In the parish of Quatford is Eardington, celebrated for the manufacture of iron for guns, wire, and horse nails; and parochially and manorially combined with Eardington is the More, the ancient tenure of which indicates the manufacture of iron here at a very early period. By it the tenant was required to appear yearly in the Exchequer, with a hazel rod of a year's growth, and two knives, the treasurer and barons being present. The tenant was to attempt to sever the rod with one of the knives, the other knife was to do the same work at one stroke, and then be given up to the king's chamberlain; a custom which was continued until recently. BRIDGNORTH [Bridgnorth: 19.jpg] Population, 6,569. Market day--Saturday. Fairs--January 20th, February 17th, May 1st, June 9th, July 14th, August 18th, September 15th, October 29th, December 28th. Principal Hotel--The Crown, for which, as well as for the Swan, the Raven, and the George, see Advertisements. The station, at the southern termination of the tunnel, is a chaste building of freestone, and forms an additional ornament to the town. It occupies a position from which its two divisions come pleasantly into view, the Low Town lying peacefully in the valley by the Severn, the High Town dotting the terraced sides, and crowning the bold impending rocks that give it, in the eyes of travellers, such an eastern aspect. Caverned in the hill, at many stages from its foot, and reached by winding walks, are picturesque holes and habitations--happily now no longer used, excepting in very few instances indeed--where the first settlers crowded when the ruthless Dane perched himself like a famished eagle on the rocks of Quatford down below. In the foreground are the time-worn relics of its two castles, to which the little colony was indebted for protection from fierce and threatening foes. The one opposite is Pampudding Hill, a smooth, grassy mound, on which the daughter of the great Alfred, Queen Ethelfleda, built a fortress. According to Florence of Worcester, what we now call Bridgnorth was then _Brycge_. In his time, as in that of Leland, who so well described its position, the Severn ran nearer to the frowning cliffs on which the town is built than at present.