CLUN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. CLUN is a parish in the hundred of Purslow—the market town, which was a borough, incorporated by the Lords Marchers, in the thirteenth century, is 157 miles N.W. from London, 26 S.S.W. from Shrewsbury, and 16 W. by N. from Ludlow; pleasantly and rather romantically situated on a gentle eminence surrounded by hills of bolder elevation. It takes its name from the river Colun or Clun (by the Welsh called _Colunwy_), which passes through the town, and is crossed by an ancient bridge of five arches. The castle, according to Camden, was built by William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel in the reign of Henry III, and is supposed to have been demolished by Owen Glyndwr, in his rebellion against Henry IV.: it continued in the line of Fitz-Alan until the reign of Elizabeth, when, by the marriage of Mary Fitz-Alan to Philip Howard, son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, it became vested in that noble family. It is now a most magnificent ruin; the remains consist of the lofty and massive walls of the keep, the banquet-hall, and part of two round towers. This castle and neighbourhood is conjectured to have been the scene of Sir Walter Scott’s much admired tale of ‘the Betrothed.’ In the parish are the Caer Ditches, or _Caer Carodoc_, the station of the renowned British hero, Caractacus, and the scene of his last efforts against the Roman general Ostorius; and about two miles west of the town passes the great dyke thrown up by the Saxon king Offa in the eighth century. The government under its ancient incorporation was vested in a high steward, two bailiffs, a recorder, and the burgesses, assisted by a town clerk, two serjeants at mace, &c. The steward is now the principal governing officer, but the court of record for adjudicating claims has been superseded by the new County Court, which sits at Bishop’s Castle, and takes cognizance of debts to any amount not exceeding £50. The Earl Powis is lord of the lordship or honour of Clun, and holds his courts for the same at certain periods; and Clun is a polling station at the election of members to represent South Salop.