Williams John, Pinfold house

SLEAP,

a small township, two miles and a half S.W. from Wem, contains 407a. 3r. 32p. of land, of which 6a. 1r. are in roads. In 1841 there were seven houses and 57 inhabitants. Rateable value, £580. 10s. Of the above, one house and eleven persons were returned at the census of 1841 as in the parish of Middle and in the Pimhill hundred. The tithes have been commuted for £72. 4s. 10d., and apportioned to the rector of Wem. The trustees of the late Duke of Bridgewater are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are William Groom, Esq., Henry John Barker, Esq., Mrs. Thomas Betton, and the representatives of Miss Lloyd. The soil is for the most part sandy or peaty earth on a gravelly sub-soil. In the reign of Henry II. Richard de Sleap had a grant of all the village at a fee-farm rent of 16s. per annum. The vassals of the said Richard de Sleap and his heirs were obliged to grind their corn at the lord of the manor’s mill at Wem, to assist at drawing the mill stones, and cleansing the pond, and to help Hugo Pantulph, then the lord, to make his castle. The reserved rent of 16s. is still paid; but homage ceased with the forest, the repair of the castle at its demolition, working at the mill upon its alienation, and the serving the king in his wars, upon the change of all tenures by knights’ service into common socage. In 1738, Sleap was laid in ashes by a sudden fire, which spread with such rapidity, that three houses and all the outbuildings were consumed. A brief was obtained for the unfortunate sufferers.

The resident farmers are Benjamin Adams, John Chidlow, Thomas Kent, John Phillips, and Robert Whall.

SOULTON,

a small township two miles north-east from Wem, contains 672a. 0r. 15p. of land, and at the census of 1841 had 3 houses and 34 inhabitants. Rateable value, £796. The soil in some parts is of a sandy nature; in other places a clayey soil prevails. There are five and a half acres in roads and waste. The tithes have been commuted for £96. 9s. 5d., and apportioned to the rector of Wem. Viscount Hill is lord of the manor, and sole proprietor. There are several thriving plantations here, covering upwards of thirty acres of land. The Wem and Market Drayton turnpike road intersects the township. Soulton Hall is a brick structure of considerable extent, exhibiting a fine specimen of antique architecture; the exterior has an imposing aspect, and the summit is surrounded by a parapet. It was formerly a seat of the Corbets, whose arms are carved over the entrance: it is now occupied as a farm residence, and near it are extensive farm premises, chiefly of modern erection, and on the granary is the date 1783.

The residents are George Bell, farmer, the Brook; Henry Dakin, farmer, the Hall; and Thomas Williams, farmer, Dairy House.

TILLEY AND TRENCH

is a considerable village and township, situated one mile south-west from Wem, which contains 1,636a. 3r. 36p. of land; and in 1841 had 80 houses and 352 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,418. 5s. The rent charge payable to the rector of Wem amounts to £263. 15s. 1d. The roads and waste in this township occupy 25a. 2r. The soil is various: the Trench farms are generally of a cold, reddish clay; in other parts a loam and gravelly soil predominates. Marl of a superior quality is found here in great abundance. This place no doubt took its name from Sire Tillie, who is mentioned in the list of great men who came into this country with William the Conqueror. In the Trench farm there is a close called the Castle Stead, that is, the place of the castle, whence it appears a castle had been built there, which must have been in Saxon times, for Pantulph the Norman fixed on Wem for the site of his castle, and no other was built in this parish by his ancestors. On an eminence a little above Tilley Green are the remains of a Roman camp: it is an oblong square, and contains about two acres of ground; the rampart and trench on every side may still be traced. This was probably the site of the manor house, for the Saxon lords frequently built their castles on Roman camps, on account of the strength of such places and the fortifications already raised. No doubt the Roman vallum occasioned this to be called the Trench farm. The river Roden bounds the township, and is crossed by a substantial bridge at Wem Mills. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are William E. Jeffreys, Esq.; Sir Andrew Corbet, Bart.; C. Howard, Esq.; Mr. John Boughey; Colonel Wynn; A. D. Watkiss, Esq.; William Groom, Esq.; Mr. George Kynaston; Charles Oldham, Esq.; Mr. Samuel Heatley; Mr. William Kilvert; Mr. Bowers; Mr. Thomas Davies; Mr. Thomas Wood; Mr. William Evans; Mrs. Richards; the executors of S. Wycherley; and William Brooks, Esq. There is a noted mineral spring in this township, which is reckoned good for sore eyes and all cutaneous eruptions. William Price, a mason, is said to have flagged the well in consideration of having been cured of rheumatism by bathing in it. The old park, Roowood, the property of Lord Hill, and Palm’s Hill, are in this township. The poor of this township have 28s. yearly, from the bequest of Sarah Higginson, in 1727, who left £28, which was laid out in the purchase of a rent charge of 28s. per annum: the amount is now paid from land the property of Major Dickin.

Abbot Alfred, farmer