Such was the catastrophe which closed the reign of Edward II.—a reign so signalized by troubles, and so saddened by the personal sorrows of the sovereign, as well as by public calamities, that the affecting words, which Shakspeare has put into the mouth of one who after a short time was the successor both of his honors and of his misfortunes, might well have been adopted by Edward as his own:— “In Winter’s tedious nights sit by the fire With good old folks, and let them tell thee tales Of woeful ages long ago betid; And ere thou bid good night to quit their grief, Tell thou the lamentable fall of me, And send the hearers weeping to their beds.” _Richard II._, _Act_ V., _Scene 1_. It must add to the interest with which we regard the remaining ruin of our Castle, to reflect that when its walls and battlements were still standing, it afforded shelter to the unhappy Edward in his hour of need; and that Bridgnorth was the last place in his realm, where he received the homage due to royalty, even in ruins. ANCIENT ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS. It is now time to turn the attention of the reader to the Churches, and other ecclesiastical establishments, which existed in former times in the Borough of Bridgnorth. They were of great antiquity. The most ancient of them was [Illustration: The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene.[19]] [19] The above sketch of the old Church of Saint Mary Magdalene is taken from a print in the Taylor’s Buildings, Oxford. This Church originally stood within the walls of the Castle, and was a Collegiate Church, the members of which were five Prebendaries and a Dean. “The which Deanery and Prebends,” to quote the words of John Brompton, “the King indeed conferreth of his own right and custom; although in nearly all other Collegiate Chapels the Deans, being installed by the Sheriff at the King’s collation, and inducted into corporal possession of the Deaneries, confer all Prebends in the same Chapels, and install, induct, and visit the Prebendaries. But in the aforesaid Chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene, the Dean confers no Prebend, nor visits Prebend or Prebendary; but each in the corps of his own Prebend, hath and exerciseth plenary jurisdiction, as well in things spiritual, as in things temporal;” so that it was in an especial sense a Royal Chapel; and the whole ecclesiastical district connected with it, and subject to its Prebendaries, bore the title, which it still retains, of _The Royal Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of the Deanery of Bridgnorth_. It was first founded, as has been already noticed, at Quatford, and from thence transferred, with all its rights and privileges, and the chief part of its endowments, to Bridgnorth, in the latter part of the reign of William Rufus, or early in the reign of his successor; so that it is a very ancient foundation—nearly seven hundred and fifty years old.