RAILWAY.
The nearest Station is at Ludlow, 11 miles to the west of Cleobury Mortimer, on the Shrewsbury and Hereford line.
CARRIERS.
To LUDLOW, Margaret West & James Wheeler, every Monday
To KIDDERMINSTER, James Jones and James Wheeler, every Tuesday
CLUN AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.
Clun is a parish in the hundred of Purslow—the market town, which was a borough, incorporated by the Lords Marchers, in the thirteenth century, is 157 miles N.W. from London, 26 S.S.W. from Shrewsbury, and 16 W. by N. from Ludlow; pleasantly and rather romantically situated on a gentle eminence surrounded by hills of bolder elevation. It takes its name from the river Colun or Clun (by the Welsh called Colunwy), which passes through the town, and is crossed by an ancient bridge of five arches. The castle, according to Camden, was built by William Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel in the reign of Henry III, and is supposed to have been demolished by Owen Glyndwr, in his rebellion against Henry IV.: it continued in the line of Fitz-Alan until the reign of Elizabeth, when, by the marriage of Mary Fitz-Alan to Philip Howard, son of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, it became vested in that noble family. It is now a most magnificent ruin; the remains consist of the lofty and massive walls of the keep, the banquet-hall, and part of two round towers. This castle and neighbourhood is conjectured to have been the scene of Sir Walter Scott’s much admired tale of ‘the Betrothed.’ In the parish are the Caer Ditches, or Caer Carodoc, the station of the renowned British hero, Caractacus, and the scene of his last efforts against the Roman general Ostorius; and about two miles west of the town passes the great dyke thrown up by the Saxon king Offa in the eighth century. The government under its ancient incorporation was vested in a high steward, two bailiffs, a recorder, and the burgesses, assisted by a town clerk, two serjeants at mace, &c. The steward is now the principal governing officer, but the court of record for adjudicating claims has been superseded by the new County Court, which sits at Bishop’s Castle, and takes cognizance of debts to any amount not exceeding £50. The Earl Powis is lord of the lordship or honour of Clun, and holds his courts for the same at certain periods; and Clun is a polling station at the election of members to represent South Salop.
The parish church of Saint George is a venerable pile, partially destroyed by Fleetwood, one of Cromwell’s generals, and never since perfectly restored. The most ancient part is the nave, which is of a very early date, probably anterior to the Norman conquest. The side aisles are purely in the early English style, and one of them has a very handsome roof and canopy. In the interior are some neat monuments, and it possesses an organ and a choir of singers. The church is surmounted by a low tower, containing a peal of six fine bells. It formerly was connected with Wenlock abbey, and at the dissolution of religious houses the great tithes were alienated from the church, and are now in the possession of the Earl Powis, who is the patron of the living which is a vicarage; the present incumbent is the Honourable Rev. George Herbert, brother of the patron. The other places of worship are a chapel of ease in the town, another in the township of Newcastle, and the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists have one each. Adjoining the town is Clun Hospital, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity, founded in the year 1613 by the Right Honbl. Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, for the maintenance of fourteen old men and a warden. The building consists of sixteen distinct dwellings for the old men, a house for the warden, a chapel and a dining hall forming a quadrangle. The old men receive £2. per month, are provided with a garden and fuel, and have other perquisites. The management is vested in the rector of Hopesay, the vicar of Clun, and the vicar and bailiff of Bishop’s Castle; the bishop of Hereford is visitor. The market is held on Tuesday; and the fairs, May 11th, Whit-Tuesday, September 23rd, and November 22nd, for cattle, sheep, pigs and pedlary. The parish contained in 1841, 2,077 inhabitants and in 1851, 2,121.
POST OFFICE, Clun, Eliza Thomas, Post Mistress.—Letters from London and all parts arrive (from Shrewsbury) every morning at nine, and are despatched thereto every afternoon at five.