The period of its erection is not known; but before the front was altered it presented (according to a drawing in the possession of the writer) a bold pointed window in the style of the fifteenth century, the apex of the gable being finished with an elegant finial. On the south-west side a very curious octagonal chimney, crenelated at the top, still remains.
The company of Shearmen were incorporated at least as early as the reign of Edward the Fourth, and the extracts preserved from their records afford many pleasing particulars of ancient customs and hospitality. The setting up of a “green tree,” or May-pole, before their hall, “deck’d with garlands gay,” was, according to an old MS. an usage practised by the apprentices of this company on their feast-day (June 6th) previous to the year 1588. The noisy revelry connected therewith, and of
“Lads and lasses dancing round,”
seems to have excited the displeasure of the puritans, and the custom having been denounced by the “public preacher of the town,” [151] and forbidden by the bailiffs, the MS. further says, that “in 1591 certain young men for their disobedience were put into prison and indicted at the sessions, but on their submission they were acquit of their disobedience, and all further proceedings against them quashed, and it was determined that the usual tree might be put up as heretofore, so that it be done soberly and in good order, without contention.” The attempt to obstruct this ancient festivity caused an angry cavilling and interchange of written communications between the favourers of it and the bailiffs, so as to raise an opposition at the annual passing of the town accounts, for the expence incurred by the prosecution.
In the reign of Elizabeth, six hundred shearmen or cloth-workers were occupied (under the drapers) in dressing or raising the wool on one side of a coarse kind of cloth called Welsh webs, which were brought from Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire to a weekly market in this town.
This manner of raising the wool having been found to weaken the texture of the cloths, the avocation of the company became useless and was discontinued.
Leaving St. Julian’s Church (p. [59]) on the left, we arrive at the Wyle Cop,—cop is the Saxon word for top, or head of any thing, and this part is considered as the first portion of the town inhabited by the early British settlers, being situated near the royal dwelling of Brochwel (the site of Old St. Chad’s church). The Saxons, on their possession of the town, continued (without doubt) for a time to occupy the huts abandoned by the Britons. From hence the town extended itself northward in the direction of the churches. Proceeding down the Wyle Cop, we pass the Lion Hotel, four doors below is the house which formed the temporary residence of King Henry the Seventh, who, although he left the bailiffs to pay his soldiers, did not forget the favour conferred upon him by the burgesses. From this place is a pretty distant view of the Wrekin, Lord Hill’s Column, &c. At the foot of the Wyle, and turning to the right, we leave on the left the precinct of the Grey Friars, and pass along Beeches Lane, anciently Bispestan and Bushpestanes, in which is the Blue School and the Roman Catholic Chapel, and arrive at
THE TOWN WALLS,
erected in the time of Henry the Third, to fortify the place against the inroads of the Welsh, and towards the completion of which the burgesses were materially assisted by the royal bounty. These walls, although now deprived of their battlements, form an excellent footpath, and afford a delightful view of the river and adjacent country. At the extremity of the Walls is the Crescent; and a little beyond stands the only remaining Tower of nearly twenty which formerly strengthened the ancient ramparts that enclosed our town.