. .

290 CBURCR STRETTONJ SHROPSHIRE. [K~LL'r's

Church Stretton. The Shrewsbury and Hereford joint Lon.. are Ralpb DeanmontBenson esq.J.P. Cap~ Charles B. ~hilde, don and North Western and Great Western railway, opened Edward Gibbon esq. Mrs. Beddoes, Mra. Wilson, Alfred in 18521 has a first-class station here. The towa is in a Seymour, W. Baker Bolton, Joseph Cross Whiteburst, narrow but beautiful vale, on the direct line of road from Richard Dawes and W. Campbell Hyslop esqs. 'flie soil is Liverpool to Bristol. The place derived its name, " Stret­ clay; subsoil, gravel and rock. 'fhe area is, titheable land, ton," or "Street Town," from its proximity to the Roman 5,7I7 acres; common land, s,ooo acres; rateable value, road, Watling Street, which leads from Wroxeter, anciently £r5,256; the population of the parish in x88x was I,683, in~ ca1led U1kALL STRETTON township is situated about Ii miles north the Sandford avenue, which has been planted with trees and from the town, · presented to the town by the Rev. Holland Sandford M.A. LITTLE STRETTON' township is situated about Ii miles rector of Eaton-under-Haywood; it was opened December south from the town. 24th, 1884. Church Stretton town was made a special MINTON township is 3 miles south-west from the town ; drainage district, under the Public Health Act of I875 and the about three-quarters of a mile distant is a railway station, town has been well drained, the whole scheme costing over called Marsh Brook. William Franeis .Beddoes esq. is lord £I, 150; the district contains 35 acres. The church of St. of the manor. Lawrence is a cruciform building of stone, principally in the WALL LETTER Box cleared at 6.20 p.m. Early English style, with portions of Norman and Perpendi­ PosT, M. 0. & T. 0., :S. B. & Annuity & Insurance Otfica cular date, consisting of chancel, nave, transepts, south (Railway Sub-Office. Letters should have R.S.O. Shrop­ porch, and central tower, with pinnacles and a pyramidal shire added).-G. R. Windsor, postmaster, Letters ar­ roof and containing 8 bells and a clock with chimes, pre­ rive by mail at 3·43 a.m. & 3 p.m. ; dispatched at 10.25, sented by the present rector in 189o at a cost of £ I05 ; two a.m. 6.40 & 8.50 p.m. with extra stamp until 9 p.m. ; on new bells were added and the 6 old ones rehnng in I890: the sundays arrive at 3·43 a. m. ; dispatched at 8.5op.m. with north and south doorways are fine examples of Norman extra stamp until 9 p.m. Telegraph office open from 8 work: the chancel was richly ornamented with carved oak a. m. to 8 p.m.; sunday, 8 to 10 a.m. Parcel post closes by the Rev. R. N. Pemberton, a former rector, at the be­ 10.20 a.m. 6.30 & 8.30 p.m ginning of the present century: the east window and others SuB-PosT, M. 0., S. B. &. Annuity & Insurance Office, All are stained : the tower was restored in 188o at a cost of Stretton.-Mrs. Mary Beamond, receiver. Letters arrive about £300: in 1883 an organ chamber was built and a from Church Stretton 6.25 a.m. & 3·55 p.m,; dispatched new organ erected at a cost of £650: the marble pulpit, in­ at 4 & 7 p.m troduced in 188o, is a memorial to the Rev. Hugh Owen SuB-OFFICE, Little Stretton.-T. Jones, receiver. Letters. Wilson M.A.. rector here for 30 years, 1849-79, and was arrive from Church Stretton at 6.30 a. m. & 3 40 p.m. j designed by Mr. S. P. Smith, architect, and executed at a dispatched, 9.20 a.m. & 6.35 p.m. Postal orders ar& cost of £ I7o: a brass lectern was presented in 1888 by Mrs. issued here, but not paid Andrews, of Church Stretton : an additional burial ground SuB-OFFICE, Marsh Brook.-Mrs. A. Haywood, receiver. of two acres was provided for the parish in I868, at a cost Letters arrive from Church Stretton 7.10 a.m. & 4.15 p.m.;. of £450. The register dates from the year 1662. The dispatched at 8.40 a. m. & 6 p.m ~iving is a rectory, average tithe rent-charge £4o4, gross CoUNTY MAGISTRATES FOR THE UPPER MUNSLOW PETTY yearly value £542, including 68 acres of glebe, with resi­ SESSIONAL DIVISION. dence, in the gift of W. N. Heald esq. J.P. of Parr's Wood, Benson Ralph Beanmont esq. Lntwych hall, Much Wen­ Lancs. and held since I879 by the H.ev. Charles Noel-Hill lock, chairman M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford, and rural dean of Wenlock Rouse-Bonghton Sir Charles Henry hart.. n.r... Downton No. I. There is a Congregational chapel at Church Stretton, ball, Lndlow Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels at Little ~tretton Benson Rev. Riou George, The Rectory, Hope Rowdier, and a Primitive Methodist chapel at Lower Wood. HereJJ,re Church Stretton two private licensed homes f~r the insane, one for ladies at Benson Lyde ·Emest George esq. Lushcote, Much Wenlock All Stretton, established in 1845, under the management of Buddicom Wm. Squire esq. Ticklerton hall, Church Strettoa Mrs. Hannah McLintock, and one for gentlemen at Church Corbett Col. Edward D.L. The Bank, Longnor, .Shrewsbury Rtretton, established in 1853, under the management of W. Greene Henry David esq. Q.c. Grove, Craven Arms Campbell Hyslop -.esq. as superintendent ; .each ha:s 40 Hill John esq. I<'elhampton court, Church Stretton patients. A Working Men's Club and Reading Room was Hope-Edwardes Rev. St. Leger Frederick B.A. Netley hall,. established here in' 188o, but is open durinE;r the winter Shrewsbury months only ; it is provided with tbe London and local Ronse-Boughton Wm. St. Andrew esq. Overton, Ludlow papers, and has a small library of about 200 volumes. A Ronse-Bonghton-Knight Andrew Jobnes esq. B.A., n.r.... short distance from the town is a police station, with a Downton castle, Ludlow dwelling for the superintendent. There is a local Volunteer Wood-Acton Augustus esq. D.L. Acton Scott hall, Cbnl'cb Fire Brigade with one fire engi~e, the property of the Al­ Stretton liance Insurance Co. which is kept at Mr. David Hyslop's. Clerk to the Magistrates, John Wollaston Montford, Castle The Market ball, in the centre of the town, erected by sub­ street, Lndlow scription in I84o, in place of a quaint timber structure Petty Sessions are held at the Town hall the last tuesday in built in 16I7, is a square building of red brick with stone the month, at 11 a.m. The following places are included facing, supported on stone pillars; the upper storey is used in the petty sessional division :---.Acton Scott, Cardington, for holding the petty flessions and for concerts and public Church Stretton, Easthope, Eaton-under-Heywood, Hop& meetings, and will hold 250 persons ; the lower portion is Bowdler, Rushbury, Shipton, Wistanstow used for the market, which is held on Thursday ; it is well HIGHWAY BoARD. attended, and supplied with butter, poultry, eggs and meat. Meetings held at Union workhouse monthly, thura.. a p.m Six fairs are held annually, all for sale of horses, cattle, sheep Clerk, J. Baggaley Webster, Shrewsbury and pigs, viz. Jan. 2nd t.hnrs.; March, 3rd thurs.; May 14th Surveyor, John G. Dyke, All Stretton (and statute and hiring); July 3rd (and wool); Sept. 25th PuBLIC EsTABLISHMENTS:- (great sheep and colt fair); and last thursday Nov. There County Police Station, superintendent, one sergeant &; on& is a small factory for woollens and rugs, and aerated waters constable are prod need here to a large extent, the water on account Inland Revenue Office, Church Stretton hotel of its great purity being especially adapted for this purpose. Shropshire & Staffordshire (Ist) Artillery Volunteers (>­ A branch of the Salop Savings Bank wa..~ opened here in Position Battery), W. Campbell Hyslop, Iieut. in com­ 1821, and a branch of the Old Salop Bank has been estab­ mand ; 63 -rank & file lished. The Church Stretton hotel, built in 1865, at a cost Town Hall, Arthur Edward Zrinyi, manager of upwards of £6,ooo, is the property of a company : the Volunteer Fire Brigade, W. Campbell Hyslop, captain; one house is very commodious, well-lighted and ventilated, and engineer & xo men the general arrangements are under the superintendence of CHURCH STRETTON UNION. Mrs. Palmer, mana~eress. No. 3 Position Battery of the The union comprises the following parishes c-Acton Scott,.. Shropshire and Staffordshire Artillery is stationed in the Cardington, Church Stretton, Easthope, Eaton. Hope town. The charities, derived from numerous small gifts, are Bowdler, Leebotwood, Longnor, Rushbury, Shipton,. of the yearly value about £so. Near here is Caer Caradoc, Sibdon Carwood, Smethcott, Wistanstow & Woolstaston; one of the last of the strongholds defended by Caractacus, and the acreage is 43,886, including 5,000 acres of common the ramparts and ditches still remain ; the Longmynd range land; the population in 189I was 5,4oi; rateable value is I,674 feet aoove the level of the sea, and affords a prospect in I881, .ls6,785 including Snowdon and Cader Idris, and the mountainous Board day, every alternate thursday at the Workhouse, at district of Wales, the Beacon of Brecon and the Malvern 2 p.m Hills. Ralph Beaumont Benson esq. J.P. of A.berhafesp Hall, Clerk to the Guardians & Assessment Committee, Samuel Montgomeryshire, is lord of the manor, and holds his courts Harley Kougb, Church Stretton at the Buck's Head inn, in the town; the chief landowners Treasurer, T. S. Eyton, Salop Old Bank, Shrewsbury