Transcribed from the 1880 Wrekin Echo Office edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

[ ]

HISTORY OF MADELEY,
INCLUDING
IRONBRIDGE, COALBROOKDALE, AND
COALPORT,

From the earliest times to the present,

WITH NOTICES OF
Remarkable Events, Inventions,
AND
PHENOMENA, MANUFACTURES, &c.

—:o:—

ILLUSTRATED

With twelve wood-cut illustrations, and photographs.

—:o:—

The work will be found to contain a copious Index,
and list of old family names.

—:o:—

BY
John Randall, F.G.S., Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports
and Sportsmen,” “History of Broseley,” &c., &c.

Published at “The Wrekin Echo” Office, Madeley, Salop, 1880.

INTRODUCTION.

The delay which has arisen in the publication of this work since it was first announced needs some apology. It arose from two causes; one the hope that fuller information might be forthcoming on some obscure points, the other that the book is chiefly made up of matter reprinted from the Salopian and West Midland Illustrated Magazine. It is therefore, to some extent, fragmentary, and not one for which the author can hope to receive the meed of praise bestowed upon his “Severn Valley,” “Old Sports,” &c. Notwithstanding this, the author believes the work will be found to be a satisfactory compendium of historical facts connected with the parish; and now that they are known it would be a comparatively easy task to produce a more creditable literary work. Johnson says we never do anything conscientiously for the last time without sadness of heart; the only sadness here arises from the consciousness that the opportunity, however much desired, of reproducing the work in an improved form is scarcely likely to occur in the lifetime of the author.

Madeley, 1880.

PREFACE.

The field of history is a wide one, but, in addition to its well-beaten track, there yet remains less frequented paths to explore in connection with our smaller villages and towns.

The design of the present work may be stated in a few words. It is simply to place before the inhabitants of Madeley, and those interested in its history, the various phases through which it has passed in its progress from feudal times to the present. Strangers often come and seek for information which they do not always get: and much that is known by old people of Madeley and its traditions would be lost unless noted down at once.

It will be seen that our information extends from the notice we get in Norman times, when tillers of the soil, swineherds, fishermen, a miller or two, and foresters, composed the population, the profits of whose labours were reaped by a priest and the monks of Wenlock Priory.

After the Dissolution it will be seen that the mansion was sold to the Brooke family, particulars of which we have given, both in the earlier and later parts of the work.

MADELEY.

There is a touch alike of poetry and of meaning in the name. Our ancestors were delineators of natural scenery, verbally, and by the use of names. Taking possession of primeval lands and uncleared forests, driving their aboriginal owners before them—in one or more syllables they were wont to give the history of a place, or the more distinguishing features of a country, and word-pictures then current come down to us little altered, having coiled up within them considerable sense and by-gone meaning. Tradition, no less than the popular and generally accepted etymology of the name, informs us that Shrewsbury was originally the place of shrubs; that the dusky crow croaked at Crawley, and the chattering daw built its nest at Dawley. The broc or brag—Anglo-Saxon terms for the badger, once numerous along the Severn Valley—gave us the Brocholes. To reynard we are indebted, in like manner, for the modern name of Foxholes—a place near to the latter, where this animal flourished when Madeley Wood, now covered with cottages, was what its name implied.

Little local or archæological lore is required to know that Madeley Wood was the wood bordering on the meadow, or that Madeley is a name derived from meadowly, or mead—a term still used in poetical productions of the day. In like manner, Mad-brook, a little stream on the borders of the village, meandering through meadow land, was Mead or Meadow-brook—as one of our smaller English rivers is called the Medway, from like circumstances, and as Brockton on Madbrook was formerly Brook-town—the town or enclosure on the brook. A tolerable estimate of Madeley, in one of its early phases, and as it appeared to the commissioners appointed to carry out the Domesday Survey, at the time it formed part of the manor belonging to the Abbey of Much Wenlock, may be gleaned from the following extract:—

“The same (St. Milburg’s) holds Madeley, and held it in the time of King Edward. Here is one hide (100 or 120 acres) not geldable (not liable to pay taxes) and three other hides geldable. In demesne are eleven ox teams, and six villiens (those employed in ignoble service) and (there are) IIII. boors (peasants) with IIII. teams. Here are IIII. serfs (slaves of the lower class) and there might yet be VI. teams more here. There is a wood sufficient to fatten 400 swine. In the time of King Edward the manor was worth £4 per annum; now it is worth £5 per annum.”

England at that time was covered over with such manors; they had overgrown the free peasant proprietors which previously existed in Saxon times. On each manor was the house of the lord with the Court yard and garden, &c., comprising several acres. The manor land was for the use of the lord, but portions were let off. Some doubt now exists as to the true meaning of a hide of land, as both hides and virgates on adjoining lands differed, but the conclusion that the hide was a land measure of 33 English acres has been received by some, whilst others hold that it meant a measure of land sufficient for the support of a family. The most important agricultural operation of the period was ploughing, and a peasant rarely undertook this for himself on his own little plot, which was not sufficient for separate or independent management, with his own team and plough. The team of a plough consisted then as a rule of not less than 8 draught cattle, and this continued to be the case, as recorded by Arthur Young. The bad fodder of that period diminished the labour power of the draught cattle, especially during winter ploughing, which was on straw feeding alone. Madeley is undoubtedly derived from terms still in use, Meadow and ley, or lia; meadows having sometimes been subjected for a whole year to common pasturage whilst the adjoining land lay fallow, in order not to exhaust it by constant hay crops.

Such was Madeley in the olden time, when men were goods and chattels, subject to the rapacity and oppression of their owners, when laws were enacted by which to kill wild animals was a crime equal in enormity to killing human beings, and punished with the same rigour; when the right to hunt was in the hands of kings and those holding tenure to whom they thought proper to delegate it. The park, to which the modern names of Park, Rough Park, and Park Street, now apply—names that serve to recall former features of the surface—was enclosed from the forest, mentioned in the above extract. Its origin was this; November 28th, 1283, King Edward (1st) being petitioned that it would not be detrimental to his forest of Mount Gilbert if the Prior and Convent of Wenlock should enclose their Wood of Madeley (though within the limits of the forest) with a ditch, and fence, (haia) and make a park there—allowed them to do so. The same park is alluded to in a valuation taken 1390; together with one at Oxenbold, which—including the meadows—was said to be scarcely sufficient to maintain the live stock of the Priory. The Prior, who appears to have built houses within the boundary of the forest, in 1259 was ordered to pull them down; but having offered a fine to the king a charter was granted the following year, stating that, “for £100 now paid the Prior and Convent may have the houses in peace, although within the forest.”

The Court House, formerly surrounded by this park, and near to the station now called by its name—on the Great Western line—is an exceedingly interesting building, and one claiming the attention of the visitor. The present structure is in the Elizabethan style of architecture; but the grounds present traces of earlier buildings. In the years 1167, 1224, 1250, and again in 1255, mention is made of the Madeley Manor. In 1379 the estimated value of pleas and perquisites of the court is entered at two shillings.

Near the old mansion is the Manor-mill, formerly worked by a steam called Washbrook, which formerly supplied the extensive vivaries or fishponds that furnished the kitchen of the establishment with the necessary means of observing fast-days. Interesting traces of former pools and fisheries are observable. Under date 1379, we find the water-mill at the Court or Manor house “fermed” for 10s. per annum, and at a valuation taken of the prior’s temporalities at an earlier period, viz., 1291, the same mill is mentioned. Mills, then, were invariably the possession of the lord of the manor, lay or ecclesiastical, and tenants were compelled to grind there. They were therefore an important source of profit, and carefully enumerated, and it is worthy of remark that where a mill is described as being at a particular place, even at an earlier period—as in the Domesday survey of the country—there, as in the case of the Manor mill at the Court, one is now generally to be found in ruins or otherwise. In the garden, which is still highly walled, and which was probably originally an enclosed court, upon an elegant basement, approached by a circular flight of steps—the outer one being seven feet in diameter and the inner one about three—is a very curious planetarium, an horological instrument serving the purpose of a sundial, and that of finding the position of the moon in relation to the planets. It is a square block of stone three feet high, having three of its sides engraved, and the fourth or north side blank. Over this is a semicircular slab of stone so pierced that the eye rests upon the polar star.

Although little of the original building where festivals were held, suitors heard, or penalties inflicted, remains, the present edifice has many points of interest. The substantial, roomy, and well-panelled apartments, upon the ground floor, and the solid trees, one upon the other, forming a spiral stair-case to the chambers above, are objects of no little interest. Ascending these stairs the visitor finds himself in the chapel, the ceiling of which is of fine oak, richly carved, having the arms of various ancient families in panels. The arms of the Ferrars family may be seen in a shield over the principal doorway,—indicating the proprietorship at one time of some member of that family. It was also the residence of Sir Basil Brooke, fourth in descent from a noble knight of that name, a zealous royalist in the time of Charles I.

This family appears to have been resident at Claverley in the fourteenth century. Mr. Brooke, of Haughton, near Shifnal, has deeds in his possession showing the purchase of certain arable and pasture lands at Beobridge, by Richard de la Broke, of Claverley, in 1316, and again in 1318, where he is described as Richard de la Broke, clerk, son of Richard de la Broke, Claverley.

Mailed and full-length fine stone figures of this highly-distinguished family, who lived here, and shed a lustre on the place, formerly reposed in the church, to whose sacred keeping they bequeathed their dust. Equally vain, however, were their bequests and hopes, for when the originals were no longer able to put a copper on the plate their very tombs were destroyed, and their stone effigies ruthlessly turned out of doors, and placed in niches outside the church, where, shorn of a portion of their limbs, they still do penance in pleading attitudes, and look as though they implored a bit of paint to prevent the inscriptions beneath from being lost for ever. The stone in one case has lost its outer coating, and the artifice of the sculptor in tipping nose and chin with a whiter material has been disclosed, and thick coats of paint are peeling off the defaced epitaphs which set forth the merits of their originals. The inscriptions are in Latin, but the following is, we believe, a free, if not an exact, translation:—

“Here lieth interred John Brooke, Esquire, the son of Robert Brooke, Knight, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He was a zealous and loyal subject of Queen Mary, and assisted her in securing her rights in opposition to the violent factions of the time. He published an excellent commentary on the English Law in several volumes. After a study of jurisprudence and science, being of an extensively liberal mind and universally beloved, he made a Christian-like end, October the 20th, in the year of our Lord, 1598, in the 62nd year of his age.”

The following is another:—

“Here lieth the remains of Etheldreda, the wife of Basil Brooke, Knight, a woman not only well-skilled in the knowledge of the Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish languages, and in the science of music, but also exemplary for piety, faith, prudence, courage, chastity, and gentle manners. She left to lament her loss a husband, with an only son, named Thomas, and five daughters, namely—Anne, the wife of William Fitzherbert, Esquire, the grandson of Henry, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, eminent for his commentary on our laws; Mary, the wife of Thomas More, a descendant of that renowned character, Thomas More, formerly Lord High Chancellor of England, a man in his life and death universally esteemed; Dorothy, Agatha, and Catherine, all of whom were of amiable dispositions. She died in the year of our Lord —” (the date is defaced).

The original is in Latin. The pillared arches and backs of the recesses are elaborately carved.

In “Villages and Village Churches,” published a few years ago, in describing Claverley, we stated that the present vicarage was supposed at one time to have been the residence of the Lord Chief Justice, whose likeness is carved upon one of the timbers. We also described a magnificent tomb of Lord Chief Justice Brooke, in the north-east corner of the Gatacre chancel, which is both elaborate and imposing. On the top are recumbent figures of the Lord Chief Justice in his official robes, and of his two wives, with ornamental head-gear, mantles, ruffs, ruffles, &c., of the period; and round the tomb are their eighteen children, also in the respective costumes of their time. On the outside is the following inscription, in Old English characters:—

“Here lyeth the body off Robert Brooke, famous in his time for virtue and learning; advanced to be com’on Serjaunt of the Citie of London, Recorder of London, Serjaunt at Law, Speaker of P’lyament, and Cheife Justice of the Com’en Pleace, who visiting his frendes and country, deceasd the 6th day of September 1558, after he had begotton of Anne and Dorothee, his wiefs, XVIII children. Upon whose sowles God have mercy.”

Jukes, in his Antiquities of Shropshire, says:—

“This Robert was the son of Thomas Brooke de Claverley, in this county, and was made Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the first year of Queen Mary, when he received the honour of Knighthood. He died in the communion of the church of Rome, A.D. 1558, and left his zeal for his religion to posterity, and his excellent performance of the Abridgment of the Common Law to the Students of that Profession. 36th Hen. VIII. William Astun did homage for a shop here. 38th Hen. VIII, the said Robert Brooke likewise did homage pro shopa in Madalie. Recorda Paschæ, 2d Edw. VI rot. 11, de Roberto Brooke, Armigero, et Dorothea uxore ejus occasionalis ad ostendendum qualiter ingressi sunt et tenent unam shopam et dimid. acræ terræ in Madeley. 3d. Edw. VI, the king grants to Edward Molyneux and Robert Brooke, of London, Esqrs. all that annual rent of £4 13s. 9½d. reserved to the crown out of this manor, together with the demenses of the same, and other lands therein specified, in fee simple. John Brooke, Esq. 27th Eliz. made a settlement of Madeley on Richard Prince, Esq. Sir Basil Brooke, Knight, 3d James I, sold lands here to David Stilgo, Robert and Edward Stilgo. Matthew Fowler, Gent. son and heir of Roger Fowler, had general livery 17th James for his lands in Madeley.”

Mr. Brooke had the reputation of being a great lawyer, and whilst a barrister we find him engaged by the Corporation of Shrewsbury to examine a petition from the town “for the discharge of the subsidies.” According to the entry in the Corporation books (1542) he and Serjeant Molyneux were paid 15s. for their services. He is described as Recorder of London whilst visiting the town, with Roger Townesende, Chief Justice of Wales, and Richard Hasshall, Esqr., “one of the Commissioners of our Lord the King,” and as being presented with “wayffers and torts,” at the expense of the corporation.

With regard to Basil Brooke, we find by an indenture of release, dated the 29th of May, 1706, that he, Basil Brooke, Esq., of Madeley, deceased, by his will bequeathed to the poor of the parish of Madeley the sum of £40, which the churchwardens and parishioners of the parish desired might be laid out in the purchase of lands and tenements for the use of the poor. And it was witnessed that Comerford Brooke, in consideration of the said £40, and also a further sum of £30 paid to him by Audley Bowdler and eight other parties to the said indenture, granted to the said Audley Bowdler and others, their heirs and assigns, three several cottages or tenements, with gardens and yards thereto belonging, situated in Madeley Wood, in the said parish, and in the said indenture, more particularly described, on trust to employ the rents and profits thereof for the use of the poor of the said parish in such manner as the grantees, with the consent of the vicar and parish officers, should think fit.

Near one of the fields adjoining the Court House, called the “Slang,” a man, while clearing a piece of rough ground, which appeared not previously to have been cultivated, a few years ago, came upon a large number of gold coins, chiefly of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and of the modern value altogether of between three and four hundred pounds.

Looking at what the place now is, and calling to mind what it must have been when the spacious rooms rang with the joyous laugh, and echoed the minstrel songs of bygone days, one is reminded of Southey’s Eclogues, in one of which he seeks to connect the past and present by an old man’s memory, only that in this case more than one generation has gone to rest since the old Court House was complete with park, and moat, and fish-ponds. The old stonebreaker bemoans the change in some old mansion-house thus—

“If my old lady could rise up—
God rest her soul!—’twould grieve her to behold
What wicked work is here.

* * * *

Aye, master, fine old trees.
Lord bless us! I have heard my father say
His grandfather could just remember back
When they were planted there. It was my task
To keep them trimmed, and ’twas a pleasure to me;
My poor old lady many a time would come
And tell me where to clip, for she had played
In childhood under them, and ’twas her pride
To keep them in their beauty.

* * * * *

I could as soon
Have ploughed my father’s grave as cut them down.
Then those old dark windows—
They’re demolished too;
The very redbreasts that so regular
Came to my lady for her morning crumbs
Won’t know those windows now.
There was a sweet briar, too, that grew beside;
My lady loved at evening to sit there
And knit, and her old dog lay at her feet,
And slept in the sun; ’twas an old favourite dog.
She did not love him less that he was old
And feeble, and he always had a place
By the fireside; and when he died at last,
She made me dig a grave in the garden for him,
For she was good to all: a woeful day
’Twas for the poor when to the grave she went.
—At Christmas, sir!
It would have warmed your heart if you had seen
Her Christmas kitchen—how the blazing fire
Made her fine pewter shine, and holly boughs
So cheerful red; and as for mistletoe,
The finest bush that grew in the country round
Was marked for madam. Then her old ale went
So bountiful about! A Christmas cask,
And ’twas a noble one. God help me, sir,
But I shall never see such days.”

Still greater changes than those described in the lines quoted above are witnessed at the old Court House and in its immediate vicinity,—changes so great that were it possible for one of its former feudal owners to revisit the scene he would fail to recognise the place. Ugly pit-mounds are seen surrounding the building; the place is illumined by the blaze of the blast-furnace, the screech of machinery is heard around it, and the snort of the iron horse sounds across the park, where the hounds were wont to

“Rend the air, and with a lusty cry
Awake the echo, and confound
Their perfect language in a mingled voice.”

The fashions and manners here represented have passed away, and these relics of antiquity look like fossils of old formations, or like dismantled wrecks cast up by the ever-moving current of time. They contrast strangely enough—these trophies of times gone by—with the visible emblems of man’s altered genius around. Modes of life have changed; every age has turned some new page as it passed. Instead of monasteries and moated manor-houses, with country waste and wood, thistled and isolated, whose wild possessors neglected even to till the surface, we have men of active mould, who do daily battle with the stubborn elements of the earth, while flashing fires flicker round their stolid effigies, telling of wealth-producing agencies that make millions happy. Ideas begotten of time, not then dreamt of, have leaped over moat and rampart, re-constituted society, converted parks into pit-mounds, and around the habitations of knighted warriors reared forges and constructed railways.

We are tempted to dwell a little longer here in connection with the Old Court, because considerable interest attaches to features, memorials, and traditions of such places. Viewed from the position we now occupy, a position the culminating result of past efforts and past struggles, they remind us of less favourable phases of society, and picture to the mind ideas, manners, and institutions—the cradle of our present privileges. Manor houses, many of which were destroyed during the Civil War, were held by the Church, and by distinguished personages, lay or clerical, who granted or leased land they did not themselves require. Hence the rise of copyholds—estates held by copy of the roll of the Court of the Manor. Courts were held within these manors and jurisdiction was had of misdemeanours and disputes. On forest borders, on grassy plains, amid fat meadow lands, by rivers, on rocky spurs and projections, these mansions or castelled structures stood, whilst their occupiers, with little industrial or political activity to escape the ennui of their position, were often driven upon the high road of adventure. One can scarcely conceive the privileged owners of such mansions to do otherwise than despise the dependent population—boors, serfs, and villeins, who cultivated their domains. Salient and strongly marked were the two classes—knowledge and power paramount with the one, ignorance and incapacity characterising the other: a proud supremacy and subserviency—claimed and admitted. Priors, bishops, and lay proprietors moved from manor to manor, taking their seats in these feudal courts, receiving homage and inflicting penalties. Woe to the bondsmen of the estate—doomed from the cradle to the grave to slavery—found guilty of an attempt to “steal himself,” as the old Roman law had it, from his lawful owner. Even tenants under these proud holders were subject to great exactions,—the cattle of the manor, boar or bull, by the condition of the tenure being free to roam at night through standing corn or grass: a provision as just as that with which in this the nineteenth century the lord of the manor has power, after purchase, to mine under and throw down the house one has built, in this same manor of Madeley, without one farthing compensation. Sturdy radicals, troublesome fellows, then as now held up at times the glass by means of political squibs to perpetrators of such injustice. One quaint old Shropshire satirist in the 14th century lashes severely the vices of the times. Another in a political song colours his picture deeply. The church at times interfered to mitigate the condition of the people, but the spiritual overseers of the poor, as a rule, thought more of the sports of the field than of their flocks except, indeed, at shearing time. Chaucer in estimating their qualifications was of opinion that “in hunting and riding they were more skilled than in divinity.”

We need not wonder, then, to find in the thirteenth century the Rector of Madeley a sportsman. Henry III, being in Shrewsbury, in Sept. 1267, at which time he concluded a treaty with Llewellyn, and settled sundry little differences with the monks and burgesses respecting a monopoly claimed by the former, of grinding all corn used in the town, and possessing all mills within its limits, granted through Peter de Neville to Richard de Castillon the rector, licence to hunt in the royal forest of Madeley. In such sport the clergy were borne out by their prelates. Of one Walter, bishop of Rochester, it is recorded that he was so fond of the sport that at the age of four score he made hunting his sole employment, to the total neglect of other duties. There were jolly churchmen in those days, for

“The Archdeacon of Richmond, we are told, in his initiation to the Priory of Bridlington, came attended by ninety-seven horses, twenty-one dogs, and three hawks. Walter de Suffield, Bishop of Norwich, bequeathed by will his pack of hounds to the king; whilst the Abbot of Tavistock, who had also a pack, was commanded by his bishop, about the same time, to break it up. A famous hunter, contemporary with Chaucer, was the Abbot of Leicester, whose skill in the sport of hare hunting was so great, that the king himself, his son Edward, and certain noblemen, paid him an annual pension that they might hunt with him.”

The faithful portraits Chaucer drew of the Sumptner and Pardoner, agents of ecclesiastical courts—one to hunt out delinquents who were wealthy, the other to make them pay well for their sins—are familiar to most. The prior of the Madeley manor carried this so far that he drew down upon him one bright day in April, 1243, before he was aware of it, a king’s writ for exacting “toll,” “on beer, seizing the third of widows’ goods who died within the vill of any deceased tenant, before his debts were paid, and otherwise oppressing those within the limits of the priory.” As the author of the “Antiquities of Shropshire” has said,

“The prior ground down the vicar, the vicar in turn impoverished his subordinates, and they (the chaplains) either starved their flocks or were themselves paupers. The bishops moreover, doubtless for certain considerations, connived at, nay, prominently aided the whole system of extortion.”

This had been carried so far as to require the presence of Bishop Swinfield, who held the See, in 1285, to rectify misappropriations of tithe in sheep and corn, and to arrange disputes respecting them within the boundaries of the Priory. In April, 1290, the bishop paid another visit, being by invitation the guest of the Prior; we do not get the expenses of the feast, but he is known to have been a joval soul, well to do, with two palaces in the country, and three in London, constantly moving about, taking care to carry about with him his brass pots, earthen jugs, and other domestic utensils for his retainers, who were littered down in the great halls of the manors, at each stage of the journey. He had numerous manor houses of his own, a farm at each, stables for many horses, kennels for his hounds, and mews for his hawks. His kitchens reeked with every kind of food; his cellars were filled with wine, and his spiceries with foreign luxuries. Take a glance at the bishop’s feast after a fast at his residence on the Teme. On Sunday, October the second, at the bishop’s generous board, the consumption was, three quarters of beef, three sheep, half a pig, eight geese, ten fowls, twelve pigeons, nine partridges, and larks too numerous to mention, the whole accompanied with a due proportion of wine.

Madeley not being a “fat living,” there was great shuffling on the part of the incumbents, none of them caring to hold it very long. One, master Odo de Horbosio, who was instituted March 14, 1299, on presentation of the Convent and Prior of Much Wenlock; and again, June 4th, 1300, has license to study, and to attend to business of himself and friends. August 2nd, 1300; William de Fonehope, who was presented by the Bishop of Hereford, (by lapse,) on March 18th, 1318, we find exchanging in 1322, with Sir William Hoynet, rector of Westbury; the said William the fifth of August, the same year, exchanged with James de Tifford, who exchanged with another, John Aron, who resigned it in November, 1319.

The oftener these changes occurred the better for the priors, who held the right of presentation to the bishop, and exacted fealty and fees. In Madeley, being lords of the manor, they nominated and presented the vicars: and in Badger, Beckbury, and elsewhere, where there were lay lords who nominated, they held the right of presenting such as were nominated to the bishop, and of exacting fees for their mediate offices between the nominators and the bishop.

As the land came to be cultivated, and the population engaged in agricultural and other pursuits increased in number, the living, we imagine, improved in value, and the advowson in importance. We have shown from the commissioners’ description in Domesday what was the state of Madeley just subsequent to the Norman conquest, and Madeley being still within the limits of the forest of the Wrekin, which surrounded it on three sides, little progress was made in the way of cultivation. From the “Survey of Shropshire Forests” in 1235, it appears that the following woods, besides those of Madeley, were subject to its jurisdiction:—Leegomery, Wrockwardine Wood, Eyton-on-the-Weald Moors, Lilleshall, Sheriffhales, the Lizard, Stirchley, and Great Dawley. Forest laws were rigorously enforced, and encroachments, either by cultivation or building without royal license to do so, were severely punished.

Prior Imbert was fined for three such trespasses, in 1250, in the heavy sum of £126 13s. 4d., chiefly in connection with Madeley. In 1390 the park and meadows the prior had been permitted to enclose with those at Madeley, Oxenbold, and other manors, were estimated as barely capable of maintaining the livestock of the priory.

A perambulation of forests in the reign of Edward I. shows the village of Madeley, with its bosc and two plains, to be disforested, as well as Coalbrookdale, one half of Sutton Maddock, and some other places. Coming down, however, to a much later period,—to the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Henry VIII., when he sold the Madeley manor,—cultivation had made considerable progress, and the property of the priory had very much increased in value. The last of the Wenlock priors, Sir John Bailey, alias Cressage, gave up possession on the morrow of the Conversion of St. Paul, 1539, with his own free will and consent, according to the deed, together with that of the sub-prior, and eleven monks. Take

“The fourth part of the Close Rolls of the 31st King Hen. VIII. 26th January, 31st Hen. VIII. Deed of Surrender to the Crown of the Monastery of Wenlock.

“To all faithful christians to whom the present writing shall come, we, John Cressegge, Prior of the monastery of St. Milburgh the Virgin, of Wenlock, in the county of Salop, and the Convent of the same place, greeting in the Lord everlasting, know ye that we the aforesaid Prior and Convent, with our unanimous assent and consent, and with our deliberate purpose, certain knowledge and mere motion for certain just and reasonable causes, as our mind and consciences specially moving, have freely and spontaneously given and granted, and by these presents do give, grant, and yield up, and deliver and confirm to our most illustrious and invincible prince and lord Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God of England and France king, defender of the faith, lord of Ireland and on earth of the church of England supreme head, all that our said monastery, and also all the scite, ground, circuit, and precinct, and church of the same monastery, with all our movable debts, chattels, and goods to us or our said monastery belonging or appertaining, as well those which we at present possess, as those which by bond or any other cause whatsoever to us and our said monastery are due in any manner; and also all and singular our manors, lordships, messuages, gardens, curtilages, tofts, lands, and tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, woods, and underwoods, rents, reversions, and services, mills, passages, knights’ fees, wards, marriages, bondmen, villains, with their sequels, commons, liberties, franchises, privileges, jurisdictions, offices, courts leet, hundred courts, views of frankpledge, fairs, markets, parks, warrens, vivaries, waters, fisheries, ways, paths, wharfs, void grounds, advowsons, nominations, presentations, and donations of churches, vicarages, chapels, chanteries, hospitals, and other ecclesiastical benefices whatsoever, rectories, vicarages, chanteries, pensions, portions, annuities, tithes, oblations, and all and singular other our emoluments, profits, possessions, hereditaments, and rights whatsoever, as well within the said county of Salop, and in the liberties’ of London, Sussex, Chester, and Stafford, as elsewhere in the kingdom of England and Wales, and the marches of the same, to our same monastery aforesaid, in any manner belonging, appertaining, appended, or incumbent, and all and all manner of our charters, evidences, obligations, writings, and muniments whatsoever to us or our said monastery, lands, or tenements, or other the premises with their appurtenances, or to any part thereof in any manner belonging or appertaining, to have, hold, and enjoy our said monastery and the aforesaid scite, ground, circuit, and precinct, and our church aforesaid, with all our debts, goods, and chattels, and also all and singular manors, lordships, messuages, lands, and tenements, rectories, pensions, and other premises whatsoever, with all and singular their appurtenances, to our aforesaid most invincible prince and king aforesaid, his heirs, successors, and assigns for ever; and in this behalf, to all effects of law, which shall or can result therefrom, we subject and submit ourselves and our said monastery, with all and singular the premises, and all rights to us in any wise howsoever acquired (as is fitting), giving and granting, and by these presents we do give and grant, yield up, deliver, and confirm to the same king’s majesty, his heirs, successors, and assigns, all and all manner of full and free faculty, authority and power to dispose of us and our said monastery, together with all and singular manors, lands, and tenements, rents, reversions, and services, and every of the premises, with all their rights and appurtenances whatsoever, and according to his free and royal will and pleasure to be alienated, given, exchanged, or transferred to any uses whatsoever agreeable to his majesty, and we ratify such dispositions, alienations, donations, conversions, and appropriations by his aforesaid majesty henceforth in any wise however to be made, promising, moreover by these presents that we will hold firm and valid all and singular the premises for ever; and that moreover all and singular the premises may have due effect we publicly, openly, and expressly, and of our certain knowledge and spontaneously will, renounce and withdraw all elections from us and our successors, and also all plaints, challenges appeals, actions, suits, and other processes whatsoever, rights, remedies, and benefits, to us and our successors in that behalf by pretext of the disposition, alienation, donation, conversion, and translation aforesaid, and other the premises in any wise howsoever competent and to be competent, and laying aside and altogether putting away all objections, exceptions, and allegations of deceit, error, fear, ignorance, or of any other matter or disposition, whatsoever as by these presents we have renounced and withdrawn and from the same do recede by these presents: and we the aforesaid prior and convent, our successors, our said monastery, and also all the scite, ground, circuit, precinct, mansion, and our church aforesaid, and all and singular our manors, lordships, messuages, gardens, curtilages, tofts, lands, and tenements, meadows, feedings, pastures, woods, and underwoods, rents, reversions, and services, and all and singular other the premises, with all their rights and appurtenances, to our aforesaid lord the king, his heirs, successors and assigns, to the use aforesaid, against all men will warrant and for ever defend by these presents. In testimony aforesaid, we the aforesaid prior and convent to this our present writing have subscribed our names and put our common seal. Given at our chapter house the twenty-sixth day of the month of January, in the thirty-first year of the reign of our aforesaid most invincible prince and lord Henry the Eighth.”

At any rate the prior, sub-prior, and eleven monks retired upon a pension of £100, which was divided between them thus:—

Sir John, the last of the long list of Wenlock priors,—many of them noble and distinguished men,—retired upon his life-pension of £30 to the old Court House, Madeley, where he resided till his death, which took place in 1552. Mr. Eyton says he died on Christmas-day, at the Madeley manor-house, and was buried next day in Madeley church. The Wenlock register, at Wynnstay, contains the following entry by Sir Thomas Butler, the then vicar:—

“1549. 25 Decr departed and dyed in the manor place of Madeley about IX of the clock in the nyght Sir John Baily Clercke the last Prior of Moncks that was in the Monastre of Moch Wenlock prior ther at the tyme of the Surrender thereof, whose bodie was buryed on the morrow, vz fest of St. Stephan in the parish churche of Madeley aforesaid.”

The same authority, Sir Thomas Butler, who seems to have been a most painstaking recorder of events, under date of February 20, 1539, has the following entry a little higher up:

“Edwd Browne Servant to my Lord Prior was married in Madeley and the Certf. entered in the book of the parish Church of Madeley.”

Unfortunately that register has been lost, if it existed. It may be that it did not, as many existing churches were then chapels, that is affiliations without a baptistery or a cemetery.

Madeley was subject to the mother-church of Wenlock, and we know how zealously the vicars of that church guarded their privileges. Broseley was in the same position, and in our “Tourists’ Guide to Wenlock” we quoted a memorandum made in the Wenlock register, in which the vicar says:—

“1542. Feb. 3rd Mem. at the same time in this Chancel of the Holy Trinity that I went to bury the Corpse of the sd John, Sir Edmund Mychell Parson of Browardesley aforsaid, in the presence of Rowland Wilcocks of the same Browardesley, willed me to give my consent that they of Browardesley might have their chapel there dedicate for the Burial there so to be had unto whom I answered (if the law would so bear me) I would not consent to the dedicating of that their Chapel of Browardesley nor of none other annexed and depending unto this the mother Church of the Holy Trinity of Moch Wenlock.”

These privileges were not strictly regarded, we believe, but as a rule the dead had to be carried to Wenlock to be buried, excepting in the case of persons of distinction, like lords of the manor or wealthy tenants of the prior, who were buried in the church.

The king having got possession of the property of the Wenlock priory, proceeded to dispose of it; and Madeley was sold to Robert Broke for what must have seemed a good round sum in those days. The following translation, which a friend has been kind enough to make for us, from a Latin copy of the original deed preserved in the archives of Madeley church, may be of interest.

Patent Roll, 36 Henry VIII., Part V. Grant to Robert Broke, Esquire, of the title and advowson of Madeley, co. Salop.

“The king to all whom it may concern, etc. salutation.

“Be it known to you all that we, in consideration of the sum of £946 3s. 8d., of our own legal English money, delivered over for our use into the hands of our legal treasurer, for the increase of the common revenue of our crown, by our beloved subject, Robert Broke, Knight, the sureties having been paid on the said sum of £946 3s. 8d., we declare that we shall be satisfied, contented, and fully indemnified, and that thenceforward Robert Broke, his heirs and executors, are to be exonerated and free from molestation, by force of these present letters, which we have given and conceded from our own special goodwill, certain knowledge, and of our own accord; and by these same present letters we give and concede to the aforesaid Robert Broke the whole of that manor named Madeley, with all and each of its rights, connections, and patronages, in our county of Salop, enjoyed lately over the priory of Wenlock, lately suppressed, in the abovementioned county, and all the belongings formerly attached to the lately existing monastery. Likewise all the other revenues of ours whatsoever, with their patronages in the above-named Madeley, and elsewhere in the above-named county, which have been part members or subject to the above-named manor, either by acknowledgment, acceptation, enjoyment, reputation, localization, or even by forcible separation.

“Likewise the advowson, the free enjoyment and the right of patronage of our vicariate parish-church of the above-named Madeley, in the above-mentioned county, as well as the rights attached to the whole of the place and buildings that go under the one name of the Smithy Place, and Newhouse called Calbrooke Smithy, with its patronages in the aforesaid Madeley.

“Likewise all our tithes of all fruits and grain annually growing, being renewed or produced in Madeley the afore mentioned, and now or lately in the possession of Richard Charleton; also the whole of that yearly and perpetual endowment of ours, viz., of three shillings annually, coming to us from the vicarage or church of the aforesaid Madeley; and the whole of that annual and perpetual pension of ours of 3s. 4d. annually, due from the rectory or church of Badger, in the above-named county.

“Likewise the messuages, tofts, houses, dwellings, stables, dovecots, stagnant ponds, and vivaries, springs, gardens and orchards, lands, tenements, incomes, revenues, dues, meadows, pasturages, woods, shrubberies, and trees.

“Likewise all the permanent feudal rights and customs, the permanent dues, endowments, tithes, offerings, belongings, annuities, products, revenues, and the annual result of engagements entered into by whomsoever such engagements and provisions were made . . . common fisheries, ways, paths, void grounds, as well, moreover, as the liberties, franchises, and jurisdictions, profits, emoluments, rights, possessions, and the rest of our heraditaments, both spiritual and temporal, with all their rights, situated, lying, within, and existing in the manor of the above-named Madeley, over the late priory, whether belonging to the possessions or revenues of the late existing. . . .

“This manor, in truth, with its tenements, and the other things premised, reaching the clear annual value of £46 17s. 7d., not considering the tithe. The aforesaid manor, its advowson, rents, revenues, services, and all and each of the other of its rights, are to be possessed and held by the aforesaid Robert Broke, his heirs and assigns, for the personal use of the said Robert Broke, his heirs and assigns in perpetuity.

“In consideration of the military service due in taxation to us, our heirs and successors, viz., the twentieth part of the value of one feudal knight, £4 13s. 9¼d. of our legal English money are to be paid to our legal treasurer, for the increase of the common revenues of our crown, on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, each year, for all the rents, services, and demands whatsoever . . .

“We also wish, and by these presents we concede, to the aforesaid Robert Broke that the said Robert Broke shall have and retain these letters patent of ours, drawn up in the usual manner, under our great seal of England, and signed without fine or tax, heavy or light, to be paid into our revenue office, or in any other way to be demanded or paid to the use of us, our heirs, or successors.

“Therefore express mention of this our will has been made, etc. In testimony of which, etc., T. R. Signed at Westminster, 23 July [1544]. On behalf of the king himself, in virtue of the royal commission.”

The MS. breaks off abruptly in places, probably from the copyist not being able to decipher the original. Of the Richard Charleton here mentioned we have no account in connection with Madeley, but a Richard Charlton is mentioned some ten years earlier, in the accounts of the first-fruits office, as the king’s bailiff or collector at the Marshe, near Barrow, where the Wenlock priors had one of their principal granges, and held a manorial court.

This was in the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Henry VIII., and shortly after the very subservient parliament of 1534–35 had requested the king “to be pleased, as their most gracious sovereign lord, upon whom and in whom depended all their joy and wealth, to receive the first-fruits of all spiritual dignities and promotions.” An earlier member of this family is also mentioned as Bishop of Hereford, examining the titles of the prior to certain privileges in Madeley, during one of his Visitations. We have also heard it said, but are not aware on what authority, that one of this very ancient and distinguished family at one time lived at the Hay, in the parish of Madeley.

The deed is further interesting from its mention of the ironworks at Coalbrookdale, described as Smithy Place and New House. It is earlier by a century than any notice previously met with, and we shall further allude to it when we come to speak of these works. The patronages spoken of, probably, were the rights exercised over the minerals by the Wenlock priors, one of whom, in the exercise of such rights, had, in 1322, for the sum of six shillings, granted a license to Walter de Caldebroke to dig for coals in the Brockholes, for the term of one year.

Some light is thrown upon the advowson and tithe of Madeley by interesting old documents carefully preserved in the vestry of Madeley church. The following copy of the “Terrier,” kindly lent by Joseph Yate, Esq., made March 14th, 1710, shows the kind of tithe then collected:

“True copy of the Terrier of the parish of Madeley, in the county of Salop. For the vicar and clerks’ fees, tythes, offerings, and minister’s fees, &c.

“Imprimis. The court demesnes pays Easter offerings for master and servants, but no other tythes, except eight shillings at Easter, in lieu of tythes. The general way of tything within the parish is: hay and clover is due throughout the whole of the parish, except the demesnes, and is to be gathered at every eleventh cock; grass at the tenth cock; every pig and goose pay at the tenth, but for want of that number pay at the seventh; wool and lambs pay at the tenth, but in case they are set, is twopence a fleece and threepence a lamb, and for what lambs are fallen in wintering the owner pays twopence; calves are gathered in like kind, at the tenth, but for want of ten, at sixpence per calf. One penny a cow, in lieu of milk. Tythes of orchards or fruit-trees are gathered in kind throughout the parish, except the demesnes. The parishioners pay twopence for every stall of bees they put down, in lieu of tythe-money. Twopence for every colt, and two eggs for every hen or duck. Three eggs for every cock or drake at Easter. Surplice fees are paid after this manner: every marriage solemnized by banns, three shillings and sixpence; if by license, five shillings (let the parishioner be man or woman). For churching every woman, sixpence. Easter dues are: every man pays threepence, every woman pays twopence; one penny smoke, and one penny garden, clerks fees. Every hen at Easter, one egg; every marriage by banns, sixpence; if by license, one shilling. Churching every woman, twopence. Every burial without a coffin and ringing the bell, twopence; if with a coffin, one shilling and sixpence. Fourpence for every plough land; twopence every householder; double fees for all strangers (and likewise the minister). Ten shillings per year for looking after the clock. Tythes of corn-mills are due in all parishes except demesnes.

“Taken 14 March, 1710. Jeremy Taylor, vicar. John Stringer and William Wood, churchwardens.”

It would appear from this that the dead were sometimes buried without a coffin, in which case a coarse cloth was, we believe substituted. The “smoke penny” was a penny collected for every chimney emitting smoke, or rather a tithe paid to the vicar upon the wood burnt. A dispute having arisen in the earlier part of the last century between the vicar and impropriator, respecting the right of the former to tithe on woods, a parish meeting was called and a case got up by the vicar and churchwardens for the opinion of counsel, in which the payment of the smoke-penny was quoted to establish the vicar’s claim. We give the queries put and counsel’s replies in the Appendix.

Tithe and Easter offerings were occasionally paid in kind, as appears from the churchwardens’ accounts. In one case two heifers are mentioned, which it is added, produced forty shillings.

In the churchwarden’s accounts of Easter offerings to the vicar of Madeley, in 1693, we get an insight of the household of the Court. The sums given are not stated, but the entry is as follows:—

“Basil Brooke and wife gave —, John Brooke gave —, John Bowdler gave —, John the butler gave —, Dennis — gave —, Joseph Littlehales gave —, Thomas gave — Francis, — gave —, Anthony — gave —, Edward — gave —, Mrs. Lawson gave —, Margaret — gave —.”

We have already referred to this distinguished family in connection with Madeley and Claverley, where one branch continued to reside for many generations, whilst another was seated at Blacklands, in the neighbouring parish of Bobbington. Dukes says:—

“The family of Brooke, formerly of Lapley, in Staffordshire, and afterwards of Bobbington, and subsequently of Haughton, in Shropshire, had possessions in this parish, in whose family it continued until 1800, when the capital mansion and estates belonging thereto were sold by George Brooke, Esq. to different purchasers.”

In Claverley the name of John de la Broke occurs in 1242, and that of Thomas de la Bruche, in 1260, both of whom are supposed to have resided there. In 1268 a Geoffrey de la Broke is mentioned as having been on an inquest at Kinver. From 1299 to 1338 Richard de Broke, of Claverley, is sometimes called Richard atte [35] Broke, in connection with juries on which he sat, and in attesting deeds at Claverley, Bridgnorth, and elsewhere. In 1316 he was a grantee of land at Beobridge, whilst his son Richard is mentioned as a clerk in 1318, and the same son is again mentioned with his father in 1324. In 1342 and 1343 this succession, Mr. Eyton thinks, continues in Thomas atte Broke, of Claverley; but Randolf atte Broke, who was at Enville, in 1347, he takes to have been an ancestor of Brooke of Blacklands, one of whom (deceased in 1385) seems to have married a co-heiress of the Gravenors.

We have already noticed the very magnificent alabaster tomb, in the N.E. corner of the Gatacre chancel, on which are the recumbent figures of Lord Chief Justice Brooke, in his official robes, and his two wives, one on each side; and a subsequent visit enables us to add some additional particulars. The female-figures have ornamental head-gear, flowing mantles, single ruffs round their necks, three rows of chain necklaces hanging loose, and ruffles with braid at the hands. On the three sides of the tomb are figures of their eighteen children, in the dresses of the time. This tomb must have been a gorgeous one, for a close inspection shows traces of gold and colour, which once adorned the principal figures. It is to be regretted that the arms of this distinguished family, like those of the Gatacre, the Beauchamp, the Talbot, the Ferrers, and some others, which, about the end of the seventeenth century adorned this church, have disappeared. Among others Mr. Eyton, in his “Antiquities of Shropshire,” gives the following:—

“Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * *, and * *, a crescent for difference; second and third, * * a Cross Flory * *. (‘Thomas Broke’ written over this Coat.)

“Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * * and * *, on a Chief * *, a Brock * *; second and third, Arg, a Cross Flory Sa.

“Brooke (quarterly) empaling—Paly of six, Or and Az, a Canton Erm.

“Quarterly—first and four, Chequy Arg and Sa; second and third, Arg a Cross Flory Sa.”

Over each of the doors, forming an entrance to, or egress from, the gardens, at the old Court House, Madeley, are massive stones, with the arms of the Brooke family, but without the crest. These correspond, too, with the arms of the Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton, near Shifnal, who represents another branch of the family of the Brookes, of Claverley. They are as follows:—

Parted per pale first Chequy * * and * *, second, Paly of six * * and * *, a Canton Ermine.

Parted per pale first Chequy * * and * *, second * * a Chevron, * * between three Helmets.

Arms on Ceiling of Chapel.—Quarterly—first and fourth, Chequy * * and * *, second and third, * * a cross Flory * *.

Shield of Arms in what was originally the large Dining Hall below.—Quarterly—first Chequy, * * and * *, second * *, a cross Flory * *, third * *, a fess Chequy * * and * *, between ten Billets * *, fourth * *, a fess * *, thereon three Bugle Horns * *, stringed * *, garnished * *, between three Bucks’ Heads cabossed * *.

Crest: Ostrich.

There are also coats of arms over the gatehouse of the Brooke family, [37] those over the window and doorway being—

Party per pale. First Chequy * * * and * * *. Second paly of Six, and a Canton Ermine.

On the right tower—

Paly of Six * * * and * * * with Canton Ermine.

On this tower also is an heraldic rose, and on the left * *, a Cross Pommee, * *.

The first entry of an interment in the register at Claverley, the vicar tells us, is that of a Brooke, and the second entry in the register at Madeley is also the interment of a member of the same family.

Subsequent and more detailed examinations of the arms in various parts of the Court House and adjacent buildings throw a doubt upon the statement in a previous page, as to the proprietorship or occupation at one time of the Ferrers family. These arms differ, it will be seen, as may be expected, from marriages and inter-marriages, but we are not sufficiently acquainted with the arms of other old families of the time to say with what or whose arms they were incorporated, and it would be overloading our pages with genealogical lore to go into details. A family, some of the members of which had two wives and eighteen children, would naturally soon spread itself about the country.

The Rev. C. Brooke, of Brackley, Northants, as these pages are going through the press, writes to say:—

“From the similiarity in the arms it would seem that there was a connection between Robert Brooke of Madeley Court, and Brooke of Blacklands, whose arms are given by Dr. Plot, in his ‘History of Staffordshire,’ as ‘Chequy, arg. and sable;’ but it does not appear to be so by the pedigree in the Visitation taken 1623, or by the pedigree of Brooke of Blacklands, compiled by Mr. Eyton, for the Rev. J. Brooke, from original deeds at Haughton, which he did as well as the scanty records would allow.”

A contributor to “Salopian Shreds and Patches” (Feb. 9, 1876) says one of the bells of Church Stretton church has the following inscription:—

“Donatum pro avi Edwardo Brooke de Stretton Generoso. 1711.”

And adds—

“Assuming that this is a correct reading of the abbreviated words on the bell, the following is a literal translation:—‘Given for luck by Edward Brooke, of Stretton, gentleman. 1711.’”

The Rev. John Brooke, of Haughton, unwilling that one of the family should have been supposed to have associated the word “luck” with things so sacred, writes to say:—

“On referring to the copies of the Claverley registers, as I have, I find that ‘Avis’ was the Christian name of one of his wives, 1636; therefore, after all, Edward Brooke probably gave the bell in memory of either his wife or a daughter of that name.”

One of the Brookes, residing or having property, or both, at Coalbrookdale, went to Ireland, taking the name of the place with him, and calling it “Colebrook.”

In a work published on distinguished Shropshire families is the following, which is interesting from its bearing upon an important historical fact:—

“Robert Brooke Miles married three wives; one, Anne, d. and heir of Michael Warringe de Salop. He died 1558.

↓

John B. died 1598, aged 60. + Anne, d. of Francis Shirley, of Staniton, co. Leicester.

↓

Sir Basil Brooke Miles, 1623, died 1646. + Etheldreda, d. and sole heir of Edmund Boudendil.”

Sir Basil was one of the sporting friends whom Giffard of Chillington drew around him at his housewarming on the border of Brewood Forest, a house which subsequently gave shelter to the Earl of Derby and King Charles the First. It was built nominally as a hunting-seat, but really for purposes of concealment; and the site on the bolder of two counties, deep in the recesses of woods, traversed by no public roads, was exceedingly suitable. It is said that on the completion of the building the owner invited a few friends to dinner, to celebrate the occasion, and amongst them Sir Basil Brooke, of the Court House, Madeley, who had recently returned from Italy, and who on being requested by his host to supply a name for the place, suggested Boscobel, or Bos co Bello; and this was considered so appropriate, from the prospect it commanded of the beautiful woods around, that it is said to have been at once adopted.

It will be seen from what we have previously stated that the family of Brooke continued to reside at Madeley till 1706, when, according to the benefaction-table in the church, Basil Brooke by will bequeathed the sum of £40, and for a further sum of £30, paid him by Audley Bowdler and eight other parties, sold three several cottages or tenements, with gardens and yards, at Madeley Wood, for the use of the poor. [40]

The next tenant of the Court appears to have been the first Abraham Darby, for we find that he died there, after which time we find no tenants of more importance than the Purtons and the Triggers, who were farmers, and held the land around.

Thus early, even in Madeley, did the great owners of the soil—who merely tilled the surface, and scarcely that—give place to miners and ironmakers who knew how to win wealth from beneath.

With regard to this fine old mansion itself, having about it the symbols of ancient and distinguished Shropshire families, and associated at still earlier periods with the history of the wealthy monastery of St. Milburgh, it is fast going to decay. The last of the long and distinguished line of Wenlock priors lived and died here, as did the first great Shropshire ironmaster, the first Abraham Darby, afterwards, and one almost regrets that the wish of the late James Foster, who purchased the property, to repair and restore it, was not carried out. The temptation to get the mines underneath it, however, proved too strong: the whole has been undermined, and from attacks below and above, with all the usual elements of decay at work, must ere long disappear, rich as it is in associations of the past.

It is one of that class of buildings the country can ill afford to spare, for it speaks not to the antiquarian or the historian merely, but to all who take an interest in the manners, customs, and domestic arrangements of the past. It is difficult to say which are the original portions, but the vaults and cellaring, and some other parts appear to have belonged to a building which has undergone many changes. The windows, walls, and doorways of that portion of the building occupied by Mr. Round, and the substantial foundations that gentleman found beneath the surface in cutting a drain in the same direction, with a well 15 yards deep, indicate pretty clearly an extension of the buildings formerly on that side.

On going inside, and descending a spiral stone staircase to the basement story of the building, visitors will have opportunities of seeing how substantially the walls are built. They are a yard and a half in thickness, and have narrow openings, each growing narrower towards the outside, every two converging towards a point similar to what the reader has witnessed in many a fortress of byegone times, and designed no doubt for the same purpose, for defence. This staircase did not then as now terminate in what was the large hall, but in the adjoining apartment, now used as a brewhouse. The partition, too, which shuts off the entrance to another pair of stairs near the coat of arms on the north did not exist, nor the stairs either. The room is now 38½ feet long; then it would be 40, by 22 feet wide, and 14 feet high. Beneath these arms, on a daias, probably, the head of the house would sit dispensing hospitality. The chief staircase was near the other end of the hall, and composed of immense blocks of solid oak. The spiral stone staircase from the base of the building to the chapel at the top of the house was for the use, it is supposed, either of the dependents or the officiating priest. A further examination of the arms on the ceiling and a comparison with those in other parts of the building show them to be those of the Brooke family. An oak screen divides the chapel, which is wainscoted to the ceiling with oak. On the eastern side of this screen is a piscina, which has been cut out of the solid brickwork, and which at a subsequent period must have been concealed by the wainscoating. In the western division, behind the wainscoating, is a secret chamber, a yard square; probably for concealment in times of danger. It is communicated with by a panel in the wainscoat just large enough to admit a man, who, once inside, had the means of bolting and barring himself in behind the oak panel, which would look in no respect different to the others. This is called king Charles’s hole, but there is no evidence or well-founded tradition that he occupied it. There are a number of other curious nooks and small chambers which might have served purposes of concealment in troubled times, and probably did so, when the votaries of the two dominant religions, fired with a zeal inspired by their positions, alternately persecuted each other, as in the times of James, Mary, and Elizabeth. It is an error however, and one which Harrison Ainsworth among others appears to have fallen into, to suppose that the unfortunate king Charles either came to the Court House or was secreted in it. It is probable enough that, from the well known loyalty of the owner, the house would be searched by the Parliamentarians for the king, and the fact that they were likely to do so would lead to more discretion in selecting a place of concealment. The fine old wainscoating is falling from the rooms, and the whole place presents a scene of utter desolation.

From the upper portion of the building a pit, said to be without a bottom, and leading to a subterranean passage to Buildwas Abbey, may be seen. There is of course no ground for either tradition: a house which belonged to the priors of Wenlock would want no communication with a rival monastery, which was looked upon with jealousy, and the more abstemious habits of the inmates of which were in some measure a reflection upon their own. The pit or well has no bottom, inasmuch as it slants when it gets below the building in the direction of the pool in which it terminates.

Outside the building are some of the grotesque, nondescript stone figures which builders of the Gothic age indulged in. On this side, too, is a handsome stone porch, which, like some other portions of the same building is more modern than others. The gate-house, like the porch, is both more modern, and more Elizabethan than the other. It is a well-proportioned and beautiful building, exciting the admiration of all who see it. It possesses several heraldic embellishments, relating to the Brooke family.

It is a pity that the memorials of a family so ancient and distinguished, and so connected with the early history of Madeley, have not been better preserved. There must, one would think, have been mural monuments of a costly kind in the old church, seeing that the family lived at the Court for two centuries and a half at the least.

The stone of which the house was built was quarried near the spot, but the shelly limestone covering for the roof must have been brought from Acton Burnell, or somewhere near. It is from the pentamerous beds of the Caradoc sandstone. The house is supplied with spring-water by pipes from an ancient reservoir on the high ground near where the stone used was probably quarried.

King Charles’s Visit to, and Concealment at, Madeley.

The first indication we find at Madeley of the troubled times which ushered in the most remarkable episode in the history of the 17th century is an entry in the church register, under date of April 14, 1645, informing us that on the above date one William Caroloso was buried, the church at the time being garrisoned by a Parliamentary regiment, commanded by Captain Harrington. A page of history was being written which in all future times would be read with interest; agencies, the growth of centuries, had been developed; struggles for political and polemical equality had disturbed the stagnation of ages. The injustice of the courts, the persecutions, pillorings, and beheadings of reformers and standard-bearers of truth, and the weakness and insincerity of monarchs, had culminated in revolution, and six years later the weak vacillating monarch, Charles II., after the battle of Worcester, where 3,000 of his army had been left upon the field, came a fugitive to Madeley. The story of his flight, his disguise, and of his lodging in “Wolfe’s bam,” is an episode in history that illustrates the vicissitudes of life, affords a startling lesson to royalty, and brings into relief the devotion and faithfulness of those in humble spheres to others when in misfortune. Having ridden in hot haste from Worcester, and fallen in with the Earls Buckingham, Derby, Wilmot, and others, “I strove,” he tells us, “as soon as it was dark, to get them to stand by me against the enemy, I could not get rid of them now I had a mind to it, having, afterwards slipt away from them by a by-road when it was dark.”

The story of his retreat through Kidderminster, where Richard Baxter describes the balls flying all night, and the hurried northward flight under the trusty scout, Master Walker; then the second pause of terror on Kinver Heath; the stolen and breathless flight through Stourbridge; the short and poor refreshment at Kingswinford; and the long gallop to the White Ladies;—the whole flight being certainly forty miles—has been so often told as to be familiar to the reader.

These and other incidents of the flight have been worked up in a drama, in five acts, by Mr. George Griffiths, of Bewdley. Scene 2 is laid at the White Ladies (nine miles from Wolverhampton and one from Brewood, now occupied by Mr. Wilson).

“Enter Col. Roscarrock, Richard Penderell, of Hobbal Grange, Edward Martin, a servant, and Bartholemew Martin, a boy in the house.

“Col. Roscarrock (to the boy Martin):
Come hither, boy, canst thou do an errand,
And speak to no one on the road to Boscobel?

“Boy.—That I can, Sir, without reward or fee;
Trust me, I will not say one word
To any he or she, so tell me what’s my duty.

“Col. Roscarrock.—Go off to Boscobel the nearest road,
And one that fewest folks do travel by.
Tell William Penderell to hasten hither,
Without a minute’s stopping,
And should he ask thee why and wherefore,
Tell him Good Master Giffard wants him here
Without delay, and see thou com’st back with him;
And shouldst thou meet or pass folks on the road,
Say nought unto them as to where thou’rt going
Or what thy errand is. Haste, and some coin
Shall warm thy pocket if thou mind’st my words.

“Boy.—Aye, aye, sir, humble boys have sharpish wits.
Because their simple food keeps them in health;
I’se warrant the Squire’s son, though so well fed,
Cannot leap gates like I, or ride a horse
Barebacked across the hedges of our farm.
Aye, aye, sir, I can keep my counsel, too;
I know a hay-fork from a noble’s sword,
And I do feel that with my harvest fork
I could defend a king as stoutly
As those who carry golden-handled swords.
I go, and no man, no, nor woman either,
Shall coax one word from off my faithful tongue.

[Exit.

“Col. Roscarrock.—See now, how this young varlet guesses all,
His eye alone told all I thought unknown;
Well, trusty friends dwell oft in rustic hearts
With more sincerity than in the breasts
Of those who fill the highest offices.”

Boscobel was selected upon the suggestion of the Earl of Derby, who, defeated and wounded on the 25th of August, 1651, at the battle of Wigan, by the Parliamentary forces under Colonel Lilburn, found his way hither whilst seeking to join Charles at Worcester, and who, after four or five days rest here, went on, and reached Worcester on the eve of the famous battle.

Boscobel, so named, as we have seen, by Sir Basil Brooke, of the Court House, Madeley, on account of its beautiful and well-wooded situation, and built ostensibly as a hunting-lodge, but in reality as a hiding-place for priests, amid the sombre forest of Brewood, was often used for the purpose for which it was designed, as well as a shelter for distressed Cavaliers.

The story of the disfigurement of Charles, and his crouching wet and weary in the woods, has been often told in prose and verse. We quote Griffiths again:—

“W. Penderell (to the King).—Sire, disguise is your first need, henceforth your title must not pass
Our lips; here in this chimney rub your hands
And then transfer the blackness to your face.
We must in, and clothe you in a rustic suit
Of green, with leathern doublet and a noggain shirt
For we have heard that troops have come to Codsall
But three miles off, under the traitor Ashenhurst.
Haste! Haste! and when your rough disguise is donned
We must take shelter in the thick Spring Coppice,
The darkest covert Boscobel doth claim.

“Scene 4. Richard Penderell’s house at Hobbal Grange. Enter the King, old Mrs. Penderell, and her son Richard.

“The King.—We must not stop here long, the air is full of spies,
The night now favours us; no moon nor stars
Shine out to show us to our enemies.
Let’s hence to Wales, fidelity lives there
More than on English soil. Oft have I read
Of their unvarying faith to those they served,
What straits and stratagems they felt and wrought,
To save misfortune’s sons from grievous fates.

“R. Penderell.—We must disguise you more;
Rub well your hands in the wet dirt,
Here, take this bill, a woodman you must be,
And for a name let William Jones suffice;
Shew no dread, but speak few words,
For fear they should betray your better teaching.
Come, let’s away, I have a friend at Madeley,
Wolfe by name, faithful and trusty.”

William Penderell acting as barber, the king was eased of his royal locks, his hands and face were toned down to that of a country labourer, and he sallied forth, wood-bill in hand, in the direction of Madeley, with “a country-fellow,” whose borrowed suit he travelled in. To understand his majesty’s toilet the reader must conceive the royal person in a pair of ordinary grey cloth breeches—“more holy than the wearer”—rather roomy in the slack; a leathern doublet, greasy about the collar; hose much darned; shoes that let in dirt and wet to the royal feet—ventilators in their way; and above all a sugar-loaf hat, rain proof by reason of grease, turned up at the sides, the corners acting as water-spouts. Thus disguised, the rain pouring in torrents, on a dark night, along a rough by-road, “guided by the rustling sound of Richard’s calf-skin breeches,” through mud and mire, over ruts, plunging now and then into swollen streams, the king and his guide travelled in the direction of Madeley. Slamming the gate at Evelyth bridge, in the middle of the night, brought out the miller, who ordered them to stand, and raised an outcry of “Rogues, rogues.” Foot-sore and weary, resolving sometimes to go no farther, then plucking up their spirits and trudging on, the house of Mr. Wolfe, who had “hiding holes for priests,” was reached, where the king slept in a barn.

Hearing from Mr. Wolfe’s son, who had escaped from Shrewsbury, that every bridge and boat were in the possession of the Roundheads, so that escape in that direction was hopeless, it was decided to advise his majesty to return. Mr. Wolfe, according to Pepys, persuaded the king to put on “a pair of old green yarn stockings, all worn and darned at the knees, with their feet cut off, to hide his white ones, for fear of being observed;” and Mrs. Wolfe having again had recourse to walnut-juice for the purpose of deepening the tone upon the royal face, he again set out in the direction of Boscobel. The king, in the diary above quoted, is made to say:—

“So we set out as soon as it was dark. But, as we came by the mill again, we had no mind to be questioned a second time there; and therefore asking Richard Penderell whether he could swim or no, and how deep the river was, he told me it was a scurvy river, not easy to be past in all places, and that he could not swim. So I told him, that the river being a little one, I would undertake to help him over. Upon which we went over some closes to the river side, and I, entering the river first, to see whether I could myself go over, who knew how to swim, found it was but a little above my middle; and thereupon taking Richard Penderell by the hand, I helped him over.”

They reached Boscobel at five o’clock on the morning of Saturday, September 6th. Penderell, leaving the king in the wood, went to the house to reconnoitre. All was secure, and he found Colonel Carless, who was also hiding at Boscobel. He had been an active soldier throughout the war. His presence cheered the tired and wandering monarch, who now for the first time was brought into the house, and sitting by the fire was refreshed with bread and cheese and a warm posset of beer, prepared by W. Penderell’s wife, Joan, who also brought him warm water to bathe his feet, and dried his shoes by placing in them hot embers. After a short slumber the king was aroused by his anxious attendants, he not being safe in the house in the daylight. With Colonel Carless he then climbed into an oak tree that stood a few yards from the house, at some distance from the other trees. It had been lopped or pollarded, some years before, and in consequence had grown very bushy, and afforded a good hiding-place. They took provisions for the day with them. Screened from view, the king, resting his head on the knees of Carless, slept soundly for some time. The king, in his narrative, as recorded by Pepys, says:—“While we were in the tree we saw soldiers going up and down in the thickets of the wood, searching for persons escaped, we seeing them now and then peeping out of the wood.”

Saturday evening brought darkness, of which the fugitives availed themselves by going into the house, and Penderell’s wife, Dame Joan, provided a dainty dish of roast chickens for the king’s supper. That being over, the king retired to a hiding-hole at the top of the stairs, where a pallet was laid ready, and there he passed the night. On Sunday morning the king arose refreshed, and passed the day partly at his devotions, partly in watching, and partly reading in the garden. We must not forget to mention that he cooked his meat, frying some collops of mutton. Meanwhile, John Penderell had gone in search of Lord Wilmot, whom he found at Moseley Hall with Mr. Whitgreave, and in the evening he returned, bringing tidings that the king could be received at Moseley. Whereupon Charles, taking leave of Carless, set out on Humphrey Penderell’s (the miller’s) horse, attended by the five Penderells and their brother-in-law, Yates, well armed with bills and pike-staves, as well as pistols. The king complained of the rough motion of the horse. “Can you blame the horse, my liege,” said the honest miller, “to go heavily, when he has the weight of three kingdoms on his back?” At Moseley Hall the king remained from Sunday night till Tuesday evening, when Colonel Lane came from Bentley, bringing a horse for him. Being dressed in a suit of grey hose, and with the name of Jackson, he acted as serving-man to Miss Jane Lane, rode before her, and eventually embarked for France, which country after many narrow escapes, he reached safely on the 16th of October.

To Mr. Wolfe, of Madeley, the king presented a very handsome silver tankard with the inscription, “Given by Charles the Second, at the Restoration, to F. Wolfe, of Madeley, in whose barn he was secreted after the defeat at Worcester, 1651.” The tankard is now in the possession of W. Rathbone, Esq., of Liverpool, but a print of it hangs in the old house. The tankard has upon the cover a coat of arms: the crest is a demi-wolf supporting a crown. In the hall there is an old panel, which was cut out of the wainscoating of the dining-room, with the initials, thus:—

F. W. M.
1621.

In the church register we find the burial of Barbara Wolfe, January 13th, 1660; of Ann Wolfe, September 19th, 1672; of Francis Wolfe, December 7th, 1665; and of Sarah Wolfe, late wife of Francis Wolfe, January 10th, 1698.

The house is a very old one, and Mr. Joseph Yate, of the Hall, close by, says he remembers his father telling him that in former times it was “a house of entertainment.” The barn which is not more than twenty feet from the house, afterwards became the Market House, the butchers’ shambles being still discernible. The upper portion was rebuilt, or cased, a few years ago, but the old timber skeleton remains.

It is pleasant to find that Charles, at the restoration, further remembered his preservers, and settled pensions on their survivors; but not till 1675 was permanent provision made. Certain rents from estates in Stafford, Salop, Hereford, &c., were intrusted to Sir Walter Wollesley, John Giffard, of Black Ladies, and Richard Congreve, of Congreve, to pay the yearly proceeds to the Penderell family, the sum amounting to about £450 per annum, thus:—

£100 a-year to Richard Penderell or his heirs,

£100 a-year to William or his heirs.

100 marks, or £66 13s. 4d. a-year to Humphrey or his heirs.

100 marks to John or his heirs.

100 marks to George or his heirs.

£50 a-year to Elizabeth Yates or her heirs.

The surviving trustee is John Giffard, of Black Ladies, and his lineal descendants, the present squire of Chillington, who is now sole trustee. [54]

The Great Fire of London.

Another notable event noticed by an old book in the vestry of Madeley Church already quoted, is the Great Fire of London, September, 1666, sixteen years subsequent to the stirring drama previously recorded. It comes before us in a house-to-house visitation, by the vicar and churchwardens, for the purpose of raising subscriptions “in aid of a fund to relieve the sufferings by the Great Fire.”

In this account nine sugar-refiners are said to have lost £20,000; but, notwithstanding the house-to-house visitation, only £1 2s. 10d. was raised, which speaks little for the sympathy or wealth of the inhabitants at that time.

Assessments in Madeley, and Abolition of the Chimney Tax or Smoke-Penny.

The Smoke-Penny, Chimney Tax, or Hearth-Money, previously alluded to, so oppressive to the poor, and so obnoxious generally, by exposing every man’s house to be entered and searched at pleasure, had become so unpopular that one of the earliest proceedings of the first Parliament of William and Mary was to substitute a grant in “aid,” of £68,820 per month, for six months, payable in proportions; the entire assessment for Shropshire being £1203, and those for the several parishes in the allotment of Madeley, at 12d. in the £, as under:—

The principle ever since continued of specific annual grants to the king by votes of Parliament, partially acted upon by Charles II., but wholly disregarded by the Parliament of the succeeding reign, was now fully established.

The Law of Settlement.

From an order given to the constables of the parish of Madeley in 1690, we get an insight of the laws of Settlement which imposed such restrictions upon our ancestors, compelling a labourer to remain in the place where he was born to the end of his days, and preventing him bettering his condition. The order was that whereas Thomas Richardson had endeavoured to make a settlement in Madeley contrary to the law, &c., that they, the constables, bring his body to the serjeant’s house, Much Wenlock, to answer all matters brought against him by the overseers of the poor of the parish of Madeley. The constables were also to bring John York, smith, before some justice of the peace to give sureties for his own and his wife’s good behaviour.

Vagrants and Sturdy Beggars.

Paupers having been created by restraints preventing them seeking employ where work was to be had, of course became troublesome. Hence the serjeant-at-mace orders the constables at Madeley upon oath to report what felonies have been committed, and what vagrants and sturdy beggars have passed through.

The same constables were to ascertain how many persons of the age of sixteen absented themselves from church, and for how many Sabbaths. Also who destroyed hawks, hares, pheasants, &c.; and who bought by greater and sold by lesser weights.

The Oaths of Supremacy.

In the fifth year of William and Mary (1691) constables were to give notice to all above sixteen and under sixty, whom they believed to be disaffected, to appear before the serjeant-at-mace to take the oaths, &c.: but a goodly number of the Madeley and Little Wenlock allotment appear to have been guilty of contempt, and were ordered to pay the sum of 40s. by them forfeited. Having been guilty of further contempt, the constables are ordered to seize and bring the bodies of the delinquents. (See Appendix.)

The Poll Tax.

In the same year, 1692, constables are instructed to look-up all loose seamen and watermen, and bring them before one of the justices of the peace; and to collect 4s. in the £, towards carrying on a vigorous war with France. An order (September, 1693), signed “George Weld, Bart.,” addressed to Mr. Brooke, of Madeley, calls upon the constables to summons the Militia to appear at Shrewsbury &c., &c. Under the act passed for collecting 4s. in the £, for carrying on the war, constables were instructed to charge papists and all who had not taken the oaths of supremacy double.

Assessment for carrying on a Vigorous War.

The assessment for Madeley for three months, on the allotment of Little Wenlock by the commissioners, towards the raising of £1,651,702, as granted by Parliament to the king for carrying on a vigorous war against France, was £8 2s.

Press Laws.

In the same year constables were commanded to make diligent search for all straggling seamen and watermen who were of able bodies, fit for service at sea, and, to impress them, giving them one shilling. The assessment in Madeley of 4s. in the £, for 1694, produced, on land, works, &c., £149 1s. 4d., “one pound having been abated on the lime-works.”

Tax upon Marriages, Births, Burials, &c.

In 1695 the Madeley constables were to collect duties upon “marriages, births, and burials, and upon bachelors and widows,” for carrying on the war with France, according to the rank of the individuals.

In 1696, and 1697, we find constables have various duties assigned them; and in 1698, they are required to carry out an act for preventing frauds and abuses in the charging and collecting, and paying of duties upon marriages, births, and burials, bachelors and widows. Also for collecting a quarterly poll for the year.

In 1702 instructions are given to constables to present all papists, Jesuits, and all others that have received orders from the see of Rome. Also all popish recusants and others that do not come to their several parish churches within the divisions.

In 1703 they were to collect subsides for her majesty (Queen Anne), for carrying on the war with France and Spain, and to charge those who had not taken the oath of allegiance double.

In 1708 constables were to ascertain what masters or servants gave or took greater wages than were allowed by law.

Our account of instructions to constables continues to 1714, but nothing to merit comment occurs. Many names of old Madeley families occur, which we shall notice hereafter.

Rent and Value of Lands in the Lordship of Madeley, in 1702.

Demesne lands in Madeley, (537a. 3r. 33p.) or those attached to the Court House, with the 770 trees upon it, valued at twenty years purchase, was said to be £6,459 10s. 4d.; yearly rent, £289 13s. 6d. The whole acreage of Madeley, including the above, was 2073 acres, the yearly value of which was £1,021; trees, 3369; loads of wood, 160; purchase, £17,366 9s. 4d. For names of proprietors, see Appendix.

We find from a survey of the lordship of Madeley, that the demesne lands of the Court in 1786, belonged to Richard Dyett, Esq., one of an old Shropshire family, from whom it was purchased by William Orme Foster, Esq., about the year 1830.

The Coal and Iron Industries of Madeley.

During the period events previously recorded were being enacted, the coal and iron industries now employing so many hands, and which have brought so much wealth to individual proprietors, were being developed. Francis Wolfe, who gave shelter to King Charles, is supposed to have been a shareholder in some ironworks at Leighton, and probably at Coalbrookdale, from the fact that an iron plate, bearing date 1609, has the initials “T.R.W.,” and another with the date 1658 (the latter removed here from Leighton), also bears a “W” among other initials. We read also of a clerk of a Shropshire ironworks being the first to convey the news of the disastrous defeat of the royal army at Worcester. We find, too, that as early as 1332 Walter de Caldbroke obtained from the Wenlock monks license to dig for coals at the outcrop at the Brockholes. We also learn from Fuller, who lived and wrote in the seventeenth century, that what he calls “fresh-water coal” was dug out at such a distance from the Severn as to be easily ported by boat into other shires.

Iron, too, was made as we have seen from the Patent Roll, 36 Henry VIII., part v., where the grant of the manor of Madeley to Robert Brooke, Esq. is expressly said to include “the rights attached to the whole of the place and buildings that go under the one name of the Smithy Place, and Newhouse called Caldbrooke Smithy, with its patronages in the aforesaid Madeley.”

The First Ironworks.—The Reynoldses.

The first ironworks were of course of a very humble description; the outcrop of the mines did not then determine the situation so much as the presence of a powerful stream which supplied a force to work the leathern bellows which blew the fires. The first Abraham Darby came to the Dale in 1709, and in 1713 the make was but from five to ten tons per week. In 1712 he used coal in smelting iron. He died at the Court House, Madeley, in 1717, and was succeeded by his son, the second Abraham Darby, who in 1760 is said to have laid the first rails of iron for carriages with axles having fixed wheels. The third Abraham Darby effected another great achievement, the casting and erecting the first iron bridge, for which he obtained the medal of the Society of Arts. The credit of having laid the first iron rails is claimed for Richard Reynolds, who succeeded the second Abraham Darby in the management of these works in 1763, and who, according to Sir Robert Stephenson, who examined the books of the works, cast six tons of iron rails for the use of the works in 1767. It was at these works, too, that the brothers Cranege anticipated Henry Cort by seventeen years by the discovery of the process of puddling in a reverberatory furnace, by the use of pit-coal, in 1766, under the management of Mr. Reynolds.

Mr. Reynolds also took a warm interest in the success and introduction of the steam engine, which he adopted in 1778. “For no one,” observes his daughter, “did he entertain sentiments of more affectionate esteem than for James Watt,” with whom, as well as with Wedgwood and Wilkinson, he was associated in several public movements of the time. Being a Friend he was opposed to war and refused Government orders for cannon; and he was stung to the quick when Pitt’s ministry proposed to lay a war tax upon coal. The country had been carrying on wars—wars everywhere, and with everybody, and to meet the lavish expenditure, the popular minister of the day, on whom Walpole tells us, “it rained gold boxes” for weeks running, “the pilot that weathered the storm,” sought to replenish the exchequer by a tax of 2s. per ton, to be paid on all coal without exception raised to the pit’s mouth. The iron-masters of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire, as well as those of other English and Scottish counties were alarmed; it was felt to be an important crisis in the history of the trade. Deputations and petitions were sent up, but the wily premier had so carefully yet quietly surrounded himself with facts, that he knew of every pound of iron made and of every ton of coal that was raised. Pitt received the gentlemen connected with the trade with the greatest freedom and affability; bowed them in and out; appointed hours and places to meet their convenience, and left them dumbfounded at his knowledge of details of their own business. Mr. Reynolds entered the field in opposition to the tax, gave evidence before the Privy Council, and by petitions to the House and letters to members of the Cabinet, materially aided in defeating the attempt. The gravity of the occasion is, perhaps, even more evident to us, on whom the advantages of a cheap and plentiful supply of iron have fallen. We can better measure the consequences that must have followed. A tax upon coal at that period would have paralysed the trade, checked its development in this country, and thrown into the lap of others benefits we ourselves have derived; would have disendowed the island of advantages in which it is peculiarly rich,—upon which it is mainly dependent for its wealth, its progress, and its civilization. A tax upon coal would have been a tax upon iron, upon the manufacture of iron, upon its consumption, and its use in the arts and manufactures of the kingdom,—a tax upon spinning, weaving, and printing,—a tax upon the genius of Watt and Arkwright, whose improvements it would have thrown back and thwarted,—upon the extension of commerce at home and abroad. The immense advantages possessed by the manufacturers of the New World would then have given them the lead in a race in which, even now, it is as much as we can do to keep up. Our energies, just at a time when the iron nerves of England were put to their greatest strain, would have been paralysed, and we should have been deprived of our railways, our locomotives, our steam-fleets, and much of our commerce, and prosperity. Mr. Reynolds saw the evil in prospective, and in a letter to Earl Gower, President of the Council, dated the 7th month, 1784, takes a very just review of the past history of the trade and the improvements then about to be adopted. He says:—

“The advancement of the iron trade within these few years have been prodigious; it was thought, and justly, that the making of pig iron with pit coal was a great acquisition to the nation by saving the woods and supplying a material to manufactories, the make of which, by the consumption of all the wood the country produced, was unequal to the demand; and the nail trade, perhaps the most considerable of any one article of manufactured iron, would have been lost to this country, had it not been found practicable to make nails of iron made with pit coal; and it is for that purpose we have made, or rather are making, the alterations at Donnington-Wood, Ketley, &c., which we expect to complete in the present year, but not at a less expense than twenty thousand pounds, which will be lost to us and gained by nobody if this tax is laid on our coals. The only chance we have of making iron as cheap as it can be imported from Russia, is the low price of our fuel, and unless we can do that there will not be consumption equal to half the quantity that can be made, and when we consider how many people are employed on a ton of iron, and the several trades dependent thereupon, we shall be convinced the Revenue is much more benefited even by the consumption of excisable articles, &c., than by the duty on a ton of foreign iron; nor will it, I believe, escape observation that the iron trade, so fatally affected by this absurd tax, is only of the second, if indeed, on some account, it is not of the first importance to the nation. The preference I know is given, and I believe justly, as to the number of hands employed, to the woollen manufactory; but when it is remembered that all that is produced by making of iron with pit coal is absolutely so much gained to the nation, and which, without its being so applied, would be perfectly useless, it will evince its superior importance, for the land grazed by sheep might be converted with whatever loss to other purposes of agriculture or pasturage; but coal and iron stone have no value in their natural state, produce nothing till they are consumed or manufactured, and a tax upon coal, which, as I said, is the only article that in any degree compensates for our high price of labour, &c., or can be substituted in the stead of water for our wheels, and bellows, would entirely ruin this very populous country, and throw its labouring poor upon the parishes, till the emigration of those of them who are able to work shall strengthen our opponents, and leave the desolated wastes, at present occupied by their cottages, to the lords of the soil.”

In the year following (1785) the interests of the iron trade were again considered to be endangered from commercial arrangements proposed by the Irish House of Commons for the consideration of Parliament. Mr. Reynolds, Messrs. Boulton, Watt, Wedgwood, Wilkinson, and others, united in forming an association for the protection of the trade, under the title of “The United Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain.” The Shropshire iron and coal masters petitioned the House, and Mr. Reynolds again wielded the pen in defence of the trade. We extract sufficient to show the extent of the works. He says, addressing Earl Gower, under date 28th of the third month, 1785,—

“We solicit thy effectual interposition against a measure so injurious to us and to the many hundreds of poor people employed by us in working and carrying on mines, &c., for the supply of a large sale of coals by land and water, and of coals and mine for sixteen fire-engines, eight blast furnaces, and nine forges, besides the air furnaces, mills, &c., at the foundry at Coalbrookdale, and which, with the levels, roads, and more than twenty miles of railways, &c., still employs a capital of upwards of £100,000, though the declension of our trade has, as stated in a former letter, obliged us to stop two blast furnaces, which are not included in the number before mentioned. Nor have we ever considered ourselves as the first of many others employed in iron or coal works in this kingdom.”

We have considered the subject of our present sketch chiefly under one aspect only—as a man of action—and that mainly in connection with the iron trade, and in providing against those reverses to which not only that but other branches of industry were peculiarly liable, more particularly during the latter end of the last and the commencement of the present centuries. Mr. Reynolds, however, has claims no less distinguished under a classification beneath which is frequently found another division of human benefactors. He was not only a man of action—great in dealing with things tangible,—but he was a man of thought and of genius—as quick to devise and to plan as to execute. What is still more rare, he possessed those qualities in proportions so finely balanced, that their happy combination, during a long and active life, gave birth to schemes of noble enterprise, valuable to the district, and important to the nation. That which merited, from vulgar shortsightedness, the epithet of eccentricity, a state of deep and penetrating thought, was oftentimes the conceiving energy of a vigorous mind mastering in the mental laboratory of the brain, plans and schemes of which the noblest movements of the day are the just and legitimate offspring. The schemes he inaugurated were victories won, the improvements he effected were triumphs gained to the nation or for humanity.

That quality of mind which too often runs waste or evaporates in wild impracticable ideality, with him found an object of utility on which to alight, and under the magic of a more than ordinary genius difficulties disappeared, formidable obstacles melted into air, and the useful and the true were fused into one. He never felt the fluttering of a noble thought but he held it by the skirts, and made it do duty in this work-day world of ours, if it had relation to the tangible realities of time. “Though I do not adopt,” he writes to a friend, “all the notions of Swedenbourg, I have believed that the spiritual world is nearer to us than many suppose, and that our communication with it would be more frequent than many of us experience, did we attain to that degree of purity of heart and abstraction from worldly thoughts and tempers which qualify for such communion or intercourse.” He was not a man whose soul ran dry in solitude, or that grew melancholy the moment the click of money-making machinery no longer sounded in his ears. He was one of the old iron-kings, ’tis true, but with a soul in harmony with the silvery music of the universe. Often with no companion but his pipe, he retired to some retreat, consecrated perhaps by many a happy thought, and watched the declining sun, bathing in liquid glory the Ercall woods, the majestic Wrekin, the Briedden hills, and the still more distant Cader Idris. A deep vein of genuine religious feeling often appeared upon the surface, and seemed to penetrate reflections of the kind. Speaking of a new arbour he had made, be says—

“From thence I have seen three or four as fine sunsets as I at any time have seen, and if the gradual going down, and last, last twinkle of the once radiant orb, the instant when it was, and was not, to be seen—made me think of that awful moment when the last sigh consigns the departing soul to different if not distant scenes, the glorious effulgence gilding the western horizon with inimitable magnificence, naturally suggested the idea of celestial splendour, and inspired the wish that (through the assistance of His grace) a faithful obedience to the requirings of our great Maker and Master, may in that solemn season justify the hope of my being admitted into that city which hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”

The Wrekin was a favourite object; to its summit he made his annual pilgrimage, together with his family, his Dale relations, his clerks, and most of the members of the little Society of Friends. The following bit of landscape painting betrays a master hand, and is so faithful in itself, depicting no less the features of the country than the genius of his mind, that we incorporate it with our present sketch:—

“We went upon the Wrekin,” he writes, “sooner than usual this year, that my children might partake of the pleasure. The weather was pleasant, though rather windy. From the top of that hill the prospect is so rich, so extensive, so various, that, considered as a landscape only, it beggars all description; and yet I cannot forbear, as thou desirest it, mentioning the tufted trees in the adjoining woods, upon which, occasioned perhaps by the uncommonness of the scene, I always look down with a particular pleasure, as well as survey those more distant, which are interspersed among the corn and meadows, contrasted with the new-ploughed fallow-grounds and pastures with cattle; the towns and villages, gentlemen’s seats, farm-houses, enrich and diversify the prospect, whilst the various companies of harvest men in the different farms within view enliven the scene. Nor are the rivers that glitter among the laughing meadows, or the stupendous mountains which, though distant, appear awfully dreary without their effect considered part of the landscape only. But not to confine the entertainment to visual enjoyment, what an intellectual feast does the prospect from that hill afford when beheld, ‘or with the curious or pious eye.’ Is not infinite power exerted, and infinite goodness displayed, in the various as well as plentiful provision for our several wants. Should not the consideration expand over hearts with desires to contribute to the relief of those whose indigence, excluding them from an equal participation of the general feast, is for a trial of their faith and patience and of our gratitude and obedience! Whilst with an appropriation of sentiment which receives propriety from the consciousness of our unworthiness, we substitute a particular for the general exclamation of humble admiration, in the word of the psalmist—‘Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou (thus) visitest him?’ The romantic scenes of Benthall Edge,—its rocks and precipices, its sides and top covered with wood; the navigable Severn, in which its feet are immersed; the populousness of the opposite shore; the motion, noise, and life on the river; the adjoining wharves and manufactories, are capable of affording a high entertainment, and I should willingly devote one day in the year to a repetition of the enjoyments of the pleasures I have heretofore received from them: though equally near, and equally desirable, a jaunt to Benthall Edge is not equally facile with one to the Wrekin. It seems more out of my province.”

Our readers, ere this, must have discovered a power of description, a grace and polish, blended with a masculine force of thought, in the correspondence of Mr. Reynolds, of a more than common order; and would still more, could we feel at liberty to quote more copiously from numerous letters to his friends. If we follow him more closely into private life, and lift the veil that too often hides a dualism of character from the unsuspicious public eye, we find the sterling elements of the gentleman and the Christian.

Take the experience of the past as recorded, or the traditions of the present, as found among a generation second in remove from Richard Reynolds’s time, and they bring out into relief still more striking traits of character, that do honour to our common nature. The guiding principle of his life, in all cases of bargain and of sale, Mrs. Rathbone tells us, were in accordance with the old adage—“Live and let live;” and as an instance of the consistency with which he acted up to his motto she adds that, at the breaking out of the American war, when bar-iron rose to an extravagant price, and the makers of pig-iron could obtain their own terms, instead of taking an unreasonable advantage of the opportunity, he proposed to his customers that it should be left to one of themselves to name a fair price for pig-iron in the then state of the trade, and to determine the scale of proportionate reduction which should take place when the price of bar-iron should fall, as he foresaw that it would follow the then great and unsatisfied demand. The proposal was accepted, and by the scale which was then fixed his conduct was governed.

Order and punctuality were exemplified in his dealings. “A place for everything and everything in its place”—a maxim for which he confessed his obligation to De Witt—was not only his rule, but was painted in large characters in the kitchen, over the fireplace, for the benefit of the servants. The appellation “honest,” given to his father, was a term equally applicable to the son, who at the outset and in after life made it a rule to regulate his affairs by that principle of prudence and of equity.

He yielded to every man his own, not only as concerned demands upon his purse, but in what are usually deemed small matters, such as those of respect which one man owes to another. He would follow a poor person to his or her home to apologise if he had spoken warmly or unbecomingly in the heat of temper. It was painful, his granddaughter tells us, for him to see waste. “I cannot bear to see sweeping on the ground that which would clothe a poor shivering child” was his remark made respecting the long dresses of the time.

Mrs. Rathbone, in her memoir, says:—

“My grandfather had great respect and regard for a very amiable and excellent minister of the Gospel, who lived in his neighbourhood, the Rev. Joshua Gilpin; and it was mainly through his exertions and personal interest that Mr. Gilpin was presented to the living of Wrockwardine. He also enjoyed the acquaintance of many scientific and well-informed men. His manners, as a host, were courteous and dignified, and his conversation, when he was perfectly at ease, animated, and often diversified with a quaint wit and humorous satire. His fine countenance beamed with intelligence and kindness; his eyes were piercing, and were remarkable for the brightness which seemed literally to flash from them under strong emotion. It was something almost fearful to meet their glance in anger or indignation, whilst equally striking was their beautiful expression under the excitement of admiration or affection.”

In the short sketch we gave of Mr. Reynolds in the “Severn Valley,” we said, “the stamp of heaven’s nobility was visible in his face, and the free and open features with which nature had endowed his person were not dwarfed by the uniform look and expression sometimes demanded by sects. Eyes of liquid blue, full-orbed, gave back the azure tint of heaven, and lighted up a manly face, fair and ruddy. To these indications of a Saxon type were added others, such as light brown hair, that in flowing curls fell upon the shoulders of a tall and full-developed figure.”

The portrait we have hereafter described was obtained with some difficulty, as Mr. Reynolds refused for a long time to concede to the wishes of his friends on the subject; and the first attempt made was by a miniature-painter, who made a sketch from the garden as he sat reading by candle-light. This was not successful, and a second attempt, made as he sat at meeting, being no better, he was induced to sit to Mr. Hobday. The books shown in the background were favourites of his, and they are arranged in the order in which he regarded them.

In a letter to his son, dated 8th of 12th month, 1808, he says:—

“John Birtell has paid £48 4s. 7d. for the pictures, frames and cases, which should be repaid to him. I understood from S. A. it was thy wish to make thy sister a present of one of them, and in that case please to remit the amount to John Birtell; if she (S. A.) is mistaken, remit the money to J. B. nevertheless, and I will repay thee the half of it; but I insist upon one condition both from thee and thy sister: that as long as I live, the pictures be nowhere but in your bed-chambers. The first was begun without my knowledge, and indirect means used to accomplish it; at length I was candidly told it was determined to have it, and when I saw what was done, I thought it better to sit for the finishing than to have it a mere caricature; but I think it a very moderate performance at last. I was willing too, to avail myself of the opportunity, if such a one must be presented, of exhibiting my belief of Christianity as exhibited in the 5th chapter of the Romans; and my estimation of certain authors, by affixing their names to the books delineated in the back ground.”

In reference to this subject (his portrait), some twelve months after, in a letter to his son, he says:—

“This reminds me to mention what I intended to have mentioned before; that is, an alteration I propose to be made in the one here, and if this could be done in the others, I should like it; and which, I suppose, would be best effected by obliterating the books, and arranging them differently, according to the estimation in which their writings or character may be supposed to be held; with the addition of Kempis and Fenelon, not only for their intrinsic merits, but to show that our good opinion was not confined to our own countrymen. They would then stand thus:—

“Fox and Penn.
Woolman and Clarkson.
Hanway and Howard.
Milton and Cowper.
Addison and Watts.
Barclay and Locke.
Sir W. Jones and Sir W. Blackstone.
Kempis and Fenelon.

“I do not know whether I gave thee my reasons, as I did to thy sister, for the original selection. She may shew thee my letter to her, and thou may communicate the above to her, with my dear love to all, repeated from

“Thy affectionate father,
“Richard Reynolds.”

It was the custom when Mr. Reynolds had charge of the Coalbrookdale works to perform long journeys on horseback, and we have heard it said that on one occasion, being mounted on the back of an old trooper, near Windsor, where George III. was reviewing some troops, the horse, on hearing martial music, pricked up his ears, and carried Mr. Reynolds into the midst of them before he could be reined up. He was a good horseman, and a grandson of Mr. Reynolds writes:—

“We also enjoyed very much our grandfather’s account of a visit paid to the Ketley Iron Works by Lord Thurlow, the then Lord Chancellor. My grandfather, having gone through the works with his lordship, and given him all requisite information and needful refreshment, proposed to accompany him part of the way on his return, which offer his lordship gratefully accepted, and the horses were ordered to the door accordingly. They were, both of them, good riders, and were, both of them, well mounted. The Lord Chancellor’s horse, no doubt a little instigated thereto by his owner, took the lead, and my grandfather’s horse, nothing loth to follow the example, kept as nearly neck and neck with his rival as his owner considered respectful. The speed was alternately increased, until they found themselves getting on at a very dashing pace indeed! and they became aware that the steeds were as nearly matched as possible. At last, the Chancellor pulled up, and complimenting my grandfather upon his ‘very fine horse’ confessed that he had never expected to meet with one who could trot so fast as his own. My grandfather acknowledged to a similar impression on his part; and his lordship, heartily shaking hands with him, and thanking him for his great attention, laughed, and said, ‘I think, Mr. Reynolds, this is probably the first time that ever a Lord Chancellor and a Quaker rode a race together.’”

The years 1774, 1782, and 1796 were periods of great distress. Haggard hunger, despairing wretchedness, and ignorant force were banded to trample down the safeguards of civil right, and armed ruffians took the initiative in scrambles for food. The gravity of the occasion, in the latter case, may be estimated by the subscriptions for the purchase of food for the starving population. We give those of the iron companies of this district only: Messrs. Bishton and Co. gave £1,500; Mr. Botfield, for the Old Park Company, £1,500; Mr. Joseph Reynolds, for the Ketley Company, £2,000; Mr. R. Dearman, for the Coalbrookdale Company, £1,500; Mr. William Reynolds, for the Madeley-Wood Company, £1000. Mr. Richard Reynolds gave £500 as his individual subscription. Applications, in times of distress, from far and near were made to Mr. Reynolds for assistance. Taking a general view of the distress existing in the beginning of the year 1811, he says, in reply to a letter from a clergyman, “I am thankful I am not altogether without sympathy with my fellow-men, or compassion for the sufferings to which the want of employment subjects the poor, or the sufferings still more severe of some of their former employers. Thou mentions Rochdale, Bolton, Leeds, and Halifax. Wilt thou apply the enclosed towards the relief of some of them, at thy discretion? Those who want it most and deserve it best should have the preference,—the aged, honest, sober, and industrious. I am sensible how limited the benefits from such a sum in so populous a district must be, and of the difficulty of personal investigation before distribution. If it could be made subservient to the procuring an extensive contribution it would be of more important service. If it cannot I think it would be best to commit it to some judicious person or persons in each place, to distribute with the utmost privacy, and (that) for their own sakes, were it only to avoid applications from more than they could supply, and yet the refusal would subject them to abuse. But in whatever manner thou shalt dispose of it, I send it upon the express condition that nobody living knows thou ever had it from me; this is matter of conscience with me. In places where we are known, and on public occasions, when one’s example would have an influence, it may be as much a duty to give up one’s name as one’s money; but otherwise I think we cannot too strictly follow the injunction:—‘Take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.’”

If some poor tradesman in London or elsewhere was tottering on the verge of bankruptcy, and a friend was found to write to Richard Reynolds, he was put upon his legs again. Poor debtors found themselves relieved from the King’s Bench by an unknown hand. Unwilling to be known as the giver of large sums, he would sometimes forward his subscriptions with his name, and send a larger contribution anonymously afterwards. In this way he gave a sum in his own name on behalf of the distress in Germany, and then forwarded a further sum of £500 privately. For years he had almoners in London and elsewhere, dispensing sums to meet distress, and on behalf of public and private charities, scrupulously enacting that his name should not appear in the transactions. To one party he sent £20,000 during the distress of 1795. He had four distributors of his bounty constantly employed in Bristol alone. They brought in their accounts weekly, giving the names of persons or families, the sums given, and the circumstances under which they were relieved. Not the least to be appreciated was the consideration and delicacy with which he assisted persons not ostensibly objects of charity (to use the word in its common sense) and many who, through relationship, personal interest, or estimable conduct were felt to have claims on his kindness and generosity.

He solicited in Bristol subscriptions on a large scale for augmenting the fund for the payment of a weekly sum to the inhabitants of the almshouses, going from house to house,—his own zeal kindling that of others. One gentleman to whom he applied, of acknowledged wealth and importance in the city, having given him a cheque for £500, he said he would give him back the cheque, as such a sum from him would do more harm than good. The gentleman immediately wrote another for £1000. He himself gave £2000 (one of his friends says £4000), and £4000 to the Trinity almshouses. In 1808 he placed in the hands of the trustees the sum of £10,500 to be invested in land, the rent of which was to be devoted to seven charitable institutions in Bristol, named in the deed and trust, in such manner and proportion, either to one alone, or between any, as should at the time appear expedient to the trustees. An addition to the infirmary being needed, he devoted much of his time to that object, subscribing £2,600. The committee also received an anonymous donation of £1000, entertaining no doubt who was the giver; and on the following day one of their number happening to meet Richard Reynolds, thanked him in the name of the committee for his acceptable donation. He said—“Thou hast no authority for saying I sent the money,” and the gentleman repeating the acknowledgment of the committee, Mr. Reynolds quietly said—“Well, I see thou art determined that I should give thee a thousand pounds,” and the next day they received a donation of that sum with his name attached, thus doubling his first contribution. To these gifts may be added (besides his annual subscription) donations:—£1,260 to the Stranger’s Friend; £900 to the Misericordia; £500 to the Refuge, and the same to the Orphan Asylum; and to the Bible Society, £900. Of several other small amounts one need only be mentioned, from his purse,—that of £300 to the Temple parish, towards providing a better supply of water to the poor.

Mr. Reynolds’s last visit to Ketley, the scene of his labours, and the source of his vast income, was in June, 1816. His funeral took place on the 18th of September, amidst a manifestation of respect, as marked and profound as ever was paid to the remains of mortal man. The city of Bristol offered spontaneously to his memory that signal tribute of general regard that a name embalmed by good deeds alone can win. Columns of schoolboys, with mournful recollections of the good man’s smile, formed a melancholy passage to the dwelling of their benefactor. These were flanked by vast crowds of sympathising poor, who felt they had lost a friend. The clergy of the Church of England, ministers of dissenting congregations, gentlemen forming the committees of various societies, and other leading men, besides a large body of the Society of Friends, followed the several members and relatives of the family in procession. So great was public curiosity excited on this occasion, and such the eagerness manifested by the poor, who had lost their best friend, to pay their last respect to his remains, that not only was the spacious burial-ground filled with spectators and mourners, but the very tops of walls and houses surrounding the area were covered. The behaviour of the vast concourse of people was in the highest degree decent, orderly and respectful, the poor, considering it a favour to be permitted in their turn to approach the grave of their departed friend, and to drop the silent tear as a mark of their regard for the man whose life had been spent in doing good.

Montgomery, in verses from which we extract the following, paid a just tribute to his memory:

Strike a louder, loftier lyre;
Bolder, sweeter strains employ;
Wake remembrance! and inspire
Sorrow with the song of joy.

Who was he for whom our tears
Flowed, and will not cease to flow?
Full of honours and of years,
In the dust his head lies low.

. . . . . . .

He was one whose open face
Did his inmost heart reveal;
One who wore with meekest grace
On his forehead heaven’s broad seal.

Kindness all his looks express’d,
Charity was every word;
Him the eye beheld and bless’d,
And the ear rejoiced and heard.

Like a patriarchal sage,
Holy, humble, courteous, mild,
He could blend the awe of age
With the sweetness of a child.

. . . . . . .

Oft his silent spirit went,
Like an angel from the throne,
On benign commission bent,
In the fear of God alone.

Then the widow’s heart would sing,
As she turned her wheel, for joy;
Then the bliss of hope would spring
On the outcast orphan boy.

To the blind, the deaf, the lame,
To the ignorant and vile,
Stranger, captive, slave, he came,
With a welcome and a smile.

Help to all he did dispense.
Gold, instruction, raiment, food,
Like the gifts of Providence,
To the evil and the good.

Deeds of mercy, deeds unknown,
Shall eternity record,
Which he durst not call his own,
For he did them for the Lord.

As the earth puts forth her flowers,
Heaven-ward breathing from below;
As the clouds descend in showers,
When the southern breezes glow.

. . . . . . .

Full of faith, at length he died,
And victorious in the race,
Wore the crown for which he died,
Not of merit but of grace.

William Reynolds.

The father, Richard Reynolds, as will be seen from our sketch, managed to realize immense wealth at Ketley, and, what is more, to remain superior to the influence wealth too often has upon its possessor. The finer feelings of the man never succumbed to the vulgar circumstances of his position, but maintained their freshness, and graduated to maturity by the mastering force of a resolute will and a well-disciplined and highly enlightened mind. Never so completely absorbed in the arts and intricacies of money-making as to lose sight of higher and worthier aims, he sought an opportunity earlier than men in his circumstances usually do of enjoying the well-earned fruits of an active life; of indulging in that repose and retirement congenial to minds similarly constituted to his own. Accordingly, his shares in the works were turned over to his two sons, William and Joseph. William was the more distinguished of the two in carrying out improvements connected with the works. Like his father, he possessed an active mind, an elevated taste, and a desire for knowledge; to which were added a mechanical genius, and an aptitude for turning to account resources within his reach. He saw the necessity of uniting science with practice in developing the rich resources of the district; and that knowledge and discovery must keep pace with aptitude in their use.

“An equal appreciation of all parts of knowledge,” it was remarked by Humboldt, “is an especial requirement of an epoch in which the material wealth and the increasing prosperity of nations are in a great measure based on a more enlightened employment of natural products and forces. The most superficial glance at the present condition of European states shows that those which linger in the race cannot hope to escape the partial diminution, and perhaps the final annihilation, of their resources. It is with nations as with nature, which, according to a happy expression of Goethe, knows no pause in ever-increasing movement, development, and production—a curse, still cleaving to a standstill. Nothing but serious occupation with chemistry and physical and natural science can defend a state from the consequences of competition. Man can produce no effect upon nature, or appropriate her powers, unless he is conversant with her laws, and with their relations to material objects according to measures and numbers. And in this lies the power of popular intelligence, which rises or falls as it encourages or neglects this study. Science and information are the joy and justification of mankind. They form the spring of a nation’s wealth, being often indeed substitutes for those material riches which nature has in many cases distributed with so partial a hand. Those nations which remain behind in manufacturing activity, by neglecting the practical application of the mechanical arts, and of industrial chemistry, to the transmission, growth, or manufacture of raw materials—those nations amongst whom respect for such activity does not pervade all classes—must inevitably fall from prosperity they have attained; and this so much the more certainly and speedily as neighbouring states, instinct with the power of renovation, in which science and the arts of industry operate or lend each other mutual assistance, are seen pressing forward in the race.”

Upon this principle Mr. Reynolds placed himself under the teaching of Dr. Black, the discoverer of latent heat, a gentleman who by his eminent ability and teaching did so much to inspire a love for the science in England during the latter part of the last century. He was thus enabled to bring the knowledge he possessed of elementary substances and of their peculiar qualities, gained in the laboratory, to bear upon the manufacture of iron in the furnace and the forge, and to anticipate some of the discoveries of later times.

Steel and iron have long been manufactured at Ulverstone, and the quality or fitness of the ore for the purpose is attributed to the presence of manganese in the ore, which since the establishment of railways has come into general use. In Mr. Reynolds’s time we imported large quantities of iron and steel; and ignorant of what constituted the difference between our own and that of foreign markets, had with some humiliation to confess our dependence. In no case had a uniform quality of bar-iron with the superior marks of Sweden and Russia been produced. A great variety of processes had been tried, and makers were not wanting who made laudable efforts for the accomplishment of the object, feeling that in so doing they devoted their time to the service of their country, and that in a national as well as a commercial point of view no experiments were fraught with more important consequences.

Mr. Reynolds thought he saw the solution of the problem how to produce metal equal to that made from the magnetic and richer ores of the Swedish and Siberian mines, when Bergman published his analysis of Swedish iron, showing the large percentage of manganese it contained. The analysis showed the following results:

In order to effect a combination corresponding with this analysis of the French chemist he introduced manganese into the refinery during the re-smelting process, and succeeded in producing bar-iron capable of conversion into steel of better quality than had previously been made from coke-iron. From subsequent experiments the per-centage introduced of metallic manganese could be traced into bar-iron, the inference being that the purpose served was the additional supply of oxygen it gave to burn out the impurities—a result the Bessemer process has since attained in another way. When it is remembered that the end to be attained in these processes is to consume the impurities of the metal, and that those impurities are of such a nature as to unite with oxygen at a high temperature and form separate compounds, also that this boiling and bubbling up of the liquid metal was carefully watched and tended formerly, one can understand how near the iron-kings of a past age were to the Bessemer discovery of the present.

“The old men,” as they are frequently called in the works, appear to have had an inkling of the real nature of the process: The rising impurities and combination of opposite gases indicated by bubbles were called the “Soldier’s coming.” At any rate the Bessemer invention is an adaptation of a principle acted upon during the past century in the Shropshire ironworks. Mr. Reynolds’s patent was obtained December 6, 1799, and was stated to be for “preparing iron for the conversion thereof into steel.” In his specification he described his invention to consist in the employment of oxide of manganese in the conversion of pig-iron into malleable iron or steel, but did not enter into details as to the method he employed for carrying his invention into effect.

John Wilkinson obtained a patent January 23, 1801, for making “Pig or cast metal from ore, which when manufactured into bar-iron will be found equal in quality to any that is imported from Russia or Sweden.” The patentee states his invention to consist “in making use of manganese, or ores containing manganese, in addition to ironstone and other materials used in making iron, and in certain proportions, to be varied by the nature of such ironstone and other materials.”

Mr. Reynolds was not only a chemist, but a geologist. He succeeded in forming a collection of carboniferous fossils to which modern professors acknowledge their obligations, and which, with the additions made by Mr. William Anstice, Dean Buckland pronounced one of the finest in Europe. Other manufacturers, every day dealing with subterranean treasures that give iron in abundance, were as dwellers amid the ruins of some ancient city, taking down structures of the builders of which and of the history of which they were ignorant. With him minerals had an interest beyond their market value. Coal and ore from the dusky mine, raised at so much per ton, were not minerals merely, but materials prepared to his hand by Nature. He detected traces of that venerable dame’s cast-off garments in one; the others were fabrics, the result of processes as varied as his own, the produce of machinery more wonderful and powerful than that he was about to employ in converting them to the general uses and purposes of mankind. His pit-shafts to him were mere inlets to the deep storehouse of the globe where Providence had treasured means whereby to enrich future inhabitants of the surface. Geology as a science, ’tis true, was but beginning to shed its light on the cosmogony of the world; endeavours to make out a connected history of the earth from examinations of the structure itself were deemed strange; and the more intelligent of his contemporaries, who without hesitation adopted speculations daring and beyond the province of human intellect, looked coldly upon his labours. The old workmen to whom he offered premiums for the best specimens could not for the life of them make out the meaning of his morning visits to the mines, his constant inquiries respecting fossils, his frequent hammering at ironstone nodules, his looking inside them and loading his pockets with them—seeing that he did not confine attention to those that seemed likely to make good iron. Some considered it to be one of the good old Quaker’s eccentricities, and did not forget when he turned his back to point to their heads, intimating that “all was not right in his upper garrets.” Others, knowing that he sometimes used the blow-pipe and tried experiments in his laboratory, believed his aim to be to extract “goold,” as they said, from the stone—a supposition to which the presence of iron pyrites gave some degree of colouring. One fine morning, in particular, as flitting gleams of sunshine came down to brighten young green patches of copse and meadow, telling of returning spring, a group of his men were seated with bottle and tot, drinking the cuckoo’s foot-ale, when, “Here comes Measter William, here comes Old Broadbrim,” it was said, “with his pecker in his pocket, fatch the curiosities from the crit.” Mr. Reynolds was not very well pleased, for large orders were in the books unexecuted, and coal and ore could not be got fast enough. Every engine had its steam up; but not a beam-head or pulley creaked or stirred. One or two bands of workmen had gone down, but had come up again. The cuckoo’s voice that morning for the first time had been heard, and it was more potent than the master’s; for it was the custom, and had been from time immemorial, to drink his foot-ale, and to drink it out of doors; and the man was fined, who proposed to deviate from custom by drinking it in-doors. On May Day too it was the custom, as it now is, to gather boughs or sprigs of the birch, with its young and graceful fronds, and mount them on the engines, the pit heads, and cabins, and on the heads of horses, to proclaim the fact that we had entered upon the merry, merry month of May.

Mr. Reynolds was generally pleased with meeting his men, and would readily enter into their whims, and turn such interviews to account. By such means he often obtained from them a knowledge of their wants, and received hints and suggestions that aided him in carrying out improvements in the works. The same disruption of social ties did not then exist as now; that mutual relation that beautified the olden time, and gave men and master an interest in each others welfare existed. A master, then, was more like the chief of a tribe, the father of a family; he had generally sprung from the ranks, he felt himself to be of the same flesh and blood, removed only a little by circumstances, and bound by a community of interest. Money-making had not then been reduced to a science, nor men to machines. With some degree of pride the men laid their stony treasures at the master’s feet. There were amongst them what the colliers call millers’ thumbs, horses’ hoofs, snails’ houses, “shining scales,” “crucked screws,” “things-like-leaves, and rotten wood.” “You should have heard,” said an old sage, “Mr. Reynolds give a description of them, and have seen the effect upon his audience. If I remember rightly, millers’ thumbs were orthoceratites, shells—as the name implies—like horns, but not pointed, and having several air-chambers. Horses’ hoofs, were portions of others, coiled, and spiral—that could float on the water, sink to the bottom, or rise to the surface, by a peculiar mechanical apparatus—like the forcing pump of a steam engine. The shining scales, were scales of fish coated with armour, hard as flint, and furnished with carvers to cut up the smaller fry on which they fed.” He showed that the nodules of ironstone contained exact impressions of leaves and fruits that grew beneath the golden beams of a tropical sun; that the bits called rotten wood were really wood, showing the beautiful anatomy of the tree, that it had been water-worn by being carried down the dancing stream into the soft and yielding mud in which it ultimately sank and was preserved. Coal, he explained, was nothing more than the vegetation of former periods, which accumulated where it grew, or was swept down by rains or streams into beds where it was hermetically sealed, fermented, and converted into mineral fuel for future use. “Lord, sir,” said our informant, “you should have seen how they all stared. Flukey F’lyd, one of the butties of Whimsey pit, said he little thought they were working in the gutters, or grubbing in the mud-banks of slimy lakes of a former world; he had seen stems of trees and trunks in the roof, but he thought they had got there at the Flood, and turned to stone. Gambler Baugh, of the Sulphur pit, said he thought the coal had been put there at the creation, and was intended to be used to burn up the world at the last day; and that he sometimes considered it a wrong thing to get it, believing they ought to use wood, and concluded by inviting the Governor to ‘wet,’ as he said, ‘the other eye, by taking another tot.’ The company drank his health, his long life and happiness, and exclaimed—’who’d have thought it.’” “Aye, who would have thought it,” continued Mr. Reynolds, warming with his subject, “when the first iron mine was tapped that in the slime and mud of those early times, now hardened into stone lay coiled up a thousand conveniences of mankind; that in that ore lay concealed the steam-engines, the tramways, the popular and universal metal that in peace and war should keep pace with and contribute to the highest triumphs of the world.” Upon such occasions questions of improvement, invention, adaptation, &c., &c., would often be freely discussed, and we have it upon the authority of some of the old workmen that many of the achievements in engineering we applaud in the present day, were the result of such suggestions in part.

Nothing, in fact, was known about iron ore, iron making and machinery, but what he knew or else took steps to acquaint himself with, if he had the opportunity. We have a number of large foolscap MS. volumes of experiments and extracts neatly copied, with pen and ink drawings of machines, parts of machines, &c.; shewing that whilst Smeaton and Watt were engaged in perfecting the construction of the steam engine, Mr. Reynolds was endeavouring to apply it to purposes similar to those to which it is now applied as a locomotive. Thus he constructed a locomotive with a waggon attached, the cylinder and boiler of which are still preserved. An accident, we believe a fatal one, which happened to one of the men upon starting the engine led Mr. Reynolds to abandon the machine; but he by no means lost faith in the invention. On the contrary, he was wont to say to his nephew, the late William Anstice, father of the present Mr. Reynolds Anstice, “I may never live to see the time, but thee may, William, when towns will be lighted by gas instead of oil and candles, when vessels will be driven without sails, and when carriages will travel without horses.”

This was before Trevithic invented a machine which travelled at a slow rate with heavy loads on a railway at Merthyr. It was prior to 1787, when Symington exhibited his model steam carriage in Edinburgh, and to the time when Darwin, (1793), with equal poetry and prophecy, wrote—

“Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car.”

Mr. Reynolds indeed contemplated, it is believed, a subterranean tram road from the banks of the Severn right up into the heart of the iron districts of Ketley and Donnington Wood, upon which his engine was to travel, but the prejudice against the scheme was so great, and the jury empanelled to inquire into the nature of the accident inflicted such an enormous fine to be enforced every time the engine was used, that it was abandoned. There are also a pair of partially rotatory brass cylinders in existence which Mr. Reynolds intended as models for a boat on the Severn. This was before Shropshire generally, and the iron districts more particularly, had begun to participate in the advantages of still-water communication. With the superior advantages of railways, it is difficult to appreciate the full benefit of such communication for manufacturing and agricultural purposes at that time in inland counties like our own. Mr. Reynolds however, with full faith in the future development of the powers of steam by means of improved machinery, took great pains to extend and perfect canal navigation, and his name is associated with every important work of improvement in the district during the latter end of the last and the beginning of the present centuries, and especially with a very ingenious contrivance by means of which the inequalities of surface were overcome, and the old-fashioned locks were dispensed with.

Mr. Reynolds commenced his canal for the conveyance of minerals from Oakengates and Ketley in 1788; and shortly after its completion an Act of Parliament was obtained for one from Donnington Wood which, forming a junction therewith, was to proceed along the high ground above Coalbrookdale, on one hand, and Madeley and Coalport on the other. The difference of level was 73 feet in one case and 207 feet in the other. Telford, speaking of the difficulties to be encountered from the nature of the country, says:

“The inequality of the ground and the want of sufficient water seemed insuperable, and might probably have been so for ages to come had not Mr. William Reynolds, of Ketley, whose character is too well known to need any eulogium, discovered the means of overcoming them. Having occasion to improve the method of conveying ironstone and coals from the neighbourhood of Oakengates to the ironworks at Ketley, these materials lying generally about the distance of a mile and a half from the ironworks, and 73 feet above their level, he made a navigable canal, and instead of descending in the usual way by locks, contrived to bring the canal forward to an abrupt part of the bank, the skirts of which terminated on a level with the ironworks. At the top of this bank he built a small lock, and from the bottom of the lock, and down the face of the bank, he constructed an inclined plane, with a double iron railway. He then erected an upright frame of timber, in which was fixed a large wooden barrel. Round the latter a rope was passed that led to a moveable frame, the frame being of a sufficient size to receive a canal boat, resting and preserved in nearly a horizontal position, by having two large wheels before and two small ones behind—varying as much in the diameters as the inclined plane varied from a horizontal plane. This frame being placed in the lock, the loaded boat was brought to rest upon it. The lock gates were shut, the water was drawn from the lock into a side-pond, the boat settled upon a horizontal wooden frame, and—as the bottom of the lock was formed with nearly the same declivity as the inclined plane—upon the lower gates being opened, the frame with the boat passed down the iron railway into the lower canal, which had been formed on a level with the Ketley ironworks, being a fall of 73 feet. A double railway having been laid upon the inclined plane, the loaded boat in passing down brought up another boat containing a load nearly equal to one-third part of that which passed down. The velocity of the boats was regulated by a break acting upon a large wheel, placed upon the axis on which the ropes connected with the carriages were coiled.”

This contrivance has been in use up to the present time. During Mr. Reynolds’s life a representation of it figured upon copper tokens, one of the first iron bridge being upon the opposite or obverse side.

Another of these contrivances is still in use near the Hay, in the parish of Madeley, called the Coalport Incline. This is 207 feet in length, and the gradient is much greater, being about one in three. So great indeed that on the chain snapping we have known a canal boat with five tons of iron pigs on board gain such velocity that on coming in contact with the water in the lower canal it has broken away from the iron chains which held it to the carriage, bounded into the air, clearing two other boats moored on the side, together with the embankment, and alighted in the Severn, close to the ferry-boat, into which it pitched some of the iron-pigs it contained. At the foot of this incline Mr. Reynolds drove a level to the shaft of the Blissers Hill pits, to bring down the coals to the lower canal for loading into barges on the Severn. This was the famous Tar Tunnel from which petroleum was formerly exported in large quantities to all parts of Europe.

William Reynolds removed from Ketley to a large house formerly occupied by Lord Dundonald, at the Tuckies, where he continued to superintend the ironworks he had leased at Madeley Wood, familiarly known as Bedlam Furnaces, and was succeeded by his brother, Mr. Joseph Reynolds, who continued to carry on the Ketley Works till the recurrence of one of those fearful revulsions that have marked the history of the trade. For a quarter of a century we had been carrying on wars, levying troops, and interfering with everybody’s business but that which properly belonged to ourselves. We had obtained our object of ambition by bribery, strategy, and force of arms combined. We had restored the ancient families of France, reduced that country to its ancient limits, and annihilated its commerce. With glorious victory came fearful collapse, and the country awoke to find that a fallacy which it had been taught to regard as truth—that war brings commercial advantages that compensate for fearful waste and lavish expenditure. To add to the calamity, a succession of bad harvests was experienced, and the reduction of the army served to swell the poor’s-rates upon which working men and their families had been thrown for a bare support. Iron from £18 had gone down to £7 per ton, carriage paid from Ketley to Stourport. Mr. Reynolds believed the trade would never again rally, and resolved to blow out the furnaces at Ketley. This was in 1817. In 1818, at an immense sacrifice of property, consisting of the usual apparatus for making and manufacturing iron, he sold off at an immense loss, and removed to Bristol. Language cannot paint the deep distress which accompanied and followed this step. Men, with wives and families dependent upon them, saw their only ground of hope taken from them. Starving by thousands, and yoked like horses, they might be seen drawing materials for the repair of the roads, or conveying coal into Staffordshire. One third of the Shropshire banks failed. Disturbances were frequent; mobs of men collected in bodies and went about taking food where they could find it, and the militia had often to be called out to quell disturbances. Not only ironmasters, but manufacturers generally were reduced to despair. The parish authorities of Wellington advertised in the public journals for persons to come forward and take the Ketley works; and a company, consisting of the Messrs. Montford, Shakeshaft, Ogle, Williams, Hombersley, and others, was formed.

From what we have written, it will be seen that Mr. William Reynolds was on familiar terms with his men. In severe weather and distressed times, he made soup to give away three times a week, and he generally kept “open-house” for his workmen and friends; of the latter he had a large circle. He did not like idleness or indiscriminate almsgiving. A number of men thrown out of employ came to him in a body for relief during a deep snow. He set them to clear an entire field, and to make him a snow-stack; which they did of large proportions, receiving daily wages for the same. He allowed a house and garden rent-free to “Sniggy Oakes,” as he was called—heaven knows what his right name was, for in that day it was seldom known in the mining districts—on condition that the said Sniggy ferry’d him and his family across the river when they required it. One evening Sniggy, knowing he was out on the other side, went to bed instead of sitting up, which he found a deal more comfortable on a cold wet night, and Mr. Reynolds, after calling him first one name and then another, ringing the changes upon every alias, and changing it for “boat! boat!” “ferry! ferry!” had to go round by the bridge. Coming opposite the cottage where Sniggy was snug in bed, he smashed every window, shouting “boat” at every blow of his huge stick. Sniggy roared with fright, and promised better things another time. “On another occasion,” says our informant, “while having a balcony put up in front of the Tuckies, he gave strict injunctions that the martins’ nests should not by any means be disturbed, threatening to shoot the man who violated his instruction. They all obeyed him but one man, and he—.” “What, you don’t mean to say he was going to carry out his threat?” said we. “But he was,” it was replied, “and did.” “What shoot him?” “Yes; shot him, sir—shot him with a pop-gun!” Being a Quaker, many anecdotes are told of him not paying church-rates, and what are called Easter offerings, showing a rich vein of genuine humour running through a warm and generous nature. Old people too tell with much glee of a grand illumination they remember to celebrate one of those interludes of war, termed “a peace rejoicing,” when the bridge across the river, and a large revolving wheel, were lighted up with lamps, and the manufactory, in which—together with Messrs. Horton and Rose—he was a shareholder, was illuminated.

“He is a wise son who knows his own father,” it is said, but it is sometimes more difficult to trace the paternity of an anecdote, and we tell the following as it was told to us.

“Mr. Reynolds was kind and generous to a fault, but he did not like to be tricked. Returning late from a party on horseback, he was requested to pay again at a turnpike gate. Old Roberts, who having been in the army, looked with contempt upon all but a red uniform, and hated Quakers’ plain suits in particular, the more so as the wearers were known to be averse to war, now found himself, as he imagined, in a position to ‘take the small change,’ out of the Quaker. Mr. Reynolds disputed the charge, knowing from the time he left his friend’s house that he must be in the right; but, as the other insisted upon being paid, he paid him. When the latter had opened the gate, Mr. Reynolds remarked, ‘Well, friend, having paid, I suppose I am at liberty to pass through as often as I like?’ ‘Certainly, sir,’ said the old robber—as the juveniles would persist in calling the old man, adding an additional ‘b’ to his name, and clipping it of the two terminating letters. Mr. Reynolds had not travelled far on the home-side of the gate—sufficiently far however to allow the other to get into bed, before he returned, and called up the gatekeeper; having occasion, as he said, to go back. By the time he had again got into bed back came his tormentor at an easy jog-trot pace; and as he again passed through the gate he begged to be accommodated with a light. ‘Thou art sure it is past twelve o’clock, friend?’ said Mr. Reynolds. ‘Quite sure,’ said the other, adding ‘I thought I had done with you for to-night.’ ‘Thou art mistaken,’ said Mr. Reynolds, ‘it is a fine night, and I intend to make the most of it.’ In about ten minutes time the hated sound of ‘Gate, gate,’ brought old Roberts to his post, muttering curses between his teeth. ‘Thou art quite sure it is past twelve, art thou?’ was the question asked, and asked again, till at last the gatekeeper begged of his tormentor to take back the toll. ‘It cured him, though,’ said our informant, ‘and made him civil; but they called him ‘Past Twelve’ for the rest of his days.’”

When Mr. Reynolds removed from Ketley to Madeley Wood, he also removed from the former to the latter place some very primitive steam engines, from the fact that they were constructed by a man named Adam Hyslop, and differed from the ordinary condensing engines of Boulton and Watt in having a cylinder at each end of the beam: one a steam cylinder and condensing box; the other a condensing cylinder only, into which the steam, having done duty in the steam cylinder is conveyed. They were invented prior to Boulton and Watt’s final improvements. Three of these singular looking engines are still used in the field, and work most economically, with five pounds of steam to the square inch.

Of the early history of the Madeley Wood Works, we have been able to glean little satisfactory, beyond the fact that Richard Reynolds, who bought the manor in 1781 or 1782, granted a lease in June 1794 of the Bedlam or Madeley Wood furnaces to his son William, and Richard Rathbone, who very shortly after gave up his interest to William Reynolds, who afterwards carried them on himself. The site was a good one at that time, being at the base of the outcrop of the lowest seams of coal and ironstone, which could thus be obtained by levels driven into the hills, or by shallow shafts, from either of which they were let down inclined planes to the furnaces, close by which flowed the Severn, to take away either coal or iron.

It was on the side of this hill on which the Madeley Wood works were situated, at a place called the Brockholes (broc, or badger-holes), that in 1332 Walter de Caldbrook obtained a license from the prior of Wenlock to dig for coal. Speaking of coal found in this or similar situations in Shropshire, we find, too, that quaint old writer, Thomas Fuller, two centuries ago, as quoted by W. O. Foster Esq., at the meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute at Coalbrookdale, in 1871, giving his opinion thus:—

“One may see a three-fold difference in our English coal—(1) the sea coal brought from Newcastle; (2) the land coal at Mendip, Bedworth, &c., and carried into other counties; (3) what one may call river and fresh water coal, digged out in this county at such a distance from Severn that they are easily ported by boat into other shires. Oh, if this coal could be so charmed as to make iron melt out of the stone, as it maketh it in smiths’ forges to be wrought in the bars. But Rome was not built all in one day; and a new world of experiments is left to the discovery of posterity.”

It seems probable, therefore, that for five hundred years coal has been gotten out of the sides of these hills at Madeley Wood, either for use in local forges or for export by the river Severn, or both; and the more so that old levels are numerous along their side where coal crops out, and that wooden shovels, wooden rails, and other primitive implements have been found in them.

Some of the shafts sunk by Mr. Reynolds came down upon old workings for smiths, or furnace coal, as at the Lodge Pit, as shown by the section.

This shaft, after passing through five yards of sand, six of brick and tile clays, thirteen of rough rock, and thirteen of other measures, came upon the Penneystone, the Sulphur coal, the Vigor coal, the Two-foot coal, the Ganey coal, the Best coal, and the Middle coal, which, like the Penney measure, were all entire; but instead of the Clod coal they found Clod-coal gob (the refuse thrown into the space from which the coal had been removed).

William Reynolds, the proprietor of these works, died at the Tuckies House, in 1803, and was followed to his grave in the burial-ground adjoining the Quaker’s chapel, in the Dale, by a very large concourse of friends and old neighbours. His son, Joseph Reynolds, and Mr. William Anstice succeeded to the works, the latter being the managing partner; and in consequence of the mines being exhausted on the Madeley Wood side of the field, new shafts were sunk to the east, the first of importance being the Hill’s Lane pits. The Halesfield, and then the Kemberton, followed; and the mines having been thus proved on that side, the idea first suggested by William Reynolds, of removing the works to that side, was acted upon by Mr. William Anstice, who built his first furnace at Blisser’s Hill in 1832. A second was built in 1840, and a third in 1844. Of these and other works we propose to speak in connection with events of a later period.

Events relating to the Social and Political History of Madeley, from the 13th to the 19th Centuries, not previously noticed.

We have no means at command for giving anything like such a consecutive account of Madeley as would show its growth and progress from the feudal times, when first noticed in the Domesday Survey, to the present time; and the facts that we have to offer on this head must necessarily appear disjointed and isolated.

The next notice we find succeeding that in Domesday is one in 1291, when it was taxed to the Ninth, twelve merks, but whether of gold or silver we cannot say, probably the latter, as one merk of gold was equal to five of silver—to £3 16s. 8d.

Land was being gradually won from the forests, but it was as yet of small value. Thus we read, under date of March 28th, 1322, of a man named Bercar and his wife, who, for the payment (or fine) of three shillings, bought small parcels of new land in the fields of Madeley and of Caldbrook (Coalbrookdale), of William, the bailiff, to hold for their lives.

In the year 1341 the parish was assessed at £2 16s. 0d., but the reason assigned for the low assessment was that there had been great storms, want of sheep-stock, and a surrender of the land held by tenants. In 1379 a valuation of the manor is thus mentioned:—“Capital messuage, nothing (this would be the Court, or manor-house); water-mill (the old manor or Court mill), ten shillings; fisheries of two vivaries, three shillings; three caracutes of land (or as much as three teams of oxen could plough in the year), as averaging £1 18s.” Three acres of meadow is set down as worth, when carried, three shillings. The verbiage of the park was valued at three shillings and fourpence. The assized rents of free tenements amounted to £6 16s. 2d., and the pleas and perquisites of the Court (held by the prior at the Court-house) at two shillings. In 1390 the rents of Madeley, including a ferm of coals, and the pleas and fines of the Court, were said to yield £22 18s. 0d. This ferm of coals was probably that granted by the prior in 1322 to Walter de Caldbrook for six shillings.

In the sixteenth century the rental of the manor was returned at £39 18s. 8½d. At the same time—that is in 1534–5—the rectorial tithes are set down at £2, and the vicar’s income at £5 5s. In 1693 an assessment made for Madeley, by order of the justices of the peace, James Lewis, balf., George Weld, and Thos. Crompton, of 4s. 6d. in the £, from sixty-four persons, produced £149 1s. 4d. In this assessment the name of Sarah Wolfe occurs sixth on the list. In 1698 an assessment of 3s. 6d. in the £, by order of Richard Littlehales, balf., and Ralph Browne, from fifty-two persons, produced £112 5s. 0d. In this assessment the iron, coal, and lime works paid £55 14s. 0d. of the above sum. In 1704 an assessment of 4s. 6d. in the £, from forty-six persons, paid £149 to which the iron, coal, and lime works contributed £84. The sum paid in on the 27th of March of the same year for 1697, for window-tax, was £8 14s.; the tax for births, deaths, &c., for the same year, was £4 18s. 4d., for 1698, £4 1s. 7d., and for the following year, £3 5s. 6d. In the same year the land-tax produced £27 14s. 6d. In 1670 the window-tax was £8 6s. 0d. In 1671 the land-tax produced £55 0s. 0d. In 1672 the window-tax was £8 0s. 2d. In 1704 the sum realized for windows had risen to £10 17s. 6d., and that for births, deaths, and marriages to £5 12s. 0d. In 1676 the land-tax paid £36 19s. 4d., for the first quarter, 24th July; for the second quarter, 23rd October, the same; and for the third quarter (paid March 27, 1675), the same; the sum for the fourth quarter was also the same. In 1675 two sums, £31 9s. 8d., and £63 8s. 6d., were paid in for land-tax, and £16 2s. 2d. the following March. On the 4th of May, 1706, “John Boden paid in full of ye last year’s land-tax, £36 17s. 0d.” The fourth quarterly payment of the poll for Madeley, made April 15, 1695, was £14 14s. 6d.

We pass over payments for intervening years, and come to 1709. In July of that year the first and second quarterly payments of the land-tax were each £36 19s. 4d.; for the third quarter, £37 8s. 4d., and for the last quarter, £36 10s. 4d. The first and second quarterly payments in full amounted to £73 18s. 8d. In 1702 a survey of the lordship of Madeley showed there were twenty-seven tenants, holding 2073 acres; that the yearly value was £1021 10s. 0d.; also that there were upon the land 3369 trees, and sixteen loads of wood, the value of which by purchase was set down at £17,366 9s. 4d. In 1725 a case was prepared by the vicar and churchwardens, after a vestry-meeting had been held, for the opinion of counsel on the question of the right of the vicar to receive tithe of wood cut down by the lay impropriator. The case set forth that “the vicars of the other twenty-two parishes in the franchise of the priory enjoyed tithes of wood as small tithes, excepting in a few instances, and that the vicar of Madeley has from time to time received the tithes of hay, clover, &c., which are usually esteemed great tithes. But hitherto no tithes of wood have been paid at Madeley within memory of living witnesses, except that about thirty years since the late vicar received one shilling as a composition from the tenant of the impropriator.”

Counsel (Thos. Browne, of the Inner Temple), in reply, says Madeley was appropriated to the priory of Wenlock at the same time as Stoke St. Milburgh—22nd March, 1343—and yet the vicar of Stoke receives tithe-wood, and thinks that the smoke-penny to the vicar is strong evidence in favour of his being entitled to the tithe of wood so used, because that payment comes in lieu of such wood; but it must be admitted that the impropriator is entitled to all the tithes of a vicar, unless such vicar shows usage or endowment to support the demand as to such great tithe.

The counsel’s opinion seems to have left the question pretty much in the same state as before, and that the vicar and churchwardens did not establish their claim is shown by subsequent assessments and by the report of the Tithe Commissioners (1848), who said all woodlands are by prescription or other lawful means exempt from tithe.

The appropriation of the rent-charge in lieu of tithes in the parish took effect in 1847, and it may be interesting to add that after various meetings and inquiries it was found that by prescription or other lawful means all the woodlands, containing in estimated statute measure 200 acres, well known by metes and bounds, were absolutely free from tithes; also all gardens annexed to houses.

It was also found that 267 acres of the Court Farm were covered from render of small tithes in kind by prescriptive or customary payments in lieu thereof to the vicar, and 233 acres of the Windmill Farm by payment of 5s. 3½d.; the Broad Meadow, containing twenty-two acres, by payment of ninepence; the Hales, seventeen acres, by payment of fivepence; the Bough Park, twenty acres, and Rushton Farm (Park House), twenty-six acres, by payment of 10½d.; part of Court Farm (J. and F. Yates, proprietors), and six other acres, by payment of twopence. The quantity subject to tithes amounted to 2800 acres, 2000 being arable, and 800 as meadow or pasture.

Finding also that the average value of tithes for the seven years preceding Christmas, 1835, did not represent the sum which ought to be the basis for a permanent commutation, the Tithe Commissioner awarded as follows: to Sir Joseph H. Hawley, impropriator, of Leybourn Grange, Kent, £115 10s., by way of rent-charge; and £226 to the vicar for the time being, instead of all the remaining unmerged tithes of hay and small tithes, arising from the lands of the said parish. The valuation was by William Wyley, upon wheat, barley, and oats, as under:—

The great-tithes have since been purchased from Sir Joseph Hawley for Ironbridge church, now a rectory.

Scarcity of Wheat in Madeley in 1795.

The system of farming and the state of the laws regarding the importation of grain were such down to the period we refer to that the country was at the mercy of the viscisitude of the seasons, and if these were adverse nothing less than a partial or a general famine was the result, and it sometimes happened that the use of an extra ounce or two of bread was grudged if not considered sinful. Thus, an old writer commenting upon the scarcity of grain in the above year, censured the use of tea on the ground that it led to the use of bread and butter. He says:—

“I find, July 29th, that ‘in the parish of Madeley, Salop, there are 924 families; and since the use of Tea is becoming so prevalent, on a moderate calculation each family consumes three and a half pounds of flour each week more than formerly, by instituting a fourth meal each day. In days of yore, Breakfast, Dinner and Supper were esteemed sufficient, but now it must be Breakfast, Dinner, Tea and Supper, which wastes both Meal and Time, and makes a difference each week in the parish of Madeley of 3234 lbs. of flour.’”

In that same year, on the ninth of July, a meeting of numerous gentlemen, farmers, millers, and tradesmen was held at the Tontine, on “the alarming occasion of the scarcity of corn and dearness of all kinds of other provisions,” and a committee was appointed for the immediate collection of contributions and the purchase of such grain as could be procured, to be distributed to the necessitous at a reduction of one fourth, or nine shillings for twelve. The wants of the poor were described as being beyond what they had at any former time experienced, and according to the best accounts that could be collected the quantity of grain of all sorts in the country was very far short of the consumption before harvest. Many families in Madeley were short of bread, and the colliers were only prevented rising by assurances that gentlemen of property were disposed to contribute liberally to their relief as well as to adopt measures for obtaining from distant parts, such aid as could be procured. The committee directed 2,000 bushels of Indian corn to be sent for from Liverpool, to meet immediate requirements, but such were the murmurs of the poor according to a letter from Richard Reynolds to Mr. Smitheman, that it was impossible to say what would be the consequences, and the writer adds:—

“I should not be surprised if they applied in a body at those houses where they expected to find provisions, or from which they thought they ought to be relieved. They already begin to make distinctions between those whom they consider as their benefactors, and those whom (as George Forester expresses it in the annexed letter) are at war with their landlords; and I fear those whom they consider as deserting them in their distress, would not only incur their disapprobation, but might be the next to suffer from their resentment. I therefore the more readily attempt to fulfil my appointment by recommending thee in the most earnest manner to send by the return of the post to Richard Dearman at this place, who is appointed treasurer on the present occasion, a bill for such a sum as thou shalt think proper to contribute, and at the same time to write to thy servant at the West Coppice to give notice to thy tenants, (as G. Forester has to his) and especially to William Parton of Little Wenlock, that it is thy desire that he and they should conform to the general practice and deliver immediately all his wheat to the committee, at twelve shillings per bushel, for the use of the poor. And if there is any wheat, barley, beans, or peas, at the West Coppice, or elsewhere in thy possession or power, I recommend thee to order it to be sent without delay to the Committee; and then if the colliers, &c., should go in a body, or send, as I think more likely a deputation to thy house, thy having so done, and thy servant shewing them thy order for so doing, as well as thy contributing liberally as above proposed, will be the most likely means to prevent the commencement of mischief, the end of which, if once began, it is impossible to ascertain.”

The letter goes on to state that the following sums had been subscribed: George Forester, £105. Cecil Forester, £105. J. H. Browne, £105. the Coalbrookdale Company, £105. and John Wilkinson, £50. In addition to this the writer, Richard Reynolds, and J. H. Browne had consented to advance £700. each to be repaid out of the corn sold at the reduced price.

Mr. Reynolds concludes by saying, “such is the urgency of the temper of the people, that there is not a day to lose if we are desirous to preserve the poor from outrage, and most likely the country from plunder, if not from blood.”

Periods of distress and panic arising from scarcity were not unfrequent when wages were stationary, or comparatively so. Great changes had taken place during the periods previously described. First, during feudal times, here and elsewhere the great body of peasantry was composed of persons who rented small farms, seldom exceeding twenty or thirty acres, and who paid their rent either in kind or in agricultural labour and services performed on the demesne of the landlord: secondly, of cottagers, each of whom had a small croft or parcel of land attached to his dwelling, and the privilege of turning out a cow, or pigs, or a few sheep, into the woods, commons, and wastes of the manor. During this period, the population derived its subsistence immediately from the land;—the landowner from the produce of his demesne, cultivated partly by his domestic slaves, but principally by the labour of the tenants and cottiers attached to the manor; the tenants from the produce of their little farms; and the cottiers from that of their cows and crofts, except while working upon the demesne, when they were generally fed by the landlord. The mechanics of the village, not having time to cultivate a sufficient quantity of land, received a fixed allowance of agricultural produce from each tenant.

Under the above system, not only the little farmer, but also the humblest cottager, drew a very considerable portion of his subsistence directly from the land. His cow furnished him with what is invaluable to a labourer,—a store of milk in the summer months; his pig, fattened upon the common and with the refuse vegetables of his garden, supplied him with bacon for his winter consumption—and there were poultry besides.

Gradually the labourer and small cultivator lost the use they had made of the road-side and other waste which were assigned under inclosure acts, not to the occupier, but the owner of the cottage; few cottages were in the occupation of their owners; they generally, indeed we may say universally, belonged to the proprietors of the neighbouring farms, and the allotments granted in lieu of the extinguished common rights were generally added to the large farms, and seldom attached to the cottages. The cottages which were occupied by their owners had of course allotments attached to them; but these by degrees passed by sale into the hands of some large proprietor in the neighbourhood, De facto, in ninety-nine cases out of the hundred, the allotment has been detached from the cottage, and thrown into the occupation of some adjoining farmer.

That such a charge should have been attended with important consequences, can excite no surprise, a complete severance was effected between the peasantry and the soil; the little farmers and cottiers were converted into day-labourers, depending entirely upon daily earnings which may, and frequently did, in point of fact, fail them. They had no land upon the produce of which to fall as a reserve when the demand for labour happened to be slack. This revolution became unquestionably the cause of the heavy and increasing burdens upon parishes in the form of poor-rates, and jail rates.

It has been well said that from the moment when any man begins to think that

‘The world is not his friend, nor the world’s law,’

the world and the world’s law are likely to have that man for their enemy; and if he does not commence direct hostilities against them, he abandons himself to despair, and becomes a useless if not a hurtful member of the community.

If we go back to the time of the great plague, about the middle of the reign of Edward III., which gave occasion to the first attempt to regulate wages by law, corn rose from 5s. 4d., the average the first twenty-five years to 11s. 9d., the average of the twenty-five years following. In this reign the pound of silver was coined into 25s., and at the end of the reign of Henry IV., into 30s. In 1444, other statutes regulating wages were passed probably owing to the high price of corn, which had risen on an average of the ten preceding years to 10s. 8d., without any further alterations in the coin; and for this reason there seems no adequate cause but a succession of scanty crops; as a continuance of low prices afterwards prevailed for sixty years. The average price of wheat from 1444 to the end of the reign of Henry VII. (1509) returned to 6s., while the pound of silver was coined into £1 17s. 6d. instead of £1 2s. 6d., as at the passing of the first statute of labourers in 1350, thus indicating a continuance of favourable seasons, and probably, an improved system of agriculture. The rise in the price of corn during the next century was owing probably to other causes. From 1646 to 1665 the price of the quarter of wheat was £2 10s. 0d. During the wars of the Roses, and subsequently it was cheap; but during the civil wars under Charles I., and for some time subsequently it was dear. The harvests of 1794 and 1795 were deficient, but the rise in the price of grain, occasioned by the deficiency of these two years, which is supposed to have been about one eighth, threw into the hands of the agricultural interest, in 1795 and 1796, when prices were at the highest, from 24 to 28 millions for the two years, the farmers with a deficiency of one eighth, having sold their crops for nearly a third more than the usual price before labour had risen.

Mr. Reynolds saw the evils we have been describing, and when he purchased the manor of Madeley from Mr. Smitheman he made it a point to encourage small allotments and leases of copyholds.

The Church, and the Moral and Religious Aspects of the People of Madeley.

We have previously given the names of some of the early rectors of the church, when the whole mind of the people here, as elsewhere, by education, if not conviction, was Roman Catholic. There was undoubtedly a pleasant kind of poetry about the older system of religion, which no man, from the peasant to the peer, thought of questioning, but which, from the cradle to the grave, governed and regulated, as far as its influences went, the thoughts and actions of all men. They were the high days of ecclesiastical power, when the Church could smite with excommunication and civil disability obnoxious families or individuals, and when monarchs could be cut off from the allegiance of their subjects, and made to appear as lepers among their brethren.

We know little of the moral or social condition of the inhabitants, or how far they were influenced by the rude discipline to which they were subject. Delusion, we know, by the traces it has left, then and for a long time after among the uneducated classes, formed the basis often of belief. It was a time when man, equally deceived by the imperfections of his senses and the illusions of self-love, long considered himself to be the centre of the movements of the stars, and his vanity was punished by the terrors to which they gave rise. It may not have had a corrupting tendency, and may even have been a beneficial fallacy, for it must have tended much to the accomplishment of any undertaking to believe that it was within the range of possibility. We can now view the planets as they circle, without supposing that they are impelled by intelligences who exercise either a benign or a hostile influence over our action. Ages of labour have removed the veil which concealed the true nature of the planets, and man now finds himself on the surface of one which he has reason to suppose is so small as to be scarcely perceptible in that great solar system which formerly appeared so mysterious. Then it was not so: astrologers and conjurors were looked up to as wielding even more terrific powers than the priest, and horoscopes, nativities, and the most ordinary events were traced to influences of the planets. Dust and cobwebs now cover the tombs of the authors of works on astrology; the staff on which they leaned is broken; their brazen instruments are green and cankered.

In an old book on this subject, disinterred among certain other contents of an old chest in the vestry of the church, entitled “Astrological Predictions for 1652,” we find, as was not unusual, awful prognostications concerning Church and State, and threatenings of troubles, violent distempers, and great slaughters. There appears to have been a court of astrologers, for we find a notice in a foot-note of “a learned sermon composed for the Society of Astrologers.” Predictions and assertions of interference with men’s actions and the most ordinary course of events not being read to advantage except in the language of their authors, we purpose giving an extract or two. Like relics, which seem to lose their venerable sanctity when removed from an old tomb to a museum, extracts in modern type lose the charm the well-thumbed old yellow work has as it is lifted from the old church chest, mellow and mouldy. It appears from the numerous notes and memorandums on the blank leaves to have been used by the clergyman as a sort of pocket-book, and some of the notes appear to be intended attestations of the predictions so earnestly given. Here are some of the predictions bearing chiefly upon passing events of the times, or such as were likely to arise:—

“England is subject to that Sign of the Zodiac, viz. Aries, wherein Mars at present is placed, & therefore we English, & in Engla. must expect some, or many of those misfortuns which he generally signifieth, and which even now we repeated: but the same sign pointeth out also many Cities & places in the upper Germany, so also in Austria and its Territories, the Eastern and Southeast parts of France and the Cities and Townes therein scituated, also the North East or more Easterly parts of Denmark, that or those parts of the Polonian Countries or Provinces which are bordering or adjacent unto the unruly Cossacks, and those Cities and Towns in the upper Silesia, which lye neer unto the Borders or Confines of the Turks Dominions, the Dukedom of Burgundy; the Swedish Nation and Souldiery are also more or lesse, and many of their Towns subject unto the Sign Aries, and therefore in all or most of these Countries by us nominated, there will be some violent distempers in the people, some slaughter of men, and casually by one accident or other much damage in many of their principal Cities or Sea-towns by Fire, War, inroads of Pyrates or souldiers, &c.”

“When Venus shall be Lady of the yeare and unfortunate, as now she is in the seventh house; Women will more than ordinary scold with their Husbands, and run twatling and scolding out of their houses: many Men will depart, or run, separate or divorce themselves from their Wives. This unnaturall Deportment of Women unto their Husbands and Men unto their Wives, is increased by the nearnesse of Venus unto Mars, and his positure in the seventh House, which signifieth Women, their loves and affections either unto their Husbands or others. In that House he is ‘Damnofus & malus, quia significat inimicitias & discordias magnas, & accident hominibus furta interfectiones & contentiones multæ & rixæ in illo anno maximeq in gent illius Climatis.’ Mars is very unfortunately placed in the seventh house, signifying there will be many controversies, Law-suits, Duels, much enmity, many Thefts by Sea & Land, much robbing of Houses; and these shall most apparantly manifest themselves in the Country, City or Towne subject unto the sign he is in, of which we have formerly treated.”

The eclipse of the sun, 29th March, 1652, 9-56 a.m., is announced with hieroglyphic figures, followed by these remarks:—

“We intended to write a particular Treatise concerning the effects of this Eclips, which is the greatest this Age hath beheld, and in that Booke to have delivered unto Posterity a Method whereby they might have judged what manner of Effects should have been signified by any Defect of either of the two Luminaries; but our time at this present being otherwise taken up, we are confined to a narrow scantling of Paper: we hope some well-wishers unto Astrology will perfect what we intended on that Subject, being desirous to see the Labours of other Men abroad, the whole burthen hereof being too heavy for one Anglicus.”

The idlest tales were believed and credited as facts, and men more cunning than the common herd thrived by magical and cabalistic spells they were supposed to cast upon evil spirits. The clergy dealt in exorcisms, and in surplice and stole performed the rites of the Church. They condemned witchcraft, however, as heresy; and as early as the reign of Henry VIII. a statute was passed which enacted that any person, after the day therein named, devising, practising, or exercising “any invocations, or conjurations of spirits, witchcrafts, enchantments, or sorceries, to the intent to get or find money or treasure, or to waste, consume, or destroy any person in his body, members, or goods, or to provoke any person to unlawful love, or for any other unlawful intent or purpose, or by occasion or colour of such things or any of them, or for despite of Christ, or lucre of money, dig up or pull down any cross, or crosses, or by such invocations or conjurations of spirits, witchcrafts, enchantments, or sorcery, or any of them, take upon them to tell or declare where goods stolen or lost shall be come—that then all and every person or persons offending as before is mentioned, shall be deemed, accepted, and adjudged a felon or felons, without benefit of clergy.” This act was carefully worded, inasmuch as it only extends to witchcraft or enchantment practised with a criminal or unlawful intent.

Men with very much less learning than the author quoted, lived by their wits, from their supposed knowledge of the stars, and from being able, as they professed, to consult the planets and to restore lost property. Men, and women too, would take long journeys to consult one who could “read the stars,” or “rule the planets.” From a conversation recorded by a close observer of men and manners in the beginning of the present century, for instance, we learn that one of these wise men who lived as far off as Oswestry was occasionally consulted by the inhabitants here. Of course it was easy with a little tact for the wife to worm out the main facts in one room whilst the husband listened and gathered them up for use in another. Tom Bowlegs having missed a five-pound note from his cupboard holds the following conversation with a friend, who tells him he cannot help thinking that the note has been mislaid, not stolen, and says:—

“The five-pound peaper is not stolen but lost, and thee’lt be sartin to find it.

No sich thing Yedart, replies Bowlegs; for I went to the wise-mons and he tow’d me all about it.

The wise-mon! what wise-mon?

Dick Spot that lives slip side Hodgistry the yed of aw the conjurors in Shropshire.

Aye, and what did he tell thee?

Well, thee shalt hear:

As a five-pound paper was a jell for a poor mon to lose, I determined to know all about it, so off I set for Dick Spot’s house. After knocking at the door it was opened by an owd woman, as ugly as the divil himself, with a face as black as the easter. At first seet I thought I was tean to, and was for bowting; but wishing to know all about the paper, I mustered aw my courage, and went in. Pray, said I, is the Wise-mon a-whoam. No, said she, but he will directly; sit down; I suppose you have lost something, and wants to know where it is. Yes, said I, you bin reet. What is it that you have lost? So I up and tow’d her, aw abowt it. Just as I had finished, in comes the wise-mon; and he (to my great surprise) said—follow me into this room; while I was scraping wi mi foot, dewking mi yed, and stroking my yarr down, amounting altogether to a nation fine beawe, he said—I was consulting the planets this morning and found that a £5 Shiffnal bank note had been stolen from under a sugar bason in your cupboard on Wednesday morning last, between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, by a tall mon, with a long visage marked by the small pox, gray eyes, and black beard. (Wonderful! said I, that is the very mon I suspect!) You will therefore, on your return home, make it known in his neighbourhood that if the bill is not returned in one week from this day, that he will lose one of his legs in a few weeks after. If this comes to his ears I have no doubt the bill will be returned immediately, but if he does not, he shall be marked as I have told you, and in that case the bill will be irrecoverable. I knew by the planets that you would be here at 12 o’clock to-day, and having overstaid my time at Hodgistry (here he wiped the sweat from his face). I ran all the way to be in time to meet you.”

The devil, or “divil,” seems to have been an important personage, often making bargains, in which he not unfrequently got worsted. There were too familiar imps or demons, according to John Heywood’s homely rhymes,—

“Such as we
Pugs and Hobgoblins call; their dwellings be
In corners of old houses least frequented,
Or beneath stacks of wood; and these convented
Make fearful noise in butteries and in dairies,
Robin Goodfellows some, some call them fairies.
In solitarie rooms these uproars keep,
And beat at doors to wake men from their sleep,
Seeming to force locks be they ne’re so strong
And keeping Christmasse gambols all night long.”

That merry wanderer, Puck, even as late as the present century, was common to our fields, where he seems to have had a partiality for simple countrymen, market-fresh, whom he led many a weary dance in fields out of which they could not find their way. He was occasionally domiciled in the kitchen, and was useful in sweeping up the hearth while housewives snored in bed. Farmhouses were favourite residences; but woe to the dairymaid who happened to offend them! Her milk was sure to turn sour. They haunted mines sometimes, and used the pick to help forward the midnight task, or became malignant and caused inundations of water, or let loose noxious vapours to destroy both mine and miners. On one occasion a miner named Bagley, who preferred being let down when all the rest had ascended the shaft, in order to have the assistance of an imp, was watched by another, who concealed himself for the purpose. But the imp, who was working whilst the man rested, discovered him and called upon his friend to bump him against the timber for his intrusion. On being caught a second time, the imp raised an alarm—“He peeps again, Bagley; bump him!” showing that the sprite or whatever he was could speak English. As a supposed proof of the truth of this, Bagley was called “Bump him, Bagley!” to his dying day.

An old inhabitant of Madeley who believed thoroughly in such things told us that he once looked through a hole into an old building on a moonlight night, and saw a score of spirits of this kind dancing right merrily! He also assured us that an old woman, whose name he gave us, but which we do not remember, was accounted a witch, and had the power to change herself into a hare; and that on one occasion she was hunted by the hounds, who ran her to her cottage, on the Brockton road, where she took the chimney, and was found sitting by the fire, her hands and feet bleeding from the run. [121]

If the clergy of those days believed in evil eyes, witchcraft, and ghosts, it was to be expected that the people would do so, too. They stood alone on a mental as on a religious eminence. The knell of ecclesiastical authority had not then been rung; civil incapacity and inferiority was the tacit proscription of all outside the pale of the Church; and what we glean of morals and manners under the rigid system of godly discipline then prevailing is not much in its favour.

Madeley, towards the latter end of the past and beginning of the present century was favoured above many neighbouring parishes in its clergy. It had men who led tranquil, holy lives, and some who proclaimed the conscience of the individual to be the only judge in matters of the soul,—men who were, it is true, ill-rewarded for their pains, but who lived beneficent lives, and rendered disinterested service.

Such were John William de la Fletcher and Melville Horne, the latter of whom went out as a missionary, and established the colony of Sierra Leone; and others who succeeded them. Let us speak first, however, of the former.

Rev. John W. Fletcher, Vicar of Madeley.

No sketch of Madeley would be complete which did not include a copious notice of Mr. Fletcher. So many “Lives” of Mr. Fletcher have, however been written, and are so readily attainable, that we need not enter into those details appertaining to his parentage, birth, youth, education, etc., which belong properly to the biographer who writes a book; and we shall content ourselves therefore with a summary of such matters, in order the more fully to bring out those traits of character which distinguished him whilst vicar of this parish.

Jean Guilhaume de la Flechere, to give his proper Swiss name, was born at Nyon, fifteen miles from Geneva, in the year 1729. He received his education first in his native town, and then at Geneva, at which latter place he distinguished himself by his abilities, his thirst for knowledge, and intense application to study. His biographers relate boyish incidents and hairbreadth escapes, communicated by himself. His father before marriage was an officer in the French army, and afterwards in that of his own country, and young Fletcher on arriving at maturity resolved to enter the army too, but in consequence of some disappointments he came to London to learn the English language, and having done so he obtained a situation as tutor in the family of Mr. Hill, M.P. for Shrewsbury, who resided at Tern Hall, near Atcham. He was ordained 1757, and occasionally preached at Atcham, Wroxeter, and the Abbey church at Shrewsbury, and at St. Alkmunds.

Two years after he was ordained, he was in the habit of occasionally coming to preach at Madeley, and the year following, through the influence of Mr. Hill, he was appointed vicar, having chosen it in preference to a smaller parish with a larger income. Mr. Chambray, the then vicar, gladly accepting the living Mr. Fletcher declined, thereby making way for him. One of Mr. Fletcher’s pupils died, the other became M P. for Shrewsbury; afterwards he represented the county, and finally was made a peer, under the title of Baron Berwick of Attingham, the name the house now bears. He appears to have received his appointment to Madeley in March, 1759.

The Rev. Robert Cox, M.A., one of Mr. Fletcher’s biographers, says:—

“Previous to Mr. Fletcher’s presentation to the living, its inhabitants, with some honourable exceptions, were notorious for their ignorance and impiety. They openly profaned the sabbath, treated the most holy things with contempt, disregarded the restraints of decency, and ridiculed the very name of religion. It is to the reproach of England that such a description is but too frequently applicable to places where mines and manufactories have collected together a crowded population.”

A desire to be extensively useful soon induced Mr. Fletcher to undertake extra-parochial duties, but in every way, indignities were offered by those on whom by contrast his piety, temperance, humility, and example more strongly reflected. The clergy went into titters and cried “Enthusiast!” The half-gentry chalked up “Schismatic!” and the magistrates sought to set the world on a grin by ticketing him a “Jesuit!” Need we be surprised to hear that Mr. Fletcher was seized, as he tells us, with the spirit of Jonah—and tempted to quit his charge! It was a passing temptation, yet such was his tenderness of conscience that the shadow of a doubt—intruded rather than entertained—disquieted him.

About this time he had some doubts respecting a passage in the service for the baptism of infants, and also in that for the burial of the dead. He received much comfort however from his correspondence and interviews with John and Charles Wesley, whose preachers he welcomed into his parish.

In a letter dated May, 1767, we find him inviting Whitfield to his parish for the same purpose. In this letter, May 18th, 1767, he speaks of Capt. Scott having preached from his horse-block, which seems to mark the first introduction of Wesleyan Methodism into Madeley. The Roman Catholics too, gave him trouble, by opening a mission in Madeley, and drawing over to them two of his converts. This appears to have been in March 1769, for in a letter to his friend Mr. Ireland dated the 26th, he says:—