SHROPSHIRE. (KELLY's GRINDLEY BROOK• • Billington John Hy
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• 308 WHITCHURCH. SHROPSHIRE. (KELLY's GRINDLEY BROOK• • Billington John Hy. Ltd. coal mers Groome Samuel, smith Pocketts Ann (Mrs.), Horse & Jockey Oheoshire, Shropshire & North Wales Hanmer William, The Canal tavern P.H Supply Association (head office, Hassall Charles, farmer Prince J ane & CarQline (Misses), shop Nantwich), millers & corn mers Higgins Thomas, farmer, Brook house keepers Garnett James, wheelwright Lewis Joseph Conway, farmer Wood James, lockkeeper HINT ON. Ethe1ston Edmnnd Peel-, Hint·on hall I Lewis John, farmer, The Fields l Vernon Jn. farmer, Hinton Old hall WIRSWALL. Bowler Samuel, The Mount Thorn Waiter, Wirswall hall Joyce John N. frmr. Wickstead farm Ethelston Herbert W. Wickstead hall Billingt<ln John Thos. frmr. Wood cot Lewis George Hugh (exors. of), Sharman Francis Maurice Malim, Chester Joseph, farmer fanners, N ewhouse Ellymoss cottage Hull Richard, farmer WHITTINGTON is a large parish, on the road from an exceedingly handsome and oocient timibered mansion, Oswestry to Ellesmere, 2! miles east-by-north from the with projecting gables, built towards the end of the reign former town, 17 north from Shrewsbury and St west ()f Queen Elizabeth; it is about half-way between Oswes from Ellesmere, in the Western division of the county, try and Whittington, and is approached by a fine avenue; upper division of the hundred of Oswestry, Oswestry the entra.nce hall, which is wainscoted and orna.mented incorporation, county court district and petty sessional with carved oak, has in the centre a massive oak table, division, rural deanery of Oswestry, archdeaconry ot dated 1581, the t<lp of which, cut from one plank, Montgomery and diocese of St. Asaph. The river Perry measures 20 feet in length, 4 feet in width and z! inches and the Shropshire Union canal pass through the parish. in thickne·ss; several of the apartments contain antique There is a station here on the Great Western railway oak furniture, elaborately carved, and decorated ceilings; from Shrewsbury to Chester; and one on the Carnbrian on the west side of the hall is the chapel. The chief at railway, both close to the village. The church of St. traction here is the ancient and now ruined castle, sup John the Baptist, erected in 1747, and rebuilt in 1804 posed to have been first built in the year 843 by a British at a cost of £1,soo, is a plain structure of brick, con- chieftain, whose descendants possessed it till the Con sisting of chancel with north aisle, nave, vestry and a quest, when it was given to Peverel, the founder of the western rower containing 6 bells: in rgo8 the north family of Peverels of the Peak, by whom it was rebuilt; aisle of the chancel was converted into a side chapel : in the reign of Henry II. it was restored to the family of the stained east window is a memorial to Constance Peverel, in the person of Sir William Peverel, whose Charlotte Crofon, d. 1B6o; and there are other memorial daughter Malet brought it as her dower to her husband, windows to Joseph Venables Lovett, d. 1866, and Mar- Gwarine de Meer, and their son, Sir Fulk Fitz-Gwarine, garet. his wife, d. 1851; Thomas Lovett, d. 1863; one and his descendants <lf the same name held this castle placed in 1895 to Col. Lovett, and one added in 1912 for eight generations ; the castle afterwards (by an ta the wife and daughter of Capt. John Henniker Lovett exchange) became the property of Henry VIII. by whom it D.L., J.P. : there is a marble tablet to the Rev. Charles was presented to Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, who lost it .Arthur Albany Lloyd, rector of this parish 1Bog-5x: by forfeiture; afterwards Queen Mary granted the castle in 1899 a chancel screen and choir stalls of oak were to Henry Fitz-Alan, las,t Earl of A.rundel K.G.; this noble erected as a memorial to the Right Rev. William man mortgaged it to a number of London citizens, who Walsham How, rector I851-79 and Bishop of Wakefield obtained the place in default of payment by him; William 1888-97• who died .August uth, 1897: the chancel was Alhany,cmez t~mongst the number, was, by the joint consent in great part rebuilt and a north chancel aisle added and approbation of the rest, put in sole possession of it, in 1861: the church was· further restored in 1884, and by the marriage of his great grand-daughter with when the vestry was added and a new organ introduced, Thomas Lloyd esq. of Aston, Whittington castle passed and again in 1894, when the greater part of the fabric into the hands of that family, and is now the property was renovated, at a cost of £2,ooo: on the roadside, of Major-Gen. Sir Francis Lloyd K.C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O., opposite the church, stands a handsome memorial cross J.P. of .Aston. The castle, before its demolition, was of Portland stone, about ten feet in height, also erected strongly fortified with five round towers, each 49 feet in r8go8 as a memorial to the Bishop. The register in diameter and 100 feet in height, and the walls were dates from the year 1591. The living is a rectory, net 12 feet in thickness; about the year 1760 the. eastern yearly value £503, includ'ing 42 acres of glebe, with tower fell into the moat, and some years afterwards one residence, in the gift of Major-Gen. Sir Francis Lloyd of the northern towers and the western wall were K.C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O. of .Aston Hall, and held since taken down to repair the road leading from Whittington 1896 by the Rev. Edward Pell Edmonds M.A. of Uni- to Halston bridge; in r8og a smaller tower was likewise versity College, Oxford, rural dean of Oswestry, and taken down to repair the exterior gateway; the towers surrogate. The Congregational chapel was erected in of the gate-house are still entire, and some portions 1897·8, and has 150 sittings; there is also a Congrega- of the ancient building have been modernised and used tional chapel at PREESHENLLE, on the St. Martin's as a village club and reading room; the ancient fosses road, erected in 1831, seating zoo persons, and there and entrenchments may yet be very visibly traced to are also Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels. a considerable distance westward of the castle. In the The Whittington charities amount t<l about £zoo yearly, towmhip of Daywell, in this parish, is Wa.tt's Dyke, derived from bequests; John Truston in 1659 gavt which Pxtends from Preeshenlle into the parish of St. land producing about £rs yearly, to be distributed in l\Jartin. The distance between this and Offa's Dyke bread every Sunday; Elizabeth Probert in 1675 gave (which crosses the hills above Selattyn) is about 4 land to the use of the poor of the parish, the present miles; these dykes run north and south, and the inter yearlv rent of which is £r3 1os.; Robert Jones in 1679 vening space was once thought to have been a common gave iand for the maintenance of a schoolmaster, of which mart where the English and Welsh met to carry on the present rent is about £20 yearly; Griffith Ap Hugh commercial transactions, either party if passing these in 1706 gave land for the teaching of poor children, the bounds being, it was said, exposed to the severities of present value being £r8 a year; John Ap Rice gave war; this theory, however, seems hardly consistent with 40s. yearly t.o the poor; Elizabeth Lloyd in 1696 gave an the fact that both these lines of fortification face west annuity of £r4, to be distributed to 12 poor families; ward, so that it would seem that they were both intended Sir Nathaniel Lloyd in 1704 left certain dividends, which, as defences against the Welsh. Major-Gen. Sir Francis as now settled by the Court of Chancery, provide annuities Lloyd K.C.B., C.V.O., D.S.O. of .Aston Hall, who is of £ro each to 8 persons in Oswestry and 6 in Whit- lord of the manor. Mrs. Swann, of Halston Hall, Mrs. tington; Francis Howell in 1842 left £200, the interest to Lovett, of Henlle Hall, Capt. John Henniker Lovett, of be divided amon~st 12 poor widows here and at Dud- Fernhill Hall, Mrs . .A. W. Corrie, of Park Hall, and leston; there are other small bequests. A society, Lord HarlMh are the principal landowners. The soil known as the "Ladies' Club," was established here in is varied, and the subsoil principally gravel. The chief the year IBII, with the object of raising funds for the crops are wheat, barley, oats and turnips. The acrea mutual relief of its members in sickness, confinement of the parish, comprising the townships of Whittington, and at death, and also for providing annual pensions Berghill, Daywell, Ebnal, Fernhill, Frankton, Henlle aftor a certain age; the club, which has long enjoyed and Hindford, is 8,603 acres of land and 63 of water; a local celobrit:v. is now a lodge of the Manchester rateable value, £24,934; the population of the civil Unity of Oddfellows, and holds an a.nnual fete in July. parish, which includes the former extra-parochial place Fel'nhill Hall is the seat of Capt. John Henniker Lovett of Halston, in rgu was 2,354, and of the ecclesiastkal D.L., J.P.; and Park Hall, r mile west from the village, parish, 1,047· of Alfred Wynne CorriP e"CJ· D.L., J.P.; the latter is Parish Clerk, John Grindley.