Nooks and Corners of ShropshireTimmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
History
Nooks and Corners of Shropshire
Timmins, H. Thornhill (Henry Thornhill)
Shropshire (England) -- Description and travel
The corner building at the farther end of Butcher Row is an excellent
example of a mediæval town-house; and the beautiful though sadly defaced
carvings about its door-jambs, windows and gables, are as good as they
are rare of their kind. There is reason to suppose the Abbots of
Lilleshall made this their city abode, and that the chantry priests of
the Holy Cross found shelter in its ancient chambers.
Be that as it may, we now direct our steps towards a mere slit of a
passage, aptly designated Grope Lane; getting a passing peep of Fish
Street, and its quaint inn-sign the Three Fishes, the cognizance of the
Abbots of Lilleshall, with St. Julian's Church-tower beyond. A queer
nook indeed is this Grope Lane, just such an one as might have inspired
the author of 'A Legend of the Dark Entry'; so narrow that one may
easily touch both sides at once, and so closely overhung by the rafters
of the adjacent premises that but a strip of sky is seen.
Having weathered the intricacies of Grope Lane we enter High Street, and
turn right-about to look at the quaint old half-timbered buildings by
which it is flanked--small but very characteristic specimens of old
Salopian house-fronts, with their quatrefoil panels, twisted pilasters,
and grotesquely carved heads. Close at hand is High Street Church, a
chapel originally erected in the days of the Act of Uniformity, and
noteworthy from the fact that for a brief space of time Samuel
Coleridge, the celebrated author of the 'Ancient Mariner,' ministered
therein.
Strolling along High Street, we soon pass the entrance to The Square,
giving a passing glance at the old Market House that rises so
picturesquely there--whereof more anon,--and pausing beneath Clive's
statue to scan the determined features and stalwart bearing of that
renowned Salopian. Then we turn our attention to a group of Fine old
black-and-white gables that rise upon the opposite side of the street,
the doorway of one handsome façade bearing the inscription, ERECTED BY
RICHARD OWEN THE ELDER, GENTELMAN, ANO. DM. 1592.
Few towns in the kingdom can boast such stately survivals as these; yet
a few yards away appears a still more striking specimen of the mediæval
builder's art. Originally the town-house of the Irelands, this noble old
fabric is still known by their name, and bears upon its ancient front
the family cognizance. Four storeys high it rears its chequered walls,
topped by tall, beetling gables, and broken into play of light and shade
by ranges of oriel windows. Bits of quaint carving are seen here and
there upon bargeboard, lintel and bracket, for the old place has happily
suffered but little from modern innovations. The nicely restored
black-and-white front of Lloyd's Bank hard by keeps its venerable
neighbour well in countenance.
[Illustration: Remains of Bennett's Hall]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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