Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11: Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set.Dugdale, Thomas
History
Curiosities of Great Britain: England and Wales Delineated Vol.1-11: Historical, Entertaining & Commercial; Alphabetically Arranged. 11 Volume set.
Dugdale, Thomas
Great Britain -- Gazetteers
[B] ASTHALL. At this village is an old manorial mansion, now used as a
farm-house, which was formerly the residence of Sir Richard Jones, one
of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in the reign of Charles the
First. In the north aisle of the church stands a large stone coffin,
said to contain the remains of Alice Corbett, concubine to Henry I.
_Mail_ arrives 5 morning; departs 9.35 evening.
[Sidenote: Alice Corbett.]
[C] ASTLEY. This manor was held, in the reign of Henry II., by Philip de
Estley, of the Earl of Warwick, by the service of holding the Earl's
stirrup when he mounted or alighted from his horse. From this person are
descended two families, seated at Hill Morton, in this county, and at
Patshull, in Staffordshire. In the reign of Henry V. the estate passed
by marriage to the Greys of Ruthin, from whom it descended to Henry
Grey, Marquis of Dorset, and Duke of Suffolk, beheaded in the reign of
Queen Mary, for an attempt to make Lady Jane Grey queen. The manor
belongs at present to F.P. Newdigate, Esq. Astley Castle is surrounded
by a moat, along the inner edge of which lie the remains of massive
walls. The habitable part of the mansion is probably not older than the
time of Mary; but it is clad in a garb of ivy, and other evergreens,
which renders it singularly picturesque. In one room is preserved a
portrait of the factious Suffolk, respecting whose capture the following
particulars are related:--"Finding that he was forsaken, he put himself
under the trust of one Underwood, as it is said, a keeper of his park
here at Astley, who hid him for some few days in a large hollow tree,
standing about two bow-shots from the church; but, being promised a
reward, he betrayed him." The church of Astley having been made
collegiate, by Lord Thomas de Astley, was by him rebuilt, and adorned
with a spire, so lofty that it served as a land-mark in the deep
wood-lands of the district, and was popularly termed "The lanthorn of
Arden."--The interior is curious and interesting, although many
monuments and decorations have been removed or destroyed at various
times. On an altar-tomb at the west-end are the effigies, in alabaster,
of a warrior and a lady; and on another, is the mutilated figure of a
female in a recumbent posture: both are without inscription.
[Sidenote: Singular tenure.]
[Sidenote: Lord Suffolk betrayed by his keeper.]
[D] ASTLEY. This village is situated on the Severn, it was noted before
the dissolution, for its priory of Benedictines, and is now remarkable
chiefly for a hermitage formed in the living rock, and recently
converted into an ale-house. The church, built in the Saxon style of
architecture, contains some monuments and a few fragments of stained
glass. Here is the ancient seat called Glasshampton.
[Sidenote: Hermitage.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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