The quiet little town of Market Drayton, some eighteen miles to the
north-east of Shrewsbury, contains many interesting timber houses. There
is still an old-fashioned air about the place of which the footsore
pedestrian stumbling over the cobble stones soon becomes conscious. The
quaint overhanging gables in the narrow streets are rich with ornamental
carvings. One long range of buildings at the corner of Shropshire and
Cheshire Streets is a fine specimen of "magpie" architecture. Let us
hope the row of antiquated shops on the basement will remain content
with their limited space; for so far those imposing modern structures,
which have a way of throwing everything out of harmony, are conspicuous
by their absence. Nor has the demon electric tram come to destroy this
quiet peaceful corner of Salop, as, alas! it has to so many of our old
towns. One dreads to think what England will be like in another fifty
years. Farther along Shropshire Street we find a little antiquated inn,
the "Dun Cow," with great timber beams and thick thatch roof, and the
"King's Arms" opposite bearing the date 1674 upon the gable abutting
upon the roof, which does not say much for the sobriety of the person
who set it up. Hard by is a good Queen Anne house standing a little
back, as if it didn't like to associate with such neighbours. It looked
deserted, and was "To Let"; and we couldn't help thinking how this
compact little house would be picked up were it only situated in
Kensington or Hampstead.
The church, an imposing building finely situated, is disappointing,
though there is some good Norman work about it. It has been reseated,
and the only thing worth noting is an old tomb showing the quaint female
costume of Elizabeth's day, and a tall-backed oak settle facing the
communion table. The latter looks as if it ought to be facing an open
fireplace in some manorial farm.
Many superstitions linger hereabouts. The old people can recollect the
dread in which a certain road was held at night for fear of a ghostly
lady, who had an unpleasant way of jumping upon the backs of the farmers
as they returned from market. Tradition does not record whether those
who were thus favoured were total abstainers; possibly not, for the lady
by all accounts had a grudge against those who occasionally took a
glass; and in a certain inn cellar, when jugs had to be replenished, it
was discomforting to find her seated on the particular barrel required,
like the goblin seen by Gabriel Grub upon the tombstone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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