built at a cost of £19,352, and consecrated on August 19th, 1792. It is considered the principal church of the town, is used on all public occasions, such as the assizes and the anniversary of the Infirmary, and is the place where the archdeacon holds his visitations, but being one of the most modern of the parish churches, it has the least historical interest. The general effect of the interior is imposing, the stained windows and monuments giving it a gorgeous appearance.
From here we take our course “right on,” turning neither to the right for the Quarry again nor to the left for St. John’s Hill, we enter upon Murivance, a name denoting before or within the walls. It is supposed that when the town was first fortified Murivance was selected as the place of parade for the military defenders of the town. On the left is
ALLATT’S SCHOOL,
founded and endowed by Mr. John Allatt, gentleman. It was built in 1800, and cost £2,000. There are two houses for the master and mistress. Forty boys and forty girls are educated and clothed here, and then sent out to situations, and coats and gowns are annually distributed among a number of poor men and women.
Opposite is the New Eye and Ear Hospital, a most ornate structure, and the entrance of the New Bridge to Kingsland.
Still on the left, at the turning for Swan Hill—so called from the Swan public-house which was formerly at the bottom—is the Independent Chapel, the oldest of the three Independent chapels in Shrewsbury. It was erected in 1766 by seceders from the High Street church, and has been re-built a few years ago. Further on, on the right is the chapel of the Methodist New Connexion, erected in 1834, at a cost of £1,500. In close proximity to this edifice is an antique tower, the only vestige that remains of twenty which formerly fortified the town walls. It is square, three storeys high, embattled at the summit, and lighted by narrow square windows. Those walls, which we now reach, were built by Henry III. to fortify the town against the inroads of the Welsh, and the cost was defrayed partly by the burgesses, and partly from the royal exchequer. On the left is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, built of freestone, in the style of the early decorated period. It consists of a nave, chancel, side aisles, chapel, &c., and is connected with the residence of the officiating priest by a cloister. At the termination of the walls begins
BEECHES LANE,
sometimes called the Back Lane. This singular appellation is a corruption of Bispetan, Bushpestanes, which may also be a corruption of Bishop’s Town, or Bishop’s Stone, Beeches Lane, having, it is conjectured, been either the residence or the property of the bishop of the diocese, who is said in Domesday book to have possessed sixteen dwelling-houses in Shrewsbury. The gradual change appears, from old deeds, to have been in this order—Bispetan, Bipstan, Biston’s Lane, Beeches Lane. On the left is
BOWDLER’S SCHOOL,
an oblong building, with a glazed cupola in the centre. It was founded in 1724, under the will of Mr. Thomas Bowdler, an alderman and draper of Shrewsbury, who left £1,000 to erect and endow the institution for the education of the poor children of the parish of St. Julian. The late Professor Lee was a schoolmaster of this foundation. Pursuing our walk in a straight route we arrive at the