Читать книгу History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Shropshire [1851] - Samuel Bagshaw - Страница 19

Table of Contents

The following is a brief chronological sketch of the most remarkable events which have at different periods taken place in the town of Shrewsbury:—

A.D. 961—Land about Shrewsbury sold for one shilling per acre. The price of an ox was 2s. 6d., a cow 2s., a sheep 1s., a pig 8d.

1110.—A great earthquake, and great mortality among men and cattle.

1225.—Three gallons of ale sold for one penny in the town, and four out of town.

1315.—The price of provisions settled by the bailiffs.—A corn fed ox 24s., a grass fed ox 16s., a cow 12s., a fat sheep 1s. 8d., a fat hog 3s. 4d., a goose 2d., a hen 1d., a capon 2d., four pigeons 1d., twenty-four eggs 1d.

1347.—A fine horse 6s. 8d., an ox 4s., a sheep 4d., a lamb 2d.

1349.—The sweating sickness desolated the town.

1421.—Rees-ap-Doe, a Welsh Esquire, was hanged, drawn, and quartered here for treason.

1454.—Wheat sold for 14d. a quarter (eight strikes).

1490.—Wheat sold for one shilling and eightpence a bushel.

1509.—Provision made for building upon waste land and repairing decayed houses, by an Act of Parliament.

1519.—A general Chapter of the Grey Friars held here.

1520.—Griffith Wickham drawn through the town and afterwards hanged.

1532.—George Goldsmith drawn through the town and afterwards hanged, for coining money.

1537.—The plague raged frightfully during this year.

1542.—Rowland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, burned before the high altar of St. Chad’s church.

1563.—The bailiffs agree that no foreigner should be a freeman of the town without paying £10 and the usual fees.

1570.—Two men killed by the falling of the clapper out of St. Wenefrede’s bell, in the Abbey Church.

1571.—Humphrey Onslow built the chapel of our Lady in St. Chad’s church, and paved the causeway from the Lord’s place, (the Council House) to the cross, at his own cost.

1575.—That fearful malady, the plague, again visited Shrewsbury.

1581.—John Capper, clerk of the Abbey Church, was hanged at Kingsland for treason.

1582.—John Prestige was hanged upon a gibbet near the abbey mill, for the murder of his wife.

1588.—Richard Reynolds was put into the pillory and had both his ears cut off, for setting fire to a sheep-cote.

1591.—After the assizes in September, eight men were hanged at the Old Heath, one of whom was hung in chains there.

1596.—Wheat sold for 20s. a bushel, rye for 16s. a bushel.

1630.—Great numbers died of the plague. In 1632 and 1634—many fell victims to the same malady.

1647.—December 23rd. A woman was burnt in the dingle of the quarry for poisoning her husband.

1683.—An earthquake felt here, February 7; a dreadful fire in the Abbey Foregate.

1708.—Wheat sold for 9s. a bushel, muncorn 8s., rye 7.

1715.—It being the time of the rebellion new gates were made to the walls and the trained band called together.

1726.—Lamps were put up in several parts of the town, at the expense of the several parishes.

1727.—An earthquake felt here. A great meeting of quakers from all parts of England.

The judges of the assize were refused the usual compliments by the mayor, on which account the next assize was held at Bridgnorth.

1756.—Thirty-seven colliers brought to gaol for rioting and committing outrages in the county; four died in gaol, and two were executed.

1758.—The country butchers were again admitted to sell meat in the town, and shambles were erected for them near St. Alkmund’s church.

1762.—A great fire happened in New-street, Frankwell, on the 23rd February.

1766.—February 12th, 13th, and 14th, there fell a great snow in Shrewsbury, which lay on the ground several days, eighteen inches deep.

1772.—A smart shock of an earthquake was felt, which occasioned much terror and consternation.

1774.—On Good Friday, April 1st, a fire broke out in the Abbey Foregate, by which forty-seven houses were burnt down, and several others much damaged.

1775.—September 8th, the inhabitants were much alarmed with the shock of an earthquake; in the midst of a calm a rumbling noise much like that of a strong wind was heard; this was soon followed by two tremulous motions of the earth, succeeding each other instantaneously.

1778.—The Shropshire militia marched from Shrewsbury on May 7 to Bridgnorth, where they were reviewed; from thence they marched into Kent.

1780.—A stage coach began to run between Shrewsbury and Holyhead.

1782.—Baron Hotham laid a fine of £2000 upon the county, till they should build a new Shire Hall; the new hall was built 1786.

1789.—July 23rd, T. Phipps, a lawer, and his son, just twenty years of age, were executed at the old heath for forgery; Mr. Phipps had an income of about £300 a year from landed property.

1793.—May 13th, the first stone of the new Welsh bridge was laid.

1794.—April 28th, John Pritchard died in Frankwell in the 101st year of his age; he had ten children by the first wife, and twenty-two by the second.

1795.—February 7th to 11th, one of the greatest floods ever remembered in the Severn; Mr. Johnson and his man were both drowned in endeavouring to recover a large barrel.

1802.—A sturgeon eight feet six inches long, three feet four inches in girth, and weighing 192lbs. was caught near the wear below the castle.

1809.—February 7. The suburbs of the town deeply inundated by the Severn.

1811.—May 27th. An extraordinary flood in the Meole Brook, which inundated all the houses in Coleham, situated near the confluence of the brook with the river Severn, and caused the latter river to rise four feet in less than ten minutes; although the Meole Brook is an inconsiderable stream, the rush of water actually turned the current of the Severn at its confluence with that river.

1811.—August 24th. Four persons executed on the new drop for a burglary at Betton, near Market Drayton.

1814.—June 30th. Lord Hill paid a visit to Shrewsbury after the peace of Paris. The day was one of general festivity among the inhabitants; thousands went out to meet him, and in the evening partook of tea in the quarry. On the 17th of December the first stone was laid of the column in honour of Lord Hill.

1827.—July 19th. First stone of the new infirmary laid by General Lord Hill; opened for the reception of patients September, 1830.

1828.—August 4th. Three persons executed on the new drop of the county gaol for murder. On the 24th of the same month Ann Harris was executed for the same offence.

1831.—February 10th. In consequence of the sudden melting of the snow, the suburbs of the town were deeply inundated.

Though the flood in 1831 was considered a very high one, according to evidence of brass plates affixed to the inside of the window jambs of a house in Frankwell, the Severn at that end of the town was 3½ inches lower than the great flood in 1795. The lowest plate bears the following inscription:—

“This is to let you know

The Severn up to me did flow.

December 21, anno 1672.”

A second plate two inches above the preceding, records—

“To this line flowed Severn.

November 8, 1770.”

On the third plate six inches higher than the second is inscribed—

“This plate is fixed to let you know

That Severn to this line did flow.

February 11, 1795.”

1832.—The cholera morbus in its destructive career through the kingdom visited Shrewsbury, when about a hundred persons fell victims to that direful malady.

1849.—The cholera again made its appearance in Shrewsbury; the fatal cases were fewer than in 1832.