Memorials of Shrewsbury / being a concise description of the town and its environs, adapted as a general guide for the information of visitors and residents

by Henry Pidgeon

THE SCHOOLS

are situate near the Castle, and display a handsome spacious structure of free-stone, built in the incongruous but fashionable style of architecture which prevailed in the 16th and 17th century; wherein the Grecian and pointed arches are fantastically mixed together. The building occupies two sides of a quadrangle, with a square pinnacled tower at the angle, partly rebuilt in 1831.

The original school-room was of timber, to which the tower, chapel, and library were added in 1595. In the year 1630 the wooden portion was removed, and its site occupied by the present edifice, in the centre of which is a gateway, having a Corinthian column on each side, upon which are statues of a scholar and a graduate, bareheaded, in the dress of the times. Above the arch is a Greek inscription from Isocrates, which implies that a love of literature is necessary to the formation of a scholar. Over this are the armorial bearings of Charles the First.

The upper story of this part is occupied by the principal school-room, an apartment 82 feet by 21, and in the basement is the head master’s school, in which are several panels containing the names of gentlemen educated here, and who have subsequently distinguished themselves at the Universities. [103] The upper moulding of each panel contains one of the following lines:—

TV • FACITO • MOX • CVM • MATVRA • ADOLEVERIT • AETAS SIS • MEMOR • ATQVE • ANIMO • REPETAS • EXEMPLA • TVORVM ET • TVA • TE • VIRTVS • MAGNA • INTER • PRAEMIA • DVCET.

The chapel forms the other wing of the building, and was consecrated Sept. 10th, 1617, when a sermon was preached on the occasion by Sampson Price, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, from John x. 22, 23. It is 62 ft. long by 22 ft. wide, and contains a handsome pulpit and bible stand, and is separated from the ante-chapel by a carved skreen, displaying a series of interlaced arches resting on fluted Corinthian columns. Prayers are read here twice on school days.

Above the chapel, and of the same size, is the library, a noble room, rebuilt in 1815. The ceiling is richly adorned, and panelled into Gothic and ornamental compartments, on which are displayed the armorial bearings of the first and subsequent trustees. It contains a valuable collection of printed books and manuscripts, one side being occupied by the library of the late Dr. Taylor, editor of Demosthenes. Among the portraits which decorate the walls of this elegant apartment are those of the Bishop of Lichfield (late head master), the Reverends John Lloyd and Leonard Hotchkiss (formerly masters), Queen Elizabeth, King Henry VIII. Edward VI. (the Founder), Locke, Judge Jefferies, &c. &c.

At the south end of the room are four sepulchral stones found at Wroxeter, near this town, three of which are fully described by Pennant, in his North Wales. A small museum likewise contains other Roman antiquities from the same place, with fossils and other curiosities.

The windows are embellished with escutcheons of the arms of Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth, St. John’s College, Cambridge, the See of Lichfield, and the town, in stained glass.

In front and at the back of the schools is a spacious area, used as a promenade or play-ground for the scholars; contiguous to which are houses for the head, second, and assistant masters, and ample halls for the accommodation of boarders, who are numerous, and from all parts of the kingdom.

Several exhibitions of £70 and £80 a-year belong to this school, to which the freemen’s sons are entitled for a certain number of years. At a meeting of the trustees, held 23d May, 1836, it was resolved, in order more fully to testify their own sense, and to perpetuate the memory, of the unremitting assiduity and eminent ability with which Dr. Butler has performed the duties of head-master of this school for a period of thirty-eight years, restoring and augmenting by his energy and learning the utility and celebrity of this ancient and royal foundation, to found an additional exhibition of £100 per annum, to be called for ever “Dr. Butler’s Exhibition,” and to be tenable by the sons of freemen entering at either University.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, CHARTERS, &c.

Shrewsbury has received a succession of thirty-two royal charters from the time of King William the First to the first year of the reign of James the Second. The earliest charter preserved in the corporation archives is dated Nov. 11, 1189, being the first year of King Richard the First, which recites that a previous corporation had existed.

The last governing charter of the town was granted the 16th of June, 1639, by Charles the First.

The component parts of the corporation were a mayor, recorder, steward, common clerk, twenty-four aldermen, forty-eight assistants or common councilmen, two chamberlains, sword-bearer, serjeants at mace, &c.

The mayor was elected annually by the majority of aldermen and assistants, in council assembled, on the first Friday after the feast of St. Bartholomew, and sworn into office the first Friday after Michaelmas-day. Robert Burton, jun. Esq. was the last mayor chosen under the old charter.

The aldermen were elected by the mayor and aldermen from the assistants, and the latter from the burgesses at large.

Burgesses obtained their freedom by descent, or birth, or by serving a bona fide apprenticeship of seven years within the ancient limits of the borough to a freeman of one of the ancient incorporated companies.

According to the Municipal Act, which received the royal assent in 1835, the town was divided into five wards. [106]

On the 26th of December, 1835, each of the wards returned six members to form the new Town Council, who elected to their number, on the 31st, ten aldermen, which constitutes the municipal body of the town, from whom William Hazledine, Esq. was elected Mayor. To assist in the local government, the Secretary of State has subsequently appointed eight magistrates. Under the provisions of the above cited act, the annual election of mayor is fixed for the 9th of November.

The ancient Common Seal of the municipal body is very curious, representing a view of the town,—its churches, domestic habitations, fortified gates and walls, beneath which the river is seen flowing under a bridge; above the latter is a shield bearing the arms of England, and on each side are similar shields charged with the cross of St. George and the town arms,—Azure, three leopard’s faces Or. The inscription round this seal is—Sigilin • commune • libertatis • ville • Salopesburie • factu • ano • gre • m cccc xxv.