is a chapelry, township, and small village three miles W.W. by N. from Edgemond, which contains 1418a. 1a. 22p. of land, the soil of which is chiefly a cold clay, in some parts it is of a light loamy nature, and highly fertile, having been much improved by superior cultivation. The farms here are of considerable extent, the land held by fourteen different tenants within memory of man, is now held by three farmers; nearly the whole of the land is the property of the Duke of Sutherland, there are, however, three small freeholders, viz., the Rev. J. D. Pigott, Mr. J. Brittain, and Mr. J. Fletcher. Rateable value of the township, £2,410. 5s. 5d. At the census in 1801 there were 289 inhabitants; 1831, 351, and in 1841 72 houses and 329 souls. The Chapel is a small structure of free stone, and consists of nave and chancel, with a square tower. It stands near the site of a former edifice which had become dilapidated. The Rev. George Pigott is the officiating minister. There are several handsome monumental tombs in memory of members of some of the principal families in the neighbourhood in the cemetery which surrounds the chapel. A National School has been built in the village; about sixty scholars attend. The Primitive Methodists have a small chapel here, built in the year 1842. The paper mill of Mr. J. Brittain is situated near the church. The Spray Hill is an eminence planted with a clump of Scotch pine trees, which is a conspicuous object for many miles round. The poor of this township receive 14s. worth of bread out of the rents of the poor’s lands at Edgmond. In the returns of charitable donations made to parliament under the act 26th George III. there is mentioned a legacy of £40 by one Mr. Matthews, to poor housekeepers at Tibberton, which is stated to be then in the hands of William Fletcher, rendering an annual interest of £1. 12s. There is no evidence to show what become of the ultimate destination of this gift, but its benefits have long been lost to the poor.
Directory.—The farmers are Thomas Green, Day House; Thomas Jones and William Taylor, Tibberton Grange; the other principal residents are Robert Bates, wheelwright; John Booth, butcher; John Brittain, paper manufacturer; Henry Cotton, blacksmith; John Crawford, shoemaker; Theophilus Fletcher, shoemaker and beerhouse keeper; William Howle, tailor; William Lawley, schoolmaster; Mary Morgan, beerhouse keeper; Elizabeth Podmore, schoolmistress; Robert Simpson, wheelwright.
ERCALL HIGH, OR ERCALL MAGNA,
is a considerable parish in the Wellington division of the South Bradford hundred, comprehending the townships of Cold Hatton, Cotwall and Mooretown, Cruddington, Ellerdine, Ercall Magna, Haughton, Isombridge, Osbaston, Poynton, Rowton, Sleap, Tern, and Walton, together containing 11,152 acres of land, of which 179a. 3r. 24p. are in woods, roads, and waste, and there are 39a. 1r. 11p. of glebe. The parish in 1801 contained 1,091 inhabitants; 1831, 2,048, and in 1841 there were 364 houses and a population of 1,999 souls. Rateable value, £14,140. 19s. 6½d. The houses are in general built of brick, and slated; the cottages are also of brick, and in many instances the occupants have a small allotment of ground. The ancient residences of the gentry are in most instances converted into farm dwellings; there are, however, many neat villa residences in the modern style of architecture, of a respectable character, surrounded with park like enclosures. The soil is chiefly a mixture of sand and loam, and the land is mostly used for arable purposes, in some instances large dairies of cheese are made, and the district is celebrated for a fine breed of sheep. The land is chiefly tithe free, the tithes on the rest of the parish were commuted in 1841 for £829. 15s. The village of High Ercall is pleasantly situated eight miles N.E. from Shrewsbury and five and a half miles N.N.W. from Wellington. Here are several good shops and respectable residences; the air is salubrious, and the country around beautifully diversified with picturesque scenery. The township contains 1,589a. 1r. 18p. of land, and in 1841 had 42 houses and 213 inhabitants. Rateable value, £2,453. Few districts possess so good a soil; the farms are extensive, and in most cases the land has been greatly improved by superior cultivation, and removing the fences and throwing the land into large enclosures. The Duke of Cleveland is lord of the manor and owner of the whole township. The turnpike roads to Newport, Shawbury, Wem, Whitchurch, Wellington, and Shrewsbury, intersect the township. In the 51st of Henry III., John de Ercalewe had a grant of a market here on a Monday, and a fair on the eve and the feast of the nativity of the Virgin Mary and the day after.
The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, an ancient structure, consists of nave, chancel, and side aisles, with a massive square tower containing six bells, and a clock. The side aisles are separated from the nave by four pointed arches rising from circular pillars; the church is neatly pewed with oak sittings, and the pulpit and reading desk are of carved oak of the most elaborate workmanship. The chancel is lofty and contains several mural monuments, one of which remembers Sarah, the wife of Edward Steedman, and children, dated 1834; another remembers the Rev. Henry Wood, who died in 1795; there are also tablets to Cecil Frederick Juckes, the Rev. Lawrence Gardener, and a full length figure, which exhibits a fine specimen of chiselling, near the north end of the church. In the church yard are many monumental tombs of fine workmanship, to some of the principal families resident in the neighbourhood. The living is a vicarage valued in the king’s book at £17. 6s. 8d., now returned at £290 in the patronage of the Duke of Cleveland; incumbent, Rev. Robert Forester, M.A., who resides at the vicarage, a good brick building a short distance from the church. Near the west end of the church are the ruins of an ancient structure, which was formerly moated. Sir Richard Newport, of High Ercall, Knight, by letters patent, bearing date at Bridgenorth, 14th October, 18th Charles I., was advanced to the dignity of baron of this realm, by the title of Lord Newport, of High Ercall. That gentleman advanced six thousand pounds for the king’s use when at Shrewsbury, by which means the artillery was put in a position to march against the parliamentary forces, upon which followed the battle of Edge hill. The Hall, an ancient residence with projecting gables, was built by Sir Francis Newport, Knight. This house is said to have been garrisoned in the time of the civil wars. In levelling a mound near it, Mr. Steedman’s labourers discovered about a thousand silver coins, the greater part of the reign of Charles I., some of Elizabeth, and others of the reign of Philip and Mary. The hall is now in the occupancy of Edward Blakeway Steedman, Esq. Ercall Park is a handsome structure, the residence of William Holt Midgley, Esq.; it is built in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and beautified with shrubberies and pleasure grounds tastefully laid out; the house is surrounded by large enclosures containing some thriving plantations. Sherlowe, the residence of George Townsend Forester, is a modern structure built within the last three years, with farm premises on a scale of considerable magnitude. The Lodge, another good residence of modern construction, is in the occupancy of Mr. Thomas Jukes. The above houses have all very extensive out premises, and all the modern appliances, with steam engines for carrying out the operations of extensive farms in the most economical manner.
The Free School was founded by Thomas Leeke, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, in 1663. In January, 1816, the Attorney-General, at the relation of Ralph Leeke, filed an information against Rann Dolphin Edwards, and John Douglas, for the purpose of setting aside a lease which had been granted in 1772 for a term of 99 years, at the yearly rent of £30, and for obtaining the directions of the court as to the future application of the rents. The master by his report, made 18th February, 1828, and subsequently confirmed by the court, ordered that the school should be for teaching English, writing, and accounts free, and also Latin and Greek when required; the master to charge a guinea a quarter and a guinea entrance for the latter; that the schoolmaster’s salary should be £50 per annum, with liberty for the trustees to increase it at their discretion; that no boys should be admitted until they are capable of reading the New Testament; that any surplus which should arise from the accumulations of rent during a vacancy, or from the annual income not expended in the master’s salary, or repairs, should be expended in rewards to four or more of the scholars at the examination, or who should be reported by the master to the trustees as deserving thereof, or in providing a library of useful books for the school: that the trustees should have power to displace the master in case of incapacity, immorality, or neglect, and that the trustees should have power to make such orders as they should think necessary for the better government of the school. The master, in a report made June 3rd, 1828, found that the sum of £960 was due for rent up to Lady Day, 1828, out of which Mr. Edwards was entitled to retain costs, leaving £831. 1s. from which £428. 2s. 8d. was paid for the costs of the other parties, leaving £402. 18s. 4d., which was ordered to be divided proportionably between the representatives of the two schoolmasters who had officiated between November, 1815, and December, 1827. The charity estate is situated near Trefnanny, in the parishes of Guilsfield and Myford, in the county of Montgomery, and produces a yearly income of £93. Out of the income of the charity the master receives a salary of £50, and he also receives £6. 13s. 4d. per annum in respect of Stevinton’s gift. The school is conducted according to the scheme established by the Court of Chancery, except that the master makes a charge of 10s. 6d. for the entrance of such boys as are not classical scholars, which appears to be contrary to the directions of the court.
Richard Stevinton, by his will, in 1652, devised an annuity of £6. 13s. 4d., payable out of lands at Arleston, to be applied towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster of High Ercall, who should teach children resident in the said parish without any reward from the parents of the children.
The Hospital consists of seven dwellings, and each inmate has a room above and a room below, and a small garden annexed. The hospital was founded by the Newport family. The building is kept in repair at the expense of the Duke of Cleveland, from whose agent the inmates receive £3 per quarter, with an additional payment of 21s. at Christmas, and 5s. at Midsummer. The selection of these persons is not confined to the parishioners or inhabitants of High Ercall, but are selected from deserving objects residing in the neighbourhood, a preference being given to those who have seen better days, and have been reduced by misfortune to poverty.
Poors’ Land.—There are two closes in the township of Eaton, in the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent, which have for a long period been let from time to time by the churchwardens. The last lease was dated 29th August, 1795, and it was therein recited that the then churchwardens of High Ercall were lawfully seized of the premises, in trust to distribute the rents among the poor of the parish of High Ercall, two shillings every fortnight in bread, and the remainder in money on St. Thomas’s-day. There does not appear any documents in the parish to show from whom this land was devised, or on what trust it is held. The two closes contain together 3a. 3r. 4p. of land, and are let at a yearly rental of £8. The amount is given away on St. Thomas’s-day.
Several sums of money, amounting in the whole to £199, left by eight several donors, for the benefit of the poor of this parish, were for many years placed out at interest on private security, and previous to the year 1814 £40 of the above sum was lost. About that period the remainder was called in, and with £20 advanced from the poor’s rates, was laid out in the purchase of certain premises for a parish workhouse. Since 1814 the sum of £8 has been paid out of the poor’s rates as the interest of this money, and distributed among poor persons in small sums, seldom exceeding one shilling.