Slater's 1859 Shropshire Directory
9781465635129
208 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
This is an inland shire, bounded on the north by Cheshire and a detached portion of the Welch county of Flint; on the east by Staffordshire; on the south by the counties of Radnor, Hereford, and Worcester; and on the west by those of Denbigh and Montgomery. In length, from north to south, it is about forty-five miles, and its extreme breadth about thirty-five: its circumference is computed at one hundred and sixty miles, comprising an area of 1,341 square miles, or about 826,055 statute acres. In size it ranks as the sixteenth English county, and in population as the twenty-sixth. Name and Early History.—The derivation of the name Salop, or Shropshire, has not been with any degree of certainty established; indeed, so vague and various are the opinion of writers upon this subject, that to attempt to dispel the obscurity of its etymology would be to assume a task more critical than useful. This part of the Island was originally inhabited by the Celtic tribe Cornavii, and their chief city (which was situated, not far from the site of the present town of Shrewsbury), after its conquest by the Romans, became a station of the latter people, called Vriconium, and was fortified by them to secure the passage of the Severn. Under the Roman dominion Shropshire was included in the division called Flavia Cæsariensis. Shrewsbury is the principal, as it is the county town of Salop; yet, although no doubt can be entertained of its high antiquity, there is no authentic record of its origin: conjecture has, however, assigned that event to the fifth century. About this time Shrewsbury was esteemed the most important position on the Marches of Wales, and a strong fortress at this point continued for several centuries to be one of the principal places of rendezvous for the English armies, and hence was often visited by successive monarchs of the Saxon and Norman dynasties. In the military and political events connected with the county, Shrewsbury appears to have been a large participator. In the reigns of John and Henry III. it was taken by storm, being defended, on the latter occasion, by the adherents of the Empress Maude; and in the same Henry’s reign it was partly burnt by the Welch. In the reign of Edward I. a parliament was holden here, and David, the last of the Welch princes, beheaded. In this neighbourhood was fought a bloody battle between the army of Henry IV., commanded by his renowned son, and the forces of the fiery Henry Percy (surnamed ‘Hotspur’), in which the latter was slain, and after his interment his body was taken from the grave, and beheaded, as was his uncle, the Earl of Worcester. Richard, Duke of York, and George Plantagenet, sons of Edward IV., were born in Shrewsbury. Oswestry (corrupted from Oswaldstree) was conspicuous as a border town, and frequently became the scene of contest, first, between the Saxons and Britons, and afterwards between the latter and the Normans: the remains of its ancient castle, even in their present ruined state, are sufficient to attest its original prodigious strength. In the great civil war of the seventeenth century, Shropshire was the scene of much violence and bloodshed. In 1651, when Charles II. was fleeing, after the disastrous issue of the battle of Worcester, he, on the 4th of October, took refuge in White Ladies’ Priory, on the eastern side of the county; from that place he was conducted to Boscobel House, and, the day after his arrival there, was concealed, in company with Colonel Careless, in the ‘Royal Oak,’ in an adjoining wood, from whence he removed to a more secure hiding-place in Staffordshire. The last hostile movement made in the county was an ineffectual attempt, in 1654, by Sir Thomas Harris and others, to surprise the castle of Shrewsbury for the king.
