An incidental proof of the state of penury to which these poor Friars of Bridgnorth were reduced, may be gathered from a note kept among the records of the town of Shrewsbury, of the expenses which were incurred by Roger Thomas, their senior Bailiff, and Thomas Bromley, afterwards Lord Chancellor, in a journey which they made from Shrewsbury to Bewdley on important business. On their return they stopped at Bridgnorth, and had their dinner at the principal inn, and this is the note of their expenses:—“Dener at Bruggenorth 3s. 4d.; to Shepay the frere 1d.” This Shepay was no doubt a member of the Grey Friars, who waited upon the travellers at their inn, to beg alms for his house. (History of Shrewsbury, p. 302.)
It might have been expected that when Queen Mary came to the throne she would have restored all the religious houses in England to their original use; but on the contrary, pressed by strong political motives, she confirmed by her own acts the confiscation, which had been made in the reign of Henry VIII., of the property belonging to them; and thus under a Popish sovereign it became irrecoverably alienated from the Church.[41]
The Hospital of St. James, Bridgnorth, affords a striking example of this. In the year 1566, the Queen, in conjunction with her husband Philip, made over to Sir J. Parrott, in consideration of £184 15s., and for his faithful services, all the property belonging to this Hospital.[42] In the year following, Sir J. Parrott transferred the same to Mr. R. Smith of Morville. In the following reign of Elizabeth, it was transferred to William Tupper and Robert Dawes; and the property, after passing through the various families of Smith, Dovy, Kinnersly, Nevitt, Tyner, and Bach, came into the family of Stanier, and now, by another turn in the wheel of time, the name of Smith is again connected with the property. There was an order in Council at one time, that this estate should pay to Bridgnorth Church a yearly sum of twenty nobles—equal to £6 13s. 4d. This order was lost out of the town chest, and afterwards recovered; but in one of the wars it was burnt, after which the property rendered nothing but a pound of frankincense every Easter, to be burnt in the Church of the High Town: but this last customary payment has long been discontinued.
What may have been the value of this pound of frankincense I do not know, but whatever it may have been, it is certain that the Incumbents of Bridgnorth receive from the present owners of St. James’s, in their liberal support of the religious institutions of the town, something far more valuable than this former impost upon their property.
We now enter on the era of Elizabeth. There is perhaps no period in the history of our country to which Englishmen are accustomed to look back with more satisfaction. Whatever may have been her faults and foibles as a woman, she was undoubtedly a great Queen, and swayed the sceptre of this realm with such a steady and vigorous hand, as made her revered by her subjects, and dreaded by her enemies. She contributed more perhaps than any sovereign that preceded her, to raise the character of our country, and place it high in the scale of European nations. Besides, she was under God, the great means of strengthening the cause of the reformed faith, and resisting the colossal power of the Church of Rome.
It would have been very gratifying to find any record which would have connected the history of our town with the public events which took place in the reign of this great princess; but I have not been able to find any, none at least but what are of a very trivial nature. I find, for instance, that in the singular proclamation which she issued, for the purpose of compelling every one in her realm to wear woollen caps, except the nobility, she mentions Bridgnorth, as a place where the company of cappers used to flourish;[43] which seems to indicate that the people now enjoyed a considerable share of quietness, and were acquiring wealth by their trade and industry. Again I find that when her great favorite, the Earl of Leicester, visited Shrewsbury, and where preparations were made to receive him with an honour, little short of that which would have been offered to the Queen herself, one of the three who were appointed to address him on the occasion, was a Bridgnorth youth, Richard Hoord, son of John Hoord, of Hoord Park; no slight distinction, considering the almost royal dignity which was attached to the person of the Earl of Leicester. But it is only in circumstances of this nature, and not in matters of weightier import, that I can find any reference to Bridgnorth in this reign. I ought not however to be disappointed at this, for one who had far better opportunity for making researches of this kind, than I have, and far greater aptitude for the task, has stated that “from the 27th year of Henry VIII till the year 1629, he could discover no historical notice of the Town or Castle of Bridgnorth.”[44]
This latter date brings us to a very remarkable period in the history of our town. In that year, viz, the 4th of King Charles I., and on the 2nd day of October, the King made a grant of the Castle, to Gilbert North, Esq., one of the Gentlemen of the Privy Bed Chamber. It had been a royal castle from the time that it was taken by Henry I. from Robert de Belesme—a period of more than five hundred years. But now, perhaps on account of the cost of keeping it in repair, it was transferred to the possession of a gentleman belonging to the King’s household, who by a subsequent deed of the same year, transferred it to Sir William Whitmore, Knight, in whose family it has continued ever since.[45] It is indeed greatly to be regretted that its present possessor should have so small a remnant of it to call his own, and that the leaning tower on Castle Hill, as it is popularly called, should be all that is left of this once noble fortress of the middle ages. But how it came to be thus reduced to utter ruin, is the subject which must now occupy our attention; and it is one which is intimately connected with the stirring events of that period.
At the time in which Bridgnorth Castle was transferred to the Whitmore family, the nation was in a great state of political disquietude. The King was disposed to carry his royal prerogative beyond the limit which the law had assigned to it; and many members of the Houses of Parliament in resisting the encroachment, were tempted to invade the rights of legitimate authority, and became in the struggle fierce and unrelenting enemies to the Crown. This contest of prerogative on the one hand, and the spirit of liberty on the other, brought about the Great Rebellion; and this fair land was once more destined to be the scene of civil strife, in which was shed the best and noblest blood of England. Of the two parties into which our countrymen were then divided, the Royalists and Roundheads, it is not my province to say much; I know to which of the two, had I lived at the time, my feelings and principles would have attached me; yet I feel bound to acknowledge, that while I regard some of the opinions and some of the acts of the insurgent party with a feeling nothing short of abhorrence, there were among them, both among their soldiers and their divines, men of the highest character, and whose minds were cast in the finest mould; nor am I unwilling to allow that England is in a great measure indebted to this party for the present freedom of her institutions.[46] Respecting, however, the great leader of the party, Oliver Cromwell, I cannot agree with some late writers, who have endeavoured to canonize his memory, and who try to represent him as a pure and unselfish patriot. He was indeed a man of great qualities, of fearless fortitude, and untiring energy; and perhaps at the commencement of his public course he was upright and single hearted in his intentions: but there can be no question of it, that he became ambitious of earthly power; and the religious phraseology, which was once perhaps the sincere expression of his feelings, he afterwards employed as a crafty instrument to further his designs, and to conceal their evil character.[47] Nor must we, if we would form a just estimate of him, lose sight of the fact that while he was a subject he was an enthusiast on the side of liberty, but when he himself was placed on the seat of power, no Stuart or Plantagenet was ever more despotic in his rule.
In this great intestine struggle, the inhabitants of Bridgnorth, as was natural from their hereditary loyalty, espoused heartily the cause of Charles I., as that of their legitimate sovereign; and suffered severely for their allegiance. In the year 1642, preparations were made throughout the country for the commencement of hostilities; and in consequence, the authorities here thought it necessary to put the town, as far as possible, in a state of defence: and the Corporation have still in their possession some interesting records, containing the Common Hall orders which were made on this occasion. The first is as follows:—Bridgnorth. At a Comon Hall in the said towne, the XXVI day of August, Aᵒ. R. Caroli Angl, &c., XVIIIº Aᵒ Dⁿⁱ 1642, John Harryson and Robert Richards, Gents, being Bailiffs.
“Concerninge the makinge of a draw Bridge upon the Bridg over Severn in Bridgnorth aforesaid, and other things for the defence of the said towne, upon a warrant from John Weld, Esq., High Sheriff of this county of Salop, in respect of the extreame danger which is now come neare unto us.