assessed at £2 16s. 0d., but the reason
assigned for the low assessment was that there had been great storms,
want of sheep-stock, and a surrender of the land held by tenants. In
1379 a valuation of the manor is thus mentioned:—“Capital messuage,
nothing (this would be the Court, or manor-house); water-mill (the old
manor or Court mill), ten shillings; fisheries of two vivaries, three
shillings; three caracutes of land (or as much as three teams of oxen
could plough in the year), as averaging £1 18s.” Three acres of meadow
is set down as worth, when carried, three shillings. The verbiage of the
park was valued at three shillings and fourpence. The assized rents of
free tenements amounted to £6 16s. 2d., and the pleas and perquisites of
the Court (held by the prior at the Court-house) at two shillings. In
1390 the rents of Madeley, including a _ferm_ of coals, and the pleas and
fines of the Court, were said to yield £22 18s. 0d. This _ferm_ of coals
was probably that granted by the prior in 1322 to Walter de Caldbrook for
six shillings.
In the sixteenth century the rental of the manor was returned at £39 18s.
8½d. At the same time—that is in 1534–5—the rectorial tithes are set
down at £2, and the vicar’s income at £5 5s. In 1693 an assessment made
for Madeley, by order of the justices of the peace, James Lewis, balf.,
George Weld, and Thos. Crompton, of 4s. 6d. in the £, from sixty-four
persons, produced £149 1s. 4d. In this assessment the name of Sarah
Wolfe occurs sixth on the list. In 1698 an assessment of 3s. 6d. in the
£, by order of Richard Littlehales, balf., and Ralph Browne, from
fifty-two persons, produced £112 5s. 0d. In this assessment the iron,
coal, and lime works paid £55 14s. 0d. of the above sum. In 1704 an
assessment of 4s. 6d. in the £, from forty-six persons, paid £149 to
which the iron, coal, and lime works contributed £84. The sum paid in on
the 27th of March of the same year for 1697, for window-tax, was £8 14s.;
the tax for births, deaths, &c., for the same year, was £4 18s. 4d., for
1698, £4 1s. 7d., and for the following year, £3 5s. 6d. In the same
year the land-tax produced £27 14s. 6d. In 1670 the window-tax was £8
6s. 0d. In 1671 the land-tax produced £55 0s. 0d. In 1672 the
window-tax was £8 0s. 2d. In 1704 the sum realized for windows had risen
to £10 17s. 6d., and that for births, deaths, and marriages to £5 12s.
0d. In 1676 the land-tax paid £36 19s. 4d., for the first quarter, 24th
July; for the second quarter, 23rd October, the same; and for the third
quarter (paid March 27, 1675), the same; the sum for the fourth quarter
was also the same. In 1675 two sums, £31 9s. 8d., and £63 8s. 6d., were
paid in for land-tax, and £16 2s. 2d. the following March. On the 4th of
May, 1706, “John Boden paid in full of ye last year’s land-tax, £36 17s.
0d.” The fourth quarterly payment of the poll for Madeley, made April
15, 1695, was £14 14s. 6d.
We pass over payments for intervening years, and come to 1709. In July
of that year the first and second quarterly payments of the land-tax were
each £36 19s. 4d.; for the third quarter, £37 8s. 4d., and for the last
quarter, £36 10s. 4d. The first and second quarterly payments in full
amounted to £73 18s. 8d. In 1702 a survey of the lordship of Madeley
showed there were twenty-seven tenants, holding 2073 acres; that the
yearly value was £1021 10s. 0d.; also that there were upon the land 3369
trees, and sixteen loads of wood, the value of which by purchase was set
down at £17,366 9s. 4d. In 1725 a case was prepared by the vicar and
churchwardens, after a vestry-meeting had been held, for the opinion of
counsel on the question of the right of the vicar to receive tithe of
wood cut down by the lay impropriator. The case set forth that “the
vicars of the other twenty-two parishes in the franchise of the priory
enjoyed tithes of wood as small tithes, excepting in a few instances, and
that the vicar of Madeley has from time to time received the tithes of
hay, clover, &c., which are usually esteemed great tithes. But hitherto
no tithes of wood have been paid at Madeley within memory of living
witnesses, except that about thirty years since the late vicar received
one shilling as a composition from the tenant of the impropriator.”
Counsel (Thos. Browne, of the Inner Temple), in reply, says Madeley was
appropriated to the priory of Wenlock at the same time as Stoke St.
Milburgh—22nd March, 1343—and yet the vicar of Stoke receives tithe-wood,
and thinks that the smoke-penny to the vicar is strong evidence in favour
of his being entitled to the tithe of wood so used, because that payment
comes in lieu of such wood; but it must be admitted that the impropriator
is entitled to all the tithes of a vicar, unless such vicar shows usage
or endowment to support the demand as to such great tithe.
The counsel’s opinion seems to have left the question pretty much in the
same state as before, and that the vicar and churchwardens did not
establish their claim is shown by subsequent assessments and by the
report of the Tithe Commissioners (1848), who said all woodlands are by
prescription or other lawful means exempt from tithe.
The appropriation of the rent-charge in lieu of tithes in the parish took
effect in 1847, and it may be interesting to add that after various
meetings and inquiries it was found that by prescription or other lawful
means all the woodlands, containing in estimated statute measure 200
acres, well known by metes and bounds, were absolutely free from tithes;
also all gardens annexed to houses.
It was also found that 267 acres of the Court Farm were covered from
render of small tithes in kind by prescriptive or customary payments in
lieu thereof to the vicar, and 233 acres of the Windmill Farm by payment
of 5s. 3½d.; the Broad Meadow, containing twenty-two acres, by payment of
ninepence; the Hales, seventeen acres, by payment of fivepence; the Bough
Park, twenty acres, and Rushton Farm (Park House), twenty-six acres, by
payment of 10½d.; part of Court Farm (J. and F. Yates, proprietors), and
six other acres, by payment of twopence. The quantity subject to tithes
amounted to 2800 acres, 2000 being arable, and 800 as meadow or pasture.
Finding also that the average value of tithes for the seven years
preceding Christmas, 1835, did not represent the sum which ought to be
the basis for a permanent commutation, the Tithe Commissioner awarded as
follows: to Sir Joseph H. Hawley, impropriator, of Leybourn Grange, Kent,
£115 10s., by way of rent-charge; and £226 to the vicar for the time
being, instead of all the remaining unmerged tithes of hay and small
tithes, arising from the lands of the said parish. The valuation was by
William Wyley, upon wheat, barley, and oats, as under:—
Wheat 7s. 0¼d. 32,427,300.
Barley 3s. 11½d. 57,517,590.
Oats 2s. 9d. 82,787,879.
The great-tithes have since been purchased from Sir Joseph Hawley for
Ironbridge church, now a rectory.
SCARCITY OF WHEAT IN MADELEY IN 1795.
The system of farming and the state of the laws regarding the importation
of grain were such down to the period we refer to that the country was at
the mercy of the viscisitude of the seasons, and if these were adverse
nothing less than a partial or a general famine was the result, and it
sometimes happened that the use of an extra ounce or two of bread was
grudged if not considered sinful. Thus, an old writer commenting upon
the scarcity of grain in the above year, censured the use of tea on the
ground that it led to the use of bread and butter. He says:—
“I find, July 29th, that ‘in the parish of Madeley, Salop, there are
924 families; and since the use of Tea is becoming so prevalent, on a
moderate calculation each family consumes three and a half pounds of
flour each week more than formerly, by instituting a fourth meal each
day. In days of yore, Breakfast, Dinner and Supper were esteemed
sufficient, but now it must be Breakfast, Dinner, _Tea_ and Supper,
which wastes both Meal and Time, and makes a difference each week in
the parish of Madeley of 3234 lbs. of flour.’”
In that same year, on the ninth of July, a meeting of numerous gentlemen,
farmers, millers, and tradesmen was held at the Tontine, on “the alarming
occasion of the scarcity of corn and dearness of all kinds of other
provisions,” and a committee was appointed for the immediate collection
of contributions and the purchase of such grain as could be procured, to
be distributed to the necessitous at a reduction of one fourth, or nine
shillings for twelve. The wants of the poor were described as being
beyond what they had at any former time experienced, and according to the
best accounts that could be collected the quantity of grain of all sorts
in the country was very far short of the consumption before harvest.
Many families in Madeley were short of bread, and the colliers were only
prevented rising by assurances that gentlemen of property were disposed
to contribute liberally to their relief as well as to adopt measures for
obtaining from distant parts, such aid as could be procured. The
committee directed 2,000 bushels of Indian corn to be sent for from
Liverpool, to meet immediate requirements, but such were the murmurs of
the poor according to a letter from Richard Reynolds to Mr. Smitheman,
that it was impossible to say what would be the consequences, and the
writer adds:—
“I should not be surprised if they applied in a body at those houses
where they expected to find provisions, or from which they thought
they ought to be relieved. They already begin to make distinctions
between those whom they consider as their benefactors, and those whom
(as George Forester expresses it in the annexed letter) are at war
with their landlords; and I fear those whom they consider as
deserting them in their distress, would not only incur their
disapprobation, but might be the next to suffer from their
resentment. I therefore the more readily attempt to fulfil my
appointment by recommending thee in the most earnest manner to send
by the return of the post to Richard Dearman at this place, who is
appointed treasurer on the present occasion, a bill for such a sum as
thou shalt think proper to contribute, and at the same time to write
to thy servant at the West Coppice to give notice to thy tenants, (as
G. Forester has to his) and especially to William Parton of Little
Wenlock, that it is thy desire that he and they should conform to the
general practice and deliver immediately all his wheat to the
committee, at twelve shillings per bushel, for the use of the poor.
And if there is any wheat, barley, beans, or peas, at the West
Coppice, or elsewhere in thy possession or power, I recommend thee to
order it to be sent without delay to the Committee; and then if the
colliers, &c., should go in a body, or send, as I think more likely a
deputation to thy house, thy having so done, and thy servant shewing
them thy order for so doing, as well as thy contributing liberally as
above proposed, will be the most likely means to prevent the
commencement of mischief, the end of which, if once began, it is
impossible to ascertain.”
The letter goes on to state that the following sums had been subscribed:
George Forester, £105. Cecil Forester, £105. J. H. Browne, £105. the
Coalbrookdale Company, £105. and John Wilkinson, £50. In addition to
this the writer, Richard Reynolds, and J. H. Browne had consented to
advance £700. each to be repaid out of the corn sold at the reduced
price.
Mr. Reynolds concludes by saying, “such is the urgency of the temper of
the people, that there is not a day to lose if we are desirous to
preserve the poor from outrage, and most likely the country from plunder,
if not from blood.”
Periods of distress and panic arising from scarcity were not unfrequent
when wages were stationary, or comparatively so. Great changes had taken
place during the periods previously described. First, during feudal
times, here and elsewhere the great body of peasantry was composed of
persons who rented _small farms_, seldom exceeding twenty or thirty
acres, and who paid their rent either in kind or in agricultural labour
and services performed on the demesne of the landlord: secondly, of
_cottagers_, each of whom had a small croft or parcel of land attached to
his dwelling, and the privilege of turning out a cow, or pigs, or a few
sheep, into the woods, commons, and wastes of the manor. During this
period, the population derived its subsistence immediately from the
land;—the landowner from the produce of his demesne, cultivated partly by
his domestic slaves, but principally by the labour of the tenants and
cottiers attached to the manor; the tenants from the produce of their
little farms; and the cottiers from that of their cows and crofts, except
while working upon the demesne, when they were generally fed by the
landlord. The mechanics of the village, not having time to cultivate a
sufficient quantity of land, received a fixed allowance of agricultural
produce from each tenant.
Under the above system, not only the little farmer, but also the humblest
cottager, drew a very considerable portion of his subsistence directly
from the land. His cow furnished him with what is invaluable to a
labourer,—a store of milk in the summer months; his pig, fattened upon
the common and with the refuse vegetables of his garden, supplied him
with bacon for his winter consumption—and there were poultry besides.
Gradually the labourer and small cultivator lost the use they had made of
the road-side and other waste which were assigned under inclosure acts,
not to the occupier, but _the owner_ of the cottage; few cottages were in
the occupation of their owners; they generally, indeed we may say
universally, belonged to the proprietors of the neighbouring farms, and
the allotments granted in lieu of the extinguished common rights were
generally added to the large farms, and seldom attached to the cottages.
The cottages which were occupied by their owners had of course allotments
attached to them; but these by degrees passed by sale into the hands of
some large proprietor in the neighbourhood, _De facto_, in ninety-nine
cases out of the hundred, the allotment has been detached from the
cottage, and thrown into the occupation of some adjoining farmer.
That such a charge should have been attended with important consequences,
can excite no surprise, a complete severance was effected between the
peasantry and the soil; the little farmers and cottiers were converted
into day-labourers, depending entirely upon daily earnings which may, and
frequently did, in point of fact, fail them. They had no land upon the
produce of which to fall as a reserve when the demand for labour happened
to be slack. This revolution became unquestionably the cause of the
heavy and increasing burdens upon parishes in the form of poor-rates, and
jail rates.
It has been well said that from the moment when any man begins to think
that
‘The world is not his friend, nor the world’s law,’
the world and the world’s law are likely to have that man for their
enemy; and if he does not commence direct hostilities against them, he
abandons himself to despair, and becomes a useless if not a hurtful
member of the community.
If we go back to the time of the great plague, about the middle of the
reign of Edward III., which gave occasion to the first attempt to
regulate wages by law, corn rose from 5s. 4d., the average the first
twenty-five years to 11s. 9d., the average of the twenty-five years
following. In this reign the pound of silver was coined into 25s., and
at the end of the reign of Henry IV., into 30s. In 1444, other statutes
regulating wages were passed probably owing to the high price of corn,
which had risen on an average of the ten preceding years to 10s. 8d.,
without any further alterations in the coin; and for this reason there
seems no adequate cause but a succession of scanty crops; as a
continuance of low prices afterwards prevailed for sixty years. The
average price of wheat from 1444 to the end of the reign of Henry VII.
(1509) returned to 6s., while the pound of silver was coined into £1 17s.
6d. instead of £1 2s. 6d., as at the passing of the first statute of
labourers in 1350, thus indicating a continuance of favourable seasons,
and probably, an improved system of agriculture. The rise in the price
of corn during the next century was owing probably to other causes. From
1646 to 1665 the price of the quarter of wheat was £2 10s. 0d. During
the wars of the Roses, and subsequently it was cheap; but during the
civil wars under Charles I., and for some time subsequently it was dear.
The harvests of 1794 and 1795 were deficient, but the rise in the price
of grain, occasioned by the deficiency of these two years, which is
supposed to have been about one eighth, threw into the hands of the
agricultural interest, in 1795 and 1796, when prices were at the highest,
from 24 to 28 millions for the two years, the farmers with a deficiency
of one eighth, having sold their crops for nearly a third more than the
usual price before labour had risen.
Mr. Reynolds saw the evils we have been describing, and when he purchased
the manor of Madeley from Mr. Smitheman he made it a point to encourage
small allotments and leases of copyholds.
THE CHURCH, AND THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PEOPLE OF MADELEY.
We have previously given the names of some of the early rectors of the
church, when the whole mind of the people here, as elsewhere, by
education, if not conviction, was Roman Catholic. There was undoubtedly
a pleasant kind of poetry about the older system of religion, which no
man, from the peasant to the peer, thought of questioning, but which,
from the cradle to the grave, governed and regulated, as far as its
influences went, the thoughts and actions of all men. They were the high
days of ecclesiastical power, when the Church could smite with
excommunication and civil disability obnoxious families or individuals,
and when monarchs could be cut off from the allegiance of their subjects,
and made to appear as lepers among their brethren.
We know little of the moral or social condition of the inhabitants, or
how far they were influenced by the rude discipline to which they were
subject. Delusion, we know, by the traces it has left, then and for a
long time after among the uneducated classes, formed the basis often of
belief. It was a time when man, equally deceived by the imperfections of
his senses and the illusions of self-love, long considered himself to be
the centre of the movements of the stars, and his vanity was punished by
the terrors to which they gave rise. It may not have had a corrupting
tendency, and may even have been a beneficial fallacy, for it must have
tended much to the accomplishment of any undertaking to believe that it
was within the range of possibility. We can now view the planets as they
circle, without supposing that they are impelled by intelligences who
exercise either a benign or a hostile influence over our action. Ages of
labour have removed the veil which concealed the true nature of the
planets, and man now finds himself on the surface of one which he has
reason to suppose is so small as to be scarcely perceptible in that great
solar system which formerly appeared so mysterious. Then it was not so:
astrologers and conjurors were looked up to as wielding even more
terrific powers than the priest, and horoscopes, nativities, and the most
ordinary events were traced to influences of the planets. Dust and
cobwebs now cover the tombs of the authors of works on astrology; the
staff on which they leaned is broken; their brazen instruments are green
and cankered.
In an old book on this subject, disinterred among certain other contents
of an old chest in the vestry of the church, entitled “Astrological
Predictions for 1652,” we find, as was not unusual, awful
prognostications concerning Church and State, and threatenings of
troubles, violent distempers, and great slaughters. There appears to
have been a court of astrologers, for we find a notice in a foot-note of
“a learned sermon composed for the Society of Astrologers.” Predictions
and assertions of interference with men’s actions and the most ordinary
course of events not being read to advantage except in the language of
their authors, we purpose giving an extract or two. Like relics, which
seem to lose their venerable sanctity when removed from an old tomb to a
museum, extracts in modern type lose the charm the well-thumbed old
yellow work has as it is lifted from the old church chest, mellow and
mouldy. It appears from the numerous notes and memorandums on the blank
leaves to have been used by the clergyman as a sort of pocket-book, and
some of the notes appear to be intended attestations of the predictions
so earnestly given. Here are some of the predictions bearing chiefly
upon passing events of the times, or such as were likely to arise:—
“England is subject to that Sign of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, wherein
Mars at present is placed, & therefore we English, & in Engla. must
expect some, or many of those misfortuns which he generally
signifieth, and which even now we repeated: but the same sign
pointeth out also many Cities & places in the upper Germany, so also
in Austria and its Territories, the Eastern and Southeast parts of
France and the Cities and Townes therein scituated, also the North
East or more Easterly parts of Denmark, that or those parts of the
Polonian Countries or Provinces which are bordering or adjacent unto
the unruly Cossacks, and those Cities and Towns in the upper Silesia,
which lye neer unto the Borders or Confines of the Turks Dominions,
the Dukedom of Burgundy; the Swedish Nation and Souldiery are also
more or lesse, and many of their Towns subject unto the Sign Aries,
and therefore in all or most of these Countries by us nominated,
there will be some violent distempers in the people, some slaughter
of men, and casually by one accident or other much damage in many of
their principal Cities or Sea-towns by Fire, War, inroads of Pyrates
or souldiers, &c.”
“When Venus shall be Lady of the yeare and unfortunate, as now she is
in the seventh house; Women will more than ordinary scold with their
Husbands, and run twatling and scolding out of their houses: many Men
will depart, or run, separate or divorce themselves from their Wives.
This unnaturall Deportment of Women unto their Husbands and Men unto
their Wives, is increased by the nearnesse of Venus unto Mars, and
his positure in the seventh House, which signifieth Women, their
loves and affections either unto their Husbands or others. In that
House he is ‘Damnofus & malus, quia significat inimicitias &
discordias magnas, & accident hominibus furta interfectiones &
contentiones multæ & rixæ in illo anno maximeq in gent illius
Climatis.’ Mars is very unfortunately placed in the seventh house,
signifying there will be many controversies, Law-suits, Duels, much
enmity, many Thefts by Sea & Land, much robbing of Houses; and these
shall most apparantly manifest themselves in the Country, City or
Towne subject unto the sign he is in, of which we have formerly
treated.”
The eclipse of the sun, 29th March, 1652, 9-56 a.m., is announced with
hieroglyphic figures, followed by these remarks:—
“We intended to write a particular Treatise concerning the effects of
this Eclips, which is the greatest this Age hath beheld, and in that
Booke to have delivered unto Posterity a Method whereby they might
have judged what manner of Effects should have been signified by any
Defect of either of the two Luminaries; but our time at this present
being otherwise taken up, we are confined to a narrow scantling of
Paper: we hope some well-wishers unto Astrology will perfect what we
intended on that Subject, being desirous to see the Labours of other
Men abroad, the whole burthen hereof being too heavy for one
Anglicus.”
The idlest tales were believed and credited as facts, and men more
cunning than the common herd thrived by magical and cabalistic spells
they were supposed to cast upon evil spirits. The clergy dealt in
exorcisms, and in surplice and stole performed the rites of the Church.
They condemned witchcraft, however, as heresy; and as early as the reign
of Henry VIII. a statute was passed which enacted that any person, after
the day therein named, devising, practising, or exercising “any
invocations, or conjurations of spirits, witchcrafts, enchantments, or
sorceries, to the intent to get or find money or treasure, or to waste,
consume, or destroy any person in his body, members, or goods, or to
provoke any person to unlawful love, or for any other unlawful intent or
purpose, or by occasion or colour of such things or any of them, or for
despite of Christ, or lucre of money, dig up or pull down any cross, or
crosses, or by such invocations or conjurations of spirits, witchcrafts,
enchantments, or sorcery, or any of them, take upon them to tell or
declare where goods stolen or lost shall be come—that then all and every
person or persons offending as before is mentioned, shall be deemed,
accepted, and adjudged a felon or felons, without benefit of clergy.”
This act was carefully worded, inasmuch as it only extends to witchcraft
or enchantment practised with a criminal or unlawful intent.
Men with very much less learning than the author quoted, lived by their
wits, from their supposed knowledge of the stars, and from being able, as
they professed, to consult the planets and to restore lost property.
Men, and women too, would take long journeys to consult one who could
“read the stars,” or “rule the planets.” From a conversation recorded by
a close observer of men and manners in the beginning of the present
century, for instance, we learn that one of these wise men who lived as
far off as Oswestry was occasionally consulted by the inhabitants here.
Of course it was easy with a little tact for the wife to worm out the
main facts in one room whilst the husband listened and gathered them up
for use in another. Tom Bowlegs having missed a five-pound note from his
cupboard holds the following conversation with a friend, who tells him he
cannot help thinking that the note has been mislaid, not stolen, and
says:—
“The five-pound peaper is not stolen but lost, and thee’lt be sartin
to find it.
No sich thing Yedart, replies Bowlegs; for I went to the wise-mons
and he tow’d me all about it.
The wise-mon! what wise-mon?
Dick Spot that lives slip side Hodgistry the yed of aw the conjurors
in Shropshire.
Aye, and what did he tell thee?
Well, thee shalt hear:
As a five-pound paper was a jell for a poor mon to lose, I determined
to know all about it, so off I set for Dick Spot’s house. After
knocking at the door it was opened by an owd woman, as ugly as the
divil himself, with a face as black as the easter. At first seet I
thought I was tean to, and was for bowting; but wishing to know all
about the paper, I mustered aw my courage, and went in. Pray, said
I, is the Wise-mon a-whoam. No, said she, but he will directly; sit
down; I suppose you have lost something, and wants to know where it
is. Yes, said I, you bin reet. What is it that you have lost? So I
up and tow’d her, aw abowt it. Just as I had finished, in comes the
wise-mon; and he (to my great surprise) said—follow me into this
room; while I was scraping wi mi foot, dewking mi yed, and stroking
my yarr down, amounting altogether to a nation fine beawe, he said—I
was consulting the planets this morning and found that a £5 Shiffnal
bank note had been stolen from under a sugar bason in your cupboard
on Wednesday morning last, between the hours of nine and ten o’clock,
by a tall mon, with a long visage marked by the small pox, gray eyes,
and black beard. (Wonderful! said I, that is the very mon I
suspect!) You will therefore, on your return home, make it known in
his neighbourhood that if the bill is not returned in one week from
this day, that he will lose one of his legs in a few weeks after. If
this comes to his ears I have no doubt the bill will be returned
immediately, but if he does not, he shall be marked as I have told
you, and in that case the bill will be irrecoverable. I knew by the
planets that you would be here at 12 o’clock to-day, and having
overstaid my time at Hodgistry (here he wiped the sweat from his
face). I ran all the way to be in time to meet you.”
The devil, or “divil,” seems to have been an important personage, often
making bargains, in which he not unfrequently got worsted. There were
too familiar imps or demons, according to John Heywood’s homely rhymes,—
“Such as we
PUGS and HOBGOBLINS call; their dwellings be
In corners of old houses least frequented,
Or beneath stacks of wood; and these convented
Make fearful noise in butteries and in dairies,
ROBIN GOODFELLOWS some, some call them FAIRIES.
In solitarie rooms these uproars keep,
And beat at doors to wake men from their sleep,
Seeming to force locks be they ne’re so strong
And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.”
That merry wanderer, Puck, even as late as the present century, was
common to our fields, where he seems to have had a partiality for simple
countrymen, market-fresh, whom he led many a weary dance in fields out of
which they could not find their way. He was occasionally domiciled in
the kitchen, and was useful in sweeping up the hearth while housewives
snored in bed. Farmhouses were favourite residences; but woe to the
dairymaid who happened to offend them! Her milk was sure to turn sour.
They haunted mines sometimes, and used the pick to help forward the
midnight task, or became malignant and caused inundations of water, or
let loose noxious vapours to destroy both mine and miners. On one
occasion a miner named Bagley, who preferred being let down when all the
rest had ascended the shaft, in order to have the assistance of an imp,
was watched by another, who concealed himself for the purpose. But the
imp, who was working whilst the man rested, discovered him and called
upon his friend to bump him against the timber for his intrusion. On
being caught a second time, the imp raised an alarm—“He peeps again,
Bagley; bump him!” showing that the sprite or whatever he was could speak
English. As a supposed proof of the truth of this, Bagley was called
“Bump him, Bagley!” to his dying day.
An old inhabitant of Madeley who believed thoroughly in such things told
us that he once looked through a hole into an old building on a moonlight
night, and saw a score of spirits of this kind dancing right merrily! He
also assured us that an old woman, whose name he gave us, but which we do
not remember, was accounted a witch, and had the power to change herself
into a hare; and that on one occasion she was hunted by the hounds, who
ran her to her cottage, on the Brockton road, where she took the chimney,
and was found sitting by the fire, her hands and feet bleeding from the
run. {121}
If the clergy of those days believed in evil eyes, witchcraft, and
ghosts, it was to be expected that the people would do so, too. They
stood alone on a mental as on a religious eminence. The knell of
ecclesiastical authority had not then been rung; civil incapacity and
inferiority was the tacit proscription of all outside the pale of the
Church; and what we glean of morals and manners under the rigid system of
godly discipline then prevailing is not much in its favour.
Madeley, towards the latter end of the past and beginning of the present
century was favoured above many neighbouring parishes in its clergy. It
had men who led tranquil, holy lives, and some who proclaimed the
conscience of the individual to be the only judge in matters of the
soul,—men who were, it is true, ill-rewarded for their pains, but who
lived beneficent lives, and rendered disinterested service.
Such were John William de la Fletcher and Melville Horne, the latter of
whom went out as a missionary, and established the colony of Sierra
Leone; and others who succeeded them. Let us speak first, however, of
the former.
REV. JOHN W. FLETCHER, VICAR OF MADELEY.
No sketch of Madeley would be complete which did not include a copious
notice of Mr. Fletcher. So many “Lives” of Mr. Fletcher have, however
been written, and are so readily attainable, that we need not enter into
those details appertaining to his parentage, birth, youth, education,
etc., which belong properly to the biographer who writes a book; and we
shall content ourselves therefore with a summary of such matters, in
order the more fully to bring out those traits of character which
distinguished him whilst vicar of this parish.
Jean Guilhaume de la Flechere, to give his proper Swiss name, was born at
Nyon, fifteen miles from Geneva, in the year 1729. He received his
education first in his native town, and then at Geneva, at which latter
place he distinguished himself by his abilities, his thirst for
knowledge, and intense application to study. His biographers relate
boyish incidents and hairbreadth escapes, communicated by himself. His
father before marriage was an officer in the French army, and afterwards
in that of his own country, and young Fletcher on arriving at maturity
resolved to enter the army too, but in consequence of some
disappointments he came to London to learn the English language, and
having done so he obtained a situation as tutor in the family of Mr.
Hill, M.P. for Shrewsbury, who resided at Tern Hall, near Atcham. He was
ordained 1757, and occasionally preached at Atcham, Wroxeter, and the
Abbey church at Shrewsbury, and at St. Alkmunds.
Two years after he was ordained, he was in the habit of occasionally
coming to preach at Madeley, and the year following, through the
influence of Mr. Hill, he was appointed vicar, having chosen it in
preference to a smaller parish with a larger income. Mr. Chambray, the
then vicar, gladly accepting the living Mr. Fletcher declined, thereby
making way for him. One of Mr. Fletcher’s pupils died, the other became
M P. for Shrewsbury; afterwards he represented the county, and finally
was made a peer, under the title of Baron Berwick of Attingham, the name
the house now bears. He appears to have received his appointment to
Madeley in March, 1759.
The Rev. Robert Cox, M.A., one of Mr. Fletcher’s biographers, says:—
“Previous to Mr. Fletcher’s presentation to the living, its
inhabitants, with some honourable exceptions, were notorious for
their ignorance and impiety. They openly profaned the sabbath,
treated the most holy things with contempt, disregarded the
restraints of decency, and ridiculed the very name of religion. It
is to the reproach of England that such a description is but too
frequently applicable to places where mines and manufactories have
collected together a crowded population.”
A desire to be extensively useful soon induced Mr. Fletcher to undertake
extra-parochial duties, but in every way, indignities were offered by
those on whom by contrast his piety, temperance, humility, and example
more strongly reflected. The clergy went into titters and cried
“Enthusiast!” The half-gentry chalked up “Schismatic!” and the
magistrates sought to set the world on a grin by ticketing him a
“Jesuit!” Need we be surprised to hear that Mr. Fletcher was seized, as
he tells us, with the spirit of Jonah—and tempted to quit his charge! It
was a passing temptation, yet such was his tenderness of conscience that
the shadow of a doubt—intruded rather than entertained—disquieted him.
About this time he had some doubts respecting a passage in the service
for the baptism of infants, and also in that for the burial of the dead.
He received much comfort however from his correspondence and interviews
with John and Charles Wesley, whose preachers he welcomed into his
parish.
In a letter dated May, 1767, we find him inviting Whitfield to his parish
for the same purpose. In this letter, May 18th, 1767, he speaks of Capt.
Scott having preached from his horse-block, which seems to mark the first
introduction of Wesleyan Methodism into Madeley. The Roman Catholics
too, gave him trouble, by opening a mission in Madeley, and drawing over
to them two of his converts. This appears to have been in March 1769,
for in a letter to his friend Mr. Ireland dated the 26th, he says:—
“The (Popish) Priest at Madeley is going to open his Mass-house, and
I have declared war on that account last Sunday, and propose to strip
the Whore of Babylon, and expose her nakedness to-morrow. All the
Papists are in a great ferment, and they have held meetings to
consult on the occasion.”
An odour now hangs and will hang about the name of Fletcher, and turning
to his example for encouragement, amid the more sterile tracts of labour,
the weary and desponding will get refreshed. As mountains pierce the
clouds and bring down rains upon the parched and shrivelled plains, so
men now and then tower high above their fellows, and privileged with a
greater significance, sunned and bathed in a purer light, they become a
medium of it to others. It was so with Fletcher. In his presence men of
coarser mould and ruder habits, as well as those distinguished for their
attainments, felt the force and purity of his life. It has taken the
Church of which he was so distinguished a member nearly a whole century
to come up to plans by which he extended the sphere of his usefulness: we
mean those outdoor meetings, cottage-lectures, Scripture readings,
catechisings, and similar means whereby in every corner of the parish he
contrived to stir men up and to create among them a concern for their
higher interests. These are his words:—
“Soon after coming to Madeley, I have frequently had a desire to
exhort in Madeley Wood and Coalbrookdale, two villages of my parish,
but I have not dared to run before I saw an open door. It now, I
think, begins to open, as two small societies of twenty persons have
formed themselves in those places.”
But for a large soul like Mr. Fletcher’s the parish even is too limited,
and we find accordingly that he gathered a small society sixteen miles
off, riding that distance in order to preach at five o’clock in the
morning two or three times a-week. Of course a man could not do this
without treading on someone’s toes. It was the way to get opposition,
and he got it. The churchwardens, clergy, archdeacon, bishop, and
magistrates were dead against him. Magistrates threatened him and the
whole of his flock with imprisonment; and the bishop preached against him
before his brethren at the general visitation. He writes to Charles
Wesley—“A young clergyman who lives at Madeley Wood, where he has great
influence, has openly declared war against me by pasting on the
church-door a paper, in which he charges me with rebellion, schism, and
being a disturber of the public peace. He puts himself at the head of
the gentlemen of the parish (as they term themselves), and supported by
the recorder of Wenlock he is determined to put in force the Conventicle
Act against me. A few weeks ago the widow who lives in the Rock Church
and a young man who read and prayed in my absence were taken up.” He
tells us he appeared at Wenlock and bearded the justices, who denounced
him as a Jesuit!
Times have changed, and what was deemed in Mr Fletcher an indiscretion
and even a crime, is now universally applauded. If persecution to Mr.
Fletcher arose from those who by influence and position should have
seconded his plans, we need scarcely feel surprised to find that, setting
himself against the commoner and coarser vices of the times, he was
opposed by those who thrived thereby. In a letter to Mr. Charles Wesley
he says—“You cannot well imagine how much the animosity of my
parishioners is heightened, and with what boldness it discovers itself
against me, because I preach against drunkenness, shows, and
bull-baiting. The publicans and the maltmen will not forgive me: they
think that to preach against drunkenness and to cut their purse is the
same thing.”
It is difficult to imagine a man of education, taste, and refined feeling
in the midst of elements more discordant, or so totally out of character
with what he had been used to. Unvisited by those influences that from a
thousand sources now combine to smooth the path of the country clergy,
mining districts, like others where the physical energies of the body are
developed to the utmost stretch by the nature of the employment,
presented the greatest obstacles to progress; the most dogged
indifference to efforts made for their advancement; and, where attempts
were made to put a check upon the brutal amusements of the population,
they offered the most determined resistance. At out-door or in-door
services, in such semi-civilized portions of the parish, the sound of
prayer, both on Sundays and week-evenings, would ascend mingled with the
yells and cries and curses of drunken colliers, the barking of dogs, the
roar of a bull, or some indulgence of the kind with which publicans
seasoned their attractions. The Green, at Madeley Wood, was a favourite
spot for such games, and narrowly upon one occasion did this zealous and
pious man escape being pulled from his horse and made the victim of a
party of infuriated colliers, who made the bargain to “bait the parson.”
Mr. Fletcher, with a view of further promoting his mission of usefulness
in 1767 visited Yorkshire, Bristol, Bath, and Wales, and subsequently his
native country, Rome, &c. He returned to England in 1770; and some time
after undertook the charge of a college founded by the Countess of
Huntingdon, at Trevecca, in South Wales, but resigned the appointment, in
consequence of his repugnance to Calvinistic views. This brought out Mr.
Fletcher as a controversialist, with Toplady and others. At the breaking
out of the American War Mr. Fletcher took up his pen in defence of the
Government, and the right divine of kings, contending that “if once
legislation was affirmed to belong to the people, as such, all government
would be overturned,” and that such a scheme ought to be totally
extirpated; doctrines which so pleased the King that the Lord Chancellor
was commissioned to offer him preferment, which he declined.
Poor human nature at best goes on crutches; and one infirmity he had to
struggle with when young, Mr. Benson tells us, “was temper. He was a man
of strong passions, and prone to anger in particular, insomuch that he
has frequently thrown himself on the floor, and laid there most of the
night, bathed in tears, imploring victory over his spirit.” He obtained
it, and by the means employed—by earnest wrestling, by prayer articulate
at times—voiceless, waiting prayer at others. Holiness to be realised in
man—holiness incarnate on earth, eternal in the heavens—and the
annihilation of all that would bar it out from the soul was his motto.
But the man that would tremble before the suspicion of a fault, on the
other hand, could beard a gamester armed, and pour an avalanche of
indignation upon his head—aye, while the infuriated duellist held a
pistol to his breast. There was a combination of earnestness, sincerity,
and, withal, humiliation, about the man that won its way and fused all
before it. There was a primitive simplicity and singleness of purpose,
an enthusiasm unmixed with bitterness, and that heavenly temper about Mr.
Fletcher which reminds one of the sublimated virtues and graces of the
early Christians. Like the old fathers, he accommodated himself to his
hearers, suiting his exhortations to their modes of thought, and seizing
opportunities for imparting instruction and advice, so as to secure for
both the most favourable reception. His parishioners soon began not only
to perceive but to appreciate these excellent features of his character.
Unmoved by storm and tumult, actuated by the purest motives, with a grace
and sweetness that shone through every look and gave value to every
action, his visits, wherever he went, brought with them influences like
the reviving breath of spring. If he overtook on the road a poor woman,
wearied with a load, he assisted her to carry it, meanwhile taking care
to exhort her to relieve herself of that more intolerable one of sin. If
he saw a man fetch down a bird with his gun, he complimented him upon his
aim and called his attention to the mark for the prize of his high
calling—thus tempering and interweaving with things and pursuits of this
life those relating to that which is to come. A very atmosphere of good
surrounded him, from whence distilled heavenly and refreshing dew. To
meet the objections of his parishioners to early Sunday morning meetings,
on the ground of their being unable to rise so early, he was accustomed
to go round the village himself, tinkling a bell; “thus, though free from
all men,” as the Apostle said to the Corinthians, he made himself the
servant of all, giving himself up to the work as practically and
devotedly as though each particular department had been his special duty.
If a poor man was ill and lacked attendance he sat by the sickbed and
tended him; if he needed clothes to keep him warm he stripped himself; if
he needed money he gave it; and even the furniture in his house was at
the service of the poorest. He was not only a servant, but a “servant of
servants,” therefore, unto his brethren; and upon the well-recognised
principle of true greatness laid down by his divine Master—“Whomsoever
would be chief amongst you, let him be your servant”—he obtained that
reverence and regard with which, even now, his name is spoken of both in
the cottages of the poor and houses of the rich.
There was in Mr. Fletcher a combination of distinguished virtues seldom
found in one man, and those so marked and developed that each by itself
would have been sufficient to confer distinction upon any individual
possessing it in an equal degree. Of his ministrations in the pulpit of
the old church none now left can speak. By the children, however, of
those who have listened to him we have often heard it said—“Never were
hearers more riveted and enrapt by lips of a fellow-mortal.” Every topic
received at his hand a fresh bloom—a brilliancy, a fascination, a
fragrance that entranced. Christ the Saviour, Christ in the garden, and
upon the cross; now at the right hand of the Father, and again coming in
great glory to judge the world; man regenerated; the benediction and the
curse; the two hemispheres of the one truth needful for man to know, were
themes upon which he began, continued, and ended.
The “Rock Church,” previously spoken of, at Madeley Wood, was a cottage
built on a spur of one of the sandstones of the lower coal measures, and
it still stands, overlooking the valley of the Severn. Mr. Fletcher
exerted himself, however, to erect a place of better accommodation in
1776, and succeeded in building what now forms part of the old Wesleyan
chapel, a short distance from the Rock Church; and we find him devoting
£25, being a balance of £105 received as the annual income from his
estate in Switzerland, to its completion: the remainder previously
appears to have been devoted to other charitable purposes. He was unable
then, however, to clear off the whole, for in the following year he wrote
to Thomas York and Daniel Edmunds, who assisted him in the secular
concerns of the vicarage, saying:—
“I have attempted to build a house in Madeley-Wood, about the centre
of the parish, where I should be glad if the children might be taught
to read and write in the day, and the grown-up people might hear the
word of God in the evening, when they can get an Evangelist to preach
it to them; and where the serious people might assemble for social
worship, when they have no teacher.
“This has involved me in some difficulties about discharging the
expense of that building, and paying for the ground it stands upon;
especially, as my ill health has put me on the additional expense of
an assistant. If I had strength, I would serve my church alone,
board as cheap as I could, and save what I could from the produce of
the living to clear the debt, and leave that little token of my love,
free from encumbrances, to my parishioners. But as Providence orders
things otherwise, I have another object which is, to secure a
faithful Minister to serve the church while I live. Providence has
sent me dear Mr. Greaves, who loves the people, and is loved by them.
I should be glad to make him comfortable; but as all the care of the
flock, by my illness, devolves upon him, I would not hesitate for a
moment to let him have all the profit of the living, if it were not
for the debt contracted about the room. My difficulty lies, then,
between what I owe to my fellow-labourer, and what I owe to my
parishioners, whom I should be sorry to have burdened with a debt
contracted for the room.
“I beg you will let me know how the balance of my account stands,
that, some way or other, I may order it to be paid immediately: for
if the balance is against me, I could not leave England comfortably
without having settled the payment. A letter will settle this
business, as well as if twenty friends were at the trouble of taking
a journey; and talking is far worse for me than reading or writing.
I do not say this to put a slight upon my dear friends. I should
rejoice to see them, if it would answer any end.
“Ten thousand pardons of my dear friends, for troubling them with
this scrawl about worldly matters. May God help us all, so to settle
all our eternal concerns, that when we shall be called to go to our
long home and heavenly country, we may be ready, and have our
acquittance along with us. I am quite tired with writing;
nevertheless, I cannot lay by my pen, without desiring my best
Christian love to all my dear companions in tribulation, and
neighbours in Shropshire.”
Mr. Fletcher was now, as will be seen, in ill-health, and being ordered
by his physician to a warmer climate, he wrote before leaving Bristol,
another and longer pastoral letter to his Madeley parishioners. In 1778
we find him writing other letters from Nyon, in Switzerland, detailing
information he had collected in passing through France, concerning the
deaths of Voltaire and Rousseau, and inclosing notes to be read to
societies at Madeley, Dawley, The Bank, &c.
The building at Madeley Wood cost more than he expected, and we find him
saying:—
“I am sorry the building has come to so much more than I intended;
but as the mischief is done, it is a matter to exercise patience,
resignation, and self-denial; and it will be a caution in future. I
am going to sell part of my little estate here, to discharge the
debt. I had laid by fifty pounds to print a small work, which I
wanted to distribute here; but as I must be just before I presume to
offer that mite to ‘the God of truth,’ I lay by the design, and shall
send that sum to Mr. York. Money is so scarce here, at this time,
that I shall sell at a very great loss; but necessity and justice are
two great laws, which must be obeyed. As I design, on my return to
England, to pinch until I have got rid of this debt, I may go and
live in one of the cottages belonging to the Vicar, if we could let
the vicarage for a few pounds; and in that case, I dare say, Mr.
Greaves would be so good as to take the other little house.”
Mr. Fletcher returned to England in the spring of 1781, better, but
without having regained his health; and in the course of the summer he
had an interview with Miss Bosanquet, at Cross Hall, Yorkshire, which led
to marriage in November, and both arrived at Madeley in January, 1782.
With good nursing his health returned, so that he was able to write to
Mr. Wesley in December of that year, to say—“I have strength enough to do
my parish work without the help of a curate.” This was one of those
years of bad harvests and scarcity of provisions, which usually led to
disturbances, and we find him in the same letter saying:—“The colliers
began to rise in this neighbourhood: happily, the cockatrice’s egg was
crushed before the serpent came out. However, I got many a hearty curse
from the colliers for the plain words I spoke on the occasion.”
Acting upon the proposals of Mrs. Darby, he established a Sunday-school
in Madeley Wood. These proposals were:—
“I.—It is proposed that Sunday-schools be set up in this parish for
such children as are employed all the week, and for those whose
education has been hitherto totally neglected.
“II.—That the children admitted into these be taught reading, writing,
and the principles of religion.
“III.—That there be a school for boys, and another for girls, in
Madeley, Madeley-Wood, and Coalbrook-Dale: six in all.
“IV.—That a subscription be opened, to pay each Teacher one shilling
per Sunday, and to buy tables, forms, books, pens, and ink.
“V.—That two Treasurers be appointed to ask and receive the
contributions of the subscribers.
“VI.—That whosoever subscribes one guinea a year shall be a Governor.
“VII.—That three or four Inspectors be appointed, who are to visit the
schools once a week, to see that the children attend regularly, and the
masters do their duty.
“VIII.—That a book be provided for setting down all receipts and
expenses; and another for the names of the Teachers and the scholars.
“IX.—That the schools be solemnly visited once or twice a year; and a
premium given to the children that have made the greatest improvement.”
Three hundred children were soon gathered together whom Mr. Fletcher took
every opportunity of instructing, by regular meetings, which he attended
with the utmost diligence. In order to encourage the children he gave
them little hymn-books, pointing them to some friend or neighbour, who
would teach them the hymns and instruct them to sing. They were greatly
taken with this new employment, insomuch that it is said many would
scarce allow themselves time to eat or sleep, for the desire they had of
learning their lessons. At every meeting, after inquiring who had made
the greatest proficiency, he distinguished them by some little reward.
He also urged upon his more wealthy parishioners the importance of
establishing such schools at Coalbrookdale and Madeley.
MR. FLETCHER AS HEAD OF LADY HUNTINGDON’S COLLEGE.
Mr. Fletcher was for some time at the head of a college founded by the
Countess of Huntingdon for young men preparing for the ministry, at
Trevecca, in South Wales. His attachment to his flock at Madeley,
however, prevented him paying more than occasional visits and giving
advice with regard to the appointment of masters, and the admission or
exclusion of students. Mr. Benson, one of the tutors, tells us that he
here gave numberless proofs of his amiable disposition. To mention but
one instance, two of the students were bitterly prejudiced against each
other, and he took them into a room by themselves, reasoned with them,
wept over them, and at last prevailed. Their hearts were broken; they
were melted down; they fell upon each others’ necks and wept aloud.
The long journeys on horseback, in all seasons and in all weathers, from
Madeley to Trevecca and back again to Madeley, however, told upon his
constitution, and much impaired his health.
MR. FLETCHER AS A CONTROVERSIALIST.
Mr. Fletcher’s connection with Trevecca College terminated in his
resigning, in consequence of a dispute which arose out of certain minutes
by the Wesleyan Conference in opposition to the doctrine of
predestination, first brought into prominence by the great Geneva
reformer, Calvin. Lady Huntingdon invited all in connection with the
college to write their sentiments respecting them, adding a strong hint
that all who did not repudiate the views contained in Mr. Wesley’s
minutes must prepare to quit. Mr. Fletcher wrote strongly in favour of
his friend Wesley, and resigned his appointment. These expressions of
his views brought him in opposition to his patrons, the Hills, two of
whom, Richard (afterwards Sir Richard) and Rowland, used their pens in
defence of Mr. Fletcher’s opponent, a brother-clergyman named Toplady,
then the great champion of Calvinism. Mr. Wesley, who had laid the train
which led to the explosion, either from want of time or inclination to
remain on the field, left two of his preachers to sustain the shock, and
these proving unequal to the task, Mr. Fletcher was left to fight the
battle single-handed. This he did in a series of cleverly-written works,
entitled “Checks to Antinomianism,” in speaking of one of which in a
letter to a friend, dated March 20, 1774:, he says:—“I do not repent of
my having engaged in this controversy; for though I doubt my little
publication cannot reclaim those who are confirmed in believing the lie
of the day, yet it may here and there stop one from swallowing it all, or
at least from swallowing it so deeply.” Two years after he says—“I have
almost run my race of scribbling; and I have preached as much as I could,
though to little purpose; but I must not complain. If one person has
received good by my ten years’ labour it is an honour for which I cannot
be too thankful, if my mind were as low as it should be.”
A not very friendly critic, the _Christian Observer_, speaking some time
afterwards of this discussion, says:—
“We have no hesitation in saying that we believe Mr. Fletcher’s
motives in writing them to have been pure and upright. We also think
that in his manner of conducting the controversy, now happily almost
forgotten, he had decidedly the advantage of his antagonists. He was
an acute and animated disputant; a brilliant imagination rendered his
argumentation imposing, splendid, and dazzling, while it enabled him
to paint the doctrines of his adversaries in the darkest and most
odious colours; and whatever may have been the merits of the cause
which he defended,—into these we do not mean to enter,—he was
undoubtedly superior in talents and learning to all his opponents.”
Mr. Wesley says:—“One knows not which to admire most, the _purity_ of the
language (such as scarce any foreigner wrote before); the _strength_ and
_clearness_ of the argument; or the _mildness_ and _sweetness_ of the
spirit that breathes throughout the whole.” Those who read these
discussions in the present day feel surprised at the warmth and
bitterness exhibited by the antagonists, but allowance must be made for
the temper of the times.
MR. FLETCHER AS A POLITICIAN.
As in the religious controversy, so in the political dispute which arose
out of the American War of Independence, Mr. Fletcher came forth as the
champion of his friend Mr. Wesley, who having provoked his antagonists,
deputed the task of answering them to the Madeley vicar, and the friends
of both must now, we imagine, regret that either of them took up their
pens in such a cause. It is not too much to say that both entered the
lists, if not on the side of the oppressor, at any rate as against that
spirit of liberty for which a Washington and a Franklin fought, and which
had been implanted on New England soil by colonists to whom a Stuart king
had made the old country unsafe longer to live in. The mistake was
perhaps the result of that harsh-drawn line by which intensely devout
minds like those of Mr. Wesley and Mr. Fletcher are apt to separate
things religious and political, and which not unfrequently leads to an
insensibility to public injustice and crime, even, strangely
disproportioned to the zeal displayed in behalf of some dogmatic and
invisible subtleties of creed. Dr. Arnold and others since Mr.
Fletcher’s day have done much to correct the notion which removes
religion and God from politics, and which sets up in sharp opposition the
earthly and heavenly relations of men.
MR. FLETCHER AS A DESCRIPTIVE WRITER.
It may afford a fair specimen of Mr. Fletcher’s dispassionate descriptive
style of writing, and at the same time serve to commemorate a notable
phenomenon much talked of at that time, to quote his account of the great
landslip at the Birches, just on the borders of the parishes of Madeley
and Buildwas.
“When I went to the spot,” says Mr. Fletcher, “the first thing that
struck me was the destruction of the little bridge that separated the
parish of Madeley from that of Buildwas, and the total disappearing
of the turnpike road to Buildwas bridge, instead of which nothing
presented itself to my view but a confused heap of bushes, and huge
clods of earth tumbled one over another. The river also wore a
different aspect; it was shallow, turbid, noisy, boisterous, and came
down from a different point. Whether I considered the water or the
land the scene appeared to me entirely new, and as I could not fancy
myself in another part of the country, I concluded that the God of
nature had shaken his providential iron rod over the subverted spot
before me. Following the track made by a great number of spectators,
who came already from the neghbouring parishes, I climbed over the
ruins and came to a field well grown with rye-grass, where the ground
was greatly cracked in several places, and where large turfs, some
entirely, others half turned up exhibited the appearance of straight
or crooked furrows, imperfectly formed by a plough drawn at a
venture. Getting from that field over the hedge, into a part of the
road which was yet visible, I found it raised in one place, sunk in
another, concave in a third, hanging on one side in a fourth, and
contracted as if some uncommon force had pressed the two hedges
together. But the higher part of it surprised me most, and brought
directly to my remembrance those places of mount Vesuvius where the
solid stony lava has been strongly marked by repeated earthquakes,
for the hard-beaten gravel that formed the surface of the road was
broken every way into huge masses, partly detatched from each other,
with deep apertures between them exactly like the shattered lava.
This striking likeness of circumstances made me conclude that the
similar effect might proceed from the same cause, namely, a strong
convulsion on the surface if not in the bowels of the earth. Going a
little farther towards Buildwas I found that the road was again
totally lost for a considerable space, having been overturned,
absorbed, or tumbled with the hedges’ that bounded it to a
considerable distance towards the river; this part of the desolation
appeared then to me inexpressibly dreadful. Between a shattered
field and the river there was on that morning a bank on which besides
a great deal of underwood grew twenty fine large oaks, this wood shot
with such violence into the Severn before it that it forced the water
in great columns a considerable height, like mighty fountains, and
gave the overflowing river a retrograde motion. This is not the only
accident that happened to the Severn; for near the Grove the channel
which was chiefly of a soft blue rock burst in ten thousand pieces,
and rose perpendicularly about ten yards, heaving up the immense
quantity of water and the shoals of fishes that were therein. Among
the rubbish at the bottom of the river, which was very deep in that
place, there were one or two huge stones and a large piece of timber,
or an oak tree, which from time immemorial had lain partly buried in
the mud, I suppose in consequence of some flood; the stones and tree
were thrown up as if they had been only a pebble and a stick, and are
now at some distance from the river, many feet higher than the
surface of it. Ascending from the ruins of the road I came to those
of a barn, which after travelling many yards towards the river had
been absorbed in a chasm where the shattered roof was yet visible.
Next to these remains of the barn, and partly parallel with the
river, was a long hedge which had been torn from a part of it yet
adjoining the garden hedge, and had been removed above forty yards
downward together with some large trees that were in it and the land
that it enclosed. The tossing, tearing, and shifting of so many
acres of land below, was attended with the formation of stupendous
chasms above. At some distance above, near the wood which crowns
that desolated spot, another chasm, or rather a complication of
chasms excited my admiration; it is an assemblage of chasms, one of
which that seems to terminate the desolation to the north-east, runs
some hundred yards towards the river and Madeley Wood; it looked like
the deep channel of some great serpentine river dried up, whose
little islands, fords, and hollows appear without a watery veil.
This long chasm at the top seems to be made up of two or three that
run into each other, and their conjunction when it is viewed from a
particular point exhibits the appearance of a ruined fortress whose
ramparts have been blown up by mines that have done dreadful
execution, and yet have spared here and there a pyramid of earth, or
a shattered tower by which the spectators can judge of the nature and
solidity of the demolished bulwark. Fortunately there was on the
devoted spot but one house, inhabited by two poor countrymen and
their families; it stands yet, though it has removed about a yard
from its former situation. The morning in which the desolation
happened, Samuel Wilcocks, one of those countrymen, got up about four
o’clock, and opening the window to see if the weather was fair he
took notice of a small crack in the earth about four or five inches
wide, and observed the above mentioned field of corn heaving up and
rolling about like the waves of the sea; the trees by the motion of
the ground waved also, as if they had been blown with the wind,
though the air was calm and serene; the river Severn, which for some
days had overflowed its banks, was also very much agitated and seemed
to turn back to its source. The man being astonished at such a
sight, rubbed his eyes, supposing himself not quite awake, and being
soon convinced that destruction stalked about he alarmed his wife,
and taking the children in their arms they went out of the house as
fast as they could, accompanied by the other man and his wife. A
kind Providence directed their flight, for instead of running
eastward across the fields that were just going to be overthrown,
they fled westward into a wood that had little share in the
destruction. When they were about twenty yards from the house they
perceived a great crack run very quick up the ground from the river;
immediately the land behind them with the trees and hedges moved
towards the Severn with great swiftness and an uncommon noise, which
Samuel Wilcocks compared to a large flock of sheep running swiftly by
him. It was then chiefly that desolation expanded her wings over the
devoted spot and the Birches saw a momentary representation of a
partial chaos! then nature seemed to have forgotten her laws: trees
became itinerant!—those that were at a distance from the river
advanced towards it, while the submerged oak broke out of its watery
confinements and by rising many feet recovered a place on dry land;
the solid road was swept away as its dust had been on a stormy
day;—then probably the rocky bottom of the Severn emerged, pushing
towards heaven astonished shoals of fishes and hogsheads of water
innumerable;—the wood like an embattled body of vegetable combatants
stormed the bed of the overflowing river, and triumphantly waved its
green colours over its recoiling flood;—fields became moveable,—nay,
they fled when none pursued, and as they fled they rent the green
carpets that covered them in a thousand pieces;—in a word, dry land
exhibited the dreadful appearance of a sea-storm. Solid earth as if
it had acquired the fluidity of water tossed itself into massy waves,
which rose or sunk at the beck of him who raised the tempest; and
what is most astonishing, the stupendous hollow of one of those waves
ran for nearly a quarter of a mile through rocks and a stony soil
with as much ease as if dry earth, stones, and rocks had been a part
of the liquid element. Soon after the river was stopt, Samuel
Cookson, a farmer who lives a quarter of a mile below the Birches, on
the same side of the river, was much terrified by a dust of wind that
beat against his windows as if shot had been thrown against it, but
his fright greatly increased when getting up to see if the flood that
was over his ground had abated he perceived that all the water was
from his fields, and that scarce any remained in the Severn. He
called up his family, ran to the river, and finding that the river
was dammed up, he made the best of his way to alarm the inhabitants
of Buildwas, the next village above, which he supposed would soon be
under water. He was happily mistaken, providence just prepared a way
for their escape; the Severn, notwithstanding a considerable flood
which at that time rendered it doubly rapid and powerful, having met
with two dreadful shocks, the one from her rising bed and the other
from the intruding wood, could do nothing but foam and turn back with
impetuosity. The ascending and descending streams conflicted about
Buildwas bridge; the river sensibly rose for some miles back, and
continued rising till just as it was near entering the houses at
Buildwas it got a vent through the fields on the right, and after
spreading far and near over them collected all its might to assault
its powerful aggressor, I mean the Grove, that had so unexpectedly
turned it out of the bed which it had enjoyed for countless ages.
Sharp was the attack, but the resistance was yet more vigorous, and
the Severn, repelled again and again, was obliged to seek its old
empty bed, by going the shortest way to the right, and the moment it
found it again it precipitated therein with a dreadful roar, and for
a time formed a considerable cataract with inconceivable fury, as if
it wanted to be avenged on the first thing that came in its way,
began to tear and wash away a fine rich meadow opposite to the Grove,
and there in a few hours worked itself a new channel about three
hundred yards long, through which a barge from Shrewsbury ventured
three or four days after, all wonder at the strangement of the
overthrow.”
Mr. Fletcher added:—“My employment and taste leading me more to search
out the mysteries of heaven than to scrutinize the phenomena of the
earth, and to point at the wonders of grace rather than those of nature;
I leave the decision of the question about the slip and the earthquake to
some abler philosopher.”
The phenomenon was nothing more nor less than a landslip, such as has
occurred time after time alongside the banks of the Severn, only upon a
larger scale than usual; and Mr. Fletcher, as was his wont, turned the
event to account by addressing the large number who had assembled to
witness what had taken place, in words of earnest and solemn import, and
by preaching again to them on the same spot the following evening.
MR. FLETCHER IN THE PULPIT.
In person Mr. Fletcher was above the middle stature. He had a pleasing
face, a penetrating eye, and a slightly aquiline nose. His manners were
courteous and graceful, and he displayed a dignity and humility of
character rarely associated in the same person. In the pulpit, it is
said, the liveliest fancy could not frame for any of the ancient saints
an aspect more venerable or apostolic.
Of Mr. Fletcher’s preaching, the author of a letter quoted by Mr. Gilpin
says:—
“I would rather have heard one sermon from Mr. Fletcher, _viva voce_,
than read a volume of his works. His words were clothed with power,
and entered with effect. His writings are arrayed in all the garb of
human literature. But his living word soared an eagle’s flight above
humanity. He basked in the sun, carried his young ones on his wings,
and seized the prey, for his Master. In short, his preaching was
apostolic; while his writings, tho’ enlightened, are but human.”
His aim was not to captivate his hearers by artificial means, but by
simple and sincere scriptural arguments; and his language, gesture,
voice, and pleasing expression of countenance aided much in fixing the
attention and affecting the heart. Many walked long distances and
brought their dinners with them, that they might attend morning and
afternoon services; and deep indentations in the stone pillars of the
vicarage gate exist to show where some sharpened their knives. He
sometimes provided dinners for them in his own house.
The clerk at one of the churches Mr. Fletcher served for some time sought
to turn his popularity to account by charging for admission to all not
belonging to the parish, to which practice Mr. Fletcher soon put an end
upon its coming to his knowledge, and compelled him to return the money.
Mr. Fletcher preached _extempore_, but generally used notes, or heads of
the divisions and subdivisions of his subjects. We have eight of these
(given us by Miss Tooth, Mrs. Fletcher’s adopted daughter). They are
very neatly written, each one occupying a space of about seven inches by
five. In preaching at Bristol on one occasion he said:—
“One Sunday when I had done reading prayers at Madeley, I went up
into the pulpit, intending to preach a sermon, which I had prepared
for that purpose. But my mind was so confused that I could not
recollect either my text or any part of my sermon. I was afraid I
should be obliged to come down without saying anything. But having
recollected myself a little, I thought I would say something on the
first lesson, which was the third chapter of Daniel, containing the
account of the three children cast into the fiery furnace: I found in
doing so such an extraordinary assistance from God, and such a
peculiar enlargement of the heart, that I supposed there must be some
peculiar cause for it. I therefore desired, if any of the
congregation found anything particular, they would acquaint me with
it in the ensuing week.
“In consequence of this, the Wednesday after, a woman came and gave
me the following account: ‘I have been for some time much concerned
about my soul. I have attended the church at all opportunities, and
have spent much time in private prayer. At this my husband (who is a
baker) has been exceedingly enraged, and threatened me severely what
he would do if I did not leave off going to John Fletcher’s church:
yea, if I dared to go to any more religious meetings whatsoever.
When I told him I could not, in conscience, refrain from going at
least to our parish church, he grew quite outrageous, and swore
dreadfully if I went any more he would cut my throat as soon as I
came home. This made me cry mightily to God that He would support me
in the trying hour. And though I did not feel any great degree of
comfort, yet having a sure confidence in God, I determined to go on
in my duty, and leave the event to Him. Last Sunday, after many
struggles with the devil and my own heart, I came down stairs ready
for church. My husband asked me whether I was resolved to go
thither. I told him I was. ‘Well then,’ said he, ‘I shall not (as I
intended) cut your throat, but I will heat the oven, and throw you
into it the moment you come home.’ Notwithstanding this threatening,
which he enforced with many bitter oaths, I went to church, praying
all the way that God would strengthen me to suffer whatever might
befall me. While you were speaking of the three children whom
Nebuchadnezzar cast into the burning fiery furnace, I found it all
belonged to _me_, and God applied every word to my heart. And when
the sermon was ended I thought if I had a thousand lives I could lay
them all down for God. I felt my whole soul so filled with His love
that I hastened home, fully determined to give myself to whatsoever
God pleased: nothing doubting but that either He would take me to
heaven if He suffered me to be burnt to death, or that He would some
way or other deliver me, even as He did his three _servants that
trusted in Him_. When I got almost to our own door I saw the flames
issuing out of the mouth of the oven; and I expected nothing else but
that I should be thrown into it immediately. I felt my heart rejoice
that, if it were so, the will of the Lord would be done. I opened
the door, and to my utter astonishment saw my husband upon his knees,
wrestling with God in prayer for the forgiveness of his sins. He
caught me in his arms, earnestly begging my pardon, and has continued
diligently seeking God ever since.’
“I now know why my sermon was taken from me—namely, that God might thus
magnify His mercy.”
MR. FLETCHER’S CHARITY AND LOVE OF THE POOR.
Mr. Fletcher’s income from his living was not more on an average, Mrs.
Fletcher says, than £100 per annum; and many of the wealthy people of the
Dale objected to pay tythe, which he equally objected to enforce.
“But whether he had less or more, it was the same thing upon his own
account (Mrs. Fletcher remarks): as he had no other use for it, after
frugally supplying his own wants and the wants of those dependent on
him, but to spread the gospel and assist the poor. And he frequently
said he was never happier than when he had given away the last penny
he had in the house. If at any time I had gold in my drawers it
seemed to afford him no comfort. But if he could find a handful of
small silver when he was going out to see the sick he would express
as much pleasure over it as a miser would in discovering a pan of hid
treasure. He was never better pleased with my employment than when
he had set me to prepare food or physic for the poor. He was hardly
able to relish his dinner if some sick neighbour had not a part of
it; and sometimes when any one of them was in want I could not keep
the linen in his drawers. On Sundays he provided for numbers of
people who came from a distance to hear the word; and his house as
well as his heart was devoted to their convenience. To relieve them
that were afflicted in body or mind was the delight of his heart.
Once a poor man who feared God, being brought into great
difficulties, he took down all the pewter from the kitchen shelves,
saying—’This will help _you_, and I can do without it: a wooden
trencher will serve _me_ just as well.’ In epidemic and contagions
distempers, when the neighbours were afraid to nurse the sick, he has
gone from house to house, seeking some that were willing to undertake
that office. And when none could be found he has offered his
service, to sit up with them himself. But this was at his first
coming to Madeley. At present there is in many (and has been for
many years) a most ready mind to visit and relieve the distressed.
“He thoroughly complied with that advice—
‘Give to all something: to a good poor man,
Till thou change hands, and be where he began.’
“I have heard him say that when he lived alone in his house the tears
have come into his eyes when five or six insignificant letters have
been brought him, at three or four pence a-piece; and perhaps he had
only a single shilling in the house to distribute among the poor to
whom he was going. He frequently said to me—’O, Polly, can we not do
without beer? Let us drink water, and eat less meat. Let our
necessities give way to the extremities of the poor.’
“But with all his generosity and charity he was strictly careful to
follow the advice of the apostle, _Owe no man any thing_. He
contracted no debt. While he gave all he had he made it a rule to
pay ready-money for everything, believing this was the best way to
keep the mind unencumbered and free from care. Meanwhile his
substance, his time, his strength, his life, were devoted to the
service of the poor. And last of all he gave _me_ to them. For when
we were married he asked me solemnly ‘whether I was willing to marry
his parish?’ And the first time he led me among his people in this
place he said—‘I have not married this wife only for myself, but for
_you_. I asked her of the Lord for _your_ comfort as well as my
own.’”
MR. FLETCHER’S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH.
Mr. Fletcher’s wish was to live as he would be likely to wish he had
lived when he came to die, a holy life rather than a triumphant death
being his main object. A Godly life was the way to a happy death, he
stated in one of his sermons; nevertheless, he continued, this rule like
many others might have exceptions, as the partial or entire derangement
of the human machine, or the self-chastisement of a tender conscience on
account of former infidelities might determine.
During the ravages of an infectious fever in the parish he reproved a
portion of his flock who from fear of death refrained from rendering
assistance to the sick and the dying. “Use every precaution prudence can
suggest,” he said, “and meekly but confidently commit yourselves to the
gracious Power in whom you live, and then without fear stand firm to the
calls of duty. . . . For myself, whenever I shall have numbered the days
He may appoint, I shall deem it an additional honour and blessing if He
should appoint me to meet my death while I am engaged in the kind offices
of humanity and mercy.”
Mr. Fletcher may be said to have had his wish, for he was engaged in
visiting the sick and duties of a like kind on the Thursday, (August 4,
1785), from three in the afternoon till nine at night, when on returning
home he found he had taken cold. On Friday and Saturday he suffered from
fever, and on Sunday he began the service apparently with his usual
strength; but he soon faltered. The congregation was alarmed, and Mrs.
Fletcher earnestly entreated him to discontinue a task clearly beyond his
strength. He recovered on the windows being opened, and preached with
remarkable energy and effect. “As soon as he had finished his sermon,”
one of his biographers says, “he walked to the communion-table. Here the
same affecting scene was renewed with additional solemnity. Tears
started from every eye and sighs escaped from every breast, while his
people beheld their minister offering up the last languid remains of a
life that had been lavishly spent in their service. In going through
this last part of his duty he was frequently exhausted, but his spiritual
vigour triumphed over his bodily weakness. At length, after having
struggled through a service of some hours’ continuance, he was supported,
with blessings in his mouth, from the altar to his chamber, where he lay
some time in a swoon, and from whence he never walked into the world
again. Mr. Fletcher’s friends entered so entirely into his devotional
feelings that, they were spared the bitter pang which they would
otherwise have experienced from the reflection that these imprudent
exertions exasperated his disorder, and proved an acceleration of his
death.”
He lingered till the following Sunday, at times greatly edifying his
friends with accounts of his experience. Mr. Cox says:—
“After evening service several of the poor who came from a distance,
and were usually entertained under his roof, lingered about the
house, and at length expressed an earnest desire to be permitted once
more to behold their expiring pastor. Their request was granted.
The door of his chamber was set open, directly opposite to which he
was sitting upright in bed, unaltered in his appearance; and as they
slowly passed along the gallery, one by one, they paused at the door,
with a look of mingled supplication and anguish.
“A few hours after this affecting scene he breathed his last, without
a struggle or a groan. At the moment of his departure Mrs. Fletcher
was kneeling by his side; a domestic, who had attended him with
uncommon assiduity, was seated at his head; and his respected friend,
Mr. Gilpin, was sorrowfully standing near his feet. Uncertain
whether he had actually expired, they pressed near, and hung over his
bed in the attitude of listening attention. His lips had ceased to
move, and his head was gently sinking upon his bosom. They stretched
out their hands: but his warfare was accomplished, and his happy
spirit had taken its everlasting flight. Such was the end of this
eminently holy and laborious servant of God, who entered into rest on
the evening of Sunday, August 14, 1785, in the fifty-sixth year of
his age.
“Mr. Fletcher had frequently expressed an earnest desire that he
might be buried in the plainest manner possible. ‘Let there be no
pomp,’ he would say, ‘no expense, no ceremony, at my funeral. The
coffin of the parish poor will suit me best.’ To these instructions
his affectionate widow religiously adhered. A plain oak coffin, with
a brass plate, conveyed his honoured remains to their long home,
without a pall, pall-bearers, scarf, or hat-band. But two thousand
of his parishioners followed him to the grave, who manifested by all
the signs of unaffected sorrow their affliction for their irreparable
loss.”
TESTIMONIES OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE REV. JOHN FLETCHER.
Posthumous literature usually carries little weight. It often assumes
virtues to which the deceased were strangers, and not unfrequently libels
the dead. The simple epitaph on the plain iron plate which covers Mr.
Fletcher’s remains in the Madeley churchyard is not of this class, but is
so modest an expression of facts that it requires to be read by the light
which the records of contemporaries throw upon it, and which will be
found to be more on a level with the merits and virtues of the deceased.
The _Shrewsbury Chronicle_ of August, 1785, in recording the death of Mr.
Fletcher had the following:—
“On the 14th instant, departed this life, the Rev. John Fletcher,
Vicar of Madeley, in this county, to the inexpressible grief and
concern of his parishioners, and of all who had the happiness of
knowing him. If we speak of him as a man, and a gentleman, he was
possessed of every virtue and every accomplishment, which adorns and
dignifies human nature. If we attempt to speak of him as a Minister
of the Gospel, it will be extremely difficult to give the world a
just idea of _this great Character_. His deep learning, his exalted
piety, his never-ceasing labours to discharge the important duties of
his function, together with the abilities and good effect with which
he discharged those duties are best known, and will never be
forgotten, in that vineyard in which he laboured. His charity, his
universal benevolence, his meekness, and exemplary goodness, are
scarcely equalled amongst the sons of men. Anxious, to the last
moment of his life, to discharge the sacred duties of his office, he
performed the service of the church, and administered the holy
sacrament to upwards of two hundred communicants, the Sunday
preceding his death, confiding in that Almighty Power, which had
given him life, and resigning that life into the hands of Him who
gave it, with that composure of mind, and those joyful hopes of a
happy resurrection, which ever accompany the last moments of the
just.”
“Fletcher is a seraph who burns with the ardour of divine love; and
spurning the fetters of mortality, he almost habitually seems to have
anticipated the rapture of the beatific vision.”—_Robert Hall_.
“A pattern of holiness, scarce to be paralleled in a
century.”—_Minutes of Wesleyan Conference_, 7, 183.
“I was intimately acquainted with him for above thirty years. I
never heard him speak one improper word, nor saw him do any improper
action. So unblamable a character, in every respect, I have not
found, and I scarce expect to find such another on this side of
eternity.”—_John Wesley_.
“Fletcher, I conceive to be the most holy man who has been upon earth
since the apostolic age.”—_Dr. Dixon_.
“No age or country has ever produced a man of more fervid piety, or
more perfect charity; no Church has ever possessed a more apostolic
minister.”—_Robert Southey_.
“He was a saint, a saint such as the Church of every age has produced
a few samples, as unearthly a being as could tread the earth at
all.”—_Isaac Taylor_.
“Almost an angel in human flesh, prayer, praise, love, and zeal were
the element in which he lived. His one employment was to call,
entreat, and urge others to ascend with him to the glorious Source of
being and blessedness.”—_Joseph Benson_.
The following is a copy of the entry in the parish register:—
“John Fletcher, clerk, died on Sunday evening, August 14th, 1785. He
was one of the most apostolic men of the age in which he lived. His
abilities were extraordinary, and his labours unparalleled. He was a
burning and shining light, and as his life had been a common blessing
to the inhabitants of this parish, so the death of this great man was
lamented by them as a common and irreparable loss. This little
testimony was inserted by one who sincerely loved and honoured him.
Joshua Gilpin, vicar of Wrockwardine.”
EPITAPH ON GRAVESTONE.
“Here lies the Body of
the REV. JOHN WILLIAM DE LA FLECHERE,
Vicar of Madeley.
He was born at Nyon, in Switzerland,
September 12th, MDCCXXIX,
and finished his Course in this Village,
August 14th, MDCCLXXXV, where his
unexampled labours will be long remembered.
He exercised his Ministry for the Space
of Twenty five Years in this Parish,
with uncommon Zeal and Ability.
Many believed his Report and became his Joy
and Crown of Rejoicing:
While others constrained him to take up
the Lamentation of the Prophet,
‘All the Day long have I stretched out my Hands
unto a disobedient and gainsaying People;
yet surely my Judgment is with the Lord,
and my Work with my God.
(He being dead yet speaketh.’)”
MRS. FLETCHER,
OF MADELEY.
Long before the question of woman’s mission came to be debated, there
were useful and pious women who quite came up to the standard modern
champions of the sex have raised. History brings before us the names of
many whose thoughts and doings had a vital influence upon the society in
the midst of which they moved. The fidelity, zeal, and usefulness of
some appear as a silver-thread woven into the past, showing that there is
no sex in piety or in intellect. When the down trodden vine of
Christianity had to be raised, tended, and made to entwine around the
sceptre of the Cæsars, there were “fellow-helpers” of the apostles,
“honourable women, not a few,” who distinguished themselves. So in the
days of the Wesleys and Fletcher, there were women who greatly aided in
the work of christian revival. Mrs. Fletcher was one of these. She was
born at Forest House, once the residence of the Earl of Norwich, on the
1st September, 1739. The Cedars, another fine old mansion in
Leytonstone, built by Charles II., was her property. She was therefore a
Lady by birth and fortune; and she chose to be useful in her day and
generation. She was the subject of early religious impressions, which
gave tone and character to her life. The first use she made of her
wealth and influence upon coining into possession of her property was to
convert the spacious building she inherited into an Orphanage, and her
income was devoted to the support of this and similar institutions. She
held religious meetings, and exhorted among the Wesleyans, of which body
she became a member. She heard frequently of Mr. Fletcher, and Mr.
Fletcher of her, through the Wesleys; and a presentiment seems to have
been felt by each that they were designed for each other. Twenty-six
years however elapsed before proposals were made or an intimacy sprung
up. They were married on the 12th of November, 1781, at Batley church,
near Cross Hall, at that time the residence of Miss Bosanquet, and in
January, 1782 she says in one of her letters:—
“On January 2nd, 1782, we set out for Madeley. But O! where shall I
begin my song of praise! What a turn is there in all my affairs!
What a depth of sorrow, distress, and perplexity, am I delivered
from! How shall I find language to express the goodness of the Lord!
Not one of the good things have failed me of all the Lord my God hath
spoken. Now I know no want but that of more grace. I have such a
husband as is in everything suited to me. He bears with all my
faults and failings, in a manner that continually reminds me of that
word, ‘Love your wives as Christ loved the church.’ His constant
endeavour is to make me happy; his strongest desire, my spiritual
growth. He is, in every sense of the word, the man my highest reason
chooses to obey. I am also happy in a servant, whom I took from the
side of her mother’s coffin, when she was four years old. She loves
us as if we were her parents, and is also truly devoted to God.”
Married life however with them was a short one. The seeds of disease
which had previously shewn themselves became in course of time more fully
developed, and in three years and nine months she was left a widow. She
survived her husband 30 years; and was permitted to continue to live at
the vicarage; and she frequently held meetings at the Rough Park, at
Coalbrookdale, Madeley, and Madeley Wood; having first taken counsel of
Mr. Wesley, who approved of the steps she had taken.
“The Old Barn” was one of the places long associated with her labours and
her name, and was a place long endeared to Mr. Wesley’s early ministers,
who used it for preaching and exhortation. It was a heavy half-timbered
building, in the fashion of former times, a lithograph representation of
which by a friend of ours, Mr. Philip Ballard, may be seen in the houses
of many of the inhabitants of Madeley.
Sarah Lawrence, whom Mr. Fletcher took as a child from the side of her
mother’s coffin, and adopted as a daughter, was a faithful friend, and of
considerable assistance in visiting and conversing with the sick; but she
died some years before Mrs. Fletcher, who built a chapel at Coalport to
her memory, in consequence of a dream Miss Lawrence had had, that great
good would result from the erection of a place of worship there. The
lease, we believe, has now expired.
Miss Tooth, another adopted daughter, survived Mrs. Fletcher, and for
many years continued the Sunday morning meetings in a large upper room of
her house, which is now converted into a public house. The Rev. George
Perks who now holds a distinguished position among the Wesleyans, the
present writer, and many others, attended these meetings. Miss Tooth
took care that they did not interfere with the services of the
Established church, which she set the example of attending punctually.
She usually read one of Mrs. Fletcher’s papers, such as she had formerly
read herself at her meetings. Speaking of Mrs. Fletcher, soon after her
death Miss Tooth said:
“Her whole life was one of self-sacrificing endeavour to do good to
the souls and bodies of men. She lived not for herself but for
others. She was one of a thousand, as of mercy, so of economy;
always sparing of expense upon herself, that she might have more to
give to ‘the household of faith.’ She would often say, ‘God’s
receivers upon earth are Christ’s Church and His poor.’ When I have
proposed the purchasing of some article of clothing for her, she
would ask, ‘Is it quite necessary? If not do not buy it: it will be
much better to give the money to some of our poor neighbours than to
lay it out upon me.’ Nor was this once only; it was invariably her
conduct; and with great truth it might be constantly said of her
also, that
“‘What her charity impairs,
She saves by prudence in affairs.’
“She was remarkably exact in setting down every penny she expended.
She kept four different accounts, in which all she spent was
included. These four were the house, sundries, clothes, and poor.
We have often at the end of the year been astonished to find the
house expenses so small, considering how many had shared with us. At
such times she has said, ‘It is the Lord who has blessed our bread
and water.’”
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF MADELEY IN MR. AND MRS. FLETCHER’S DAY.
Having given sketches of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher at some length, we now
proceed to notice the religious aspect of Madeley at that period. In
order to do this more fully we notice, first, that Mr. Fletcher during
the three years which elapsed between his ordination and presentation to
the living at Madeley, in 1760, occasionally visited the parish and
officiated for Mr. Chambers, the then vicar, as his curate. He was
therefore acquainted with the nature of the charge he was about to
undertake, and with the character of the people among whom he was about
to labour, a tolerable estimate of which may be gleaned from the
description given by one of Mr. Fletcher’s biographers, the Rev. J.
Benson, who says:—
“Celebrated for the extensive works carried on within its limits,
Madeley was remarkable for little else than the ignorance and
profaneness of its inhabitants, among whom respect to man was as
rarely to be observed, as piety towards God. In this benighted place
the Sabbath was openly profaned, and the most holy things
contemptuously trampled under foot; even the restraints of decency
were violently broken through, and the external form of religion held
up as a subject of ridicule. This general description of the
inhabitants of Madeley, must not, however, be indiscriminately
applied to every individual among them: exceptions there were to this
prevailing character, but they were comparatively few indeed. Such
was the place where Mr. Fletcher was called to stand forth, as a
preacher of righteousness, and in which he appeared, for the space of
five-and-twenty years as a burning and shining light.”
How he laboured is best described by the same writer, who says:—
“Not content with discharging the stated duties of the Sabbath, he
counted that day as lost, in which he was not actually employed in
the service of the church. As often as a small congregation could be
collected, which was usually every evening, he joyfully proclaimed to
them the acceptable year of the Lord, whether it were in the place
set apart for public worship, in a private house, or in the open air.
And, on these occasions, the affectionate and fervent manner in which
he addressed his hearers, was an affecting proof of the interest he
took in their spiritual concerns. As the varying circumstances of
his people required, he assumed a different appearance among them: at
one season he would open his mouth in blessings: and, at another, he
would appear, like his Lord amid the buyers and sellers, with the
lash of righteous severity in his hand. But, in whatever way he
exercised his ministry, it was evident that his labours were
influenced by love, and tended immediately, either to the extirpation
of sin, or the increase of holiness.”
And Mr. Wesley, speaking of his friend’s conduct and labours to spread
the truth and to repress vice in every possible way, says:—
“Those sinners, who endeavoured to hide themselves from him, he
pursued to every corner of his parish: by all sorts of means, public
and private, early and late, in season and out of season, entreating
and warning them to flee from the wrath to come. Some made it an
excuse for not attending the church service on a Sunday morning, that
they could not awake early enough to get their families ready. He
provided for this also. Taking a bell in his hand, he set out every
Sunday for some months, at five in the morning, and went round the
most distant parts of the parish, inviting all the inhabitants to the
house of God.”
So stubborn and unyielding were the materials, that for some time he saw
so little fruit of his labours that he tells us he was more than once in
doubt, whether he had not mistaken his place, and that he was violently,
as he tells Mr. Charles Wesley, tempted to quit the place. After a
little time his church became crowded; excitement then died away, and
strong opposition sprang up; but there was an energy about his preaching
and exhortations which was irresistible, and he succeeded in his work.
The change effected in the whole tone and character, of thought and
feeling among the inhabitants was obvious, and perceptible to the most
prejudiced. That a life of surpassing purity and self-sacrifice to the
highest ends should produce such effects shewed that even low and carnal
nature when honestly appealed to is not wholly insensible to true and
genuine piety. He laboured and others entered into his labours.
Under the fostering care of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher Methodism, planted on
ground watered by them, found a congenial soil, on which it has
flourished to the present day. As early as May, 1767, as we find from a
letter to the Rev. George Whitfield, dated Madeley, Mr. Fletcher had
invited Captain Scott, then a great preacher among the Wesleyans, to
preach to his congregation, and that he had done so from his horse-block,
for Mr. Fletcher adds, that his sermon did more good than a hundred
preached by himself from his own pulpit. In this letter we find him
inviting Whitfield to follow the Captain’s example, and to come down and
preach too. Others succeeded, whose ministrations, aided by the meetings
of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, meetings which were attended by the piously
disposed from the Broseley side of the Severn, from Wellington and
neighbouring parishes, raised up a pious and efficient body of men who
became prayer leaders, class leaders, local preachers, and centres of
societies which spread far and wide. Fortunately, that good man Melville
Horne, who succeeded Mr. Fletcher, and who after labouring in Madeley for
some years went out to Africa and founded the Mission of Sierra Leone, on
being appointed curate after the death of Mr. Fletcher favoured this
state of things, which continued for some years, with the sanction of the
vicar. Mrs. Fletcher in her Journal, August 3, 1815, says, “I have been
joined to the people united to Mr. Wesley for threescore years, and I
trust to die amongst them. The life of true religion is amongst them,
and the work increases.” At the same time she says, “I have always
considered myself a member of the church, and so have the united friends
in Madeley.” When Mr. Horne left to go out as a missionary to Africa,
the vicar, Mr. Burton, desirous of promoting the same kind of harmony,
left it to Mrs. Fletcher to recommend a successor. Writing to the one
who succeeded Mr. Horne, she says:—“Those who are religious in the
parish, as well as those who attend from a distance, go to hear the
Wesleyan ministers, and also attended the Church Services.”
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF MADELEY IN 1777 AND 1877.
It is, of course, difficult to arrive at strictly accurate statistics by
which to determine the complete state of religious feeling at any given
time; but taking well ascertained facts for our guide we may at least get
an approximate result. The moral ground and receptacle of religious
truth upon which Mr. Fletcher had to work was the same as now; but that
ground may be, and is, we imagine, in a more favourable condition for the
reception of the seed now than it was in Mr. Fletcher’s day: facts also
tend to shew that men are less indifferent and supercilious now than
then, and that the means of influencing them are vastly increased,
probably as a natural consequence whilst the fruits are in proportion.
The channel of truth is wider and deeper, and the climate of thought and
feeling is more favourable, and although diversities may have increased,
there are collateral benign and ameliorating influences in operation,
producing mutual reverence for the good and the true, and a growing
tolerance of opinion where such diversity exists.
In Mr. Fletcher’s time, Protestantism, as represented by the Church of
England, and Catholicism as represented by a small body which does not
seem, so far as Madeley itself is concerned to have increased, stood
alone, if we except the Friends or Quakers, also small as regards
numbers. From the time of the Reformation, a few Catholic families of
influence lingered here. They worshipped first in a room fitted up as a
Chapel in the house of Mr. Wolfe, who gave shelter to King Charles.
Afterwards the Giffards of Chillington, gave some ground on which was
erected a house and chapel about the year 1760. Mr. Fletcher in one of
his letters mentions the disquietude the erection of this Chapel gave
him, and describes it as the new mass-house. The present Church of St.
Mary was not built till 1853. It consists of nave, side aisles, and
gallery, and will accommodate 500 persons, but if we except those who
attend from other parishes we question whether the congregation is
greater now than in Mr. Fletcher’s time. This however is not to be taken
as shewing the state of Catholicism in the neighbourhood, inasmuch as
missions have been established from this in Bridgnorth, Shifnal,
Wellington, and other places.
On the other hand, the Church of England has made great progress. It has
more than kept abreast of the increasing population, whether we consider
the accommodation it affords or its efficiency, its activity, or the
varied machinery by which it works. Not only has the mother church been
enlarged to twice the size of the one in which Mr. Fletcher preached, but
two others have been added in other parts of the parish, each of which
has become a separate ecclesiastical division. The population of Madeley
in the time of Mr. Fletcher may be judged of from the fact that there
were 900 families which, upon the usual calculation of five to a family,
would give 4,500 inhabitants. In 1801, when the first census was taken,
it had only increased to 4,758; and in 1831 to 5,822. In 1841 it was
7,267; in 1857, 8,524, in 1861 it was 9,461; and in 1871 it was 9,475; of
which number 4,345, are in the electoral and ecclesiastical division of
Madeley. The population therefore of the entire parish has little more
than doubled itself during the past century.
In Mr. Fletcher’s time, then, if we except the out places then being
opened for the convenience of small societies, there was church
accommodation only for 500, leaving 4,000 unprovided for. We have now a
church capable of holding 1000; and a chapel of Ease at the Aqueduct
holding 200; in addition to places of meeting at Lower Madeley, Blissers
Hill, Coalport, and the Lloyds.
In addition to this, a church has been erected at Ironbridge capable of
holding 900; and one at Coalbrookdale seating 850 persons. We thus get
Church accommodation alone for over three thousand, or nearly one third
of the population, as against 500 formerly. But the best criterion is
the activity and co-operation of workers and helpers, the machinery
called into play by those who, having themselves been indoctrinated, come
willingly forward to carry on the work of benevolence, education, and
religion, and who give evidence to their faith by their works.
At least one hundred more persons than the old church would hold now
attend service at 11 a.m. and 300 more than it could have held attend at
6 p.m. A Service is also held on the 1st Sunday in every month at 3-15
p.m. at which children are catechised, and the Sacrament of Baptism
administered.
At the Aqueduct Church, which was built in the year 1851, and enlarged in
1864, there is a service every Sunday evening, at which from 150 to 200
persons attend.
IRONBRIDGE CHURCH.
We are not so well informed with regard to the Church at Ironbridge. It
was built in 1836, and consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a
tower in which is a clock and one bell; it has a fine east window of
stained glass, with full length figures of St. James and St. John. It
will accommodate about a thousand hearers, but at present the number
attending is small. In addition to the cost of the erection, which was
defrayed chiefly by local subscriptions, £1000 was contributed towards
the endowment by one firm, that of Madeley Wood; the great, or rectorial,
tithes have since been added, and the rector receives an income of £250
per annum.
There are Sunday Schools and other institutions but we are without the
precise information as to the amount of money raised. The population in
the year 1871 was 3,605.
COALBROOKDALE.
A beautiful little Church dedicated to the Holy Trinity was erected here
by the munificence of the Darby family, who endowed it, and gave to the
Incumbent a handsome house as a residence. It is in the Decorated Gothic
style. It consists of nave, chancel, and aisles, and has a handsome
tower, with illuminated clock, and a peal of eight fine-toned bells. It
will accommodate 850 persons, and is generally well filled.
The number of communicants averages 60. The Sacrament is administered
monthly, and on the usual festivals. The offerings for the poor are
about £25 yearly; for the expenses of the Church, somewhere about £2
weekly, i.e., £104 annually. There is a good state of religious feeling.
WESLEYAN METHODISM.
In Mr. Fletcher’s day Wesleyan Methodism was but struggling into
existence. Societies were formed at Madeley, Madeley Wood,
Coalbrookdale, and other places in adjoining parishes, and Mr. Fletcher,
and his curate subsequently, preached there alternately with the
preachers of Mr. Wesley. These societies were attached to the Shrewsbury
Circuit, and preachers came fortnightly, travelling on horseback. In or
about the year 1764 we find him inviting the Rev. A. Mather, then an
eminent preacher in Mr. Wesley’s connection, and his fellow labourer to
call at the Bank, Coalbrookdale, and other places. He adds:—“And I hope,
that my stepping, as Providence directs, to any of your places, (leaving
to you the management of the Societies,) will be deemed no encroachment.
In short, we need not make two parties: I know but _one_ heaven below,
and that is Jesus’s love; let us both go and abide in it, and when we
have gathered as many as we can to go with us, too many will still stay
behind.” May 27, 1766, he says to a friend, “The coming of Mr. Wesley’s
Preachers into my parish gives me no uneasiness. As I am sensible that
every body does better, and of course, is more acceptable than myself, I
should be sorry to deprive any one of a blessing; and I rejoice that the
work of God goes on by any instrument or in any place.”
It was under auspices such as these that the early preachers of Methodism
commenced their labours. It had an able lay agency in its local
preachers, like William Smith, Samuel Onions, Thomas Owen, Thomas
Mollineaux, Richard Williams, and others, with class leaders, like the
Smiths, Robertses, Milners, and Joneses, men and women who lived lives of
faith and purity, and laid a firm substratum on which to erect the
general edifice.
For many years the “Old Barn” and “Miss Tooth’s Room” sufficed for the
Wesleyans in Madeley. They then erected the building now used as the
Infant School by the Church party. This proving too small, they built in
1841, the present place of worship in Court Street, which will hold 800
persons or more. It is calculated that Madeley Wood chapel will hold 900
persons, Coalbrookdale chapel about 400, and Coalport about 200, or 2,200
altogether. The usual number of hearers at these places is over 1,500,
and the number of members 300. Collections are made at each chapel for
pretty much the same purposes, such as colleges, and schools for training
young ministers, ministers sons, and teachers for day schools. For home
missions and circuit purposes there is raised altogether £447. In
addition to this there is raised for Foreign Missions a further sum of
£100; thus making a total of £547.
PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.
The Primitive Methodists established themselves in Madeley about 50 years
ago. They have a chapel at Madeley with an attendance upon an average of
220.
Members 53
Sunday School scholars 136
Monies raised for various purposes during the year £131 19 0
Ironbridge Chapel attendance 150
Members 37
Sunday School scholars 93
Monies raised for various purposes during the year £50 12 4
Aqueduct Chapel attendance 60
Members 6
Sunday School scholars 43
Monies raised for various purposes during the year £31 10 7
TOTAL £211 11 0
THE NEW CONNEXION.
This body established themselves in Madeley about half a century ago, and
they have two chapels, one at Madeley and another at Madeley Wood, each
capable of holding 200 hearers. At the Bethesda chapel, Madeley, about
60 attend, and there are 18 members. There is a Sunday School, with 60
scholars and 8 teachers. For Home objects, including the Sunday School,
£26 is raised yearly and for Foreign Missions a further sum of £2. TOTAL
£28 0 0.
At Zion chapel, Madeley Wood, there is an average attendance of 70, and
about 20 members. There is a Sunday School, with about 60 scholars. We
are without definite statistics as to the amount of monies raised, which
probably amount altogether to £20, or upwards. The Connexion has 8
chapels, nine societies, 25 local preachers, and 136 members.
BAPTISTS.
The Baptists erected a chapel here in 1858 at a cost of £650, which holds
250 persons. There are 30 members, and the congregation averages 100.
There is a Sunday School, with 60 children. The sum raised for various
objects amounts to £60.
CONGREGATIONALISTS.
The Congregationalists erected a church here in 1874, at a cost of
£1,400. It was opened in January 1875, and has an average
congregation—Morning, 50; Evening 100. Sunday School 80 on the books.
Mothers service 20 attend. Two weekly services; average attendance 30.
Amount raised for all purposes in connection with the Church £130.
Besides these well recognised institutions in connection with various
religious bodies there are other useful institutions, some of a
religious, and others of an educational but unsectarian character, such
as Union Prayer Meetings at Ironbridge, the Severn side School, various
Literary Societies and Reading Rooms, in connection with which large sums
are annually raised; and by means of which at Madeley, and Coalbrookdale
more particularly, a large amount of information is disseminated.
THE MADELEY WOOD WORKS.
William Reynolds having at his death left a share in the Madeley Wood
works to his nephew, William Anstice (father of the present William
Reynolds Anstice) whom he also appointed one of his executors, and by
whom, in partnership with William Reynolds’s surviving son, the late
Joseph Reynolds, the works were carried on until the decease of Mr.
Anstice in the year 1850.
Mr. Anstice was a young man, not more than twenty-one, when he succeeded
to the management of these works, and although he possessed little
practical knowledge gained in connection with this branch of industry, he
possessed a mind well stored with knowledge. He was a fair amateur
chemist of the school of Dr. Black and his contemporaries, under whom Mr.
Reynolds had previously studied, and the friend of the tale Sir Humphrey
Davy, then a young man, with whom he spent some time with Dr. Beddows, at
one time of Shifnal, but then of Bristol, assisting him in a course of
experiments he was conducting on pneumatic chemistry and galvanism. He
was also a fair amateur geologist, and his early studies led him, on
succeeding to the management of the works, to observe, and to apply his
knowledge to account. The old hearths and “bears,” as accumulations in
the blast-furnaces were called, on occasions of renewal, were carefully
scrutinized and searched by him for metallic substances and salts not
usually known to exist in iron-ores; and we remember him giving us some
remarkably fine cubes of titanium, taken from one he had had blown to
pieces. He inherited the very fine collection of fossils Mr. Reynolds
had collected, and added thereto by encouraging his men to bring anything
they found of a rare character in the clay ironstones. Sir R. Murchison,
Mr. Buckland, and Mr. Prestwich occasionally came down to Madeley Wood
Hall to study this collection, and derived much information. Mr.
Buckland pronounced them at that time the finest collection of fossils of
the coal-measures in the kingdom, and nearly the whole of the figures
found in Mr. Prestwich’s paper, prepared with great care and research, on
the coalfield, were from specimens in this collection.
In consequence of the mines being exhausted on the Madeley Wood side of
the field he had new shafts sunk to the east, the first of importance
being the Hills Lane pits. The Halesfield pair of pits followed, and the
mines having been thus proved on that side, the idea first suggested by
William Reynolds, of removing the works to that place, was acted upon by
Mr. William Anstice, who built his first furnace at Blisser’s Hill, in
1832. A second was built in 1840 and a third in 1844.
The offices of the Madeley Wood Works were at the Lloyds, but a
land-slip, or series of slips rather, which have been going on for years,
bringing down rocks and trees from the high ground, have swept away
these, and also some houses and orchards near them. In these offices on
one occasion an explosion took place, occasioned by recklessness on the
part of a youth entrusted with the task of giving out powder for
blasting, candles, &c., for the pits. A lad named Brown had filled a
horn of powder and was crossing the office to go to play at marbles, when
finding the fire did not burn brightly, he stooped to poke out the ashes
with the horn under his arm, and some grains igniting, he was blown a
black and apparently lifeless mass against the door, whilst the windows
went flying as far as the water-engine. Although shorn of his arms above
the elbows, and with only two short stumps remaining, “Stumpy Brown,” as
the boys still call him, managed to learn to write a good clear hand,
became a schoolmaster, a Sunday-school teacher, a preacher, and a capital
wood-turner of bedsteads and children’s dolls, which at the present
moment are in great request in very many towns in the Midland Counties,
where they are well known as “John Brown’s Dolls.” {175}
Upon the death of Mr. Anstice he was succeeded by his son John, who,
having been brought up under his father, in close proximity to the works,
was in every respect well qualified for the task; and to him his partner,
Joseph Reynolds, at his death left his shares of the works, and the
general residue of his property. John Anstice at once generously
transferred to his brother, William Reynolds Anstice, a share in the
Madeley Wood concern, but retained the sole management of the works
during his life. He entered on no great new enterprise beyond sinking a
new pair of pits to the east of the field, an enterprise on which he
several times consulted the writer long before the men had headed to
prove the mines in that direction. He was a man whose amiable qualities
and generous nature won for him general admiration.
As an employer Mr. Anstice was on good terms with his workpeople. He
aimed at being so, and in bad times he kept his men employed whether
others did or not. He had a fellow-feeling with them, and tried to
understand and to be understood by them; he knew them by their names, and
generally had a joke, a kind word, or a cheerful recognition for each.
We believe he spared no expense to secure the safety of life and limb in
his works; and if by some unforeseen circumstances, or some act of
carelessness on their part, accidents did occur, his grief knew no
bounds, and he would often weep like a child with the bereaved. Equally
liberal with his means and time, he was accessible to all those who
sought aid, counsel, or protection; and his good sense and timely aid
availed in lightening many cares, in drying many tears, and in allaying
many sorrows. The county though benefited by his philanthropy, but
daily-occurring acts of kindness and usefulness less widely known taxed
still more his talents and his means. Nor did his acts partake of
ostentation, or seem selfishly aimed to win the tribute of applause. On
the contrary he dedicated his energies less to the service of his peers
than to those in a condition to require them.
Mr. Anstice was seldom free for long periods from that physical suffering
which fills up so large a space in human experience; but he knew how to
enjoy life, and did so more than most men, but he never quailed before
its sternest duties. His sun may be said to have gone down at noon: he
died in the zenith of his fame, and people mourned as for a father or a
friend; for with that great tenderness and Christian generosity which
distinguished him, he made many his debtors. Others at a riper age, not
less laden with the goods of life, whose cup equally overflowed with
prosperity, have lived and passed away, and as the grave closed over them
the little world in which they moved scarcely missed them or thought of
them after the funeral-bell had ceased to toll; but it was felt that such
a man could not pass away without his memory being perpetuated in some
form, and the present handsome building called the Anstice Memorial
Institute was the result of a deep and wide-spreading feeling to do
honour to his name. A brother ironmaster, the present Mr. W. O. Foster,
who presided at the inauguration, said they had erected that building to
one very much respected and beloved amongst them, but who had been
removed from their midst. He would not attempt to pourtray the many
virtues of his character in the presence of his family, nor dwell upon
his many merits. He enjoyed his acquaintance for many years. He must
say to know him was to love him, and whilst his virtue was fresh in their
recollection it was their high privilege to dedicate that building to his
memory, and to hand down to posterity his name in association with it.
The Madeley Wood works are now carried on by William Reynolds Anstice and
two of John Anstice’s sons, Captain John Arthur Anstice, J.P., and Lieut.
Edmund Anstice.
With regard to William Reynolds, previously alluded to, it may be well to
add the following, together with some interesting notes and additions,
kindly supplied by his nephew, William Reynolds Anstice, Esq., the senior
partner in the Madeley Wood Works.
William Reynolds, the proprietor of these works, died at the Tuckies
House, in 1803, and was followed to his grave in the burial-ground
adjoining the Quakers’ chapel, in the Dale, by a very large concourse of
friends and old neighbours, thousands lining the way and following in the
procession.
It may here be mentioned that the first use to which Watt’s fire engine
as it was called, was put at Bedlam, as at Coalbrookdale, Benthall,
Ketley, and many other places, was not to blow the furnaces direct, but
to pump water to drive the water-wheel, which at Bedlam, worked a pair of
leather-bellows, which themselves supplied the blast. The race in which
the old wheel worked is still observable, as also are the arches which
supported the reservoir into which water was pumped from the Severn.
With regard to the prophetic utterances of Mr. Reynolds, already given,
we have received the following from W. Reynolds Anstice, Esq.
“The exact words, as I have often heard them repeated by my father,
were ‘The time will come, &c: when all our principal towns will be
lighted with Coal Gas—all our main roads will be railroads worked by
steam locomotive engines, and all our _coasting_ navigation will be
performed by steam vessels.’ He had no idea, evidently that steam
navigation would extend beyond this, but steam locomotion was an idea
at that time not unfamiliar to engineers. William Murdock, Watt’s
right-hand man, had made a working model of a road-locomotive as
early as 1784. Trevithick had constructed working models much
resembling modern locomotives in construction, in and before the year
1800. In 1802, the Coalbrookdale Company were building for him a
_railway-locomotive_, the engine of which was tried first in pumping
water, and its performance astonished everyone. In a letter of his
to Mr. D. Giddy, dated from Coalbrookdale, 22nd August, 1802, he
says: ‘The Dale Company have begun a carriage at their own cost _for
the railroads_, and are forcing it with all expedition. There was a
beautifully executed wooden model of this locomotive engine in my
Uncle, William Reynolds’ possession, which was given me by his Widow,
the late Mrs. Reynolds, of Severn House, after his death. I was then
a boy, fond of making model engines of my own, and I broke up the
priceless relic to convert it to my own base purposes, an act which I
now repent, as if it had been a _sin_.’
“The Coalbrookdale engine is, I believe, the first locomotive engine
on record, intended to be used _on a railroad_. The boiler of it is
now to be seen in use as a water tank, at the Lloyds’ Crawstone Pit,
and the fire-tube and a few other portions of it are now in the yard
at the Madeley Wood Works. I never heard how it came to be disused
and broken up.”
Shortly before William Reynolds’s decease, he had had a large pleasure
boat built, which was intended to be propelled by steam, and the
cylinders of the engines intended for it, beautifully executed by the
late James Glazebrook of Ironbridge, are now at the Madeley Wood Offices,
but the engines were not finished at his (W. Reynolds’s) death, in 1804,
and I never saw any drawing or model of them. The boat lay within my
recollection, moored in the river Severn, just above Mr. Brodie’s Boring
Mill, at the Calcutts, in a state of much disrepair, and I believe,
ultimately fell to pieces or was carried away by a flood.
William Reynolds had a very complete private Laboratory at his residence,
at Bank House, which was lighted with gas. William Murdock had, however,
as early as 1794, applied gas to the lighting of his own house, in
Cornwall, and in 1798, a portion of the Soho Works were lit with gas of
his making.—In 1803, the whole of the Works were thus lighted, and from
that time its use gradually extended.
Mr. Miller, of Darswinton, had a steam pleasure boat at work in 1788, and
in 1801, the “Charlotte Dundas” steam boat was built at Glasgow by
Symmington, and this is the first authentic case of steam-boat navigation
on record.
THE CLAY INDUSTRIES OF THE DISTRICT.
The very excellent coal-measure clays found on both banks of the Severn,
and turned to such good account by the Coalbrookdale Co., by Mr. Legge at
the Woodlands, by neighbours too on the opposite bank of the Severn, as
well as the celebrity attained by the Coalport works, renders it
necessary that we should take a somewhat comprehensive view of the
subject. Bricks and tiles and pottery of various kinds appear to have
been made from a very early period, but the manufacture of Salopian
porcelain dates from the latter end of the last century. The sites of
the old pot works were at the outcrops of the coal-measure clays; and it
was the advantages the fire-clays and accompanying coals afforded which
led to the manufacture of porcelain. The former were situate at Benthall
and Jackfield, where advantage is still taken of them, flourishing works
being still carried on in places where these very excellent materials are
readily procurable; and before noticing the introduction and very
successful manufacture of the former at Caughley and Coalport, it may be
desirable to devote a few pages to a description of the old pot-works, at
Haybrook, the Pitchyard, and at Jackfield.
The art of moulding a plastic substance like clay is, of course, as old
as the world, and on the banks of the Severn, as shewn by specimens
ascribed to early British and Roman periods, it must not only have
existed but been carried to some perfection there. These clays are said
to have been used by the Romans, as evinced by the red and grey pottery
and tiles discovered at Uriconinum. Jacquemart, in his “History of
Ceramic Art,” says that Jackfield is the most ancient site of pottery in
Shropshire. And it is added that from a period so early as 1453, the
valley of the Severn was famous for ornamental tiles, many specimens
bearing that date having been found in Cathedrals and Churches. We have
no reliable authority however for fixing the date at which the art was
first practised in Shropshire, but it appears tolerably clear that the
articles made were of the simplest kind, being almost uniformly domestic:
those in daily use, such as milk-pans, dishes, tea-pots, jugs, and mugs.
The latter were substitutes for the drinking horns, which later
improvements in the plastic and ceramic arts have driven out of use. We
have an ancient specimen of one made at the Pitchyard, and a drawing of
another made at Haybrook, well _potted_, and elegant in shape. The
latter is the best manipulated, and probably it was from this
circumstance that the latter work was called “The Mug-House.”
In evidence adduced sometime since in an Election Scrutiny at Bewdley, a
public-house referred to was called the “Mughouse,” which house is
situated on the Severn, at a point where the bargemen, who formerly drew
the vessels up the river instead of horses, were in the habit of stopping
to get mugs of ale. “Tots” were made out of the same kind of clay, but
smaller, and were used when the men drank in company; hence a person who
had drank too much was supposed to have been with a convivial party, and
was said to have been “totty,” a word often found in old works. Tots had
no handles, and some of the old drinking cups, more particularly those of
glass of Anglo Saxon make, were rounded at the bottom that they should
not stand upright, and that a man may empty them at a draught,—the custom
continuing till later times gave rise to our modern name of tumbler. The
small tots had no handles; the mug had a “stouk,” as it is called,
consisting of a single piece of clay, flattened and bent over into a
loop. The ware was similar to the famous “Rockingham ware” made on the
estate of Earl Fitzwilliam, near Wentworth.
The discovery of a salt glaze took place in 1690, and the manufacture of
that kind of ware must have commenced here soon after, as traces of works
of the kind are abundant. This method consisted in throwing salt into
the kiln when the ware had attained a great heat, holes being left in the
clay boxes that contained it in order that the fumes may enter and
vitrify the surface. Evidences of the manufacture of these old mugs and
tots, together with milk-pans and washing-pans, having been made at an
early period, are numerous; and the old seggars in which they were burnt
often form walls of the oldest cottages in Benthall and Broseley Wood.
A considerable number of old jars, mugs, and other articles, have from
time to time been found in places and under circumstances sufficient to
indicate great antiquity; as in mounds overgrown with trees, and in old
pits which for time immemorial have not been worked. One large earthern
jar, with “George Weld,” in light clay, was found in an old drain at
Willey, and is now in the possession of Lord Forester. Mr. John
Thursfield, who lived at Benthall hall, was at one time proprietor of
these works.
Three quarters of a century ago these works were carried on by a Messrs.
Bell & Lloyd; afterwards by Mr. John Lloyd, one of the best and most
truly pious men we ever knew, who some time before his death transferred
them to a nephew, Mr. E. Bathurst. His son succeeded him, and after a
time sold them to the present proprietor, Mr. Allen, who to the ordinary
red and yellow ware, which finds a ready sale in North and South Wales,
has added articles of use and ornament in other ways, including forcing
pots, garden vases, and various terra cotta articles.
Of the Pitchyard works we know little, only that they stood where the
late Mr. E. Southorn carried on his Pipe Works, and where we remember
them in ruins more than fifty years ago; but the numerous seggars, now
found in cottage garden walls, shew that they must have been continued
for some considerable time.
But, besides the manufacture of bricks, tiles, and pottery, these clays
have been raised to a trade within the past few years in this district
which is every day increasing, and which is capable of much further
expansion: we refer now to the important department of encaustic or
inlaid tiles and mosaics. The art of producing tiles of this description
is only recently revived in this country, and is one which in point of
antiquity is not to be compared with its sister branches. The first
attempt, so far as we are aware, to revive the art in Shropshire, was at
Jackfield; but the first designs were crude, quaint, and spiritless, and
altogether wanting in those nicer distinctions and qualities which, not
being perceived by the mind of the producer, could not be wrought by the
hand. In this as in many other branches of fictile art _insight_ into
the principles as well as eyesight is required, and the mistake—as in
many other instances—was committed of attempting something which, with
the expenditure of thought and time, might catch the uneducated eye—the
object being to produce _quantity_ rather than _quality_. But the call
made upon the art by the enlightened demands of the age soon gave a
wonderful impetus to the improvement, and men of educated artistic
taste—like the Mintons and the Maws—soon called to their aid the
assistance of the greatest genius and the highest designing talent at
command; at the same time that they directed their efforts to definite
points in which utility might be made the instrument of beauty, and by
which originality and intelligible design might be made to rise out of
the most common-place wants. But although the modern manufacture of
geometric and encaustic tiles is recent, it already far surpasses the
ancients in variety and arrangement, in geometric patterns, and in beauty
of design in encaustics as well as in mechanical finish; although it may
be doubted whether the same breadth of general effect is studied as in
many ancient examples. Mintons, of Stoke, Maw and Co., of Benthall,
Hargraves and Craven, of Jackfield, and Mr. Bathurst, of Broseley, have
each produced beautiful encaustic tiles for pavements—both for
ecclesiastical and domestic use; and there is yet a large field for
development of the use of similar tiles to colour and enrich the details
of our street architecture, as well as in that of more elaborate and
important structures.
The Coalbrookdale Co., have recently manufactured some admirable
terra-cotta entablatures, with historical subjects for costly buildings
in the metropolis. The erection of the Literary and Scientific
Institution also, of different coloured clays shews their adaptation to
works of great architectural beauty.
[Picture: Decorated fireplace]
MAW AND CO’S TESSELATED, MOSAIC, AND MAJOLICA WORKS.
It was the excellency of the Broseley and Benthall clays, above referred
to, which attracted the Messrs. Maw to the spot and led them to remove
from Worcester, to where they had been in the habit, first of all, of
having them conveyed by barges on the river, to the present site of their
works, fashioned out of the old Benthall Iron Works, carried on a century
ago by Mr. Harries, then owner of the Benthall estate. Notwithstanding
the additions made by them, the trade has so wonderfully developed itself
that after building upon or in some way occupying every inch of ground,
they are cramped for room, and are on the look out for more commodious
premises. In addition to those classical and other adjuncts of
architectural comfort and embellishment, embracing encaustic tiles—the
reproduction of an art limited in mediæval times to church decoration,
but now having a much more extended application, and the manufacture of
tesseræ, used in the construction of geometrical mosaic pavements,
similar in character to those found in the mediæval buildings of Italy,
also moresque mosaics, like those occurring in Roman remains in this
country and on the continent, they now manufacture a superior majolica,
and faience of great purity, in both of which departments they have
recently received first class medals at the Philadelphia exhibition. The
accompanying engraving will convey an idea of the adaptation of faience
to articles of domestic utility.
JACKFIELD POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.
Older even than the Haybrook Mug House are the Pot Works of Jackfield,
which, according to the parish register of Stoke-upon-Trent, quoted by
Mr. Jewitt and Mr. Chaffers, supplied a race of potters to that great
centre of early pot-making in the year 1560. Excavations made too, soma
years ago, brought to light on a spot near which the present works of
Craven, Dunnill & Co., now stand, an oven, or kiln, with unbaked ware,
which appeared to have been buried by a land-slip; and in an old pit,
which it was said had not been opened for two centuries, a brown mug was
discovered, which had upon it the date 1634. If Jackfield supplied early
potters for Stoke, Stoke sent pot masters to Jackfield. One of these was
Mr. Richard Thursfield, an ancestor of Greville T. Thursfield M.D., who
took these works and carried them on in 1713. He was succeeded by his
son John, of whom we have spoken as afterwards living at Benthall and
carrying on works there. The late Richard Thursfield, Esq., had in his
possession some good examples of Jackfield ware. Among them was a
handsome jug, gilt, having on it, we believe, the name of one of the
family.
In 1772, or soon after, Mr. Simpson carried on the works; and he appears
to have further improved the manufacture, for in addition to the “black
decanters,” as his mugs were called, he made various articles of superior
quality, which prior to the breaking out of the war with America found a
ready sale there. The old mill turned by the waters of the Severn, where
he ground his materials, has just been taken down.
Mr. Blakeway afterwards carried on the works, and was joined by Mr. John
Rose, upon leaving Caughley, and, after carrying them on a short time by
himself, he removed them, as he did the Caughley Works, to Coalport, on
the opposite bank of the river.
The site of the old pottery was on the ground which is now occupied by
the Jackfield Encaustic Tile Works, the clays of which are specially
adapted for geometrical and encaustic tiles; and such tiles have been
made here for a number of years; but since the old works came into the
possession of the present firm of Messrs. Craven Dunnill and Co., great
changes have taken place. The firm took a lease of about four acres of
ground, and adjoining the old works built a large and commodious
manufactory, which has been in operation for nearly two years. They have
since taken down all the buildings of the old works, and have erected on
their site and joining up to the new works, large warehouses, show room,
offices, and entrance lodge. The plan of the works is very complete, so
as in every way to economise in the process of manufacture, and they are
now among the most complete works of the kind.
[Picture: Craven Dunhill & Co. Works]
As shewn in the accompanying engraving, the buildings consist of four
blocks, one detached and the others connected, each block accommodating a
separate branch of the manufacture.
In the detached block the raw materials are reduced to a state ready for
the workman.
The second block contains the damping places, where the clays are kept in
a certain degree of moisture; pressers’ shops for the various colours of
geometrical tiles, and the encaustic tile makers’ shops, with their
stoves.
The next block provides for the drying and firing of the goods and
decorating shops.
On the first floor are workshops employed for painting, printing and
enamelling, or other decorative purposes.
The fourth block provides for the sorting and stocking of goods and for
packing them for despatch; also the offices and showroom.
Near to the detached block first described a small gas-works has been
erected, which supplies the whole of the buildings.
COALPORT PORCELAIN WORKS.
The first works at Coalport were we believe founded and carried on by
William Reynolds, Thomas Rose, Robert Horton, and Robert Anstice; the
former William Reynolds, being then Lord of the Manor. The buildings, or
a good portion occupied by them are still standing.
Mr. Thomas Rose, and Mr. John Rose, were sons of a respectable farmer
living at Sweeney. The latter was a clerk under Mr. Turner, at Caughley,
and left him to take the Jackfield works about the year, it is said,
1780. Having carried them on for a few years, in conjunction with Mr.
Blakeway, during which time he greatly improved the quality of the
article manufactured there, he established the present Coalport works on
the side of the canal, then recently opened, and opposite to those of
Reynolds, Horton, Thomas Rose, and Robert Anstice. On Mr. Turner
retiring from the Caughley works in 1799, Mr. Rose and the new company he
had formed purchased them, and by means of increased capital shortly
afterwards removed both plant and materials from Caughley and Jackfield
to the more advantageous position they now occupy, on the banks of the
canal and the Severn. Even the buildings were pulled down and the bricks
and timber removed to the opposite side of the Severn, where they were
used in constructing the cottages now standing opposite to the present
Coalport Works.
A staff of excellent work-people had been obtained from Caughley and
Jackfield works combined, but an accident occurred on the night of the
23rd of October in that year by the capsizing of the ferry, as the
work-people were crossing the Severn, by which twenty-eight were drowned,
some among them being the best hands employed at the works. It was a
dark night, the boat was crowded, and the man at the helm, not having
been accustomed to put the boat over allowed the vessel to swing round in
the channel where, with a strong tide running, it was drawn under by the
rope which went from the mast to a rock in the bed of the river. Some
managed to scramble out on the Broseley side of the stream; but the
following were lost, notwithstanding the efforts of those who rushed to
the river side on hearing the despairing cries raised to save them. Jane
Burns, Sarah Burns, Ann Burns, Mary Burgess, Elizabeth Fletcher, Mary
Fletcher, Elizabeth Beard, Jane Boden, Elizabeth Ward, Sarah Bagnall,
Sophia Banks, Mary Miles, Elizabeth Evans, Catherine Lowe, Jane Leigh,
Charles Walker, George Lynn, James Farnworth, George Sheat, John Chell,
Robert Lowe, William Beard, John Jones, Benjamin Gosnall, Benjamin Wyld,
Richard Mountford, Joseph Poole.
The event, as may be expected, created a great sensation at the time, and
was thus commemorated by Mr. Dyas, one of the Coalport workmen.
Alas! Alas! the fated night
Of cold October twenty third,
In seventeen hundred ninety-nine;
What cries, what lamentation heard,
The hour nine, when from yon pile,
Where fair porcelain takes her form,
Where energy with genius joins,
To robe her in those matchless charms,
A wearied band of artists rose,
Males and females, old and young,
Their toil suspend, to seek repose,
Their homes to gain, they bent along.
Sabrina’s stream was near to pass,
And she her frowning waves upraised,
Her mist condensed to darksome haze
Which mocked the light; no star appeared.
Yon boat, which o’er her bosom rides,
Enveloped in the heavy gloom,
Convulsive stretch’d along her sides,
To snatch the victims to their doom.
Soon e’er on board their faltering feet
A monster fell who grasped the helm,
Hove from the shore the distressed crew,
And so the dreadful overwhelm,
Swift horror’s wings o’er spread the tides,
They sink! they rise! they shriek! they cling!
Again they sink; alarm soon flies,
Along their shores dread clamours rise,
But Oh, the bleakest night preventing
Every means to save their breath,
Helpless, hopeless, life despairing
Twenty-eight sunk down in death.
Alas small time for Heaven’s implorings,
Quick sealed their everlasting state,
Or, in misery, or in glory.
The last tribunal will relate,
Here fold, O muse thy feeble wings,
Hope where thou canst, but not decide,
Dare not approach those hidden things,
With mercy, justice, these abide.
Return with sympathetic breath,
See yon distracted mother stands,
Three daughters lost, to heaven she lifts
Her streaming eyes and wringing hands,
Hark! from those dells how deep the wailings,
Fathers, Mothers, join their moans,
Widows, orphans, friends and lovers,
Swell the air with poignant groans;
Recluse in grief, those worthy masters
Silent drop the mournful tear.
Distress pervades surrounding hamlets,
Sorrow weeps to every ear,
Sleepless sighings hail the morning,
Morning brings no soothing ray.
The author of these verses, Mr. Dyas, was a very clever carver on stone
and on wood. He engraved the blocks for a work printed by Mr. Edmonds at
Madeley, entitled “Alexander’s Expedition down the Hydaspes and the Indus
to the Indian Ocean.” He was the author too of an invention world-wide
in its benefits, that of the printers’ roller; an invention second only
to the art of printing itself, and infinitely superior to thousands of
others out of which vast fortunes have been made.
In 1804 the company consisted of Cuthbert Johnson, William Clarke, John
Wootton, and John Rose. In 1811 it was John Rose, William Clarke and
Charles Maddison. In 1820 they bought the famous Swansea works and
entered into an agreement with Messrs. Billingsley and Walker to make a
superior kind of porcelain made by them, first at Nantgarw in
Glamorganshire, and afterwards at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in the
same county. This was a pure soft paste porcelain, superior to any at
present produced in the kingdom, and second only to the famous _pate
tendre_ of Sevres at the very best period of its manufacture. This china
was first made in 1813 by Billingsley, who went from Derby to Worcester,
and from there to South Wales. He was an artist, and understood the
manufacture in all its branches. He produced a fret body, by mixing the
materials, firing them in order to blend them together, then reducing the
vitrified substance into clay—a process which was carried on at Old
Sevres during the reign of Louis XV.—and thereby produced an article fine
in texture, beautifully transparent, and of a delicate waxy hue, very
superior to the dingy blue tinge given to much of the best china of that
day. Connoisseurs were at once attracted by it, and Mr. Mortlock went
down and entered into an engagement to purchase all that Billingsley and
his son-in-law could make. Mr. John Rose finding he had lost a customer,
whilst orders he was wont to receive were going to South Wales, went
over, bought the plant, moulds, and everything, and entered into an
agreement with Walker and Billingsley for a period of seven years to make
the same quality of china at Coalport. The process however was an
expensive one, from the difficulty of working the clay, which wanted
plasticity, and also from the loss in the burning, as being a soft body
it was apt to melt or warp, and to go out of shape, if it had a little
too much fire in the biscuit kiln. About that time, too, Mr. Ryan
discovered a very pure felspar in the Middleton, one of the Briedden
hills, the true _Kaolin_, to which the Chinese were indebted for the
quality of their egg-shell and other first class china. The fret body
was therefore abandoned, the _pate tendre_ for a _pate dure_, as the
French say, and by adding pure felspar to the Cornish stone and clay
which contains a large percentage, a good transparent body was obtained
at a less cost than by using a _fret body_. About this time also the
Society of Arts offered a prize to any one who should find a substitute
for lead in the glaze, the deleterious effects of which told upon the
dippers, and produced paralysis; and Mr. Rose by applying felspar to the
glaze succeeded in obtaining it. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the
Society; and from that time following, for some years, a badge was either
attached to the ware or engraved upon it as follows:—“Coalport Felspar
Porcelain, J. Rose & Co: the Gold Medal awarded May 30, 1820; Patronised
by the Society of Arts.” The Devonports and other manufacturers competed
for the prize.
The felspar porcelain however never equalled the original Nantgarw fret
body ware for purity and transparency, a white plate of which would at
the present time fetch a couple of guineas. It cannot be said that any
new element was introduced by using felspar, because the kaolin,
contained in Cornish stone and day, as discovered by Cookworthy in 1768,
had been, and was now used at Plymouth, Derby, Worcester, Caughley, and
Coalport; and by a judicious admixture of this and a free use of bone
(phosphate of lime) a good serviceable china was produced. The former
gave mellowness, and the latter whiteness, which approached in a degree
the qualities of old and Oriental china. In fact Mr. Rose, who had the
sole management of the works, spared neither pains nor expense in raising
the character of the productions of the Coalport Works, which were now by
far the largest porcelain works in the kingdom, if not in the world.
Like Minton, he was a man of wonderful energy, being strong in body,
having a clear head, a cool judgment, and gifted with remarkable
perseverance.
The works were now in a state of prosperity; warehouses were opened in
Manchester, London, Sheffield, and Shrewsbury, and a large trade was
being done with dealers all over the kingdom. There was plenty of
employment, and a good understanding generally prevailed between masters
and their work people. Both before and after the strike there were at
Coalport, as at other works of the kind elsewhere, an intelligent class
of men, among potters and painters, as well as in other departments.
Painters, especially, had good opportunities for mental culture and
obtaining information. Numbers worked together in a room, one sometimes
reading for the benefit of the others, daily papers were taken,
discussions were often raised, and in politics the sharp features of
party were as defined as in the House of Commons itself. The rooms were
nicely warmed, and a woman appointed to sweep up, to bring coals, to keep
the tables clean, to wash up dishes, peel potatoes, and fetch water for
those who, not living near, brought their meals with them. It is not
surprising, therefore, that men, having such advantages, should sometimes
rise to higher situations. Some became linguists, some schoolmasters,
engineers, and contractors; one, breakfasting with a bishop, whose
daughter he afterwards married, saw upon the table, some time since, a
service painted by himself when a workman at Coalport. Some were
singular characters: old Jocky Hill kept his hunter; John Crowther, a
very amiable fellow, exceedingly good natured, and always ready to do a
favour to any one who asked him, lived quite a recluse, studying algebra
and mechanics. He has suggested many improvements in locomotives, steam
paddles, breaks, &c., &c., and had the honour of submitting to the
Government the plan of terminating annuities, by which money at that time
was raised to carry on the war, and by which we have been saved the
burden—so far—of a permanent debt; also of making other suggestions,
which have been likewise adopted. He also invented a most ingenious
almanack applicable to all time.
Coalport men were usually great politicians; Hunt, Hethrington, Richard
Carlile, Sir Francis Burdett, and Cobbett, had their disciples and
admirers; and such was the eagerness to get the Register, with its
familiar gridiron on the cover, that a man has been despatched to
Birmingham for it from one of the rooms, his shopmates undertaking to do
his work for him whilst he was away.
The works themselves are ill designed and badly constructed, the greater
portion of them having been put up at the latter end of the past and
beginning of the present centuries, whilst other portions were added from
time to time, with no regard to ventilation or other requirements of
health. Consequently there are the most curious ins and outs, dropsical
looking roofs, bulging walls, and drooping floors, which have to be
propped underneath, to support half a century’s accumulations of china,
accumulations amounting to hundreds and hundreds of tons in weight. In
entering some of these unhealthy _ateliers_ and passages strangers have
to look well to their craniums. Some work-rooms have very stifling
atmospheres, charged with clay or flint; the biscuit room notably so. We
have said that a good understanding prevailed generally between masters
and workmen. There was one notable exception, the great “strike” as it
was called, which occurred somewhere in November, 1833; a memorable event
in the history of the works, so much so that in speaking of occurrences
it is usual to the present time to ask in case of doubt if it happened
before or subsequent to the strike. The men had their “Pitcher,” a well
conducted sick society; and a “Travelling Society,” for assisting those
in search of employment, with branches in all centres of the trade.
Trades unions, however, were just then coming to the front. The
Combination Laws had been repealed eleven years previously; otherwise,
such was the temper of the Shropshire magistrates, and the feeling
generally in relation to the trades unions, that had they existed on the
statute book not a few would have had to have experienced the penal
consequences of their acts. With the men who still adhered to the
masters the works continued to be carried on to a limited extent; after
much suffering and privation some of the hands returned, whilst some
obtained employment elsewhere. The course taken by Mr. John Rose, in
resisting the men was warmly approved of by his neighbours, who
subscribed for a handsome silver cup, which is now in the possession of
Mr. Charles Pugh, who married Miss Martha Rose, daughter of Mr. Thomas,
and niece of Mr. John Rose. It is a large and massive piece of plate. A
vine stem entwines around the foot and forms the handles, a vine border
with grapes also forms a border round the rim of the cover. On one side
is the following inscription:
Presented to John Rose Esqr.,
of
Coalport China Manufactory,
By his
Friends and Neighbours
March 3rd
1834.
On the reverse side is the following:
Tribute of respect
to his
Public and Private Character
and to the
uncompromising firmness
with which
he has recently resisted the
demands of an illegal
conspiracy.
We have lived to see trades unions legalized, and trade combinations
adopted by masters as well as men.
Mr. Walker had invented a maroon colour dip for grounds, which was used
with much success. A good deal was done too about this time in imitation
of the _Sevres_ style of decoration, and thousands of pounds were spent
in endeavouring to make the famous torquoise of the French; but a pale
imitation, called celest, only was obtained; some years afterwards
however a much better colour was produced, first by Mr. Harvey, secondly
by Mr. Bagshaw, thirdly by Mr. Hancock.
In 1839 the late William Pugh became one of the firm, it then being John
Rose, Charles Maddison, and William Pugh. In 1841 it was Charles
Maddison, William Pugh, Thomas Rose, and William Frederick Rose. In 1843
William Pugh, and William F. Rose were the proprietors. In 1845 the
Messrs. Daniell received the command of the Queen to prepare a dessert
service as a present by herself to the Emperor Nicholas, and it was
manufactured at the works. It was a magnificent service of _bleu de
roi_, and had the various orders of the Russian Empire enamelled, in
compartments, with the order of St. Nicholas, and the Russian and Polish
eagles in the centre. In 1850 the famous Rose-du-Barry was discovered.
The attempt to do so had been suggested by the Messrs. Daniell, in 1849;
and after repeated experiments by Mr. George Hancock, who is still the
colour-maker at the works, it was produced. This colour, so named after
Mdme du Barry, one of the mistresses of Louis XV, had been formerly made
at the Sevres Works, but the art had been lost, and its reproduction
created a demand for very rich dessert services and ornaments of the
colour. Very costly services of it were produced for the Messrs.
Daniell, Mortlock, Phillips, Goode, and other London dealers, which
attracted considerable attention at the Exhibition of 1851. One splendid
dessert service of it was purchased by Lord Ashburton; others also, after
special models and designs, of this colour were subsequently produced for
the head of the State, for the Emperor of the French, and for noblemen
like the duke of Northumberland, the Marquis of Lansdowne and others.
The following are the remarks of the Jurors on that occasion:—Rose J.,
and Co., Coalbrook Dale, Shropshire (47, p. 727), have exhibited
porcelain services and other articles, which have attracted special
attention of the Jury. A dessert service of a rose ground is in
particular remarkable, not only as being the nearest approach we have
seen to the famous colour which it is designed to imitate, but for the
excellence of the flower-painting, gilding, and other decorations, and
the hardness and transparency of glaze. The same observation applies to
other porcelain articles exhibited by this firm. The Jury have awarded
to Messrs. Rose and Co. a Prize Medal. The company also attained medals
at the French Exhibition in 1855, and at that of London in 1862.
A good deal has been done of late years in the Sevres style of decoration
on vases, the moulds of which came direct from Sevres manufactory. It is
a pleasing incident, and one worth mentioning, that some years ago Mr. W.
F. Rose in company with Mr. Daniell visited Paris, and of course went to
Sevres. Mr. Daniell was at once taken round the works, but Mr. Rose
feeling some delicacy remained outside. Mr. Daniell mentioned the
delicacy of his friend, and the manager at once sent for him in, and
shewed him the greatest respect. He told him he might send his best
artists to copy any thing he saw, or employ theirs to do so: and sometime
after he sent over the moulds themselves to Coalport.
In 1862 Mr. Pugh became sole proprietor of the works, and continued so to
his death, in June 1875. Mr. Charles Pugh, brother of the deceased, and
Mr. Edmund Ratcliff, brother-in-law, were left executors; and for an
adjustment of claims by them and others the estate was thrown into
Chancery and a receiver and manager, Mr. Gelson was appointed. The stock
which is immense and had been accumulating for half a century is being
brought into the market. Hundreds of dozens of one pattern, “India
tree,” for example, which had remained out of sight for forty years, are
being brought to light. In some instances a hundred dozen or so of
saucers, (printed,) are found stowed away, without cups to match; whilst
scores of piles of plates and dishes, sixteen or eighteen feet high, may
be seen (white) in others, which had been sorted and put on one side from
some defect or other. It speaks well for the quality of the china that
the biscuit and glazed are both sound and good. In some cases the floors
are literally giving way from the immense weight of stock they have to
sustain. In one place a quantity of old Caughley China was discovered;
whilst in another were found a number of Caughley copper plates engraved
by the late Herbert Minton’s father.
It may excite surprise that so large a stock should have been allowed to
accumulate, but much was the result of a wish to keep the men employed.
The fact of a number of copper plates being found with his name on,
confirms what we have previously said about Thomas Minton, who founded
the important commercial house bearing his name and that of his son at
Stoke, having been employed as an engraver at Caughley. M. Digby Wyatt,
also, in his paper read before the Society of Arts and reported in the
Society’s Journal, May 28th, 1858, on the influence exercised on ceramic
art by the late Herbert Minton, says:—“Mr. Thomas Minton was a native of
Shropshire, and he was brought up at the Caughley works, near Broseley,
as an engraver. He then went to town and worked for Spode, at his London
House of business.” In 1788 he went to Stoke, bought land, and built the
house and works which have since become so celebrated. Up to 1798
however he only made earthenware which was printed and ornamented in
blue, similar to that at Caughley.
Mr. Wyatt, in the paper just quoted, speaking of John Rose and of the
late Herbert Minton admitted that in the excellent, rapid, and cheap
production of porcelain for Mr. Minton to have stood still for a moment
would have been to have lost his lead in the trade. And Mr. Daniell, in
the discussion which followed, said:—
“With reference to Mr. Minton’s predecessors in this branch of art,
he might remind the society of one whose name was upon their records
as the recipient of the society’s gold medal for china and porcelain
manufactures long before Mr. Herbert Minton’s time. He referred to
John Rose, of Coalport, who made more china in his day than all those
who were mentioned in the paper.”
It will be seen from what we have written that Thomas Turner, of
Caughley, and J. Rose, of Coalport, were the creators, so to speak, of
new industries which drew around them large populations and gave
employment to thousands who otherwise might have sought for it in vain,
or have found it under less advantageous circumstances. It will be seen
also that not only were they benefactors contributing materially to the
common stock of national prosperity themselves, but that their energies
and abilities inspired others who in turn became industrial organisers,
and through various channels carried on the work of progress.
MADELEY CHINA WORKS.
Excepting to the trade, and to some of the old inhabitants, it is not
generally known that Martin Randall established China Works at Madeley,
and made porcelain similar to that of Nantgarw and little if at all
inferior to old Sevres porcelain. He and his brother Edward were
Caughley men; he left there to go to Derby. He afterwards went to
Pinxton, and thence with Mr. Robins, a Pinxton man, to London, where they
entered into partnership and carried on business. They were supplied
with Nantgarw white china by Mr. Mortlock, till Mr. Rose cut off the
supply from the Welsh Works, by engaging Billingsley and Walker to make
it for himself alone at the Coalport Works. They still continued to
carry on business at Islington, where they erected buildings suitable,
and fired the ware in box kilns with charcoal.
About this time the demand was great with connoisseurs among the
aristocracy for old Sevres china; and the London dealers, finding that it
was not obtainable in sufficient quantities to meet the demand for highly
decorated specimens, hit upon the expedient of employing agents in Paris
to buy up Sevres china in white for the purpose of having it painted in
London, as Nantgarw had been, and selling it to their customers as the
bona fide productions of Sevres. Slightly painted patterns too were
procured, and the colours got off with fluoric acid, and rich and
expensive paintings, grounds, and gilding substituted.
About the year 1826 they dissolved partnership and Mr. Randall came to
Madeley, where he occupied a house in Park Lane, now the residence of the
Wesleyan minister. He then took more commodious premises at the lower
end of Madeley, where he erected enamelling, biscuit, and other kilns,
and made and finished his own ware. Thomas Wheeler, William Roberts, and
F. Brewer, were his potters; Philip Ballard, Robert Grey, and the present
writer, were painters there, and Enos Raby was ground layer. John Fox of
Coalbrookdale, William Dorsett, of Madeley, also were with Mr. Randall
for a short time. Not having had experience in the making of china,
great mistakes were committed, and heavy losses sustained. We have known
a biscuit kiln fired till tea-pots and cups and saucers were melted into
a mass before a trial was drawn, crow bars being necessary to remove
them; in some instances they assumed the most fantastic forms. At other
times the ware would be short fired in the biscuit kiln and would take up
so much glaze that on coming out of the glaze kiln it would fly off in
splinters. These wastrels were buried, broken up, or thrown into the
canal, to be out of sight.
Mr. Randall however, as the result of repeated and persevering
experiments, succeeded in producing a fret body with a rich glaze which
bore so close a resemblance to old Sevres china that connoisseurs and
famous judges failed to distinguish them. He refused however, from
conscientious motives, to put the Sevres mark, the initials of Louis
Louis, crossed at the bottom, which was done with less hesitation at
Coalport with much more feeble imitations. When introduced on one
occasion to a London dealer, of the name of Frost, who had a shop in the
Strand, as Mr. Martin Randall’s nephew, the dealer in old china observed
that the old Quaker made the best imitation of Sevres that ever was made,
but added, “he never could be got to put the double L on it, and we
cannot sell it as Sevres.” We remarked that he was “too conscientious to
do so,” upon which he replied, “O, d—n conscience; there is no conscience
in business.”
Mr. Randall had less hesitation however in putting the Sevres mark on
what was known to be Sevres; and he did very much for Mortlock, Jarman,
and Baldock, who had agents in Paris, attending all sales where old
Sevres was to be sold, in redecorating it in the most elaborate and
costly manner. The less scrupulous London agents however did not
hesitate to pass it off as being really the work throughout of Sevres
artists. Indeed they have been known to have boxes of china going up
from Madeley, sent on to Dover, to be redirected as coming from France,
inviting connoisseurs to come and witness them being unpacked on their
arrival, as they represented, from Paris. A little entertainment would
be got up, and supposing themselves to be the first whose eyes looked on
the rich goods after they left the French capital, where it would be
represented, perhaps, that they had been bought of the Duc-de—or of
Madame some one, after having been in the possession of royalty, they
would buy freely.
Sevres porcelain fetched high prices then, but it has risen higher in the
market, even since, and has gone on rising to the present time. In 1850
cups and saucers fetched from £25 to £30 each, and bowls £66 or £70.
Three oval vases and covers at Lord Pembroke’s sale fetched £1020.
Prices have however since gone up; and at Mr. Bernal’s sale a pair of
rose Dubarry vases sold for 1850 guineas; and cups and saucers for £100.
Single plates have since sold for £200; vases for 500 or 600 guineas
each, and cups and saucers for 150, guineas. A year ago a set of three
Jardiniers fetched at Christie’s, by auction, £10,000!
We remember seeing an ornament at the Marquis of Anglesey’s at _Beau
Desert_ which we were assured was old Sevres, and had been purchased at a
great price on the continent, but which we recognised as one of our own
painting at Madeley. A man can always tell his own painting; but it is
not an easy matter for another however experienced sometimes to do so.
An amusing instance occurred at Coalport. Mr. F. W. Rose who had been
conversant from a child with china, on one occasion bought a vase,
painted with birds, believing it to be old Sevres, but which was made at
the Coalport Works and painted by the present writer at Madeley. Mr.
Rose, sending for us down to the office said, “here, Randall, is a vase I
have given a good price for, which is the right thing; can you do
anything like it?” Our reply was, it would be strange if we could not,
as we did that when a lad, adding that it was made at his own
manufactory, that it was modelled by George Aston, and purchased out of
the warehouse, in the white, by T. Martin Randall. We need scarcely say
that he was very much astonished on finding he had been duped by a London
china dealer with a piece of his own ware. It was put out of sight; but
the late Mr. Pugh did not forget occasionally to remind his partner of
the incident.
Mr. Randall removed from Madeley to Shelton, in the Potteries, for the
greater convenience of carrying on his works. He was invited by the late
Herbert Minton to become a partner, and to make his ware for the benefit
of both at his extensive works at Stoke. Age however, and a longing for
retirement led him to decline, and he soon afterwards retired to a
cottage at Barleston, where he died, and was buried, in a sunny spot of
his own choosing, within sound of the murmuring waters of the Trent. He
was a good man; one holding large and liberal views, and one who took an
active part in various social and religious movements of the day, being
an active promoter more particularly of Temperance Societies, when first
established in this country. Specimens of his ware are much prized and
sought after by collectors. A fine specimen with torquoise ground is in
the possession of Henry Dickinson Esq.
The chief beauty of Mr. Randall’s porcelain, like that of other fret
bodies, or _pate tendre_ china, was that it admitted of a complete
amalgamation of the painting with the glaze, and also of a richness and
depth of colour, as in the case of torquoise, not to be produced on
ordinary china. It had too that waxy whiteness and mellow transparency
for which old porcelain was distinguished.
MADELEY CHURCH.
Much interest attaches to the old church in which Mr. Fletcher preached,
but little that is definite and satisfactory appears to be known. In one
of the topographies of Shropshire it is said to have been in the Norman
style of architecture, but nothing so early is shewn in the engravings of
the windows and tower. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and a
Chantry is said to have been added in the 11th of the reign of Richard
II. It was small, damp, and dilapidated, in 1794, when it was taken
down. It appears to have contained some handsome altar-tombs and other
mural monuments, some of which we have already noticed as having been in
part removed at the building of the present edifice, as the well
sculptured figures representing the Brooke family. A number of tablets
were again placed in position in the present church, which, as they refer
to old Madeley families, some of which have either died out or removed,
we give, together with others of a later date.
The following occur on the Eastern side of the church:—
On the left hand side is the following:—
In memory of Walter and Lucy Astley,
who died of the small-pox.
He died Dec. 11th, 1721, aged 30 years.
She died Dec. 30th, 1721, aged 24 years.
Also of
Matthias Astley, brother to the above,
Who died June 23rd, 1747, aged 53 years.
In the chancel
Near this place
lye the bodys of William Ashwood,
late of this parish, Esqr.,
And Elizabeth his wife,
daughter of William Adams,
of Longden, in this county, Esqr.
To whose memory John, their son
and heir, erected this monument,
in testimony of his duty to such
affectionate parents.
He died October 27, 1730, in his 47th year;
She March 22nd, 1740,
in her 50th year.
Another is as follows:—
In memory of
John Ashwood of this parish, Esq.,
Who died 31st Jan., 1750,
In the 30th year of his age.
And of Thomas Porter Ashwood,
His only son, by Dorothy his wife,
second daughter of Henry Spron,
late of the Marsh in this county, Esq.,
Who died 31st March, 1769, in his 19th year.
Also
In memory of the said
Dorothy, wife of the above
John Ashwood Esq.,
Who died 13th May, 1785,
In the 59th year of her age.
This family lived in the old hall, the remains of which now form part of
the stabling of Joseph Yate, Esq.
In the chancel is a handsome monument, surmounted by the arms of the
Smitheman and Brooke families, as follows:—
In this chancel are interred the remains of
Catherine
The wife of John Unett Smitheman Esq.,
late of Little Wenlock, in this county,
By whom she had five children, (viz.)
Catherine, Catherine, Brooke, John, and Rose,
of whom, one daughter
Catherine, and John, only survived her.
The other 3 children died in their infancy.
CATHERINE
Died Oct. 1, 1741 at Willey in this county,
where she was buried.
She was the daughter and co-heir of
Cumberford Brooke Esq.,
Of this parish and Cumberford in Staffordshire,
By Rose his wife, daughter of Sir John Austin Bart.
of Boxley in Kent.
She was descended from
Sir Robert Brooke Knight,
Speaker of the House of Commons and afterwards
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of
Queen Mary,
And through a long line of ancestors was allied to
many a noble and illustrious family in this kingdom
She departed this life May 1st, 1737.
To whose memory
Her son John Smitheman erected this
little monument.
At the top of this monument is the following coat of arms:—
QUARTERLY: first chequy arg. and sa.
Second arg. a chevron gu. between Three Helmets
Third gu. a Talbot passant, arg.
Fourth az. a lion rampant, between six fleur-de-lis, or,
Crest, an Eagle with two heads, displayed, arg. collared, or.
In the chancel is the following:—
In a vault
near this place are interred the remains
of Mr. George Goodwin,
late of this parish,
who died Nov. 3rd 1773,
in the 54th year of his age.
He was a man of great worth, good sense and integrity, was most
deservedly esteemed and respected by all who knew him, more
particularly by the industrious inhabitants of this populous and
extensive parish.
To perpetuate the remembrance of so worthy a man, his son William
Goodwin hath with gratitude and respect erected this little monument.
“An honest man’s the noblest work of God.”
Also in the same vault is interred the body of
Mr. John Goodwin,
(son of the above) who died Feb. 21st, 1774,
In the 28th year of his age.
Likewise in the same vault is interred
the body of
Mr. Edward Reding,
(brother-in-law to the above Mr. Wm. Goodwin)
who died Jan. 19th, 1797, aged 39.
And also the remains of
Mr. William Goodwin,
who departed this life Feb. 25th, 1797,
in the 48th year of his age.
Here is another.
Near this place lie the remains of
Benjamin Nicholls, late of this parish,
who died 27th May, 1775,
in the 75th year of his age.
He was a good husband, a tender father,
A good neighbour and sincere friend.
Also
Elizabeth his wife who died 27th Dec., 1779,
in the 73rd year of her age.
And also of
Benjamin, son of William and Lydia Nicholls,
of the parish of Stirchley,
who died 7th Sept., 1761,
in the 4th year of his age.
Near the entrance are the following:—
Mary Yate,
aged 45,
Died 20th May, 1779.
Prœivit.
Fanny Yate,
relict of Timothy Yate, Esq., of this parish,
died August 21st, 1834,
aged 53 years,
and was interred in the family vault in this
church yard.
The sad affliction which befel the family of the Rev. J. H. A. Gwyther
when vicar of Madeley, by the successive illness and death of his
children, has been commemorated by sympathising friends and neighbours by
means of a white marble tablet, on which are a group of well executed
crushed lilies, at the base, and another erected by the family of Mr.
Gwyther. The following are the inscriptions:—
As
A Solemn
Memorial
Of the affecting death within nine days
of five children
of the Rev. J. H. A. Gwyther, M.A.,
Vicar of this parish,
And in testimony of respectful sympathy
with the bereaved parents
This tablet is erected by
friends and neighbours, parishoners of Madeley.
Hephzibah Mary, born Nov. 28th, 1845,
died April 12th, 1856.
Emily Maria, born August 17th, 1847,
died April 13th, 1656.
Phœbe Catharine, born August 10th, 1848,
died April 14th, 1856.
James Bulkley Phillips, born Aug. 7th, 1850,
died April 16th, 1856.
Clara Artemisia, born Oct. 10th, 1852,
died April 21st, 1856.
“The voice said cry, and he said what shall I cry? all flesh is
grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand for ever.”
ISAIAH XL. 6–8.
It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.
I. SAMUEL III. 18.
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
GENESIS XVIII. 25.
In Affectionate Memory of
Richard Cecil Henry,
The second beloved son of
James Henry Gwyther, M.A., Vicar of this Parish,
And Mary Catharine his wife.
Born Sep. 21st, 1851. Died April 4th, 1855.
Yes, Thou art fled and saints a welcome sing,
Thine infant spirit soars on angels’ wing,
Our dark affection might have hop’d thy stay,
The voice of God has called his child away.
Sweet Rose of Sharon, plant of holy ground,
Like Samuel early in the temple found;
Oh; more than Samuel blest, to thee ’tis given,
The God he served on earth, to serve in heaven.
BENEFACTIONS.
1706. May 28th, Basil Brooke, Esq. of Madeley gave by will £40, to which
an addition of £60 was made by unknown Benefactors, wherewith certain
Cottages and Premises were purchased and conveyed to Trustees for the
benefit of the Poor of this Parish.
1800. The yearly sum of five shillings was given to the Poor of this
Parish to be paid out of the Rates of the Premises lately belonging to
Mr. Richard Beddoes, but now in the possession of Walter Bowdler, of
Madeley.
1825. Joseph Reynolds, Esq., of the Bank House, presented a Service of
Communion Plate for the use of this Church, of the value of £100.
1810. Sept. 6th, Mr. William Yate, of this Parish, gave by will to the
Churchwardens for the time being in Trust, four kneelings in his Pew, No.
13 in the Gallery, for the benefit of the Sunday Schools of this Parish.
1852. Thomas Lister, Esq., of Broseley, gave £100 to the Sunday and
National Schools connected with the Parish Church of Madeley, which sum
was invested in the three per cent Consolidated Annuities, on the 19th
day of January, 1853, in the names of Rev. J. H. A. Gwyther, John
Anstice, and Thomas Smith, Vicar and Churchwardens, Managers of the said
Schools.
The Foundation Stone of this Church
was laid by the Rev. George Pattrick, L.L.B.,
September 22nd, 1794.
Divine Worship first performed therein by the Rev. Samuel Walter, A. M.,
Curate of this parish, on Easter Day, being
April 16th, 1797.
William Purton, Thomas Wheatly, } Churchwardens.
MADELEY.
EXTINCT AND ANCIENT NAMES.
An old book containing tithe charges has names of places now no longer
known. In 1786, for instance, Mr. Botfield is stated to occupy under the
family of the late Sir Joseph Hawley some pieces of land called the Hoar
Stones. The Rev. Charles Hartshorne in his Salopia Antiqua describes
hoar stones at some length and quotes passages from sacred and profane
writers to shew that they were in some cases memorial, and in others
division marks between property. They occur at a place called Hoar, or
“Whure Edge,” on the Titterstone Clee, and in several other places in
Shropshire and neighbouring counties, whilst in Wales, both north and
south, they are still more numerous.
Among old names of places applying to portions of Madeley Court property
we find the Hopyard, adjoining “the slang,” a piece of 11 acres, 2
perches, and 16 roods, formerly in the occupation of Mr. W. Purton, and
belonging to Richard Dyott Esq.; and the Coneberry, and Coneygrey; Deer
Close, and Battlefield, all belonging to the same in 1787.
MADELEY MARKET.
Grants of markets and fairs appear to have been made by kings in former
times by way of favour to the holders of manors, rather than from a wish
to accommodate the people who shared the privileges. Madeley market was
granted by the necesstous king, Henry III., to the Prior of Wenlock, July
6, 1269. He also granted an annual fair, to be held on three days;
namely, on the vigil, the day, and the morrow of St. Matthew the apostle.
The market was to be held on Tuesdays, but it fell into disuetude, and
was either removed to or revived in another portion of the same manor;
and the inhabitants of the village for many years, had no market nearer
than Ironbridge or Dawley. The old market was at one time held at Cross
Hill, in an open space where a group of cottages now divide the roads.
It was also held at one time in a building which served as a market hall,
now the property of Mr. Legge, adjoining the barn in which king Charles
was lodged. Subsequently it was removed to Madeley Wood; and afterwards
to Ironbridge, which was at that time a rising place. Ineffectual
attempts were made in 1857 to re-establish a market, but nothing
effectual was done till 1869, when an energetic committee was appointed,
of which Mr. Legge was Treasurer and the writer of this article was Sec.,
which succeeded in establishing the market, first in the open street and
secondly in treating with the lord of the manor, through his agent, W. R.
Anstice, Esq., for the erection of a suitable building, on condition that
a scale of tolls was adopted sufficient to cover the outlay. The market
has proved of great advantage to the town; not only to purchasers but to
tradesmen, by causing more ready money to be spent in the town than
formerly.
MADELEY AS A PART OF THE FRANCHISE OF WENLOCK.
Madeley for the last 900 years has been associated with Wenlock. It
formed part of the possessions of the Church of St. Milburgh in the time
of King Edward (son of the Great Alfred) at the commencement of the tenth
century, and is mentioned as such in Domesday. It shared the privileges
which the many franchises obtained by the Prior of Wenlock conferred.
These privileges and exemptions from taxation gave, Mr. Eyton observes,
to each acre of land a two-fold value. On the other hand it suffered
from the occasional extortions of the Priors, and inconveniences from
being subject, as all lands of the Borough were, to the Mother Church of
Holy Trinity, Wenlock. It was subject to the Courts of Wenlock, and as
early as 1267 a case is mentioned in which the Provost of Wenlock and the
Prior were engaged in _disseizen_ one of the tenants of the Prior at
Madeley.
The Bailiff and his peers, together with the Recorder, were Justice of
the Peace, with a Jurisdiction co-extensive with the Borough.
These officers had Constables in the several divisions of the Borough,
termed Allotments, sometimes Constablewicks. The men selected for the
office appear to have been men of substance, standing, and integrity; and
upon them devolved the duties of maintaining the laws, of collecting
monies for the king &c.
Here, for instance, are the “Articles which the constables” of Madeley
and Little Wenlock were called upon “to present upon oath.”
1.—What felonies have been committed and what default . and by and
in-whom.
2.—What vagrant p’sns. and sturdy beggars have passed through yo’r.
limitts unpunished, and whether the same and impotent poor of yo’r.
p’ share provided for, and poor children bound apprentices according
to Law.
3.—What Recusants of about the age of sixteen are in yo:e limitts,
and who absent themselves from church on ye Lord’s Day, and how many
sabbaths.
4.—Who have profaned the Sabbath by swearing, labouring or otherwise.
5.—What Ingrossers, forestalled, or . . . of the market, of cow or
cattle, or other dead victuals are within yo’r limitts, or any
Badgers or Drovers of cow or cattle.
6.—Who make mault to sell of corn or grain or tythe or tylth not
being their own . and are not licensed thereunto.
7.—What Masters or Servants give or take greater wages than is
appointed by Justices of the Peace according to Law.
8.—What cottagers or inmates are evicted, removed or maintained, and
by whom, and how long.
9.—What unlawful games, drunkenness, tipling other evil rule or
disorder hath been in Inns, ale houses &c. and by whom.
10.—What Servants have departed from their masters, and what masters
have put away their servants within the compass of their time.
11.—Who use gunns, or take or destroy hawks or hawk’s eggs, of
pheasants, partridges, younge deer, hares, snipes, fish, or fowl,
with snares or other engines whatsoever for that purpose against the
Law.
12.—Who use unlawful weights or measures or buy by a greater and sell
by a lesser weight or measure.
13.—Whether watch and ward be duly observed and kept according to ye
statute; that is to say, between Ascension Day and Michaelmas in
convenient places, and who has made default therein.
14.—What highways have been repaired and what have been neglected.
15.—Who have sold beer, or syder, or perry, &c. unlicensed, or who
hath evaded ye assize of bread and drink unlawfully, either the
bakers or assizers.
16.—What butchers have killed or sold meate on the Lord’s Day, or
sold any unwholesome flesh at any other time.
17.—Who have any assault, battery, or bloodshed.
18.—Who have profanely sworn or cursed, and how often.
19.—What common brawlers, drunkards, scoulds, eavesdroppers,
talebearers, and such disordered p’sns are within y’re limits.
20.—Who have sold ale or beer on the Sabbath day, or who have been
drinking or tipling in any alehouse on that day.
As the reader may surmise, from references to recusants and others who
refused or neglected to attend church, or to acknowledge the supremacy of
the King as the head, these instructions were drawn up and submitted by
the Bailiff to the Constables of Madeley, Little Wenlock, Beckbury, and
Badger, in the early part of reign of William and Mary.
Vagrants and sturdy beggars, it appears, were to be strictly looked
after; they swarmed through the country, giving themselves up to
pilfering; the women breeding children whom they brought up to the same
idle way of living, so that, according to a writer about that period,
(1677) there were 100,000 paupers in England. Harsh measures were
therefore resorted to: the law of Settlement was passed, and once more
the poor were reduced to bondage to the soil from which they had been
emancipated a century or two before. By this law, which remained in
force 130 years, and which was not repealed till the close of the last
century, the poor were imprisoned within their allotments; and upon the
complaints of the Churchwardens or Overseers, any two Justices of the
Peace had power to lay hold of the new comer and within forty days remove
him to the Parish in which he was last settled, unless he could prove
that he was neither a pauper nor a vagabond, or that he rented a tenement
of the value of £10 per annum.
Here, for instance, is a copy of a letter addressed to the constables of
Madeley.
Wenlock
To the Constables of the p sh. of Madeley,
Greeting.
Whereas I have been informed yt. Thomas Richasson doth endeavour to
make a settlement within the s’d p’ish of Madeley, contrary to the
laws &c. I am therefore in the King and Queen’s Ma’ties names, of
England that now are, to will and require you the said Constables, or
one of you that you bring before me or some other of their Ma’ties
Justices of the Peace for the said Town and lib’ties, the body of the
said Thomas Richasson, to the Serjeant’s House in Much Wenlock, upon
Tuesday the tenth day of this instant month of March, to answer to
such matters as shall be objected against him by the overseers of the
poor of the parish of Madeley. And you, the said constables, are
required to give notice to John York of yo’r p’sh, Smith, that he be
and appear before me &c. at the time and place above said, by nine
o’clock in the morning, to put in sureties for his and his wife’s
good behaviour towards Elinor Alnord, Widdy, and all their Ma’ties
loyal people. And you are to make due returns of this warrant at the
time above stated &c. Given under my hand and seal this second day
of March, Anno domini 1690.
You must give notice to Thomas Cope, Anne Cludd, and Elizabeth Morris
to appear to testify the truth of their knowledge.
Lan. Stephens.
Probably there were other reasons for these strict enquiries, as the
feudal bondage to which the poor were reduced was closely interwoven with
another evil, the thriving-traffic of Shipping likely young paupers to
American Plantations, as was done by the Bristol Corporation, which held
out to the poor wretches the alternative of leaving England or being
flogged or imprisoned.
It may perhaps be a redeeming feature in the character of that “ermined
iniquity and prince of legal oppressors,” as Judge Jeffreys, who was not
unconnected with Shropshire, was called, to say that as Lord
Chief-Justice he exerted himself successfully to put down this
abomination.
Another summons from Wenlock to the constables requires them by virtue of
an Act of Parliament (fifth of William and Mary) to give notice to all
householders, and to all others they may believe to be disaffected,
inhabiting within their “Constablewick,” being sixteen years of age and
above sixteen, to appear at the house of, Humphrey Powell,
Sergent-at-mace, at Wenlock &c. to take the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy to their Ma’ties, and to subscribe the declaration in the Act
&c. Dated 16th June, 1692.
Signed Thos. Crompton, Bailf.
Chas. Rindar. Recorder.
Lan. Stephens.
John Mason.
This summons does not appear to have brought the parties to book, for we
find a large number charged with contempt, and again summonsed under a
fine of 40s. to appear before the Sergeant-at-mace.
In 1693, William Hayward, Roger Brooke, Gent., and John Smytheman, Gent.,
and others are applied to, as assessors for Madeley, Beckbury and Little
Wenlock, in carrying out the Act passed in the fifth year of the reign of
William and Mary, entitled “an Act for granting to their Majesties an aid
of Four Shillings in ye pound for one year, for carrying on a vigorous
War against France.” After giving the nature of the property to be
taxed, the Bailiff and his Officers call upon the assessors to levy a
double tax upon “every papist, or reputed papist, of ye age of 16 years
or upwards, who hath not taken the oath mentioned and required to be
observed in an Act of Parliament passed in the first year of that reign,
entitled an Act for abrogating the oaths of Supremacy and allegiance,”
unless they then take the oath they shall administer. The papists
however were not alone in this respect; others who had not taken the
oaths, or who refused to take those tendered, were to be similarly rated
or assessed.
In some cases the Constables were required to look after and to report
upon all young men of a certain age and height, likely to be of use to
his Majesty in war times, &c.
Here is a specimen.
(To the Constables of Madeley.)
“We whose names” &c., His Ma’ties Justices of the Peace, having
received a summons from the Deputy Lieutenant of the county, together
with a copy of a letter from the Lords of the Privy Council &c.,
Command you to make diligent search for all straggling seamen,
watermen, or seafaring men, and to impress all such, giving each one
shilling, impressment money, and to bring the same before us, to the
intent that they may be sworn and provided for, as by the said letter
directed; and You, the sd. Constables are not to impress any very
old, crazy, or unhealthy men, but such as are younge, and of able
healthy bodies, fit for se’vice; and herein you are to use yo’e: best
endeavours as you and any of you will answer the contrary. Given
under our hands &c.
“You are to take notice that what monye you shall lay out of yo’e:
purse upon this service we will take care the same shall be speedily
repaid you according to the order of their Majesties Privy Council.”
Jas: Lewis, Balf.
Geo: Weld.
Tho: Compton.
Turning back to the period when great political, religious, and moral
changes were taking place in the country, when Royalists and Republicans
had been struggling for the mastery, and the latter were victorious, to
ascertain their reflex and influence upon the little local parliaments
sitting in the Guildhall at Wenlock, we found some characteristic
presentments by those then important officers the constables, from the
several constablewicks within the franchise, with other matters coming
before the bailiffs and Justices of the Peace, and instructions issued by
them such as may be of interest in shewing the intermeddling spirit of
Puritanism in its then rampant attitude, when the neglect of public
worship, and the walking out of sweethearts, and even husbands and wives,
during sermon time, was punished with fines, imprisonments or the stocks.
The stocks in fact appear to have been in frequent requisition, and fines
as frequently imposed for such trivial offences as hanging out clothes on
a Sunday, being seen in an ale house on the Sabbath, and for the very
mildest form of swearing, or for the least utterance of disaffection or
disrespect of the Commonwealth. Here, for instance, is the presentment
of
“Articles of evil behaviour of Edward Jeames, of Long Stanton Clee,
in the Liberties of Much Wenlock, xiiiith day of September, 1652,
John Warham, gent., Bailiff.
“First, that the said Edward Jeames is a common disturber of the
Publike Peace, of this Commonwealth, by stirring up strife and
sedition among his neighbours.”
The presentment then proceeds to state that the said Edward Jeames doth
often quarrel with his owne wife and family.
“Secondly That the said Edward Jeames doth take abroade wh. him a
Welsh servt. Lad wch. he keepeth, to the end yat if any neighboure
being by him abused by opprobvious and unseemely language and word of
provocation, doe make any answeare or reply to him, out of which any
advantage may be taken, the said Lad shall verify ye same upon oath
on purpose to vex and molest the same neighboure and to gaine revenge
against him. Thirdly that the said Edward Jeames, in September,
1651, when the titular king of Scotte invaded yis land wh. an army,
saied openly in ye heareing of divse persons yt he was glad yt ye
kinge was comen into ye land, for if he had not come he thought yt ye
pesent. government would have altered religion & turned all unto
Popery.”
We did not turn to other old parchments containing the decisions of the
Justices to see what punishment, if any, was meted out to Mr. Jeames for
his evil behaviour, but turned to note some of the Informations laid
against ale house keepers, and persons frequenting ale houses on the
Sabbath. Here is one from Barrow, not from the Constable, or from one
living within the franchise; but from a gentleman who first proclaims his
own goodness by telling us that he himself had attended service twice on
the Sunday, but who, like many others just then, felt it to be his duty
to look after others. He commences by saying
“that yesterday, being Lord’s Day, I was at Wenlock morning and
evening prayer, and going home by the house of John Thompson of
Barrow, ale seller, both the doors being open I saw both hall and
parlour full of people, both men and women drinkeinge and some
drinkeinge forth of dores. There is a private house standing farr
from any rode and hath the report to bee a verye rude house on ye
Lord’s Day. I am Louth to be the informer, because I doe nott live
wthin ye franchise, but leave yt to ye worshps. consideration hoping
you will take som course whereby God may bee better honoured, and his
Sabbathes less defamed in that house. What I can speke of that man
further I forbear, for ye pesent.
Yours to command,
WILLIAM LEGG, senr.”
“Sworn before the Bailiff, John Warham, gent.”
The above John Thompson appeared, and we find
“& is ordered to appear at any tyme hereafter when Mr. Bailiff shall
requyer.
6th September, 1652.”
The next is an information against John Aston, of Madeley, in the county
of Salop, in which the said John is summonsed to appear before the
Bailiff, John Warham, gent., and Justices of the Peace of the said town
and liberties. The information appears to have been sworn to by Thomas
Smytheman, of Madeley, husbandman, who states that Lawrence Benthall, and
William Davies, of Madeley, were seen drinking on the Lord’s Day, at
Aston’s ale-house. The summons appears to have been issued by John Weld
the younger, of Willey. The case is now brought before the Bailiff who
says:
“Let a warrant issue forth to the officers for the leviing of the
monies forfeited for the said offence, according to the Act of
Parliament in that behalf; signed, John Warham, Bailiff.”
We find similar informations as to ale-houses from Broseley and other
parts of the franchise about the same time.
SHEEP STEALING IN SHIRLETT: CUNNING DEVICE.
“The information upon oath of John Eabs of Shurlett, taken upon oath the
xxvth day of May, 1648, conserninge some Sheepe stolne from him of late.
“Deposeth that upon ffriday night last he had a Lamb feloniously stolne
from him either out of his yearde or out of the pasture, and alsoe upon
Wensday night he had likewise a weather sheepe stolne, and upon search
made for the same yeasterday being Saturday he wh. Edward Buckley the
Deputy Constable, found in the house of Willm. Wakeley in Shurlett a
qter. of lambe hyd in a Milkepan, wh. a brest and halfe a brest, a neck
not cutt from the brest of lambe, all covered upon wh. flower, yis said
Edward Wakeleye’s Wife denynige soundly yat there was any Mutton or lambe
in the house or whin. yat Milkepane, and desieringe ye searchers not to
shead her flower in ye pan wh. ye meate was hyd in, and indeavouringe to
obscure ye place, beinge a Cobard, in wh. ye lambe was, and further
cannot informe but yat he verily beleiveth in his conscience ye said
meate was feloniously stolne by ye said Wakely or his people.
Sworn before Audley Bowdler.
Edw. Wakeley upon being examined says that the lambe was one of his own
which he killed on _Friday_ night, and that parte of it was eaten by his
own people before search was made next morne; “being demanded why it was
hid and hid over with flower in such obscurity in his house, he says he
knoweth not whether it was hid or not, but if it was it was wht. ye
privity of ye said Examind, and done by his people unknown to him.”
This puts us in mind of another famous old sheep stealer of Shirlett, who
having stolen a sheep hid it in the baby’s cradle, and when the
Constables called to search his house, with the greatest _nonchalance_
told them they might search away; but added, “don’t make a noise or else
you’ll wake the baby”; and he continued to smoke his pipe and rock the
cradle till the search was completed, and the officers departed _without_
finding any “meate.”
The Constables appointed by the Corporation of Wenlock, were officers who
within the Constablewicks or allotments into which the Borough was
divided, were entrusted, under the Bailiffs with very many important
duties, such as collecting monies for the king, and carrying into
execution acts of parliament, as well as executing summonses and bringing
up defaulters. They were a superior class of men, selected from such as
held land, or were persons of property. Later on quite a different class
of men were appointed; still, sometimes from small tradesmen, but at
others from men who sought the office for the sake of its emoluments, and
who often became the tools of unscrupulous men in office, whether
Bailiffs or Justices of the Peace; as in the case of Samuel Walters, a
broken-down tradesman, whose doings at last, together with that of the
Justices, attracted the attention of parliament. Walters, was the son of
the Rev. Mr. Walters, incumbent of Madeley, and it may serve to give an
idea of the estimation in which he was held in the parish to mention,
that he on one occasion attempted to enlist his own father, by giving him
the shilling in the dark.
The powers exercised by the borough justices were often most arbitrary,
especially when the individual who came within their power happened to be
a dissenter, or “a dangerous radical.” On the merest pretence blank
warrants were issued, which unscrupulous constables, like “Sammy
Walters,” as he was called, carried in their pockets, and filled as
occasion required. One notorious instance was that of three Dutch girls,
(Buy-a-Brooms, as they were called), whom Walters overtook in his
“Teazer,” between Wenlock and Shrewsbury, and invited to ride with him.
Calling at a public-house on the road he went in, filled up three of his
warrants, and then drove them straight to Shrewsbury gaol. This case
came before the House of Commons, and was inquired into by the Home
Secretary, and the system of granting blank warrants was abolished
throughout the kingdom. Madeley is one of the three Wards into which the
borough is divided. For parliamentary purposes Beckbury and Badger are
included, these having been, like Madeley, part of the extensive
possessions of the church of St. Milburgh. Madeley also formed part of
the wide extending parish of Holy Trinity of Wenlock, a parish which
embraced Broseley, and was not limited even by the Severn. The words of
the charter granted by Edward IV. to Sir John Wenlock were these:—
“That the Liberty of the Town or Borough shall extend to the Parish
of the Holy Trinity, and through all the limits, motes, and bounds of
the same parish, and not to any other Towns or Hamlets which are not
of the Parish aforesaid.”
The charter granted by Charles I., in the seventh year of his reign,
added somewhat to the privileges previously possessed, and either gave or
confirmed the right of the burgesses to send _one_ member to parliament.
Originally it seems to have been the prior who had the right of attending
parliament; for we find in 1308 Sir John Weld holding Willey by doing
homage to the prior by “carrying his frock to parliament.” How the
burgesses obtained the further privilege of sending two members to
parliament no one seems to know, and there is no document, we believe, in
the archives of the corporation tending to throw light on the subject;
but they appear to have enjoyed that privilege as far back as Henry
VIII’s time.
The burgesses of Madeley were not numerous, we fancy; some well known
Madeley names, however, occur, both as burgesses and as bailiffs, like
those of Audley Bowdler and Ffosbrooke de Madeley; the former was
“Bailiff of the town and liberties” in 1655 and 1678. In 1661 Thomas
Kinnersley de Badger, Armiger, was bailiff, which would seem to indicate
that the burgesses of Badger at that time shared in the municipal duties
and privileges of the borough. In 1732 Mathew Astley de Madeley, Gent,
was bailiff. The Astleys lived in the old hall, a stone building partly
on the site of Madeley Hall, now the residence of Joseph Yate, Esq., a
portion of which building is supposed now to form the stable. The names
of the Smithemans, one of whom married the co-heir of Cumberford Brooke,
Esq., of Madeley Court and Cumberford in Staffordshire, occur among the
bailiffs. Later on we get that of George Goodwin, of Coalbrookdale and
the Fatlands.
At the passing of the Municipal Reform Act in 1835–6 mayors were
substituted for bailiffs; the last elected under the old title and the
first elected as chief magistrate under the new title was likewise a
Madeley gentleman, William Anstice, Esq., father of the present William
Reynolds Anstice, Esq., of Ironbridge. Mr. Anstice was elected bailiff
in 1834; in 1835 there appears to have been no election, but in 1836 he
was the first gentleman elected, as we have just said, under the new
title. Subsequently the names of other parishioners, as Henry Dickinson,
Charles James Ferriday, John Anstice, Charles Pugh, John Arthur Anstice,
and Richard Edmund Anstice, Esquires, occur. The present (1879) Aldermen
and Councillors for the Ward are Egerton W. Smith, first elected Alderman
1871, and John Fox elected Alderman 1879; John Arthur Anstice first
elected Councillor 1869; Alfred Jones 1873; John Randall 1874; Richard
Edmund Anstice 1876; Andrew Beacall Dyas 1878; {235} and William Yate
Owen 1879.
The electors for parliamentary purposes prior to the passing of the
Reform Rill in 1832 were few in number so far as Madeley was concerned.
They consisted of freemen, men who acquired the right to vote for members
of parliament either by birth, servitude, or purchase. Such freemen
however could live many miles distant; they were often brought at a
closely contested election even from the continent, at considerable
expense; and the poll was kept open for weeks.
The Act of 1832, 2 William IV., limited this right to persons resident
within the borough for six calendar months, or within seven statute miles
from the place where the poll was taken, and this was uniformly taken at
Wenlock. It limited the right of making freemen to those whose fathers
were already burgesses, or who were entitled to become such prior to the
31st March, 1831. The twenty-seventh clause of the act, which conferred
the right to vote upon ten-pound occupiers of houses or portions of
buildings, added greatly to the franchise in Madeley as compared with
other portions of the borough. The alterations effected by the act of
1867 in the borough franchise were, of course, very much greater, as it
gave the right of voting to every inhabitant occupier as owner or tenant
of any dwelling house within the borough, subject to the ratings and
payment of poors rates; also to occupiers of parts of houses where rating
was sufficient and separate.
Contests were not very frequent under the old state of things; when they
did occur they arose more out of rivalry or jealousy on the part of
neighbouring families than from anything else. The most fiercely fought
contests that we remember, under the old limited constituency, were those
of 1820 and 1826; when Beilby Lawley and Beilby Thompson put up. The
most memorable under the ten pound franchise were those when Bridges put
up in 1832; and on a subsequent occasion Sir William Sommerville, in
1835. Bridges and Sommerville came forward in the liberal interest, and
the numbers polled from Madeley, were—
Sommerville 111
Forester 67
Gaskell 45
Among Sommerville’s supporters were many plumpers.
The more recent contests under the extended franchise were when C. G. M.
Gaskell, Esq. came forward, and only polled 846 votes against 1,708
polled by the Right Hon. General Forester, and 1,575 by A. H. Brown,
Esq., and the more recent of 1874, when Sir Beilby Lawley came forward.
PETTY SESSIONS.
Madeley with its two sister wards has Petty Sessions once in six weeks,
which are held in the large room built for that purpose over the Police
Office at Ironbridge. In the lower story are cells for prisoners, very
different indeed as regards cleanliness and conveniences of all kinds to
the old Lock-up, which many may remember near the potato market. The
justices for the borough generally sit here, the Mayor being chief
magistrate presiding. The first batch of magistrates, in the place of
the borough justices, took place in the 6th year of the reign of William
IV., those for Madeley being William Anstice, Esq., of Madeley Wood, and
John Rose, Esq., of the Hay. Others have been appointed from time to
time as circumstances seemed to require.
The borough from the first period of incorporation had its General
Sessions, and its Recorder, who, being a lawyer or other fit person, was
chosen by the burgesses to sit with the Bailiff to be justices of the
peace, to hear and determine felonies, trespasses, &c., and to punish
delinquents therein; and King Charles’s Charter fixed this court to be
held once in two weeks. There was also a General Sessions. The same
charter states
“That there shall be a General Sessions of Peace to be holden by the
said Bailiff and Justices in any place convenient within the Borough
aforesaid, from time to time for ever; so that they do not proceed to
any matter touching the loss of life or member in the said Borough,
without the presence, assistance, and assent of the Recorder of the
said Borough. That they shall have all fines, &c., imposed as well
in the said Sessions aforesaid as in all other Courts to be held
within the said Borough.”
In our “History of Broseley,” p.p. 38 and 39, we have given the names of
the bailiff, recorder, justices of the peace, those of the constables,
and grand jury, who sat in cases heard at Wenlock July 21st, 1653. The
right to hold such Sessions was originally granted by Edward IV. in 1468.
When the reconstruction of the borough courts took place in consequence
of the changes effected by the passing of the Municipal Act in 1836, this
institution of General Sessions appears to have been overlooked: but the
privilege was afterwards granted upon petition by the council, in the 6th
year of the reign of her present majesty.
The magistrates resident in the parish at present are—
Appointed.
John Arthur Anstice, Esq. 1869
William Gregory Norris, Esq. 1869
Charles Pugh, Esq. 1871
Richard Edmund Anstice, Esq. 1877
COURTS FOR THE RECOVERY OF DEBTS, COUNTY COURT, &c.
A County Court or sciremote was instituted by Alfred the Great, and
gradually fell into disuse after the appointment of Justices of Assize in
the reign of Henry II. Courts of Request were afterwards created. The
charter already quoted, for instance, speaking of the burgesses says:—
“That they may have a Court of Record upon Tuesday for ever, once in
two weeks, wherein they may hold by plaint in the same court all
kinds of pleas whatsoever, whether they shall amount to the sum of
forty shillings; the persons against whom the plaints shall be moved
or levied, to be brought into plea by summons, attachment, or
distress.”
This court was held at Broseley, before Commissioners, of whom there were
eight chosen, to represent the eight parishes over which it had
jurisdiction. It was held at the Hole-in-the-Wall public house, and
Jeremiah Perry (Jerry the Bum as he was called) was bailiff, and after
him Henry Booth, when we remember it. It was abolished when the Act for
the recovery of small debts was passed and the present system of County
Courts established in 1847. The books and documents, three tons in
weight, were transferred to the court at Madeley, afterwards to London,
and were sent to the Government paper mills, we believe.
The County Court at Madeley was formerly held in the Club Room of the
Royal Oak Inn; but a county court house was erected in 1858. The
building is in the Grecian style, and comprises a large court room,
registrar’s and bailiffs office, and dwelling house for the court keeper.
The present judge of the circuit, which comprises twelve courts, is
Arundel Rogers, Esq.; Registrar and High Bailiff, E. B. Potts, Esq.;
Chief Clerk, Mr. E. A. Hicks, with an efficient staff of bailiffs. The
court has jurisdiction in ordinary cases up to £50, in equity to £500;
and divides with Shrewsbury the whole bankruptcy business of the county.
A bill has already passed the House of Lords proposing to greatly
increase the jurisdiction of all county courts. Scale of fees: summary—
Under £2 1s. in the £.
Above £2 1s., and 1s. extra.
Hearing Fees 2s. in the £.
Executions 1/6 do. do.
There are between 2000 and 3000 new cases annually.
MANORIAL COURT.
This court was originally held at the Court House, by the Prior of
Wenlock, as lord of the manor of Madeley, as shewn on page 9, where the
pleas and perquisites of the said court are mentioned as being entered in
1379 at 2s. The right to hold such court, a Court Leet, as it was
called, was transferred, together with other privileges, by Henry VIII.
to Robert Brooke when he sold the manor. It passed to John Unett
Smitheman, Esq., who married Catherine Brooke, daughter and co-heir of
Cumberford Brooke, Esq., of Madeley, and Cumberford in Staffordshire.
The Smitheman’s sold the manor to Richard Reynolds, from whom it passed
to his son William. The property belongs now to the devisees of the late
Joseph Gulson Reynolds, and those of his brother William Reynolds, M.D..
Esq.
The Court Leet has not been held of late years. It had jurisdiction over
various offences, extending from nuisances, eaves dropping, and various
irregularities and offences against the public peace.
THE DISPENSARY.
This useful and valued institution was established in 1828. At its
fiftieth anniversary, held July, 1878, the president was the Right Hon.
Lord Forester. The vice-presidents: the Hon. and Rev. Canon Forester; W.
O. Foster, Esq.; the Rev. G. Edmonds; C. T. W. Forester, Esq., M.P.; A.
H. Brown, Esq., M.P.; C. G. M. Gaskell, Esq.; and the treasurer, John
Pritchard, Esq. The surgeons include E. G. Bartlam, Esq., Broseley; T.
L. Webb, Esq., Ironbridge; C. B. H. Soame, Esq., Dawley; J. Procter,
Esq., Ironbridge; Dr. Thursfield, Broseley; H. Stubbs, Esq., Madeley; and
J. J. Saville, Esq., Cressage.
At this meeting the following subscribers, together with the president,
vice-presidents, and treasurer, were appointed a committee for the
ensuing year:—
William Reynolds Anstice, Esq.
Mr. Alexander Grant.
Mr. Edward Burton.
Mr. Egerton W. Smith.
W. Gregory Norris, Esq.
Arthur Maw, Esq.
John Arthur Anstice, Esq.
Richard Edmund Anstice, Esq.
Edward Roden, Esq.
Rev. Frederick Robert Ellis.
Rev. George Fleming Lamb.
Mr. Francis G. Yates, (since deceased).
George Burd, Esq.
John Pritchard, Esq., Chairman.
MADELEY UNION.
Prior to the passing of the New Poor Law in 1836 each parish maintained
its own poor, a system which had been acted upon, we suppose, from the
time of Queen Elizabeth. But how the Madeley poor were housed or treated
prior to the erection of the Old “House of Industry,” or “Workhouse,”
which stood on the hill overlooking the valley of the Severn, now in
course of demolition and conversion into cottages, we are unable to say.
{242} In all probability out-door relief alone was administered. At all
times there have been kind and open hearted men of means who out of their
worldly store have taken care to make some provision for their less
fortunate brethren, either during their lifetime or by way of devise at
their death. In this way, as we have seen on page 217, there were two
principal charities, called the Brooke and Beddow charities which
amounted altogether to £100. At the latter end of the last century the
trustees appear to have invested this in the purchase of several small
leasehold cottages and lands, chiefly at Madeley Wood. When it was
resolved to build a house of industry in 1787 these properties were sold
by the trustees for that purpose. They consisted of two messuages and 15
perches of land situate at the Foxholes, which produced £45. One
messuage and garden containing 6¼ perches in the possession of Samuel
Hodghkiss, which produced £24. An old messuage and garden in Madeley
Wood containing 17 perches and a piece of garden ground containing 2½
perches, which produced £53 10s. A stable in Madeley Wood which produced
£10. And two messuages and gardens in Madeley Wood containing a quarter
of an acre, and a piece of garden ground containing five perches, which
produced £83; also another which fetched £23; making a total of £235 10s.
The investment itself seems to have been so far a good one; the value of
the property having increased, owing to the works springing up in the
neighbourhood; and it was resolved to raise a subscription in the parish
to be added to this £235. The further amount of £806 13s. 6d. was thus
raised, making altogether £1,042 3s. 6d., which sum was applied in the
erection on a part of the charity land of a house of industry, the cost
of which was £1,086 13s. 7¼d.; and a lease of that piece of land, with
the house so erected upon it, containing 3r. 12p. or thereabouts, was at
the 2nd of January, 1797, granted by the vicar and the major part of the
trustees to the then churchwardens and overseers for the use of the
parish for a term of 999 years, at the yearly rent of £18. The Charity
Commissioners say that the premises described in the leases do not appear
to tally exactly with the parcels contained in the two deeds of purchase;
and add:—
“Nor are we able to trace the variations of the property which have
taken place; as far as we can judge, however, nothing has been lost
to the charity. It appears indeed to us that in former times there
must have been considerable inattention in the trustees of the
affairs of the charity, for we find that previously to the leases
granted in 1797, the holders of the tenements claimed the property in
them on payment of the interest of the £100 which had been vested in
the purchase, and the trustees were obliged to establish their right
by an action of ejectment, a state of things which could scarcely
have taken place without much previous remissness on their part.
Whether the trustees were strictly justified in making the disposal
of the property which they did in 1797 may be questionable. In
effect they have sold original property of the charity, and have
purchased a rent-charge on the house of industry. Under the
circumstances of the case, however, it does not at present appear to
us that they could have made a more beneficial arrangement. The
income of these premises, amounting to £18 4s. 6½d., together with
5s. a year derived from another fund, has been for many years applied
in providing clothing for the poor. At Christmas 1818, tickets of
5s. value were distributed to 71 poor persons, which were received in
payment by the different tradesmen for such articles of clothing as
were wanted. In 1817 the distribution was wholly suspended, and in
the preceding year partially, in order to raise a fund for defraying
the expense of a new trust deed. This had occasioned a balance in
hand at the time of our inquiry of £23 15s. The deed was prepared
and paid for, and it was intended that the whole of the remaining
balance with the accruing rents should be given away at the ensuing
Christmas.”
For some years the proceeds of the charity were given away to the
poor—blankets were bought and distributed; but for over forty years,
prior to the last distribution in 1879, it had been accumulating,
excepting that on the first and second visitations of the cholera, it was
made use of for the purpose of alleviating the distress then existing;
and it had been thought advisable to permit its accumulation for the
purpose of forming a reserve fund on which to fall back in times of
urgent distress, whether arising from contagious disease or depression of
trade.
The charge of £18 per annum upon the old poor-house was transferred to
the new, and is still paid to the trustees; and to the sum accumulated
has been added the £750 which the old workhouse sold for, and it was out
of the interest of the whole that the last distribution of the funds of
the charity took place in 1879, when blankets to the value of £70 or
thereabouts were given away.
The union of parishes was formed in 1836, and Wm. Anstice, Esq. was
chosen chairman. He held office for fifteen years, and was succeeded by
G. Pritchard, Esq. who held it for eleven years. At his death W. Layton
Lowndes, Esq. was elected, and held the office for seventeen years. John
Arthur Anstice, Esq., who succeeded Mr. Lowndes on his retirement in
April 25th, 1879, now discharges the duties of the office.
A building erected and designed for the poor of one parish was scarcely
likely to be suited to the wants of a number of parishes, like Barrow,
Benthall, Broseley, Buildwas, Dawley, Linley, Little Wenlock, Madeley,
Posenhall, Stirchley, and Willey, which formed the new Union; and
although additions were made from time to time the building was evidently
inadequate for the accommodation of the number of paupers, tramps, &c.,
who sought aid or refuge within its walls. It was some time however
after the subject was broached before anything was decided. Some
Guardians advocated the further enlargement of the old building, whilst
others were for a new one entirely; but these even differed among
themselves, some being in favour of a new building on the old site,
whilst others advocated another site and a new plan altogether. The Poor
Law Commissioners at Somerset House accelerated the issue by threatening
to close the old building, as unfit for the uses to which it was put; the
result being that a site was purchased and the present extensive and well
arranged suite of rooms, wards, &c., with their various conveniences,
were erected. The original loan of £6,000 obtained in 1870 towards the
purchase of the site and the erection of the building was to be paid back
by instalments out of the rates levied in the several parishes of the
Union, according to the proportions of the rating. The loan altogether
has been £10,000, and, with interest, the cost of the erection may be
said to have been £13,800; but a further sum of £600 is required for the
erection of tramp wards. The building stands upon 7¾ acres, which was
purchased at a cost of £1,700; and six acres, previously very rough
ground, is under cultivation, and made productive, and in part highly
ornamental, by the judicious labour of the inmates of the house.
Altogether the grounds and building have a pleasing rather than that
forbidding appearance such institutions sometimes have. The building
consists of a front range, with central entrance, with master’s sitting
room, board room, and clerk’s offices, on the right; whilst on the left
are the visitor’s rooms, and one for the porter, with male and female
receiving wards, bath room &c.
Inside the quadrangle we get central offices of various kinds, cooking
and dining rooms, pantry, clothing room, master and matron’s offices. On
the right are the laundry, the washhouse, work rooms, able bodied women’s
rooms, children’s room, old infirm women’s room, and three small
apartments for married couples. There is also a dormitory on the ground
floor for old and infirm women; and over the whole of the offices and
rooms mentioned are bedrooms. On the left are similar arrangements to
those we have mentioned for the men, but with workshops for carpenters
and tailors. On the east is the infirmary, a detached building, with
male and female apartments, nurses, &c.; and below this a fever hospital.
The whole building is capable of giving accommodation to 225 inmates; but
at the time we write 88 are the total number, notwithstanding the very
depressed state of trade; and 90, we learn, is about the average.
We visited many of the rooms, that in describing the building we may be
able to give our own impressions of the appearance of the inmates. The
bedrooms were tenantless, but clean, well lighted and airy; we could not
say however what they would be from the breath of so many sleeping in
them at night time. Many of the old people we saw in the day rooms were
very old, and a large number imbecile, several having been recently
brought here from Bicton Heath Asylum. And although this was the case
with the women there seemed something about the internal domestic
arrangements, which, in giving them employment, seemed to create
interest. There was a cheerful alacrity among the female workers, in
washing, ironing, mending, making, and scrubbing, and a readiness in
replying to questions put by the matron which seemed to speak favourably
of the way in which she discharges her duties amongst them. In the
“day-rooms” of the men too, although we saw feebleness and age, we saw
little of that torpid inanimateness, helplessness, and hopeless looking
withered faces one is apt to look for in workhouses. Some were dim-eyed
with age, but others were reading books, and more would read no doubt if
they had something to read which was interesting. And why should they
not have? Here were old men 75, 80, and “going of 85,” sitting round a
good cheerful fire in a snug room to whom a few illustrated books or
newspapers, which everybody could spare, would be a godsend. If all
cannot read some can, and they would be pleased to amuse or interest
their fellows. We suggested as much to Mrs. Hayes, the matron, who
approved of the suggestion of these and of a few prints hung up in the
bedrooms, as well as the day and school rooms; as also did the Rev. H.
Wayne, one of the Guardians, who wished we had been in time to make the
suggestion to the board. We mention it here that it may be acted upon by
others, if the board, or to the master, to whom all such books, prints,
or papers should be submitted, approve. Age and infirmity require as
much commiseration as childhood, and in very many respects the same means
will comfort and solace the aged and impotent as the young child. We
ought at any rate to try to make old age endurable. If we do not do this
we but add to the weight of old age already bent down with infirmities,
and—
‘We furnish feathers for the wing of death.’
One thoughtful lady had, we found, kindly furnished the school-room with
some really good prints and drawings. On sunny and suitable days Mr.
Hayes employs the men in the grounds, and by the growth of vegetables
contributes to the maintenance of the establishment, of which we might
say much more if space permitted.
The amount administered in out-door relief at present is a little over
that of in-door maintenance, which for the half year ending Michaelmas,
1878, was £544 11s. 2¼d
We have already mentioned Master and Matron: Clerk to the Board Mr. H.
Boycott; Chaplain Rev. G. Wintour. Relieving officers Mr. W. Morris and
Mr. W. T. Jones.
THE CHOLERA.
If some memorable occurrences in local history may be termed ‘red
lettered,’ the fearful visitations of this epidemic in 1832 and 1848 may
be said to have been black, and very black lettered events indeed. The
steady march of this dire disease from Asia over the continent of Europe
towards our shores in 1831 created the utmost alarm of approaching
danger, and led to precautionary measures being taken. Medical science
however was at fault; contradictory advice was given; orders in council
were issued and withdrawn; and people were at their wits’ end what steps
to take. A rigid system of quarantine was at first enforced; and when
the enemy did arrive it was ordered that each infected district or house
was to be isolated and shut up within itself, and the inhabitants cut off
from communication with other parts of the country; and ‘all articles of
food or other necessaries were to be placed in front of the house, and
received by the inhabitants after the person delivering them had
retired.’ It was in fact the exploit over again of the gallant gentleman
who proposed, as Milton says, to ‘pound up the crows by shutting his park
gate.’ Clinging to the belief that the disease was imported and spread
by contagion, few really remedial measures founded on the hypothesis of
the low sanitary condition of the population—as bad drainage,
ill-ventilated and overcrowded dwellings, offensive sewers, unwholesome
water, and the thousand other kindred abominations which afflict the
poor, were suggested. But feelings and sympathies were naturally with
the patient and against the unchristian edict which said to him—‘Thou art
sick, and we visit thee not; thou art in prison, and we come not unto
thee’. Gradually too it dawned upon the minds of the authorities—as the
result of observation and experience—that it was not so much from direct
communication that persons were affected, as from bad sanitary
conditions;—for persons were not consecutively affected who lived in the
same house or slept in the same bed with the sick; and that children even
suckled by mothers labouring under the disease escaped. On Wednesday,
the 21st of March, 1832, there was a general fast for deliverance from
the plague, as it was called, but it was pretty much the same as Æsop’s
case of the carter who prayed Jupiter to get his cart wheel out of the
rut; and the answer vouchsafed by Providence was similar—‘put your own
shoulder to the wheel’, do what you can first to make the people clean
and wholesome. We have no statistics or recorded facts to fall back
upon, but so far as our knowledge and experience serves us we should say
that the first victims in this neighbourhood were among men and women who
led irregular lives, and who lived in dirty ill-ventilated homes, and in
the decks and cabins of barges going long voyages, in which men slept and
ate their meals; and persons on the banks of the Severn, who drank the
polluted water of the river. A case occurred at Coalport, on the 21st of
July, 1832, on board a barge on the Severn, which belonged to owner
Jones; and it was thought prudent to sink the vessel to destroy the
contagion. A man named Richard Evans also was taken with the cholera on
board a Shrewsbury barge, and was removed to the “Big House,” as it was
called, at the Calcutts, which had been hired and set apart by Mr. George
Pritchard and others for the reception of victims. On the 23rd, Thomas
Oakes, son of John Oakes, died on board Dillon Lloyd’s vessel, and during
that month and the next the plague continued its ravages by the Severn.
From an old diary we learn that a man named Goosetree, his wife, and
three children, were seized on the 14th of August at the Coalport
Manufactory, and died the same day; as also did a Mrs. Baugh and her
mother.
The more ignorant of the people were suspicious of the doctors; Mr.
Thursfield on the 23rd of July visited a house at Coalford, and offered a
draught to a woman whom he suspected of shewing symptoms of the disease,
but was beaten off by her daughter Kitty, who said her mother wanted food
and not medicine. The doctor does not appear to have been popular
judging from doggrel lines in circulation at the time—
‘The cholera morbus is begun
And Dr. Thursfield is the mon
To carry the cholera morbus on.’
A man named William Titley, whilst drinking, dancing, and singing this to
a public house company, was taken with the disease, and died next day.
William Fletcher, a carpenter, whilst employed in making the coffin
intended for Titley, was seized, and died next day, and was buried in the
coffin he had made for another. A few days after, on the 14th of
September, Israel Weager, a barge block-maker, who wore dirty and greasy
clothes, who was grimy and dirty also in his person, and worked in a
wretched shed by the Robin Hood public house, was another taken about the
same time who died. During the remainder of the same month, and those of
October, November, and December, the cholera continued to find victims.
Men drank hard to ward off the disease and sowed the seeds which brought
it on. Men and women were taken ill, died, and were buried the same day;
and some were probably buried before they were dead. One man, a well
known cock-fighter at Broseley, was attacked with the disease, and so
stupefied by brandy that he was supposed to be dead. He was taken to the
cholera ground adjoining Jackfield church on the hill, and the rattle of
the soil upon the coffin which accompanied the words “ashes to ashes”
&c., roused him from his stupor, when the bystanders hearing a noise
lifted the lid and the old cocker came forth. {253} We believe his name
was William Roberts, judging from the diary before mentioned, and that
the event occurred on the 14th of September; and that on the 1st of
October his wife and two children died of the plague, and were buried the
same day. At many places it was much worse than it was here. At
Bilston, for instance, it raged so fiercely that forty-five victims died
in one day; and not less than twenty for several days running; and their
neighbours at Birmingham presented a waggon load of coffins, as being the
most acceptable present they could make. It was bad enough here; church
bells were tolling, hearses and cholera carts were in motion often, and
at untimely hours, early and late, by torch light, or accompanied by the
feeble light of a lantern; and a melancholy sadness settled upon all.
Many journeys were made by the “cholera cart from the Workhouse” to
Madeley church-yard, with just sufficient of the inmates of the house to
convey the corpse to the hole dug for it. It must not be supposed
however that the victims to this terrible plague were confined to the
lower classes, many of the well-to-do were stricken and died: the sister
of the present Lord Forester, we are informed by the diary referred to,
died on the 23rd of July of cholera in London. At last the evil spent
itself and subsided; it was a fearful curse, but it had the effect of
convincing us that something more than fasts and well-seasoned sermons
were needed to prevent or remove the epidemic: and so much was done by
public attention being called to the effects bad sanitary conditions had
on the physical causes of sickness and mortality, by Dr. Southwood Smith
in 1838, and by evidence by Mr. Slaney, M.P., for Shrewsbury, who
obtained a select committee to enquire into the circumstances affecting
the health of the inhabitants of large towns, with a view to improved
sanitary regulations for their benefit, in 1840, that the knowledge
gained enabled medical men successfully to grapple with the epidemic when
it again threatened to spread itself over the country in 1848.
THE SEVERN.
The Severn at present is of little service to the parishioners of
Madeley, either as a source of food or a means of transit, compared with
what it was in former times. Yet washing as it does the whole of the
western side of the parish, from Marnwood brook to the brook which
separates Madeley and Sutton parishes, it deserves notice. There was a
time when it supplied a considerable portion of food to those living upon
its banks; and when, whilst other parts of the country, less favoured,
were labouring under the disadvantages of land conveyance, over roads
scarcely passable, and by machines but imperfectly constructed, its
navigation conferred superior privileges; both by the importation of hay,
corn, groceries &c., and the exportation of mines and metals produced
along the valley through which it runs. The river, inconsiderable in its
origin, is indebted for its navigable importance to physical
peculiarities of country that constitute its basins. An extensive
water-shed of hills, whose azure tops court the clouds, brings down a
large amount of rain to swell the volume of its stream. From its source
to its estuary in the Bristol Channel it gathers as it rolls from rivers
and brooks, which, after irrigating rich pasture lands along their banks,
pour their waters into its channel. The Teme, augmented by the Clun, the
Ony, the Corve, the Avon, and the Wye, having each performed similar
pilgrimages through flower-dotted fields, also pay tribute of their
waters. Here weaving its way through a carpet of the richest green it
visits sheep-downs, cattle-pastures, orchards, hop-plantations, and
hay-producing fields, as it sweeps along, conferring benefit upon the
soil, increasing the fertility of fields, aiding in the development of
mines, linking important wealth producing districts, bringing materials
for manufacturing purposes together, and transporting their products to
the sea.
This formerly more than now, so that Agriculture, and commerce felt its
quickening influence and bore witness to its sway. Feeders, which
capital with talismanic touch opened up by cuttings on the plain,
aqueducts or embankments across the vale, tunnels, locks, and other
contrivances among the hills to overcome inequalities of surface ran
miles through inland districts to collect its traffic. The Shropshire,
the Shrewsbury, and the Ellesmere Canals, united the Severn, the Mersey,
and the Dee, and the rival ports, Liverpool and Bristol. Shrewsbury,
Coalbrookdale, Coalport, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, Stourport, Worcester, and
Gloucester, were centres from which its traffic flowed; iron crude and
malleable, brick and tile, earthenware and pipes, were sent, the former
in large quantities from wharfs at Coalbrookdale, and from others between
Ironbridge and Coalport. The Shropshire trade was carried on by means of
vessels from 40 to 78 and 80 tons burthen, drawing from three to four
feet, which went down with the stream, and were drawn back by horses, or
men or both. In consequence of the rapidity of the current over the
fords not more than 20, 30, or 40 tons were usually carried up the river.
About 20 voyages in the year were usually made by regular traders, but
vessels carrying iron made more. The time occupied for full cargoes to
get down to Gloucester was about 24 hours.
In 1756, there were at Madeley-Wood, 21 owners of vessels of 39 vessels.
But many more than these came to the Meadow, and Coalport wharves.
Hulbert, writing about half a century ago says: “standing upon Coalport
bridge I have counted seventy barges standing at Coalport Wharf, some
laden and others loading with coal and iron.” Madeley-Wood supplied
fire-clay and fire-bricks for many years to the porcelain and other works
at Worcester. Originally, when Fuller speaks of coals being exported by
barges, and when during the Civil Wars the Parliamentary forces planted a
garrison at Benthall to prevent the barges carrying coal down the river,
vessels were drawn against the stream by strings of men linked to ropes
by loops or bows, who were called bow-haulers. It was slavish work; and
Richard Reynolds was so struck with the hardship and unfitness of the
practice that he exerted himself to obtain an Act of Parliament for the
construction of a road by the side of the river, now called the towing
path, by which horses were substituted. Sometimes, when a favourable
wind blew against the stream, vessels with all sails set would make good
progress without further assistance; and it was a pleasing sight to see
these and the larger ones, the trows, sailing along the valley. Had
means been taken to improve the channel of the Severn, this noble river,
navigable for 180 miles, may have been in a much more flourishing
condition than at present.
Like opposing interests for and against improvements in the channel,
between which the battle of locks and weirs was fought, two opposing
forces have been striving for mastery in the tideway of the channel. One
contending for an estuary, the other for a delta. Draining a district
six thousand square miles in extent, having a fall of two hundred and
twenty feet in its descent from its source on Plynlymmon, (1,500 feet
above the sea line), to its tideway in the Bristol Channel, and being fed
by boisterous brooks and precipitous streams that cut their way through
shales and clays and sand-rocks, it is not surprising that the Severn
should bring down a vast amount of silt to raise its bed. To correct
these irregularities along a portion of the river, improvements,
projected by Sir William Cubitt, some years since, were completed at very
considerable outlay, after an expenditure of £70,000 before the sanction
of Parliament could be obtained. Above Stourport, where these
improvements terminate, the river is still in a state of nature. Except
some pedling attempts by means of earth, loose stones, or sinking some
dilapidated boats along the side, nothing has been done to improve the
channel. The scouring action of the stream constantly undermines the
banks. These give way after every flood, and come down to choke the
river, or to change the channel, and every newly-formed shoal sends the
stream at right angles to its bed to make fresh attempts upon its banks.
Fords that served our painted ancestors to make incursions beyond their
boundaries, bends almost amounting to circles around which they paddled
their canoes, impede navigation still. Attempts to overcome these
natural obstacles to its navigation were made as early as 1784, when Mr.
Jessop proposed to render the river navigable for vessels drawing four
feet at all seasons of the year from Worcester to Coalbrookdale. He
proposed to obtain a sufficient depth for that purpose at all seasons of
the year by the erection of 13 or 14 weirs between those places; he also
recommended that that depth should be obtained below Diglis by dredging
and correcting the natural channel of the river, and the Stafford and
Worcester Canal Company, joined by the iron manufacturers of Shropshire,
applied in the year 1786 to parliament for powers to carry out Mr.
Jessop’s recommendations, so far as they related to the portion of the
river described in the title of the bill, as from Meadow-wharf,
Coalbrookdale, to the deep water at Diglis, below the city of Worcester.
The bill was lost owing to the objections on the part of the public to
the erection of locks and weirs, and owing to the dislike of the carriers
to pay toll at all seasons of the year. As it is, there are often three,
four, and five months when barges cannot navigate the river with a
freight equal to defray the expenses of working them; indeed, instances
have occurred in which in only two months of the twelve the river could
be advantageously worked. Besides the additional wear and tear, more
strength is required to work the vessel, and it takes treble the time to
convey 15 tons at low water as it does four times that weight at other
times.
To improvements that affect only a portion of the river, and that the
lower portion, the Shropshire traders very naturally took objection.
They saw that for any benefit to be derived from navigating the lower
portion of the Severn they would be taxed, without being able themselves
to participate in it, and at a meeting of iron and coal masters, Severn
carriers, and others, held at the Tontine Inn, Ironbridge, on the 2nd of
December, 1836, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
propriety of opposing the project of the Worcester Severn Navigation
Company, for the introduction of locks and weirs upon the river, Richard
Darby, Esq., in the chair, it was resolved,
“That having attentively considered the plan proposed by the
Worcester Severn Navigation Company, for effecting alterations in the
channel of that river, it is of opinion that, whilst the execution of
that plan affords no stable prospect of extensive advantage to the
public at large, its effects upon a variety, of important local
interests, and particularly upon the trading community of this
neighbourhood, will be in the highest degree injurious. That the
introduction of these works, even if Shropshire vessels were
permitted to pass them free of any impost, would be injurious to the
traders of this county, but that the exaction from that body of a
toll or tonage for such passage would inflict on them a burden of the
most unjust and oppressive character. That a petition or petitions
in opposition be accordingly at the proper stage presented, and
supported by evidence, according to the course of Parliamentary
proceeding, and that every exertion be used to obtain the support of
members of both houses to the prayer of such petitions.”
The following gentlemen were appointed a committee:—Mr. Botfield, Mr.
Mountford, Mr. John Horton, Mr. Richard Darby, Mr. Abraham Darby, Mr.
Alfred Darby, Mr. Anstice, Mr. Hombersley, Mr. Rose, Mr. William Pugh,
Mr. William James, Mr. Dickinson, Mr. George Pritchard, Mr. John Owen,
Mr. Samuel Roden, Mr. John Burton, Mr. John Anstice, Mr. Francis Yates,
Mr. John Dyer Doughty, Mr. Edward Edwards, Mr. Samuel Smith, Mr. George
Chune. The agitation proved so far successful that a clause was inserted
in the bill exempting the Shropshire traders coming down with full
cargoes from toll. This exemption was subject to the qualification that
if in descending the river they took in, or in ascending it they took out
any goods whatever within the improved portions of the river, their whole
cargoes should be subject to toll. This concession cost the Shropshire
interest a long and expensive opposition before a committee of the House
of Commons. At subsequent periods the Shropshire iron and coal masters
and Severn traders have had similar battles to fight in order to maintain
the exemption clause. The commissioners appointed by the act of 1842,
who, in 1847, sought powers to erect the weir at Tewkesbury, claimed the
repeal of the qualified exemption from toll granted to the Shropshire
trade, on the ground that the system of dredging below Worcester had been
ineffectual in maintaining an uniform depth of six feet of water. This
was complained of as an act of injustice and bad faith on their part
towards the Shropshire interest. The slight assistance which, in certain
states of the river, they derived from the diminished force of the stream
in ascending, was more than neutralised by the loss of aid on their
downward voyage and by the detention of the locks. Again the Shropshire
traders, through the indefatigable exertions of W. R. Anstice, Esq., were
successful in maintaining the free navigation of the river, so far as
they were concerned, and subject to conditions above stated.
Traffic upon the Severn, it as been said, costs less than on any other
river in the kingdom; and at the present time, notwithstanding the
facilities railways afford, the river is preferred for some kind of
goods, as for the fine castings of Coalbrookdale, such as grates, which
are still carried cheaper and better by means of barges, than by any
other.
THE SEVERN AS A SOURCE OF FOOD.
So much importance has been attached to the Severn as the means both of
supplying food and innocent recreation, that many Acts of parliament have
at various times been passed for its protection. One sets forth that:
“The King our Sovereign lord James, &c., &c. Having certain
knowledge that in his stream and river of Severn and in other rivers,
streams, creeks, brooks, waters and ditches thereinto running or
descending, the spawn and brood of trout, salmon and salmon-effs and
other fish is yearly greatly destroyed by the inordinate and unlawful
taking of the same by the common fishers useing and occupying unsized
and unlawful nets and other engines,” &c., &c.
We have already said in our “History of Broseley” that—
The earlier acts of parliament were designed with a view to
discourage rod-and-line fishing, anglers, who, according to
Holinshead ranked third among the rogues and vagabonds, being subject
to a fine of £5; and although recent legislation has been intended to
encourage this harmless amusement, and to increase the growth of
fish, the best efforts of both legislators and conservators have been
frustrated hitherto by the Navigation Company, whose locks and weirs
turn back the most prolific breeding fish seeking their spawning
grounds. The first of these were erected in 1842; and four more have
since been added. By the 158th and 159th sections of the Severn
Navigation Act the Company were to construct fish passes; and
although attempts have been made at various times to do this, no
efficient means have been adopted. Not only salmon decreased since
their erection but shad, flounders, and lampreys, never now visit
this portion of the river. Formerly Owners of barges and their men,
when they were unemployed, could spend their time profitably in
fishing, and could half keep their families with what they caught.
Of the one hundred and fifteen tons of salmon taken in the Severn in
1877, 16,000 fish were supposed to have been taken in the lower or tidal
portion of the river, and 1.800 in the upper or non tidal portions; but
the latter proportion was larger that year than usual. Salmon in the
Severn have been still further reduced by the too common practice of
taking samlets, on their downward course to the sea, and we are glad to
find that more stringent measures are being taken by the conservators and
the water-bailiffs to prevent this. Amateur fishermen, gentlemen of
intelligence, have not only contributed to this by their own acts but by
encouraging others to do likewise under the pretence or excuse that they
were not the young of salmon. It is a well ascertained fact, however,
not only that they are young salmon, but that when grown to a proper size
they come up the river they go down. We heard the Duke of Sutherland
say, in his grounds at Dunrobin, where he rears hundreds of thousands of
young salmon to turn into the Brora and other rivers, that he had marked
their fins and found that they invariably came up the same river they go
down, and the author of “Book of the Salmon,” says:—
“Take a salmon bred in the Shin, (one of the duke’s salmon rivers) in
Sutherland, and set it at liberty in the Tweed, at Berwick, and it
will not ascend the Tweed, but will if not slain in transitu, return
to its native river, the Shin, traversing hundreds of miles of ocean
to do so. Is this wonderful! No more wonderful than,—
“The swallow twittering from its straw-built shed,”
migrating, on the first appearance of winter from these shores, to
the warm atmosphere, yielding insect food, of Africa, and returning
to its natal locality in the spring, to live and give life in the
temperate summer of a temperate zone.”
It is owing to this unconquerable instinct we are indebted for the few
salmon we get in the upper Severn. At the spawning season they make
their appearance in the estuary, and, so long as they meet with no
insurmountable obstruction to their progress, will traverse miles for the
deposition of their ova. Slight obstacles in the way will not deter
them, and it is only after repeated failures they give up; they swim
through rapids, leap from seven to ten feet high, and push on to their
destination through powerful floods of descending water; and it is only
at insurmountable barriers to their progress that they fall a prey to the
rapacity of poachers, who have been known at one time to have taken cart
loads with spears.
Since the above was in type Mr. Frank Buckland and Mr. S. Walpole, as
Inspectors of Salmon fisheries, have issued their report, wherein we
learn that the Severn is much polluted in its upper waters by refuse from
mines, and in the middle and lower waters by the refuse from
manufactories and town sewage; and that out of the 290 miles of spawning
ground which the Severn possesses, only 75 are accessible to the fish.
Mr. Willis Bund, the chairman of the Severn Board, supplied Mr. Buckland
with the following figures as to the value of the Severn salmon
fisheries. The figures show the value of the fish caught:
1869 £8,006
1870 13,000
1871 11,200
1872 8,000
1873 10,000
1874 10,500
1875 10,590
1876 14,560
1877 12,880
1878 8,978
As regards the future prospects of the Severn, Mr. Buckland confesses he
does not feel quite happy, but adds that the exact cause of the
non-increase of the produce of the river during recent years may possibly
depend upon the peculiar conditions of the river between the first
navigation weir and the sea. The fish having such a long estuary to
traverse before they can get beyond the tidal nets are often unable to
pass the lower weirs, and being obliged to fall back with the tide, run a
_second chance_ of being caught by the nets. The fish taken in the
Severn are usually very large. For the last five years the average has
been over 14 lbs. each; last year a great many varying between 30 and 40
lbs. were captured, and some even exceeding the latter weight. The
largest recorded, weighing 50 lb., was taken in a draft net on the 18th
March, 1878, by Mr. Browning, of Longney, Gloucestershire. The fish
spawn in the Severn as early as, if not earlier than, in any other river.
During the past year, 1878, Mr. Buckland says fishing was not prosperous,
and he gives the number of salmon taken as 12,450, and the weight as 86
tons, against the 16,000 fish, weighing 115 tons, given on a former page,
as being the take in 1877. Mr. Buckland adds that the Severn is the
largest salmon river in England, and he enumerates the weirs which
greatly obstruct the lower part of the river.
Shad were formerly taken in considerable numbers at the fords, by
bargemen chiefly, who caught more than they could consume, and sold them
to others; and in a commercial point of view, in this portion of the
river, they were even more important than salmon. They were caught at
night, generally by moonlight, by men who stood at the fords, watching
for them as they ascended the river. Their approach was marked by a
phosphorescent light, or “loom” in the water. They were difficult to
catch in the daytime, as they would either go over or under the net, and
fix themselves with their heads in the bed of the river, tail upwards.
When in proper condition they were well flavoured fish, and attained a
large size, sometimes two and three feet in length.
The flounder was another fine fish, and was as abundant as any in the
Severn, affording good sport to “bottom fishers,” with rod and line.
Since the locks and weirs were made they have, like the shad, ceased
altogether. Lampreys too, which formerly were considered even of more
importance than salmon, and which also were caught in this part of the
Severn, are fish which have altogether ceased to visit us since the
erection of the first weir in 1842.
Again, the rich and oily flesh of the eel formed the staple diet of
dwellers along the river banks; and even the well-to-do, whose roomy
chimney corners were hung with salted swine flesh, and on whose tables
fresh meat appeared only at intervals, esteemed eels a luxury. Eels,
like shad, were migratory, and before locks and weirs were placed upon
the river myriads of minute eels in spring made their way from the
brackish waters of the estuary of the Severn, keeping close to the shore.
They formed a dark dense mass, like a sunken rope, and were called
Elvers, a word said to be of Saxon origin, and a corruption, it is
supposed, of Eelfare, meaning to travel, as in wayfare, thoroughfare, and
seafaring. In this state they were caught, bushels of them, and sold at
a small sum, whilst the remainder were used for manure or pig-wash. Vast
numbers of these eels, when left to their instinct, found their way into
the upper Severn and its tributaries.
An Act of the 30th of Charles II. for the preservation of fishing in the
river Severn, imposed a penalty on all persons taking elvers; an Act of
George III., but repealed so much of the former, as related to the
penalty on persons taking elvers for their own use only, and not for
sale; whilst the Salmon Act of 1861, repealed the 30th of Charles II.
altogether; and left no law to prevent the destruction of young eels,
which was carried on in Gloucestershire in what was called the elver
season on a large scale.
The Severn Board of conservators, under the powers granted by Mr.
Mundella’s Fresh Water Fishing Act, (41 and 42 Vic. Cap. 39) passed a
resolution in March, 1879, making it the duty of eel fishermen to pay a
sum of ten shillings for an annual license to use their lines.
Considerable opposition was offered to this on the part of the Ironbridge
and other fishermen; a memorial was drawn up and signed at a meeting of
these and others from Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury, and a deputation
appointed to present it to the Severn Board of Conservators at their
meeting at Shrewsbury.
Mr. Yale who presented the memorial said: One complaint was in regard
to the license put upon the rod-and-line. It was only 1s., it was
true, and that was not much, but it involved a principle which they
thought might be carried further at some future day, and to a very
oppressive extent. The greatest grievance, however, was the
imposition of licenses upon the use of night lines. He did not
believe that the scarcity of fish was owing to the anglers or to the
netters, for it was a matter of experience that when men were allowed
to go and catch as many as they thought proper there were plenty of
fish, but it was not so now. He used to think it a very bad day if
he could not catch 20 lbs. of fish, and now, perhaps he would not
take 10 ozs. That was not caused by the rod-and-line, or by the use
of nets, upon which it is now sought to place these restrictions. He
believed, as Mr. George had told him the other day, that the scarcity
of fish was owing to the pollutions, and not to the taking of fish.
SAMUEL SANDALS, made a statement to the effect that he worked all the
hours he could at his usual work and spent the rest in fishing, and
he thought it very hard to put a license upon the night lines. As to
the trout taken with night lines, it was very rare indeed that they
could take a trout in that way, except in the spring when the water
was muddy: he believed the ducks destroyed “a sight” of the spawn on
the fords.
Mr. WATTON said he did not for a moment dispute what the last speaker
had said with respect to his not catching trout on night lines.
There might possibly be some very good local reasons for his
non-success, but, speaking from his own observation, he knew well
enough that the night lines were the destruction of the trout. They
were laid zig-zag fashion for a great distance down the river, and
swept every trout off the fords at night, and they were most
destructive engines.
Mr. H. SHAW said he quite agreed with what Mr. Watton had said, and
he could bring evidence to prove that an immense quantity of trout
was taken upon night lines, and a very large number of small fish
were destroyed in baiting the lines. To take these baits stones were
rooted up and the young salmon were frequently disturbed and got
devoured by large fish. No less than 3,000 or 4,000 bait were caught
each day in and around Shrewsbury to supply the night lines, and that
must be a very serious drawback to the stock of fish in the river.
The CHAIRMAN said it seemed to him that the gentlemen who had
attended the meeting of the Board objected to the principle of
issuing licenses, and if it was so, so far as he understood the
matter, that Board could do nothing.
Petitions were also presented to the Home Secretary; one from the
fishermen themselves and another from the inhabitants. Of course these
were from fishermen’s point of view. Those who are anxious that fish in
the river should be increased, who think the protective provisions of the
Act favour such increase, and who follow fishing more by way of sport and
pastime, take very different views; they naturally look upon professional
fishermen, men who lay night lines, and fish as a means of obtaining a
livelihood, as enemies of legitimate sport. The object of protection is
a laudable one, namely, that the means of innocent recreation, and the
food of the people, may be increased; and eels are, there is no question,
a more important article of food, so far as the people on the banks of
the Severn are concerned, than Salmon, and that ten times over. Salmon
can never be multiplied so as to come within the reach of the people
generally. Eels, on the contrary, are an article of food with the poor,
the middle classes, and the rich themselves. Moreover, they will bear
comparison with any well-flavoured fish the Severn produces.
It is chiefly for eel fishing, by means of night lines, but sometimes
also for fly-fishing for trout and other fish, that the coracle, that
ancient British vessel, is still retained on the Severn. The men go down
with the stream to lay their lines, and then carry their coracles over
their heads and shoulders; so that looking at them from behind they look
like huge beetles walking along the road.
Of fish unaffected by the obstructions enumerated may be mentioned the
river’s pride—
“The crimson spotted trout
And beauty of the stream.”
But it must be sought for higher up or lower down the river, generally at
the fords, and the embouchers of streams which come down to join the
Severn, as Cound and Linley brooks. In deeper parts of the river too,
near these places, good sized chub are found. But the chub is not much
esteemed, although a fine fish, and, according to Izaak Walton, “proves
excellent meat.” It grows to a large size, and may be caught in holes
near Sweyney, where the bushes overhang such holes. Pike too are found
here, but are more common about Buildwas and Cressage.
That handsome fish the roach, known by the dusky bluish green on head and
back, with lighter shades on sides, its silvery white belly, and dorsal
and caudal fins tinged with red, is also to be caught.
Dace, grayling, and perch, are met with, the latter congregating in holes
of the river, or seen herding together hunting its prey. As Drayton says
of—
“The dainty gudgeon, loche, the minnow, and the bleak,
Since they are little, I little need but speak.”
The former makes up for its small size by the daintiness of “meat.” Its
favourite haunts are the swift flowing portions of the river, with pebbly
and sandy bottoms. It is a ground feeder, greedy, and rushes at once to
seek its prey, if you stir up the bed of the river. The bleak is about
the size of the gudgeon, and is a quick biter.
From the peculiarities of its watershed the Severn is subject to sudden
and unlooked for
FLOODS.
To quote from our “History of Broseley”:—
In modern times these can to some extent be guarded against, as the
news of any sudden extraordinary rise in the upper basin may be
communicated to those living lower down. Formerly this could not be
done; a flood would then travel faster than a letter, and coming down
upon the villagers suddenly, perhaps in the night time, people would
find the enemy had entered their households unawares. It was no
unusual thing to see haystacks, cattle, timber, furniture, and, in
one instance, we have heard old people tell of a child in a cradle,
floating down the stream. Many of these floods are matters of
tradition; others being associated with special events have been
recorded. Shakespeare has commemorated one called “Buckingham’s
Flood,” in his Richard III., thus:—
“The news I have to tell your majesty
Is,—that, by sudden floods and fall of waters
Buckingham’s army is dispersed and scatter’d
And he himself wandered away alone,
No man knows whither.”
Proclaimed a traitor, and forsaken by his army, he concealed himself
in the woods on the banks of the Severn and was betrayed and taken in
Banister’s Coppice, near Belswardine.
The newspapers of 1785 record a sudden rise in the Severn and its
disastrous results. It appears that on the 17th of December, 1794,
the season was so mild that fruit-trees were in blossom, whilst early
in January, 1795, so much ice filled the Severn after a rapid thaw as
to do great damage. The river rose at Coalbrookdale 25¼ inches
higher than it did in November, 1770. The rise in the night was so
rapid that a number of the inhabitants were obliged to fly from their
tenements, leaving their goods at the mercy of the floods. The
publicans were great sufferers, the barrels being floated and the
bungs giving way. In the Swan and White Hart, Ironbridge, the water
was several feet deep. Two houses were washed away below the bridge,
but the bridge itself stood the pressure, although Buildwas bridge
blew up, the river having risen above the keystone in the centre of
the main arch. Crowds visited the locality to see the flood and the
ruins it had made.
On the Coalbrookdale Warehouse, and on a house by the side of the
brook, the height of these floods are to be seen recorded. At
Worcester, a little above the bridge, a brass plate has the following
inscription:—“On the 12th February, 1795, the Flood rose to the lower
edge of this plate.” The lower edge measures just three feet from
the pavement level. Another plate at the archway opposite the
Cathedral bears the following:—“On the 18th November, 1770, the Flood
rose to the lower edge of this Brass Plate, being ten inches higher
than the Flood which happened on December 23rd, 1672.” This measures
seven feet from the ground immediately underneath.
There are three other marks which have been cut out the stonework on
the wall adjacent to the archway referred to, which are as follows:—
“Feb. 8th, 1852.
Nov. 15th, 1852.
Aug. 5th, 1839.”
The one in February measures from the ground six feet two inches;
November, 1852, eight feet two inches; and the one August 5th, 1839,
six feet two inches.
COALBROOKDALE.
As an important part of the parish of Madeley, still more as a locality
famous on account of its fine castings and other productions,
Coalbrookdale is deserving of a much further notice than has incidentally
been given on previous pages in speaking of the Darbys and Reynoldses.
There are few people perhaps in the kingdom who have not heard or who do
not know something of Coalbrookdale; and there are none, probably, who
pass through it by rail who do not peer through the windows of the
carriage to catch a passing glimpse of its more prominent features.
These may be readily grouped, for the benefit of those who have not seen
them, but who may read this book, as follows. In the trough of the
valley lie the works, stretching along in the direction of the stream,
formerly of more importance to the operations carried on in the various
workshops than it is at present. Upon the slope of the hill on the
south-eastern side the Church, the palatial looking Literary and
Scientific Institute, built for the benefit of the workmen, meet the eye,
and the more humble looking Methodist chapel. On both sides are goodly
looking houses and villa-like residences, where dwell the men of
directing minds; whilst here and there are thin sprinklings of workmen’s
cottages—few in number compared with the hands employed. A few strips of
grass land intervene, whilst above are wooded ridges with pleasant walks,
and to the west some curiously rounded knolls, between which the
Wellington and Craven Arms branch railway runs, sending down a siding for
the accommodation of the works.
These are the chief features which strike the eye, and which would come
out into prominence in photographic views taken to shew what
Coalbrookdale now is. The buildings are comparatively of modern
construction, but quaint half-timbered houses, rejoicing in the whitewash
livery of former times, suggest a phase of Coalbrookdale history much
anterior to that other buildings indicate. It is not difficult indeed to
depict the earlier stages of the progress the little valley has passed
through from its first primitive aspect to the present; there are, for
instance, in some of its many windings green nooks and pleasant corners
where nature yet reigns, and where lovers of a quiet ramble may feast
their eyes and indulge their imaginations, undisturbed by the hammering,
and whirl of wheels, lower down. Such a spot is that to which the
visitor is led by following the stream above the pool, crossed by a
footbridge. To the left of the path is Dale House, Sunnyside, the
Friends Meeting House, and the road to Little Wenlock. Little is seen of
the brook on the right of the path, but its presence on the margin of the
slope is made known beneath over-hanging bushes by prattlings over
stones, and a waterfall from some ledges of rock. Following it higher up
it is found to be partially fed by droppings from rocks dyed by mineral
colours of varying hue, and to present curious petrifactions, rarely
permitted however to attain any great proportions. The place is
variously called _La Mole_ and Lum Hole, and speculations have been
indulged in as to each derivation. The former would, of course, suggest
a French origin. Lum is Welsh, and signifies a point, as in Pumlummon,
now ordinarily called Plinlimmon, or the hill with five points. It is
quite certain that the valley here terminates in a point, but whether
this has anything to do with it or not we cannot say. All we say of it
is that it is a quiet little sylvan retreat, with wooded heights, green
slopes, and precipitous yellow rocks, at the foot of which the stream is
treasured up and forms a glassy lakelet. But this stream, in which six
centuries since “Lovekin” the fisherman set his baited lines, long ago
was made to do other service than that of soothing the listening ear, or
paying tribute of its trout to the abbot of Wenlock. The choice of the
situation for manufacturing operations was no doubt due to woods like
these, which supplied the needed fuel; but much more to the motive power
furnished by the stream, for turning the great wheels required to produce
the blast, and work the ponderous hammers which shaped the metal.
Brave and strong as these Dale men were, their muscles were too weak for
the work demanded. As Vulcan found he needed stronger journeymen than
those of flesh and blood to forge the thunderbolts of Jove, so an
imperative necessity, a growing demand, led men here to seek a more
compelling force to blow their leathern bellows, to lift their huge forge
hammers, than animal force could supply. Woods were no longer estimated
by _pannage_ yielded for swine, but by the fuel supplied for reducing the
stubborn ore to pigs of another kind. Brooks were pounded up, streams
were turned back upon themselves, and their treasured waters husbanded as
a capital of force to be disposed of as occasion required. Dryads now
fled the woods and Naiads the streams,—as beams and shafts and cranks
were reared or creaked beneath the labours they performed.
The presence of coal and iron ore could not have been inducements for the
first ironworkers to settle here; neither tradition nor facts warrant the
supposition that either were ever found in the valley. The first
syllable of the name is deceptive, and the probability is that it was
neither _Coal_ nor _Cole_-brook originally, although coal appears to have
been brought here for use more than five centuries ago from places just
outside. Wood fuel seems to have been growing scarce as far back as the
first quarter of the fourteenth century, judging from an application on
the part of a Walter de Caldbrook to the Prior of Wenlock, to whom the
manor belonged, for a license to have a man to dig coals in “Le
Brockholes” for one year. It is not unlikely that this Walter de
Caldbrook had a forge or smithy in the Dale; a situation chosen on
account of the stream, which served to furnish him with motive power for
his machinery. This seems all the more probable from the fact that
distinct mention of such smithy is made in Henry the Eighth’s time, and
that it is called “Smithy Place,” and “Caldbrooke Smithy,” {277} in the
deed or grant by which the manor was conveyed by the King to Robert
Brook, signed at Westminster and dated July 23, 1544. (See page 59).
The fact too that this smithy was still called Caldbrook Smithy
strengthens the suppositious, both as to the name and as to the fact that
the Caldbrookes used the Brockholes coal for their smithy in the Dale.
For smith’s work coal has always been preferred to wood; but the word
smithy did not then strictly mean what it now does; that is a smith’s
shop; but a place where iron was made in blooms. Thus the “Smithies,”
near Willey, at present so called, was a place where there were small
iron-making forges, as heaps of slag there now testify; which forges were
blown with leathern bellows, by means of water power, a man having to
tread them to increase the pressure.
Again, the word “Place,” which is a Saxon term for locality, situation,
or a particular portion of space, itself indicates an establishment on a
scale greater than a modern smithy. The words in the deed are “Smithy
Place and New House.” And again, “the rights and privileges attached to
the whole of the place and buildings that go under the name of The Smithy
Place, and Newhouse, called Caldbrooke Smithy, with its privileges” &c.
This Newhouse long ago, no doubt, had become an old house. At any rate
we know of no house answering to this description at present, unless it
is the half-timbered house near the Lower Forge; and if so this house
must be about 100 years older than the one which has the date upon it at
the forge higher up, shewing it to have been built a century later, or in
1642: and both forges no doubt were then in existence. The latter would
be about the period when the flame of Civil War was bursting forth in
various parts of the kingdom, and when Richard Baxter, whose old house
still stands at Eaton Constantine, was witnessing the battle of Edgehill
and others. This old house is such a fair specimen of the half-timbered
structures of two centuries and a half or three centuries ago that we add
a representation.
There are a number of square iron plates at the Lower Forge supposed to
have been hearth-plates, with the following dates and initials:—
I. H. T. K. W. I. E. R.
1602. 1609. 1627.
T. A. I. A. B. S.
1653. 1654. 1693.
T. E.
1706.
The one with the date 1609 has a head cast upon it, and the ‘W’ was for
the surname of one of the early proprietors or partners named Wolfe, a
member of the same family that gave shelter to King Charles at Madeley:
and ‘B’ may have signified Brooke, the family who resided at the Court
House, Madeley, and to whom the manor belonged at that time. There is
too a beam with the date 1658, being a bearer in an old blast furnace,
which is known to have been renewed by Abraham Darby in 1777. This is
supposed to have been brought from Leighton, where there was a furnace in
blast in 1707. Thus for long periods, during deadly feuds and troubled
times, absorbed in the simple arts of industry, these men appear to have
toiled on. During the Civil Wars, when Cromwell and his Ironsides were
preparing for the pages of history one of its most striking passages,
they worked their bloomeries, taking no part, save that a clerk in the
Shropshire Ironworks was found to bear to the Protector news of the
successes of his troops.
[Picture: Baxter’s House as it is, slightly renovated]
It may therefore be supposed that when the first Abraham Darby came to
the Dale he found works already in existence. Mr. Smiles says “he took
the lease of a little furnace which had existed at the place for over a
century”; and, fortunately, since his time, the commencement of the 18th
century, (1709), records of the proceedings have been carefully kept, so
that there is little difficulty in tracing the progress of the art, or in
giving prominence to important points which may serve to mark such
progress. On page 60 are enumerated some of these discoveries, one being
the successful use of coal in iron-making, another the adaptability of
iron in bridge making, and a third to railroads. To these three starting
points in the history of the iron trade was added that of the discovery
of puddling by means of pit coal, by the Craneges; a discovery which
preceded that of Henry Cort by seventeen years. It will be seen also
from what has been already stated, that whilst Richard Reynolds laid down
the first iron rails his son William and the Coalbrookdale Co. as early
as 1800 were engaged upon locomotives to run on railways.
These stages in the history of the works down to the commencement of the
present century have been enumerated thus:—
“Abraham Darby. 1707. Letters patent for a new way of casting iron
pots, and other iron ware, in sand only, without loam or clay.”
“Ditto. 1712. First successfully superseded the use of charcoal by
that of coke in the blast furnace.”
“Abraham Darby (son of above). 1737. First used coal instead of
charcoal for converting pig iron into bar iron at the forge.”
“Ditto. 1760–63. First laid down rails of cast iron, with carriages
having axles with fixed wheels.”
“Abraham Darby (the third). The first _iron_ bridge erected over the
Severn in 1777.”
“Richard Reynolds. Letters patent to Thomas and George Cranage, for a
method of puddling, 1766.”
William, son of Richard Reynolds, invented a locomotive, upon the plans
for which the Coalbrookdale Company were engaged in 1800. This was a
_locomotive_ for _railroads_, as we have shewn on page 179. We have also
on a previous page spoken of Mr. W. Reynolds as a chemist, a fact which
is borne out by an original letter of James Watt to his friend William
Reynolds, a copy of which, being too long to insert here, will be given
on a subsequent page. Facts like these, recorded in various
publications, added to the intrinsic merits of the high class productions
of the works, naturally served to give to the establishment in the Dale a
very high position in the trade. To these too were to be added the high
integrity of the proprietors and managers of the works, a guarantee of
which was to be found in the fact that they were Quakers. In our
“History of Broseley” page 219, we have shewn that the Friends had
established themselves there as early as 1673; that a Meeting house was
erected there in 1692; and that the Darbys, the Roses, the Reynoldses,
the Fords, the Hortons and others were buried there, prior to the Meeting
house at Sunnyside being built. The fact of a man being a Quaker was a
tolerable guarantee of his being a fair dealer; and the utterance of the
name of Darby or Reynolds was sufficient to command respect.
Speaking of these works at an early stage, Mr. Smiles in his “Industrial
Biography” says:—
“By the exertions and enterprise of the Darbys, the Coalbrookdale
Works had become greatly enlarged, giving remunerative employment to
a large and increasing population. The firm had extended their
operations far beyond the boundaries of the Dale: they had
established foundries at London, Bristol, and Liverpool, and agencies
at Newcastle and Truro for the disposal of steam-engines and other
iron machinery used in the deep mines of those districts. Watt had
not yet perfected his steam-engine; but there was considerable demand
for pumping-engines of Newcomen’s construction, many of which were
made at the Coalbrookdale Works.”
One of these engines having the date 1747 was seen at Bilston in 1812.
Castings for Watt’s engines also were made here; but the first use to
which the steam-engine itself was put was the undignified one of pumping
the water which had once gone over the water-wheel back, that it may go
over it a second time.
It is not our intention to give a detailed description of the present
productions of the Coalbrookdale Works; modern castings like those of the
Albert Edward bridge, and those high art ornamental ones of a lighter
kind with which the public are familiar by means of various international
exhibitions, afford sufficient evidence that the firm occupy a position
not unworthy of their ancient renown.
It will be seen from what has been said that the religious no less than
the inventive element seems to have distinguished these men, who, so far
as we have gone were Quakers; but the brothers Cranege, who anticipated
Cort in the discovery of puddling were Wesleyans. Little seems to be
known of these men or of their families; but Dr. Edward Cranage, of the
Old Hall, Wellington is, we believe, of the same family. Another
descendant of the family writes us to say that—
“George Cranage, one of the patentees, and Thomas his brother, the
other, both married daughters of John Ward, of Eye Manor Farm, near
Leighton; the writer’s grandfather on his mother’s side. Thomas and
his wife died without issue, but George Cranage who married Ann Ward,
left two sons and five daughters; William, the elder of the sons, was
manager or in some such position at Coalbrookdale, and was concerned
in the construction of the Iron Bridge. From a small manuscript
volume of religious verses and paraphrases into verse of the Psalms
composed by him, and now in my possession, he appears to have had
some taste for literature. I have his copy of _Coke and Moore’s life
of Wesley_, _and Paradise Lost_, the latter containing his autograph.
He was, I have heard, a Wesleyan of the true type; worshipping at his
chapel regularly, but always communicating at Madeley Parish Church
on Sacrament Sundays. He lived in the house where Mr. Moses now
lives, opposite the church, which house, we believe was built for
him. He died in 1823, one son having died previously. The following
notice appeared in a Shrewsbury paper of his death:
“Suddenly, at Coalbrookdale, aged 63, Mr. Wm. Cranage, a man whose
truly benevolent nature and friendly disposition secured him the
respect and esteem of all who knew him, and whose loss as a member of
society will be much felt by his neighbours. In him the poor man
recognised a friend, the world an honest man, and the church a steady
and useful member.”
John the younger, and only other son of George, died in infancy, while
the five daughters all married in Bridgnorth or the neighbourhood.
Whilst upon the subject of old workmen at the Dale it may be well here to
introduce a notice of the Luccucks, some of whom were Quakers, but two of
whom, Benjamin and Thomas, became clergymen of the church of England.
Benjamin was apprenticed at Coalport, where he painted a set of china,
which whilst breakfasting with an English prelate he was surprised to see
produced at table. When a lad he was of a daring disposition. He would
lie down, for instance, between the rails of the Incline Plane and allow
the carriage and a boat with five tons of iron in it to pass over him,
notwithstanding the risk run of being caught and drawn over the rollers
by the hook dangling at the end of the carriage. The mother of Mr. W. G.
Norris, the present manager, and one of the proprietors, was a Luccock;
and other members of the same family are still employed in the works.
The grandfather of the former was apprenticed to the first Abraham Darby
soon after he came to the Dale. A copy of the indenture or agreement
between the parties may not be without interest at the present day. It
commences thus:
“Abraham Darby and Thomas Luccuck, concluded and made this 13 day of
June, 1714, between Abraham Darby, of the city of Bristol, Smith, in
behalf of himself and rest of his co-partners in the ironworks of
Coalbrookdale, in the County of Salop, on the one part; and Thomas
Luccuck, of the parish of Norfield, in the County of Worcester, who
agrees to serve in the art and mystery of making or casting of iron
pots and kettles, &c.”
It then proceeds to state that
“Abraham Darby promises to pay the said Thomas Luccuck the _sum of_
6_s._ _per week_ during the said term of the year. Thomas Luccuck
also covenants not to divulge or make known the mystery of the art of
moulding in sand, tools, or utensils, belonging to the said works;
and that if he divulges he will agree to pay the sum of £5 for every
pot or kettle made by another, &c., through him.”
The mystery alluded to, and which it was deemed then so important not to
divulge, was an improvement introduced by one of the Thomases, an
ancestor of the Bristol merchants of that name, which consisted in the
substitution of _green sand_ for the more expensive and laborious method
of using clay and loam in the manufacture of cast pots. By this means,
not only was the article cheapened, and the number multiplied, but a more
suitable and economical form was obtained; the old one being now rarely
seen, except in museums, or as an antiquated heir-loom in some remote
cottage. One of the old pots with a neat border has the date 1717.
These domestic utensils appear to have formed the staple manufacture at
the time that the first Abraham Darby removed here from Bristol, in the
year 1709.
One member of this old family of Dale workmen lived to the extraordinary
age of 103; and an allusion to the venerable patriarch may serve to
introduce at this stage of our history a notice of two local
circumstances: the extreme age of an old Coalbrookdale workman of the
above name, and the “Great Land Flood” of the Dale. An account of the
latter appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the time; but we
prefer following the example of Southey who on an occasion we remember
makes use of an old man’s memory to set forth his views of certain
changes which had taken place; but at the same time with such toning down
as becometh the thoughts of more sober age. Every village has incidents
and events associated with it, which some old inhabitant is usually
privileged to expound.
Beyond the venerable grey-beards and wrinkled grand-dames there is the
village sage—vested with the dignity of a last appeal, and whose version
of matters local is deemed truthful as the current coin. Age as a rule
commands respect; and the wider the span that measures intervening space
between the present and the past the greater the esteem. Coalbrookdale
within our recollection boasted, not an octogenarian merely, or one whose
claim to the honour was weakened by that of half-a-dozen others—but one,
the “oldest inhabitant,” by being a quarter of a century in advance of
the whole of the Coalbrookdale elders. He not only lived to celebrate
the centenary of his natal day but—like a tree blanched by the storms of
ages yet putting forth its leaves afresh—as showing the stamina that
still remained—cut, at a still riper age his second set of wisdom teeth.
Envy never sought to dim the lustre of his fame. At local festivals,
when, unfettered for the day, the members of a club with flags and band
met in gay summer time, he was brought to crown the presidential chair.
Old Adam—such was his name—a name truly suggestive of the past and well
fitted for a village sage—old Adam Luccock was widely known. He was a
specimen of archæology in himself—the solitary link of a patriarchal
chain that had fallen one by one—he the only one remaining. And old
Adam’s cottage—perched upon a rock beneath the Rotunda, quaint, ancient,
and impressed by the storms of passing time,—odorous from a narrow strip
of garden sheltered by a grey limestone pile, catching the last lingering
rays of the setting sun as it mantled with deep shadow the Dale below,
and flooded with mellow light the uplands of the river’s western bank—was
a counterpart of himself. Like the little vine that girdled its frail
and wattled walls—tapping with wiry fingers at the diamond leaded
window-panes—old Adam clung to the place long after his friends began to
fear the two would disappear together. White as were these white-washed
walls, Adam’s locks were whiter, and the accessories of dress and minor
details of person and of place were in perfect keeping. A curious
net-work of wrinkled smiles accompanied the delivery of one of the old
man’s homilies; and amusing enough were the landmarks which memory set up
for giving to each event its place in point of time. Of red-lettered
ever-to-be-remembered occurrences in the village the more prominent were
the phenomena of the land-slip at the Birches, and the land-flood at the
Dale. We still see the old man drawing slowly from his mouth a long
pipe, still more slowly letting out a wreath of fragrant smoke, as
speaking of the latter he would say:—
“I remember well; it was autumn, the berries were ripe on the hedge,
and fruits were mellow in the field; we had a funeral that day at
Madeley, it was on the 6th of September, 1801. The air was close. A
thin steamy vapour swam along the valley, and a dense, fog-looking
cloud hung in the sky. The mist spread, and drops like ripe fruit
when you shake a tree came down suddenly. The leaves on every tree
trembled, we could hear them quake; and the cattle hung down their
heads to their fetlocks. The wind blew by fits and starts in
different directions, and waves of cold air succeeded warm. Dull
rushing sounds, sharp crackling thunderclaps were heard, and streams
of fire could be seen—like molten iron at casting time—running in and
out among the clouds. Up the valley, driving dust and sticks and
stones, came on a roaring wind with pelting rain. Another current
moved in a different direction; they met where the black cloud stood,
and striking it both sides at once, it dropped like a sponge filled
with water, but large as the Wrekin. In a moment houses and fields
and woods were flooded by a deluge, and a rushing torrent from the
hills came driving everything before it with a roar louder than the
great blast or the splash of the great wheel. Lightnings flashed,
thunders roared, and before the echo of one peal died you heard
another—as if it were the crack of doom. Down came the brooks, the
louder where they met, snapping trees, carrying bridges, stones, and
stacks of wood. Houses were inundated in an instant, gardens were
swept away, and women and children were carried from windows through
the boiling flood. Fiercer came the rush and higher swelled the
stream, forcing the dam of the great pool; timber snapped like glass,
stones were tossed like corks, and driven against buildings that in
turn gave way. Steam then came hissing up from the furnace as the
water neared and sought entrance to the works. The elements met; it
was a battle for a time; the water driven with great force from
behind was soon brought into contact with the liquid iron, and then
came the climax! Thunders from below answered to those above; water
converted into gas caused one loud terrific explosion that burst the
strongest bars, shattered the stoutest walls, drove back the furious
flood, and filled the air with heated cinders and red-hot scoria.
The horrid lurid light and heat and noise were dreadful. Many said
‘The day of God’s wrath is come;’ ‘Let us fly to the rocks and to the
hills.’”
After a pause, and re-lighting his pipe, he added:
“I think I forgot to say it was Sunday, and that the Darbys were at
meeting; the Meeting-house was in Tea-kettle-row, it was before the
neat little chapel at Sunnyside was built. It was a silent
meeting,—outside among the elements there was noise enough—I mean
among the members there had been no speaking, and if there had they
may have heard plain enough what was going on outside. Well, when
the furnace blew up they broke up and came down to see what was the
matter. They never appear in a hurry, Quakers don’t, and did not
then, though thousands of pounds of their property were going to rack
every minute. ‘Is any one hurt?’ that was the first question by Miss
Darby; she is now Mrs Rathbone. She was an angel of a woman; indeed,
every one of the Miss Darbys have been. ‘Is there any one hurt,
Adam;’ she said. I said ‘no, ma’am, there’s nobody hurt, but the
furnace, and blowing mill, the pool dam, and the buildings are all
gone.’ ‘Oh, I am so thankful,’ she said; ‘never mind the building,
so no one’s hurt’; and they all looked as pleased—if you’ll
believe—as if they had found a new vein of coal in the Dawley Field,
instead of having lost an estate at Coalbrookdale.”
Old age sat as fittingly on Adam as glory upon the sun, or as autumnal
bloom upon the mellow fruit ripened by the summer’s heat. Nature, in the
old man, had completed her work, religion had not left him without its
blessings; and, while lingering or waiting, rather, upon the verge of
another world, he liked to live again the active past, and to amuse
himself by talking of scenes with which he had been associated. He had
none of the garrulous tendencies of age; and when once upon his favourite
topic, he was all smiles immediately.
“We used,” he said, “to bring the mine for the Dale on pack-horses;
and Horsehay being one of the halting places, was, as I believe,
called Horsehay in consequence. We used, also, to take minerals on
horse-back all the way to Leighton, where there was plenty of wood
and charcoal, and water to blow the bellows. Strings of horses, the
first having a bell to tell of their coming, used to go; they called
them ‘Crickers’—and a very pretty sight it was to see them winding
through upland, wood, and meadow, the little bells tinkling as they
went.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” said our ancient friend, “Pedlars and pack-horses
were the means of locomotion and the medium of news in my day; and if
we travelled, it was in the four-wheeled covered waggon, over roads
with three or four feet ruts. Lord, sir, I remember, in good old
George the Third’s time, when turnpike gates were first put up, there
was a great outcry against them. Before that, roads went just where
they liked, and there was a blacksmith’s shop at every corner to
repair the damage done in bumping over the large stones. Why, sir,
in this ere Dale, I can remember when there was no road through it
but the tram-road. The road then was over rocks and along the brow
of the hill—a bridle road only. There never was such a thing as a
one-horse cart seen in the Dale till just before the road was made to
Wellington; and then, as I can remember, the road was so narrow that
every carter carried a mattock to stock the road wider, in order to
pass, if he met another.”
The old man described the construction of those primitive forerunners of
that iron network which now spreads its meshes over the entire kingdom,
one of which, much worn on the one side by the flange of the wheels is
before us. It has a square hole at the end, for the purpose of being
pegged to the sleeper. Down the steep banks that enclose the Dale
inclined planes were laid with rails of plain oblong pieces of wood, six
feet in length, eight inches in width, and four inches in depth, and down
these, by means of ropes, waggons by their superior gravity brought up
the empty ones to be refilled with minerals which were conveyed for the
use of the works. The speed was regulated by a brake made to press, not
as now upon the barrel at the top, but upon the wheels of the descending
waggons. The man thus regulating their speed, was the jigger, and the
hill leading from Coalbrookdale to Wellington, where one of these
inclines was situate, became “The Jigger’s Bank.” (Sometimes called the
Jig-house Bank, because, of a house there.) In addition to this railway
for the purpose of supplying the furnaces, there was another, by which
the furnaces at the top were connected with the foundry at the centre;
and rails, first of wood, and then of iron, continued for many years to
be used, facilitating the transport of heavy materials from place to
place.
On the last occasion on which we saw him we were sent by a good old aunt,
a Quaker lady who loaded us with presents for the old man, when he had
gone to live in “Charity Row,” as it was called. Speaking upon matters
connected with the history of the Dale—more particularly in reference to
the Darbys and Reynoldses—the old man would grow eloquent; and the effect
of a little present—a basket of strawberries or a packet of tobacco—had a
wonderful effect in stimulating memory. Nothing was “open sesame,”
however, like a drop of “Barnaby Spruce’s old Beer.” {292} Say you had
sent for half-a-gallon of Spruce’s best October brewing, and he grew
loquacious at once.
“Remember him,” speaking of Richard Reynolds, he would say, arching
his eye-brows, and growing animated, as recollections of the past
came tripping upon the heels of each other. “I knew him well; all
the poor knew him; the robins and the sparrows knew him, for he would
carry crumbs a hundred miles in his pockets ‘for his robins.’ He
made a vast fortune, and then everybody knew him; books, and tracts,
and newspapers all talked about him. He was a Quaker—not a thin,
withered, crotchety disciple of George Fox, but a full-fed Quaker,
fair and ruddy, with eyes of blue that gave back the bright azure of
the sky and lighted up a fine and manly face. I see him now—his
light hair flowing in curls beneath his broad brimmed hat upon his
shoulders. He yielded to every man his own, not only as concerned
money, but in demands upon his respect. I have known him when in a
fit of temper he thought he had spoken harshly or slightingly to any
one, follow him home and apologise for his warmth. He loved
everybody and was beloved by everybody in return. There’s my
neighbour, she will tell you how when she was a child he would run
into their shop in a morning, put half-a-crown into her hand, saying,
‘There, thee be a good child all day.’ He could not do with the
colliers, though; he built schools for their children, but the
mothers would not let them go unless he would pay them so much a day
for allowing them to attend. They were curious schoolmasters in my
day. Old John Share made nails and kept a school in the Dale; he was
one of the most learned about these parts for a schoolmaster, but he
never would believe that the earth turned round, because, as he said,
the Wrekin was always in the same place. Then, there was old Carter,
the chairmaker, of Madeley Wood; he always spelt bacon with a ‘k,’
and I remember him giving Charles Clayton a souce on the side of the
head that sent him reeling, because he insisted upon it that it
should be bacon. The Wrekin, sir, was always an object of admiration
to Mr. Reynolds. He had an arbour made from which he could see the
sun going down behind it (he used to revel in a good sunset), and
with no companion but his pipe was often used to watch it. Every
year he treated his clerks and most of the members of the Society of
Friends to the Wrekin. Benthall Edge was another favourite resort,
and he would revel at such times in the scene.”
“I could tell you many more anecdotes (the old man continued) of the
Quakers; I mean the Darbys. They all liked a joke right well; and as
for kindness, it seemed as if they thought it a favour to be allowed
to assist you. They allow me a weekly pension, have done for years,
and pay a woman to wait upon me. They are people that never like to
be done, however.”
“You knew old Solomon, the Sexton. Well he once went to the haunted
house, as they call it, for an Easter offering. The servants were
ordered to attend him, and he sat for some time and eat and drank,
and smoked his pipe—but not a word was said about Easter dues. He
knocked the ashes out of his third pipe, and feeling muddled a bit
about the head thought it time to be moving. At last Mr. Darby
entered the room, and Solomon made bold to ask for the Easter
offering. ‘Friend,’ said Mr. Darby, throwing up the sash, and
assuming a determined attitude, ‘thou hast had a meat-offering and a
drink-offering; thou hast even had a burnt offering—as I judge from
the fumes of this room, and unless thou choosest to go about thy
business, thou shalt have an _heave_-offering.’ As Solomon had no
wish to be pitched head-foremost out of the window, you may imagine
(said the old man) that he quickly disappeared.”
The old village sage, whose venerable form and long white locks rise
before us like some vision of the past—is gone; he died, as his friends
assert, at the advanced age of 107, or, as his headstone more modestly
states (and modesty is not a fault common with posthumous records) at the
age of 103. He died January 27, 1831, and his gravestone may be seen
near the southwest door of Madeley Church, under the wall; but as the
inscription is near to the grave, being below those of the Parkers, and
that of Samuel Luckock, it will, we fear, be soon obliterated by the damp
acting on the stone.
Among other servants of the Darbys who succeeded each other and held
important positions in the works were the Fords. Richard married Miss
Darby, daughter of Abraham, and was manager of the works in 1747. He
also was a Quaker; and to him really is due the credit ascribed to Mr.
Darby, of the successful use of coal in iron smelting. In the
Philosophical Transactions for 1747, for instance, the year Mr. Ford was
manager, it is stated that—
“Several attempts have been made to run iron-ore with pit-coal: he
(the Rev. Mr. Mason, Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge) thinks it
has not succeeded anywhere, as we have had no account of its being
practised; but Mr. Ford, of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, from
iron-ore and coal, both got in the same dale, makes iron brittle or
tough as he pleases, there being cannon thus cast so soft as to bear
turning like wrought-iron.”
A son or grandson of this Richard Ford was foreman and manager in the
engine department of the works, which flourished greatly till he resigned
his office, nearly half a century since. The late John Cox Ford was a
son, and A. J. Ford, recently of Madeley, a grandson.
Of later members of the Darby family we may speak in part from personal
knowledge. Like their ancestors, they were members of the Society of
Friends, although not by any means the straitest of the sect. Whilst
adhering to the grand cardinal doctrine of the Inner Light, they indulged
their own ideas of the extent to which the strict discipline of the body
should control their tastes. They were birth-members, but lax in their
opinions, and did not live by strict Quaker rule. On one occasion, when
a disciple of the old school got up as was his wont to deliver himself in
meeting, one of the younger and more lax of the members rose and said,
“Friend N—y, it would be more agreeable to this meeting if thou wouldst
sit down.”
Francis Darby, of the White House, had great taste, loved high art, and
filled his rooms with costly paintings, which he felt a pride in shewing
to his friends. Others indulged a forbidden love of music and luxury,
contrary to the faith and discipline of their fathers, without otherwise
breaking through bounds or committing faults to justify the advocates of
the truest code of Quaker rule to disown them.
Richard Darby, like his brother Francis, did not adhere to the Quaker
style of dress, either in the cut of his coat or the shape of his hat,
the latter being usually a white one of the most approved fashion. He
was a popular public man; one whose services were sought, and whose
sympathies were readily enlisted in public movements of the day, such as
the emancipation of the slaves, and others relating to questions of civil
and religious progress. His name was well known through the length and
breadth of the borough, and we have seen small farmers and labourers
around the Clee Hills brighten up at the mention of his name. William
Henry and Charles Darby, the sons of Richard, are proprietors of the
Brymbo iron works, and their sister, Miss Rebecca Darby, who resides at
the house her father lived in, is the only one of the name now living in
the Dale.
The late Abraham and Alfred Darby, sons of Edmund, and cousins of Francis
and Richard, were young when their father died. We have elsewhere said
that they became managers of the extensive and important works of
Coalbrookdale, Horsehay, Lighmnoor, and the Castle, at critical periods
of their history, and when, to maintain their existence, it was essential
to do battle with lax discipline, old customs, and deep-rooted
prejudices. They found men resting on their oars, trusting to the
_prestige_ of a fame won by a former generation, and standing still while
others around them were advancing. They determined to prove themselves
worthy of their predecessors by advancing to the front of the foremost in
the rise. Surrounding themselves by energetic agents, intelligent
operatives, and introducing new modes of manufacture, they succeeded.
With clear views of political economy, they zealously aided in battering
down barriers to a free exchange of the world’s productions, which
misconceived interest had erected. Penetrated with a lofty sense of
duty, and comprehending their positions rightly, they pursued the even
tenor of their way, sowing seed and scattering blessings which refreshed
and brightened the scenes of their labours. They worked harmoniously
together, in their studies, in the laboratory, in their works, and at
their books, making themselves acquainted with every detail and minutiæ
of their great undertakings. Order and regularity everywhere were
observable, others under them being embued with the spirit of their
employers. The church on the hill side, and its sweet and silvery bells
as their music floats along the valley and over the wooded boundaries of
the Dale, tell of their large-hearted benevolence and open handed
munificence, and that of their sister, Miss Mary Darby, and their mother,
Mrs. Lucy Darby.
Abraham, the elder, married his cousin, Miss Darby, daughter of Francis
Darby, on the 8th of August, 1839, on which occasion a kindly
demonstration was made, and 1,000 work-people dined at his expense. He
removed from the Dale to Stoke Court, near Slough; and afterwards to
South Wales, to be near the extensive works of Ebbw Vale, which he, and
some of his partners, purchased for the sum of £360,000. He died, was
brought to the Dale and buried in the cemetery of the church which he
chiefly had built and endowed, amid deep demonstrations of feeling on the
part of thousands of spectators.
Alfred, the younger brother, married Miss Christy, sister to the
well-known collector of pre-historic relics of man in an uncivilized
state, with which he stored his mansion at Westminster, and afterwards
bequeathed to the British Museum. Alfred died in the golden meridian of
age and usefulness, and his loss was deeply felt by all who knew him. He
left issue, and his son Alfred, of Ness, to which place his mother
removed from Stanley Hall, is a magistrate, and is now old enough to
discharge the duties of a country gentleman.
Of other partners in the works we may mention Mr. Henry Dickinson, who
married a sister of Abraham and Alfred Darby, for some years chairman of
the Shropshire Banking Company, and who in a most distinguished and
disinterested way lent (but on such terms as amounted to a gift) the
princely sum of £100,000 at a critical period of its existence, to save
it from falling, and numbers dependent upon it from ruin. But for
extending our remarks too far, we might say something of men like Mr.
Thomas Graham, a former cashier in the works, of Mr. William Norris, who
succeeded him in that office; men useful in their day and generation,
being foremost in good works and words, as many now living will remember.
For the same reason we refrain from speaking of the late Mr. C. Crookes,
formerly the enterprising manager of these works; and of the gentleman
who has succeeded him, and is himself a proprietor of these extensive
works, and in the commission of the peace for the borough. For similar
reasons, but much more because of the difficulty of rightly
discriminating and equally awarding a just meed of praise where so much
is due, we find ourselves prevented from speaking of many trustworthy and
clever men now engaged in various departments of these important works,
whose names occur to our minds, but whose merits we commend not less
heartily to some future local historian, for whose labours the present
work will, we flatter ourselves, smooth the way.
It would be unpardonable not to say something here of the means of
education and mental culture provided by the proprietors of the
Coalbrookdale works for their workpeople. Before the present system of
national education was established, and whilst hostile sects and parties
were indulging in bitter feuds {300} as to the kind of education to be
given, this Company under the direction of Abraham and Alfred Darby in
the most noble and generous way came forward and at great cost erected
roomy and capacious Schools here and at Horsehay, with every convenience
and appliance possible to further education.
We purpose speaking of education, with respect to the schools, in
connection with others at Madeley, Ironbridge, and Madeley Wood; and will
only add here a word or two on the subject of other and more advanced
institutions provided for the use of the men and inhabitants generally of
the Dale. First and foremost amongst them comes, of course, the Literary
and Scientific Institute, with its library, its reading room, its school
of art, its high class lectures and entertainments, so judiciously
arranged and carried on under the management of Mr. E. L. Squire, Hon.
Secretary, and Mr. Isaac Dunbar, the librarian. The School of Art too,
of which Mr. Squires is also Hon. Secretary, and Mr. Gibbons master, is
admirably adapted for developing and furthering a taste for drawing and
decoration, so essential among artizans engaged in the more ornamental
and decorative portions of the company’s productions. Nor are the
benefits of this admirable institution limited either to the works or to
the Dale: the day classes are attended by ladies of the neighbourhood,
desirous of pursuing an æsthetic course of study, and who, following the
examples of ladies whose works merit such high approval in the Art
Galleries of London and Paris, have really achieved great success in
painting birds, flowers, and figures, in enamel colours, on plaques,
tazzas, &c., both for use and for drawing room decoration.
Nor must we omit, whilst on the subject of this institution, to mention
the splendid collection of British and foreign birds lent by Mrs. Alfred
Darby, which have adorned the lecture room for so many years; or the very
fine collection of coal-measure fossils, which the late Dean Buckland
pronounced in his time the finest private collection of the kind in
England, and so liberally given by the late John Anstice, Esq.
Recently a “British Workman” has been added to other institutions, at the
room formerly occupied as a British School, under the patronage of Mrs.
Norris, who is ever active in promoting similar works, and the present
incumbent, the Rev. H. S. Wood, who, it is only justice to say, spares no
pains to make himself useful to the inhabitants of the Dale.
COALBROOKDALE BRICK, TILE, AND TERRA COTTA WORKS.
Under the management of Mr. John Fox the clay-works of the Coalbrookdale
Company have become so expanded and improved, that they now form an
important department of the Company’s undertakings, and are at the
present juncture, no doubt, among the more profitable of their
industries. Since sanitary science has so successfully called public
attention to the importance of the use of good bricks impervious to damp,
the productions from these excellent coal-measure clays have been more in
demand. Clays, as commonly understood, mean earth of sufficient
ductility to allow of being kneaded into some useful shape or form, and
rank as raw materials. Some are soft, others are indurated, or hard and
rocky; but all have in one sense been prepared by certain poundings,
grindings, washings, and mixings, carried on by Nature on a larger scale
than that on which they are now still further fitted for use. They
differ in quality, in degree of fineness, and in colour, and show certain
relationships by which it is clear that they are descended from sand,
just as sands are descended from a hardy race of pebbles, which in turn
bear close relationship to rocks, from which undoubtedly they have been
derived. Surface clays used for making inferior bricks and tiles, whose
earthy odour gives evidence of alumina, are generally derived from red
sandstone rocks, ground down into mud by the machinery of waves or
streams whilst our deeper coal-measures clunches, and clays were
originally the sediment thrown by rivers at their embouchures into inland
lakes or seas, and are usually much more free from lime, iron, grit, and
other foreign substances and impurities.
When brought to the surface, these clays are hard as a rock. Formerly
they were allowed to lie during the winter to weather, as it is called;
and a statute now obsolete required, under a heavy penalty, that bricks
should not be made unless the clay for making them had been turned over
at intervals, three times at least before the first of March. But
brickmakers, not having patience to wait for the action of the weather,
have invented machinery to do the work, and the clay is taken direct from
the pit to be crushed by iron rollers, and then conveyed by coarse
canvas-screens to tanks to be moistened, and afterwards to the pug mill.
This is an upright cylinder, with a revolving vertical shaft, fitted up
with horizontal knives following each other at an angle so as to cut,
amalgamate, and temper the material, and which also acts as a screw to
deliver it.
Ornamental bricks of elaborate design for architectural purposes require
more delicate manipulation, and the clays for these undergo a more
careful preparation. Machines in some instances are used, which take the
clay, temper, thoroughly amalgamate it, and convert it into the finished
article, and at the brick-yards of the Coalbrookdale Company presses have
been erected by which bricks may be stamped at once from the semi-dry
clay.
This company, too, have been at great pains to turn their clays to
account by copying the Italian and Lombard style of making bricks of
various forms and colours; and the buildings erected with these bricks,
and others, with white facings of the same material, of which the present
Literary and Scientific Institute is an example, possess great
architectural beauty. Still further examples of the æsthetic treatment
of these admirable clays were made a short time ago by Monsieur Kremer,
who modelled and prepared at the company’s Lightmoor clay works, in
relief, and on a large scale, an historical subject, connected with
Scottish history in the time of King James, as a facade for a house in
London; also some noble groups, life size, of figures representing the
four seasons, for a gentleman’s grounds and park near London. The reader
may judge of the adaptability of these clays for such purposes by
inspecting a group of a similar kind in front of the Institute.
We exhibited ourselves in 1851 specimens of these and other coal-measure
clays, with articles manufactured from them on both sides the river, and
we had the satisfaction of hearing from distinguished judges, familiar
with their merits, such as presidents of foreign Academics of Science,
speak of them as superior to any they had ever seen. {306}
[Picture: Swamp]
COALBROOKDALE COALFIELD.
The works of the company in the Dale, at Lightmoor, Horsehay, the Castle,
and other parts of Dawley, are so intimately connected and so entirely
dependent upon the mineral resources of the district, that some further
notice is needed to complete this stretch. We said at the commencement
that neither iron nor coal were found here, but in the quotation from the
Philosophical Transactions it is stated that Mr. Ford made iron either
hard or soft from ore and coal got in the dale; and it may perhaps
without being considered a sketch of language be said that the opening
into the Lightmoor valley, where coals were undoubtedly worked at an
early period, is a northern lip or extension of the Dale itself. Indeed
the whole of the rich mineral tract extending from Broseley to the
extreme limits of the Lilleshall Company’s works, some seven miles in
length, and terminating in a Symon Fault on the south-east of Madeley
parish, about four miles in breadth, is universally known as the
Coalbrookdale Coalfield; but the Dale proper is a hollow scooped out of
soft Silurian shale, which shews itself at the railway station, by the
viaduct, on the road to Lightmoor, and in various other places. Here two
great faults or rents in the coalfield meet; one coming down from the
Dunge at Broseley, and the other from the direction of Lilleshall,
causing a difference of level varying from fifty to seven hundred feet.
The coal-measures approach the northern extremity of the Dale on three
sides, forming a fringe which rises from a few feet above the Dale to
three hundred feet above the Severn at Ironbridge, and to over seven
hundred feet at the highest points. It was this outside fringe of lower
coals which tempted early miners, who by means of levels in the hill
sides got their “Smith’s Coal,” leaving others, which they did not then
need for house fuel. Interesting instances of the outcrops of these
coals are to be seen at the surface on high grounds overlooking the Dale,
also on the side of the railway opposite to Black Rock quarry, where an
instructive section of the Best, Middle, and Clod Coals are visible, with
a slight fault displacing them. They crop out on the side of the Lincoln
Hill walks; and on sinking a trial pit at Castle Green near there, many
years ago, it was found that the Middle and Clod coals had been removed,
and the space filled up with gob. The upper coals here, and also the
pennystone, as at the Lodge Pit, remained; but at the latter the clod
coal, the best coal for iron-making purposes, was removed, and the space
filled up with refuse.
When quarrying stone at the Black Rock, on the right hand side of the
tramroad leading to Lightmoor, for the purpose of constructing the
viaduct for the Wellington and Severn Junction Railroad, an interesting
discovery was made of a number of fossil trees. Some were still clinging
to the soil from which they originally derived their nourishment, as here
shewn, somewhat imperfectly, by the accompanying engraving. One was
twelve feet in circumference at the point at which the roots, which were
eight in number, and two feet ten inches in their thickest part, diverged
and spread, at a distance of eighteen inches from the trunk, and divided
into two, and at a distance of four feet dipped into ground. The tree
appeared to have been buried in mud before decay commenced, and to that
circumstance was due probably its preservation from further decay,
portions of trunks and branches were strewed around. We obtained a
photograph and forwarded it to the Illustrated London News, in which
paper an engraving appeared at the time. It was, we believe, a
sigillaria, but was smooth, and shewed few of the marks common to the
genus, such as appear on the accompanying enlarged section of the upper
part of trees of a like kind. The roots also were smooth as far as
exposed. The rock in which the roots were embedded was the Crawstone
crust, and the sandrock which surrounded it was highly charged with oil
or petroleum, derived from the vegetation which had produced the seam of
coal, (the little flint coal) above, or from the decaying trees and
branches of trees which now lie prostrate, and are embedded in the rock
itself. There is one of considerable size at the time we write, five
feet of which is exposed to view, the other part is obscured by the rock;
and at the upper end where it enters the rock is a soft brown substance,
about an inch thick, with impressions of the woody fibre of the tree
itself. It is just that kind of fleshy substance one would suppose to
belong to such trees, and one can scarcely resist the impression that it
is the bark. Examined by the lens it appears to be thickly studded with
small white crystals, strewed about.
[Picture: Fossil tree]
[Picture: Fossil bark]
Interlacing each other are Calamites, the giant representatives of our
mares-tail which still flourishes near in damp places on the surface.
The following representation will afford an idea of the gigantic
proportions they then attained. They are to be found at all stages of
growth; sometimes with their central pith, surrounded by a ligneous
cylinder, divided by medullary rays, and having a thick bark. These
reed-like plants were of course suited to the moist condition then
prevailing, and assumed magnificent proportions.
[Picture: Calamites]
The following is the section as it now appears, commencing at the surface
and taking the measures in a descending order.
Below the turf,—
ft. in.
1 Yellow clay 4 0
2 Coal Smut; (might represent Sill, coal) 1 0
3 Clunch 1 0
4 Vigor coal 0 10
5 Ganey coal rock (shale) 1 0
6 Ganey coal 1 3
7 Linseed earth (A brown soapy kind of clay) 1 0
8 Best coal and middle coal (These are 2 0
separated by a parting which diminishes
from 10 inches on the west to 2 in. on the
east.)
9 Fine clunch 1 0
10 Clod coal 2 0
11 Clunch with roots and plants, and nodules 5 0
of ironstone at bottom
12 Little flint coal 2 0
13 Little flint rock (with prostratetrees and 27 0
petroleum)
14 Crawstone crust, with upright trees and
roots embedded.
Total 49 11
Beds of underclay so invariably accompany seams of coal that some have
come to the conclusion that there was no exception to the rule. Here
however is one, in the case of the Little Flint coal, which lies
immediately upon a sand rock. Evidently it was not formed like peat from
vegetation which grew and accumulated on the spot. There is no underclay
to support the roots of ordinary coal-measure plants, but the coal
follows closely the contour of the rock on which it lies; as though it
had flowed over it and had been laid down upon it like a sheet of
bituminous matter. And there is not the least doubt but that this was
the case. Sigillarias, Lepidodendrons, Calamites, and tree-ferns
flourished on the slime now hardened into shale, and which shows
sun-cracks, and worm-burrowings, indicative of the then surface, with
tracks of locomotive mullusca, as they dragged their shells along the
soft impressionable slime. Heavy tropical rains then falling upon some
upraised and exposed Caradoc or perhaps Millstone grit lands, the latter
scarcely yet consolidated, brought down and held in suspension a quantity
of sand which, as it settled down, formed a bed varying from three to
thirty feet in thickness. The body of water which contained so much sand
must, of course, have been much greater, and would probably cover the
whole of the vegetation. The result was that the lower parts of the
largest trees which were buried first were preserved in situ. The upper
parts toppled over and lay embedded in the sand, as we find them. In
both cases the vegetable matter decayed and was replaced atom by atom
with fine sand; but the vegetable tissues, oil, and seeds, being
lightest, rose above the sand, forming a pulpy bituminous plastic bed,
which first fermented, and then crystalized into coal. Even the little
disc-like seeds of the sigillaria, which make up a considerable portion
of the coal, and which floated with other matter, lie flat and parallel
with the lamina of the coal itself.
Nor is this the only instance of the kind. The Top coal of Halesfield
and Kemberton shews signs of liquefaction; portions of fish, such as
teeth, bones, and scales being embedded in the coal.
We ought to add in connection with the Black Rock section that the five
feet of clunch over the Little Flint Coal is the underclay for the Clod
Coal, and is full of roots and rootlets.
[Picture: Trees, fens, swamp]
The descent from the Crawstone crust to the Silurian shale of the Dale
cannot be traced. As passed through at the Limestone pit at Lincoln
Hill, it was as follows:—
Ft. In.
1. Crawstone Measure Crust 1 8
2. Rock 10 6
3. Coal Smut 0 9
4. Clunch with balls of Sandstone 12 0
5. Lancashire Ladies’ Coal 0 6
6. Strong Clunch with Sandstone balls 19 0
7. Sandstone Rock 10 6
8. Chalkstone 12 0
9. Limestone (Silurian) 28 6
Total 95 5
This then may be considered a fair representation of the remainder of the
measures which occur below those seen on the surface at the Black Rock
Quarry; but the passage from the carboniferous to the Silurian formations
is _no where conformable_, and no mention is made of the Millstone grit,
a portion of which certainly intervenes, and which is to be seen in small
patches near, but which might possibly be represented by the three or
four last measures in the section of the Lincoln Hill Limestone Shaft.
Excellent opportunities occur in this immediate neighbourhood of studying
the junction of the Silurian and Carboniferous formations, and of the
evidences afforded of the denudation of the one prior to the formation of
the other. To the general reader these words may convey little meaning,
but the scientific student who studies the evidences here made clear
cannot fail to comprehend the fact that he has before him not only an old
sea-bed, rich in relics of the fauna which inhabited its waters, but a
sea-bed which had become a cliff, and had in turn been gradually cut down
and wasted during successive ages prior to that at which a carboniferous
flora had begun to flourish. Two series of rocks are here in
juxtaposition, yet so widely separated by time, as to indicate a gap in
the consecutive history of the earth as great as if we were to blot out
the intermediate history of this country from the close of the Heptarchy
to the reign of George III.; only that the period of time in the latter
case would bear no manner of comparison with the former. If we suppose
the Wenlock limestone to have been once covered at these points by the
Ludlow limestone, and this again by the old red sandstone—as is the case
to the south, to say nothing of the carboniferous limestone and millstone
grit, we are forced to the conclusion that thousands of vertical feet,
and hundreds of cubic miles of solid ground were first piled up and then
cut down and carried away by the sea. Creation itself in the interval of
their formation passed through many phases, during which new species came
slowly into being and disappeared, and were again replaced by others. To
fill up the gap that succeeds this great silurian flooring of the
coal-measures, to study the intermediate links of the missing strata we
must go to the millstone grit in its undenuded or partially denuded
state, as it occurs beneath the coal-measures of Little Wenlock, or at
the bend of the road, called “The Turn,” in going from Coalbrookdale to
Wellington.
The first thing striking the attention is a buff coloured shale,
weathered on the surface to clay, at the base of the bold bluff cliff of
gritty sandstone so conspicuous on the brow of the hill. Whilst
examining this member of the Silurian series a man from a neighbouring
cottage remarked, “That is fuller’s earth; persons fetch it when they are
galled, and it is good for the eyes; large quantities are fetched away
and sent to Manchester.”
The fossils it contains show that it belongs to the lowest member of the
Ludlow group, and that the whole of the Aymestry and Upper Ludlow have
been stripped off and washed away before either the millstone grit or the
coal-measures were formed.
Among the fossils yielded by this shale, in addition to bivalves and
corals, are those interesting forms of crustaceans called pen fossils,
from their resemblance to a quill pen. The species we found was
Graptolithus priodon, described in the early works of Murchison as
Graptolithus Ludensis. The trilobites, from the fineness of the
material, are so sharply and beautifully preserved that the visual organs
of the little creatures are clearly discernible, even to the optical
tubes, elongated cones, or crystaline lens such as are to be seen so
marvellously distinct on the eyes of the dragon-fly of the present day.
The beautiful markings too on the shield of these wondrous little
creatures which flourished in these seas, in such numbers that they may
be got out in groups—forms which died out and perished before the close
of the carboniferous formation represented above it—are so delicate and
fine as to equal if not to defy imitation in ordinary materials in use at
the Dale Works; and it is we fancy at least worth the experiment whether
with this shale reduced to powder it might not be made to produce
delicate impressions after the example here set by nature. We also found
here some beautiful Lingula, a Patella, an Orbicula, a Leptæna, a
Lituites, a Fienestella, and other fossils. To inhabitants of the Dale,
here is a field of research open which they may make their own, close to
their own doors.
This fine earth is known by various names where it occurs in Shropshire
and the adjoining county of Herefordshire. In the latter county it is
said to be used by country people for cleansing purposes, in which case
it is called “Walker’s earth or soap.”
If the reader will follow this soft soapy shale, as we did, higher up
into the coppice, he will find large masses of rock which have been
toppled over through the shale giving way. A slip on the side of the
narrow path discloses a bed of it, and immediately above it, consequent
upon a former slip, we come upon a sandstone rock from twelve to fourteen
feet thick, with quartz pebbles, representing the millstone-grit. Then a
bed of black shale occurs, about six inches thick, which is chiefly made
up of coal-plants, some of which are converted into charcoal. These
plants do not appear to have grown on the spot, but to have been drifted
into their present position. They were evidently in a soft and yielding
state, some of them being pressed quite flat. {318} One good sized slab
opened with a cast of a Lepidodendron, and we met with another cast,
clearly of the same tree, a short distance west of it. Another, a
Sigillaria, was much more distinct, the leaf scars being quite sharp, and
the fibres of the inner bark very clear. This interesting band of coal
shale is succeeded by another of yellowish clay, of about equal
thickness; and these are followed by a second and a third band of black
shale, with alternate ones of yellowish clay. Above these are thick
sandstone rocks, some white, and some coloured red by iron, which here
and there occurs in the form of hematite.
[Picture: Fossil tree?]
The whole of these rocks, from the surface to the soft Lower Ludlow shale
here described would better represent the series of connecting links
conducting us down from the Crawstone Crust at the Black Rock Quarry than
any shaft section we could find described, and the whole may properly be
classified as Millstone grit, which is known to attain a thickness of 80
feet in this locality, and to increase to 120 and 150 at a short distance
from here, whilst in Derbyshire it thickens to 350 feet, and elsewhere to
a maximum of 1,000 feet, and includes, as here, shales and thin coals.
Colliers recognise the ironstone which crops out here as the Poor Robin
of the Dawley Deep field pit, which occurs 60 feet below the Little Flint
Coal; which affords another key to the series of measures which underlie
the same coal at the Black Rock Quarry. The Poor Robin however here
described must not be confounded with the one of the same name in south
Staffordshire, which occurs higher up in the series.
We have given a few, and those the lower coals only, such as are found in
the vicinity of Coalbrookdale; it would require more space than we can
devote to it to enter upon a description of the measures occurring higher
up in the series, in what is called the Coalbrookdale Coalfield. The
ideal representation given of coal producing plants at the head of this
article and in subsequent pages, and the one given p. 213, will convey a
tolerable idea of the surface as it occurs to the minds of geologists
during successive periods of the coal formation, and upon which we
purpose offering some remarks, condensed and as brief as is consistent
with a due explanation of the circumstances. We have already spoken of
the oil which exudes from the rock described. It is the same which oozed
from a similar rock at the “Tar Tunnel” at Coalport, at the rate, it is
said, of 1,000 barrels per week. We extract from it naptha, rectified
naptha, gas to illumine our houses, and those magnificent colours derived
from the sun’s rays when the earth was young and green, mauve, magenta
and a hundred medium tints.
Coal itself rarely contains well preserved specimens of plants, but
Sporangia (_Flemingites gracilis_) may be found in the Lancashire
Ladies’, the Flint coal, and most if not all others, the tough little
seed cases having resisted the effects of fermentation and
crystallization, which destroyed the cellular tissues of plants, but
which may sometimes be seen in a carbonised state. If the reader will be
at the trouble to split open a piece of coal where he finds brown streaks
at the edge, he may detect with the naked eye thousands of little discs
clustered and heaped together so thick as to constitute one third at
least of the coal; and if he applies a lens he will find some open, with
bright amber coloured matter inside; and others closed and imbricated.
We have found them in all the coals we have yet examined. Let any one
doubtful of the vegetable origin of coal take a bass burnt white from the
grate, tap it on the edge, and he will find between the laminated plates
numerous impressions of plants. Lindley and Hutton, from experiments
instituted by them, state that plants such as are represented on pages
305 and 313, were peculiarly adapted for preservation under water.
[Picture: Alethopteris lonchitica]
Many hundreds of species of plants have been made out, two thirds being
ferns. Very beautiful and clear impressions of the accompanying one,
Alethopteris lonchitica, or true fern, are obtained, the finest
impressions being generally in the Ballstone. It was in fact the great
age of ferns: as many as 250 having been described, according to form,
structure, &c. Thus, we get:—Asterophyllites (star leaf fern),
Cyclopteris (round fern) chiefly in the Ballstone, Caulopteris (star
fern); Sphenopteris (wedge shape fern); also Newropteris, or nerved
winged fern, which are given on the two following pages:—
Many bear strong resemblances at a first glance to others cultivated in
our greenhouses, or growing wild in their favourite habitats, and some
approximate so closely to living forms as to make it a question whether
they should be classified with different genera or not. The number is
remarkable, considering that not more than sixty distinct species are at
present indigenous to Europe. The tree ferns of modern horticultural
gardens, with their scar-marked trunks and branching fronds, like those
from the Mauritius, Brazil, and the Isle of Bourbon, convey tolerable
ideas of those of the coal-measure period. We have already spoken of the
mare’s-tail of antediluvian times; it is seen in the full page
representation, with its glorious head towering high, and the young
shoots peering above the slime. Deep in the forest is a species sending
forth silky streamers; and prostrate is a species of Lepidodendron, or
scaly tree, with branches feathered to the end and bearing cones as scaly
as the tree. Others also shoot out their leaves; the Ulodendron staggers
beneath its large arm-bearing cones, whilst the seal-impressioned
Sigillaria towers high and overtops the whole with its noble crown of
foliage. The roots of the latter lie by thousands on our coal-banks,
showing distinctly whence the smaller fibres started; some are still
connected, being protected by a matrix that formed the sandy soil in
which they grew. Water-reeds and forest trees, green parasitic plants,
ribbed and jointed, sending forth long-entangling feelers, must have
woven a mantle of vegetation rank, matted, and dense in shadow, over the
marshy platform where reptiles lurked at intervals. Of the inhabitants
of those newly-formed forest lands, scorpions, beetles, flies, and a few
reptiles, are all that have yet been found among the relics of the
Shropshire coalfields. Saving the buzzing of a beetle and the whirring
flight of a scorpion, the shaking of great fronds and fruits, and the
sighings of the forest as hot breezes shook the giant pines and rung the
pendant catkins, or the sudden splash of some strange fish seizing upon
its prey, no sounds were heard. Unlike our woods and copses, all was
silence: no songs of birds, no carolling of larks, no warbling of
thrushes, no lowing of cattle, no bleating of sheep, and no human voice
to break the stillness.
[Picture: Fern with wide leaves]
[Picture: Fern with gapped leaves?]
[Picture: Feathered fern]
There were inequalities of surface then as now. The country had its
uplands and its valleys, its rivers and its lakes, its dry and damp
soils, its cool and sunny spots, but with one general genial climate
reigning over all.
* * * * *
We have said on page 284 that Mr. Cranege lived in the house Mr. Moses
now lives in. It should have been, where Mr. W. Hughes now lives,
opposite the Wesleyan chapel.
In mentioning this chapel we might add that the Rev. John Fletcher
assisted in its erection, working and carrying stones like another man,
with his coat off.
The lease for the ground was obtained by John Share from Mr. Reynolds.
Mr. Reynolds told Share he might make out the lease for 99 years. Share
made it out for 99 years and added “and one year more.” Mr. Reynolds
said “Share thou art deep, but I’ll sign it.” The lease has recently
expired and the building has been handed over to the Conference.
IRONBRIDGE.
Ironbridge is a part of Madeley which, like Coalbrookdale, has risen to
an independent ecclesiastical division, and its church now enjoys the
unmerged rectorial tithes, valued at about £115 yearly, which formerly
belonged to the mother church. In other respects also it enjoys
privileges which formerly belonged to Madeley proper, such as markets and
fairs. When the grants of these privileges were made, and indeed for
centuries afterwards, the slopes now covered with houses, and the streets
which show a busy population, not only had no existence but the germs,
even, which were to call them forth did not exist. The Fox had not
become the object of sport it now is, but reared its young undisturbed in
holes and burrowings on the hill side which bears its name; and the Brock
or Badger shared with its brother burrower undisturbed dominion along the
face of the same slope. There was indeed higher sport just then on this
side of the Severn. Madeley-Wood was in reality what its name implied.
It stretched its green unbroken mantle in front of the river from
Coalbrookdale to the Lees or Lay, where the young wood was beat down and
an open space kept for grazing. {325} It then followed the declivity
where Madeley-Wood Hall now stands, and swept round the high ground of
the Haye, where it joined on to Sutton-Wood, which continued a wood till
a century or three quarters of a century ago. The Hay, opposite and on a
level with the Lay, was another clearing, but one fenced round, into
which deer or swine were driven. They could not well be hunted along the
rough ground on the slope, but men with dogs rose early and drove them to
the enclosures. High up at Lincoln Hill is Lodge Farm, formerly the
keeper’s, or the Hunting Lodge—
“Where with puffed cheek the belted hunter blew his wreathed bugle
horn.”
Any one who examines the building for himself will at once see that it
was erected for some very different purpose than that to which it has
been devoted of late years. On approaching it you find substantially
built old stables covered by thick heavy tiles, and an ancient barn, with
thick walls and heavy timber. The house is of stone, and the windows
appear to be of the same date and style as those at the Court. On going
inside and ascending by winding stairs to what is called the watch-tower,
you find four projections, at the extremity of each of which was a
circular opening for a look-out; and beams inside, which are supposed to
have formed seats for the watchmen or warders. These are now stopped up,
and one, which is said to have had a date is also plastered over. The
view would embrace the forest to the point where it united with that of
Sutton in one direction, to the Severn in another, the country in the
direction of Madeley in a third, and fourthly that reaching beyond
Leighton to beyond the Breidden Hills, as you see over the high ground of
Lincoln Hill. The thick oak doors and their middle age hinges shew that
it has been intended as a place of some strength. The distance from the
Park, the Rough Park, and the Court House, render it probable that it was
erected for the protection of the forest in this direction. And if its
walls could speak they might tell of the visits of many a noble steward
or forest-ranger, who whilst hunting the wild boar or stag, here rested
and hung up his spear and horn, and received refreshment. Dukes in his
Antiquities says that when many of the tenures dependent upon the forest
grew useless and obsolete, the king appointed stewards and rangers to
take care of the deer. Drayton has thus described these forest-keepers:
“I am clad in youthful green, I other colours scorn,
My silken bauldrick bears my bugle or my horn,
Which, setting to my lips, I wind so loud and shrill,
As makes the echoes shout from every neighbouring hill;
My dog-hook at my belt, to which my thong is tied,
My sheaf of arrows by, my wood-knife by my side,
My cross-bow in my hand, my gaffle on my rack,
To bend it when I please, or if I list to slack;
My hound when in my thong, I, by the woodman’s art,
Forecast where I may lodge the goodly hie-palm’d hart.”
Drayton then describes how by the loftiest head he chooses his deer,
unherds him from the rest, and either hunts him down with dogs, or stalks
it underneath his horse to strike or take alive.
Hawking too must have been a favourite sport among the gentle-born long
after this Lodge was built.
[Picture: Peregrene falcon] The Peregrene falcon, the Gerfalcon, and the
Goshawk were used (of the former we give a representation) as well as
dogs, and King John’s Forest Charter allowed all freemen the privilege of
using them. One old writer says “every degree had its peculiar hawk,
from the emperor down to the holy-water clerk.” This probably applied to
river-hawking, pond-hawking and field-hawking. At any rate in 1267, the
then rector of Madeley, Richard de Castillon, found it necessary to
obtain from Henry III., then at Shrewsbury, a license “to hunt in the
Royal Forest of Madeley,” then reaching to the Severn; and in 1283 we
find the rector’s superior, the Prior of Wenlock, obtaining permission to
have a park there; to fence out a portion of the forest, and to have a
Haia (Hay) for his deer. The Prior had no doubt by this time learnt a
lesson, for he had been fined in the heavy sum £126 13s. 4d. in 1250 for
three trespasses within the forest; and again in 1259, as shewn p. 8, he
was again fined £100 for building houses within the forest boundary, and
ordered to pull them down; but having the following year paid another
£100, a grant was made that he and convent may have their houses in
peace. The first perambulation of Edward the I.’s time shews that “the
Vill. of Madeleye, with its bosc (wood) and two plains,” with “the bosc
of Little Caldebroc” were disaforested, and so freed from the severe
forest laws of the period. And again, the final perambulation of 1300 in
speaking of the jurisdiction abandoned, again mentions Madeley, Capsi,
and Caldebrok. Where Capsi was, and to what place the name applied is a
puzzle.
[Picture: Gateway and Court House]
Capsi or Capsey is still the surname of families in Wellington, and it is
the christian name of a man in Bridgnorth, Capsey, Cristie or Cristey.
It is mentioned after Madeley and before Coalbrookdale; might it not have
been what is now called the Castle, and Castle Green. This seems
probable enough, as there are no traces or traditions of anything
approaching to a castle having existed there since the Conquest.
In a survey of the Lordship of Madeley in 1772, we find no mention of
Capsi; but we do of Conygray, Dove House Meadow, Doer close, &c. The
lords of the manor after the woods were disaforested succeeded to all
absolute authority to hunt, course, hawk, fish, and fowl; and to
authority to grant power to others at their will and pleasure to do the
same. Before altogether quitting this forest it may be well to notice a
circumstance which goes to illustrate what we sometimes hear of places of
sanctuary in former times. There were poachers then as now; and at the
forest assizes in 1209 it is stated that two men, named Hugh le Scot, and
Roger de Welinton had taken a doe. Hugh took refuge in a church, and
lived a month there; but admitted to the Foresters and Verderers his
guilt. He escaped at last, having disguised himself in woman’s clothes;
and both were then declared fugitives. In 1235, the bosc of Madeley,
with those of Kemberton, Sutton, Stirchley, and Dawley were said to be in
the Bailiwick, of Wombridge: subject to officers such as Foresters,
Verderers, or Stewards there. It is not improbable therefore that the
chief officer of Wombridge may have had a Lodge where we find one. It
might have been one of the houses which the Wenlock Prior had built, and
which he was only permitted to retain by payment of £100 fine to the
king; or again, it might have been built by him when, as Dukes says, he
obtained leave of Edward I., in the 11th year of his reign, to “convert
Madeley-Wood, within the perlieu of the forest of Mount Gilbert,” as the
Wrekin then was called in honour of a monk resident there, into a park.
Any way, if the reader compares the styles of architecture and the
materials of which this Lodge and the Gateway or Lodge of the Court are
built he will find strong reasons for coming to the conclusion that the
latter are from the same quarry, and that the former also correspond.
Both have unglazed circular openings at the top; but the one is covered
with heavy shelly limestone slabs, and the other with thick old fashioned
tiles. The windows of the Madeley-Wood Lodge are smaller, for
protection; the doors are of thick oak, studded with nails driven in when
the wood was green; portions of the old oak floors only remain. A paved
yard has at one time extended beyond and under the stables, if not the
barn, we are told by one of the occupants. Domesday also says there was
a wood capable of fattening 400 swine, so that there must have been a
good many beeches, ancestors of those near the Lodge, to supply mast, or
oaks to furnish acorns.
The Old Court and these Lodges, almost the last relics of the feudal
times in Madeley and Madeley Wood, have had their ends hastened by rents
and cracks made by undermining, in search of minerals, and will soon
disappear. But for iron cramps and strong buttresses of bricks the old
Lodge would have gone down long ago.
There is one other relic, and one even of greater antiquity.
The oldest building of all in the parish is the old Mill by the Court
house. It is mentioned in Domesday; and looking at the thickness and
hardness of some of the beams they seem calculated to last as long as
they have done; and even they seem to have done duty in some former
building. The old wheel is gone and the one which succeeded it, and the
pool, originally a fishpond, which supplied water power has gone too; it
was, when we remember it on the upper side the old granary or barn.
The Hay House also must be ranked among the oldest buildings of its
class, as one which comes down to us from forest times, and in connection
with this _bosc_ or Madeley-Wood we have been describing. The house
stood here no doubt in forest times, and in its capacious cellars good
venison and wine have ere now been stored.
Among the oldest houses in Madeley now standing must be mentioned that
belonging to and occupied by Mr. George Legge, where Mr. Wolfe
entertained King Charles. Also the house belonging to Mr. John Wilcox.
Mr. Wilcox informs us that in the writings it was originally called
“Little Hay;” having been built for the son of the proprietor of the Hay
house; and that in front was the fold-yard, with a house or two at the
outside for farm servants. The interior of the house bears marks of
great antiquity; and one room appeals to have been used as a chapel. In
what was originally a field was found a well formed with circular stones;
on the top ranges are figures, 12 in number, probably representing saints
of the Roman Calendar.
Some of the old heavily timbered cottages have been pulled down to make
way for modern structures. Freed from exacting forest laws openings in
woods began to be made; and during the next two centuries houses of
timber, half timber, and wattle-and-dab, and timber and bricks, began to
rise up here and there, at Madeley, along the Severn side, and at the
Lloyds. Some houses were fitted together, so far as their frame-work was
concerned, in woods where the timber grew, and the parts being afterwards
removed were pegged together: among them may have been the New house
mentioned in Henry the VIII’s grant of 1544, that bearing the date 1612,
in the Dale, Bedlam Hall, and the Blockhouse. {333}
Nothing whatever is known, so far as we could learn, about the history of
Bedlam Hall; and little beyond conjecture concerning the Block-house,
which formerly meant a place to defend a harbor, a passage, or station
for vessels. That the ford above was a passage at a very early time
there can be no doubt; and it might have been erected by the lords of the
manor to protect such a pass. (The date upon the old house nearly
opposite is 1654; and this was built by Adam Crumpton, who owned the
ferry and paid duty to the lords of the manor (we presume) on each side.)
Some say it was a store for barge tackle; and others that it owes its
name to the fact that bargemen here put on a block and reeved their lines
to get up the ford. It is quite certain that Madeley Wood bargemen had
now begun to carry coals, got by levels driven into the hill side under
the Brockholes and Foxholes, and to export them, as old Fuller speaks of
more than 200 years ago. The monks of Buildwas however had vessels in
the 13th century, as we have shewn in “our History of Broseley” (p.p. 14
and 15); and as early as 1220 obtained a giant of a right of road,
through Broseley-Wood to the Severn, over which to carry stone to their
barges, which they loaded near what is now Ironbridge.
In 1756 there were 39 barges belonging to 21 owners at Madeley-Wood; now
there are not half a dozen. From an early period there seems to have
been a ferry here; probably boats were kept on either side by the owners
of the two old houses which existed near. At any rate there were means
of crossing the river when king Charles came down for that purpose and
found the passage guarded, during the progress of his flight after his
defeat at Worcester. Of roads on this side we fancy there were none,
excepting the beds of brooks up which the Wenlock monks scrambled to
reach their granary, their mill, their park, and fishponds at Madeley,
but of these we shall speak presently.
The present town may be said to owe its creation to the construction of
the far-famed iron bridge which here spans the Severn, and from which it
derives its name. The iron works established at Madeley Wood, together
with the flourishing works of Coalbrookdale, and the communication the
bridge opened up with those of iron and clay at Broseley, so fostered its
trade that it soon sprang into importance as a town. John Locke, the
well-known author of the work on “The Understanding,” has somewhere said
that he who first made known the use of iron “may be styled the father of
arts and the author of plenty.” Next to the discovery of the material,
in point of importance, is its adaptation to the uses and conveniences of
mankind. No bridge crossed the river between Buildwas and Bridgnorth,
and to the noble arch which crosses the Severn the place is indebted
alike for its population, its importance, and its name. It has the
credit of having been the first of its kind, and in design and
construction was a triumph of engineering skill rarely witnessed at the
period at which it was built. A great advance upon the rickety wooden
structures, affected by wind and rain, it was no less so upon those
clumsy-looking ones of stone higher up and lower down the river, which,
choking up the stream and impeding navigation, caused apprehensions at
every flood for their safety. The design originated at a period
interesting from the expansion of the iron trade and the progress of road
making; and was opposed by the ferry men, who thought boats a sufficient
accommodation in connecting both banks of the river. But as stone
succeeded more primitive formations—logs, single or planked, thrown
across a stream—so iron from its strength and lightness triumphed over
other materials. It may add to the triumph of the achievement to remark,
that both French and Italian engineers who, during the last century took
the lead in engineering works of this kind, had made attempts in this
particular department, but failed—chiefly from the inability of their
iron founders to cast large masses of metal. The first attempt, we
believe, was made at Lyons, in 1775. One of the arches was put together,
but the project was afterwards abandoned as too costly, timber being
substituted in its stead.
The second Abraham Darby had looked at the place and thought how it was
to be done. The third Abraham Darby, who on arriving at man’s estate
showed himself possessed of the same spirit of enterprise as had
distinguished his father and grandfather, resolved to carry out the idea,
and to erect a bridge which should unite the parishes of Broseley and
Madeley, the former then in the full tide of its prosperity as an iron
making, pot making, and brick making district. The time was favourable
for the experiment, not only on account of the expansion of the iron
trade, but from the progress just then taking place in road making; and
the owners of the adjoining land as well as those at the head of local
industries were found favourable to the scheme. A company was formed,
and an Act of Parliament was obtained, the provisions of which were so
drawn as to provide against failure, the terms being that the bridge
should be of “cast iron, stone, brick, or timber.” Like some members of
the company, the architect, Mr. Pritchard, of Shrewsbury, does not seem
to have had full faith in the new material, as in the first plans
prepared by him iron was to be used but sparingly, and in the crown of
the arch only. This did not satisfy Abraham Darby, John Wilkinson, and
others; and Mr. Darby’s principal pattern maker, Thomas Gregory, made
other plans.
Wilkinson had made and launched his iron barge down at the Roving, he had
made “iron men” to get the coal, he had made an iron pulpit, he had made
himself an iron coffin, which he kept in his greenhouse, besides one or
two to give away to his friends. He had faith in iron, in iron only, and
he insisted upon the employment of his favourite metal.
Telford described him as the king of Ironmasters, in himself a host; the
others said he was iron mad, but submitted; and the bridge was commenced.
The stone abutments were laid in 1777, during which time the castings
were being made at the Dale. The ironwork took but three months to
erect. The following particulars may be interest.
On the abutments of the stone works are placed iron plates, with
mortices, in which stand two upright pillars of the same. Against
the foot of the inner pillar the bottom of the main rib bears on a
base plate. This rib consists of two pieces connected by a dovetail
joint in an iron key, and fastened by screws; each is seventy feet
long. The shorter ribs pass through the pillar, the back rib in like
manner, without coming down to the plate. The cross-stays, braces,
circles in spandrils, and the brackets, connect the larger pieces, so
as to keep the bridge perfectly steady, while the diagonal and
cross-stays and top plates connect the pillars and ribs together in
opposite directions. The whole bridge is covered with top plates,
projecting over the ribs on each side, and on this projection stands
the balustrade of cast iron. The road over the bridge, made
generally of iron slag, is twenty-four feet wide, and one foot deep.
The span of the arch is one hundred feet six inches, and the height
from the base line to the centre is forty feet. The weight of iron
in the whole is three hundred and seventy-eight tons, ten
hundred-weight. Each piece of the long ribs weighs five tons,
fifteen hundred. On the largest or exterior rib is inscribed in
capitals—“This bridge was cast at Coalbrookdale, and erected in the
year 1779.”
[Picture: The Iron Bridge]
During the construction of the bridge a model was prepared and sent up to
the Society of Arts, who presented Mr. Darby with their gold medal in
recognition of his merits as designer and erector; and a model and an
engraving of the bridge may still be seen in the Society’s rooms, John
Street, Adelphi. Mr. Robert Stephenson has said of the structure: “If we
consider that the manipulation of cast-iron was then completely in its
infancy, a bridge of such dimensions was doubtless _a bold as well as an
original undertaking_, and the efficiency of the details is worthy of the
boldness of the conception.” Mr. Stephenson adds “_that from a defect in
the construction_ the abutments were thrust inwards at the approaches and
the ribs partially fractured.” This was not the case. It arose from the
nature of the land and its exterior pressure which was obviated by
sinking and underbuilding the foundation, and to remedy the supposed
defect, two small land arches were, in the year 1800, substituted for the
stone approach on the Broseley side. While the work was in progress, Mr.
Telford carefully examined the bridge, and thus spoke of its condition at
the time:—
“The great improvement of erecting upon a navigable river a bridge of
cast-iron of one arch only was first put in practice near
Coalbrookdale. The bridge was executed in 1777 by Mr. Abraham Darby,
and the ironwork is now quite as perfect as when it was first put up.
Drawings of this bridge have long been before the public, and have
been much and justly admired.”
Mr. Smiles in speaking of the bridge quotes a Coalbrookdale correspondent
who, writing in May, 1862, says that
“at the present time the bridge is undergoing repair; and, special
examination having been made, there is no appearance either that the
abutments have moved, or that the ribs have been broken in the centre
or are out of their proper right line. There has, it is true, been a
strain on the land arches, and on the roadway plates, which, however,
the main arch has been able effectually to resist.”
It is a pleasing object in the landscape, and passed its centenary this
year, 1879, with no other display than a few small flags which Mr. Frisby
placed on the balustrades. It has paid for itself over, and over again;
and the excessive toll is at present severely felt. Those sharing the
benefits of the monopoly of course protest against attempts to make it a
free bridge, and being private property there is no other means of
effecting the object than by buying them out, or by obtaining ah Act of
Parliament. There is, it is true, one other: and that the suicidal one
of letting it rust to its own destruction—a course the monopolists seem
resolved to take. {340}
The Severn formerly was a great liquid highway for heavy goods; people
took their boats to Shrewsbury to the fairs for butter, cheese, and
groceries, and came down with the stream, others were carried on
pack-horses; a strong enduring race now extinct.
Roads were made pretty much at will, and were repaired at pleasure.
Covered waggons, like Crowley’s, drawn by 4 or 6 heavy horses, crept
along the rough circuitous roads. It was not till 1763 that
turnpike-gates were established, to raise money to keep roads in repair.
Stage coaches then ventured into districts they had not visited before.
Previous to a road being made along the Wharfage, coaches had to toil up
the hill at the back of the Swan, but after the bridge was built they
went under it and turned up by the stables to the front of the Company’s
Inn, the Tontine. Afterwards they ran somewhere at the back and came
into the old road at Lincoln Hill. Ultimately the present road was made
by Styches pit to the top of the bank. At one time four coaches ran
through the town; two from Shrewsbury to Cheltenham, L’Hirondelle and the
Hibernia; and two from Shrewsbury to Birmingham; the Salopian and, we
think, the Emerald. The two latter belonged to the brothers Hemmings,
who drove them; but who afterwards quarrelled and ran in opposition to
each other. Taylor of the Lion started the “Young Salopian” in
opposition; and Hemmings then called his the “Old Salopian.” When the
Birmingham and London railway opened, Taylor got a petition numerously
signed to the Post Master General, asking in an apparently disinterested
way to be allowed to carry the mail bags gratuitously to Birmingham, at
the same time binding himself to forfeit a heavy sum if he failed to be
in time. He obtained his wish and immediately called his coach the Royal
Mail; which not only brought him custom but saved him £1 4s. 0d. per week
at Tern Gate, 18s. at Watling street, £1 4s. 0d. at Priorslee, 12s. at
Shifnal, and tolls at all the other gates to Birmingham.
John Peters took a fancy for driving the Hibernia, thinking he could take
it down the steep hills between Shrewsbury and Ironbridge without
stopping to have the wheels looked. The first steep descent was the
Wyle-cop, and this he managed to get down without accident; but in trying
the experiment down Leighton Bank, shortly before the first change of
horses, the coach, driver, and passengers came to grief, and were pitched
right over into a field at the bottom of the hill. Peters was seriously
injured, and some of the passengers were badly hurt; but Peters never
tried a similar experiment to the end of his days.
In those days it was a strange sight for a stranger coming down the bank
towards Bedlam for the first time in the dusk of a winter’s evening, when
the works were in full operation. We remember Hemmings once telling of a
Cockney coming down into the country for the first time, and waking up
from a snooze, unable to conjecture the true character of the scene, and
insisting upon going no farther. To him the mazy river was the Styx; and
had he been able to see the ferry unpaddled moving slowly to and fro in
mid-channel, he might have imagined it was Charon’s boat; and the
bellowing blast-furnaces and coke-fires the entrance to Inferno. These
fires have long been extinguished, and the supply of mineral riches being
exhausted, labour has migrated to places where nature had similar gifts
in store to stimulate wealth-creating industry. You may yet perceive the
crumbling outlines of the ruins, abrupt and massive, like the tottering
walls of some dismantled castle. Mr. Glazebrook, Mr. E. Edwards, and
others horsed some of the coaches from Ironbridge, and the stopping and
changing usually drew a group of tradesmen and others to witness the
sight. L’Hirondelle was horsed from Shrewsbury by Jobson of the Talbot,
who took a special pride in his team. When Hemmings left the road we had
some few attempts at running Omnibuses by the Rushtons, and by Walters;
first to Wolverhampton, and next to Wellington; but railways coming
nearer drove them from the road.
The tradesmen of Ironbridge naturally took great interest in the various
schemes proposed to bring railways within their reach, and assisted
manfully in meeting the difficulties which for a long time delayed the
execution of the works on the part of interested landowners, and others
who advocated rival schemes; and it may be interesting here to place on
record facts bearing on the subject.
THE SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY WAS AUTHORIZED IN 1853.
FIRST by the 16th and 17th Vict. Ch. 227, entitled “An Act for making a
Railway from the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway near
Hartlebury, in the County of Worcester, to the Borough of Shrewsbury, in
the County of Salop, WITH A BRANCH to be called the Severn Valley
Railway, and for other purposes.”
2NDLY, in 1855. By the 18th. and 19th. Vict. Ch. 188 entitled “An Act
for making and maintaining the Severn Valley Railway, and for other
purposes.”
3RDLY. in 1856. By the 19th. and 20th. Vic. Ch. 111 entitled “An Act for
authorizing deviations from the authorized line of the Severn Valley
Railway, and for making further provisions with respect to Shares in the
Capital of the Severn Valley Company, and for facilitating the completion
of their undertaking, and other purposes.”
4THLY in 1858. By the 21st. and 22nd. Vic. Ch. — entitled “An Act for
making further provisions with respect to the Severn Valley Railway in
order to the completion thereof, and for other purposes.”
5THLY in 1860. By the Severn Valley Railway Leasing Act 1860 to the
West-Midland.
THE WELLINGTON AND SEVERN JUNCTION RAILWAY
Was authorized in 1853, but a portion only of this Railway (from
Wellington to Lightmoor) was constructed and the powers of the Act
lapsed. It was worked by the Great Western Company in connexion with
their line from Lightmoor to Shifnal and Wolverhampton.
The Great Western Company and the West Midland and Severn Valley Railway
Companies promoted Bills for Leasing this Railway in the Session of 1861.
The Great Western Bill also proposed for the extension of their existing
Line ending at Lightmoor, from Lightmoor to Coalbrookdale. The West
Midland and Severn Valley (joint) bill in addition to its provisions for
leasing the Wellington line to Lightmoor provided for the construction of
a Railway from the Ironbridge Station on the Severn Valley Railway over
the river Severn through Coalbrookdale to the Lightmoor Station of the
Wellington line at Lightmoor. There were in fact three Bills before
Parliament for constructing Railways from Lightmoor to Coalbrookdale, two
crossing the river Severn, one joining the Severn Valley Railway at
Ironbridge, and the other joining the Severn Valley and the Much Wenlock
and Severn Junction Railway at New Barn. The Much Wenlock & Severn
Junction Railway was authorized in 1859 by 22nd. and 23rd. Vict. entitled
“An Act for making a Railway from Much Wenlock, in the County of Salop to
communicate with the Severn Valley Railway and the River Severn in the
same County.”
* * * * *
These railways conferred great advantages upon the town of Ironbridge
both as a means of sending and receiving goods, and also as enabling
tradesmen to economise time in attending markets or fairs, and in
bringing men of business into the neighbourhood.
They also bring numerous visitors in summer time, who are attracted by
the scenery in the neighbourhood. It may indeed be taken as a fact, as
we have said before, that there are nooks and corners just outside and
along the Severn Valley now better known to strangers than to the
inhabitants; and which natives themselves have never seen. With eyes to
watch the till and see their way along the beaten track of business, men
not unfrequently lose sight of intellectual pleasures within their reach;
in their hurry to secure gain they forget items that might serve much to
swell the sum of human happiness at which they aim. Like Wordsworth’s
clay, cold, potter; to whom
A primrose by a river’s brim,
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more,—
so, insensible to the life that is within them and the glories which
surround them, they feel not that flow of which Milton speaks, that—
Vernal joy, able to drive
All sadness but despair!
Coleridge too has said,
In Nature there is nothing melancholy.
And some one else, speaking lovingly of the Author of Nature, has
written:
“Not content with every kind of food to nourish man,
Thou makest all Nature beauty to his eye
And music to his ear.”
There are no bolts, bars, or boundary walls, and there need be
“No calling left, no duty broke,”
in making ourselves more acquainted than we are, by holiday rambles and
dignifying investigations, with wonders which constantly surround us.
[Picture: Valley of the Severn as seen from the hill near Coalport
Incline Plane]
Few more interesting spots could be chosen than Ironbridge, with its
woods, and cliffs, and river, which from tourists, and all lovers of the
beautiful, never fail at once to secure attention and admiration. You
may travel far and not meet a page so interesting in nature’s history.
Many are the occasional visits—many are the stated pilgrimages, made from
distances—by devotees of science, desirous of here reading the “testimony
of the rocks.” To such, this natural rent in the earth’s crust; this
rocky cleft, the severed sides of which, like simple sections of a
puzzle, afford the clue to its original outline and primæval features,
and prove full of interest. Like some excavated ruin, flooring above
flooring, there are platforms and stages where in rearing the old world’s
structure the workers rested. Coins of that far off period are plentiful
where human habitations now stand, terrace above terrace. Other than
these, the little town has no antiquities older than its bridge; other
than the hunting lodge and half-timber-houses previously mentioned; there
are no castle keeps, cathedral aisles, or moss-crowned ruins; no
suggestive monuments of the past save those already noticed and such as
nature furnishes. ’Tis rich in these; these it has mature and undecayed:
and in such mute eloquence as no work of man can boast. Massive and
motionless there are around the most interesting and instructive
specimens of the world’s architecture. Not a winding path threads the
hill side but conducts to some such memorial, but opens some page written
within and without. Take the favourite summer’s walk of the inhabitants,
that leading to the Rotunda, on the crest of the hill; and you stand upon
the mute relics of a former world! Beneath is the upturned bed of a
former sea, and around is the storied mausoleum where hundreds of the
world’s lost species lie entombed. Few places boast a more suggestive or
more romantic scene. Lower still, just at
“The swelling instep of the hill,”
winds the silvery thread woven by the Severn through the valley,
interlacing meads, woods, upland swells, and round-topped grassy knolls.
Amid pasture land sloping to the water’s edge and relieved by grazing
cattle, rise the ivy-topped ruins of Buildwas Abbey; beyond is a pleasing
interchange of land and water, the whole bounded by hills scarcely
distinguishable from the azure sky. Mingled sounds of birds and men and
running water strike strangely on the ear; and often in the calm twilight
fogs move slowly on the river. How these rocks and caverns echo and
reverberate during a thunder-peal, when loud and long-continued. The
inhabitants tell, too, of curious acoustic effects produced along the
valley; how in under tones from one side the river to a point of equal
elevation on the other neighbours may whisper to each other, the
atmosphere acting as a sounding-board for the voice. This is so in a
rent in the rocks above the Bower-yard, known to natives as the Bower
_Yord_.
“Up the bower, and through the Edge,
That’s the way to Buildwas bridge,”
is a local ditty with no other merit than antiquity; but it has served as
a lullaby to generations cradled long ere the bridge below was reared.
Over-looking the Bower is Bath-wood—minus now the bath. Tych’s-nest
comes next, where the kite formerly squealed, and had its eyrie; and
still later—as the oldest inhabitant is ready to testify—where badgers
were caught, and made sport of at Ironbridge Wake.
Ironbridge abounds in pleasant walks and sunny spots; and right pleasant
’tis to view from some eminence on the opposite bank—Lady-wood or
Benthall-edge, the prospect spread out before you. Clustering cottages
are seen to perch themselves on ridges, or to nestle pleasantly in shady
nooks half hid by rocks and knolls and trees; while bits of nature’s
carpet, garden plots and orchards, add interest to the scene. On points
commanding panoramic sweeps of country, of winding dales and wooded
hills, have sprung up villa-looking residences and verandahed cottages
that tell of competence, retirement, and those calm sweet joys that
fringe the eventide of prosperous life. There are no formal streets or
rigid red brick lines to offend the eye: but that pleasing irregularity
an artist would desire. Looking east or west, fronting or turning their
backs upon each other, many gabled, tall chimneyed, just as their owners
pleased; there is a freedom and rusticity of style that gratifies the
sight and harmonises well with the winding roads that meets the poet’s
fancy and goes beyond the limner’s skill. To mention severally these
suburban hill or tree-embosomed retreats would be sufficient by the name
itself to indicate the faithful picture we have drawn. From the Severn
to the summit, the hill is dotted over with villas, Gothic and fanciful,
fronted by grottoed gardens, flanked by castellated walls and orchards,
with ornamental hedge-rows and shady sycamores; whilst in mid-air, lower
down, like a gossamer on a November morn, appears the iron net-work of
the bridge. We have written so much and so often of these scenes that we
are tempted here to hand in _copy_ to the printer of what we have
previously said on the subject.
However beautiful these rocks and hills are by day, the view of
Ironbridge assumes a character equally sublime when the glare of the sun
is gone, when the hills cast their shadows deep and the river gathering
the few rays left of the straggling light gives them back in feeble
pencils to the eye. At sunset when the hills are bathed in purple light,
and the god of day before his final exit between Lincoln Hill and
Benthall-edge a second time appears; by moonlight, when rosy tints have
given way to hues of misty grey, when familiar objects grow grotesque and
queer, and minor features melt away amid the deep calm quiet that reigns
below, serial pictures of quaint perspective and inspiring beauty present
themselves. To the stranger entering the valley at night for the first
time the scene is novel and impressive. Silence,
Faithful attendant on the ebon throne,
sways her sceptre over dim outlines which imagination shapes at will, and
the river, toned down to the duskiest hue, whispers mournfully to each
smooth pebble as it passes.
ST. LUKE’S CHURCH.
The church occupies a picturesque situation on the side of the hill,
opposite to the bridge, from which it is approached by a long flight of
steps on one side, and a circuitous path winding round the hill on the
other. It was built in 1836, and like the bridge, is of a material with
which the district abounds. It would however have been equally in
character with the place, and more pleasing to the eye, had it been built
of stone. It has a tower, a nave, a chancel, and side aisles, and a
richly stained glass window, with full length figures of St. Peter, St.
James, and St. John. The endowment has been augmented very much of late
years through the munificence of the Madeley Wood Company, who subscribed
£1,000, and the liberality of the late Rev. John Bartlett, and others.
Also by the purchase of the unredeemed rectorial tithes. The sum of
upwards of £1,000 was raised too for better school accommodation for the
place.
* * * * *
Ironbridge is one of the polling districts for municipal and
parliamentary purposes; and has about 450 electors for the borough
franchise. The Mayor and Borough Magistrates hold here alternately with
Broseley and Wenlock Petty Sessions, every six weeks. Its central
position gives it advantages which outside towns cannot lay claim to;
both in point of trade, and as the seat of various local institutions.
It is the head quarters of the Sixth Shropshire Rifle Corps, of which
John A. Anstice, Esq., is Captain, and R. E. Anstice, Esq., Lieutenant,
and Searj. Johnson drill instructor.
The corps was first formed on the 20th of February, 1860, when the first
batch of recruits (fifty in number) were sworn in, in the Guildhall at
Wenlock, by Mr. Nicholas, of Broseley, (then Mayor for the borough),
Captain Lowndes, Lieutenant Blakeway, and Ensign W. R. Anstice were
amongst that number. Only three of the old hands now remain in the
corps, Cr. Sergeant W. Y. Owen, Sergeant W. Roberts, and Sergeant Walton.
Up to the present time 453 men have passed through the ranks: the last
recruit that joined in 1879 being No. 453.
The company stands well in the battalion as a shooting company, having
won the county challenge cup twice, viz: in 1876 and 1878. Cr. Sergeant
Owen has also twice placed himself in the first sixty at Wimbleton, and
consequently has two Queen’s Badges, as well as the St. George’s Cross.
He has also been the winner of the Martin’s Challenge Cup. The company
are in possession of four of Major Owen’s Memorial Cups out of nine that
have been shot for at Berwick since 1870.
William Reynolds Anstice, Esq., uncle of the present captain, on the
retirement of W. L. Lowndes, Esq., commanded the corps, and his name is
still revered among the men.
* * * * *
The Shropshire Banking Company, which was formed by the union of the
Coalbrookdale, Wellington, and Newport Banks, for many years had an
office here in the Market Square. The Dale Bank was in the hands of the
Coalbrookdale Company. The Wellington Bank stood in the names of
Reynolds, Charlton, and Shakeshaft, the former being Joseph Reynolds,
late of Bristol, who received his interest in it from his father, Richard
Reynolds; and Mr. Eyton, grandfather of the present T. C. Eyton, Esq.,
was at one time, we believe, another partner.
The Shropshire Company, which embraced a large number of shareholders,
underwent great strain in consequence of delinquencies to the extent of
£120,000 by the manager, Mr. Allen, of Shifnal. The noble act of Henry
Dickinson, one of the directors at the time, who felt it his duty
personally to stave off the ruin, which threatened so many, has already
been recorded under the head of Coalbrookdale; he first lent and then
gave £100,000. The appalling discovery of these frauds practised by the
absconding manager spread the utmost alarm through the parish, and the
county generally, and gave hundreds of widows, old maiden ladies, and
others, reason to fear that the investments on which they depended were
irretrievably gone. The generous act of Henry Dickinson however—who like
the heroic Roman of old threw himself into the gap—restored confidence;
the bank rallied, soon regained its position, and continued in existence
till the shares and business were purchased by Lloyd’s Banking Company,
Limited, in 1874. This enterprising and wealthy company purchased the
two houses belonging to Mr. William Hartshorne, chemist and druggist, who
for many years carried on business in one, and Mrs. Aston in the other,
and erected the present commodious building, where they do a large
business, half-yearly paying a handsome dividend to shareholders. The
subscribed capital of the company is £2,750,000; in 55,000 shares of £50
each. Capital paid up (55,000 shares, £8 paid) £440,000. It has
thirty-one other branches, and twelve sub-branches and agencies.
* * * * *
Of that valued institution the Dispensary we have spoken ante p.p. 240–1.
The 51st annual meeting has since been held; at which meeting
“the committee desired to place on record their acknowledgments of
the considerate feeling which prompted the late Edward Edwards, Esq.,
of Coalbrookdale, to bequeath the sum of £50 for the general purposes
of the institution, which sum, less legacy duty of £5, has been
invested in the purchase of £42 Midland Railway 4 per cent.
debentures stock, in addition to the sum of £880 of the game stock
already standing in the names of the Rev. W. H. Wayne, W. Nicholas,
W. G. Norris, and B. B. Potts, Esqrs., on behalf of the society. It
was also stated that from the opening of the Dispensary the number of
cases has been 57,105. In the last year the number was 1,019, of
which 843 had been cured, 78 relieved, 32 renewed, 2 sent to the
Salop Infirmary, and 38 remained under treatment.”
The Temperance Society and Good Templars have branches here and in other
parts of the parish. Members of the former can date back their
conversion to its principles from the commencement of the movement, forty
or more years ago. We have mentioned the “British Workman” at
Coalbrookdale; there is one also at Madeley Wood. And besides the
regular religious services at the various places of worship, and means of
instruction carried on through the established schools, others might be
mentioned, on Sundays and week-days, the active promoters of which are
Mr. D. White, Mr. A. Maw, Mr. W. R. Bradshaw, Mr. G. Baugh, &c., &c.
Ironbridge too is the head quarters of the Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale
Building and Land Society, which has since its establishment been
uniformly progressive, and led very many to become not only investors but
owners of the houses they live in.
We may here give details of other means of promoting providence and
thrift, such as Benefit Societies and Sick Clubs, which are numerous in
the parish, and place on record the amounts raised in ways so creditable
to the industrial portion of the population, and which added to those
raised annually for various religious and other purposes reaches a very
large amount indeed.
Let us take first the Coalbrookdale and Madeley Temperance Benefit
Society.—This Society was founded during the infancy of the Temperance
movement, before total abstinence societies were established. Spirits
were forbidden to members, and beer was only to be taken in moderation,
rules which have not been strictly adhered to. The members at one time
fell away, but they have since increased, and the annual statement just
issued for 1879 shews them to be 123 in number. The amount received in
monthly contributions for the year ending midsummer was £115 13s. 3d.
From interest of money invested £61 5s. 4d., which with the balance of
the previous year £1239 10s. 4d. made £1416 8s. 11d.
Shropshire Provident Society.—Number of members 74; contributions £92
18s. 11½d.; Secretary Mr. Walter Sharpe; Surgeons M. Webb, Esq., and H.
Stubbs, Esq.; endowment £10. Annual subscribers to the General Fund:
£ s. d.
W. R. Anstice, Esq., Ironbridge 1 1 0
John Arthur Anstice, Esq., Madeley 1 1 0
George Anstice, Esq., Madeley 1 1 0
Richard Edmund Anstice, Esq., Madeley 1 1 0
Charles Pugh, Esq., 1 0 0
Meets in one of the rooms of the Anstice Memorial Institute.
Loyal Royal Oak Lodge, No. 3665, of the Independent Order of Oddfellows,
Manchester Unity, Friendly Society.—The place of business is the Royal
Oak Inn. Number of members 159. Annual subscriptions £137 16s. 0d.
Nett worth of the society £1267 1s. 9½d. Secretary Mr. Joseph Haynes;
Treasurer Mr. Henry Ray.
Rose of the Vale Lodge.—This lodge is held at the Tontine Hotel,
Ironbridge, and numbers 175 members, who pay into the funds on an average
£360 per annum. They have standing to their credit the sum of £781 12s.
7d. Of this sum £400 has been lent on mortgage; £220 has been invested
in the Building Society, and the remainder is in Lloyd’s Bank and the
treasurer’s hands. Secretary Mr. E. Good; Treasurer Mr. William Skelton.
The Free Masons also meet at the Tontine; but as this does not strictly
come under the head either of a sick or benefit society it does not come
within the above category.
Ancient Order of Foresters, Pride of the District, No. 4345.—This lodge
was founded in 1864, and meets in one of the rooms in the Anstice
Memorial Institute on alternate Saturdays. Secretary Mr. T. Beddow,
Bridge Street; Treasurer Mr. J. W. Fletcher. Number of members 265;
average age 31; amount of funds £872. Annual Subscriptions £341 5s.
Ironbridge, Royal George, meets at the Robin Hood Inn, Madeley Wood,
fortnightly. F. Johnson, Secretary; J. Page, Treasurer. It has 114
members of the average age of 34; and £444 in the court fund. Annual
Subscriptions £143 2s.
Honourable Order of Modern Masons.—Meets at the Barley Mow Inn, Court
Street, Madeley. Number of members 75; contributions per month 2s.;
funeral levy per quarter 9d.; sick pay per week 8s.; member’s death £10;
member’s wife £5; amount of sick funds £40 3s. 2d. William Instone,
secretary.
In addition to these societies there is the United Brothers, but we did
not obtain particulars. Also others in connection with the Coalbrookdale
and Madeley Wood works. The object of the former society, as stated in
the rules, is to secure to its members weekly allowance and medical aid
in sickness, and an allowance at the decease of a member or member’s
wife. The cashier of the company is treasurer, and Mr. John Hewitt is
secretary. Each man and boy employed in the Company’s works at
Coalbrookdale, is required to be a member of this society, and to pay his
contribution through the work’s office. Every member above the age of
eighteen pays one shilling per month; under the age of eighteen, sixpence
per month; and any workman entering this society at the age of forty-five
years, or upwards, one shilling and sixpence per month. Every workman is
considered a member until he has a regular discharge from the
Coalbrookdale Company or their agent, provided that he continues paying
his contribution and resides in the neighbourhood. The number employed
are from 700 to 800; and the income of the society is from £32 to £33 per
month. About 440 of the members pay 9d. per quarter to the surgeon, Mr.
James Proctor. One of the rules is that should the funds of the society
at any time attain £200, the money shall be divided; such divisions of
money took place at Christmas 1868, 1870, and 1872; since which dates the
society has not been so fortunate in its surplus.
There is a similar society in connection with the Madeley Wood Company’s
Works, from which we get no particulars, but the annual subscriptions to
which may probably be put at about the same as those at Coalbrookdale.
There is also a similar institution in connection with the Madeley Court
Works, with about 350 members, who pay annually £113 15s.
Adding all these together we find that, without taking the United
Brothers and a sick society at Coalport called the Pitcher into account,
there are 2985 members of clubs, subscribing a total of £2380 1s. 10d.
annually, and possessing a capital of £4721 6s. 5d.!!
These facts may be considered as a reply in a great measure to the charge
sometimes made against the working classes of an utter want of thrift and
forethought, and suggest the question whether men making so much
provision for the future for themselves and families ought not to be
excused to some extent the payment of poor rates.
THE SANITARY STATE OF THE PARISH.
The sanitary state of Madeley and Ironbridge is far from what it ought to
be. There is not only a sad deficiency of water, but much that is used
is impure. Severn water is carried and sold at Madeley Wood and Lincoln
Hill at 1d., 1½., and sometimes 2d. per pail, or 6d. for a small barrel.
Again, any one who knows the turbid tale of Severn-water after rain, or
is acquainted with the amount of sewage thrown into the river, will
question the quality of such water for drinking purposes. Just above one
of the lading places a sewer comes down near the back of the Police
Office and empties its black sludge into the river. Some use filters;
but high authorities on the subject assert that although mechanical
impurities may be got rid of those which are chemical or organic remain.
Let persons who undervalue an abundant supply of good water ask their
wives or some medical man as to its importance; or let them beg it or buy
it, and fetch it from long distances, often waiting their turns at the
well, or count the cost which impure water entails. Let them look at the
sickness, the pain and distress of parents watching day by day the
fevered or pallid cheeks and withered forms of their household treasures.
Perhaps the mother herself is struck down, or the bread-winner of the
family; and in case death ensues, added to the crushing force of the
blow, there are doctor’s bills, and excessive funeral expenses, which lie
as a dead-weight from which the family scarcely ever recovers!
“When,” as the Times newspaper put it some time ago, “it is
considered that water constitutes nearly three-fourths of the entire
weight of the animal body, that it is the basis of all beverages, and
the solvent by means of which all food is assimilated and all
secretion is performed, the importance of obtaining it in a state of
purity would seem to require no further demonstration.
Unfortunately, however, although the facts have for a long time been
universally admitted, the practical conclusions to which they would
lead have comparatively seldom been acted upon. Not only do we
obtain the greater part of our supply of water from that which has
already washed the earth, but we have permitted water flowing in its
natural channels to be everywhere utilised as a carrier of the worst
descriptions of filth.”
All in fact must see on a little reflection that however excusable
certain things might have been at one time they are no longer so under
the light thrown upon them by deep and long-continued investigations by
scientific men who have devoted much study to the subject. All must know
that no proper supervision has up to the present been taken, and nothing
like proper compulsion has been applied to the removal of glaring evils.
Let those who are apathetic on this subject ponder the following, taken
from a paper read a short time since before the Society of Arts by J. J.
Pope, Professor of Hygiene to the Birkbeck Institution. The author
said:—
“it is a startling fact that one-fourth of the children born into
this world to endure for threescore years and ten, die before they
attain the age of five years. This is a sad truth, and the more
lamentable when we know that these deaths mostly arise from causes
that are quite preventible.”
The same author said, and said truly, that:
“Very few people, indeed, consider the subject of their own health,
until warned by a present attack of sickness, through failing to
acknowledge the true worth of science and medicine, which is far more
preventive than remedial. Can it be doubted that it is better and
wiser to abolish the cause of disease, to prevent its appearance,
than to wait for its attack and cure the result?”
As regards houses: some have been built without reference either to
light, air, or dryness. Some have been made out of cattle-sheds, cabins,
and stables, and are far worse than prison cells or workhouse wards.
These damp dark dungeons lower the temperature of the body, decrease the
strength, generate disease, cause rheumatism, and predispose to other
evils, not the least of which is consumption. We have it on the
authority of the highest medical men that with proper sanitary objects
attained a reduction of nearly half the present premature disability from
sickness, and mortality due to conditions about their dwellings may be
obtained.
Let the people ponder these things; let them balance such heavy items
against the trivial cost a better sanitary state of things would entail.
Whatever such cost might be it is for them to consider what they would
save by the removal of causes of disease, and the concomitant advantages
arising from improved health and prolonged life. Again, it is only fair
for them to consider the amount they pay and the precautions they take to
mitigate the evils of sickness.
And the question naturally arises whether whilst providing so liberally
for sickness, it is not worth while paying a slight rate for the
enforcement of such sanitary regulations as may prevent
sickness—especially if the statement made on the highest medical
authority, to the effect that a reduction of nearly half the present
sickness and premature mortality might be prevented, be correct.
THE STEAM ENGINE IN ITS INFANCY.
It will be seen from what has already been written how much this parish
has been associated with various improvements and matters connected with
the early history of the steam engine, and although the subject might not
be of universal interest, we might mention here a correspondence between
the Commissioners of Patents and W. R. Anstice, Esq., senior partner of
the Madeley Wood Company. On the 24th of May, 1879, an article appeared
in the _Times_ under the head of
PATENT MUSEUM,
Stating that a very interesting old engine, the last of its kind which
remained at work, had been removed from and re-erected in this museum,
having been presented for that purpose to the Commissioners of Patents;
and giving the following description issued by the curator, Colonel
Stuart Wortley.—
“Heslop’s Winding and Pumping Engine. Letters Patent, A.D. 1790, No.
1760.—This engine was erected at Kell’s Pit, for raising coals, about
the year 1795, afterwards removed to Castlerigg Pit, in 1847, to
Wreah Pit, all near Whitehaven. At the latter place it continued to
raise coals, also to work a pump, by means of a cast-iron beam placed
above the main beam, until the summer of 1878, when it was removed
here. Presented to the Commissioner of Patents by the Earl of
Lonsdale, through Mr. H. A. Fletcher, M. Inst. C.E. Transmitted from
Whitehaven to the Patent Museum by the London and North-Western
Railway Company, at half rate. It will seem that this engine has two
open-topped cylinders, one on each side of the main centre beam, and
both single acting. The cylinders are respectively the ‘hot
cylinder’ and the ‘cold cylinder.’ The steam, on being admitted into
the first, or ‘hot’ cylinder, raises the piston by its pressure
underneath; the return stroke is then made by the weight of the
connecting rod and by the momentum given to the fly-wheel. The
eduction valve being now open, the steam passes from this cylinder to
the second or ‘cold’ cylinder by means of the connecting pipe, which,
being constantly immersed in cold water, produces sufficient
condensation to ‘kill’ or reduce it to atmospheric pressure as it
enters and fills the cold cylinder. The cold piston having arrived
at the top of its stroke, and its cylinder being thus filled with
steam and the injection valve being now open, a jet of water is
admitted, thus bringing a vacuum into play. By this arrangement of
two cylinders Heslop obtained advantages closely approaching those of
the separate condenser, and effected a signal superiority over the
atmospheric engine of Newcomen, even as it then existed with all the
structural improvements introduced by Smeaton, who was compelled to
admit that, in its best state, 60 per cent, of steam was wasted by
alternate heating and cooling of the cylinder. No other engine of
this type now remains in existence, and it is therefore appropriate
that this one, the last worked, should be preserved.”
On seeing the above W. E. Anstice, Esq., at once wrote to say they had
three of the same engines now at work, and which had been at work for the
past eighty years in the Madeley Wood Co.’s Field; that they still had
five, and had had eight. This led to an interesting correspondence in
the course of which Mr. Anstice sent up an original drawing, which proved
to be one of an earlier engine even than the one they had, and the one
for which the original specification was taken out.
The fact is that about Heslop’s time, and whilst Smeaton was at work
effecting improvements in Newcomen’s engines, and whilst Watt, with the
experience of those who went before him, was to some extent endeavouring
to strike out a course for himself and preparing to eclipse the
productions of his predecessors, there were a number of minor geniuses
engaged in carrying into effect their own or others suggestions: men
whose names are little known in consequence of having been thrust aside
by greater or more favoured inventors than themselves. Heslop, Murdock,
and Cartwright appear have been among these; also Avery and Sadler, and
other local schemers and inventors like the Glazebrooks, the Williamses,
and Hornblowers. During the latter half of the last century the
inventive faculty, stimulated by what had already been achieved, appears
to have been in great activity. The iron-making and mining interests
were undergoing great expansion, and men like the Darbys, the Reynoldses,
Wilkinsons, Guests, and others, were just then prepared to avail
themselves of means which would enable them to clear out the water from
their mines, that they might bring up minerals from a greater depth, or
add to the force of the blast in their smelting operations; and several
of these in return rendered Watt and others great services. Wilkinson
gave the order for the first engine Watt made at Soho to blow his
furnaces at Broseley, where it was erected and ready for use early in
1776. Watt’s first rotary engine was made for Mr. Reynolds, of Ketley,
in 1782, to drive a corn mill. The “Philosophical Transactions,” and
Urban’s Magazine seem to have been mediums of correspondence, and the
means of communicating so much of the discoveries and inventions of the
authors as they deemed fit to the public. We have thirty or more volumes
of extracts from original communications in these, commencing about 1736,
which Mr. William Reynolds had written out, most of them beautiful, and
many remarkable specimens of that ornate style of calligraphy so much
cultivated at that time.
Also a large folio volume of original drawings and designs, admirably
executed. Some by Hornblower, Glazebrook, Sadler, Reynolds, Wilkinson,
Banks, Anstice, Chinn, Price, Rogerson, Emerson, Telford, and others.
The Hornblowers appear to have trodden closely upon the heels of Watt at
one time, and so closely that Watt wrote to Boulton saying, “If they have
really found a prize it will ruin us.” We add a list of these drawings,
with dates attached.
No. 1 is a small steam engine made by James Sadler which was at work on
the hill at the Dale in 1792.
No. 2 Drawing shews Sadler’s plan of rotary motion, with crank for
winding engine, dated, 1793.
No. 3 S. Venables’ drawing of Sadler’s engine as it stood when T.
Griffiths was putting it up at the Bank 1793.
No. 4 Is a plan of Sadler’s engine sent by Dr. Beddows, May, 1793.
No. 5 Are Drawings of an engine from J. Sadler’s, but which was never
completed, 1794.
No. 6 Drawings and description of Thos. Savory’s Engine for raising water
by the help of fire, June 14th, 1799; the description states that the
inventor entertained the Royal Society by shewing a small model which he
made to work before them.
No. 7 Is a plan of Watt’s steam wheel in all parts, but no date.
No. 8 Plan of a substitute for ropes, being an iron chain of novel
construction to be used for coal mines, by Bingley, 1795.
No. 9 Glazebrook’s scheme to effect a perpendicular motion, 1794.
No. 10 Plan of Adam Hislop’s engine to work without a beam, scale 1 in.
to ft. Drawn by S. Venables.
No. 11 Side view.
No. 12 Ground plan of an engine without a beam erected at Wombridge, Dec.
5, 1794.
No. 13 General section of an engine for winding coal. Scale about ½ in.
to ft. July 23, 1793.
No. 14 Outside front view of Horsehay forge engine Feb 21, 1793. Scale
one third in. to ft.
No. 15 Section of Hollins Wood Blast Engine. Scale ¼ in. to the ft.
William Minor No. 84 Sept. 12, 1793.
No. 16 General section for winding engine, 1 in. to ft. no date.
No. 17 Samuel Venables, Sept 1, 1793, No. 6 differs in construction from
the former ones, two cylinders.
No. 18 William Reynolds’ idea of the application of Sadler’s engine to a
rotable motion, the lower cylinder communicating with the boiler; this
method is applicable to rowing boats with circular oars, 1795, drawn by
Venables.
No. 18 Drawing of blast engine of the same period but no date or
description.
No. 18 Ditto, winding engine.
No. 19 One Richard Banks 1796.
No. 20 Drawing of old incline engine.
No. 21 Elaborate drawing of an engine for winding coals, sun and moon
motion, 30 strokes per minute, proper speed.
Nos. 22–34 Thirteen other engines.
No. 35 Sketch of Hornblowers’ air pump.
No. 36 Plan of Jinney for conveying wheeled corves down descents.
No. 38 Calculation of Mr. Anstices’ rotative engine by D. Rose March 17,
1799.
No. 39 Brick machines April, 1794.
No. 40 Sketch of a river Mill by W. R. improved by—
No. 41 A new method of boring as used by T. Price at the Brownhill
Colliery.
No. 42 Original letter by R. Reynolds describing Blakey’s fire engine for
raising water for furnaces at Horsehay and Ketley, and one of which had
been erected at the Dale, with Sketch. Letter dated Dale 6, 1st month,
1767.
No. 43 Prospective view of Donnington Wood incline plane and engine by
William Minor Sept. 12 1793
No. 44 Engine with crank, Richard Speed, June 4, 1796.
No. 45 Plan for an Aqueduct over a river, Thomas Telford, March, 1794,
with span of 100 feet.
No. 46 Copy for Fire engine from Emerson’s Engine for raising water.
No. 47 J. Wilkinson’s Idea of Chimney Boiler given by him to W. R.
November, 1799.
No. 48 Drawings of an engine under James Glazebrooks’ patent Feb. 24th,
1799. beautifully drawn and coloured.
No. 49 Outside front view of Horsehay large Engine Feb. 21, 1793.
No. 50 Principal arch, 100 ft. for an iron bridge for level crossing (no
date).
No. 51 Plans and Drawings of ribs &c., for an Aqueduct, by Thomas
Telford. With William Reynolds’ name signed to it.
And a number of others.
* * * * *
CLAY INDUSTRIES.—We have in earlier pages of this work spoken of some of
these. There are still the White Brick-works of the Madeley Wood
Company, near Ironbridge; the red brick-works of the same company at
Blissers Hill; the clay works of W. O. Foster, Esq., at the Court; and
those of Messrs. George Legge & Son at Madeley Wood and the Woodlands;
works which from the excellence of their varied productions, no less than
from the number of persons employed, are of considerable importance to
the district.
CAPTAIN WEBB.
We have in the course of these pages given prominence to the names of men
who have in different ways merited distinction, and whose deeds are
deserving of record in a local history of this kind; and we cannot omit a
passing recognition of the unparalleled feats of this distinguished
Salopian, whose early life is so closely associated with this parish. We
had prepared copious extracts from our “Life of Captain Webb,” in which
is detailed his extraordinary performances, but can only give here a
brief summary.
Before he was seven years old he had learnt to swim in the Severn; and in
his case the adage that “the boy is father to the man” held good, for
when a boy he and his elder brother succeeded in saving from a watery
grave another brother, whose strength, in attempting to cross the Severn,
failed him, so that he had already sunk beneath the surface when he was
rescued. As shewing his pluck and daring it may be mentioned that going
along the Severn banks to Buildwas, where boys usually go to bathe, he
took off his shoes and walked along the top of the bridge, with his hands
in his pockets, his third brother standing by not daring to look up lest
he should fall and be killed; but the chief actor stood calm and unmoved
when they afterwards met.
His second life-saving feat was performed on the Mersey, when he
succeeded in rescuing a comrade who had fallen overboard into the river.
The services he rendered to the owners of the _Silver Craig_ in the Suez
Canal; but much more his performance on board the _Russia_ in his daring
attempt to save a seaman who fell overboard, shewed him to possess
qualities of the highest order as a man. He swam the English Channel,
Tuesday, August 24th, 1875, at the age of 27. Being weighed and measured
it was found that his height was five feet eight inches; his weight when
stripped, before starting, 14 st. 8 lbs.; and his girth round the chest
40½ in.
Webb’s subsequent feat in distancing all competitors in his six days swim
adds another laurel to his crown as the champion swimmer of the world!
HOTELS, INNS, PUBLIC HOUSES, AND BEERSHOPS, IN THE PARISH—THEIR SIGNS,
&c.
Signboards are scarcely so significant or important now as formerly: yet
an interest attaches to them still, and there is some pleasure in
pondering over their designs, as significant of olden times and
manners—the old ones especially. One easily imagines too the jovial
tenants of taverns in former years, the noisy chafferings, the political
discussions carried on by those who sought recreation and enjoyment in
them.
THE THREE HORSE SHOES is the oldest Sign in Madeley; it swings over the
door of one of the oldest houses in Madeley, the walls being of rubble,
mud, and plaster: and the Sign itself, no doubt, is one of the oldest in
the kingdom. A horse shoe, when found and nailed over the door was
supposed to bring good luck—hence the single shoe, which is uppermost.
The HORSE SHOES is kept by Mr. J. H. Robinson.
The HAMMER, in Park Lane, kept by Mrs. Lloyd, is the next in point of
age. It was a trade emblem when the house was much more used than at
present by ironworkers, particularly by forgemen.
The ROYAL OAK was the first newly-licensed house for many years in
Madeley. The license for it was very adroitly obtained by Mr. Charles
Dyas. The Sign is a universal favourite, as emblematic of our old ships
and seamen. The house is kept by Mrs. Shingler.
The HEART OF OAK, in Court Street, kept by Mr. Joseph Currier, is another
popular Sign, indicative of character, and illustrative of old national
songs.
The BARLEY MOW, in Court Street, is kept by Mr. Pitchford.
The CROWN, Court Street, now void, is one of the oldest English signs.
ALL NATIONS, kept by Mrs. Baguley, is the only Sign of its name we know
of.
The SIX BELLS, kept by Mr. Ward, near the Church, is a Sign significant
of the number of bells in the Church tower.
The ROYAL EXCHANGE, kept by Mr. Goodwin, is a modern house, with an
ancient Sign; whilst the RAILWAY INN, kept by Mr. Taylor, is modern in
both respects.
The COOPERS’ ARMS is now down, but another house has been built, which
has not yet been christened.
The PRINCE OF WALES’S FEATHERS, Lower Madeley, kept by Mr. Daniel Adams,
as the name implies, is a royal badge.
THE MINERS’ ARMS, kept by Mr. Kearsley, is so sufficiently significant,
as not to need comment. Also The TURNERS’ ARMS, kept by Mr. John Brown;
and the THREE FURNACES, kept by Mr. Biddulph.
The TWEEDALE is kept by Mr. G. Ray.
The CUCKOO-OAK Inn, by Mr. H. Wilkes, takes its name from the place.
The BRITANNIA, kept by Mr. E. Hopley, Aqueduct, and the ANCHOR, by Mr.
Evans, Court Street, are modern houses with ancient signs.
There are also the COMMERCIAL INN, kept by Mrs. Heighway, and a Beershop
in Church Street, kept by Mr. Durnall.
Then there is the CHESTNUTS, formerly the Red Lion, which fakes it name
from the tree in front, and is kept by Mr. James Hancock.
The PARK INN, by Mr. Reynolds, and the NEW INN kept by Mr. Jones, Park
Lane, with the PHEASANT, kept by Mr. Francis, complete the list of houses
at Madeley, where, within our recollection, there were formerly but two.
At Coalport we have the SHAKESPEARE, kept by Mr. Beard, and the JUG, we
presume of Toby Philpot fame, of whom it is said,
His body, when long in the ground it had lain,
And time into clay had resolved it again,
A potter found out, in his covert so snug,
And with part of old Toby he made this brown jug.
There is also the BREWERY INN, kept by Mr. George Gough.
The PIT’S HEAD, formerly a noted house for old beer, kept by Barnabas
Spruce, has long since disappeared; also the TURK’S HEAD. Then there is
the ROBIN HOOD, by Mr. J. Roe; the BLOCK HOUSE, by Mr. Dunbar, come next;
and near to these is the BIRD IN HAND, the motto of which (more truthful
than grammatical) is—
A bird in the hand far better ’tis
Than two that in the bushes is.
The LAKE HEAD, by G. Barrat, takes its name from a small reach of the
Severn.
In Madeley Wood we get the UNICORN, kept by Mr. Fiddler; The Old House by
Astbury, and the GOLDEN BALL (formerly a silk mercer’s sign) by Mr. T.
Bailey.
The HORSE AND JOCKEY, by Mrs. Davies, and the FOX, by Mr. Curzon, come
next, to remind us of old English sports.
The GEORGE & DRAGON also, by Mr. Granger, reminding us of still more
ancient times.
HODGE BOWER, by Mr. Wilson, is a sign which lakes its name from the
place.
The WHITE HORSE, kept by Mrs. Edwards, at Lincoln Hill is a very old
Sign.
The CROWN, the QUEEN’S HEAD (by Mr. Nevitt), the OAK by Ketley, the
SEVERN BREWERY and the TONTINE (erected by the Bridge Company), and THREE
TUNS are all well-known Inns,
The BATH TAVERN, the SETTERS’ INN, the ROEBUCK, and BELLE VUE, are
extinct.
The WHEAT SHEAF by Aaron Lloyd, the WHITE HART, by Woolstein; the TALBOT,
by Toddington; the SWAN by Bailey; the RODNEY, by Griffiths; the MEADOW
and the COMMERCIAL INN, Coalbrookdale, complete the list of _Houses of
Refreshment_ for the parish.
THE BROOKE FAMILY.
From the time that Lord Chief Justice Brooke purchased the manor of
Madeley, the names of members of the Brooke family constantly figure in
the ecclesiastical and civil records of the parish of Madeley. Until the
year 1706 they continued to occupy the Elizabethan mansion known as the
Old Court House, now unhappily fallen into decay, the habitable portions
being converted into cottages, and the chapel in which they once
worshipped being, on the occasion of our last visit, occupied by poultry,
whose cackling takes the place of the chant and psalm, which once rose to
heaven from voices long ago silenced by the grim king Death. In this,
the most important house of the parish, surrounded by a pleasant park,
with moat, pleasure grounds, and fish ponds, dwelt Ann Brooke with John
her husband, performing her duties as a wife and mother, as well as those
social duties pertaining to her station, with honour to herself and
profit to her family and neighbours. She died on the attainment of the
allotted three score years and ten, having been ten years a widow.
Etheldreda was the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Ann Brooke, being the wife of
Sir Basil Brooke, of whose knighthood we have no account. She was a
woman richly endowed with mental and moral qualities, and had received an
education far in advance of that acquired by most women of her day,
having been conversant with four languages in addition to her mother
tongue, as well as skilled in music.
The dust of these ladies was laid with that of their husbands in the Old
Parish Church of Madeley, their tombs being adorned with their effigies.
On the erection of the present edifice, they were placed in the niches
they now occupy outside the church. We give below the Latin inscriptions
and the English translations, for which latter we are indebted to the
kindness and courtesy of the Rev. C. Brooke, of Haughton, himself a
descendant of a branch of this honoured family.
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS.
Madeley Church, 1815.
(British Museum) 21, 181.
Hic jacet Johannes Brooke, Arm: filius Roberti Brooke: equitis aurati
Justiciarii, capitalis de communi Banco (qui eqregiam reginam Mariam
in obtinendo avito regno contra improborum machinationes navavit
operam, et jus Anglicanum pluribus editis voluminibus mirifice
illustravit) et Elizabethæ filiæ et hæredis Francisci Waring armig:
qui postquam vixerat jurisprudentiæ doctrinæque ceteræ fama insignis,
pluribus beneficus omnibus charus diem sunm sancti pie-que obiit Anno
Dom: 1598, Oct. 20, ætat sua 60.
Hic jacet Anna uxor Johann: Brooke armig: et familia Shirleyonis
celeberrima et antiquissima oriunda viro suo filios duos Basilium et
Franciscum filias item tres Dorotheam Priscillam et Milburgam
peperit, priscæ disciplinæ matrona, avitæ fideitenacissima, omnis
officii quæ uxor, qua mater singulare exemplum obiit, Anno Dom: 1608,
September 29. Ætat sua 70, viduitatis 10.
Basilii Brooke equitis aurati fil: Johan: Brooke armig: et Ann uxoris
filiæ Francisci Shirley armigeri de Staunton Harold com. Leicest: et
nepotis Roberti Brooke equitis aurati Justiciarii Capitalis de
Communi Banco, duxit duas uxores (viz) Etheldredam filiam et hæredem
unicam Edmundi Brudenell equitis aurati de Dene com Northam: et
Frances filiam Henrici Baronis Mordaunt et sororem Joannis Comitis de
Peterborough. Obiit Decem. 31. Anno 1646.
Hic jacet Etheldreda uxor Basilii Brooke equitis aurati, filia et
hæres unica Edmundi Brudenell eq: aurati, fæmina pariten Latina,
Gallica, Hispanica et musica perita, pietate fide et prudentia
maquanimite pudicitiata et mansuetudine instructissima. Reliquit
viro suo inaritissimo filium unicum Thomam, filias quinque—Annam
Wilhelmo Fitzherbert armig: Autonii Fitzherbert eq: aurati
Justiciarii Capitilis de Cummuni Banco legum nostratium interpretis
clarissimi pronepoti. Mariam Tho: Moro armig: illustrissimi et
sancti illius Thomæ Mari summi olim Angliæ Cancellarii (cujus vita et
mors inomnium est ore) abnepoti et hæredi nuptam—Dorotheam Agatham et
Catharinam, singularis materæ indolis (id est) optimam obiit anno
Domini.
The following is the English translation:—
Here lieth interred John Brooke, Esquire, the son of Robert Brooke,
Knight Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (which said Robert
assisted the illustrious Queen Mary in obtaining her rights to the
crown in opposition to the violent factions of that time, and
published an excellent Commentary on the English Law in several
volumes), and of Elizabeth the daughter and heir of Francis Waring,
Esquire. After he had lived, distinguished for his knowledge in the
Science of Law and other learning, being of an extensively liberal
mind, and universally beloved, he made a pious and Christianlike end,
Oct. 20th, in the year of our Lord, 1598, in the 60th year of his
age.
Here lieth Arm, the wife of John Brooke, Esquire, descended from the
very ancient and renowned family of the Shirleys. She had by her
husband two sons, Basil and Francis, and also three daughters,
Dorothy, Priscilla and Milburga. She was a lady of strict
discipline, a rigid adherent to her ancestral faith, and as a wife
and mother most exemplary in the discharge of every duty. She died
September 19th, in the year of our Lord 1608, in the 70th year of her
age, and in the 10th year of her widowhood.
Sacred to the memory of Basil Brooke Knight, the son of John Brooke,
Esquire, and Ann, his wife, who was the daughter of Francis Shirley,
of Staunton Harold, in the County of Leicester, Esquire, and the
grandson of Robert Brooke Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas. He had two wives, Etheldreda the daughter and sole heiress of
Edmund Brudenell, of Dean, in the County of Northampton, Knight, and
Francis, the daughter of Henry, Baron Mordaunt, and the sister of
John, Earl of Peterborough. He departed this life the 31st of
December, in the year 1646.
Here lieth Etheldreda, the wife of Basil Brooke Knight. She was the
daughter and sole heiress of Edmund Brudenell Knight—a woman not only
well-skilled in the knowledge of the Latin, Italian, French, and
Spanish languages, and in the science of music, but also exemplary
for piety, faith, prudence, courage, chastity, and gentle manners.
She left to lament her loss an husband with an only son, named
Thomas, and five daughters—namely Ann, the wife of William
Fitzwilliam, Esquire, the grandson of Anthony Fitzherbert Knight,
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, eminent for his Commentary on
the Laws. Mary, the wife of Thomas More, Esquire, a descendant of
that renowned and upright character, Thomas More, formerly Lord High
Chancellor of England, a man in his life and death universally
esteemed. Also Dorothy, Agatha, and Catharine, of dispositions the
most motherly, the best of all. She died in the year of our Lord . .
(the date is defaced).
INDEX.
PAGE.
Adams 211
Addenbrooke 242
Anstice, J. 176, 234
„ J. A. 178
„ Memorial 177
„ R. E. 178
,, William 86, 91, 101, 173
,, W. R 176, 179
Appendix I
Aqueduct 167
Ashwood 211
Assessment for carrying on a vigorous war 57
,, of Lands and Houses 102, 103
Astley 211
Astun 21
Badger 21, 234
Bagnall 192
Ballard, Phillip 159, 206
Banking Co. 352
Banks 192, 364
Baptists 172
Bartlam 241
Battlefield 218
Baugh 225
Beard 192
Beckbury 21
Bedlam Hall 333
Benefactions 217
Benson, Rev. J. 161
Benthall, Lawrence 230
Bicton Heath 248
Billingsley 195
Billy Holyoake 253
Bishton 75
Black Doctor 83
Black Rock 302, 307
Bleak 271
Blisser’s Hill 94, 102
Block House 333
Board of Conservators 268
Boden 192
Booth 239
Botfield 75
Bowdler 34
Bowlegs Tom 118
Boycott 249
Brick and Tile Works 302
Brewer 206
Bridges 236
Brockholes 59, 100
Brooke, Charity 40
,, and Beddow Charities 242
,, Family 10 to 15
,, Arms of 36
,, Pedigree of 39
,, Sir Basil 40
Brown, A. H., M.P. 236
Brown, Thomas 105
Buckland 174, 265, 266
Buckley 230
Burd, G. 241
Burgess 192
Burial without a Coffin 33
Bums, Ann, Jane, and Sarah 192
Burton, E. 241
Burton, John 260
Buy-a-Brooms 232
Caldbrooke 59, 100
,, Smithy 277
Capsi 329
Carolosa, William 45
Chapel of Ease 167
Charities 217
Charity Commissioners 243–4
Chell 192
Cholera and its victims 249
Chune 261
Church Accommodation 167
„ and the Moral and Religious Aspects of the 113
people of Madeley, The
„ of England 166
„ of St. Mary 166
,, Register 53
Clark 194
Claverley 12
Clay Industries 181, 367
Cludd 224
Coaches 341
Coal and Iron Industries Coalbrookdale Co. 59
,, description of 274
,, Lum Hole 275
„ Old Hearth Plates 278
„ Origin of Name 276
„ Smithy Place, &c. 277
Coalfield 94
Coalport Chapel 159
Coalport Incline 94
Coalport Works 191
Cobbett 198
Cold October 23rd 19
Collection of Fossils 174
Congregationalists 172
Constables, Instructions to 58, 221
Constablewicks 220
Coneberry 218
Cope 224
Copper Tokens 94
Coracles 270
Cort 61
Counsells opinion 105
County Courts 238
Court House 8, 40
„ „ Chapel of 43
,, Farm 106
„ Leet 240
Courts for the recovery of debts 238
Craneges 60
Crookes 299
Crowther 198
Dace 271
Daniel, The Messrs. 201
Darbys, The 60
„ Abraham, the first 40
„ ,, uses coke in blast furnaces 281
„ Abraham, the second first uses coal in the 281
forge and lays down iron rails
,, Abraham, the third, erects first iron bridge 281
Davies, William 230
Dearman, Richard 109
Deerclose 218
Devil, the 120
Dickenson, Henry 210, 260
Discussion on Education 300
Dispensary, the 240
Distress, periods of 74, 95, 108
Domesday 22
Dorsett, William 206
Doughty, J. D. 260
Dundonald, Earl 95
Dyas 192, 194
Dyott 218
Easter Dues 38
Edmonds, Daniel 132
Edmunds, Printer 194
Edwards, E. 260
Eels 266
Erroneous Tradition 44
Evans 192
Events relating to Madeley 102
Exhibition, 1851 202
Explosion of Powder 174
Extinct and Ancient Names 218
Extract from Old Book in Church Chest 116
Farnworth 192
Ferrars 10, 36
Firmstone 242
First Boot Printed at Madeley 194
Fletcher 192
„ Rev. J. W., Sketch of 123 to 156
Fletcher, Mrs. 157 to 160
Flounders 266
Ford 306
Forest of the Wrekin 22, 236
,, Laws 11
Forester 236
Fosbrooke, Roger Appendix
Foster, James 41
Foster, W. O. 100
Fossils 86
Fox, John 266
Fowler, Matthew, Roger 13
Fuller 59, 100
Gaskell 236
Gelson, Mr. 203
George III. 73
Giffard 40
Glazebrook, James 180
Good 262
Goodin 24
Goodwin 214
Goosetree 251
Gower, Earl 65
Graham 299
Grant, Alexander 241
Gray 206
Great Fire 54
Great Land Flood at the Dale 288
Gwyther 215
Hales Farm 106
Hales field pits 174
Hancock 201
Hay 328
,, house 332
Hayes 249
Hayward 225
Harrington 45
Hawking 327
Hawley, Sir Joseph 106–7
Hemmings 342
Heslop, Adam 362
Hibernia, the 341
Hicks 239
Hill 132
Hill’s Lane Pits 174
Homfray 232
Hopyard 218
Hornblower 365
Horton 242
House to house visitation 55
Hunting Lodge 331
Idle Tales 117
Imps 121
Inclined Planes 92–3–4
Invention of Printers’ Rollers by Mr. Dyas 194
Ironbridge 334 to 369
,, Church 168 and 350
Ironworks, first 60
“John Brown’s Dolls” 172
Johnson 194
King Charles’s Visit to and Concealment at 45 to 54
Madeley
Also see Appendix
Landslips 142, 174
Law of Settlement 55
Lawrence, Sarah 159
Lawson 34
Legge 219
Leigh 192
Lewis 227
L’Hirondelle 340
Lincoln Hill 350
Lister, Thomas 217
Littlehales 34
Lloyds, The 333
Locomotive, the first intended to be used on a 180
railroad
Lord Chief Justice Brooke 35
Lord Thurlow 74
Lowe 192
Luccock, Benjamin, Thomas, and Adam 284–5–6
Madbrook 6
Maddison 194
Madeley as part of the Franchise of Wenlock 220
„ China Works 205
„ Church 210
,, Church, subject to mother Church of Wenlock 165
,, Early History of 6
,, Church, Rectors of 21
„ Market 219
,, Origin of Name 5
,, Proposed Improvements 259
,, Religious aspect in Fletcher’s day 161
,, „ at present time 165
„ Union 241
,, Wood 100
„ Works 173
,, ,, Number of Vessels on the Severn 251
Manor House 9
,, Court 9
,, Deed of Sale 23
,, Mill 9
,, Sold to R. Broke 27
Market House 53
Maw, Arthur 24
Melancholy Event 193
Melville Home 122, 164
Methodism 163
Millstone Grit 314
Minton 204
Molyneux 13
Montgomery 79
Morris, Mason 225
Morris, W. 249
Mountford 192
Mount St. Gilbert 8
Municipal Reform Act 234
Mural Monuments 211 to 216
Murchison, Sir R. 174
Murdock 179
Nantgarw 190
Nicholls 214
Norris, W. G. 241
Oaths of Supremacy 56
Old Barn 152
Old Beer 292
Old Book 115
Old Roberts 98
Owen, John 260
Owen, W. Y. 351
Paston, William 109
Pattrick 217
Perambulation of Forests 22
Perch 271
Perks, George 157
Petty Sessions 236
Phillips 202
Pike 271
Polling District 351
Poll Tax 56
Poole 192
Population 167
Potts, E. B. 239
Powell 225
Press Laws 57
Prestwich 174
Primitive Methodists 171
Proctor, J. 241
Public Houses Appendix
Pugh, Charles 203
Pugh, William 201
Purtron 218
Quakers 295
Railways 343
Randall, Martin 206 to 210
Ratcliff, Edmund 203
Rathbone 53, 71
Religious aspect of Madeley 161, 165
Rent and valuation of lands 58
Reynoldses the 60
Reynolds William 81
,, Anecdotes of 97–8
,, Death of 101
,, Predicts Steam Locomotion 91
,, Prophetic Utterances of 179
Riffle Corps 351
Roberts 351, 253
,, William 206
Robin Hood 252
Rock Church 132
Rogers, Arundel 239
Rose, John 196
Rose, Thomas & Fredk. Wm. 201
Rose, John, Presentation to 200
Rose du Barry, re-discovered 201
Rotunda 347
Royal Dessert Service 201
Rushton Farm 106
Sadler 365
Salmon 270
Salopian, young and old 341
“Sammy Walters” 232
Saville 241
Scarcity of Wheat at Madeley 107
Scott, Captain 168
Serfs 18
Severn, the 254
,, As a source of food 262
,, Fish which no longer frequent the river 266–7
,, Fish which now frequent the river 270
,, No. of vessels 256
,, Mundella’s fresh water fishing Act 268
,, Proposed improvements 269
,, The Coracle 270
„ Traffic on the 261
Severn Valley 71
Shad 266
Sheat, George 192
Sheep Stealing 230
Slang 14
Smith, Thomas 217
Smith, W. E. 241
Smitheman 113, 212, 230
Smithy Place 31
Smoke penny 33, 54
Sniggy Oaks 96
Soames 241
Sommerville 236
Sprott 212
Spruce, Barnabas 292
Steam Engine, Infancy of 362
Stephens 224–5
Stephenson, Robert 338
Stringer, John 33
Stubbs 241
Sunday Morning Meetings 159
Superstition 115
Swinfield 20
Tankard, Silver presented by King Charles 53
Tar Tunnel 94, 320
Tax upon Births, Marriages, and Burials 57
Taylor, Jeremy 33
Telford 365
Terrier 32
Tithes 32
Thursfield, T. G. 241
Thompson 229
Tithe Commissioners 106
Titley 300
Tooth, Miss 159, 160
Tramroad subterranean 91
Trilobites 216
Trout 270
Turner, Thomas 205
Tyche’s Nest 348
Urban’s Magazine 364
Vagrants and sturdy beggars 56
Vicar, dispute with 33, 105
Visit to Paupers 248
Wagons covered 340
Wakeley 230
Walker 192, 195
Walters, Rev. S. 218
Walton 351
Warham 229
Washbrook 9
Wayne, Rev. H. 248
Weager, Israel 252
Webb 241
Webb, Capt. 367, 368
Weld 230
Wesley, Charles 163
„ John 159
Wesleyan Methodism 169
,, Places of Worship connected therewith 170
Wheatley 218
Wheeler, Thos. 206
White House 296
Whitfield, Rev. George 163
Wilkinson 365
Willcox 332
Windmill Farm 106
Wintour, Rev. G. 249
Witches 121
Wolfe’s Barn 45
Wolfe, Family of 53
Wood, William 33
Wootton 194
Wrekin 67
Wyley 107
Yate 268
Yate, Joseph 32
York, Thos. 132
APPENDIX.
KING CHARLES’S OAK.
It is still a matter of dispute whether the oak tree still standing is
the original tree which gave shelter to the king, or one grown from an
acorn planted where the old tree stood. An old work says:—
“King Charles II. took refuge in the Boscobel Oak in September, 1651.
The tidings of his majesty’s restoration, and of his entry into
London on the 29th of May, 1660, reached this county early in June.
‘Hundreds of people’ now flocked to see the oak; and such was the
destruction of ‘its young boughs’ during the summer that within six
months after the mischief commenced the proprietor, Mr. Fitzherbert,
judiciously pruned it ‘for its preservation’, and fenced it with a
‘high’ paling. (Blount’s ‘Boscobel’, printed in 1660.) Thirty years
afterwards it is recorded by the Rev. G. Plaxton, rector of
Donington, that the paling had been superseded—he does not say in
what year—by a handsome brick wall, built also at the charge of Mr.
Fitzherbert (Basil and Jane), which brings us to the year 1690.
Twenty-one years later, in 1711, Dr. Stukeley visited the oak; and
again, thirteen years afterwards, Dr. Stukeley says—‘The tree is now
inclosed with a brick wall,’ bringing the safe custody of the tree
down to 1724. Sixty-three years later we learn from the old
inscription that Basil and Eliza Fitzherbert rebuilt the old wall of
their ancestors, recording that ‘Felicissimam Arborem Muro cinctam
posteris commendarunt Basilins et Jana Fitzherbert,’ bringing us to
the year 1787. This wall was eight or nine feet high, and
injuriously close to the tree; and after thirty years, that is in the
year 1817, the present palisades were erected, freely admitting light
and air to the hole, and affording a clear view of the whole tree,
with the holes in it carefully covered to keep out the wet.”
The king’s account of his visit to Madeley from “an authentic edition of
Pepys’ narrative,” published from the original MS. in the library of
Magdalene College, Cambridge, as given in the Boscobel Tracts, is as
follows:—
“As soon as I was disguised I took with me a country fellow, whose
name was Richard Penderell, whom Mr. Giffard had undertaken to answer
for to be an honest man. He was a Roman Catholic, and I chose to
trust them, because I knew they had hiding holes for priests, that I
thought I might make use of in case of need.
“I was no sooner gone (being the next morning after the battle, and
then broad day) out of the house with this country fellow, but being
in a great wood, I set myself at the edge of the wood, near the
highway that was there, the better to see who came after us, and
whether they made any search after the runaways, and I immediately
saw a troop of horse coming by, which I conceived to be the same
troop that beat our three thousand horse; but it did not look like a
troop of the army’s, but of the militia, for the fellow before it did
not look at all like a soldier.
“In this wood I staid all day, without meat or drink; and by great
good fortune it rained all the time, which hindered them, as I
believe, from coming into the wood to search for men that might be
fled thither. And one thing is remarkable enough, that those with
whom I have since spoken, of them that joined with the horse upon the
heath, did say that it rained little or nothing with them all the
day, but only in the wood where I was, this contributing to my
safety.
“As I was in the wood I talked with the fellow about getting towards
London: and asking him many questions about what gentlemen he knew, I
did not find he knew any man of quality in the way towards London.
And the truth is, my mind changed as I lay in the wood, and I
resolved of another way of making my escape; which was, to get over
the Severn into Wales, and so to get either to Swansey, or some other
of the sea-towns that I knew had commerce with France, to the end I
might get over that way as being a way that I thought none would
suspect my taking; besides that, I remembered several honest
gentlemen that were of my acquaintance in Wales.
“So that night, as soon as it was dark, Richard Penderell and I took
our journey on foot towards the Severn, intending to pass over a
ferry, halfway between Bridgenorth and Shrewsbury. But as we were
going in the night, we came by a mill where I heard some people
talking (memorandum, that I had got some bread and cheese the night
before at one of the Penderell’s houses, I not going in), and as we
conceived it was about twelve or one o’clock at night; and the
country fellow desired me not to answer if any body should ask me any
questions, because I had not the accent of the country.
“Just as we came to the mill, we could see the miller, as I believe,
sitting at the mill door, he being in white clothes, it being a very
dark night. He called out, “Who goes there?” Upon which Richard
Penderell answered, “Neighbours going home,” or some such-like words.
Whereupon the miller cried out, “If you be neighbours, stand, or I
will knock you down.” Upon which, we believing there was company in
the house, the fellow bade me follow him close, and he run to a gate
that went up a dirty lane, up a hill, and opening the gate, the
miller cried out, “Rogues! rogues!” And thereupon some men came out
of the mill after us, which I believe were soldiers; so we fell
a-running, both of us up the lane, as long as we could run, it being
very deep and very dirty, till at last I bade him leap over a hedge,
and lie still to hear if anybody followed us; which we did, and
continued lying down upon the ground about half an hour, when,
hearing nobody come, we continued our way on to the village upon the
Severn, where the fellow told me there was an honest gentleman, one
Mr. Woolfe, that lived in that town, where I might be with great
safety, for that he had hiding-holes for priests. But I would not go
in till I knew a little of his mind, whether he would receive so
dangerous a guest as me, and therefore stayed in a field, under a
hedge by a great tree, commanding him not to say it was I, but only
to ask Mr. Woolfe whether he would receive an English gentleman, a
person of quality, to hide him the next day, till we could travel
again by night, for I durst not go but by night.
“Mr. Woolfe, when the country fellow told him that it was one that
had escaped from the battle of Worcester, said that, for his part, it
was so dangerous a thing to harbour any body that was known, that he
would not venture his neck for any man, unless it were the king
himself. Upon which, Richard Penderell, very indiscreetly, and
without any leave, told him that it was I. Upon which Mr. Woolfe
replied, that he should be very ready to venture all he had in the
world to secure me. Upon which Richard Penderell came and told me
what he had done, at which I was a little troubled; but then there
was no remedy, the day being just coming on, and I must either
venture that or run some greater danger.
“So I came into the house a back way, where I found Mr. Woolfe, an
old gentleman, who told me he was very sorry to see me there, because
there was two companies of the militia foot at that time in arms in
the town, and kept a guard at the ferry, to examine every body that
came that way, in expectation of catching some that might be making
their escape that way; and that he durst not put me into any of the
hiding-holes of his house, because they had been discovered, and
consequently, if any search should be made, they would certainly
repair to these holes; and that therefore I had no other way of
security but to go into his barn, and there lie behind his corn and
hay. So after he had given us some cold meat that was ready, we,
without making any bustle in the house, went and lay in the barn all
the next day; when, towards evening, his son, who had been prisoner
at Shrewsbury, an honest man, was released, and came home to his
father’s house. And as soon as ever it began to be a little darkish,
Mr. Woolfe and his son brought us meat into the barn; and there we
discoursed with them whether we might safely get over the Severn into
Wales, which they advised me by no means to adventure upon, because
of the strict guards that were kept all along the Severn, where any
passage could be found, for preventing any body’s escaping that way
into Wales.”
In Harrison Ainsworth’s “Boscobel” several inaccuracies occur, so far as
the description of the king’s visit to Madeley is concerned. He speaks
of the Court as the place of retreat, and of a moat and drawbridge, all
of which is incorrect.
In the old house, now the property of Mr. Eastwick, where Mr. Wolfe
lived, is a portrait of Dame Joan, in the curious head-dress of the
period; and among the tombstones in the chapel of White Ladies, which has
been converted into a burying-place, is, or was, one bearing the
following inscription:—
“Here lyeth The bodie of a Friende The King did call
Dame Joan But now she is Deceast and gone
Interr’d Anno: Do. 1669.”
The _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1809, p. 809, contains a description of
this headstone at the White Ladies, by the late Rev. T. Dale, who says:—
“The stone stood on the north side of the chancel of the chapel, on
the left as you entered the chancel door. When, however, I became
curate of Donnington, in the year 1811, it had disappeared. I made
frequent inquiries, afterwards, at intervals, of the cottagers and
others, as to the disappearance of the monument, but without
obtaining any satisfactory information.”
The writer then describes his researches, and says:—
“Dame Joan was the wife of William Penderell, one of the five
brethren who, at the time of the King’s escape, lived at Boscobel,
then rather a new house. In the ‘Harleian Miscellany’ (8vo., edit.
1810, vol. vi., p. 251) it will be seen that William’s wife ‘stripped
off the stockings, cut the blisters, and washed the feet of the
King,’ after his night’s march from Madeley, in company with Richard
Penderell (p. 251), and that whilst the King and Colonel Carless were
in the oak, William and his wife Joan were on the watch, still
freaking up and down, and she commonly near the place with a nut hook
in her hand, gathering up sticks (p. 252), and when Charles awoke
from his nap in the oak, ‘very hungary,’ and wished he had something
to eat, the Colonel plucked out of his pocket a good luncheon of
bread and cheese, which Joan Penderell had given him for provant that
day.”
OLD FAMILY NAMES.
It is interesting to notice that as early as 1694 many names of old
Madeley families occur. Ashwood, Easthope, Brooke, Lloyd, Smytheman,
Bowdler, Glazebrook, Boden, Bartlam, Hodgkiss, occur from 1689 to 1711,
either as proprietors, or collectors of the Poll tax, Land tax, Window
tax, or the tax on Births, &c. The following were holders of the 2073
acres mentioned on p. 58:—
Tenants’ Names. Quantity. Yearly Value.
A. R. P. £ s. d.
Demesne Lands 547 2 39 294 3 2
Mr. Purcell 256 0 11 129 0 1
Mr. Heatherley 149 2 28 87 17 6
Mr. Wm Ashwood 111 9 24 72 11 11
Mr. Twyford 109 1 33 45 9 5
W. Ashwood, Ground 91 1 39 5 2 6
Stanley’s Old Park 76 3 15 24 2 6
land
Fra. Knight’s Ten., 38 0 36 13 14 9
and Old Park Lands
Duddell’s Ten. and 21 2 25 6 13 10
do.
Mrs. Webb 46 3 13 23 7 3
Widdow Cooper 31 2 16 11 18 0
Mrs. Smitheman 38 3 12 22 5 2
Audley Bowdler 118 0 11 54 18 5
Thos. Roberts 7 1 14 4 0 9
Mr. Farmer 112 2 31 46 3 2
Giles Goodman 27 0 13 14 5 2
Eliz. Garbett 10 3 39 6 6 5
Mrs. Evans 7 2 17 5 1 10
Fra. Glazebrooke 9 3 22 6 15 2
Jno. Hutchinson 4 0 16 2 11 10
Hum. Prices 14 0 37 6 14 8
Wid. Turnars 84 3 3 40 15 0
Roger Fosbrooke 54 2 8 28 19 1
Mr. Stanley 92 1 38 36 3 9
Wid. Roberts 36 0 4 20 7 8
Thos. Easthope 11 3 1 3 6 11
Geor. Glasebrache 42 2 11 8 14 1
Total 2073 2 36 £1021 10 0
FOOTNOTES.
{35} Did this designation—arising, we presume, from making frequent
attestations—give rise to “Attenbrooke,” “Addenbrook,” and similar
surnames?
{37} On another page we have spoken of a later member of this family,
who, by indenture, dated 29th of May, 1706, bequeathed a sum of money to
the poor of Madeley, and of Comerford Brooks, who, in consideration of
the said sum, £40, and a further sum of £30 paid him by Audley Bowdler
and others, granted three several cottages in Madeley Wood, the rent and
profits of which were to be devoted to the use of the poor of the parish
of Madeley, in such manner as the grantees, with the consent of the vicar
and parish officers, should think lit. This is the latest notice we have
obtained. The Basil Brooke here spoken of is the one also previously
referred to in our introduction, as fourth in descent from a gallant
knight in the reign of King Charles, and who is said to have secreted his
Majesty in a square hole behind the wainscoating of the chapel, which the
inmates of the Court-house describe as “King Charles’s Hole.” Of the
charity we shall speak under the head of “Benefactions,” later on.
{40} It was from a subsequent sale of this property that the old
Poor-House was built.
{54} For further particulars relating to King Charles’s Visit, see
Appendix.
{121} We have before us an octavo book, of a hundred pages, written as
late as 1820, by James Heaton, entitled “The Demon Expelled.” In his
introduction he laments that Christians have of late years “lightly
ridiculed the existence of apparitions, witches, and demoniacs.” In the
days of our fathers, venerable divines and “learned men, ornaments of the
church and the state,” he tells us, believed in these things, and he
quotes Wesley, Samuel Clarke, and others in support of his views. He
commences by gravely telling us that the boy “had been frightened by
being shut up by himself in a school, that he had been blistered all over
the head, bled repeatedly, and was taking medicines, and that these
produced fainting, profuse perspiration, and sickness. They prayed and
sang around him for four or five hours at a stretch, twenty or thirty of
them at a time, the boy being tied down to prevent him running away, till
at last the lad refused to hold a testament in his hands, and the sight
of a hymn-book put him into convulsions. Although seven preachers and
thirty other people were present, praying and singing did not avail till
they adjured the evil spirit, mentally, telling him to depart, and after
arguing and talking to them for some time through the lad’s nose the
demon finally took his departure.”
{175} Mr. Brown is an innkeeper; the sign is the “Turner’s Arms,” and
over a glass of his home-brewed the following conversation with the
author ensued. He said, “I turned all the wood-work which required
turning for the Anstice Memorial, both when it was first built and when
it was restored.” Author: “Well, and you tried another art Mr.
Brown,”—this with a look at Mrs. Brown, who sat on the opposite side of
the fire—“You tried the art of match-making; and really Mrs. B. must have
been a courageous woman to allow you to succeed.”
This remark brought out Mrs. B., who now joined in the conversation, and
under a little gentle pressure, gave us some particulars as to how the
marriage came about, and how after sundry visits of her armless suitor,
to Birmingham, she was wooed and won.
“But how did you manage to put the ring on, Mr. Brown?”
“Oh,” said Brown laughing, “I could have managed that if they had given
me time, but the clergyman, mind you, was a good sort of man, and he
said, ‘Allow me to help you,’ and he slipped on the ring.”
Mrs. Brown, who is a comely-looking woman, proceeded to tell how the
parson called upon her former mistress, and related the circumstance with
great glee.
{235} Mr. Dyas had previously had a seat at the Board.
{242} Among the papers met with in the old building was one dated April
29th, 1805, entitled, an assessment of fivepence in the pound for the
purpose of raising part of the sum of £100 levied on this parish of
Madeley for deficiency of the Army of Reserve, and Regiments of the
Militia, 5th of February, 1805. The following names and sums occur:—
Rev. Mr. Burton (then rector) £2 0 3
Firmstone, Mrs.
Homfray and Addenbrooke 5 9 0
Rev. Saml. Walter (then curate) 0 9 0
Anstice, Horton, and Rose 0 8 4
Horton, William 0 6 0
George Pugh 0 1 8
John Rose & Co. 9 16 8
J. Luckcock 0 0 6
{253} A still greater fright was experienced by the driver of a hearse
from the Tontine. A man named Holyoake, a sort of half-witted fellow,
who had a fancy for attending funerals on both sides the Severn, got into
the hearse after the coffin had been removed, and it being a hot day went
to sleep. Poor “Billy” did not wake till the hearse had been put in the
coach-house, when one of the establishment going in, Billy called out
from his retreat “How go mon,” and the man rushed from the place in a
fright that is said to have turned his hair white.
{277} Sometimes called Culbrok.
{292} Barnabas Spruce had been Cashier at the Bedlam Works under William
Reynolds; he kept a public house near the old water engine in the Lloyds,
which was known and patronised for miles round for old beer. William
Reynolds, Benjamin Edge, and others of that class were accustomed to meet
there. The sign was “the Newhill Pit.” Barnabus died Jan. 1833. At the
funeral on the 24th, as a last and fitting tribute to so worthy a brewer
of good beer, a large number assembled. There were 37 horsemen, who had
hatbands and gloves; and 40 gallons of ale were drank before starting to
Madeley Church.
{300} It would be impossible for those not then old enough to take
cognizance of what was passing around them to conceive the bitterness of
the controversy, or the unfair advantage some of the sects sought to take
of the educational-movement. Among others, the Rev. Mr. Tilley, Baptist
Minister of Bridgnorth, made it his business to make the circuit of this
district to publicly warn the people against what he described as a
Jesuitical scheme on the part of Government to entrap and enslave the
people, by subsidising the teachers. His statements being challenged by
the present writer, at a meeting in the Wesleyan Chapel, Coalbrookdale, a
public discussion was held in the Boys School-room, Mr. Crookes in the
chair.
{306} These, with their associated fossils, were sold to the Government:
some were exchanged with the representative of a French Museum; others
are still to be seen in the National Museum, Jermyn Street.
{318} When W. Anstice, Esq., father of the present W. R. Anstice, Esq.,
was adding to his collection, one of the men brought him one of these
fossils, remarking, “well measter, I’ve brought something at last.” Mr.
A.—“Well Baugh, what is it?” Baugh, drawing it slowly from his flannel;
“well I dunno know, but I’ll tell you my opinion. My opinion is that it
is a piece of the seat of Noah’s breeches; or else Noah must of sat down
on a soft piece of rock after the Flood and left the impression of his
corduroys!” We need scarcely say that the story excited a roar at the
time, or that its repetition when well told has raised many a broad grin
since.
{325} It was a lay too in another sense; for some forty years ago the
share of a plough, held by a man named Palmer, drove through the end of a
leaden pipe, which had been closed at each end and which on being opened
was found to contain a number of gold coins piled closely together; the
larger ones, the size of half-crowns, in the centre; others the size of
shillings at each end of them; and others the size of sixpences at each
end of these. Singularly enough there was neither date nor inscription
on either; so that who laid them by is uncertain.
{333} A chest was found in this house a few years ago with an ancient
date, and is now in possession of Mrs. Beckett, Nee Edge, of Sheffield.
{340} See appendix.
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