The antiquities of Bridgnorth

by George Bellett

The above is a sketch of the tree in its present condition. Of course it would be very absurd, as well as unwarrantable, to assert that this is the hollow oak referred to in the narrative; but it is very likely, from its appearance, that the tree has been hollow for very many centuries; and this gives a degree of shadowy probability to the conjecture, enough to invest the speculation with some amount of interest.

The church which now tops the neighbouring hill is an object that strikes every visitor of this district; and among the churches of our native land there are few that rival it in beauty of situation. But it is an object of great interest, not only on this account, but also because it is, in some parts of the structure at least, the very church which was built very nearly eight hundred years ago by Roger de Montgomery, in ratification of his wife’s vow; and stands at this distant day, a monument of the faithfulness of her promise. Those who are skilled in archeological researches entertain no doubt, both from its form and from the nature of the material used in its construction, that a part of the chancel belongs to the ancient church of Quatford, of the eleventh century.

It was a wild and unfrequented spot on which it stood when first erected; but on the day of its consecration, this sequestered scene was thronged with a vast concourse of people, and must have exhibited a most imposing spectacle: for we learn from an ancient document, that there assisted at the ceremony three Bishops, Woolstan, Bishop of Worcester, then above eighty years of age; the Bishop of Hereford, and the Bishop of Chester; six Archdeacons from neighbouring dioceses, and other ecclesiastics; besides several nobles of high degree, each with their accustomed attendants; and many officials and retainers of the Earl of Shrewsbury. And when we remember the gorgeous manner in which ceremonials of this kind were got up in the middle ages: when knights and ecclesiastics, barons and prelates, each in his appropriate costume, walked in solemn procession; when the pomp of heraldry and the sacred insignia of the Church were united to do honor to the occasion, we may judge what a striking and impressive scene was witnessed on the day of the dedication of this church on the hill of Quatford. The Earl richly endowed this church, constituted it a collegiate establishment, built a castle[10] somewhere contiguous to it, and made a borough of the surrounding district; but the borough, castle, and collegiate establishment were soon after his death transferred to Bridgnorth; and in this way the history of Quatford is connected with the early history of our town.

We now come to consider more particularly the cause of this transfer, and the building, fortifying, and garrisoning the Castle of Bridgnorth, in the year a.d. 1102, by Robert de Belesme, the successor of Roger first Earl of Shrewsbury. This nobleman was of a most restless and ambitious spirit, and immediately after the death of William II. entered into a confederacy with other Normans to dethrone Henry I, and to set up his brother Robert Duke of Normandy in his stead, who landed in England in order to further their undertaking. The scheme was defeated by the promptitude and sagacity of the king, who came to an accommodation with his brother, and induced him to return to Normandy; and then he turned his hand against the chief conspirators. After citing Robert de Belesme to appear before him, he publicly proclaimed him an outlaw, and proceeded against him as such; first laying siege to his castle at Arundel in Sussex. Meanwhile Belesme had not been idle, but had set about building and fortifying a castle in Bridgnorth.[11] He considered our hill rising in the midst of the valley of the Severn, and strongly fortified on most sides by natural defences, and commanding the adjacent country, as a fine military position, entrenched within which, he might for a long time, at least till succour was sent him by the confederates, hold out against the royal forces. He therefore engaged in this work with great vigour, and accomplished it with incredible speed. He had indeed no time to lose; but he completed the work in less than a year, before the king could disengage himself from his other enterprises, so as to allow of his following him to Bridgnorth. Florence of Worcester, in his Chronicle, states that he hastened the completion of this work, carrying it on night and day, and that he excited the Welshmen, who were in subjection to him, to the more faithful and speedy performance of his wishes, by awarding to them with a liberal hand, honours, lands, horses, asses, and all sorts of gifts. (p. 324, a. d. 1803, English Translation.) When we consider the strength of the Castle, and the solidity of its structure, it is quite marvellous that it could have been raised and fortified within so short a space of time. We may judge of the solid character of the building, by the only fragment which now remains of it, which is of the most massive kind of masonry.

It is difficult at this time to ascertain the exact dimensions of the castle; but this description of it by Leland, an antiquary of the time of Henry VIII, may give us some conception of what it was originally. “The Castle standeth on the south part of the town, and is fortified by east with the profound valley instead of a ditch. The walls of it be of great height. There were two or three stronge wardes in the castle, that now goe totally to ruine. I count the castle to be more in compasse than a third part of the town. There is one mighty gate by the north of it, now stopped up; and a little postern made by force thereby through the wall, to enter into the castle. The castle ground, and especially the base court, hath many dwelling houses of timber in it, newly erected.” It occupied, no doubt, a large portion of what is now called the Castle Hill; but its outworks and walls must have extended much farther. It is very likely that the gully, which now forms the passage of the Stony Way, was originally an artificial fosse or ditch, made for its defence in that direction. It is also in the memory of many, that there stood, on or near the site of the new Town Hall, a part of an ancient arch, which was evidently connected with the old castle, and perhaps formed its northern gateway, or the smaller postern which Leland mentions: so that its extent must have been considerable, and its different appendages have occupied a large space of ground.

The above is a representation of the arch referred to, as it stood some years ago, and I believe very faithfully portrays it.

But nothing perhaps can give us a truer notion of the extent of the Castle of Bridgnorth, and of the magnitude of the building, than the great sums of money which were from time to time expended on its repair. We may thus judge of the cost of its first erection. There are existing documents, which shew that from the reign of Henry II. to that of Henry III., there was a sum of money laid out in additions and repairs, amounting to more than £14,000 of modern currency.

It must indeed have been a most noble structure; and standing on such a commanding eminence, overlooking the course of the Severn in both directions, must have been almost without its equal. The traveller, as he came suddenly on the view of it from the Hermitage Hill, must have been struck with the beauty of the scene, in which it formed so prominent an object; and an enemy approaching it, from almost any quarter, might well be daunted by the remarkable strength of its position. One cannot but deeply regret the unnecessary and wanton demolition of it by the Parliamentary forces, in the Civil Wars. Had the ruthless soldiers of Cromwell been contented with dismantling it and taking away its defences, and reducing it as a fortress, it would still, crowning the hill, have formed, in its dismantled condition, one of the most picturesque ruins in England, and made our town a centre of attraction to the lovers of antiquity. The sole remaining fragment of this noble castle is indeed one of the curiosities of Bridgnorth, for, like the leaning tower of Pisa, it is considerably out of the perpendicular; but the chief interest belonging to it, is its being the last relic of the famous feudal fortress of Robert de Belesme, and its having been not only a military garrison, but also a royal residence at several eventful periods of English history.