Wee entreat you to go on in helping us, as Mr. Bushopp hath told us you have begun. The Lord reward you, wee and all ours shall pray for you; and if ever wee shall be happy to see you, wee shall give some further testimony of our thankfullness.
Who speake in the behalf of ourselves, our minister, and whole towne.”
The want of a Town Hall seems to have been much felt by the Burgesses of Bridgnorth—the former one, which stood outside the North Gate, having been pulled down during the Civil Wars; but the erection of a new one, with new materials, was more than they could possibly accomplish, in the impoverished state in which they had been left. They therefore applied to Lady Bartue of Wenlock, and petitioned that she would grant them the materials of an old barn which were about to be sold, for the sum of £40 or £50; by means of which they might be able to rebuild the Hall.[71] The petition was granted; but whether the old materials were bestowed as a free gift, or sold for the sum specified, does not appear. The building was in consequence erected; and partly, at least, through the earnest advice of Mr. Gilbert Walden, in a letter addressed by him to the Bailiffs, was placed, not in the situation of the former Hall, but in the middle of the High Street. It was not completed, however, till four years after the date of his letter (April 24th., 1648); as appears from the following entry in the Common Hall Order Book:—
“The New Hall set up in the Market Place of the High Street of Bridgnorth was begun, and the stone arches thereof made, when Mr. Francis Preen and Mr. Symon Beauchamp were Bayliffs in summer, 1650. And the Timber work, and building upon the same stone arches, was set up when Mr. Thomas Burne and Mr. Roger Taylor were Bayliffs of the said Town of Bridgnorth, in July and August, 1652.”
The Town Hall.
But notwithstanding these applications for assistance from various quarters, and the earnest efforts made by the inhabitants themselves, the town appears to have continued during the period of the Commonwealth, almost in the same state of ruin in which it was left after the siege—the Church, College, and Almshouses,[72] still roofless and dilapidated—and nothing effectual was done for their restoration, and the rebuilding of the town, till the reign of Charles II. Shortly after he was restored to the throne, a very earnest Petition was forwarded to him from the Bailiffs and Burgesses of the Borough, and other inhabitants of the town, praying for relief; and this Petition was accompanied by a certificate, under the hands and seals of Sir William Whitmore, Sir Thomas Wolrich, Sir Walter Acton, Sir John Weld, Sir Richard Ottley, and others, attesting the damage which had been done to the town, and the amount of the loss of property sustained by the inhabitants in consequence. This petition, backed by this certificate, drew from the King a proclamation,[73] addressed to all his subjects in behalf of Bridgnorth. It is very long and elaborate—very carefully worded—and not only sets forth very fully the wants of the petitioners, but pleads their cause with a warmth and earnestness which one would not expect to find in an official document. It authorizes a general collection to be made throughout the kingdom; “in all and every the Cities, Towns Corporate, Priviledged Places, Parishes, Hamlets, Villages, and all other places whatsoever,” in order to assist the destitute people of Bridgnorth in rebuilding their shattered town; and it directs both Ministers and Churchwardens to do what in them lies to further this object in their different localities. It would be interesting to know the exact amount which this royal proclamation, and another which followed it in about ten years, produced. There is no doubt that it was something considerable—sufficient to give an impulse to the industry of the inhabitants—to enable them to restore their ruined Church, College, and Almshouses—to efface in a great measure the damages of war, and to make Bridgnorth again a habitable town.
Thus, from the happy restoration of the monarchy in England, and the re-establishment of its church, we may date the restoration of our town from the state of ruin, in which it had been left; and its restoration being coeval with these important and felicitous events, many would be disposed to regard as no bad omen of its welfare. The motto in the arms of a neighbouring city may well express our wish for its future prosperity; for though the terms are hardly suitable to a town of so small a circumference as ours, yet it merits well the character it has maintained, in almost every era of its history—Floreat semper fidelis civitas.