The Wellington and Severn Junction line through Coalbrookdale is joined by the branch line to
WENLOCK,
one of the oldest borough towns in the kingdom. Its chief attraction is the Abbey, founded by St. Milburgh, a Saxon saint, and daughter of Penda, one of the last and fiercest of the Saxon heathen kings. It fell before the Danes, but was rebuilt by Earl Leofric and his wife Godiva. A second time it fell, and was again rebuilt; this time by Norman masons, in greater splendour than before. Of the architecture of this period the present ruins show some fine examples, and none finer than the chapter-house, the clustering arches of which are shown in our engraving.
The south transept, with a portion of the nave, of the Early English style of architecture, remind the visitor of the stately grandeur of the church, which was upwards of 400 feet in length. The house of the prior, which communicated with the chapter-house, is now the private residence of J. M. Gaskell, Esq., M.P., the present proprietor of the estate. The parish church has several points of interest, one of which is its fine Norman front, hidden from the street by the present tower. To this may also be added the arches which separate the nave and side aisles, rising from clustering pillars of great beauty; also the one dividing the nave from the chancel, where there is an elegant sedilia. Wenlock grew up beneath the patronage and protection of its Priory, by means of which it received many royal favours, and was protected by many royal charters, one of which conferred the right, at a very early period, of representation in the Commons House of Parliament.
The Guildhall is an ancient building of timber and plaster, with a projecting upper story resting on piazzas. The room used for quarter sessions has the arms of Charles II. over the recorder’s chair, and the Inner or Municipal Court is beautifully furnished with elaborately-carved oak panellings and furniture. The borough is nearly the same now as formerly, the modern franchise extending over the ancient possessions of the church, wherein the prior of the monastery had jurisdiction over eighteen parishes.
BUILDWAS.
In descending the dingle between Wenlock and Buildwas, at a point described by an old writer as the boundary of the domains of the two abbeys, is Lawless Cross, formerly one of those ancient sanctuaries, the resort of outlaws who, having committed crime, availed themselves of that security from punishment such places afforded. The monks, in the exercise of that excessive influence they had in those days, provided places, deemed sacred, which should serve for refuge for criminals. A cross was erected for the lawless; from which even the monarch had no power to take them. Villains doubly dyed in crime were wont to rush out from such hiding-places, commit crimes with impunity, and return. The evil, indeed, had become so great, that the Courts of Westminster, in Hilary Term, 1221, were employed in considering the expediency of altering “a certain pass in the Royal Forest near to Buldewas,” from its having become “the haunts of malefactors, and from its notoriety for the constant commission of crime.” Below this is the Abbey Mill, and lower still is the Abbey. The line passes through what was once the cemetery, and over ground formerly occupied by the industrial courts of the establishment. A fine view is obtained of the church, which presents a good specimen of a Cistercian edifice, every part of the original arrangement being distinctly traceable.
The massive proportions of its arcades, and the scolloped capitals of their columns, indicate the Norman style of architecture; whilst the pointed arches show an approach towards that which superseded it, which began about the year 1150. The clerestory remains entire on both sides, with round arched windows throughout. Between the columns are indications of a screen, which shut off the eastern aisles; at the