The Stranger in Shrewsbury: or, an historical and descriptive view of Shrewsbury and its environs — John Shaqi
The Stranger in Shrewsbury: or, an historical and descriptive view of Shrewsbury and its environsHowell, Thomas J.
History
The Stranger in Shrewsbury: or, an historical and descriptive view of Shrewsbury and its environs
Howell, Thomas J.
Shrewsbury (England) -- Description and travel
The organ and the handsome gothic screen on which it stands, were erected
in 1806. It is a very fine instrument, made by Mr. Gray, of London, and
cost 365 guineas. On the screen are the arms of the principal
benefactors.
In the parish chest are two small oval seals exactly similar in their
dimensions, impresses and legends. Two clothed arms issue from the
opposite sides of the area, one bearing a crosier, the other a naked
sword; in the centre, a wand or staff of office. Inscription, “Sigillum
commune de Fforyate Monachor”—the common seal of Monks Foregate. Some of
our most skilful antiquaries are unable to give a sufficient reason why
Monks Foregate came to have a common seal. Some of them have supposed
that the parish might have obtained a charter of incorporation, while
others think that it might have been assumed without authority. Neither
of the two seals appear much older than the 15th century.
The patron of the living is Lord Berwick—the Rev. H. Burton, vicar, and
Mr. John Amott, organist.
But the remain of this abbey which has most excited the attention of
antiquaries, is a beautiful little structure on the south side of the
gardens. Its plan is octagon, 6 feet in diameter. Some broken steps
which did not belong to it originally, lead through a narrow flat arched
door on the east, to the inside. The south part stands on a fragment of
the ruins. The corresponding side projects considerably from the wall,
resting upon a single corbel, terminating in a head. From this point it
gradually swells, bound with a multitude of delicate ribbed mouldings,
until it forms the basement under the floor. An obtuse dome of stone is
suspended over the whole, at about eight feet from the base, supported on
six narrow pointed arches, rising from pillars similar to the mullions of
the windows. One of the remaining sides of the octagon is a solid blank
wall, and in the other is a door. The roof within is vaulted on eight
ribs, which spring from the wall immediately under the cavity of the
dome. At their crossing in the centre is a boss, bearing a
representation of the crucifixion, considerably relieved. The spaces
between the divisions of the three northern arches, four feet above the
bottom, are filled up with stone pannels, over which they are entirely
open, a circumstance which, by permitting the light, is productive of a
beautiful effect. On the centre pannel are two small figures in elegant
tabernacles; in one of these is the figure of an angel, in the other,
that of a woman, whom he is addressing; the whole seems intended to
represent the annunciation. The right hand pannel is embellished with
images of St. Peter and St. Paul bearing their respective symbols, with
similar enrichments, and that on the left has two figures in monastic
habits, one of them a female, probably St. Winyfred, the other a monk;
the height of every figure is eighteen inches. The arches on the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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