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
Burwarton church is mainly of Norman date, having a plain, semi-headed
chancel arch of that period, and a little carved woodwork. Brown Clee
Hill, lying due west, may be easily climbed from here; and the view from
the top, described on a previous page, will well repay the scramble.
A mile south-east is Aston Botterel, where, in the south aisle of the
church, may be seen an altar-tomb with pillared canopy to one of the
Botterels, who held the Manor of Aston of the Earls of Arundel. At the
Bold, hard by, are some slight remains of an ancient building, probably
a chapel.
Proceeding on our way adown the vale, we come presently to Wheathill, a
place that in the Conqueror's time formed a portion of the vast estates
of Earl Roger de Montgomery. Wheathill church is of Norman origin,
having a fine south doorway with cable moulding, and tympanum with
axe-hewn ornamentation. The Hakets were the great folks here in olden
times, John Haket, Rector of 'Wheathull,' being mysteriously drowned in
the Teme, near Ludlow, in 1342.
Some forty minutes later we find ourselves at Stottesdon; our way
thither leading by unfrequented lanes across the Rea brook. Here we
happen upon a church which, though restored about thirty years ago,
retains many points of interest to the antiquary.
Stottesdon church has one of the finest Norman fonts in the county. It
is ornamented with an interlaced border, and other enrichments; and the
carvings of the west doorway are so rude and primitive, they might have
formed part of the earlier church known to have existed here in Saxon
times. The base of the tower is also possibly pre-Norman, while the
Wrickton chantry dates from the fourteenth century.
In 1085, Roger de Montgomery gave Stottesdon church, with all its rich
endowments, to his great Abbey at Shrewsbury. When visiting Stottesdon
in the year 1290, so poor was this neighbourhood, that Bishop Swinfield
had to send all the way to Kidderminster market for provender, and for
shoes for his coach horses.
Bestowed by the Conqueror upon Roger de Montgomery, the 'Marquis de
Carabas' of the Welsh border, Stottesdon manor became the caput, or
chief place, of one of the Shropshire Hundreds. Becoming forfeit to the
Crown, the King bestowed the manor, about 1159, on Godfrey de Gamages,
in which family it remained until the year 1230. Thereafter we find de
Plaesto and de Seagrave enrolled as over-lords of Stottesdon; claiming
free-warren, and holding free-courts, with all the rights and privileges
thereto attached.
Pushing on towards Cleobury Mortimer through a rough, broken country, we
come by-and-by to a farmhouse called Walltown, occupying the site of a
Roman encampment, whose outer lines are still clearly traceable. In
Blakeway's time, the old road from Cleobury to Bridgnorth passed
directly through the centre of the camp, 'entering at the Prætorian, and
passing out at the Decuman Gate,' but its course has since been altered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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