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
Farewell now to Uriconium, and to Wroxeter, its offspring, with their
time-honoured associations. Along the old Watling Street lies our way,
until, entering the Salop road, we cross the Bell brook near the site of
the Roman wall and trudge on past Attingham, serenely seated amidst its
broad demesne, with rich pastures and umbrageous woodlands spreading
away on either hand. Traversing Tern Bridge we presently come to Atcham,
a trim, well-cared-for-looking village, with a fine old church close by
Severn side, a handsome balustraded bridge spanning the broad river, and
memories of Ordericus Vitalis, the historian of William the Conqueror, a
native of Atcham.
Dedicated to St. Eata, Atcham church is built of a reddish stone,
supposed to have been brought from the ruins of Uriconium. It has a
seventeenth-century timbered porch, and a fine traceried oak roodscreen,
brought, we believe, from Worfield church; while the carved panels of
the oak lectern illustrate the parable of the Prodigal Son.
The only monument worthy of note is that of Jocosa Burton, an incised
slab brought from Old St. Chad's, Shrewsbury, and dated 1524. In one of
the south nave windows we notice some good stained glass representing
Blanch Parry, one of Queen Elizabeth's gentlewomen, kneeling at her
mistress's feet, with the Parry arms and an inscription recording her
death in 1589. This glass was brought from Bacton Church, Herefordshire,
where Blanch Parry's fine monument is still to be seen. It was
illustrated in 'Nooks and Corners of Herefordshire,' some few years ago.
Crossing the bridge, we obtain a good view of the church reflected in
the placid river; and thereafter we stretch away along the Watling
Street, Rome's grand Prætorian thoroughfare of days gone by. Presently
Uppington and its ruined castle appear upon our left, looking across
Tern river to Withington, where the curious church brasses are.
By-and-by we come to Hay Gate, where, as the name suggests, we enter
upon the 'Royal Haye of Wellington,' a tract of woodland emparked by the
Normans from the Forest of Mount Gilbert. This forest was formerly very
extensive, spreading over more than one of the old Domesday Hundreds;
and it was not until John's reign that a charter was obtained to
disafforest the district.
So now, with the smoke of Wellington lurking upon the rear, we set our
faces southwards, where the dark wooded flanks of the Wrekin swell
upwards to meet the sky. Geologists tell us the Wrekin is the oldest
mountain in England; and, as the typical hill of our county, it has
given rise to the time-honoured Salopian toast, 'To All Round the
Wrekin.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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