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

VILLAGE OF CONDOVER.

The church is a spacious building, displaying examples of early Norman architecture. It contains several handsome monuments in memory of the ancient family of Owen, among which one from the chisel of Roubiliac is considered a remarkably fine production. The adjoining mansion, a most interesting specimen of the Elizabethan style of building, was erected by Sir Thomas Owen, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, who died in 1598. Within the hall is the finest collection of paintings in the county. This village was the birth-place of Richard Tarlton, the earliest English comedian of celebrity, who for his surprisingly pleasant extemporaneous wit, as an actor and jester, was the wonder of his time. Fuller states, that “when Queen Elizabeth was serious and out of good humour, he could undumpish her at his pleasure.” After a free and eccentric life, it is said he died penitent in 1588.