WENLOCK FRANCHISE.

THE WENLOCK FRANCHISE.

The Wenlock Franchise is bounded on the east by the Brimstree Hundred, on the !OUth by the Stottesden Hundred, on the west by the Condover and l\lunslow Hundreds, and on the north by that of South Bradford. The borough and franchise of Wenlock were formerly co-extensive with the Hundred of Patintem, mentioned in Doomsday Book, which compriseLittle Wenlock, Broseley, Madeley, Benthall, Barrow, Tinley, Badger, Beckbury, Priors Ditton, Stoke St Milborough, Eaton-under·Heywood, Hughley, Shipton, Monk Hopton, Willey, Deuxhill, and the Extra Parochial Liberty of Posenhall. By an order of quarter sessions, held at Shrewsbury, April 4th, 1836, the parishes of Badger, Deuxhill, and Beckbury, were added to the Brims tree Hundred; and the parishes of Eaton, Shipton, and Stoke St. Milborough, should thenceforward be considered a., part of the 1\Innslow HundreJ. Ir<>nstone, coal, limestone, and a superior clay, are found in this division of th~ county, which is celebrated for extensive iron-works, the manufacture of porcelain e~rthenware, tobacco pipes, bricks, tiles, and draining pipes. The manufacturing district is chiefly confined to the north and north-east verge of the franchise. It is intersecte

BARROW is a small but pleasantly sLuated village and parish, in the Wenlock Fmnchise, two miles east from Much Wenlock, and two miles south-west from Broseley. The parish contains 2,989A. Oa. 39P. of laud, the rateable value of which is £3,086. 6s. 1d. At the census in 1801 there were 479 inhabitants; 1831, 351; and in 1841 there were 85 houses and a population of 383 souls. Lord Forester and Sir Richard Acton, Bart., are the landowners. WILLEY HALL, a handsome mansion, is the occasional seat of Lord Forester. The lan