THE REVOLUTION.
The Revolution of 1688 brought over to England William III.; and his reign was followed by that of “good Queen Anne.” Her reign has been termed the Augustan era of English literature, as it was graced with the polished writings of Sir Isaac Newton, Addison, Steele, Farquar (who laid the scene of his comedy, “The Recruiting Officer,” in Shrewsbury, and who, in his epistle dedicatory, first used the lively sentiment, “To all friends round the Wrekin,” now one of the social laws of Salop), of Vanbrugh, Prior, Pope, Parnell, Garth, Gay, cum multis aliis. Instructed as the nation was by these and other eminent men, still bigotry and enthusiasm were evidenced by many in matters of religion and politics. In the year 1709 the nation was thrown into a gentle ferment by the indiscreet conduct of the government towards an obscure clergyman named Sacheverell (who had long been starving on a poor curacy in London), in consequence of his having preached and published two scurrilous and intemperate sermons, of which red-hot politics were the staple. He was summoned to the bar of the House of Lords, and impeached. The Whig ministry viewed his attacks with alarm, and he was sentenced not to preach for three years. This persecution, as the proceedings of the government were called at once martyrised Sacheverell, who suddenly found himself famous. A gentleman residing in the neighbourhood of Oswestry, Robert Lloyd, Esq., of Aston, sympathized with the suffering Sacheverell, and became his friend. Mr. Lloyd had been the doctor’s pupil at Magdalen College, Oxford; and as the rectory of Sylattyn, in his gift, became vacant at this juncture, he presented it to the high-church meteor. This was doubtless a god-send to the doctor, who set off from London, to take possession of his new living, with all the state which a corrupt popularity could give to him. A Tory writer of Queen Anne’s reign tells us that “he entered upon his triumphant progress to Shropshire. He was magnificently entertained at Oxford by the University, and received in the other great towns he passed through (Shrewsbury and Oswestry included) with the loud acclamations and joyful congratulations of the people, upon his deliverance from whig persecution.” In Shrewsbury the crier was sent about to proclaim his arrival, and the bells were rung in honour of the event. As he passed through Oswestry, it is related, the crowd assembled to witness his arrival was so great, that an enthusiastic old woman, a great dabbler in politics and religion, no doubt, was so excited in her endeavours to obtain a sight of the distinguished bigot, that she succeeded only in catching a passing glance at his figure and periwig. “I could see only part of the holy man,” she exclaimed, “but I console myself with having had a sight of his ever-blessed wig as he rode along.” This sort of mummery was not confined to Oswestry. In many towns people were desirous to have their new-born infants christened with a name so revered; which, having been transmitted through succeeding generations, is not yet extinct in this county. On his return to London he met with nothing but laudations, except at Worcester, where, by the direction of Bishop Lloyd, a suitable rebuff was administered to him. Of Dr. Sacheverell nothing more was heard worthy of transcription. Like most other men whose popularity is created by intolerant doctrines in religion or politics, he speedily found that his sudden greatness was as mutable as it was undeserved.
The death of Queen Anne, in 1714, secured to the kingdom the Brunswick Dynasty. The Act of Settlement, passed in the reign of William III., provided that the crown of Great Britain should henceforth be held only by Protestant Princes. James Stuart, Queen Anne’s brother, known more popularly as the Pretender, could not reign in England because he was a Roman Catholic, and George, Duke of Brunswick, and Elector of Hanover, a Protestant Prince, whose mother was grand-daughter of James I., became King of Great Britain. The Brunswick succession has continued till the present time, the united kingdom deriving especial benefits from the reigns of the three Georges, of William IV., and of Queen Victoria. Under the sway of George III. enlarged freedom, civil and religious, was extended to his subjects; arts, science, and commerce flourished, and the people made rapid advancement in religious and moral improvement. The memorable wish of the venerable monarch George III., “That every one of his subjects should read and possess the Bible”—a far more generous sentiment than that of the French King who desired to see the day when every one of his subjects should be able to put a fowl into the pot once a week—was largely realized through the instrumentality of Robert Raikes, Dr. Bell, and Joseph Lancaster, the great promoters of education in the land, and by, also, the foundation of the British and Foreign Bible Society, whose distribution of the Scriptures gave an impulse to religious and benevolent efforts which have been increasing in usefulness and efficiency to the present day. Under the auspices of George IV. the nation derived numerous blessings, deficient as he was of many of the bright qualities that ought to shine in the moral diadem of a British King. The reign of William IV.—the Sailor King, as he has been familiarly but appropriately called—was rendered illustrious by his intense regard for the interests of the people, and his sanction to the Second Great Charter of British rights. Under the mild and gracious rule of our beloved Sovereign Queen Victoria, the rights and privileges of Britons are held sacred; literature, arts, and science have acquired “a more than double sway;” commerce and manufactures, in a multiplicity of forms, for the comfort and luxury of mankind, have careered onwards with giant steps, that have astonished and delighted the wisest and the best; the social comforts of all classes of the British community are rendered almost boundless by the progress of invention, the ingenuity of mechanical skill, and the unceasing activity of all industrial pursuits; the unrighteous laws that prohibited the importation of corn have been abolished; free trade in bread has been established with all the nations of the earth; ancient grinding monopolies have been destroyed; national imposts reduced; the just demands of the people speedily granted; harsh feudal laws, carrying with them inhuman punishments, have been blotted out of the Statute-book; “man’s inhumanity to man,” under the sanction of Acts of Parliament, has been softened if not wholly subdued; the just principle of national brotherhood, inculcated by divine precept, has gained vital force; religion has become less sectarian, and more thoroughly Christian in profession and practice; the helping hand of man to his brother man, in the hour of necessity, is seen now more actively at work than ever; the people at large are united as one man, in all great designs of philanthropy and benevolence, and in all puissant combinations against injustice and oppression; our Queen and her enlightened and virtuous Consort are ever watchful for the country’s weal. The reign of Victoria is thus far the brightest page of regal history, because it has been pre-eminently the best. We may sum up in the eloquent language of Dr. Southwood Smith:—“We live in a glorious age. The rapidity of the progress of liberal opinion, and I will add, of liberal feeling, within these few years has been unexampled in the history of our race. Sometimes indeed the tide of improvement like the tide of the ocean may appear to have receded; but soon, as if deriving strength from its momentary retreat, slow, majestic, irresistible, it has rolled beyond its former limit; but, unlike its type, it has not returned, and it will not return, to the boundary it has passed.”
Topographical History.
Oswestry is one of the most interesting of the English Border towns, as we have already endeavoured to show; its early history, in various conflicting ages, being crowded with incidents to give to it a lasting renown. In its present state it offers numerous claims to public attention; and the time does not seem far distant when it will take its rank among the more flourishing towns of the empire. Having railway communication direct with the metropolis, the great seats of manufacturing industry in the northern counties, and by a new line of conveyance, both of passengers and goods, via the rapidly-rising town and port of Birkenhead, with the sister kingdom, its importance and improvement will quickly increase. Nor is the contemplated railway extension from Oswestry to Welshpool and Newtown to be overlooked, as that may soon lead to the still further construction of a railway forming a junction with the projected line from the latter place to the busy town of Llanidloes, and stretching onward till it reaches the great harbour in course of formation at Milford Haven. With such “means and appliances” the trade and commerce of Oswestry are not likely to retrograde; and although we possess not the poetical and sanguine temperament of Griffith of Glyn Ceiriog, who, some centuries ago, fancied that “in merchandise it resembled Cheapside,” in London, yet we have no doubt that Oswestry, which is now prospering commercially, and diffusing much good, both morally and religiously, will advance steadily forward in the march of general and social improvement. We are too gallant not heartily to concur on another point with the Welsh poet just quoted. In his days, he says, “The handsomest women, and the most becomingly drest, are those of Oswestry.” If we did not unhesitatingly applaud this opinion of a Welshman, we should consider ourselves unworthy the name of Englishmen!
The site of Oswestry is remarkable. It stands upon more elevated ground than any other town in Shropshire, being 450 feet above the level of the sea. Its commanding position freely exposes to the gaze of the delighted spectator a range of landscape scenery which, for variety, beauty, and grandeur, cannot be excelled in any part of the kingdom. On the heights above the town the prospect expands. To the south-east the fertile vale of Salop displays its diversified charms, the Nesscliff Rock, Hawkstone (Lord Hill’s beautiful ancestral residence), and the huge and venerable Wrekin peering forth in the distance; whilst the high ridges of the Longmynd and Stiperstones form an uninterrupted chain along the Welsh border, with the bold and abrupt acclivities of Cefn-y-Castell and Moel-y-Golfa; and the Breidden, crowned with Rodney’s Pillar, completes the great natural panorama. Towards the east the Macclesfield hills, dividing Cheshire from Derbyshire, appear. The view on the Welsh side is equally impressive, and may well be called “the paradise of Cambria.”
The fullest topographical description of ancient Oswestry that we have discovered is that of Harrison, who wrote in 1564. He says,
“Oswester is eighteen miles from Shrewsburie, and containeth a mile within the walls. It hath in like sort foure suburbs or great streets, of which one is called Stratlan, another Wuliho, the third Beterich, wherein are one hundred and forty barns, standing in a row, belonging to the citizens or burgesses, and the fourth named the Black Gate-street, in which are thirtie barns maintained for corne and haie. There is also a brooke running thorough the town by the crosse, coming from Simon’s well, a bowshot without the wall, and going under the same, between Thorow-gate and New-gate, running under the Black-gate. There is another, over whose course the Baderikes or Baderich-gate standeth, and therefore called Baderich brooke; the third passeth by Willi-gate or New-gate, and these all fall, together with the Crosse brooke, a mile lower by south, into the Mordaunt.”
Leland, the historian, who briefly sojourned in the town in the reign of Henry VIII., informs us that the northern part, or Beatrice-street, at that period contained “many barns for corn and hay, to the number of vii score several barns;” the eastern, or Black-gate, “xxx barns for corn, with other houses ’longing to the townesmen.” The same writer adds, “There be within the town iii most notable streates, the Cross-streate, the Bayly-streate, and New-gate-streate. The houses withyn the town be of timbre, and slated. There is a castell, sette on a mont be likelihood made by hand; and ditched by south-west, betwixt Beatrise-gate and Willow-gate, to the which the wall comith. There be no towers in the waulles besides the gates. The town is dicked about, and brokettes ren ynto it.” Camden describes Oswestry in his day as “a place of good traffic, inclosed with a wall and ditch, and fortified with a castle.” Pennant’s brief description brings us nearer to the present time. “Oswestry,” he says, “stands just in Shropshire, on the very border of the British frontier. It is 17½ miles from Shrewsbury, 11 from Llangollen, and 179½ from London. The country for several miles round is delightfully varied with hills, vales, wood, and water, and abounds in rich scenery. The prospect on the Montgomery side is terminated abruptly by the august ridge of the prominent mountains of Breiddyn. It is upon higher ground than any other town in Shropshire.”
The Walls referred to by these writers were erected, as we have already stated, by Edward I. (probably under the superintendance of his celebrated architect Elreton, who built both Conway and Caernarvon castles), that he might secure Oswestry as a key to his intended conquest of Wales, and render it less liable to the plundering incursions of the Welsh. These walls were about a mile in circumference, with a skilfully-made intrenchment on the outside, which could be filled with water from the springs in the vicinity. Some remains of this ancient fortification may still be traced, and part of its boundary-line is designated, up to the present time, as “the Walls.”
There were four Gates, the only inlets into the town, and they stood as strong fortresses in times of disquietude and danger. As the town advanced in trade and commerce the Gates became exceedingly inconvenient for the passage of carriages and merchandize, and in 1766, the Black-Gate was taken down by consent of Earl Powis, the lord of the manor. Rylance assures us that “Black-Gate was demolished in consequence of its having become so low in the arch, that loads could scarce go under, having been rendered so by several pavements being put one over the other to repair the street, and make a vent for the water, which made the passage through it bad.”
Beatrice Gate is said to have been named in compliment to Beatrice, the Queen of Henry IV., and in all probability was built in that king’s reign, as his sojourn in this district, during his long onslaughts upon the Welsh, connected him much with the neighbourhood. The gate was a handsome building, with a guard-house on each side, and over it the arms of the Fitz-Alans (a lion rampant). It is said to have been built by Thomas, Earl of Arundel.
Willow-Gate, or Wallia-Gate, derived its name from the road, in which the gate was situate, leading directly into Wales.
The borough has now assumed, from a number of improvements made in it, a highly-respectable appearance. Church-Street may vie, in neatness and public accommodation, with the leading thoroughfare of any similarly-sized town in the kingdom. Willow-Street is an active business thoroughfare, the two Banks and the Post-Office being situated there; Beatrice Street is the only thoroughfare to the Railway Station, and is therefore, with Leg-Street, the chief street of traffic. Bailey-Street, principally confined to shops, is a leading approach to the Powys Market, Guildhall, and public offices; whilst Upper Brook-Street is a pleasant location, and will doubtless soon become a favourite site for villa residences; at least, its beautiful situation, and the fine healthy country to which it is proximate, entitle it to such a distinction, Salop Road is on the march of improvement, and some good modern houses are erected in it; but yet its dwellings are irregular in size and appearance, and some time may elapse before it exhibits much of harmony or attraction, as a leading thoroughfare, unless the projected railway extension through the town gives, as may reasonably be expected, a stimulus to house-building in this district. The innovating hand of modern improvement has not hitherto effected much change in the central and more dense portions of the town. Let us “wait a little longer,” and the unsightly dwellings deemed palaces by our forefathers, but which, compared with modern domestic houses, are little better than huts or hovels, will give place to habitations worthy of this age, so properly distinguished for its sanatory regulations and general progress. Such ancient and dilapidated buildings are mere figments of days gone past, and atone not, by their pictorial beauty, for their ruined and desolate condition. The flagging of the leading public streets, recently determined upon, and which has been partly carried into effect, will be one of the greatest improvements already adopted in the borough. The principal thoroughfares in the entire town will speedily be flagged in the same style, so that in a short time the inhabitants, ladies especially, will be able to perambulate the streets, and amuse themselves “a-shopping,” without paying for it the hard penalty of walking in their fashionable boots or slippers over a flinty pavement. This improvement is being effected from the funds of a voluntary subscription, to which a large number of the professional gentry and trading classes have liberally subscribed. The various roads leading from the town are wide and well-constructed, and are generally kept in a good travelling condition.
The town is lighted with gas, and has been so for many years past. The honour of introducing gas-light into Oswestry is due to Mr. Robert Roberts, civil engineer, a man of much talent in his profession, and of singular perseverance and industry. The origin of lighting the town with gas may be told in a few words. In the year 1819 Mr. Charles Stanton, at that time Manager of the Oswestry Theatre, which had been recently built, entered into an arrangement with Mr. Roberts to light the Theatre during the season. Mr. Roberts had been hitherto experimenting on a small scale, and was not fully prepared to enter upon so important a piece of work as illuminating the Theatre. His persevering habits prevailed, and he agreed with Mr. Stanton that the Theatre should be lighted on a certain evening. To introduce gas into a large public building was deemed an event of no common magnitude in those days. The appointed evening, in September 1819, at length arrived, and Mr. Roberts succeeded in lighting the Theatre with a brilliant gas, which astonished all beholders. The performances on that evening were for the benefit of Miss Stanton, the Manager’s daughter. Some tradesmen in the town quickly availed themselves of this new light; others followed in the wake; and in the winter season of 1821, the leading streets of the town were for the first time illuminated with gas. Places of religious worship soon afterwards adopted gas. The Welsh Methodist Chapel, in Willow-Street, first used it; the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Salop-Road, followed; and the Old Parish Church, then and still under the vicarage of the Rev. Thomas Salwey, was afterwards lighted, forty burners being introduced, including lights at the entrance doors. The other places of religious worship quickly followed the example; and in a very few years gas became the universal light in all public places, private houses, and commercial and trading establishments. In 1821 the public, or street-lamps, were only 10 in number; there were 123 private lights; and one chapel lighted with five lights. In 1854 there were—private lights, 925; public lamps, 66; Church and Chapel lights, 112. The lighting of the borough has been much improved since gas was first introduced here. It is still under the superintendence of Mr. Roberts, who, now an octogenarian, is of hale health, and of as active and bustling habits as he was in the days of his youth.
Oswestry is a market-town, and the chief market is held every Wednesday. It is abundantly supplied from the surrounding highly-cultivated agricultural country, and the articles brought for sale are generally of the very best quality. Welsh mutton, poultry, and fruits of rare delicacy are among the choice morsels which the exquisite gourmand may ever find, in their due season, in the Oswestry market. Apples and pears, produced in the vicinity, and offered for sale here, might successfully vie with the best of those fruits grown in Guernsey, Jersey, or the sunny orchards of Kent. There is a small market held on the Saturday, principally for the accommodation of the numerous labouring classes employed in the neighbourhood.
Twelve Fairs are also held in the town, all of which are conducted with great spirit, and attended by a large class of buyers and sellers. A Fair is held on the first Wednesday in every month.