It is supposed to have been founded by King Edgar about 980. There were attached to it a Dean and seven Prebendaries, and the stipend of the priest amounted to £6 6s. 8d. In the reign of Edward the Confessor it had a Dean and nine Prebendaries, and was provided with a large estate for their maintenance. In the time of Henry VIII. the revenue was £32 4s. 2d., and the Dean received as his share £22 6s. 8d. In the early part of the reign of Edward VI. the revenue had increased to £42, the whole of which was absorbed by the Dean, “rich on forty pounds a-year.” The church was then collegiate, but upon the dissolution of colleges the greater part of its revenues was given by Edward VI. for founding the Shrewsbury Grammar School. The living was formerly in the presentation of the Mayor of Shrewsbury—a privilege which the Municipal Act extinguished. It is now vested in five trustees; and it is necessary to select a minister who is either the son of a burgess and has been educated at the Grammar School, or who has had the honour of being a native of Chirbury. It was directed that the stipend should be an adequate one—£20 a-year, and the regulation which fixed the amount contained the pleasing addition that it was not to be diminished. [Picture: Entrance to Council House, Shrewsbury] The church is one of the most interesting ecclesiastical edifices in the county from the example it affords of all the architectural styles of the middle ages. It is impossible to give here a full description of it. It must suffice to say that it consists of nave, side aisles, transepts, choir, spacious chapel, two chantrey chapels, with a tower and lofty spire, the total height of which is 220 feet 2 inches. The Anglo-Norman style may be seen in the basement of the tower, the nave, transepts, and doorways; the transition from Norman to the early lancet in the beautiful transept windows; and the obtuse arch of a later period in the side aisles and chantry chapels. The interior presents a stately and magnificent appearance from the massiveness of its arches, from the gorgeousness and beauty of its windows, and from the number of its striking monuments. It has been graced with the presence of royalty, and it has been used as a judicial court. In 1232 a tribunal, composed of legates, was convened here by command of the Pope to hear the charges preferred against Llewellyn for violations of treaties. In 1642 Charles I., then in Shrewsbury, made within its walls a solemn protestation, and took “the Sacrament upon it,” to defend the Protestant religion. In 1687 James II. attended divine service, and afterwards exercised the superstitious and suppositious power of “touching for the evil.”